#we can only guess and theorize and speculate and dream and hope

[violetasteracademic]

Hi! Today I woke up nervous that maybe I’m wrong?! The next book isn’t Elain’s? Do you have any doubts?

I keep seeing things about Nesta’s arc not being over yet…she’s getting another books…etc.

Help put my mind at ease!? 🥹🥹😅

Anon, I'm gonna put my Auntie Violet hat on for a minute, okay? 💕

If there is one thing I believe with my whole heart, it's that the announcement is coming soon. So this is it. The book is written, and now all we can do is wait. I could direct you to all my multiverse theories I've written, times I've answered this question before (because Nesta's journey is absolutely NOT over, nor is the Valkyrie's, and I cant wait- Twilight of the Gods truthers rise up!) I could drudge up all the same interviews confirming Elain's book over and over again over the years, Sarah's continued reiteration that the structure of the ACOTAR spinoff is dual POV romances with a new couple each book, ect, ect.

But here's where I am at right now, and where I will remain: This fandom is for everyone. That means people who think Nesta is getting another book next. That means Gwynriels, that means Eluciens, that means Elriels, that means all the Feysands who don't care about this ship war at all because they already have their OTP. There are people convinced it's a Tamlin book. There are people rallying behind Mor or Azris book.

And we are all here doing the same thing, enjoying this countdown and feeling excited about our ideas and hopes and wishes for the next ACOTAR.

Everyone has the right to clown right now. Everyone is allowed to search for their crumbs and their hints and feel engaged and excited and celebrate with their people.

This is it. We don't have much more time to speculate, to guess, to theorize, to hope our ACOTAR 6 dreams come true.

I've been away for the fandom for a long time, and I'm not so delusional as to think it changed or improved while I was away. But if I'm going to stick around these coming weeks, I'm going to do one thing and one thing only- Have fun. Stay in the joy. Revel in the excitement and anticipation, because there isn't much time left to do it.

We could all be wrong about the next book. We could speculate that the next ACOTAR is about Nyx on the moon, and Nyx on the moon believers will find the crumbs to support their beliefs! And hell yeah, Nyx on the moon theorists!

I am going to enjoy every minute, every crumb, every easter egg, and I'm not going to worry about who's right or who's wrong. There's too many opinions out there, and Sarah wrote the book she wanted to write, whatever it may be.

All I have to offer is this: Remember that fandom is for everyone, not only the people who are right. Not only people who agree with you. Not only people who stay within certain lines. Let everyone have their spaces. We all have the right to clown, and there is limited time left do it.

Stay out of spaces that bother you. That's it. That's all there is. Enjoy this time and this moment for what it is, and hang out where you feel good 💕

[max-nexus]

KGTAC PGS 2080-2082 ANALYSIS (Ft. Home-Skillet page 4 and 17)

The first two pages (Naming gag) have no notable story differences outside of minor art improvements (so i technically lied) BUT 4th page of ACT 2 (5.gif instead of of 4.gif, i guess there was a page in-between the two) has some MASSIVE differences. I'd recommend reading my first Analysis HERE as i will be referencing the one thing that was proven right.

KGTAC Page 2082

Home-Skillet page 4

As you can see there are many notable differences. But before i go on about said differences I'd like to point out that in my previous post, i noted there is no computer on screen on the desk, Which made be state "Which leads me wondering if a computer is even there, Since why else would it be off the panel." And i was right, there was no computer. I'd also like to note that the Page was edited so that the desk is no longer so huge, Fred is still a bit short As can be noted by comparing page 2082 with 2079 (look at the windows) but its a small issue. And if he we're any bigger then the pool would be obscured which would be much worse!

KGTAC PAGE 2079 (NOW)

Now onto the differences, first I'd like to bring up the Narration differences between the two, Specifically anything unique they list for the character

KGTAC: Package for computer, he has tools to get the computer working, He is a Nintendo fanboy, and likes some musicians

Home-Skillet: Room is relatively tidy, a gamer who's very picky, and has an interest in fixing electronics, despite this fact he can't code

In Home-Skillet, he already had a computer, he had tools though that's in the art, not mentioned in narration. He might no longer have an interest in fixing electronics but its just a guess, it might just be unimportant to mention. Art Stuff: On the bottom right corner we now have the FLOPPY-DECK, which used to be inside the closet that we can no longer see in the image, the closet itself might not exist as we can't visually confirm it's existence, We now have a bigger window on the side as i don't remember that window existing from my reading of Home-Skillet. For some odd reason the Hotplate is now on the bottom left corner of the panel instead of the desk which it was on (disgusting, not a hint of tidiness). I'm guessing its so the reader can easily see the objects. Here's a nice closeup shot of the Floppy-Deck, man i love this thing, its such a cool concept.

Home-Skillet Page 17 (FLOPPY-DECK MY BELOVED)

The Section with Genuine Speculation: There is now a shelf and window, though I'm uncertain of how they'll be important at the moment. My feelings with them are the same as with the pool. There's not much to speculate on story wise as of now. But i can assume it won't follow the same path as Home-Skillet, or if it does, it merely follows it in general rather than any specifics.

The Section with Hopes & Dreams: With some of these changes, i hope for the possibility that Fred won't get a sylladex for a while, Like you're telling me you can't trust him with a computer until he's 13 but you can trust him with an item which can launch anything at a force strong enough to break a window? It would also mean the Floppy-Deck as gimmicky as it is will be important for Fred, Especially if he doesn't figure out how to get more sylladex cards (Due to the fact you can merge items into 1 sylladex card) The Floppy Deck could be used as a safe way to get multiple items into a single card. Hell, In theory you could do && with the Floppy-Deck, its only meant to hold 1 item at a time, so if Fred is still interested in Electronic Tinkering, he could try and force it to take multiple items at once and since he's not very good at it, it instead causes the items to merge like in alchemization. It's starting to get a bit silly with my "theorizing" here but i really did like the Floppy-Deck and i felt it was somewhat underutilized. Sure its gimmicky, but Stack modus is gimmicky, hell most modi are gimmicky due to stupid rules, the only reasonable ones are like Array and Wallet modus. In theory the Floppy-Deck is like a bulkier version of the wallet modus, and i just really want to see it used to an extreme. In Conclusion, I will keep analyzing KGTAC with Home-Skillet as no one else seems to be doing it, and i will keep forgetting to join the KGTAC Discord. Also because i pick up on more things when i do this plus it's helpful to anyone looking for an analysis. Next Analysis

[aerltarg]

Maybe this is a stupid question, buuuuut:

I just can't imagine a world that Rhaegar comes back from the Trident, wins the war and becomes king. No, I'm not a anti Rhaegar, matter of fact I like him very much, I'm just can imagine how would Lya, little Jon, this whole affair, would settle in the capital. The norm that fics (at least those I read) tend to follow is to make Rhaegar:

1. A douche, paranoid and destiny-obessed king.

2. Completely incompetent, aloof monarch, that deep down has a heart of gold, but can't really be understood.

I mean, isn't he supposed to be a scholar since he was a kid? What's are your thoughts about it?

oh, yeah, i can totally understand this! it's is the whole point in canon actually, "the wrong man came back from the trident". you would expect a hero win against his antagonist and have a happy ending w his lady love but it doesn't happen. instead the subversion happens to them with rhaegar being killed by robert who becomes obviously a shitty king and lyanna dying after him. they were never supposed to have happy ending, they were created as tragic and doomed and dead from the beginning for the whole plot to start, jon to have his parentage mystery and dany to take the passed baton as the last dragon, prophesied savoir and the heir who has to carry entire house on her back now.

as for the realistic rhaegar wins aus that's the difficult question. tbh we just don't know enough abt their situation, plans and wishes. you see, e.g. in agot we can be right in ned's head and see his motivations, what he was thinking abt, what he was planning, what he was hoping to do. but if his story was told the way rhaegar's was i bet he would have his own crowd of haters and ~intellectuals~ jumping out every two seconds w their "hot takes" how actually all hints abt what rlly happened (ned being a good man w his own sense of honour, justice and experiences affecting him and the deal w cersei's children) doesn't matter and he was an ambitious prick, planned to grasp the power by being joffrey's regent and make his daughter sansa queen. (you can actually insert there any bullshit and still don't reach the level of stupidity of such "hot takes" this fandom loves so much lmao). also he would be blamed to the hell and beyond for being too stupid and not foreseeing the future and actions of other ppl bc ofc after everything happened it's so easy to say what was so obvious to notice. also they would say that the deaths of his men and horrible fates of his kids are 100% his fault and even straight up say he killed them lmao. i can rant abt it for hours so yeah. this is a situation w too many unknown variables bc it depends too much on actions of too many characters we don't know enough abt. the only thing it's possible to tell for sure is the fact that there couldn't be any perfect solutions since things got too complicated at this point.

such fics as you've mentioned tho are just a part of this dumb fanon where rhaegar is "too prophecy obsessed"/"incapable of love"/shrodinger's rhaegar both smart and stupid at the same time/whatever/all of this combined lmfao. the man was notably intelligent from the early age as you've absolutely rightly mentioned, his guesses abt himself being tptwp have nothing to do w egocentrism as some parts of the fandom would want us all to believe unless he wouldn't be so reasonable abt it and later on, after so many years, wouldn't have changed his mind and thought his son could be tptwp.

and literally fuck all antis that think you shouldn't consider prophecies that hold real power in this fantasy world lol. you know, aegon the conqueror was said to be motivated (or at least partly) to unify westeros by the prophecy and still got the treatment of perfect/maximum close to perfect figure of a leader everyone should look up to from the narrative and grrm. prophecy obsessed much, huh? i don't even talk abt all these parallels between him and rhaegar grrm put there not for bitches to ignore them completely! and i will never get tired of reminding that dismissing prophecies is UNWISE for targaryens of all people. the house whose story is built on the dream of young daenys and her father aenar that listened to her despite common sense (or what local "anti magic"/"anti prophecies" clowns consider to be common sense). targs would be as dead as the rest of dragonlords if not for daenys the dreamer. who else in the world has as many reasons to take prophecies seriously as them?

yet antis out there act as if rhaegar is one dimensional weirdo whose every character trait is abt mf ~prophecy obsession~. like how can they miss one of the main points so badly?? the game of thrones distracts ppl from the real danger beyond the wall, yk, the one rhaegar was aware of and meant to deal with. there wouldn't be such a problem if he became king and had as many years of head start before ice zombies apocalypse as ignorant bobby b did. rhaegar had to die just for westeros to sink in shit and our main heroes to save everyone to make this story more epic LMAO

so yeah, too many ppl portray rhaegar as this one dimensional robotic creature without any knowledge of what feelings are idk even for what reason. it seems these ppl can't read for real bc rhaegar was not only intelligent af as well as dutiful ("it seems i must be a warrior" but "he loved his harp more than his lance") but also. ugh emotional?? my boy had constant emo sessions w brooding at ruins of summerhall, sleeping out there beneath the stars all alone and writing songs that made all women cry. does it sound as someone who "isn't capable of love" lol? folks act as if he was completely heartless from the day he was born (bc he didnt play w other kids ig??) but in reality their emotional range is less than the one of a spoon in comparison to rhaegar's lol. i'm not even gonna address the horrible attitude of demonizing him for his implied depression, vile clowns never listen to themselves when they talk abt targaryens and their "madness".

tldr; these fics are mostly lame af and suck at characterization if they're making rhaegar like that lol. anyway his character isn't abt being a good or a bad king, it's abt being a would-be-king for characters in books and readers in reality to sigh over his tragic aura and pretty aesthetic abt how it could've been. however, grrm clearly doesn't write rhaegar as evil or incapable as some parts of the fandom would want to try to persuade others. realistically speaking in the scenario where he wins there couldn't be any perfect decisions but it's a territory of speculations on thin air and lit nothing more since canon doesn't provide us with enough information to rlly theorize anything instead of building biased headcanons some ppl call "analysis".

but remember what barristan said about rhaegar while practically watching him all his life, from a literal baby to the man grown:

“I know little of Rhaegar. Only the tales Viserys told, and he was a little boy when our brother died. What was he truly like?”

The old man considered a moment. “Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded.” (ASOS, Daenerys I)

“Prince Rhaegar’s prowess was unquestioned, but he seldom entered the lists. He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance.” (ASOS, Daenerys IV)

[indianamoonshine]

chapter iii | knightly behavior

summary: every summer you work on your father’s strawberry farm with your three sisters. it’s a way to take a break from the big city but summers in the midwest are hot and they linger. this year, your father’s old and mysterious friend shows up to stay on your land for a reason yet to be determined. din djarin seems dangerous, but kind enough, and the two of you quickly become…well, let’s fact it…smitten.

rating: (18+) for future and explicit sexual content.

author’s note: reader is well over eighteen for obvious reasons. i won’t ever go into physical detail about the reader’s appearance because we include everyone. this fic is pretty much a mix between pride & prejudice and call me by your name except without the und*rage crap we do not condone.

You looked upon him in a way that no one had ever looked upon him before.

And it was strange, he thought, because the two of you had been introduced not even twenty-four hours prior. But in your eyes was a subtle enchantment that made Din forget the misfortunes that brought him to the farm in the first place.

You smile politely at him, albeit a bit drunkenly, as he mends your wound. Your foot is propped against his thigh as you sit prettily upon the bathroom counter. Your eyes shine, cheeks rosy with alcohol and adrenaline. The thorn had been removed, but the cut still bled enough to upset Din. When you flinch at the peroxide, he himself grimaces as though he can empathize with your pain.

“I’m surprised I felt it at all,” you say to him as though you’re sheepish from the fall. “With all the vodka and whatnot.”

Din meets your gaze and catches himself staring at your petal-like lips. He forces himself to look away, as much as it burned, but he was far too concerned with your feelings at the gesture.

there was no way you could look at a man such as him the way he looked at you.

Din places a Band-Aid on your foot, sealing it gently, and inspects it once more. “This is a tender part of the body,” he says. He finds himself squeezing you gently in a show of affection he had not expected. He swallows before adding, “-I would be concerned if you didn’t.”

A flash of mischief crosses your face before you tease. “Are you a doctor, Mister Djarin?”

He finds himself chuckling lowly at the question. His answer was quite the opposite, but you needn’t know the true nature of his lot in life. If possible, he’d avoid being transparent in that regard for as long as fate allowed.

“No,” Din finds himself saying. “And you can call me Din.”

A bold choice, but when you embrace with a gentle smile. “My father always told me to refer to my elders with their respective titles.”

You were funny. Witty. Charming to the last. Din found himself growing more fond of you with each passing moment; even in your disheveled state did he think you beautiful.

He mustn’t become attached. You could very easily become ammunition if he weren’t careful. In his pursuit of sound welfare, you had almost become something of a villain; you were making it increasingly difficult to focus on protecting his own interests. In just a few hours, Din felt an unwarranted dedication to you.

He wasn’t comfortable with it.

But he didn’t know how to stop it.

Those of Mandalorian creed did not devote themselves to anyone outside of the order. They hunt and they seek – they survive. And to be senselessly bewitched by someone of such (what he would’ve once considered) little importance was preposterous.

Nonsensical.

Din hadn’t ever been irrational before. Everything was calculated.

Not anymore.

Din tries not to grin, but he can’t bear it. His body is traitorous. “Funny,” he quips. He releases your foot.

You remain silent for a moment, formulating thoughts of whatever it was celestial beings like you did in quietude.

“How did you and my father meet?” you ask after what felt like eons of stillness. “He hasn’t told us very much.”

Din starts to clean up the medical supplies – bits of paper from the Band-Aid and the hydrogen peroxide he had so carefully dabbed upon your skin.

He falters for a moment. While what he was about to say was the truth, it felt dirty. There was more to your father’s past than what you’d have believed and Din knew it wasn’t his place to expose any of it; he would have tread carefully.

“We met when we were teenagers,” he replies.

You let out a messy giggle – like it caught even yourself off guard. You place a hand against your mouth as though to cover the goofy smile. “So when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, then.”

The age-gap hadn’t been lost on Din.

He opens the cabinet very carefully to avoid bumping your head with it. The bathroom was in older shape compared to the rest of the house, so it came as no surprise when the mirror rattled loudly as it opened.

“I was the one who carried you to safety, remember?” Din meets your eyes, hoping you’d find the humor in them.

You do.

“Yes,” you boff. The twitter that escapes your mouth causes his heart to jump to his throat. “And now you’re mending me after a vicious rose bush attack.”

He cracks a grin, though slyly to avoid sharing any bemusement due to your jesting lip. He couldn’t help it; your devilment was far too pleasant to make him scornful.

“Thank you,” you add meekly, but you’re smiling and it’s more than enough gratitude he required.

He wishes to see you smile all the time.

Din’s placed both hands against the counter, consciously ignorant of the space between the two of you. He meant no harm by it – was simply leaning against the sturdiness of the tile. But as you watch him, there was a sense of longing Din hadn’t beheld in quite some time. He tries to avoid it – whatever it may be – by tearing his gaze away from yours and pushing himself off with a casual grunt.

You blink when he separates himself from you, eyes fluttering a bit carelessly, and expression computing back to its neutralness. He does the same, brows raising in panic at the sensation.

“We met while I was camping in Michigan – the UP.” He scratches the back of his head and leans against the wall with arms crossed.

Anything to look complacent.

He finds himself engrossed by the way your ankles cross over one another and how your legs swing. Your dress had threatened to expose the more fragile parts of you, but you were of sound enough mind to eschew that from happening. Had that occurred, Din would’ve punished himself for looking. He wasn’t a religious man by any means, but what was that verse in the Christian bible again? “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”

Faith didn’t belong in his repertoire, but that particular verse was commonsensical enough to recite.

Over and over again, apparently.

“So you’re from around here then?” you inquire.

“You know that people can visit the Midwest, right?” he remarks.

He was certain you’d simper mockingly – and sure enough, you do. “You’re very bratty for an old man.”

Din takes pride in guessing your responses; it must mean something.

Before he returns, he allows himself to laugh. It’s not full-bodied, but it’s some of the most genuine laughter he’s been able to conjure in quite some time.

“I’m from Chile,” he answers, perfectly amused by your bantering. “I moved here when I was a child.”

He watches as your fingers tap against the tile of the counter. They were well manicured, but cut short, and he guessed that was because you worked with your hands. He respected that – admired it. You clearly come from humble background and trialing youth.

Din could relate to that.

And yet you’re still soft, kind – gracious in your endeavors. And he was not. He was clinical, meticulous in the frayed edges of an odyssey he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue anymore. The two of you were snow and flame, and the old wife’s tale certainly wasn’t true. Opposites don’t attract. Opposites – the grunting, savage neanderthal of the two – are attracted. Someone ripened with softness such as yourself would surely never take rapture in a Neolithic man.

He could dream, of course. And he will.

“That’s very impressive,” you hum, chin raised in speculation.

Din furrows his brows, arms linking themselves around his frame tighter than before. It brought himself a semblance of comfort. For almost all his life, Din was the hunter and never the prey. He was large, foreboding enough to exude the kind of energy the average man could only theorize about, and yet here he stood…before you…

Feeling like the bounty he sought.

“Interesting to have been born in Chile?” he taunts.

Your brows crinkle, nose wiggling a bit to avoid showing your doubtful speculation. It wasn’t a look of disgust – Din was convinced you could never find fault in anyone. Maybe not even him. He hoped for this, anyway.

“No,” you reply. “To be able to keep that information from everyone.”

He shrugs, right brow arching in a show of faux derision. “Who said I was keeping it?” he all but drawled.

Something in his tone must’ve engaged your interest. Maybe you could see right through him; Din couldn’t find himself dumbfounded by the idea. You were smart enough to content with in a war of wit.

He notices how you head tilts in measured consideration. “You’re a very interesting man, Mister Djarin,” you whisper.

A heat flushes him from head to boot. He tears his fixation from the way your eyes swallow him whole – like a boa constrictor might do to a mouse. But he feels no fear for his safety – just his survival.

Because you were going to make this very difficult for him.

|||

TAG LIST: @dancingwiththeplanets, @ficthots, @t3a-bag, @dodgerandevans & there was one more person BUT I ACCIDENTALLY ERASED THEIR MESSAGE I’M SO SORRY TO WHOEVER YOU WERE PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

[disasterdrvid]

Masterpost of characters I'd like to see in DA4

What it says on the tin. Half speculative, half wishlist. Was going to post this around EA Play Live, but Bioware loves crushing my hopes and dreams so I'm kicking this out of my drafts. Under the cut bc this is loooooong.

Potential Companions (And Maybe Romances)

Starting squad will probably be Fenris, Vaea, Francesca, and Autumn. (Based on this post.) I'm curious about the worldstate variations for Fenris--especially a romanced Hawke getting left in the Fade and how he gets involved in the first place if Hawke gave him back to Danarius. I'm curious if Vaea and Francesca are are romance options but they're really enjoyable in the comics so I'm excited to see more of them.

Lucanis Dellamorte!!! I will never shut up about him and his storyline. We've been lacking Crow companions so I'm hoping they do him justice in-game. However, I'm worried Bioware might write him too similar to Zevran if he's a potential romance. While Zevran's romance is one of the best, I don't want Lucanis to have too many similarities just because of a shared background.

Neve Gallus! The Tevinter PI who stole my heart. I love her to death and want her desperately in-game. Let me be gal pals who solve crimes, Bioware!

Audric ❤ Imagine all the fun banter about architecture as well as being undead. Would definitely have a different feel from Justice or Cole. (Also fingers crossed skeleton from the concepts actually is Audric.)

Not to be a massive lesbian but the hot Qunari lady from the concept art! I'm hoping she's not one of the characters who got cut in development and, if she made it, she's not straight.

Strife my beloved ❤ Not sure if he'll just be encounterable or a full companion, but he was super enjoyable in Tevinter Nights and I desperately want his sass for DA4.

Tessa and Marius! I'm constantly oscillating between companion or just NPCs, but I'd love to see the magekilling duo fully voiced and animated. (Also if they do come back, Charter is an obvious add-on.)

Advisor Roles

Dorian! Based on his appearance in Deception (a small cameo where he guides the crew), I'd love for him to come back in a much more limited way to let everyone else shine.

Varric ❤ This man needs a break and based on the voiceover from the trailer, as well as his appearance in Knight Errant, I'd guess he'd serve more as a spymaster to our group.

Maevaris is one I'm constantly caught between advisor or companion. But I love her dearly and if she somehow doesn't end up in-game the Bioware writers have an invitation to catch these hands.

Controversial but the Inquisitor. Like how the Warden wasn't the DA2 protag and Hawke was the DAI protag, I don't want (or even believe) they'll be the protagonist this time around and that take neglects a lot of what was said in Trespasser. I think they'd be best served advising the new hero on how to navigate the bullshit of saving the world--especially Inquisitors who really fought against being the Herald. However, I do want them in on the crisis (not the midpoint, but that's another post) confrontation of Solas. Also: give me consequences for the Well, damn it!

General NPCs

Awakening Wardens!!!!! Sigrun, Velanna, and Nathaniel are some of my all-time favorite characters and it's been too long since we last saw them. (Oghren counts too, ig...) I also want Bioware to at least acknowledge Awakening's fucked up and retconned lore. Since we only just reached the point of the Warden disappearing, we can assume these guys are kicking around somewhere. With the theorized Warden civil war apparently brewing, and potential Weisshaupt concept art, I want to see them kicking ass and trying to save the Wardens from themselves--riding griffons all the while. Speaking of...

Valya, Reimas, and Caronel! We haven't heard from them since Last Flight, and I desperately want them to get some kind of acknowledgement for rediscovering griffons. If we do end up at Weisshaupt they'd better still be alive and making sure those griffon hatchlings are in good hands.

Merrill ❤ With everything going on with Solas, if Merrill doesn't get involved I'm suing. (And if she doesn't make jokes about Fenris adopting Vaea then what's the point!!!)

Isabela got featured in some concept art, so I'm hoping she makes an appearance--if not returning as a companion or captain of the ship base that some have theorized.

Warden Carver/Bethany. Again, the heavy emphasis on Wardes would be an ideal way of bringing them back.

Stroud, if survived. I can't think of anyone who chose him over Hawke, but if they did I can't see him not coming back in that circumstance.

Generally speaking, the Inquisition romances will probably all come back. The end of Trespasser shows them with the Inquisitor in that meeting so we can assume they'll have their LI's back. I've mentioned before that I only believe three or four will have expanded roles, and the rest will simply cameo. Obvious caveat to this is that Greg Smellis needs to be replaced so I can laugh that Cullen came back without him. (Bonus points if Anders' VA replaces him like he did for DA2.) This obviously doesn't apply to a Qun-aligned Bull. RIP.

Divine Victoria (all iterations). Since most people chose Leliana or Cassandra, that Trespasser cutscene hints at this even if they weren't elected Divine. But given the Inquisition--if still around--works for her, then we can assume all iterations of Victoria will come back in some capacity.

THE HERO OF FUCKING FERELDEN. With Gaider gone, I'm hoping the policy of keeping our original protagonist out of content went with him. ESPECIALLY because of that Warden civil war. (Also my Hero would never pass up the opportunity to have a griffon. C'mon, Bioware.)

HoF's romance. Again, I want Bioware to acknowledge the weird lore of Awakening. Alistair--even a king--apparently disappears according to the epilogue, so I want some kind of plot point with this. (Again: the Warden stuff seems to be an ideal way of bringing some back.) But all the other romances will probably feature (Leliana and Morrigan are two big ones), so fingers crossed. I don't think Zevran will be a companion like some theorize, but if the Crows are involved we know Zevran can't be far behind.

Hawke (if survived). Controversial, but I think a Hawke left in the Fade is probably dead. But if they weren't I'm hoping they'll feature--especially if Fenris is a companion, Varric is helping out, and Merrill and Isabela get involved.

Fucking Shale! Please, for the love of god, let Shale come back! (Imagine her meeting a Cadash Inquisitor lol)

Morrigan. (And by extension, Kieran.) Yeah, there's gonna be consequences for what happened last game. Yikes.

By that logic, and weirdly enough, Flemeth. We've seen her come back from a supposed death before, so I wouldn't be surprised if she pops up at some point. And if it's true that the Evanuris are our real Big Bads... 👀

Feynriel! We haven't seen him since Act 2, and most people have likely sent him to Tevinter to continue to hone his skills. I'd love to see him again and find out just how far he's come since Hawke saved him. I'm also interested if he's not aligned with Fen'Harel and how that will influence the use of his abilities. He's one I'd actually like to have as a companion, to be honest. But I'm putting him under general NPCs because I don't want to count on that hope.

Teia and Viago! They made a cameo in Deception, and I loved the tension between them in Eight Little Talons. Given the Crows' involvement as well as any potential consequences regarding Lucanis, I can't see them not coming back. (This speculation also then extends to the remaining Talons.)

Probably Sten. The high involvement of Qunari in Trespasser and later books/comics means we're likely to face down our old companion at some point. If the HoF does return, this could result in a fulfillment of Sten's promise to not look for them on the field.

[thoughts-of-a-bibleophile]

Oh my god, it’s time to scream about Kasumi.

Welcome to me being Back on My Bullshit, featuring Persona 5 Royal and hella spoilers until October. On this episode, we’re going to talk about Kasumi Yoshizawa and her awesome awakening scene because I have QUESTIONS.

So, we just going with her being a magical girl now? Because that transformation scene was unnecessarily over the top and ridiculous and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT.

Is this just the play on her being Cinderella/Cendrillon, with the fancy transformation and such? Does she have a time limit in battle or like a recharge time? Or am I thinking too much about this? Or is this just foreshadowing for future Persona games and characters to get magical girl transformation scenes? Because I am down for that. Give me DLC of Akira transforming into his Phantom Thief outfit with a good slow pan of his clothes and his hair doing the cool floopy floop in the imaginary wind. Give me magical girl Akira dammit.

The real question, though, is how she got into the Metaverse in the first place. This is all speculation on my part becuase I’ve only just gotten past her awakening scene, so I’m just theorizing what happens. Please don’t spoil anything beyond October for me. You can tell me I’m wrong about my guesses, but please don’t spoil what actually happens. Please.

Anyway, I’ve rewatched this scene a few times and paused the video to check the screen and there’s no Nav there; it’s just starting up by itself. So it makes me think there’s some sort of intervention going on that’s pulling her there because she’s supposed to meet Joker and Mona and her dead sister/her cognitive self? (And if that is her sister, that was morbid as fuck like Jesus Christ just damage the poor girl even more with a ghost of her dead sister why don’t you?) If it’s her cognitive self, then I suppose it was incentive to further step away from her perfect honors student persona (pun unintended.) Perhaps she’s another player of the game and it’s not just Akechi and Akira? She’s been way too important story-wise to just be an outside third party in the endgame. Adding on to that, the Shadow purposely killed the cognitive person in front of Kasumi, as if further pushing her to transform. And then the Shadow taunts her as well, not only with its own scorn but with the echoes of everyone’s comments. So clearly someone wants her to be a player in this game.

I just can’t tell if she’s on last boss’ side or the Thieves side in the end? Because from the first moment you meet her in Sae’s Palace, she’s not a member of the PT and doesn’t seem like she’ll be joining you either, but she also doesn’t seem antagonistic toward you, so I’m not sure what they’re going to do with her. I’m excited for whatever comes, though, because she’s been such a great, compelling character to follow. And it doesn’t look like they can really screw her up like Haru, either, even if you don’t befriend her, because she’s such an integral part of the story.

Also! It’s so weird that she doesn’t bleed at all during her transformation scene. That’s typically what happens when you rip off your mask - you bleed because you’re tearing away the mask on your heart and accepting the person inside, hence the persona. But...she just does her magical girl, yellow-eyes transformation instead. So either she has already somehow accepted her persona and is getting some weird transformation? Or maybe this was just a trick of the palace itself, making Mona and Joker see what they think they should see, another Phantom Thief? But then again she fought with you, but I accidentally saw a video titled “reawakening,” so now I can’t help but think this is all just a weird trick somehow or that Cendrillon isn’t her real/original Persona, like Robin Hood isn’t Akechi’s.

And the yellow eyes thing... Oh my god, she’s not just a part of the velvet room, right? She’s not a spirit sent down to watch over the protagonist and judge them, right? She’s clearly a human, but so was Teddie and he’s a Shadow, from what I understand. Did her sister not die actually? Or are they twins and Kasumi is taking her place in competitions and such so that they don’t fail? She did say “our dream,” after all... but then switches to “my dream” in reality. Whose dream is it? Logically it’s her and her sister’s, but i suppose it could be her family in general? Or...Maruki? Since she’s so close to him? And she’s clearly upset when he’s involved... Oh my god I really hope she’s not just some ghost that disappears at the end or whatever. DON’T DO THAT TO ME, ATLUS.

So now...I just have a lot of questions.

Anyway, I love one (1) girl and it’s Kasumi Yoshizawa. Thanks for reading and tune in next time for more screaming about fiction characters.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Deku!

I know it’s been a while, but this ask was in response to a post I put out asking others to give me characters from HeroAca other than Hawks to stretch my character analysis skills to see what theories, predictions, or just interesting observations I find. Because this is outside the realm of my usual character subjects and my style may not be well known in this tag - I ramble and am long-winded, hence the cut to not be obnoxious to scroll past. As a manga reader I won’t add any information past the anime’s run so far if you’re curious and want to hear what I have to say.

Deku’s an interesting character to look at in the series because compared to the way we find out about literally every other character, we outright know what he’s thinking or what he’s doing or how he’s feeling, so any development we see from him we pretty much see it coming from a mile away. He’s an open book.

In contrast, not many fans were able to see how Aoyama may have been struggling with feelings of inadequacy over his abilities - particularly in the Sports Festival Arc; and this became obvious with the license exam in season 3, but the point goes that while many fans saw it coming, there were those who weren’t able to read between the lines and saw him as a two-dimensional joke character meant to fill up the class roster up to that point.

We don’t really have that level of mystery or uncertainty with Deku. As the main viewpoint into the series and the world Horikoshi is building, we’re basically experiencing everything that’s happening vicariously through Deku. Yet, it’s not like there’s no room for theories, specularization, or characterization with his character. I’ve already said I’m avoiding spoilers so theories and most speculation are out of the question as I can only vaguely hint that there’s some potentially neat thematic parallels beginning to be explored in part through him, but that’s about as many of the beans I can spill without dumping out the whole thing.

I had some neat stuff to talk about before I actually sat down and started writing this and realized so much of it was spoiler-y; but at least in way of my opinions on Deku, I haven’t actively rooted for the main anime protagonist like this in a while and his likeability is off the charts. That said, he’s not a stellar role model just yet, mainly due to his hero complex. We’ll see some of the nuance of this subject explored in the next season, but by and large Deku’s drive to save people can use some level-headed reigning in before he acts. There are many times where his action is completely appropriate and justified - almost always when there’s someone right in front of him that needs saving; and let me make it perfectly clear that the unyielding drive to help someone in distress is a positive quality through and through; but when he goes out of his way to break the rules and disregards the repercussions in order to save someone I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t gotten in much bigger trouble so far what with his history of it at this point.  That’s all to say that he’s a loose canon in the series so far and needs more experience before he’s real top hero material.

However, I don’t think this lone wolf mentality is what Horikoshi is trying to glorify or endorse through the series. My guess is that the series as a whole is philosophically leaning towards the Good Samaritan principle. (I said I wasn’t theorizing, but I guess I’m a liar now.)

If you aren’t familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, it’s a parable in the Bible Jesus told about doing the right thing in helping others, no matter who you or the other person is - even if under normal circumstances the person you’re helping would despise you. This story is so iconic that there’s a type of law named after it - The Good Samaritan Law.  (And if you’re unfamiliar with it you should read it and the other parables in the Bible, they’re not just moral tales but might get you good points on an English/Literature essay if you reference them well.) 

It differs from place to place and not all countries have them, but the principle is if you think someone is in immediate danger and you attempt to save them they can’t turn around and sue you for “wrongdoing.” For example, if you see a baby or an animal locked in a car on a hot day and you smash the windows to pull them out and get them cooled down, whoever owns that car can’t sue you for smashing their windows and damaging their car. There’s a lot more nuance and fine print, but that’s the basic idea. In many cases where this law exists it actually legally obligates the bystander to help. The hope is that these laws help reduce the Bystander Effect (really neat if you look it up, but also scary and very humbling) and encourage people to help those in imminent danger without fear of negative repercussions.

Something I didn’t quite realize until now is that with the advent of a superhuman society, the Good Samaritan Principle is largely done away with all the way across the globe. Even if people are in active, life-threatening danger, you can’t use your powers to step in unless you have a hero license or you risk getting in serious legal trouble. To an extent this is understandable in a precarious and delicate situation - just look at the precision called for in the second half of the Provisional License Exam; but it occurred to me that not only are everyday people discouraged from getting directly involved they’re actively penalized if they do! If a hero was already on the case or shows up while you stall for time it makes sense to not insert yourself and complicate matters - you wouldn’t get in the middle of a hostage negotiation, for instance. Yet, that’s not what we see reflected in the series. There’s an over-saturation of heroes to the general public so that there’s almost always a hero close by to swoop in which rarely ever leaves an opening for someone else to step in while a hero is on their way; and the problem with this is that it leads to an over-dependence on heroes to intervene in other’s lives instead of taking the responsibility into one’s own hands as a citizen of the community.

This has repercussions that are directly echoed across the series, even (and especially) up to date. If you’re not a hero, you’re supposed to step back and let a “professional” handle it. If there’s truly no “Good Samaritan” exception in the world of HeroAca then that really gives Deku a solid ideal to embody and work towards in his world. He outright inspired All Might at the beginning of the series because he demonstrated the Good Samaritan Principle when rescuing Bakugo.

“It doesn’t matter that he hates me and bullies me and steps on my dreams. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a hero and can’t even stand up for myself. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t have any kind of superpower to use in this situation. He’s in danger and if I don’t do something now he’ll die! I can’t let that happen, and I won’t let that happen!”

That’s literally the parable in a nutshell. He even gets reprimanded for it after the fact, but he certainly doesn’t apologize for it. Deku is the personification of the “hero’s heart.” It’s recklessly helping others when they need help, and the moment he recognizes that someone is lashing out in pain (a la Todoroki or Shinsou or even Bakugo) he instantly recognizes that even though they may be against him in the moment and that threat needs to be reigned in, they’re still as much in need of saving as someone falling from a building. While All Might deterred crime through threat of force, Deku is on track to deter them before they even get to that place at all, and his character is making a case of normalizing this mentality instead of drawing black and white lines in the sand and chasing the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause. (I’m literally having a big brain moment typing this, “All Might-y power” in one generation vs “Deku” as someone who might normally be worthless but only needs a nudge to become “Dekiru/ I-can-do-it!”)

It’s a theme resonating through the series about how heroism and villainy both have roots in the heart, and while there are threats that have to be dealt with in the immediate and physical, there’s still an emotional and psychological component that has not only gone unaddressed for too long but is directly responsible for the surge of villains in society. You can already see it in so many of the League of Villains’ members (and some of the more troubled heroes) - if someone had been there to reach out their hand and metaphorically save them when they personally needed it in their lives (“It’s okay, I’m here.”) then they probably never would have become bad guys in the first place.

When all’s said and done, I think that’s the point of Deku’s character in the story, why he’s the main character, and why he’s going to be the greatest hero in the world.

~~~~~

Wow, that was more satisfying to write than I thought it would be. And to you, Momo and Uraraka anon, I have heard your question and I am trying to get it out soon. I just have… Much work to do.

After that, though, I hope to open HC requests again soon!

[ifeellikeameowster]

So About the Numbers...

Just finished watching Stranger Things season 3 with my Mom (it’s one of the few shows we watch and bond with together) and we were discussing and theorizing about The Numbers (Such as Eight/Kali and Eleven/El) as we’ve dubbed them and their possible powers and roles they could have in the show. We also tied in other’s theories and speculations that we really liked and thought would work well with our ideas.

Here’s what we came up with(warning - long post under cut):

 Probably not all of them survived. We’re guessing the first few, probably One through Seven (with Eight being the oldest surviving Number), have died tragically due to the tests the scientists were forcing them to go through. It’s most likely that they considered these first few failed experiments since they didn’t know how to properly test and train them just yet. We came up with 13 being the total original number but only 6 (Eight through Thirteen, will discuss the last two later) being around/surviving until now(the time of the series) but with a total of 7 on the final team if Will does have powers and joins in as an Honorary Number(really hoping he does), since both 13 and 7 hold a lot of symbolism and weight to them.

 They most likely all have different Psychic abilities/powers instead of Physical. Which seems to be what the scientists were focusing on with Eleven and Eight, in order to better spy and traverse the multiple planes. And this possibly ties into what powers Will could have too, with all of the allusions to shadow walking and plan traversing for him so far throughout the series along with the sensing/part clairvoyancy he had for the creature(s) in season 3. 

 Each of the different Squads/Team Ups for the next 1 or 2 seasons could run across one of the Numbers. This could be a nice callback to how they accidentally (or fatefully) ran into Eleven in the first season. And also allow for the Numbers to still come in even though Will, El and the others would probably be more focused on finding Hopper(we know he’s still alive I mean come on).The Byers and El could be the ones to run into Kali/Eight again since they hold the most emotional weight with her(El does specifically). 

 The ones we know so far. El/Eleven most likely has the most powers, especially since she seemed to be the scientist’s favorite/most successful experiment. Her powers mainly include Telekinesis/Psychokinesis(moving objects with her mind) and Telepathy(receives thoughts/memories from and connecting to others minds using the In-between). Though she probably also has Empathy(based on her interactions with Will, Heather, and Billy in the In-between where she appeared to be feeling their emotions herself), Clairvoyancy(a trait most likely shared with Will though hers seems to be geared more towards people while his seems to be geared more towards monsters), Levitation(can be achieved through her Telekinesis), and Retrocognition/Postcognition(seeing past events, mostly through others or through the In-between). Kali/Eight obviously has the power of Illusion and through that she might also be able to implant thoughts and memories into others minds instead of just images( this would be her more invasive version of El’s Telepathy). She most likely also has Thoughtography(imprinting images from one’s mind onto real world surfaces) which would be a more specific branch of her Illusions. Wil/Honorary Number, if he does have powers, would obviously be a plain traverser/ shadow walker which is most likely his version of Astral Projection with slight Apportation(teleporting oneself and objects). I’ve noticed people also speculating over him having Teleporting(which would tie into his version of Astral Projecting) and Invisibility(which could be his version of Kali/Eight’s Illusions) powers which I really love and have to absolutely agree with. Finally, there’s also his version of Clairvoyancy I mentioned earlier which seems to include Auto Writing(or drawing in his case, mainly based on season 2) and a bit of Precognition(being able to see the Mindflayer coming into their world before it actually happened).

 The ones we have yet to see. So that means so far we have 2 official surviving Numbers and 1 Honorary Number, leaving 4 more official Numbers to be found to make our dream team of 7. Which would be Nine, Ten, Twelve and Thirteen. The reason we included Twelve and Thirteen is that we still don’t believe Jane is Eleven or that El is the same as the girl in the Rainbow Room. There’s an age discrepancy between her and Kali/Eight that hints that they’re not the same person(which has been theorized by many before). So either Jane’s the one in the room and older than Eleven (making her Nine or Ten) or she was an unseen baby (making her Twelve or Thirteen). The former seems more probable given the timeline and Kali and El’s age gap. Either way though, we’re also guessing that they definitely didn’t stop at El and were beginning to create others that weren’t to her stage testing wise yet(probably being held at other facilities- we highly doubt there was just the one).

 Heavy Speculation Town. This is the part where we go a bit off the deep end and basically start writing our own show but bear with us. We came up with psychic based power sets and in some cases character plot points for the remaining members of the Numbers dream team. We hadn’t assigned them specific numbers though so I might as well go ahead and do that now, if only just to put them into placeholders. But bear in mind that this is mostly what we’d be most excited to see and/or what we feel would fit best for the show and that these power sets and especially the placements have a lot of wiggle room.

 Nine/The Firestarter. This Number could have mainly Pyrokinesis(fire control and manipulation) and perhaps some Energy Manipulation(to an extent of course) and Aura Reading(being able to sense other’s powers and abilities, maybe even the monsters). I made them the next oldest surviving number after Kali/Eight due to another idea we came up with for them based off of the theories other’s have come up with for a “Winter Soldier”-esque plot for a potentially surviving(or resurrected) Billy. The idea is basically based on a similar trope I’ve seen for a lot of Pyrokinetics (Such as Tom from Star Vs and Zuko from Avatar) where the fire starter is seen in a negative light at first before they’re redeemed and start helping the protagonists out. If Billy really is being brainwashed and used by the Russians, then perhaps they found one of the Numbers as well and have been brainwashing them too- allowing both him and the pyro to have an arc where they break free, redeem themselves, and join the main group. Fire is also a wonderfully useful power to add to the team due to the Upside down's creatures aversion to heat!

 Ten/The Rainbow Room Girl. This could possibly be Jane herself, or just the girl seen in the Rainbow Room with Kali. Being Ten would make her slightly older than El/Eleven and closer to Kali/Eight’s age. This Number could have Psychometry/Psychoscopy(ability to gain insight or visions through touching physical objects) which could be a prerequisite to El/Eleven’s more controlled way of gaining her insight through people and minds themselves. She could also have an early version of El’s ability to traverse plains using the In-Between(and Will’s potential ability to do so without the In-Between), which would be the power of Portal Making or Opening. This would be a more out of control way of traveling the plains since it temporarily opens the passageways up for everyone instead of just oneself. An accident with this ability could also explain where she’s been all this time/what’s happened to her and how her mom and Kali/Eight could never find her until now. It could also explain why the scientists also started making a machine to open up the passageways instead of having just the experimental kids do it- they realized because of Ten that it was too much of a job for the kids to handle alone. If Ten is Jane or the Rainbow Room Girl, it would then make sense for Hopper to find her while he’s trying to escape the Russians. Maybe the Russians manage to open a passageway to wherever she trapped herself during their experiments and she tumbles out into Hopper, who then comes to the realization/revelation that El/Eleven is not Jane- this girl is. And having similar yet less controllable/less poweful powers as Eleven would be another wonderful way to draw parallels between their two characters and overall arcs!

 Twelve/The Body Snatcher. This Number could have another version of Astral Projection and Telepathy that is more inline with Mind Control and Hive Minds. Their power could have been modeled after the Upside down’s creatures abilities to posses and body snatch people, after the scientist’s first run ins with the monsters(assuming they ran into the creatures previously before season 1, or at least that another location did). Instead of traversing plains, they mind hop from body to body(perhaps even animal’s bodies as well) in order to hide, sneak around, communicate, and gather information. If Radios or Walkie Talkies fail, this Number could be the replacement by jumping into multiple willing hosts or maybe even connecting the minds of all previous hosts. If trained well enough, this Number could also potentially take control of monster’s bodies and fight fire with fire so to speak. They might even be able to gain information from the mind of each host they’re in (which would be a more direct and potentially harmful version of El/Eleven’s information gathering abilities). This character would essentially be a human version of the Mindflayer that uses those types of powers/abilities for good instead of evil! My hope for them then would be to be the Number that runs into Mike, Nancy, Lucas, and Max’s group due to them all being present at the Mall fight with the Mindflayer and thusly would have a lot of reservations towards someone with that power set.

 Thirteen/The Stunted. This Number would essentially be mostly powerless. Being the last one potentially created before the scientists were shut down, they were rushed out and not properly tested on/experimented with. They might be able to sense the other Number’s(like how Eight/Kali and Eleven/El seemed to sense one another) but that would be it. This would certainly make them feel out of place amongst the other Numbers and allow them to later on bond with Will, who has went through the same feelings before. They would also be another reason why Will is brought in as an Honorary Number in the first place, since there’s essentially a gap in the team. Perhaps since Will has so many negative associations and past trauma with his powers(unlike El/Eleven who has used her powers to save those she loves multiple times and definitely wants her powers back) he could eventually permanently give Thirteen his powers(further strengthening their bond). If the theory I saw that El unknowingly temporarily gave Hopper her powers is true, then she could be the one to show him how to do this. After the other Numbers I’ve listed, that leaves Thirteen to be the one to run into Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica’s group. They would be yet another kid for Steve to babysit (at least this one doesn’t have superpowers to sass him with like El does Hopper...yet). And since Thirteen is the youngest of the Numbers this could potentially let them get along well with Erica, the youngest of the overall group so far!

Whew, there we have it. Wow that was so much longer than I though it would be. Sorry about that lol. But if you actually read any of this please let me know what you think of our ideas and if you have any of your own theories for the Numbers. Super hyped about the potential of these superpowered kids!

[pocket-infinity]

It’s TOO time babey

Heyyyyyy guess who it is again? It’s me, talking about The Only Option by @corruptapostasy! Spoilers (if you somehow couldn’t have guessed) and Go Read It Right Now I’m Serious Leave This Post.

Now the logical functions of my brain had a complete cease function, so I did what I always do and just started writing a whole damn whatever-this-is about it. Now, without further a due, let’s just decipher the order of people speaking in Grimm’s memory fragments, why the fuck not?

So, initial order…

“Please, brother? Just once?” - Radiance 1

“Wyrm, do you have any idea who he is? He is the Nightmare King. He is the master of fear and death. He cannot be trusted. What would our Radiance think if she knew of you here with him?” TWL (some part of me wants to say it's Lurien for some reason) 2

“Master, please, don’t go back in there. One Wyrm, one measly little Wyrm, can’t be worth this. It can’t be worth walking into her clutches.” Brumm 3

“Don’t tell lies to me. A God like you, stuck? Next thing you’ll be telling me is that the sky is red.” PK 4

[...]

“What did I tell you?! What did I say would happen?! You just didn’t listen! You didn’t listen and now she has you again!” Brumm again(?) 5

“How do I know I can really trust you when I know that you plan to use him as a pawn? I felt you in my roots the moment you went out to watch the Wyrm die. I know you seek him just as much as she does.” 6

“Sometimes I speculate as to why you were the first person I saw when I crawled free from my own corpse. Sometimes I can’t help but feel as if you wanted to use me somehow. I wonder why that is, Enkay. I wonder, indeed.” PK again 7

“Grimm. There's nothing around your throat. Breathe. I can feel it. They're memory fragments. You need to breathe.” Enkay and other spirits etc etc. 8

Now y’all know it’s justification time. The general pattern is that the person who just spoke in actual voice is then speaking in memory. So, for instance, the text says, “The King’s voice is absent, and somehow, even then, he can still hear it,” right before the memory plays in italics. This happens for about 90% of the text, including the first time Brumm speaks, both times PK speaks, and that’s about all I can give before my brain gets remarkably skeptical. Also, the bit at the beginning? the use of the word “brother” makes it clear that it’s Radiance talking.

So, what about the other ones? Where is my skepticism coming from? Well, let’s start with that first time The White Lady might be speaking. Maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t sound particularly like TWL to refer to Radi as “our Radiance”, that just sounds mor in line with Lurien during the period he was a slave. But I’m grasping at the farthest straws there, so for all intents and purposes, it’s TWL speaking there. But that second time Brumm speaks? Okay, yes, 99.9% chance it’s Brumm, but it says “A shadow falls over him, the sound of a deep rumbling voice, stricken with panic,” right before. Again, grasping at the farthest of straws (I’m breaking my own record at this point), but “deep rumbling voice”? That’s just gonna get a solid hmm from me. But this next one, speaker 6? I have a monumental unknown as to who it is that’s speaking. The question is: who is in on Enkay’s game, doesn’t trust Enkay, and would specifically use the term “my roots”? The White Lady isn’t in on it, so she’s crossed off. The Radiance definitively does not know that Enkay created PK, so she’s out of the running. I’d certainly hope everyone in Enkay’s clan trusted him, so they’re gone (not like any of them would use the term “my roots” anyway). So who the actual hell is speaking? Well, let’s just put that in a box and ignore it. Moving on…

So it’s analysis and/or timeline time! First line, “Please, brother? Just once?” is proceeded a few lines earlier by the description of the runes as, “Dream, mind, combine, break, open, allow.” Now, hear me out, what if this was one hell of an older memory. I’d posit that it belong to “137” as The Fundament calls them later on, given that that’s the only guess I can come up with. The next bit, 2, is more likely than not someone pulling PK aside and not-so-subtly saying those words to him while Enkay is in the room, so I’m going to say it was one of those times that Enkay sunk into PK’s room (which is adorable, but the reason why he did it was terrifying). Seriously, though, I just don’t know if TWL would have said anything like that; she doesn’t seem the type. Lurien, on the other hand… he would worry about those things. 3 likely occurs right when Enkay is about to escape and then decides not to because he loves The Pale King (adorable). 4 is pretty open and shut; I don’t think I need to explain it. 5 is someone telling off Enkay because of their previous decision. 6 is someone being very skeptical and/or suspicious about trusting Enkay, but because we don’t know who that someone is, we can’t say anything definitive. 7 is another open-and-shut case, and 8 is just the continuation out of the section.

But, wait, hold the phone for a moment. Okay, now give it to me because I’ve got some more shit to talk about. That […], there’s a bit of text in that […], and I think it might be important. The information reads as “He takes another wheezing breath of frigid air, Heart hammering in his chest. Help me. His hands reach up to his throat and his entire body cringes at phantom electricity, a choked noise escaping him, and he grips his horns instead. Can't breathe. Can't breathe!” and, “Don't look at me like this. Helpless. Helpless. Grimm coughs, doubling over, one hand clutching at his throat and the other holding his knee, and he wheezes.” Now, here’s my question: panic attack systems OR manifestations of memories? Probably panic attack symptoms, but I’m going to indulge myself here. My thought for this is that Grimm specifically grabs at his throat twice while he cringes at a “phantom electricity.” We all know Enkay got beheaded, and I don’t think I need to explain my logic further. Okay, that sounds completely insane, but I’m having fun here, alright?

So, that brings us to a close for this time. It certainly is fun writing these, almost as much as reading the thing itself (usually theorizing is more fun, but this one is just too damn good). And, of course, thank you for reading.

[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #53: Out (7/6/2018)

This is it, boys and girls. The “hiatus”, as we’ve called it for the last 364 days, is finally, finally, finally over... probably. Let’s cover the week that was, and look forward to the new era that could be.

This Week’s TØPics: 

“New” Music Discovery

The Last Message From Dema

The Return of WILD SPECULATION

Major News and Announcements:

On any other week, new music from Tyler Joseph would be the biggest news story. And... well, I mean, I guess it should be, so we’ll cover it first, but it really doesn’t feel like it. That’s really weird, isn’t it?

@ultrawafflehouse shared a unique piece of content with the world in the middle of the week. After a friend of a friend received an old Tyler Joseph mixtape from a local youth pastor trying to prove his street cred to the middle schoolers of suburban Ohio, Ultra discovered that two of the unnamed tracks were pieces of music that had never previously found their way onto the Internet. 

One of the unnamed tracks is a slick instrumental with elements of some of Tyler’s other early works like “Two” and “I Need Something To Kill Me” on full display: i.e., an extremely promising but unfinished arrangement from an extremely talented novice with no training or experience and a dozen better ideas than this that he decided to actually flesh out. Little wonder it, like presumably most of Tyler’s work, never made it to the general public.

The other track, however, actually sounds like a full song. Dubbed “Going Down” due to the phrase’s repetition in the hook, the track fits in perfect with the general No Phun Intended/Self-Titled sound; passionately-sung heart-on-sleeve lyrics supported by a simple piano arrangement with some basic hip-hop elements thrown in. I’ll be real: I was not blown away by this song. The writing in general, particularly on the hook, is low-energy, all over the place, and stretches the metaphors real thin. Tyler’s vocal delivery is at peak teenage whine, and his bars in the sole rap verse seem amateurish and out of breath. 

But I wasn’t expecting to love it- most of Tyler’s stuff pre-Self-Titled, and even some tracks on the first two albums, are clearly made by someone who has no real clue how to do the whole music thing. “Drown” and “Blasphemy” are the only truly great songs from No Phun Intended, and they were both repurposed later down the road when Tyler had a better idea what he was actually doing. I still think Tyler is a genius, but he was not born the songwriter and performer he had become by the time Fueled By Ramen signed him. I still appreciate tracks like these, but more as historical curiosities, stepping stones to what Twenty One Pilots would become with brief flashes of Tyler’s insightful introspection and genuine brilliance.

The biggest news of the week, as with last week’s update, was not new music, but updates from the world of Dema. To start, we got three updates from dmaorg.info on Sunday. The first was a gif of a creepy vulture slowly turning to camera. Not too much to derive from this one. There’s the iconography of vultures, aka the carrion feeders who consume the bodies of the dead left at real-world Towers of Silence. The vulture can be seen to “blink” with its thin transparent eyelid, aligning it with the fifth Closing Eye Lyric: “Nobody dreams when they blink.” This correlation is strengthened by the name of the gif itself: “i”.

The second post, another letter from Clancy, was much more intriguing. The letter contains some great prose, with Clancy describing how the bishops have robbed the denizens of Dema of their dreams using something referred to as “smearing” and pledging to not let them crush his hope. The references to nighttime and light connect it to the sixth Closing Eye Lyric, “remember the morning is when night is dead”. The image title of this update is “e_sr_eve_r.jpg” (”reverse” in reverse), and that’s reflected both the content of the letter and its organization- you can swap the order of the sentences, and it still makes perfect sense. But why this command to reverse? To what end? Hmm....

The answer to that comes in the third update, a simple smattering of yellow marks slipped out of chronological order in the middle of the list the list under the date of the band’s Grammy win. When laid over the Clancy letter, the markings for individual letters again spell out the word “trench”, which connects it to the audio clip from the previous Dema update, while the solid vertical lines highlight the phrase “We are banditos.” When you connect all these dots and reverse that audio, as several people had already discovered previously, it becomes pretty clear that Tyler is singing “We are banditos.” What does that mean? Well, hold your horses, kid, because the circled letters in the message spell out “end”. That looked like it might be it...

Until the gif that originally revealed the Dema site made its way back onto the main website. Many interpreted this to be the fulfillment of the last Closing Eye Lyric, “Now I just sit in silence,” due to the gif ending with the finale of the “Car Radio” music video, and a sign to the Clique to pay attention to the site if they weren’t already.

dmaorg.info finished its mission on Thursday with another rush of content. First, a photo of a vast desert with a single small figure possibly visible on the horizon. The image was simply titled “o_ut.jpg”. Not much else to say; once again, the big reveal was delivered to us by Clancy.

This letter is honestly the best fiction writing and world-building I’ve seen from Tyler yet, good enough to make me wonder if he’s been considering writing a Hunger Games-style YA series if this whole music career thing doesn’t pan out. Clancy lays out his plan to break out of Dema: since it will be impossible to sneak past the huge walls unnoticed, he plans to make a big commotion during the enclave’s biggest holiday, the Annual Assemblage of the Glorified, to distract the “watchers” and permit those from the “other side” to find a way in, then avoid being “smeared” by the bishops until the others can show him the way out. There are tons of great details and turns of phrase (”concrete coffin of a city”) and really cool moments (”They don’t control us” should sound way more cringey than it reads here.) They even snuck in a final hidden message message: following the dotted lines up the same number of rows as there are squares reveals one last “Wake up.”

The biggest takeaway from this letter, though, is how direct it is. It makes reference to it being “a year since the last convocation” and directly says that “by morning, everything will be different.” And, if you still didn’t get the message- *poof*. Within minutes of the Clique posting and dissecting these new posts, dmaorg.info was gone. They pulled the plug. The only evidence of the last few months of theorizing, speculating, and decoding will be on Reddit threads lost to the dust of time, as our thoughts become occupied with a whole different type of Twenty One Pilots content...

WILD SPECULATION:

As of the moment I’m writing this (7/6/18, 1 am PST), the band has not released any new music. I am not bopping to “Jumpsuit” right now. But something is totally happening within the next 12-24 hours. The only question is... what?

Well, I have zero information beyond the registration of the song titles “Nico and the Niners” and “Jumpsuit” and the implication that the songs will relate to this unfolding tale of Clancy and the Bishops of Dema. But I do have some theories/wishes.

First, I don’t think we’ll be getting a whole new album all at once. Twenty One Pilots ain’t Beyonce. They don’t have the clout (yet) for FBR to let them get away with dropping a full project with zero mainstream promo (also, there’s no other registered song titles, so nothing for at least a few weeks). I think that, in following the standard pop music tradition of the last few years, we’ll get two singles dropped on the first day (the aforementioned registered names), with a music video for one to tide us over, then a trickle of songs for two or three months before an album in time for the holidays. I suspect “Jumpsuit” to be the main radio-play single (I’m already picturing a prison break from Dema for the video), while “Nico” serves as the song for the fans that lays out more about this concept.

The thing that excites me most about the whole Dema idea is that, unlike the rather straightforward metaphor of Blurryface, the ARG content we’ve received so far has laid out an entire world populated with multiple named characters and concepts that we aren’t clear on just yet. Because of that, I think we might get quite a few songs (like, hopefully, “Nico”) that focus more on storytelling (and, also hopefully, killer soundscapes) than just affirming the importance of staying alive. I really hope “Nico” is, like, a nine-minute long rock/EDM opera that lays out all the different bishops’ plans and motivations while mashing genres in the classic TØP style. I really want to see Tyler and Josh push themselves artistically, and I think that what we’ve seen so far is really indicating that is the case.

A few more questions (and some speculation): 

What other songs are coming? “Trench”? “Heavy”? “Banditos”? “Wake Up”? “Coconut Sharks: Requiem”? (No clue, can’t wait to find out.)

What will the promo look like? Will the band bother to participate in local radio interviews anymore? (Depends on how early sales go, I think.) Will they do any long-form/in-depth sit downs? (Rooting for Zane Lowe, but also hoping a mag like Rolling Stone that’s willing to put artists in the hot seat puts Tyler on his toes and asks some of the difficult questions.)

What can we expect of tour? (I’m calling amphitheater followed by arena shows, just like with Blurryface and a lot of the bigger FBR acts. Praying for more live musicians and maybe some theatrical stuff with Dema.)

What will the album be called? Dema? Silence? Tower of Silence? Iris [remember that, holy crap]? Blurryface 2: Electric Boogaloo? Hard to say (Probably the first one, let’s be real).

Will it be successful? (Almost definitely not as much as Blurryface. We’ll have to see how hard they focus on the Dema concept or an alternative sound, since radio hates weird.) Will it be good? (Yes. I was unsure for a long time, but I’ve got a really good feeling now. A really, really good feeling.)

Community Spotlight:

This is technically cheating, but I am part of the community, so I’m gonna write about myself today. Forgive me.

Last year, on my 21st birthday, Twenty One Pilots posted a shut eye and some mirrored lyrics on their social media and then, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. I spent my whole twenty-first year of life without ‘em (the irony is not lost on me), which was weird considering how much they had inspired and impacted me throughout high school and college.

I did a lot of stuff when I was 21. I graduated college. I got a new job. I made friends. I lost friends. I got in fights. I learned to let go, but not soon enough to spare someone I cared about from unnecessary heartbreak. I turned corners in my mental health, only to run into new walls. I listened to a ton of music. I grew up.

Today, I turned 22. The irony of the absence of Twenty One Pilots aside, I’m so glad I had the chance to figure out who I was without this band by my side every step of the way. I learned that I could make it. And now I get to have them back while I continue to make it. How sick a birthday gift is that?

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

[aerislei]

MHA - Post Season 1 Wrap Up

Season one covered a lot of ground and introduced a huge number of characters.  It’s, ah, pretty ambitious tbh. That’s a big cast to keep track of and keep everyone interested in. And while it looks like they aren’t staying restricted to 13 episode seasons (thank goodness) there is still really limited screentime to work with when you consider we’ve got... Baku, Deku, Momo, Todoroki, ... ... Ochaco, that’s her name. And also... Kirishima, Mina, All Might, Aizawa...Jiru... I could go on and on, at this point.

Most characters are a name, a power, and a big question mark. I’m not going to even try to cover the whole cast, just going to pull a few I have something to say about, but below are a few characters and my current thoughts/theories. I do a more general wrap up at the end as well with what I’m thinking as we go forward.

I’m 13 episodes in, with more than 60 total. I’ve got some work to go yet.

This is the part where I mention (possibly reiterate) that I really don’t mind spoilers (because I am of the mind that it’s not necessarily the bit of information but how we get to it/learn about it/etc that makes the story what it is) and because of that I am somewhat steeped in information about MHA that was not necessarily available when season one was originally released. This is not a blind watching of the anime, and so some of my theorizing is based on information that I know comes into play, but don’t know how. I don’t really go seeking spoilers and I have been slightly more cautious since I started watching, but yeah, some things are inevitable. 

Bakugo

I still think he’s compensating for something. He is settling into class better, after the combat practice episode. But there’s something... hm. He’s not got a good base, and I’m still suspecting some sort of rough place in his history with his quirk bringing positive attention that he craved. ... Or negative attention, even. Anything is better than being ignored right? This is speculation, but that’s where I am with him right now. I was very proud of his actions during the Villain attack, but... his personality remains all sharp edges. Still not sure I like him exactly, but here we are. He’s not a bad character, just a complicated one.

... I really which I knew why Deku keeps calling him -chan tho bc that’s generally a term of endearment and hell if they don’t seem to really not like each other. Like were they actually friendly once? Because all the flashbacks have the friendliness as very... very one sided. On the other hand, it may just be that he calls him -chan because that’s the sort of person Deku is. Hrm.

Ahhhhhh. I’m actually excited to see where the rivalry drives them, I didn’t expect to say that. But the two of them are in a position to push each other very... very far. I still want to see him develop more as a friend of Kirishima tho. He could use actual friends it seems.

Kirishima

It took me a second to remember his quirk, right, hardening. Okay. So! He’s had a combined total of like 5 minutes of screentime, curse of a cast this large. He is intriguing to me. He has a very hero-like attitude, is the best way I can describe it. And by that I mean his general outlook on ... for example, he and Bakugo going after warpgate, he recognized that they got in the way, and it may have been partially their fault that Thirteen wasn’t able to stop things before they were all scattered. He wanted to fix that.

He works really well with Bakugo in a way I’m not sure how to describe. I do hope to see them becoming friends, to an extent because I get the sense that maybe both of them could use a friend. I have a slight guess that he may feel drawn to Bakugo because they’re similar in some ways - but I haven’t quite figured out how because they have very different outlooks, externally.

I kind of ship Kiribaku, despite aforementioned combined total of maybe 5 minutes. Don’t judge me too harshly.

I really wanna know more about this guy, I think that’s all.

Todoroki

Literally a name a power and a question mark. We know he got in on recommendation - of course we don’t know who’s, but I’m not sure it’s important. What’s interesting though, and Midoriya brought it up in the monologue during um, Hero Notebook, I think, and I realized he’s right. We’ve never seen him use the heat portion of his quirk except to release his classmates that he froze in the combat practice episode. He relies almost solely on the ice portion. Now, this could be because freezing people in place is super effective and he hasn’t needed anything more but it’s still... interesting.

Especially when coupled with the burn on the side of his face, around his eye. That scar reminds me of Zuko, ofc (seriously look at that picture. I’m not convinced the imagery was accidental). Don’t know how he got it yet, but I literally cannot imagine that that burn isn’t extremely important - it’s very prominent and honestly I’d be surprised they bothered with something like that on a character that’s already extremely identifiable by his hair alone if it wasn’t important to his character somehow. And I also suspect it’s highly likely that it relates to why he doesn’t use the heat portion of his powers. 

This is partially helped along by listening to ‘Sparks Rise’ and ‘Burn’. Neither of which give any particular details but *shrug*. I’ll leave anyone who hasn’t heard them to consider their additions to what little we see in season 1, because he has more than Kirishima’s screen time but not by much.

So, with that in mind. Ice Zuko Todoroki here, due to comparisons in my own head with Zuko, I’m predicting some kind of family issues. Indeterminate type. And I’m hedging a bet on, he’s either becoming a hero bc his family is pushing him to, or because he wants to get back at a family member for something. Perhaps the burn?

I’m looking forward to seeing if we get to see him use his fire seriously at some point. And, of course, learning more about what made him the way he is.

Midoriya

Okay so our main protagonist, and to be honest the one we know the most about. ... I have questions, of course, like where is his father and do we ever find out? But for the most part, we know he grew up watching heroes and that’s why he’s doing what he’s doing. His ultimate idol All Might is grooming him as a successor and that’s... I mean awesome for him. Dreams come true and all.

Easily arguable as one of the weaker combatants because he can’t use his quirk without half killing himself. But he’s got that, um, ... I think i’m going to go with inspiring personality (one of my friends @that-one-gundam-guy called him a Labrador in human form at one point and tbh that is so accurate). He’s very we can do it, happy go lucky, but he’s also very determined and he is taking this seriously. Even if he is extremely nervous outside of serious situations.

Anyway, he’s got a really good head in a fight. Probably second only to ... Momo and Todoroki, he is extremely good at analyzing a situation and the strengths/potential weaknesses of an enemy. His habit of collecting and analyzing everything about Heroes he can find will definitely serve him well in the field because he can recognize how a quirk can be used and how best to get around it. .... Mind he generally won’t have the tools to get around it himself. Currently, at least.

Aside from the fact that he’s not yet mastered his quirk there’s the fact that he tends to freeze up in certain situations. But there’s time to get around that yet. ... Though I hope at some point he starts to get a style that’s... his instead of just him copying All Might. Like, given the way One For All works, it’s gotta be possible to do... other stuff with it? Stuff that might suit his... much... smaller form better? I mean, yes it’s a close range quirk and he’s going to have to get into close combat, but punches can’t possibly be the only option. Some variation would be good.

All in all...

There’s still a lot of ground to cover and I’ve got a lot of hope for the series. Lots of room for everyone to grow and maybe for some reveals that will expand on some of our characters so they’re more than a power and a name. But there are... like 20 episodes in next season, so there should be more screen time to do all of that in.

Somewhere out there we have Kurogiri and Tomura (see I do know Warpgate and Hands’ names... lol)... and whoever is actually commanding them. But they’re still out there, and that means that they are going to pull their forces together and try to come after All Might again at some point. ... And Tomura certainly took notice of Deku. That’s not going to end well.

Or no, it will. But not before it hurts like heck all, I’m sure. Not sure it’ll be this next season though? Depends on how far they want to drag that plotpoint out for, I suppose. ... And how many times Tomura and Kurogiri strike before they hit gold, so to speak.

I was thinking though, the person they were speaking to when they first got back to their hideout took some serious interest when Tomura mentioned ‘the kid’. Does one of our bad guys know about One for All’s ability to be transferred between holders? Because that could spell trouble for Izuku “I’m-still-breaking-bones-constantly" Midoriya.

Anyway, season one was good, and I’m looking forward to season 2!