#Does this count as character analysis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chibishortdeath · 4 days

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Ok, I’m sick of seeing only Netflix posts lately so I’m ranting about Simon lol

Unfortunately I had some nice paragraphs written for this but tumblr crashed while I was writing so this is my second time making this post (TwT)

TL;DR with the rant under a cut for easy scrolling, I am deranged and have studied all of Simon’s outfits, here’s some fun tidbits and I guess kinda a guide about his fashion sense :3

Oh boy, where to start XD. Castlevania has a lot of intricately detailed usually gothic and/or visual kei inspired fashion designs, usually with some amount of historical accuracy, thanks to Ayami Kojima, that the series is known for. But before this, the character design style was very different. From the very 90s shonen anime inspired Richter, to Christopher being deadass shirtless in a skirt at one point, to John Morris being in basically casual clothes, there’s a lot of variety in it.

Well, being the silly Simon super fan I am, I’ve studied all his outfits a ton over the years I’ve been a fan of the series and oh boy they are INTERESTING :3. I’ve noticed a lot of elements are consistently reoccurring, specific to him, and some are very much not specific to him lol. Anyway, just trust me on this one, overanalyzing the closet of an NES barbarian to be able to make new outfits for him is FUN >:3c.

So, I’ve seen him not wearing pants thrown around as a joke before, but it’s actually the truth! Besides the Haunted Castle wedding suit (an outlier that should not be counted lol), I actually have never run into a design where Simon is wearing full length, proper pants. The closest he ever gets is black tights in Simon’s Quest and occasionally shorts, but on that topic, shorts aren’t even his most common choice! Let’s look at some of his oldest designs:

This one is really hard to tell, but based on the angle of the lines, the shadows, and context clues from other art for CV1, I don’t know if that’s actually supposed to be shorts 💀💀💀!

In both his cute little manual doodles and his almost more adorable teeny 8-bit sprite, his outfit is a belted tunic of some sort! So like, the equivalent of a really tiny dress or a long shirt XD. And really, his cover art design is kinda just a more detailed version of these. They both have a distinction between a top and bottom part of the upper half, they both have big belts, they both have the tall boots and arm guards, they both have teeny skirt part, and Fun Fact! They both have red in the hair! I color picked a nice high res scan of the CV1 cover art, and yes, there’s red in his hair!!! It’s like a nice mix of dark reddish blond, it’s a very fun hair color :3.

However, that’s not where CV1 ends in tunic vs shorts debate:

THAT’S A SKORT— DO YOU SEE THAT DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HALVES, ONE IS DEFINITELY A PANTLEG LMAO. So yeah, skort Simon is also a thing thanks to this particular magazine scan lol, thus leaving us with the possibility that it is both a skirt and shorts on the CV1 cover that he’s wearing X,,,,D. Never change, Simon, never change.

Besides the tunic, there’s some other interesting details to his CV1 era designs! :D In a lot of depictions he has this neat cape, something that returns in some Simon’s Quest art and Smash Bros lol, but he’s never shown wearing it in game. What’s interesting is that Trevor actually gets a cape in his game’s opening as well as Christopher in Belmont’s Revenge if I’m remembering correctly. It’s very neat seeing Simon character design details rubbing off into other characters :3. I like to think lore wise that it’s the same cape that’s been passed down to Simon from those two.

He also has the headband! Iconic! But have you noticed the little ball shapes at the ends of the tails? They’re either knots or, infinitely cooler option, beads :D!!!!!!! And I wouldn’t be surprised if they were because that leads me to another design: X68000–

Now this one is one of my favorites :3. It’s kinda like a forward facing version of his original design but with some new details! And his headband gets this cool lookin, intricate distinctly metallic design on it, something I’ve seen a lot of artists simplify to a general crescent moon shape. But it is kinda similar to the shape on his belt buckle, something that I still have no idea what it’s even supposed to be. Also, his arm guards and the thing at the end of his necklace (which may or may not have vampire teeth on it, they could just be metal spikes though) are similar; it makes me wonder if it was an attempt at a tortoiseshell pattern? Filigree? Whatever it is, they’re all matchy matchy about it.

This design also gives him the staple left shoulder pauldron, of which has these huge stitches holding it on and an added belt that connects to his other belt armor. Get used to belts, he has a lot of those X,,,D. What’s really neat about this one’s belt is that he has both a hilt for the family sword but also one for the whip on the other side, and they’re on the wrong sides for drawing the weapon properly 💀💀💀💀. Which is also funny considering his CV1 cover art has the sword on the other side, which is kinda wrong too? Who knows, maybe he’s ambidextrous and just doesn’t care what sides they’re on lol.

The biggest thing I can say about this design though is that a lot of these accessories and armor pieces look homemade, like as if he just took teeth as a trophy himself and strung them on a cord or made a shoulder piece and put it on an already existing belt he had. Adding onto this, there’s also the possible beads on his headband and the cords around his boots (which could be an attempt at a certain actual historical type of shoe that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me rn, in which case would make these not boots and actually corded shoes with very nice big fluffy socks hehe, I am forcing you to imagine him with big fluffy socks—) and yeah! I can see him making his stuff on his own :3. Which is so cool! I love this idea so much, it makes for a lot of things to imagine him doing hehe. Also gives him a hobby??? Yeah :)

No indication of if he’s got shorts or not in this one, maybe I’ll count how many have skirts or shorts and put that at the end of this lol.

But shorts get another point again cause we’re looking at Chronicles:

Oh Chronicles. Well, the first thing I wanna mention is that, this is Ayami Kojima’s design for him, so here we are seeing a very interesting mix of the visual kei style and 80s barbariancore in a way that honestly slays (figuratively and literally). And, surprisingly, there is something historically accurate about this design, and it’s not what you’d probably expect. Based on the width, material, cross rivets, and the buckle on the front, Simon is wearing an actual dog collar. Like, for dogs. Like it’s dog armor used primarily for hunting dogs I just— Again, never change Simon, never change 💀💀💀.

We also see Simon preferring to put his armor on his left side again with the torn in half coat. It’s also somewhat similar to 1600s coats, not really of any specific country in fashion that I can tell, however the sleeve being that short is not accurate, leading me to believe that he probably tore that off too lol. Very Chrom Fire Emblem of you, Simon, and another example of him D.I.Y.—ing things. The basic elements still stay similar to past designs. Shorts, distinct upper and lower half of shirt, belts, armor on said belt, sword and whip hilts, arm armor and tall boots (shout out to the heels on this one), and armor on the left, unfortunately no headband though. But that distinct bottom half to the shirt part of his outfit in this one is defined with… a corset? Yeah!!! That’s a corset!!! Though the proper name for the time period might be a stay or a girdle, but Simon is straight up wearing a belt over a corset. And said corset over a coat. Half of one. Don’t question him—

But the main entries to his 80s bara-barian half of the wardrobe, let’s get to some knightly aesthetic outfits, of which he does have a good amount, starting with SCV4:

Simon’s knightly outfits are usually a similar silhouette as his original tunic look, just in metal this time and in various colors. SCV4 has his armor as gold on the cover, blue on the Japanese cover and manual art, and green in game! And they’re all pretty much the same with mild variations. On the cover art, his shoes are corded sandals with nothing under them, but in game and in most other artwork they are these metallic boots with the classic X shape of the cords baked into them. Some art gives his middle belt armor section this cross with snakes on it, which is an odd thing to be referencing here. It’s either a staff of Mercury, usually associated now with medicine but was an alchemical symbol before that, or something else I can’t find any info on. There’s also a big ab window because these are all proper half shirts lol. Straight up a metal breastplate with nothing under it, a pretty bad idea tbh 💀.

All in all, these are generally really simple, but there’s one more thing before I stop talking about SCV4:

I LOVE this design. It’s this really nice blend of the older CV1 era style and the metal armor of the later ones, very cool. Shout out to the eye creases and the dead stare shadow over his eyes too, they really conveyed the effects of witnessing the horrors well lmaoooo.

Again, tunic, belt, arm guards, headband, the usual, but, speaking of symbols, there’s something about this one that’s been driving me nuts forever: I cannot find out what that symbol on his paldrons and belt buckle is!!! It’s this upside down triangle with a bent rectangle missing the bottom line over it and it LOOKS distinctly intentional, but I can’t find it or what it means anywhere!!! I tried searching through lists of alchemical symbols, religious symbols, nothing so far has been close (TwT ). Regardless, great design, definitely in my top 5.

And what else is in my top five? Oh yeah babey, it’s Simon’s Quest time:

Ah, Simon’s Quest with his fuck ass bob and the stolen Ravenloft image— but unironically, that armor fucks fr. Again, similar silhouette! If there’s any take aways from this post, it’s definitely that Simon is a little shirt, little pants kind of guy. A severe lack of long sleeves and long pants legs until now, and even then, these are skin tight. Heck even his boots(????) are vacuum sealed, just look at those fabric creases by his ankle!

Now, it’s honestly really hard to tell if his “gloves” and “boots” are supposed to be in some parts metal due to the shading on them and the base armor being very similar. I personally like to depict the forearm and calf parts as metal and the hand and ankle parts as not, but eh. Like most things regarding Simon, I suppose this too is up to interpretation XD. There’s some variation in color in some scans having the underclothes be white, dark blue, or black, and the armor be any range of red to purple to brown too. But towards red and black is probably the most accurate due to his sprite being those colors.

But this is a shockingly rare case of Simon being fully covered in one of his outfits, and I’m inclined to think that there’s probably a reason for that. Not only does he have a rotting curse right now and drawing straight up gore on the cover of an NES game was just not an option lol, but he’s not letting his guard down anymore after being hit. Which would also explain the sudden change to all metal armor as that can’t be cut through as easily as leather.

Speaking of all metal armor, oh I looooove the detailing on his. The gold accents to his byzantine (a nice in between color of red and purple, a color that is also reused in Smash Bros again in the middle corset section of his outfit) are what I would call stylized floral patterns, kinda in the way that fleur de les don’t really look exactly like flowers but still are supposed to represent one. Not sure what kind exactly, but possibly some sort type of angel’s trumpet? Very neat regardless. The gems inlaid in it are all green on top and around the belt, but the center belt buckle is bright red. It’s a very jewel tones color scheme!!!

Well anyway, if tumblr will let me have more images, I’d like to show off a few other random examples of outfit elements he’s had before I close this off with something :3

This was a pretty recently found scan of Simon wearing get this: a pleated miniskirt. Probably Roman armor inspired, as some of his other magazine scans have depicted him as such. One ad for SCV4 and another (live action even) for Simon’s Quest has him even wearing like a Roman helmet and everything, it’s odd. Add helmets to the list of things Simon might wear. Hmm maybe I should make a tier list of things based on how often he’s worn them…

Moving on!

This one goes for the bold choice of giving Simon not only an expected tiny belted tunic, but side slits on the legs! And uh um a little too much detail but uh— It’s also this kinda white, kinda bluish, kinda silverish color? Add this to Simon’s color palette I guess lol.

Which reminds me that I didn’t mention colors very much until now whoops. Throughout all of hie designs he primarily seems to wear neutrals like various browns, greys, and metal tones. But he also has a lot of color. Like as in there’s enough different colored designs to make a whole rainbow of Simon outfits. Common combinations like dark green, gold, and wine reds; blue and silver; brown, gold, orange, and kinda purplish greys; etc etc. And his HAIR. Oh boy, would this guy love modern hair dye X,,,,,D. He’s had it various blonds, reds, browns, even black at one point, blue, green, unnatural red, pink, and in one concept design white! Personally, I like depicting it as a nice in between of red, blond, and brown, it encompasses the most I think.

The final thing I wanna mention is the Smash Bros design, which I unfortunately can’t show because I’m on mobile and have met the 10 images limit whoopsie— (_ _ ;). This design is really a good culmination of a lot of elements. Not really definitive or anything, but very good :3. And it has something I didn’t mention earlier that I’ve noticed in some Simon designs: random belts or metal around his upper arms and thighs lol. The Smash Bros design in particular has the arm band things on both sides, Chronicles has it on the not half coat one, but this is another thing I’ve seen other characters (Christopher in particular, but his are just gold rings) have. The leg thing is less common, but yeah, that exists lol. Thank you Simon for uh bending two pieces of metal around your leg…? It’s cool XD. The corset also makes a return, as well as, once more, the same basic silhouette with the armor only on the left side, the belt armor pieces, etc etc. He’s very particular about that—

Well, anyway, Simon definitely has a vibe going on, but here’s a brief summary of things he seems to like:

Skirts, tunics, long shirts, and shorts (and skorts I guess), but nothing past about half his thigh, generally over the knees.

No long sleeves or pant legs (unless it’s tights when absolutely necessary).

Armor primarily to the left, unless it’s metal, in that case usually a full plate or paldron set.

Belts, hilts, belts on his arms, and neck, and hanging off of things, and legs, yeah belts—

Boots/tall socks, corded or not, and something on his forearms or wrists.

Headband! Seriously out of every Belmont he is the most dedicated to these lol.

Necklaces and beads and other little accessories and adornments are also cool.

Alrighty then, have fun Simon-ing and I encourage you to look through his or other characters’ designs and pick them apart a bit sometimes, even if it’s just through what’s on the wiki :3. If anything, I think it’s a good exercise in character design and consistency! But yeah, I wrote all this late at night and can’t think of anything else rn. If I do I’ll do a sequel I guess hehe. Either that or I might rant about another character hmmmmmmm—

#oh god I am sleepy #how the hell did I rant about Simon clothes for uh three hours uhhhh—#castlevania #castlevania games #castlevania chronicles #castlevania x68000 #x68000 #Castlevania 4 #scv4 #super castlevania iv #castlevania ii #castlevania ii: simon's quest #castlevania simon’s quest #simon's quest #Castlevania 1 #Castlevania nes #akumajo dracula #akumajou dracula #simon belmont #text post #incoherent rambling #does this count as character analysis #eh let’s just throw it into the theory posting tag #theory posting #analysis posting #but fr tho like it is so fun making him clothes #my dumbass wants to learn how to sew just so I can make a Simon plushie and then make him little outfits #barbarian man I am forcing you to match with me no if ands or buts—#but it will be within your boundaries and likes and nothing that would be uncomfortable :3 #I also love how this is just an extremely long rant all just to say ‘he doesn’t wear pants or long sleeve shirts’ help me 💀💀💀

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kitty-meowskers · 1 month

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idk but a part of me gets annoyed whenever people compare dr ratio and alhaitham.

like yeah ok... hot buff autistic nerdy men

but their whole ideologies are completelyyy different

would alhaitham ask you to give him a 'stimulating quiz' in his free time and then proceed to design a weapon for the express even though he didnt need to? no.

would dr ratio complain about becoming the (acting) grand sage and lead sumeru? no??

alhaitham is a 'live and let live' kind of guy. he justs wants to chill and have an easy life. like be for real, he's so worried about the akademiya finding out about his true talents and power because he hates the idea of working more. the only reason he's the scribe is because it's easy and it pays well. he's not particularly interested in helping others out unless its beneficial to him or the other really needs it. as kaveh said(i think he did??? idk i dont play genshin anymore), alhaitham is a nihilist

dr ratio on the other hand? he craves being able to fix things. all he wants to do fix things. although yeah he's not gonna do everything for you, he literally said to your face that if somethings bothering you deal with it yourself BUT he did literally go out of his way to scheme that entire thing in his quest to bring the people on the space station to there senses and get them thinking for themselves instead of obsessing over those geniuses. and that whole speech he gave to screwlum after? bro was INVESTED AND INTENSELY PASSIONATE. hes extremely passionate about getting people do use and develop their talents to the best of their ability. hes a fucking doctor who somehow has 52 courses and any of the people who actually make it through all get far in their lives. alhaitham would never put in that effort even with all his talent and ngl dr ratio would hate him for that (maybe not hate but dislike).

Another difference? alhaitham isnt a bitch about what his talents although its easy to assume he is while ratio low key kind of is and since the game itself describes him as 'narcisistic' so i think its pretty safe to assume he acts a bitch and he kind of is one too (cant blame him if i did all he did i would be the same)

#oh and the aventurine and kaveh comparision just kind of... confuses me.#like i guess i could get it in the context of aventio and kavetham but only then #does this count as a character analysis??#dr ratio #hsr dr ratio #veritas ratio #babbles #hsr #honkai star rail #star rail #genshin impact #genshin #gi #alhaitham #gi alhaitham

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melverie · 1 year

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the fact that Satan hides his wrath pretty much for the same reason injured cats in packs pretend to be perfectly fine so they won’t be left behind is insane to me btw

#just imagine telling him that #he'd go through a roller coaster of emotions #obey me #obey me swd #obey me nightbringer #obey me satan #obey me analysis #obey me character analysis #?#does this count?#;mel's analyses #mel's starry musings

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petrichormore · 7 months

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also crazy how skewed the morals are on the qsmp in both directions because of the situation. You cannot kill the probably artificial children that the evil organization who kidnapped you all gave you. Placing mines is okay though. Even when they almost kill the fore mentioned children.

q!ElQuackity is a villain for acting mean and suspicious, supporting the evil government who kidnapped all the islanders, and attempting to kill them and the artificial children that the evil government gave them.

q!Bad is also a villain, but for lying, stealing things, for being a vocal anarchist, and for kidnapping and torturing a lower-class, presumably-innocent-but-maybe-not member of the evil organization that has kidnapped and tortured him (because what q!Bad and the other islanders have gone through is certainly some kind of torture - just very drawn out) for months on end.

Think about this for a second. Just think about it. The island itself, the situation has warped people’s frames of thought. What q!Bad is doing, if we step back for a second, would probably land him with an anti-hero title or something similar. Because sure, he’s tortured an innocent worker but they were the Federation’s uniform - which has tortured him worse and for longer, of course he’s attacking the workers. Why isn’t everybody attacking the workers? Well, because the workers seem to be as trapped as the islanders. Well, after q!Bad discovered that for certain (because until Ron told us, we didn’t know that for certain), he’s now treating Ron kindly in a twisted sort of familial bond. Well, but he’s still keeping him captive and that’s wrong. Well, well, well - this is morally grey character stuff.

If you described a character in q!Bad’s situation to me - I would certainly say the character is in the wrong, and committing cruel, violent acts, but I wouldn’t say they were evil nor would I even call them a villain. I would point at the Federation, I would go “that is the evil, that is the villain” and I would point at the character and go “that is a cornered, injured animal that has finally decided to bite”

But it’s the island. so it’s not like that. And on the island, q!Bad is an evil person, and he’s horrible, and he’s a villain. He is the only one who has dared to beat the Federation at their own game. And, most importantly, he is a threat.

I don’t know, just interesting to think about.

#just weird I always see ‘don’t get me wrong q!Bad is an evil horrible person for doing this’ and I’m like. but consider the circumstances #he is cruel certainly #torturing Ron is not a good person thing to do #torture in itself is an evil act #but is that what makes him a bad person? is this the thing that makes him evil?#to be kidnapped and endlessly tortured on an island of despair and to lose your children and then to commit a horrible act #is THAT the thing that makes him a bad person? or does it just not make him a good one #also I’m not counting the torturing foolish thing because it’s fucking landduo cmon now #qsmp #qsmp character analysis #q!bbh character analysis

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purplecelestial-buddy · 25 days

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It's so funny to me that the fandom has come to see Hirano as a Sasamiya promoter of sorts because while he is, it took him some time to get accustomed to the idea of them together. And while he was never a hater Sasaki's actions towards Miyano certainly used to get on his nerves.

At first he was so worried and probably even felt a little guilty because (as mentioned in the following screenshot) because the only reason why Sasaki knows which class Miya is in, is thanks to him.

But like, that's not the face of a friend that's happy to play cupid and get their two acquaintances together. Not at all, that's the face of someone who puts his sempai-kouhai relationship with Miyano over his (pseudo) friendship with Sasaki.

Hirano from the first chapters would have jailed Sasaki if he were allowed to. (And he has his reasons, Sasaki has been something since the first chapters)

Anyway, the progression of events is really interesting.

He started, quite literally, shielding Miyano from Sasaki.

Then, he came to accept their relationship.

And at the end he really was rooting for them, to the point he ended up outright lying just so Miyano could meet Sasaki and they could talk it out and confess.

#I know the point of Sasaki to Miyano is watching how their relationship develops #but I think Hirano is really important as an spectator of their relationship #everyone thought the pair was and odd couple #him too #so watching him come to terms with their relationship and finally even rooting for them is super sweet #since it shows that he let go of his prejudice (mainly against Sasaki lol)#also I love the message he leaves Sasaki #he really did his everything to give them that last little push that they so needed #and he didn't have to!!!#like two pages before that he curses them both for having never exchanged number #and still he helps them out #idk I just love to ramble about him #he gets angry easily and he lacks patience but he always does his uttermost best to help his friends #even when he isn't particularly close to miya or sasaki #the (pseudo) in pseudofriendship comes from the fact that they are som weirdos that consider each other just classmates #but that's a talk for another day #got sasamiya brainworms again #does this count as a character analysis? (lol)#Hirano might not know of relationships and social dynamics but he really cares about everyone regardless of what those people are to him #both his kohais and his classmates are people he considers precious #and people for whom he would make sacrifices #I'm sorry I just love him very much #sasaki to miyano #if Hirano Taiga has no fans I'm dead #meaning that I'll defend him till my last breath

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basicallyjaywalker · 3 months

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Wanna ramble about a moment/character in ninjago you think people need to talk about more?

I don't know who you are anon, but I'm glad you asked!

I am desperate for people to character-analyze Wu. I'm desperate for a lot of character analysis including Nya but since I got a lot of my Nya feelings out with some lovely folks the other night (edit: the other night was a month ago dw about it. this took a minute) I'm going with Wu this time

Master Wu to me is such an interesting case of a character who it is so easy to ignore the bits of the show that hint at his wider issues and traumas. He is a man defined heavily by his family and by his past. A lot of criticism he gets, I think, is due in part to that.

I've mentioned before that I've been rewatching S1 with a friend of mine and intermittently pausing to infodump on them about interesting character things I notice from that season. A lot of that has been Wu-focused because despite having seen RotS dozens of times throughout my life (watching it on CN, watching it on Netflix when only it and Legacy were around, rewatching it with friends) I have only just started noticing the seeds of character written in.

I might also just be reading too much into things, but hear me out

In S1 (and by extension, the pilots), Wu is characterized as your typical old wise teacher. In the first few minutes of EP1: Rise of the Snakes, he is chewing out the Ninja for playing video games instead of training. The line he uses? "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today."

It's a line that gets repeated throughout the series. In fact, it gets repeated that very episode when the ninja go (pun not intended) to fight the Hypnobrai and a literal pre-teen. At first, it seems to just be a piece of wisdom. Some old proverb Wu's picked up over the years, possibly one he even coined himself. However, in EP7: Tick Tock, Wu tells the story of who, possibly, first told him this.

(Source: Tick Tock/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added.)

It was Garmadon. Now, I'm not gonna dwell too long on Garmadon, if you spend five minutes talking to me you'll learn he was the first character whose story I obsessed over and I want this essay to be about Wu, but I think he plays a role in Wu's overall story, as does Wu's family as a whole.

Prior to this, Wu and Garmadon's relationship has been more of a sibling rivalry taken to a good vs. evil extreme. We didn't know why Garmadon was evil and we didn't know about Wu and his relationship as kids. However, this scene establishes the backstory. They were, as Wu puts it, "the best of friends." That is, until Garmadon gets bit by the Devourer going to get the katana Wu lost.

Now, I know the Devourer bite was destined to happen because of the Overlord or some shit, but Wu doesn't. As far as he's concerned, Garmadon getting bit was a direct consequence of both his mistake and his cowardice. He lost the katana. He was too scared to get it. Garmadon went over instead. Garmadon got bit.

The scene goes on to show the FSM tending to Garmadon in the aftermath. Wu is watching from behind the door, likely told to stay back, but concerned. And in his POV, we get this intense moment, where Garmadon turns, looks directly at him (his eyes turning bright red for the first time), and says "It's all Wu's fault!"

(This clip should begin at the start of Wu eavesdropping. If it doesn't, skip to 0:58. I highly recommend also paying attention to Wu's body language during this scene.)

The camerawork does a great job of showing how this probably felt for Wu. It zooms in, Garmadon's voice echoes, and the background blurs. We see in the flashback that this is a moment Wu has etched into his memory. Not to mention, he was likely a very young child when this happened. LEGO characters' ages are weird, but Wu in this scene has the Big Eyes, which always seem to be used for characters under 12. We don't know exactly how much older Garmadon is to my knowledge, but he doesn't have the Big Eyes, so he's probably closer to 12 and a few years older than Wu for sure.

Imagine that. Being in elementary school and your older siblings gets hurt. They're acting strange. They're lashing out at your father. Then, they blame it all on you. They're hurt because of you. Wouldn't you internalize that?

I could go on about Wu's relationship with Garmadon, but again, I think I've spent enough time on it and I don't want to only focus on that. It's an important part, but there are others.

Let's talk about Wu's relationship with his dad.

Now, I have not yet read the Spinjitzu Brothers series. I cannot speak to any development of Wu and the FSM's relationship in there. I have, however, read The Book of Spinjitzu and blogged some of my thoughts on it here, including some of what it says about Wu.

For those who haven't read it, first, there is a Google Drive folder floating around with all of the canon spinoff books/graphic novels in it. Here's the link if you wanna read them!

The FSM is an... intriguing figure. I mean, in the series he's basically god? He made the entire world. That's already a very high bar to live up to. Then, in Book of Spinjitzu, there's a few specific parts that, when I read them, signaled that Wu internalized a specific message when he was young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 3).

Wu does not want to disappoint his father. It is up to him (and Garmadon until he turns evil) to "uphold the legacy of Spinjitzu" and, by extension, his family. He says he was "very young" when this was explained to him. Considering he seems to already be training at an elementary age, "very young" means VERY young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 16).

Here, we again see Wu being very aware that he has some large burden to carry. Something else interesting here is that the thought of the Green Ninja Prophecy is already weighing on him too. His considering if he might be the Green Ninja is of extra interest because of how the Green Ninja Prophecy and the--I wouldn't call it obsession, possibly fixation?--with who it is factors into his later actions, but we'll get to that later.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 19).

This one in particular gets me because it comes after Wu mentions Garmadon becoming more evil. It is a statement of power. Wu knows that the legacy of Spinjitzu now rests in his hands alone. He cannot let himself fall the way Garmadon did. He cannot disappoint his father. Whether or not the FSM intended it, Wu always knew the fate of the world rested, at least in part, upon his shoulder. He knew this from the time he was a young boy and it remains in his mind to this day.

Now, these quotes are indirect, but they all point to one clear idea: As a child, Wu internalized the idea that he alone is responsible for keeping Ninjago safe. He will play a pivotal role in its history.

There's not evidence in this book that the FSM's was a bad father, per se. However, just because one doesn't set out to harm their children, doesn't mean they won't. I often say Wu has an "Atlas complex," which I have no idea if it is an actual concept but use it to refer to this idea. Wu feels as though he is responsible for holding up the world, much like Atlas. He must keep the balance, he must solve the Green Ninja prophecy, he must make his father proud.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 61).

I'm going to get further into what this means for Wu as a teacher to the current Ninja Team, but for now let's look at Wu's first foray into teaching.

Morro. Wu's Biggest Mistake.

That might seem like an overstatement, but it's not.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

Okay he says regret, not mistake, but I was paraphrasing.

Let's turn back to his quote about his destiny. Wu writes, "Is my life's mission to be the Green Ninja? Or maybe it will be to find the Green Ninja and protect him (or her)??"

From a very young age, Wu was not only aware of the Green Ninja but prophecy but also thinking about his place in it. We see this again when he takes Morro in and trains him.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added)

A big thing Wu is criticized for here is making Morro believe he is meant to be more. That he is the Chosen One. And Morro, being a young homeless orphan just now given some semblance of power and protection, latches onto that. And I can see it, but when you take into account the above that he was trained from (likely) a younger age than Morro and given a similar level of responsibility, it becomes more understandable. Wu is just doing what he was taught. He doesn't believe that he is harming Morro until it is too late.

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This is the entire story, but I'm specifically going to be discussing 1:36 onwards here. I also wanted to add that rewatching this scene made me lay down on the floor! What the fuck! But I digress.

There's a lot going on in this scene. For one, Wu washing his hands of Morro in some ways, but not others. He turns his back on Morro when he tells him that destiny has decided, but looks at him again when Morro storms out. He goes to save Morro from the Grundal, but decides that he cannot "teach those who would not listen." Most importantly, when Morro leaves to go find the Tomb of the FSM, Wu leaves the door open. He waits for Morro to return, but never goes after him. And Morro never comes back.

Wu gives Morro's fate a dismissive response at the end of his ghost story ("I am saddened he was banished to the Cursed Realm") but it's clear he still cares deeply about him in the finale of the season.

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Wu's VA in this is phenomenal btw. That "Please Morro!" and "MORRO!" make my heart ache.

Morro believed Wu stopped caring, but he didn't. Even after all he's done, even after trying to destroy all of Ninjago--destroying what Wu had spent his life trying to protect--Wu tries to save him. He begs for Morro to come with him. Morro refuses, Wu watches him perish.

Someone else Wu is close to is gone. Wu again considers himself responsible. Everything is his fault.

And finally, we reach Wu today. A cautious, secretive man. He loves his students, this much is clear. Even as early as the pilots, he drops his wise teacher persona to joke around with them.

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As with Morro, he trains them like his father did him. He even uses the same methods his father used when he trains them.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 32)

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While he is hard on the Ninja, wanting them to succeed and training them to help defend the Realm, he lets his guard down more than it seems he did with Morro. He also learned a valuable message from his experience with Morro when he hides the Green Ninja Prophecy from the Ninja, getting angry when they start to push themselves in the same way Morro did upon learning about it. It's clear he doesn't want a repeat.

Now, I can't speak for later seasons (I will eventually) but this fear of repeats, his students going down a dark path because they're tempted by power or greatness, losing someone else, likely drives Wu not telling them other important information. That is just a passing thought though.

Final notes:

I'm currently in the process of rewatching S7: Hands of Time. I actually got this ask right after finishing EP68: Scavengers, which opens with Wu having a nightmare. In it, he and Misako are walking outside of Yang's temple. While walking, Misako delivers this line in response to Wu reminiscing about the time they've spent together:

(Source: Scavengers/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

This line, to me, is Wu's subconscious trying to tell him something he needs to hear. It's hinting at what might be his greatest flaw. Wu is haunted by his past, by his mistakes. He finds it difficult to tell others because of both his guilt and his desire to not put that worry upon them. In this very season, he makes the mistake of trying to face his past on his own, and he nearly dies for it.

In the same episode, you see Wu trying to make sure Lloyd doesn't make the same mistakes.

(Source: Prev)

Wu stresses the important of the team. It's as if he sees Lloyd blaming himself for what happened to Wu, sees him doing the same thing Wu has, and is trying to prevent him from doing the same thing. This is further emphasized when, after Wu falls asleep (well, fakes falling asleep), Lloyd says "Wu's mistake was going in alone. So was mine."

Master Wu is, like many characters in this show, someone who is more complex than meets the eye. He is not just a wise, old teacher. He is a man who, throughout his life, has made mistakes and carries the weight of each of them on his shoulders. He is a man who tasks himself with making up for those every day. He is a man who wants better for his students, his family.

Until the day he dies, he will guide and protect his students. And possibly? Even after death too.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #master wu #long post #anon tag #this made my day i looooooooooooooove character analysis #i know a lot of what i post about it may not encompass the full series but i just think that makes it more fun tbh #i'm working with what i have and later i may come back to this and add even more things #i'm also very passionate about wu analysis as a former wu hater because i think the fact that his character stuff is so buried #leads to a lot of the hate #Why didn't he tell the ninja things? well he told morro things and look how that turned out #he grew up believing the weight of the world was on his shoulders #in one way or another #i won't lie and say the man does not make mistakes #but like i mention in s7 when he does he is fucking haunted by them #he is not breaking the generational trauma but he is damn well making an attempt for someone who probably doesn't realize he has it #p.s i tried to add image desc to each ss to make it more accessible but if i messed it up please let me know!#i spent way too much time on this #somebody do a word count i'm curious but too tired to copy this all into docs #falls over #part 2 of this is just the dark island trilogy but i think i'm gonna wait to do that #this took so long and the words are now refusing to words #thank you for reading #i need to take a nap after writing this I feel physically spent #please enjoy another rook branded ramble disguised as a comprehensive essay #other essayists bring you professionalism and academic vibes #i scream into the void and put way too many links o7 #happy birthday ninjago!!!! i finished this in honor of you hopefully it is worthy

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year

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GOD I AM NOT YOUR STRONGEST WARRIOR/j

***Glorious Masquerade spoilers beneath the cut!!***

ROLLO LORE ROLLO LORE ROLLO LORE 👀

ROLLO FLAMME UNIQUE MAGIC REVEAL, I REPEAT: ROLLO FLAMME UNIQUE MAGIC REVEAL>>>?!?!?!??!?!??>!>@@ WE GET THE INCANTATION FOR ITR TOO?????

“Crimson flower, scorch my soul and guide me. Dark Fire!” (Translation generously provided by @mysteryshoptls, who is currently on hiatus)

Note that the line itself says “身”, which more closely translates to “physical body/myself”. “Scorch my soul” is a phrase lifted from the lyrics of Hellfire, the Disney song, and fits with the “salvation” tone and theming.

Please also note that the “crimson flower” he’s referring to in the incantation is NOT literally referencing the crimson flowers (the magic sucking plant he cultivated in the waterways); he’s not controlling or influencing the flowers in any way (other than having grown them). The “crimson flower” of the incantation is metaphorical and likely refers to the fire that covers his body afterwards (as the actual flowers are described to closely resemble real fire).

“くすぶる欲望”, the name for Rollo’s unique magic is spoken aloud as “Dark Fire”, but it is written as “Burning Desire”. Again, this is a lyric lifted from the lyrics of Hellfire.

Rollo’s UM literally engulfs his body in flames, which he can freely control firebending lol. The magical fire is fueled by others’ fear and uneasiness.

ROLLO’S IN HIS RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS ERA, HE’S FINALLY EMBRACING HIS INNER ARSONIST I KNEW HE COULD DO IT I KNEW HE COULD LOSE HIS SHIT

ALSO, WE WERE SUPER CLOSE WITH THE DEAD LITTLE BROTHER THEORY 😭 Apparently Rollo’s little brother died very young. He unlocked his magic before Rollo did; he played around with his magical abilities and acted recklessly with them. He performed a fire spell he couldn’t control… which ended up claiming his life. Rollo wasn’t able to help him, as he unlocked his magic AFTER his little brother was already dead (and he claims that he is absolved of fault because he didn’t have magic at the time but come on, I think we all realize he probably has internalized guilt over it). Because of this, he resents magicians for not doing anything to help moderate or to restrain his brother’s magic use.

HE’S CRYING, ROLLO IS CRYING

BRUH 😔 YOU REALLY GOT TA HIT US IN THE FEELS LIEK THIS????????????? I FEEL MY HEART BREAKING I’M NOT MADE OF STONE I’M NOT MADE OF SOMETHING STRONGER I’M LITERALLY GLASS RIGHT NOW

(THIS PART IS THEORIZING + ANALYSIS but there’s a flashback to Rollo’s past… and when his little brother calls out to him for help, there are rising flames in the background. This implies that his little brother died burning alive because he couldn’t control a fire spell… and Rollo couldn’t help even if he wanted to because he hadn’t gotten his own magic yet. As Azul points out, he must have been so conflicted when his own magical abilities awakened. THEN ROLLO LEARNS THE MAGIC THAT MAKES HIM “UNIQUE” IS ASSOCIATED WITH FIRE 🤡

Imagine how fucking traumatic that must be if his little brother was lost in the flames… And if that’s true, then it explains why Rollo has dialogue which implies he’s unhappy with himself, that he views his own magic as being “cursed”, on top of forming a disdain for magic (and particularly those who overindulge in it as his brother once did). Losing his brother would have made such a big impact on Rollo that it literally SHAPED what his unique magic would be… That death was an extremely traumatic formative experience. Then, in a cruel twist of fate, Rollo sees his own magical abilities are a constant reminder that he could not save his loved one, and the form it has taken is like a sin and the guilt he cannot scrub from himself. Rollo’s body literally sets on fire when he uses his unique magic—a horrifyingly reminder of his little brother’s body burning to a crisp before his eyes.

What must Rollo be thinking in that moment when he discovered his unique magic and every time he uses it after that? I can control the fire that my brother couldn’t. I survive when this fire consumes me, and my brother didn’t. Uh, no wonder why he describes his magic as “repulsive” 😔 and no wonder why he’s not scared to lose his own magic. He, in fact, believes it will be liberating.

And the fact that his Dark Fire is powered by negative emotions????? That’s… such a scary manifestation of Rollo’s own dark thoughts and emotions. The worse people feel, the worse the flames become… the stronger Rollo’s internalized guilt, the more hateful he became, until it ultimately culminated in this plot to steal all the magic from Twisted Wonderland. In his eyes, any amount of magic is dangerous—too little, and mages becomes jealous. Too much, and they become arrogant. Magic is that evil, the unease and the fear, that propels Rollo and his unique soul-defining spell.

Dark Fire fittingly defines him, his obsession, and his ambition. Most importantly, it gives him drive, and a cause to work toward. It is Rollo’s guiding light in an otherwise dark, sin-drenched world. This is reflected even in the incantation: “Scorch my soul and guide me.” Rollo’s “sin” is also, very ironically, the hope that propels him toward is own brand of “salvation” at the expense of all other magic users. Like Idia says, Rollo tries ro justify his actions by claiming it is for the good of all when, in reality, Rollo is just seeking salvation for himself. He wants to come to terms with all the guilt he has been burdened with: seeing his brother burn, coming down with the curse of magic, the blight of his unique magic… GOD HE’S. SO AWFUL OTL BUT ALSO SO DARK AND COMPLEX)

asgk dihasbioasbiadfbiadfbafds Anyway, back to canon!!

SO THEY BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ROLLO AND. His punishment for all of this is… Well, none of his crimes are shared with people outside of NRC (like how they try to contain news of Jamil and Vil’s OBs in the main story) 😂 so Rollo still remains “pure” in the eyes of the NBC mobs that adore him, BUT he has to deal with the internal moral dilemma and turmoil.

Truly fitting for a villain who has already internalized so much self-hatred and guilt… Oh yeah, and he dances with Malleus at the end 😂 Happily ever after, I guess??

#twst #twisted wonderland #Malleus Draconia #Rollo Flamme #disney twisted wonderland #spoilers #notes from the writing raven #flame body Rollo resembles Esmeralda dancing in the fireplace #twst theory #twisted wonderland theory #twisted wonderland theories #twst analysis #twisted wonderland character analysis #twst character analysis #twisted wonderland analysis #d does this count as Rollo rot 😔#GOD I LOVE DEAD FAMILY DRAMA IT’S SO JUICY #it’s such a good literary device for angst 😈#Rollo Flamm

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oneoftheeggs · 3 months

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I haven't checked this, so take it with a grain of salt.

But if memory serves me correctly, Adam refers to himself as an Angel only once and that is, when he is not just talking about himself but all the exorcists.

To put that into perspective, he refers to himself as "dickmaster" more often than as "angel".

Meanwhile, I am not sure how often he calls himself "man" but I know it's more often than once.

Anyway, I am too tired to put this into words, but where I am going with this is: Adam sees himself as a (hu)man first and angel second!

(or to end the joke: Adam sees himself as a dickmaster first, human second and angel third)

And I think that is very interesting.

And yes, that is something I will be talking about in the fic I am working on.

#hazbin hotel #adam hazbin hotel #I know I am probably overanalyzing #I am just having fun #does this already count as character analysis?#probaby not

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sheasshovel · 4 months

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HEAR ME OUT

Scar as Apollo and Gem as Artemis…

Starting with Gem;

-HER ANTLERS!! Deer are sacred animals to Artemis and she is also the goddess of the moon and thats so shiny duo crumbs (pearl as the moon).

-Pearl could also work as a follower of Artemis though because of her disastrous double life relationship with Scott. Followers of Artemis swore off love and lived a life of chaste, which aligns well with Pearl having forgiven Scott after she won but never having the same relationship with him that she had in Last Life.

-Artemis herself also swore off love of any kind.. and guess who wasn’t there for Double life for a soul bound?

-Her only Allies in sl, besides the moon herself, were Scott and Impulse. Both of which could work as devout followers of Artemis because of their rejection of their own respective soulmates. Scott acknowledges his past lovers as his exes and never (to my knowledge) expresses wanting to get back with them. Impulse, too, never hesitated to attack the mounders even if they had Bdubs on their side. Impulse and Bdubs had a great relationship in Double Life but I like to think that, for this theory to work, they’ve just decided to keep that relationship in Dl.

-Besides the moon, Artemis is also a symbol of the hunt which is exactly what she did in sl sessions 7-8; hunt people down with the aid of the moon. Imagine moonlight illuminating her path as she stalks her prey….

Scars turn;

-Now, Apollo isn’t the god of the Sun (that would be Helios… or Grian in this case) but rather of sunlight, but the sun is still a huge symbol of him. Not to go all desert duo on you but the crumbs are there. Scar also covers himself in sunflowers in sl, a flower known to always be facing the sun, basking in its light. It’s worth mentioning that Scar was only close to winning when he and the Sun were inseparable in 3rd life, and he actually won when he was faced with the symbol of the moon and the moon herself.

-This is more silly but Apollo is highly connected with musical arts (specifically the lyre) and could you imagine if that scene where Grian and Scar were singing together wasn’t just Scar being oblivious but instead Apollo using any chance he can get to showcase his musical talent to the Sun?

-Apollo’s gift of Prophecy… Scar “we all die in the end” would be more prophetic if we all collectively gaslight ourselves into believing that he died after hitting succeed on his task. But in these death games, everyone knows by now how it ends. I think Scar acknowledging this is somehow foreshadowing how he wins though; by murdering everyone who stands in his way, not accepting sacrifices and turning on his temporary allies the second its clear that it would benefit him. When he said everyone would die he truly meant EVERYONE would die, and a majority will die to him or his twin (Artemis).

-Apollo and Artemis are both known for using Archery, but Scar is literally Hotguy come on now. His last kill was an arrow to Pearl that knocked her off of a cliff, an ARROW at the MOON. Scar is an incredibly skilled bow user and I would include this in Gem’s part too but I’m pretty sure she’s gotten more kills on sl by sword.

-Lastly, the Muses. Apollo, being the god of arts and music, was the choir leader of the 9 muses on Olympus. Now, Scar was never friends with more than 2 people at a time in the life series but lets look at his kills instead. In session 9 alone, he got 6 Permakills and 2 assists (Big B and Skizz) which brings us up to 8. Not enough but he lasted for 9 sessions, which is pretty cool if you interpret every session as a muse. Each session’s task being a huge influence on how Scar acts, even if he fails the task.

I think the 9 muses, Gem’s preferred weapon, and Apollo’s connection to medicine and Scar’s lack thereof are the weakest parts of this delusional rant but I still love the idea of the final battle in sl featuring the moon rejecting Artemis and a battle between the Twins. Apollo winning only after destroying the moon herself, who lost her will to win after the events of Dl. Apollo having once been allied with the Sun, and the Moon once having her win handed to her by her soulmate. Anyways Shinyduo Desertduo and Scar/Pearl narrative foils real and true.

#gtws #secret life #rant #goodtimeswithscar #geminitay #geminislay #grian #pearlescentmoon #life series #life smp #this came to me in a vision #desert duo #shiny duo #what are Pearl and Scars duo called help #sunflower duo #character analysis #does this count as a character analysis or a #or a drunken rambling

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bleue-flora · 4 months

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All of these hot takes are really making me feel left out lol. So um hot take:

c!Dream is autistic and the consequential misunderstanding and miscommunication is a root of all the problems and conflicts.

(Note: I say this as someone who is autistic and after being diagnosed at the age of 20, discovered that at the heart of 90% of my conflicts, now and in the past, is a failure in communication from being misjudged and misunderstood.)

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back-on-my-autistic-bullshit · 3 months

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Join me as I go feral about klance + Dear Arkansas Daughter by Lady Lamb at 4/5am

Ok. OKAY.

The first three lines are just:

Take a swim in the water / Take a swim in the water / Dear Arkansas Daughter

I have nothing special to say about this except that Lance and water are interconnected in my brain, unsurprisingly. I mean he pilots the blue lion so it just makes sense yk yk

You with the dark curls, you with the watercolour eyes / You who bares your teeth with every smile

This one is SO obvious but. Dark curls = Keith and watercolour eyes is Lance

Bares your teeth with every smile FEELS like Keith too. He's smiling and supposed to be friendly but is still coming off as idk like ??? Standoffish or argumentative anyway!

He says "I can always hear you sing, I wanna hear you speak to me"

This HITS. Imagining this as Keith begging Lance to just TALK to him to tell him how he FEELS because Lance is used to concealing how he feels with jokes. UGH

Skipping a line or two bc I don't have thoughts about those

I was talking at a cigarette / There's nothing left to say / But he should have been there anyway / For I didn't sing a single song, all day

This is about when Keith goes to the blade of marmora and leaves voltron ok ok. Like. Lance misses him. He misses talking to him and he doesn't know what to say when Keith isn't there, his jokes feel hollow now because he isn't there I. Am foaming at the mouth

As my love for you dies / As my love for you dies / As my love for you is steadily dying

Lance and Keith pushing down their love for each other and suppressing ("killing") it as they're separated and IDK IDK is this anything

As sharp and serious as a pistol in the eye

Something something Lance uses a gun and he is the sharpshooter and has good aim. Yeah thats all

My heart is full of swords / Full of, full of swords

This is kinda silly but it reminds me of the three of swords tarot card which has swords impaling a heart. This card also symbolises like, separation, grief, sorrow and heartbreak so!

Once again about Keith leaving to join the blade of the marmora they're both heartbroken and hurting!!!!!

Tie my hands and I knock my knees / As I kneel down, I kneel down in the sea / To the ocean floor, I will sink / Like a steel chest full of weapons

Once again !!! Water + Lance! Interconnected to me

"I will sink" makes me think he's like... giving up hope of Keith EVER coming back and they're relationship being the same again

"Like a steel chest full of weapons" this just goes back to the swords in the heart line and I think thats cool, yeah thats it

And on the spine of the tide, you will rise / Like a red, ripe, red, ripe apple

This one is embarrassingly simple but red = Keith lmao

The "red apple" (Keith) "floating on" (coming back to) "the tide" (Lance)

It feels like hope

ALSO. It reminds me of how oil floats on water and they don't ever truly combine but instead simply like.... co-exist in the same space. Idk dude I'm so tired and having so many thoughts

Take a swim in the dirty water / Dear Arkansas Daughter / Take a swim in the dirty water

Dirty water!!!! Foams at the mouth. This calls back to the start of the song but it's dirty now which links back to my previous thought of oil + water (the metaphor being keith is oil and lance is water btw)

Because water with oil in it is like dirty I guess

And the whole take a swim thing is Lance embracing Keith back into his life

Darling, child, true love of mine

Idk. True love of mine. Feels self explanatory

True love <3 they admit their feelings to each other and are happy. The End

The demons took over, and I needed to get this out of my system I would apologise but then again this is literally what this tumblr account is for so. Yeah hope you enjoyed that word vomit

#vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #keith kogane #lance mcclain #vld keith #vld lance #klance #vld klance #v's thoughts #but maybe?#original content things #???#does this count as #character analysis

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fizzybizzy · 7 months

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Infinite as a character is so interesting because he is his own downfall, like it's not even sonic himself or the avatar/Gadget, just himself and his own self destruction. Most villains are either beaten smartly by the protagonists or are overpowered or something else in that category but Infinite loses from his own agonies that he refuses to confront, such that his destruction & defeat is entirely avoidable if he went about it in literally any different way.

Infinite's theme is just hyping himself up to be this Big Bad as an effort to mask his insecurities and inferiority-- this complex of his. He's insecure. So his theme is the complete opposite of that. And yet he still fails despite having the most omnipotent power at his side (Phantom Ruby.) He cannot properly harness this power so his attempts at victory smolders in failure. He's tied so much of his identity and staked his whole being and hopes on this one thing in the pursuit of revenge and now it's all he has, but he barely even has it now because he lost.

#are my insane ramblings about my blorbo eligible. are they understandable. do I make sense. am i repeating myself. i love Infinite a lot.#he burns bright and burns terribly. he dug in his own grave too.#I hope he returns in a future title and gets elaborated on and it has a better writing team at the helm bc god does infinite deserve it.#he IS the king of missed potential after all.#Infinite the Jackal #essay #..would this count as one?#technically is a character analysis.

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blueteller · 2 years

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The Issue of TBOAH's Narration – was it wrong??

As those who finished reading TCF Part 1 know (spoiler alert); Cale Henituse got his knowledge about the world he got transmigrated into from a series of books called "The Birth of a Hero", by "Nelan Barrow" – aka. Choi Jung Gun, Choi Han's uncle.

CJG wrote them as a "guide" for Choi Jung Soo, Kim Rok Soo's friend, who was originally supposed to be the one transported into that world to help Choi Han defeat the White Star. Plans changed, however, when he and Lee Soo Hyuk altered fate and saved KRS's life, at the cost of their own. So KRS-turned-Cale took CJS's place and the TBOAH series served as a guide for him, instead.

There are still many questions unanswered about this whole thing. For example: how did CJG know all the things he did? The novel was supposedly from TBOAH!Choi Han's point of view, and yet, it had some inexplicable details… like how to earn the Indestructible Shield (which supposedly was never gotten by anyone), or Harol Kodiang parentage – why mention such a thing at all? Was Harol somehow important in the TBOAH verse later on?

Or another example: why didn't the books mention the White Star at all? Surely, if past-volume-5 Choi Han's knowledge was given to CJG to write about, shouldn't he first and foremost explain to CJS who the Final Boss is and how to defeat him??

Or another: why was it so important for CJG to tell his grand-nephew just how pretty the Whale People are???

So many unanswered questions!!

Today, however, I will be focusing on topic of them in particular:

Was TBOAH's narration actually, 100% correct?

Here's the thing: I was re-reading one of my favorite fanfics recently, "In an Instant" by Messy_haired_bum on AO3. I got to the chapter where a certain part of TBOAH came up – namely, "the Last Survivor of the Wolf Tribe", the Wolf King Lock. The characters in the fic discuss a particular problem with that title: Lock wasn't the last Wolf.

Or, well, he wasn't supposed to be.

Arm's goal in attacking the Wolf Tribes wasn't exterminating them at all – it was abduction of their children. Lock's siblings, by all account, should have gotten kidnapped in TBOAH verse, not assassinated. It is important, because later on the races "abandoned by the gods" – like the Wolf Tribe, Vampires and Dark Elves – were meant to be used as sacrifices to the God of Despair, to summon the 8 Unranked Monsters from the demonic statues in Endable, as well as the Temple of the Sealed God in Puzzle City. Lock was part of the team who managed to rescue some of the abducted Wolves, himself.

The problem is this: did the TBOAH!Lock not know about the abduction somehow, only assuming he was the last one when that wasn't the case… or was the TBOAH's narration wrong, for some reason?

The characters in the fic are torn on the issue – neither argument supported by the omniscient narration (which was a clever move on the author, that's why the writing's so great in this) – and the two Locks despise each other: TBOAH!Lock believes his counterpart to be weak, while TCF!Lock thinks the other him was blind and failed to notice his siblings getting abducted.

However, there is a third option. Which is a theory I've had for a long time.

I do not believe that CJG's writing could actually be 100% correct – especially where it comes to subjective stuff, such as beauty or people's personal beliefs. He clearly has some idea of his character's motivations and personalities, and yet he had no idea about OG Cale throwing his reputation for the sake of his step-brother Basen.

On the other hand… I think CJG got his objective facts right, such as the order of events. Even if the timeline wasn't explained to Cale as clearly as he would have wished – causing him to encounter the Whales in the Ubarr Territory, despite visiting the shore way earlier than the events of TBOAH's volume 5… Still, CJG never wrote any lies. Sure, TBOAH!Lock believed to himself to be the last member of the Wolf Tribe when that clearly wasn't the case. However, I think the attack on his village could have been a complete assassination after all.

How, do you answer? One word: Redika.

Redika was the one who attacked Lock's Wolf Village in both TBOAH and TCF, but his actions could have been different in the two timelines. Why...?

...Because of Raon, of course.

Think about it: Cale's actions caused massive differences from the very beginning. From Choi Han's relationships, to the survival of the nameless village where Raon was being tortured at. However, most people forget that there was an important link between Raon and Redika. Redika was the one who sold the Black Dragon Egg to Marquis Stan – and the thing is? He wasn't supposed to do it!

No, in fact, the Black Dragon going on a rampage and dying at Choi Han's hands? It probably gave Redika a lot of trouble! Because he was never supposed to sell that egg!! It never should have been in his posession at all!!!

The Dragon-Half Blood, which was presumably Redika's teacher in magic, gave him the Black Egg in secret in order to "dispose of it" – aka. protect it. Redika agreed, then double-crossed him by selling it to a random low-ranked Arm member (because let's be honest, the Stans couldn't have been high in that hierarchy) for some BIG CASH. Everything went down well under the table of course, so he was pretty confident there would be no bad consequences for him.

...Except, he Dragon escaping and revealing himself in such a public way?? No way he could have covered it up! Redika was probably sweating bullets when he found out! If someone connected the dots about him being involved… oh boy. If the Dragon Half-Blood heard about it, Redika would be good as dead. If the White Star heard about it… he'd be worse than dead.

And I bet the news reached him juuust around the time he got the mission to abduct some Wolf Tribe children. What would a psychopath do in such a stressful situation?

Why, murder a bunch of children, of course!

It makes 100% sense. Maybe Redika didn't kill all the children in TBOAH – maybe it was just some of them. But it was enough to make Lock and others convinced that Arm's goal was assassination. Redika went on a rampage to let off some steam, and probably killed more of the "seeds" than he should have on this mission. He'd probably get even more in trouble because of that, but hey – YOLO, am I right?? 😂

I mean c'mon, it's not like Redika was a particularly restrained guy.

Of course, there were other factors: such as Choi Han and Rosalyn arriving earlier than in TBOAH, thus saving more lives. But I'm pretty sure that Redika's actions were different in TBOAH, as well. There's no way he would be unaffected when he about the Black Dragon escaping in TBOAH. The butterfly effect in TCF is super strong. If tiny differences like Choi Han not beating up Cale resulted in his actions being different, why wouldn't the same apply to other characters? We all know the moment Cale transmigrated, the whole thing went of the rails.

Basically: I think CJG was right in TBOAH, mostly. Except Cale's actions caused such huge waves of changes, the situation changed drastically. Lock believed to be the last of his kind because for all he knew, that was the case. But the attack on his village probably went differently in TBOAH from the start, not just because of Choi Han and Rosalyn.

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pocketdaan · 11 months

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Character Analysis: "The Delinquent One"

Imagine you're a scientist helping to create a new lifeform on a petri dish with your coworkers. You're not the leader - one came up with the formula and another followed it. Still, you help since these are the ones on equal standing as you.

Goal was to make them in your coworkers' image and indeed the little things took on a life slightly similar to your group. However, they're still fragile in all definitions, so your group gives them ways to become more powerful should they seek it.

And after a miniscule taste of that power, they start wanting to overthrow you all.

They don't even have a full view of the petri dish.

Your coworkers pull away from the project as a result. Surprisingly, though, they don't punish the lifeforms much. As if letting them go out of pity or curiosity.

Seeing that nobody is putting the lifeforms in their place, you step in.

You go, "We literally created you. You won't get what we have because you're objectively weak and you don't even deserve what we have if you're this ungrateful."

And then the lifeforms call you a delinquent.

I think Ascended Gods could be Rher's victory and here's a long-winded answer for why:

I think humans are to Old Gods as micro-organisms are to humans. Mankind will never be on the level of Old Gods if we're this insignificantly small. Like tiny specks of bacteria.

Ancient Gods are concepts. They may have some physical forms when they appear to the player but it's likely always an approximation. Beings like the Old Gods don't have a solid unchanging form like ours. F&H's humans are bacteria on a petri dish and the Old Gods were peering down a microscope - mankind can't simply look up and see the Old Gods breathing down their necks. They're too small and too far away.

The Old Gods have long since left the laboratory anyhow.

We don't have info on how these reptile beings were created and by which Old God, only that they were there before humans. However, there are hints of these reptiles having ascended into the Greater Blights. These are what they turn into when they become New Gods.

Nothing states of the Old Gods being against the Greater Blights, which means these reptiles seemingly haven't rebelled in the way that humans had. Which means the Old Gods had been open to the idea of mortals becoming New Gods, before humans started abandoning their creators.

I'll rattle off some well-known bits about the Old Gods to point something out, bear with me.

Sylvian has a deep love of humanity. If she had a say in the human New Gods' formation, she may have done it out of pity for her beloved ones.

Gro-goroth has his extensive curiosity. If he had a say in the human New Gods' formation, he may have done it for curiosity's sake.

Rher possibly took part in the New Gods' formation. We have no evidence that he took an anti-human stance before they become New Gods.

Vinushka, Vitruvia, and the unnamed Old Gods / their servants - we don't know enough of to speculate. But given that only Rher is noted to actively gatekeep humanity's godhood, it can imply that nobody other than Rher cared enough to be against it.

It's easier to fall under an anthropocentric lens. If one Old God's love for humanity leads to losing your mind and being enslaved to base desires, it's understandable to be wary of what an Old God's hate for humanity would do.

Regardless of Rher's opinion of humanity, though, it'd be black-&-white to render him a simple villain.

From Rher's perspective, it could be something like humans having too much of an ego to know when they're making bad choices.

Being a New God was a trap, a false solution for incomprehensibly large problems. 'Making a fuss over temporary solutions to the point of throwing away devotion to the ones who created you,' is understandably frustrating to witness.

Rher's supposedly the God of hidden truths. Moonscorching is to forcibly pry what's buried in the subconscious, the person reaching the limits of their sanity and losing themself to inner horrors. Despite that, his moonlight is considered his "gift" to humanity.

He's also been the last known Old God to observe mankind. If he's doing the equivalent of hatewatching, then he's not really doing a good job at it... letting both The Girl and Reila ascend like that.

That's why I don't think he's necessarily rooting for humanity's failure. I think that Rher may want mankind to face the truth of their limitations - if people can't face the dark truths within themselves, they'd never face the dark truths within the rest of the petri dish. They shouldn't even try.

And there's been an obvious history of humans continuously failing. Most knew the perils that seeking godhood entails and how weak New Gods are compared to Old Gods. This truth, to him, is frustratingly in plain sight.

Yet mankind still chooses to seek higher means of power.

But the Ascended Gods? Humanity can become as powerful as Old Gods in convoluted situations like Alll-mer, the God of Fear and Hunger, and Logic.

It's not the same situation as the New Gods. There may have been arrogance and ego in wanting to have human Old Gods, but it's not simply that. Plans have been detailed in order for these mortals to ascend. Being Ascended takes having to throw parts of your individuality away in order to achieve humanity's goals, the opposite of holding onto the ego.

And the Ascended Gods have driven the species to greater heights the way New Gods couldn't.

It's like humans have identified a limitation, have devised a plan to patch that limitation, and it finally worked.

I think that's why Rher tells Pocketcat to stop going after The Girl. That's why Rher lets a Termina contestant power-on Logic. For once, humanity has done what he's wanted them to do: be humbled.

God of Fear and Hunger gave humans a greater sense of limitations pertaining to fears and hunger, and this led to humans focusing on creating manmade technologies to overcome it.

Logic will give humans a greater sense of limitations pertaining to technology. By this, Rher can assume it will also lead to humans focusing on how to overcome this limitation.

F&H1 and F&H2 come off to some as if his schemes have been foiled. 'Another human ascended despite The Delinquent One's best efforts'.

Sure, he may still hate what humanity had done to the Old Gods. He may still hate the idea of New Gods. It's unlikely that he'd ever be compassionate toward humans, he's definitely no misunderstood ally of humanity.

But do I think Rher won alongside the player in the end.

#fear & hunger #fear and hunger #f&h1 #f&h #f&ht #f&h2 #fear & hunger termina #fear and hunger termina #rher #sylvian #gro-goroth #long post #fear and hunger character analysis #does the moon count as a character?#my analyses #my theories #Character Analysis: Rher

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