#youngest sister polyanna

[catcas22]

I know all of Malenia's daughters have feral cat energy. But Polyanna seems especially so.

Polyanna: I need affection right now or I'll die. *Brief pause.* Okay, that's enough affection. *CHOMP.*

[maranull]

I'm writing a Polyanna fic and I think she might be my fav of the Malenia daughters, maybe even more than Millie (and I do love Millie).

I think it's her way of fighting as a summon, how —even though she has a pretty weak weapon— she goes into a flurry of swings every time. And the way she's the youngest and last to leave, probably crossing the Lands alone...

I dunno. I think she's really cool.

[abyranss]

Moore would say "Our mother abandoned her brood. She did not love us :( Must we be sad forever?"

And Millicent's four sisters would claim him as their new little brother and give him a big hug.

Trust me on that 👍

[miquella-everywhere]

Hiyo! 👋👋

How do you think Miq would have reacted to/treated Millicent and her sisters?

Oh man Miquella would absolutely love his new nieces lol First things first, he would give each of the sisters some preserving boules and craft each their own unalloyed needle, and then he for Millicent he would definitely build her her own custom prosthesis instead of having to use Malenias hand me down, he would also add in some new features a gun to better aid Millicent in battle.

And then he has to explain the concept of scarlet swamp babies to Malenia because she is very very confused 😂

There's actually a piece of art featuring Miq with the swamp sisters that I really love, its just so cute lol

[catcas22]

Millicent's Sisters Theory(?)

Obligatory "this is 10% theory and 90% headcanon."

This started as a discussion with @thatboreddrake about the Egyptian concept of the soul. By my surface-level understanding, there are five parts: Ren is your name, your true name which encapsulates your identity, Ka is your living essence, your life force, Ib is the heart or the seat of the soul, the part of you that is judged upon death, Ba is the thing that makes you "you," your personality and reputation, and Sheut is your shadow, or the mark that you leave on the world.

Drake suggested that Millicent carries Malenia's Ba, her pride, her sense of self, the thing that made her herself. Meanwhile Malenia has been left with only her Ren, her name. Hence why she repeats her "I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella" mantra with every battle. It's the last part of herself she has left.

However, that presents a problem -- only the Ka, the Ib, and the Sheut remain, but there are four sisters to account for.

Although we don't know much about the sisters, I'm going to take my best guess based on their only real differentiating characteristics -- their weapons.

Amy bears the same blade as Malenia's teacher, the blind swordsman. I think the Sheut would fit her best. Just as the shadow the swordsman cast upon the world lives on in Malenia, Malenia's shadow lives on in Amy. I was also thinking about their names. While three out of five have "M" names like Malenia, Amy and Polyanna stick out. Then I realized that "Amy" might be a reference to "Aeonia," as in the Aeonian Bloom, the most obvious and ever-present shadow that Malenia cast upon the world.

Although there's less of a solid connection here, I'd link Mary (wields a Cleanrot Commander's Halo Scythe) with the Ka (living essence), as her weapon represents Malenia's life's work as the defender of the Haligtree. And I'd associate Maureen (wields a Golden Order Treespear) with the Ib (the heart which carries the weight of one's sins and is judged upon death).

By just about every metric, Polyanna is the odd man out. Her name doesn't fit with the others at all. She is the only one we can interact with as an ally. And she's specifically referred to as an "adopted daughter."

At first I just assumed this to mean that she's Gowry's adopted daughter, drawn from the swamp and raised like the rest. But when the sisters all show up together, they're labeled by birth order. And given that Gowry is a representative of the pest hivemind, a race born entirely from the Scarlet Rot, it could be argued that he's the closest thing the sisters will ever have to a biological father.

So here's where I abandon all pretense of evidence and dip into pure headcanon.

What if Polyanna is not Millicent's (or the others') biological sister? Sure, they all look similar, but could she be a different relation?

Is it just me, or does Malenia look a lot like her dad? Not just the hair, but her lips, her cheekbones, and her nose.

So the sisters (including Polyanna) take after Malenia. But it's fair to say they also take after Radagon a bit. Maybe Polyanna isn't their biological sister. Maybe she's their cousin, via another of Radagon's children.

Put yourself in Radahn's shoes for a moment. You go soft no-contact with your toxic family. You move to the furthest reaches of the Caelid Wilds to start your own fiefdom. As the family feud seems to be getting ready for another round, you meet someone and get married. Would you maybe be reluctant to tell your scheming siblings, your genocidal stepmother, your backstabbing father, and your dubiously trustworthy half-siblings that you now have a wife and a baby on the way?

It would add so much context to Radahn's impossible defense of Sellia and his oath of honorable death with Jerran if the big guy had a family of his own in Caelid. It would explain his half of the Aeonia clusterfrick -- Malenia refused to hold back because her twin senses told her Miquella was imprisoned in Caelid. Radahn refused to hold back because he was protecting his new family. As much as both may have hated to assume the worst of the other, neither felt that they could afford to take chances.

When the population of Caelid becomes afflicted with Scarlet Rot, Sellia becomes a ghost town, and Polyanna becomes one of many orphans left behind, Gowry takes her in because hey, you never know when a half-demigod might be useful.

It would explain why he sends her to help the Tarnished against O'Neill. While the other three sisters are potential vectors for a Bloom if Millicent fails, Polyanna would be essentially expendable to him.

[catcas22]

Polyanna, Adopted Daughter

Polyanna, adopted daughter of the sage Gowry.

Though she was raised alongside the others, it soon became clear that she was unlike her sisters. The Rot took her eye, but never spoke to her. The Rot caused pain, but gave no strength in return. She was adopted, though none of them ever quite knew what that meant. By Gowry's telling, the Rot had denied Polyanna its blessing.

Despite the rejection of their far-off mother, Polyanna adapted. She learned a swift and nimble fighting style to account for her lessened strength. She kept her sisters in good humor, though she could not hear the voices that burdened them. She assured herself that their father must love her as well, despite his harshness.

After all, she was adopted. Why would he bother, if he truly despised her as much as he appeared to?

[catcas22]

Been thinking about the fact that if my Polyanna theory is correct, she must have had a uniquely awful childhood. The sisters as a whole already would have had it rough, growing up indoctrinated into a doomsday cult and being afflicted with Rot from a young age.

But Radahn would certainly be a near Satanic figure in whatever cargo-cult belief system the kindred pieced together. I imagine Gowry wouldn't have been particularly fond of his daughter.

[maranull]

I made Polyanna (from Elden Ring) in Armored Core 6. Or what I think her mech would look like, at least.

Finding a head that I could show "hair" was pretty hard and this was the best I could do with the parts I have right now. Same deal with the traveler's set that she wears. I could find nothing that could show the white, poncho-looking thing that set has.

Build and thoughts under the cut.

The laser dagger was an obvious choice. I thought of using a flamethrower at the right hand (due to how fire is often used against Rot in Elden Ring) but it looks way too big and clunky for her.

I also used the laser turrets, mostly because my favourite strategy for fighting O'Neil (the only boss you can summon Poly for) is to summon Latenna's spirit on an elevated position. From there, she rains arrows on him for the entire fight, so the laser turrets were a nod to that. And also I wanted the build to not be completely unplayable. :P

The frame parts are basically whatever looked good and somewhat human. I think reverse joints would had been better, gameplay-wise, but they looked weird.

Gameplay is get on the face of your enemy and never leave their side. Fire the turrets as you approach, then do the three dagger attacks. As the enemy is getting battered by the turrets, punch with your free hand once or twice. After that, your dagger will be off of cooldown, so start with that again. The charged dagger attack can also be used to catch the enemy if they try to boost away. Oh, and you can actually use the hard lock-on with this, since there's no weapon tracking to be nerfed.

It's not the best build, and I think there aren't many missions it can be used, but I like it.

EDIT: Added the napalm launcher as an option when fighting more enemies. And switched the booster to the Gridwalker one for better travel distance when using melee.

[maranull]

Needle

Chapter 2: Millicent

Fic summary: Millicent and her sisters have been consumed by the Rot, becoming mad in the process. Polyanna is the last one still in control of her mind. After learning about the Unalloyed Gold Needle, she decides to find it and use it to rescue Millicent.

Rating: Mature Chapters: 2/3 Genre: Tragedy Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence (still check the more specific tags)

Once again, thanks to Bim for the help! <3

[maranull]

Saw another NPC guard break a boss.

Felt more satisfying seeing Poly do it on the dude that holds her sisters medicine(?).

[maranull]

Needle

Chapters 3 & 4! (link goes to ch3)

Fic summary: Millicent and her sisters have been consumed by the Rot, becoming mad in the process. Polyanna is the last one still in control of her mind. After learning about the Unalloyed Gold Needle, she decides to find it and use it to rescue Millicent.

Rating: Mature Chapters: 4/4 Genre: Tragedy Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence (pls also check the more specific tags on AO3)

And once more, big thanks to Bim for the help! <3

[maranull]

This was supposed to be a one-shot but it grew a bit bigger than that.

Needle

Summary: Millicent and her sisters have been consumed by the Rot, becoming mad in the process. Polyanna is the last one still in control of her mind. After learning about the Unalloyed Gold Needle, she decides to find it and use it to rescue Millicent.

Rating: Mature Chapters: 1/2 Genre: Drama/Tragedy Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (but check the tags)

Thanks to Bim for giving me a hand with this! <3

[maranull]

Polyanna uses Blade of Calling???? Girl, where did you find that one??

Wondering if Meli connection possible...

[catcas22]

Just in case you don't follow the manga, the latest fan-translated issue has the Tarnished and Polyanna, Youngest Sister, chat a bit. Also Aseo is a sweetheart as always

I've never read the manga, actually. I really should though. Any new content for Millicent's sisters would be welcome!