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buckybarnesss · 11 months

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laura hale: darling, dearest, dead

welcome to where i care way too much about teen wolf in the year 2023.

i have no shame.

i've been working on this meta for a few weeks now and it’s definitely grown past its original scope. at first, i just wanted to do a deep dive into the weirdness around laura’s death but of course that expanded as i sat down and hashed out my thoughts.

@renninflight 's tags on one of my posts really gave me the push for this because i've apparently just been waiting for the opportunity to talk about the mysterious murder of laura hale

shoutout also to my teen wolf buddy and tumblr mutual of forever @dear-massacre our teen wolf talks definitely helped, probably wormed their way in here and this wouldn’t have existed without you.

laura's death is the core mystery of the first season and i’ve always been intrigued by the circumstances surrounding it.

i’m definitely not the first to question the circumstances surrounding laura’s death but i’m going to put on my tinfoil conspiracy theory hat and discuss the events just prior to wolf moon and how laura hale haunts me the narrative.

buckle up buttercups this is long.

just to get this out of the way immediately, i need you to understand that teen wolf's plots and timeline were apparently written on a soggy napkin found crumbled up under the seat cushion of jeff davis's couch. season 1's story is the most cohesive but there wasn't a show bible for a long time, which explains its loose relationship with keeping consistent canon. this post on the teen wolf wiki from september 2013 says explicitly that some assistant was tasked with writing one. this would've placed it after 3a had aired but before 3b did.

while i won’t be digging into the teen wolf timeline here, i will be working from my own understanding of it.

a lot of teen wolf is left to implication, inference and subtext as we the audience are locked into scott mccall's point of view and his knowledge of what's happening. this allows for scott to be ignorant about the world he unwittingly and unwillingly enters so that information can be doled out at a steady drip and the mysteries heightened.

that said, onwards to what has become my teen wolf magnum opus.

introduction: the dead girl

laura hale is the ultimate dead girl trope in teen wolf which is a show littered with the corpses of dead girls. it makes sense of course when you know she is the narrative sister of laura palmer of twin peaks fame.

unlike laura palmer though, laura hale never gets to tell her story. she is dead before the show begins.her corpse is treated cavalierly by scott and stiles, desecrated by the argents and stripped of her personhood.

interestingly, david lynch’s daughter jennifer lynch not only a authored a spin off novel for twin peaks told from laura palmer’s perspective called the secret diary of laura palmer but also directed four episodes of teen wolf (silverfinger, i.e.d, perishable and codominance).

it's a cool connection.

i like this quote from esquire about laura palmer and the creation of the dead girl trope:

“we don't see laura with any control over her circumstances. we meet her after she's been wrapped in a plastic bag and left to rot, which essentially leaves her narrative and legacy to be largely determined by those who are investigating her. we don't learn about laura through laura—we learn about laura by piecing together what she left behind.”

laura hale’s murder also invokes a visual similarity to a real life beautiful dead girl as well.

elizabeth short.

elizabeth short is known to history as the black dahlia. her naked, posed, and bisected corpse was discovered in a vacant lot in january 1947. she was 22 years old.

when betty bersinger discovered elizabeth that morning she thought she’d stumbled upon a mannequin. in a way, she had. the person elizabeth short was is often lost amongst the sensationalized headlines, salacious gossip and speculation surrounding her case. instead, she has become the perfect, posable victim unable to tell her own story.

elizabeth short is the template for all the dead girls in modern media.

what makes laura hale different though is how she’s a non-character within teen wolf despite her death’s significance as the unpreventable, fixed event within the show’s universe.

laura hale has the most in common with the other dead beautiful girls erica reyes and paige krasikeva. each of them killed before their full potential could be realized their ghosts left to haunt the narrative.

as i said earlier though, the circumstances surrounding her death have always intrigued me. i’ve always believed there was a sort of convergence of events happening prior to wolf moon that led to the inciting incident of laura hale's murder.

we’re even told this throughout the show if you’re paying attention.

one of the things i always wished we’d gotten from teen wolf was more information about not just laura herself but what exactly she knew prior to her death but we can infer quite a bit.

let’s take a look at what we do know.

a history lesson: drinking poison from the same vine

to understand what happened to laura hale when she was killed we have to step back and look at what happened before the first scenes of the show.

in particular we have to take a look at peter hale, the argents and the alpha pack. this means revisiting visionary among some other relevant episodes.

visionary is probably one of if not the most central lore episode within the series and it also gives us a glimpse of both talia and laura hale while they were still alive.

laura herself is more of an afterthought in this episode as she's never named on screen.

so what does visionary tell us about laura?

it tells us that she was already in a leadership position within the hale pack by this time and is clearly put forth as talia's natural, intended successor due to her very presence at the summit. it also tells us kali, ennis and deucalion knew laura hale personally even if it was a fleeting acquaintance.

in the finer details of the episode we learn a few other things such as talia, laura and peter were all aware of the threat of the argents. we learn one of ennis’s betas was killed in retaliation for killing two hunters. the death of the beta seems very cruel and unusual as we learn that he was shot through the throat, his claws were ripped out and he was cut in half.

the last point in particular is notable as there’s only one hunter we know of that cuts werewolves in half.

gerard argent.

motel california is just a few episodes prior to visionary where it’s revealed that alexander argent killed himself in 1977 at the glen capri motel after being bitten. gerard claims it was deucalion that bit his brother which is how he justifies his actions in visionary.

is it the full truth? doubtful. maybe alexander argent was bitten by deucalion and maybe he wasn’t but gerard seems to believe he was and that is what matters.

belief in the teen wolf universe is a real, tangible concept but it’s incredibly important to the narrative conceit of this episode. gerard and peter are both unreliable narrators who purposefully minimize their roles in the stories they tell. maybe they even believe their own lies to a degree.

what we know as the audience as it’s proven multiple times throughout the series is that gerard rejects the idea of peace and is known for being brutal and cruel in his methods.

visionary also goes a long way to illustrate that peter hale has always been, you know, Like That. he skulks around the story even in his own version of events where he’s trying to minimize his own role in paige’s death.

i believe that the non-existence of laura in his story except for a throwaway mention about how laura told derek about the packs being in town is two fold. one, peter was jealous of laura’s position in the pack and two, his guilt over killing her.

peter’s guilt is an interesting thing because he is first and foremost all about the survival of peter hale but he does care about those he perceives as his. for him, killing laura was something he regretted but was necessary so that peter could gain the alpha power.

laura was a sacrifice.

another thing about visionary is the absence of peter and talia’s relationship but who else would’ve told her about derek and what happened? talia isn’t surprised when she finds derek in the cellar.

over the course of the show we do not get a lot about talia and peter’s relationship which is a thing that keeps me up at night but i don’t think it’s too far of a leap to conclude that talia knew her brother’s nature and probably saw it as useful in it’s own way so long as she was the one holding the leash. the way peter advises derek is probably not too far off from how he advised talia.

there’s a tiny glimpse of this in season 4’s monstrous.

meredith walker is subjected to peter’s inner ravings while he’s comatose as they somehow connected mental frequencies.

there’s parts in there about how he’ll be a vengeful god and remake the supernatural of beacon hills in his own image and blah blah blah it all tracks for peter but the parts about talia are interesting not only because it gives us a glimpse into how peter perceived talia but also because he specifically name drops the argents as the threat.

is it the full truth? no. peter subscribes to the from-a-certain-point-of-view version of the truth and we have to remember this is peter just after the fire. he’s comatose, horrifically injured and on some level he’s aware that most of his family is now deceased.

what looking at this gives us is peter’s perspective and what he latched onto post-fire thus creating the peter we meet.

“i predicted this. i told talia this was going to happen. something like this was going to happen. i said they were going to come for us. the argents. they’re going to come for us. they’re gonna burn us to the ground. they’re going to burn us to the ground. did she listen? of course not. did anyone listen? they listened to her. yes! say that everything was going to be fine. that we were all perfectly safe. but she made us weak! she made us weak. and what happens to the weakest in the herd? they get picked off by the predators. we used to be the apex predators. until talia turned us into sheep.”

there is another key point about talia and peter that i think cannot be overlooked. the removal of memories. she took the memory of the nemeton’s location from both him and derek after their experiences there and she also took the memory of his tryst with corrine that resulted in malia’s birth.

i think what these things together tell us is that peter hale is vengeful and resentful but not just towards the argents but also talia but talia is beyond his reach. laura isn’t.

the last player that needs to be examined is the alpha pack. visionary gives us a version of events of why deucalion is the way he is and it ends with him killing his beta marco absorbing his power. this in itself isn’t actually all that interesting as this was the foregone conclusion.

when you combine it with what jennifer tells derek in the overlooked though it was just a few months after this she is attacked by kali at the base of the nemeton, which means the creation of the alpha pack was already underway mere weeks after deucalion is blinded by gerard.

we know talia hale was aware of what happened to deucalion along with gerard argent’s involvement so it would also stand to reason she would then be aware of the creation of the alpha pack. i cannot imagine it would escape her notice that both ennis and kali’s packs were decimated by their alphas and then they joined with deucalion. that seems like a cataclysmic event that’d get through the supernatural grapevine quickly.

if talia knew then so did laura as she was like i said clearly talia’s successor.

the mysterious death of laura hale part I: who cut laura in half?

let’s revisit the scene of the crime to examine the absolutely hinky circumstances surrounding laura's death and what the hell was happening in the woods the night scott was bitten by peter.

if i learned anything from gil grissom the first piece of evidence is the body. this is how we and scott meet laura hale.

i don’t think it’s speculation to say that peter hale killed laura but it was gerard argent who cut her in half.

in the season 2 opening episode omega we meet gerard argent and learn of his propensity to use a broadsword to cut werewolves in half but it is chris that gives scott the warning.

chris: "scott do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?"

scott: "i have a feeling i don't want to."

chris: "a medical term for amputating somebody at the waist. cutting them in half. takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone like that."

this foreshadows what happens to the omega at the end of the episode but it reminds the viewer that we’ve already seen a corpse like that.

it may be a drop in the bucket compared to all the trauma scott has experienced since that night but i don’t think laura’s severed corpse is a sight he’s forgotten. which is what i believe argent is counting on here.

he knows what his father did.

he’s intimidating scott as much as he’s warning him not just about lydia but also about his father’s impending arrival and what gerard is capable of.

by this point chris knows kate broke the code by killing the hales in such a gruesome fashion but what does kate say when chris confronts her in code breaker?

chris: “i know what you did.”

kate: “i did what i was told to do.”

gee, i wonder who gave kate the carte blanche on killing the hales? i bet he also used paige’s death as a way to manipulate her as we see him do with allison. he was in town after all when paige was attacked by ennis and subsequently died. it's not a stretch to believe that a seasoned hunter like gerard would be able to spot a supernatural death cover up via animal attack.

the argents talk a big game about their women being leaders but gerard is the puppet master tugging on kate’s strings just like he did allison’s in season 2. this doesn’t minimize kate’s own sociopathy. kate can be a victim and a perpetrator.

we know from visionary that the argents have been known to operate around the beacon hills area to hunt but they don’t live there until chris and his family move there just prior to wolf moon.

i think we can infer that gerard ordered chris to move to beacon hills in response to laura hale being back in the area for the first time since the fire and i don’t think he aimed to just keep an eye on her.

there’s another overlooked aspect as to why gerard would be very interested in laura hale. he wants to cure his cancer via the bite. in fact, i wouldn’t be surprised if he would have offered her kate in exchange for the bite.

sure, it’s speculative, but i think there are enough pieces to support it as a working theory.

unlike peter there is never a confession from gerard about his part in the crime so why am i certain he did it?

let’s go back to the body for a moment.

while there’s a lot of gore, most of the blood is on laura herself.

there’s a significant lack of blood either around or underneath laura. with the amount of trauma we can see on her body there should be a bloody mess but there isn’t.

also notice how her arms are splayed out. it’s like she was dropped there.

she also doesn’t appear to be all that decayed so she’s still pretty, uh, fresh.

so again why do i believe gerard cut her in half if peter killed her?

not only can we infer in the subtext from the conversation chris has with scott in omega but looking at the cut on laura’s body it is too clean to be from being ripped in half by an animal or a werecreature.

however, a person with a sharp, heavy sword with the know-how that we know does this? seems a bit more plausible doesn’t it?

also kate literally tells us that hunters did it. she doesn’t name gerard but she informs derek in the tell:

“yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to catch you. unpleasant, and frankly a little too texas chainsaw massacre for my taste, but quite true. but here’s the part that’s really going to kick you in the balls. we didn’t kill her.”

neither the audience nor derek know if kate can be believed. i don’t think she’s lying here. she’s taunting but not lying.

why lie when she knows how badly this knowledge will hurt derek?

she goes on to add:

“found bite marks on your sister’s body derek. what do you think did that? a mountain lion?”

this i believe was a fib. were there bite marks? possibly, but more likely from savangers than peter taking a bite out of laura.

also the fact that laura’s lower half was found by joggers probably means it was visible from a path which gives some credibility to the idea that the hunter's strew laura’s corpse around the preserve. they wanted it to be found.

not only would two pieces be less heavy than a whole body but it just shows how they don’t care. laura isn’t a person to them. she’s vermin, she’s subhuman, she’s not worthy of respect.

she’s no better than bait to other werewolves to them.

they leave laura to rot.

notice how kate never refers to laura by name instead calling her “your sister” to derek. kate lured derek out with insults towards laura but this one is the greatest of them all. kate is refusing laura hale’s personhood.

the final reason i don’t believe peter tore laura in half is we’ve seen how peter kills. claws from behind are consistent with how he goes at derek at the end of heart monitor and jackson in master plan or throat slashing which we see in the tell with the video store clerk, kate in code breaker and jennifer in lunar eclipse.

or he mauls them viscerally like we see with the mute in the benefactor.

a creature of habit he calls himself.

in none of peter’s kills either as alpha or as a beta does he tear someone in half.

while peter hale is a dramatic king and doesn’t mind getting his hands bloody, i think he’d be offended if someone accused him of tearing laura in half.

the mysterious death of laura hale II: why does peter kill laura?

speaking of peter, why did he kill laura?

the obvious answer is for the alpha power so he could fully heal..he says as much in wolf’s bane.

peter: “yes, becoming an alpha, taking that from laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process.”

but with peter hale nothing is ever so simple. there’s always layers.

in alpha pact, peter gives derek this speech when he’s winding derek up about how to heal cora:

“you know, normal wolves never abandon an injured member of the pack. they care for it. they even bring it food from a kill and then regurgitate it into the mouth of the injured wolf. they even give it physical and emotional comfort by intensely grooming it. in a way they can do more than just ease pain. they can be instrumental in healing their own."

as i mentioned earlier, i think peter not only holds a lot of resentment towards talia for what he perceived as inaction but also towards laura.

after the fire, laura did what cora says in visionary they were taught to do when hunters find them.

cora: "waiting. hiding. that's what we're told to do when the hunters find us. hide and heal."

in all the trauma and grief, laura did the only thing that she could reasonably do in response to such a horrific tragedy. she packed up her little brother who she’d suddenly become the guardian of and put an entire continent between them and beacon hills.

in doing so she left behind peter. i don’t blame her for leaving beacon hills. she was reacting to the threat of the hunters by trying to protect what little was left of her family and herself.

you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you can help others.

however, in leaving peter behind he was left to not only slowly go mad but he was also left vulnerable.

peter may have felt laura not only abandoned him as a member of the pack but abdicated her right to be the alpha.

derek tells scott in riddled:

“my family didn’t just live in beacon hills.they protected it.”

laura left beacon hills unprotected and she left peter alone.

peter killed laura for the alpha power he always saw as rightfully his so he could heal and do the job he felt talia and laura were both too weak to do.

while peter killed laura his culpability does come into question.

in co-captain he performs the memory sharing ritual with scott which gives us a small glimpse of peter’s memories in the moments before laura’s death.

laura enters the scene looking around as if she hears something and then laura calls out his name in question. when peter turns he doesn’t look like a man in control with his eyes rolling, mouth agape.

his actions look autonomous. peter the man is not at the wheel.

if we take what peter says in wolf’s bane at face value about how he was being driven by pure instinct then we can surmise that the wolf was in control and acted on impulse and peter’s deepest thoughts and desires.

the same ones we hear peter raving and ranting at meredith in monstrous.

vengeance.

i think the truth seems to be somewhere in the middle.

peter often downplays his own involvement as a manipulation tactic. so while he lacked inhibition, killing laura for the alpha power was premeditated as we know his nurse was acting on his behalf. i do wonder though if laura’s body hadn’t been severed by hunters would peter have resurrected her?

what’s a little murder between family members, you know?

the mysterious death of laura hale III: the conspiracy

there are two conspiracies in season 1.

the conspiracy to kill the hales and the conspiracy to lure laura hale back to beacon hills.

about three months before her death laura was sent the picture of the revenge spiral on the deer which brought her back to beacon hills. to the territory she had left unattended for six years. in pack mentality, derek says that laura came back to beacon hills looking for the alpha and that she told him she was close to figuring something out about the fire.

luring laura back to beacon hills wasn’t just about killing her. that was the endgame, but first peter needed her to do the leg work in finding the conspirators that set the fire.

the conspiracy itself hinges on one person since peter was still unable to do all of it himself due to him still recovering and we know nothing about her.

nurse jennifer plagues me. her motivations for helping peter were never given. she’s merely a tool to help peter enact his revenge.

all we have are theories and i have found precious few in my searches through old meta.

the most popular theory and i use that word loosely is that she was jennifer blake sowing the seeds for her eventual return to take on the alpha pack. i’ve considered this one and i think a skilled writer could make it work, but within the context we’re given i don’t think so.

i do believe jennifer blake definitely scouted out beacon hills just as the alpha pack did but i don’t think she and nurse jennifer are one in the same. besides, we do see nurse jennifer’s corpse in code breaker.

another theory i came across was that she’s a banshee compelled in the same way lydia was by peter. again because we have such little information there’s enough room for it to be possible but i doubt it.

the conclusion i have come to about nurse jennifer is that she’s someone like dr. fenris and brunski from eichen house. while we do not learn about eichen house until season 3b dr fenris is introduced in wolf’s bane and is in the search for a cure.

mostly, i think she’s simply a reference to nurse ratched from one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. her nurse's uniform is even anachronistic.

but what was nurse jennifer’s role in the conspiracy?

she is the one who sent the picture of the deer spiral to laura hale to spur her to come back to beacon hills. nurse jennifer is also the one who sent allison the text to come to the school during night school. like laura, nurse jennifer did a lot of footwork for peter to make his plans work and it’s a damn shame we’ll never know why.

the mysterious death of laura hale iv: the fixed point

laura’s death is what i think of as a fixed point in the universe of teen wolf. the idea of which is something i shamelessly took from doctor who.

in doctor who a fixed point is considered a lynchpin of the structure of ordered history. they cannot be altered as any attempts to do so would unravel linear time.

laura hale’s death is that fixed point. it was unavoidable, unpreventable. poor laura hale doomed by the narrative.

in the events surrounding the murder of laura hale there are two more players i haven’t really discussed. they exist on the periphery but are no less important.

doctor alan deaton and the nemeton.

cora says this in visionary:

"they keep us connected to humanity but they're a secret even within the pack. sometimes only the alpha knows who the emissary is. derek and i had no idea about deaton."

as talia’s successor laura would’ve had to know who their pack’s emissary was.

this is confirmed in fury when deaton not only insults derek to his face but reveals that he made a promise to talia to help her children and derek recalls laura mentioning deaton indirectly as some kind of advisor.

i say indirectly because if laura had told derek explicitly that deaton was someone who could help and advise than he wouldn’t have suspected him as the alpha in season 1.

did laura see deaton at all during her time in beacon hills? i would say it’s probable but i get the impression laura played her cards close to her chest. deaton was very unnerved by what was happening and with laura’s death probably concerned for his own wellbeing.

deaton doesn’t reveal himself to derek because he has no idea if derek’s the one who killed laura or not. there’s no established relationship between the two for trust to go either way.

truly the greatest villain of teen wolf is miscommunication, but i digress.

now here comes the part where i put on my tin foil conspiracy theory hat. i believe laura was killed near or at the nemeton.

an unintended and unacknowledged sacrifice.

peter may not have consciously remembered its location, but who's to say it didn’t draw him there.

we know from jennifer’s speech in the overlooked that the nemeton had a small spark of power from paige’s death. it was enough power to keep her alive after kali left her for dead so it isn’t difficult to believe it could’ve drawn peter to it as well.

we know gerard knows its location despite what he tells allison about him not remembering. i don’t believe that geriatric bastard anymore than i believe peter as peter is able to find the nemeton easy enough because he shows up to kill jennifer there.

now, i have zero proof of this. it’s all speculation from vibes and what we see in lunar eclipse but considering laura’s body was moved from wherever she originally died and was severed it’s possible.

it’s easy to imagine a scenario where laura finds peter at the nemeton where he kills her and leaves her body where it fell. later, gerard and his hunters discover her corpse and in frustration and anger at his plan falling through, gerard decides to use laura as bait for either the werewolf that killed her, derek or whatever other werewolves come along. waste not, want not after all.

either way an alpha’s blood is spilled there giving the nemeton just a little bit more power.

in lunar eclipse allison, scott and stiles perform a proxy ritual sacrifice to find out the location of the nemeton so they can rescue their parents. it’s successful, but only because the nemeton allows them to know its location.

in revealing itself to them it chooses them as its champions and.it’s magic takes them back to the night scott was bitten, to the fixed point in the teen wolf universe.

laura hale’s death.

haunting the narrative: laura hale’s uneasy ghost

“and so, the woman dies. the woman dies so the man can be sad about it. the woman dies so the man can suffer. she dies to give him a destiny. dies so he can fall to the dark side. dies so he can lament her death. as he stands there, brimming with grief, brimming with life, the woman lies there in silence.”

by aoko matsuda, translated by polly barton

once the first season comes to a close and laura hale’s murder is solved she is no longer mentioned save a few precious times, but the ghost of laura lingers.

laura haunts the narrative.

derek has forgiven many transgressions against himself and his person but he will never forgive peter for laura’s murder. her death underscores every single one of their interactions.

laura’s the specter that hangs between cora and derek. cora loses her sister twice and derek’s words “sorry to disappoint you” only speak to how he feels he cannot live up to the ghost of not only his mother but also laura.

this, however, is not the only way laura remains in the narrative. they allude to her in other ways.

in anchors scott reprises the scene from wolf moon where he tells stiles they’re going to go out into the woods to find a dead body but in a reverse uno of wolf moon though, scott is able to save the naked hale girl in the woods and bring her back to her family.

at the beginning of party guessed, lydia has one of her banshee visions. if you pay attention you can catch a girl in the bleachers that doesn’t quite belong. in fact, she’s crying out distressed and frightened.

that girl is laura hale.

while uncredited the actress looks a lot like haley roe murphy who played laura in the first season and the necklace around her neck has a red pendant that alludes to her alpha status.

lydia sees an echo of laura hale as a warning.

i like this shot in second chance at first line when scott is at the morgue. he pulls out the drawer containing laura's lower half and the pov for the shot is almost like laura is watching despite her upper half not being there.

the very last time we see laura’s body is after stiles and scott dig it up.

from this new perspective, laura’s stare has gone from vacant to accusatory.

it’s a jump scare, the transition from laura as a wolf to laura as human. it’s meant to freak stiles and scott out and confuse them.

what it’s always said to me though is how dare you.

whether or not it was intentional (and let’s be real this is teen wolf so it’s probably half and half if we’re being generous) the murder of laura remains one of the most intriguing incidents on teen wolf and her being one of the most untapped characters.

i said earlier i wanted to know what laura knew before her death. what had she uncovered about the fire? had she learned about cora being alive? did she know about kate and derek?

the answer is that it doesn’t matter. It no longer matters because laura died. we can never know what she knew.

in teen wolf it doesn’t matter because laura is a non-character while being the most important character of them all.

laura hale is the beautiful dead girl.

she is the inciting incident, the fixed point, the name unsaid and the spirit unexercised.

“an anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young-- a dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.” lenore by edgar allen poe

#my blog #teen wolf #laura hale #teen wolf meta #thoughts on teen wolf #did i have a lot of thoughts? yes

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herearedragons · 1 month

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...so yesterday I noticed a fun Pillars of Eternity thing.

There are 11 companions in POE1. There are also 11 gods in Eora.

So, naturally, I decided to see if you can match every companion's themes/aesthetic/general plot to a god, and, you kind of can? So I'm going to put the list of matches I ended up with here, and more detailed explanations under the cut.

The List

Edér - Eothas

Aloth - Berath

Sagani - Rymrgand

Kana - Wael

Durance - Magran

Pallegina - Hylea

Hiravias - Galawain

Grieving Mother - Woedica

Maneha - Ondra

Zahua - Skaen

Devil of Caroc - Abydon

(disclaimer: this is not the "every companion secretly represents a god" theory. this is just me having fun and seeing how far I can take this idea. some of these are A Stretch)

(another disclaimer: I'll be referencing both the first game and the short stories, so, uh, spoilers)

(also special thanks to @solas-backpack-mug for helping me brainstorm this)

Evidence

...the first thing I should probably mention is that, to make things easier for myself, I assumed that every character we know to be devoted or otherwise connected to a specific god will be representing that god. That mostly worked out (I'll get into my reasoning for Hiravias later), and in some cases there was even additional evidence to support this.

So!

Edér - Eothas

the theme of rebirth/second chances is all over his dialogue, storyline and even combat abilities (his Second Chance armor). you could argue that the warrior ability that allows you to constantly regenerate Endurance is also kind of relevant, but that's a stretch

Eothasian

Aloth - Berath

like Berath, his soul has two aspects, male and female (the Usher and the Pallid Knight vs Aloth and Iselmyr)

his quest is literally called "Two-Sided"

in his short story, he brings up the fact that the Aedyran priesthood of Berath, specifically, opposes animancy - which he also does

also in the short story, he for some reason chooses to pray to Berath in a moment that's important to him, and it might be a cultural thing, but I also think this is the only time we've seen him pray at all?

Sagani - Rymrgand

general arctic theming

this is one of the shakier associations, but once I started looking into it I realized that the themes of futility and deterioration are kind of present in Sagani's story. She references in her short story (and I'm pretty sure in the game as well, though I don't remember) how she's growing older and more distant from her family the longer her search takes, being literally worn down by time. And in the end, she finds Persoq as a dying animal who can't understand her; under a certain interpretation you could say that her search was futile, though that's definitely not the only reading (and it's not my personal interpretation, but for tinfoil-hat purposes, it counts).

you could argue that her hunting down a reincarnated soul is kind of like Rymrgand's entropy coming for every soul eventually

Kana - Wael

his entire character is based around different aspects of knowledge: knowledge preserved, knowledge newly discovered, knowledge lost

has a humorous streak

seems to have a tendency to wander and defy the existing order of things

Durance - Magran

I mean

Pallegina - Hylea

she's an avian godlike

I guess you could say she's devoted to the growth and prosperity of the Republics, which resonates with Hylea's theme of nurturing?

but it's mostly the godlike thing

Hiravias - Galawain

worships or used to worship Galawain, depending on your choices

druid, strongly associated with beasts and nature

he could end up as a follower of Wael, which by my own rule would qualify him for the Wael parallel, but: a) I think Kana fits Wael's thing better, b) I think that, regardless of your choices, Hiravias' quest is ultimately still about survival. Either he proves himself to Galawain by surviving his trials, or he walks away and chooses a better god to follow - but that, too, is a form of self-preservation.

Grieving Mother - Woedica

was "destroyed" when her cipher powers backfired and now lives as a lesser form of herself, can be restored to her full power depending on your choices

manipulated the minds of an entire village to hide the truth about the Hollowborn from them, and protecting secrets is very much a Woedica thing

Maneha - Ondra

instantly qualified by being an Ondrite and a Giftbearer

is a coastal aumaua, for extra ocean vibes

wants to forget a murder she committed, just like Ondra wants her murder of Abydon to be forgotten

I'm pretty sure that Maneha and Devil were at least a little intentionally written to mirror Ondra and Abydon respectively, so I'm feeling pretty good about this one

Zahua - Skaen

mutilation or self-mutilation as a means for achieving a Noble Goal (revenge for Skaenites, enlightenment for Zahua)

seeks to liberate his enslaved people

Devil of Caroc - Abydon

murdered and reborn in an artificial body

depending on your choices, her story either ends with rage or with sinking into the ocean and being forgotten (which kind of mirrors the restored untempered/not restored Abydon endings; sure, he's not forgotten in the unrestored ending, but the whole "sinking into the ocean" does fit the "Ondra wins" vibe)

again, pretty sure she's an intentional parallel to Abydon. she's also the only one who doesn't need any extra help to survive striking the crystal with Abydon's hammer at the end of TWM2

#pillars of eternity #edér teylecg #aloth corfiser #sagani #kana rua #durance #pallegina mes rèi #hiravias #grieving mother #maneha #zahua #devil of caroc #herearedragons meta #this was surprisingly fun to put together

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thenineofus · 1 year

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I have the weirdest conspiracy theory, that Disney hates Guillermo Del Toro and is trying specifically to sabotage all his movies in recent years for some reason. It is absolutely based on nothing but crazy ideas in my head, very tinfoil hat stuff, so don't take this too seriously lol.

I got this theory originally when, on Dec 2021, Disney scheduled Nightmare Alley (that they acquired along with the 21th century fox purchase) to be released on the same weekend as their most hyped up marvel movie of that year Spider-Man: Something Something. Now, no one remembers this but the movie was set to be released on November, it was only when Disney got their grubby hands on it that they decided to delay the release date to that exact same date. Naturally Spider-Man ate the entire box office that weekend and Nightmare Alley didn't make even half of it's production costs back after all.

Now, I'm not saying that this was the ONLY reason Nightmare Alley was unprofitable, just that it definitely didn't help. And at that point in time there was a lot of talk of Disney trying to dump every movie that was completed under Fox into the nearest toilet they could find to move on with their own productions. So I brushed it off. UNTIL

Until this year, the year in which we got 4 different Pinocchio films, one of which came from Disney and one from GDT. Now, it is well known that GDT had been working on this movie for a long time, so it's not hard to imagine that some information on it had been leaked at some point.

And I'm saying all of this because it feels super fucking weird that Disney rushed production on their own Pinocchio and there are some WEIRD changes that they made to their story that are not present on the original book OR the original Disney Pinocchio, but that ARE present in GDT's movie.

Spoilers for both: Geppetto had a son that died, and he built Pinocchio in his sorrow for his loss; Geppetto almost dies after they escape the giant fish and Pinocchio saving his life is what grants him real boy status; despite his real boy status Pinocchio is never shown as a flesh and blood boy.

With all of this I had this dumb theory that someone on Disney got their hands on some information about GDT's Pinocchio and decided to pull an AntZ on him, using the information they had to make their own "live action remake" to be released before his movie in order to suck all the demand for a new Pinocchio before his move was released.

I know it's a dumb theory that makes no sense, but WHY DID DISNEY HAVE THOSE VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS IN THEIR MOVIE???? That is so so so weird

#about me #conspiracy #ignore this i just needed to get it out of my system #pinocchio #guillermo del toro's pinocchio #WHEN THIS GET 100 NOTES

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thesherrinfordfacility · 8 months

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sideburn theory strikes again

idk if its just that i have been fully driven around the bend by this show or is this is Big Brain special, but if all fails this is the lore of a crossover you might not have known you wanted.

so i posted way back in the bygone era of pre-s2 that i felt that there was something potentially behind the different sideburn lengths in the trailer and first promos, and my darling @theeminentlyimpractical added into this, plus the added spot of crowley's sunglasses changing. now this appears to have been debunked by further s2 content (and indeed s2 in its entirety), because there didn't appear to be rhyme nor reason to the sideburns, but there was to the sunglasses. so we kinda left it alone (although people keep rb'ing the original theory, frankly god knows why).

now we kinda came up with some explanation for this, which ive summarised in this ask earlier, but then. then. we saw this brilliant observation by @rebeccasteventaylor, and thought - well, fuck it, let's take another look.

note: reference screenshots of nearly every crowley scene, per episode, at end of post.

so main observations so far:

crowley seems to exclusively wear the silver sunglasses in ep1 and ep2

then switches to the new grey sunglasses from ep3 onwards

he has a mix of long and short sideburns ep1 to ep4, and switches sideburn lengths in those eps between scenes

then seems to exclusively have long sideburns in the 'second half'* ep5, and in ep6.

then i have the following thoughts from both seasons:

we know that crowley is a singular demon in that he has an imagination

we know that he is pretty powerful, including the ability to stop and hold time

there are indeed plenty of doctor who references which - absolutely, may be an innocent homage to david tennant - but seem so pointed in s2 that it's almost unnerving

two quotes! first: "if any harm comes to aziraphale because of this, i will... oh, it doesn't matter, it's too late for that now, isn't it?... its always too late."

second: "i know... looking at/working out where the furniture isn't..."

the crow road by Iain Banks is introduced at the very end of s2, being read by muriel, and has very prominent features on screen when metatron asks them about it. crow road plot involves the main character piecing together notes/sketches left by their late uncle. (by the by, very purposeful feature in s2 that aziraphale keeps multiple diaries, and can sketch real good - including specifically a picture of gabriel)

now, before i start parsing out the theory (though tbh, by this point, i imagine you can see where im going with this), i will add that as i said in the above linked ask, im fully on board with the sideburn thing being bc of AP/confines of filming in COVID, and so it may just be a detail that had to slide or was missed. but that isn't as fun as putting on the tinfoil hat.

the main thing for me is that the long sideburns seem to consistently appear on screen after aziraphale and crowley talk in justine's restaurant in ep5*. once crowley goes over to the bookshop to confront gabriel, the long sideburns seem to remain. this is also where crowley appears to be at his angriest which, tbh, is kind of at odds with how he seemed to speak about and treat gabriel in ep3 and ep4.

let's start with ep3 (ill come back to ep1 and ep2*). in the vavoom scene, crowley almost seems quite chummy towards gabriel, perhaps slightly condescending, but warmer than he is after shax arrives. now, shax turning up to remind crowley of the stakes involved (ie threat to aziraphale) is completely trackable against how crowley then speaks to gabriel afterwards. but it is this quote that has baffled me slightly:

"if any harm comes to aziraphale because of this, i will... oh, it doesn't matter, it's too late for that now... its always too late."

and the reason it baffles me is because... well, i don't really get what crowley is talking about? he's rescued aziraphale on plenty of occasions, and seems to always be in the nick of time (or stopping it, if you consider 1793), and aziraphale has previously rescued crowley back with impeccable timing.

aziraphale hasn't actually come to much harm in any of the story we've seen so far; the only time crowley wasn't on time was with the bookshop fire, and whilst that was resolved, it would match up with what crowley's saying about being too late... but 'always too late'? ie, more than once? seems like there's been a pattern where crowley is too late.

the other thought i had on this is that crowley says "too late" in reference to saving morag in the same episode (but in the resurrectionist minisode within) but that was on aziraphale himself for dithering - why would crowley talk about it? so it seems to me that there are other instances where crowley himself has been too late to save aziraphale. the only time i really think this happens, where aziraphale ends up in danger, is the Domestic at the end of ep6 when crowley is too late to tell aziraphale how he feels - which probably would have influenced his decision to stay and not walk willingly into the clutches of the metatron... but in the s2 narrative, that hasn't happened yet.

furthermore, @theeminentlyimpractical brought up this little detail up from the book:

which doesn't necessarily mean anything in this theory's context, that crowley has one of his watch's clocks programmed to hell's timezone, but appears to be a detail specifically related to crowley nonetheless; futile fight, helplessness, the concept of always being Too Late.

the last thing however to mention about ep3 is that there appears to be a very clear before and after where the sideburns are concerned. where muriel turns up, and crowley and aziraphale talk in the back-back room, crowley is sporting shorter sideburns. but after aziraphale leaves, crowley comes down from upstairs carrying books, and has longer sideburns. i don't necessarily have any explanation for this, but do observe that it seems quite deliberate for the episode that he has the longer ones once aziraphale leaves, and continuing into ep4 when aziraphale comes back from edinburgh.

ep5 however, crowley arrives on whickber street, and is back with ye old short sideburns again. the only time this changes in the beginning half(ish)* is when he and aziraphale visit Arnold's. once again, don't really have any theoretical explanation for this, but one thing i will say is that when crowley and aziraphale approach the archway/alley that goes to Arnold's (just after "can i watch?"), they're in step with each other... but when aziraphale gets to the window, he's alone for a good few seconds and crowley doesn't appear - he might be out of shot, but then does appear just as aziraphale enters the shop... just an odd amount of time to have not followed aziraphale to the window.

in any case, crowley then follows around, gets waylaid and epiphany-slapped by nina, gets somewhat pissed in justine's, and then heads over to the bookshop. where he next appears upstairs, and suddenly sporting long sideburns again. it then seems somewhat pointed that this is where he really lays in to gabriel - now, contributory factors here are he's just been hit with the realisation that he loves aziraphale and aziraphale loves him, and he's probably about five sheets to the wind.

but it's particularly venomous and angry which - yeah, tracks - but i wonder if this is in response to something more? that crowley has more to be angry at gabriel over, more to be resentful of, than just that gabriel's presence in the bookshop could bring harm to aziraphale, and gabriel's involvement in the botched execution?

add to this, the line that we're all losing our heads over?

"i know... looking at/working out where the furniture isn't..." (subtitles conflict on amazon re: the first bit vs what im personally hearing, but neil has confirmed it's at least 'where the furniture isn't.')

now this all relates in the conversation back to gabriel's analogy of his missing memory feeling like a house with missing furniture, and trying to work out what in fact is missing. many have speculated that crowley might have gone through the same predicament of forcibly losing his memory (and s2 certainly does set it up like that), but i do wonder if it in fact twists that crowley is actually investigating the missing furniture, piecing together his own clues?

his tone being resigned and bitchy, even mocking, could well just be him laying on gabriel again, or indeed he could be empathising because he too has lost his memories, or because he's in the same boat and trying to piece things together... just, not in the same way?

so let's come back to what im actually getting at here; does crowley expand on his time-stopping powers, and does he essentially step back into his own timeline? and has to piece it together à la crow road?

was there an alternative timeline that still resulted in aziraphale going to heaven, but under different circumstances, and crowley comes back to change it to no avail, and that's where we leave s2? or, in this aborted (?) timeline, does aziraphale get got by hell, or gets taken out of the BOL (and falls?), crowley is trying to work out how/why, tracks it back through to the events we see in s2, ends up helping to hide gabriel (eg. he comes back after the So Did I argument), but then that leads down the path of losing aziraphale to heaven anyway, just in a different way? "it's always too late"?

now, don't let it be said that i won't poke holes in my own theory, because this is absolutely crazy and relatively baseless... and is so easily explained as just being One Of Those Filming Things (i simply felt it was slightly remiss to not mention these thoughts floating in my noggin).

the main issue of course is that *ep1 and ep2 are literally a mess where this theory is concerned. there are some short/long sideburn differences that can't be explained away, because the scenes literally follow in succession to each other - eg. ep1 goes from leaving the coffee shop (short), to the gabriel reveal (long), to So Did I (short again). another eg. ep2 goes from leaving the pub (long), to the walk across the road (short), to the job segue (long again). i could try to explain this with "oh crowley stopped time and switched", but that would probably be a bit of a cop out, however possible it might technically be within the narrative.

i don't even really know where to leave this off, but im still just of the mind that for a show where attention to detail is Everything (take the neil ask about the records, for example; he immediately spotted that the holes weren't right for jukebox compatibility, but they had to accept it as a good regardless), this feels like a pretty Big Goof?

alternatively yes, it might be AP whereupon david was going into another job fairly shortly after reshoot work was needed, or there were COVID related filming issues, but a) seems like a lot of reshoot work/pickups, and b) couldnt they have just trimmed the 'burns/be able to fake the length? idk but my brain is scrambled and im so confused.

screenshots!

S/L (red) - short/long sideburns, S/G (grey) - silver/grey sunglasses

episode one:

episode two:

episode three:

episode four:

episode five:

episode six:

#good omens #tinfoil hat theory based on sideburn length suggest time travel may be involved??? sonofabitch im in #laure here u go this is dedicated to you #ah shit laure i forgot to look at the medal that might need to be your serve im afraid #batshit time travel spec

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mrs-gauche · 1 year

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The “Flip it” Theory

(I’m sorry, it’s like 3am and I couldn’t come up with a better title. lol)

So.. Here’s another fun little DA tinfoil hat theory that you might have already heard about, but I don’t think I’ve seen it discussed on here before? It also probably sounds super unhinged, but at this point, can we even get any more unhinged in terms of theories? lol So, we might as well just embrace it. It’s just one of those theories that simply won’t leave my mind (especially when trying to sleep at 3am lol), so writing it down will hopefully put it to rest. 😁

Okay, so we all know that, in the Fade, the laws of gravity or physics in general don’t really apply and are all over the place, right? There’s no real sense of time or space, no real “up” or “down” as the Fade does not follow any rules of the waking world and is somewhat shaped by whatever the person dreaming expects reality to look like or quote, “is reflected by the mind of the living”.

So when we see the Inquisitor fall into Fade in “Here Lies the Abyss”, it’s even emphasized by how the camera movement in-game and the environment in the Fade has to “adjust” according to how the Inquisitor expects gravity to work, or rather, what the world’s supposed to look like to us, meaning the sky has to be up and the ground has to be down. lol

Additionally in Trespasser, we see that, not only is the Vir Dirthara scattered all over the place, but in parts also completely flipped upside down.

(I’m so sorry btw, I just now realized that looking at these gifs for too long can make you feel super dizzy. lol)

The reason I’m pointing this out, is because it keeps reminding me, for one, of this mural.

Of course, since this mural was first shown in the teaser trailer in 2020 and has been thoroughly analyzed by the fandom, it seems pretty clear by now that, with the way this mural is composed, particularly with the two upside down figures, BioWare intentionally encourages us to look at this image upside down. What’s even more intriguing to me, seeing as the Dread Wolf appears to break into the Black City here, “releasing” the raw magic of the Fade with its non existent rules of reality to the waking world and in doing so, figuratively and in some respects quite literally “turning the world upside down”.

Though while most people seem to focus on the two figures here (that are most definitely the two remaining Evanuris still sleeping/imprisoned or something like that, but that’s not the topic of this post lol), you might have heard of this other crazy theory suggesting that, when looking at this mural upside down, the shape of the Dread Wolf appears to roughly resemble that of a mountain.

(I warned you this leans VERY heavy on the tinfoil hat, but please don’t leave yet lol) Okay so, as far as I understand it, the theory suggests a potential connection to a particular mountain mentioned in the lore, called Belenas.

In a legend of the Avvar, it is said that Korth the Mountain-Father kept his throne at the peak of the mountain Belenas, which “lay at the center of the world”. The tale goes as follows:

Korth took his heart out of his chest and hid it within the Frostback Mountains to avoid being weakened by love. When his lack of heart turned him bitter and cruel, the Lady of the Skies sent her children to retrieve it. Though after all her children had failed to do so, the ptarmigan volunteered for the search. The Lady refused to give the tiny bird her blessing, as she thought the mountains was too fierce, but the ptarmigan succeeded where everyone else had failed. It found and freed the heart, allowing it to jump back into Korth's chest, where Hakkon Wintersbreath bound it once again. For her great deed, the ptarmigan was honored by the gods.

When Korth grew tired of heroes barging into his hall to claim the honors they thought they were due for climbing the mountain of the gods, he spoke to the Lady of the Skies, who then lifted Belenas from the earth into her realm, so no one could reach it anymore.

Legend says that Belenas was eventually destroyed during a battle between Korth and the serpent Nathramar, leaving only a vast crater behind that the Lady of the Skies “filled with her tears” and formed what we now know as Lake Calenhad.

Okay, so there’s a lot to dissect here, so I try to make it as brief as possible, but in short, people have noticed a number of intriguing parallels to different pieces of elven lore and theories in this tale, or what could be interpreted as such.

So I’m going to try and take this on one by one. Let’s start with this:

- Korth’s throne sits at the peak of mountain Belenas, at “the center of the world”.

- When looking at the mural from the teaser upside down again, it places the Black City (or the “Maker’s throne”, if you will) at the “peak” of the Dread Wolf shaped “mountain”. It is also known that the Black City sits at “the center of the Fade”, where no one is able to reach it.

- Korth takes his heart out of his chest and hides it within the Frostback Mountains. When his lack of heart turns him bitter and cruel, the Lady of the Skies sends her children to retrieve it.

- If we put in “Titan” for Korth and “Mythal” for the Lady of the Skies, this part is kinda reminiscent of what we know (or suspect) of Mythal, her conquering of the Titans (which would be the Frostback mountains in this comparison) and the theory of the ancient elves killing the Titans and obtaining their hearts, enabling them to create the foci/orbs/vessels of dreams that gives them god like powers. So Mythal sends out her “children”/army in the attempt to conquer the Titan and obtain its heart.

- After all the Lady’s children fail, the ptarmigan volunteers for the search. She refuses to give the tiny bird her blessing, as she thinks the mountains are too fierce, but the ptarmigan succeeds and retrieves the heart.

- Now, this part might be a bit of a reach, but when taking this even further and comparing this whole story to Mythal’s war against the Titans, looking at this tiny little nondescript bird defying the odds and ultimately leading the Lady of the Skies to “victory”, am I the only one who’s a little reminded of Greek mythology here (which, as I’ve mentioned numerous times before now, seems to be at least partially BioWare’s inspiration for the ancient elves), and how in Greek mythology, the Olympians’ victory over the (literal) Titans was the result of a cunning trick devised by Prometheus, who deserted from the Titans’ army beforehand.

And I know I’m certainly not the only one to have noticed a lot of odd similarities between the role of good old Prometheus in mythology and our very divisive Mr wanna-be-Wisdom Pride, aka Solas.

- For her great deed in retrieving Korth’s heart, the ptarmigan is honored by the gods.

- So while we’re at it, why not just compare the little bird to Solas then and assume that, for helping Mythal in her victory over the Titans and obtaining its heart, Solas is somehow honored and elevated to the status of godhood or at least into some sort of exclusive circle of those who the Evanuris trusted the most. (And even rewarded with his own orb, maybe? Might this be what we’re seeing in the mural depicting a Titan’s death?)

- When Korth grows tired of heroes barging into his hall to claim the honors of the gods, the Lady of the Skies lifts Belenas from the earth into her realm, so no one can reach it anymore.

- Now it gets a bit tricky.. If we take this part of the tale as Mythal “lifting” the now dead Titan into her own realm, meaning the sky, maybe it’s nothing more than a metaphor for Mythal mining the Titans’ blood and using the lyrium for her own empire (the creation of bodies for spirits?). Or maybe she literally lifted part of a dead Titan’s body into the sky and used it as a “cornerstone” to build the empire’s capital city Arlathan on top of it.

Which, again, would actually explain why the Black City *cough* Arlathan *cough* is depicted on top of the “mountain” in the 2020 upside down mural. Especially when adding that last part “so no one can reach it”, you know, just like the Black City can’t be reached within the Fade.

- Belenas was eventually destroyed during a battle between Korth and the serpent Nathramar, leaving only a vast crater behind that the Lady of the Skies “filled with her tears” and formed what we now know as Lake Calenhad.

- Again, this part could be interpreted in many different ways. I’ve seen theories spanning from Solas creating the Veil causing the magical floating Arlathan to fall from the sky and destroying the mountain in the process, to the Lady’s “tears” actually being Mythal’s (Great dragon) blood that somehow dripped in the lake when she was murdered, which is why centuries later, the actual Calenhad Theirin would gain special powers when he made a bargain with an old witch (Flemeth?) and drank from said lake.

So yeah, as you can see, there’s a lot to take from all this as far as unhinged tinfoil theories and strange parallels go. lol

And with all of this in mind, I’d like to look at the Black City in the 2020 teaser mural again, as you also might have notice that, in addition to the whole mountain shaped Dread Wolf, when turned upside down, the Black City appears to keep the silhouette of a city, no matter how you look at it?

In fact, a lot of depictions we’ve seen of the Black City share this rather oddly shaped silhouette.

There’s also this stained glass, depicting the city upside down and in both gold and black.

I actually don’t know what to take from all this. It’s just something I’ve noticed while gathering images. lol

But while we’re at it and flipping everything on its head now.. lol While I was looking at all the Trespasser murals again, I also noticed that, when flipped upside down, two of the murals actually form a full circle when put together.

And ohh, would you look at that, there’s the “mountain” (Titan) at the bottom again with the Black City “on top” of it, just like the mural in the 2020 teaser when flipped upside down?? 😂 (Also interesting parallel to note with Solas holding the orb(?) on both the left side of each mural.)

Now, I know I sound super unhinged and I actually don’t think this is supposed to mean anything and it’s probably just a crazy coincidence (..right??), but.... what IF we just go full on tinfoil here now and assume that it IS actually supposed to be looked at this way......

In all the murals we’ve seen thus far, the circle was always assumed to represent the Veil, right? So when looking at it this way, it would put the Titan inside the Fade within the Veil beneath the Black City, right?

So.. Here’s my crazy idea...

Even though we know the Fade is an ever-changing place not bound to any rules of reality or a set geography.. What if the rocky landscapes we see in the “raw Fade” are actually all part of a sleeping/dead Titan(s)?

And while we are looking at these rocks again, am I the only one reminded of the structures seen in the deepest level of the The Descent dlc, a gargantuan cavern located in the so called “Wellspring” within a Titan, which is grouped at the expedition table as a location within “the Uncharted Abyss”.

“The Abyss”, also called the Void in different cultures, myths and historical texts in DA lore, is said to be a place whose location is undefined, but believed to be somewhere within the Fade, “empty places between dreams” (or, according to Solas, the place where spirits are reborn).

So if we go back to the Wellspring again, where we’re looking at what appears to be a literal abyss, a vast sea of clouds.. What we expected to be the deepest and darkest place in the world is revealed to be a bright, seemingly endless “sky” beneath the earth, or rather a Titan.

And with all this in mind, it’s even more intriguing now to go back to the beginning of this post, where we established that, in the Fade, the sky is not set to be “above” or “beneath”. It all depends on the expectation or perspective of the beholder.

(And btw, funnily enough, I actually encountered a bug once at the Wellspring that made it look like the sky was actually “falling down” on me. lol)

And lastly, in relation to all of this, I also want to point out this little quote, said by Flemeth in DA2:

“The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss.”

While we all know our favorite old witch likes to be overly ambiguous and cryptic in her phrasing, maybe we should take this quote more literal than we previously thought? lol Maybe, with the Veil collapsing some way or another and the angry tainted Titans awakened, the world might literally lose its so called “Pillars of the Earth”, plummeting into the endless void we’ve seen in The Descent.....

Well, shit.

Anyway, I’m afraid that’s all I had to say lol, and if you actually made it this far, thank you so much for engaging in this insanity. 😁 (And sorry if this turned out to be a total waste of your time. 😂)

Though I do have to mention, what actually prompted me to write this post in the first place, was seeing how some people are expecting Solas to be at the White Spire now after reading the synopsis of the upcoming comic series “The Missing” (if you want to know why, skip to the end of this post lol). The White Spire being an Antivan mountain with a very particular shape (at least according to this illustrated map of Thedas that came with every copy of Tevinter Nights).

(I can see where this thing got its name from. lol It almost reminds me of a volcano? 😂)

Which just so happens to ALSO kinda resemble the shape of the “upside down mountain” shaped Dread Wolf from the 2020 mural....

So.. take from this information whatever you like, because I don’t know anything anymore... My head hurts from all this spinning. I’m out. 🥴

#tinfoil time #trespasser #solas #mythal #da4 #dragon age 4 #this is probably the most tinfoil I'll ever get lol #but this one is so much fun to think about for some reason 😂#anyway good night lol

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frangipanilove · 7 months

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It’s Conspiracy Theory Time; some thoughts on the money/currency theme…

Last year I wrote a series of posts about the "money/currency" symbolism we’ve been seeing through the years. I called it Heads or Tails (and also here), because ultimately it tied into the fact that “coda” (as in episode 5x8 Coda), literally means “tail”.

Recently, @wdway made me aware of a piece of graffiti on the wall behind Daryl in TWDDD 1x4 La Dame De Fer. We could see it in the background much of the time in the scene with Daryl, Antoine and the pigeons. I’ve talked about the pigeons before, and how they’re part of the blue bird symbolism (here).

The graffiti, shown on the wall behind Daryl here, at first glance seems to be a “3” and a “G” and a dollar symbol, “$”.

If we put our tinfoil hats on, surely we can come up with a better interpretation. Both @wdway and myself are deep enough into TD territory to view most symbolism through our special TD colored lenses, and we have no problem interpreting the “3G$” as “BG$”. Squint your eyes and suspend your disbelief and I’m sure you’ll see it too😄

Obviously, in our scenario, the BG stands for Beth Greene. But what about the dollar symbol?

Like I mentioned above, I wrote about the “money/currency” theme last year. Long story short, it’s connected to the symbolism we see around Beth, and we see that demonstrated by Lance Hornsby in season 11 of TWD. He carries around a lucky coin, and he likes to let the coin decide when he’s faced with difficult decisions. Heads or tails? The coin decides.

I’ve circled the number “82” on Lance’s coin. As I wrote about in this post, the number 82 (or episode 8x2) is crucial because it refers to the episode where we saw the second Blue Heron painting, it’s resurrection symbolism. And the fact that we see it on Lance Hornsby’s lucky coin suggests the “money/currency” symbolism is intertwined with this as well. And that’s how symbolism works in TWDU. There are usually many layers to each symbol. Everything can be interpreted in multiple ways, and most symbols are synonymous with other symbols. “Beer” and “bear” are examples of this, they can be used interchangeably, and they both in my opinion ultimately point to the North Star/home symbolism (for exemple here). Radios and dogs are other exemples, they ultimately point to the Sirius symbolism, which means “return/resurrection/rebirth”. I’ve written about that here.

Another thing tptb like to do is use words that sounds similar phonetically, like serious/Sirius, beer/bear. They proved they were able and willing to utilize this methodology in TWD 5x16 when Daryl and Aaron followed a guy to Del Arno Foods (“there are no foods”).

You know, the place with the trailers that had “How The Harvest Gets Home” on their side…where they found the Alaska licence plate with the star constellation the “Big Dipper” and “Polaris” (which is the North Star, and therefore North Star/home symbolism)…

With that in mind, come on a little journey with me. Let’s explore some symbolism! We’ve heard a lot about French impressionist painter Monet recently. What word in the English language could “Monet” phonetically sound like? Put your tinfoil hat on and sing “Monet” three times out loud to the tune of a well known ABBA song…

In 1x4 we even had tptb outright confirm the connection for us. Quinn, Isabelles ex-boyfriend, brings Madame Genet over to discuss business:

"I brought you here to negotiate for the American". He asks Genet what that's worth. She suggests weapons? Calvados?

Quinn only wants a Monet.

Now, let's appreciate how the auto-generated subtitles on this screenshot below interpreted Quinn's request for a Monet as "money". Just to be absolutely clear, his prize is a Monet, meaning a painting by Monet. "Japaneese Footbridge" to be precise. But the fact that the auto-generated subtitles heard "money" basically proves my point. Phonetically, “Monet” and “money” sound very similar, much like serious/Sirius and bear/beer.

And finally, this statement from Madame Genet further reinforces the connection between "Monet" and "money":

"Quinn is a transactional man".

It is hereby thoroughly established by tptb that any reference to the painter Monet could be interpreted as a reference to the "money/currency" symbolism. Quinn can give Genet what she wants, but a Monet is his price. The Monet is the currency that will pay for the transaction.

With that out of the way, let’s return to the graffiti on the wall behind Daryl in TWDDD 1x4. Say we’re crazy enough to believe it says “BG$”, what does that even mean?

In my “Heads or Tails” post from last year, I talked about a few significant instances of “money/currency” references around Beth:

There’s this scene from 4x12 Still, where Daryl inexplicably collected money and jewelry at the Pine Vista Country Club. Beth was as confused as the rest of us, what did he need that for?

For symbolism. He needed it for symbolism.

Later we saw Beth light a stack of dollar bills on fire:

“Fire” is Sirius symbolism as I’ve talked about in many of my posts. It means return, it means “coming back”…

In TWD 11x2 Acheron 2 we saw this:

…a 100 dollar bill with a note which talked about “coming back”, and there’s also a “radio” mention…(sirius symbolism)

It is clear there's a recurring theme around the "money/currency" symbolism, namely one of "coming back", or in other words, Sirius symbolism.

So why have tptb decided that “money/currency” references are symbolism that indicates that Beth will be returning/coming back?

And how could the graffiti from TWDDD 1x4 play into this type of symbolism?

Because there’s this:

It turns out the term “greenback” dollar is slang for the US currency. The term originated from the 1860s, and stems from the fact that the notes were literally printed with green(e) ink. They were "green(e)" on the "back"...

So, when @wdway sent me her screenshot of the graffiti behind Daryl and told me she suspected the “3G$” in reality was a “BG$”, I was already primed to agree with her. In the past, I've tied this theme to various representations of money/currency. This time however, the BG (Beth Greene) is directly tied to the dollar symbol ($). So you could argue the graffiti on the wall behind Daryl, as he sets the pigeons free(!), spells out "Beth Greene Green(e)back dollar”.

Green(e). Back.

Beth Greene will "come back", she will "return"...

#bethyl #daryl dixon #beth greene #team delusional #team defiance #beth x daryl #the walking dead #twd #twddd #money/currency #82 #greenback dollar

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streaminn · 1 year

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Welp, that was incredibly well written and devastatingly sad. I feel partially responsible for pointing out the sadness, which led to your drabble, but it’s okay, Endespair gets the girl in the good timeline. Legit, that whole situation would be my nightmare. Also I was right, too much angst for me, especially after reading your heartbreaking drabble, with accompanying melancholy art. This is why the Clark Kent theory is nicer for my heart, just insane hope that they’re all the same Enid. (I recognize yes I know that the answer is they are Enid, but tinfoil hat me has to keep up appearances)

The good timeline is so true. Glad someone likes smth I wrote for like five minutes while getting ready to go outside

Seriously tho, rip to that Enid, someone is literally living her dream without needing to go through what she did. It's no wonder she's bitter. Also don't worry, you pointing it out gave me a burst of inspiration soooo it all works out

Is that what we are calling your theory? The Clark Kent theory? Fitting, I'll keep that in mind :D

#Jdwicked #Streamer Enid au

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lindszeppelin · 8 months

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Tin foil hat theory: they’ll break up mid September.

Now, I’m not as certain they are PR as you are but my theory works for both options.

We all agree their body language is weird (well anyone who has a fully developed brain and a non 12 year old view of what a healthy relationship is) but Kaia has looked more off lately when usually she was fawning over him or posing while he looked annoyed. Now she’s also looking disconnected.

So let’s say they are real and not PR; everyone who’s been in longer relationships knows they sometimes die slowly. Speaking for myself, I once knew a now ex and I weren’t gonna make it but it took forever to break up. It was always something, including birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Like I would have felt like a huge jerk if I broke up with him the weeks leading up to his birthday. And honestly, I wanted to make sure we were really not going to repair ourselves so I didn’t mind waiting for a few milestone dates to pass to be sure. But I was white knuckling it. By mid September they’ll both have had their birthdays. The pressure will be off and there won’t be as much excitement to distract from their issues. I could see that house of cards falling in mid September.

Ok, but if the are PR I think a similar timeframe is happening too. What’s the point of a PR relationship but to get PR? People really underestimate that not over exposing yourself with PR helps keep people interested bc then you’re mysterious. If they are PR, this is the narrative they were going for. However, they’ve been way less mysterious lately. Tons of pap walks, activities (like pottery), and this latest pap dinner in Beverly Hills was more Austin centric when they tend to be more Kaia or both centric. He looked like a movie star and she was the trophy gf, instead of these casual hikes or weird get together where they are a bit more casual. Think about it: go out with a bang. Get more press, remind the public you’re a thing (many do forget they are dating who are not in the fan base as weird as that may sound-at least that’s been my experience) and then it’ll be even more shocking when they split…which will KEEP the public interested in them and whatever comes next. I feel like we’ve been overloaded with pap pics this summer after a drought…I doubt that’s an accident. They both had things to promote but both of those things are now out and yet last night felt like the most egregious “Hollywood couple in Beverly Hills date night pap walk” ever.

But if they’re real something is off and if they’re PR it’s being revved up for a reason. I think an implosion is coming or is about to be staged. I’m calling it now that this will fall apart in a few weeks. If they’re still together by the end of September, I’m wrong 😅 But I’m calling it! I’d say before or around 9/21 they’ll be done…and possibly break up rumors will leak or be planted first.

baby that's not a tinfoil hat conspiracy that is a pretty sensible and realistic way to look at the situation :) i second this motion of something is coming.

these pics and the video accompanying it made me laugh this morning. i have a lot of thoughts on them but i don't have too much time to dive deep into it. maybe later tonight. but i'll just say for now that your thoughts here mirror mine. we have to monitor this weird situation and see what happens. let the chips fall where they may. the shoe has to drop at some point

#lindsay's anon asks

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multi-lefaiye · 2 years

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HIIII BESTIE IM ALIVE ITS SCOOB AND SHAG ANON!!! I *JUST* READ THE NEW CHAPTER AND WOOOOO WE WERE RIGHT (MINUS SCOOB MISSING HIS MEMORIES BIT)!!! This does bring up a few things though:

1. We can now VERY clearly see the glass(?) box surrounding whoever gets transported to the Being's world! This kinda gives us a better view of whats going on, and i really wanna draw attention to the fact that the 'screen' behind scoob shows us the PANEL of the comic previous to it, not what Scoob is seeing. Im seriously buying into the idea that the characters get ballyhoo only from us and not the humans from their world but it might just be how the beings are experiencing all this too.

2. IM BACK TO THE COLORED DIAMOND SHAPES AGAIN. THEYRE IN THE SKY NOW. Also now that i think about it, the fact that a TV of all things has that star shape kinda fits with the fact that tv colors are related to the stars. I am aware i am currently wearing a tinfoil hat.

3. How much DOES Scoob know?? With the clear(er) look at Scoob and Illapa's relationship we can guess that Scoob is WELL aware of the deal he made and that he has some memories remaining. Illapa talks to Scoob like he remembers clearly the terms of the deal, and it just makes me wonder what Scoob remembers.

4. Just something to note, it feels like all of the color beings so far have given their gift 'freely'. Magenta is the most obvious sort of, but Illapa gave Scoob a part of their power for free which i find interesting. Maybe its just a plan to get Scoob in a bad situation and accept the deal completely? Additionally i saw someone mention that Magenta speaks like this is the first time shes intervened despite Bugs being pretty much confirmed to be aligned with Magenta.

5. Im gonna change the whole "Cyan is memories" thing since theyre obviously a storm god, i think theyre just tied to emotions. Maybe the beings are drawn to extremes in general? Makes sense since Deedee was experiencing extreme loss and love for family, Mick was experiencing extreme loss of control, and Scoob was watching his friends die in front of him (a historically emotional thing to happen, so im told). I also kinda think Magenta is being reaaall sus now that i think about it more, it feels like the beings are all getting their pawns in place and Magenta is really just gunning it lmao. I honestly feel like Illapa is at least the most honest, saying that they want something from Scoob.

HIIIIIIII SCOOB AND SHAG ANON MY BESTIE!!!! my internet died earlier but it's back now and that's everyone else's problem.

ANYWAY LITERALLY I WAS MESSAGING PEOPLE SAYING WE WERE RIGHT WHILE I WAS READING THE CHAPTER. LIKE I WAS LOSING MY GOTDAMN MIND. as my partner can attest when i explained you and i's theories to them a bit more (tho tbh i credit you more ASDJFL; you're a lot more observant than me, i just go feral when you point out things), i was losing my shit. anyway YES i am very excited to respond to this and i also have my own observations i want to point out.

placing under the cut in case this gets long <3

YEAH THAT WAS AN EXCITING DEVELOPMENT. i actually didn't notice the panel thing until you pointed it out but HOLY FUCK.... MOM HOLY FUCK- YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!!! LOSING MY GOTDAMN MIND HERE. i really think you're onto something with the idea that ballyhoo comes from the readers of the comic. it feels like the exact kind of meta angle this comic would go for, and i also think it plays well into the themes. especially because, at this point, all cartoons are off the air in-universe--where could the ballyhoo be coming from now? (unless i misunderstood something about how it works lol)

I DON'T HAVE MUCH TO ADD HERE BUT I WAS VERY EXCITEDLY POINTING AT THE SCREEN WHILE READING THIS CHAPTER WHEN I NOTICED THAT PART. also i want you to know that i am wearing a matching tinfoil hat. i also don't know anything about u or what you look like aside from scoob and shag but i want you to know i doodled us in matching tin foil hats <3 i drew u as the anon bubble and gave you dog ears b/c scoob and shag. yeah <3 i'll put it at the end of the post

YEAH I'M REALLY WONDERING ABOUT THIS... my first assumption was that, when he activated the cyan ballyhoo for the first time, that's when he got his memories back. we didn't get his full perspective on that moment, we only got shag's--what i'm thinking is that the flashbacks we saw in that moment were VERY intentional. it's interesting to me, though, that scoob knows what he's getting into more than deedee, even though it seems the deals were made under similar circumstances (extreme duress). which tells me either illapa just explains things more than magenta (very likely), or maybe scoob knew more about this going in, or perhaps he's had time since then to TALK to illapa. their dialogue implies they've had a number of conversations, imo.

yeah this is also something i'm coming back to a bunch. like... magenta's dialogue implied that they aren't SUPPOSED to be doing this, but now we have two examples of these beings giving some level of power away with nothing expected in return. i'm inclined to believe, though, that this is more a case of what you said, that illapa was trying to get scoob into a position where he'd be more likely to accept their deal regardless. also that's an interesting observation too, though i think it implies less that that's the first time magenta gave their powers to someone and more that they're not MEANT to give their powers freely, or perhaps they're not meant to give their gifts to multiple people. many questions!

oh i absolutely agree with you, and i'm very intrigued. i actually went a bit feral over this in dms with my partner lol, but i'll just summarize here. the main thing i honed in on was illapa's earrings, and i went back to look at magenta and red to see their earrings. unfortunately, i noticed that, the one time we've seen red so far (in the mick update) we couldn't see any earrings. HOWEVER. magenta has earrings we can look at. assuming that the earrings correlate roughly with the exact nature of each entity's gifts (illapa's being 'storm' and having lightning earrings, for example), i'm fascinated by the implications of magenta's sun and moon earrings. when i first saw them i thought that was just a fun design choice, but now i'm curious what it implies about their abilities. we've seen magenta's gift in action with two characters now (bugs and deedee), but i'm not sure on the connection with the sun and moon yet. also this is a sidenote but i looked back at the update with magenta and i saw dee is referred to as a "subject" and a "trainee" on the little panel thing HELLO?? ok gonna think about THAT for a bit!!!! i think it's possible the entities are drawn to extremes, absolutely, and i'm gonna be a lil cynical and suggest that this is because people in extreme situations are more likely to make a deal. the entities have an agenda here and i think that's obvious, but what that agenda is just yet is unclear. yeah no i agree magenta is, pardon the meme lingo, looking a little sussy baka rn!!!! (i'm sorry my friend jane says that sometimes and it's rubbed off on me) i actually respect illapa a lot rn based on what we've seen of them, because yeah. they seem to be upfront and honest, even if their intentions are likely a bit dubious. i agree though that i think the beings' agenda is slowly starting to move, and they're all getting their pieces on the board. i'm curious how this is going to play out and how much we've guessed or picked up on this time hehe.

anyway here's my artistic rendition of you and i theorizing <3 (ALSO if you're not comfortable with 'bro' or other masculine terms being used for you/in reference to you, please let me know and i'll use more gender neutral terminology!)

[Image Description: An MSPaint doodle of my fursona, a scruffy cat with glasses, and the Scoob And Shag Anon, represented as the anon icon but with dog ears. Both are wearing tinfoil hats and high-fiving as they smile at each other. Handwritten text above them reads in all caps: "BRO WE ARE THEORIZING" / End ID.]

#long post #talk to the bunnykitty #scoob and shag anon #welcome back bestie i missed u #scoob and shag #scoob and shag spoilers #i love being unhinged on main and talking about this comic #gotta fire shots into the air (post unhinged content) to keep property values (follower count) down

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theblognobodyfoundlastyear · 2 years

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Maybe the days really aren't that -- Okay, it is really that bad...

I'll let you in on a little secret here: We're getting older. Well, not a secret per se, but for those in the know, you'd know what I'm referring to specifically. I suppose for the general audience out there, if one still exists, you might have noticed me looking tired and/or sadder than usual. Don't be alarmed, it's nothing like that. But I do wonder whether I can truly hold onto the ideals of yesteryear, to continue goofing around "while we were young".

One might suppose it's rare to to be this introspective during one of those life stage shifts. Granted, we haven't really cared too much about making it to the next level in one piece, but this time, things are different and more than in just the usual ways. Namely: Cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, paying for various life expenses, looking after one's own health, getting private health insurance, and the works. I mean, I didn't sign up for this malarkey! If I put on my tinfoil hat, I might as well say that a certain someone has been throwing me under the bus all this time. Or, more probably, I just didn't care enough to prepare for this tectonic shift.

For some reason, I'm reminded of these poetic lines from yonder:

Everything stays right where you left it Everything stays But it still changes Ever so slightly, daily and nightly In little ways, when everything stays

And perhaps that's the way it goes: Things changing to some small, possibly even irrelevant degree. But adding up the total change over time, and you've got a transition into a new era. Is it possible to keep up with the times such that this shouldn't be a surprise? If only we'd been more risky in the sense of pursuing change (to even "seek discomfort", as one might put it), things might have turned out differently. And even now, taking a risk of that extent is now too costly. Suffice to say, you've done goofed, bucko.

Okay, so we've donked up big time, not only making the least of our "youth" but also managing to mess up every major opportunity so far. We've barely any real life skills, our finances are going down the drain just trying to stay alive these days and this is allegedly the peak of "adulthood". Well, it's only downhill from here... The optimist would always say that there's ample opportunity to get right, even when it might seem to late. I would rather think that my own unhappiness being the backbone of everyone else's joy is the only thing that's keeping the midnight oil burning these days. Of course, that could be an outright delusion of me projecting my failings onto others, but would you know any better?

Then suppose a change of heart is possible, even this late in the game: Of what value is pursuing this change? For the result would be sub-optimal compared if such an initiative were pursued earlier on, so are the gains truly worth it? Madly scrambling for one's happiness seems like such a middle-age thing to do. Almost as if we were destined to go down this long road that leads nowhere.

Not to mention, we can always double down on our poor life decisions, knowing full well we're living the sub-optimal life but always being content knowing "that's just the way it's going to be, little darlin'". To be fair, we did give that a chance (as evident on this blog, I suppose) and look where it got us: nowhere. To that end, pursuing for the things one has regrettably passed over, knowing full well that the end result will be a sub-optimal gain as well as the fact that odds are progressively stacked up against this endeavour, may very well be our saving grace in this dog-eat-dog world.

So maybe there is some hope for us after all? Don't get too optimistic, you know what we're like when it comes to actioning crucial life-changing measures (i.e. negligent).

'Til next time, young padawan.

Not surprisingly, change is amplified the older you get. So, in theory, staging all changes until the end is bound to produce the largest (positive and negative) gains, right?

#lifestyle changes #adulthood #choices

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katieskarlette · 2 years

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Sylvanas novel reaction post

Having now binge-read the entire novel in one day, I have thoughts.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I’d even say it was the best Warcraft novel in many years. That doesn’t mean it’s flawless, however. The parts about Sylvanas’ early life were really good, but the last part...well, the book did try to polish the turd that is Shadowlands lore, but it’s still a turd.

My strongest impression, though, is that we should have had this book in our hands when patch 9.0 dropped, minus the bits that are 9.1 and 9.2 spoilers. At the latest, we should have gotten this book around the time the “Sylvanas and Anduin in Torghast” cutscenes were released. That is, after all, the framing device for the book, but, more than that, we would have known what Sylvanas was thinking.

[Cut for length and spoilers.]

Being left in the dark about Sylvanas and Zovaal’s plans and feelings sapped the story of emotional resonance, leaving us with Saturday morning cartoon villains who were evil Just Because. Zovaal showed more emotion and depth in his two scenes in the book than he did in-game for the entire expansion (even including his final cinematic)! Imagine if we could have seen their meeting, heard actual emotion in his voice instead of too many spooky audio filters, and then spent the expansion fighting to thwart his plans, knowing that he had a point but was taking things way too far. Bonus, there’s no nonsense about a bigger, badder threat looming. Just a misguided attempt to fix what is genuinely a messed-up system. How much more interesting and compelling that would have been!

Instead we got a cardboad cutout of Zovaal, and were teased for literally years about what deep, dark secret Sylvanas knew about the cosmos. The in-game cutscenes gave the broad strokes of the “universe = unfair, time to factory reset it” plot, but we still didn’t understand how Sylvanas could fall for Zovaal’s obvious lies. Even after the book I find it a little difficult to believe she would work with the guy who was ultimately responsible for the Scourge, but at least after reading what Zovaal actually said and showed her I can see where she was coming from. Even someone as well versed in deception and politics as Sylvanas can be manipulated into believing something she desperately wants to be true once she’s been broken down enough.

The book also reinforced my impression that the Jailer plot underwent significant changes at least once, if not more than once, between early development and what we got to see. I’m not the only person who senses that disconnect, either, as I’ve seen/read multiple speculations about it. The tinfoil hat theory about the Primus being the ultimate villain hiding in plain sight makes too much sense. I’m not saying I believe that to be true, necessarily, but the fact that the theory can be woven so convincingly with so much evidence certainly gives the impression that the Shadowlands story we were presented with was cobbled together from many jagged pieces that didn’t originally go together. They may not quite add up to the Primus being the master villain, but they don’t quite add up to the story Blizz seems to think they told, either.

I found Sylvanas’ enduring love for her little brother to be a really poignant tale that does make sense in light of her attitude toward Anduin, but the fact that not a single shred of that is found in-game diminishes the impact significantly. Something that fundamental to a character’s motivations can’t be relegated to a book a tiny fraction of the playerbase will ever even skim.

Sylvanas’ parents were fine. Nothing super memorable, but they were likable enough, despite her mother’s strictness. It makes sense that Sylvanas learned politics from somewhere, so having her father be an adviser to the king worked well.

Alleria’s character seemed consistent throughout. Vereesa changed a lot from a child to an adult, but that was understandable given what she went through, so no complaints there. It would have been easy to depict Lirath as obnoxiously perfect when viewed through Sylvanas’ rose-tinted glasses, and he does tread close to that line at times, but his own self-doubt makes him just relatable enough to save him from Gary Studom.

I really liked how Kael’thas was depicted here. Haughty, yes, but not without compassion. We got a nice glimpse into what his everyday life was like when he wasn’t in Dalaran, and how his subjects thought of him. I felt major second-hand embarrassment when he overheard Sylvanas ranting about how much she hated the thought of being his queen. Awwwwwkward.

In describing Nathanos as “ugly” I feel like Golden was throwing a bone to the vocal portion of the playerbase who hate the character, but she also showed him to be supportive, loyal, respectful, and downright warm to Sylvanas. The snarky banter and deep trust between them was everything I had hoped for. Call this one a win for the Blightrunner ship! At the very least we can finally put to rest the silly notion that it was all one-sided on his part.

I know Lor’themar called him a bully, both in the book and in-game during the Shadowlands prepatch, but, uh...citation needed. I suppose we should assume that he was more disagreeable when Sylvanas wasn’t around, since that’s how he was in Legion and BFA, but we don’t see any evidence of that in the book. Even the “braggart” label that Lor’themar also pins on him only really applied when he was showing off his archery skills to Sylvanas when they first met, and he did have something to prove, then.

I do wish Nathanos’ induction into the Farstriders had happened earlier, due to his skill, not after he was already romantically linked to Sylvanas. I also didn’t like the implication that Lor’themar and Co. would have happily accepted some other human into their ranks, just not Nathanos specifically. I mean, it’s kind of amusing on a meta level because of how unpopular a character he is, and maybe I’m being a little too defensive because I’m used to defending Nate from his haters, but we never see why they don’t like him. He’s homely and scruffy. Okay, and? It’s not like you guys smell like mageroyal when you come back from an overnight patrol mission, covered in dirt, sweat, and troll guts. :P

At one point Nathanos is said to have black hair, then another time it’s described as brown. His living model in the Caverns of Time has red hair, so neither is right. Oops. I was also a little disappointed not to learn any more about his family. Only Stephon was mentioned. Oh well, I ate up every single cheesy, sappy, romantic line Nathanos said to Sylvanas like the shipper I am. Not sorry.

Anyway, moving on, I was hoping for a definitive answer as to what Sylvanas was going to say in the Torghast cutscene when she said, “We can’t even choose who we--” I guess a reasonable extrapolation would be “spend the afterlife with,” but I would have liked to have it spelled out in the text.

Was the blame for the use of blight at the Wrathgate retconned again? Or does this book jive with Chronicle? I don’t even know anymore. Overall the book did try to make Sylvanas more sympathetic than she’s been depicted in the past. On one hand, we haven’t been inside her head like this before, so it’s not technically in conflict with past portrayals, but at times it felt a little forced. Then again, I’ve been complaining for years that Blizz was trying to string along both the Sylvanas fans and haters by never taking a stand on whether she’s redeemable or not, so I guess I should be glad they finally picked a side.

One of the purposes of this book existing was ostensibly to make the argument for Sylvanas being redeemable. Did it succeed? For some, maybe. It hinges on whether or not you’re an “ends justify the means” kind of person, and whether or not you buy into the fact that Sylvanas was apparently 100% sincere in her belief that following the Jailer’s plans would lead to eternal bliss for all souls in the cosmos.

It’s funny because even before Shadowlands was released, several people (including me) thought that the setup for the afterlife sucked. The thing that bothered me the most from the very beginning was not being guaranteed to spend eternity with your loved ones. Lo and behold, that’s a major problem in Sylvanas’ mind, too. I guess I was a loyalist all along without realizing it (despite my main being Alliance...) Of course, this just shines a spotlight on how she was right, and the afterlife does suck, yet it was never really addressed. I admit I haven’t played since early 9.1, so maybe I missed a bit where Pelagos addresses that, but everything I’ve seen has been about souls going where they truly “deserve” to be, with no mention of reunion with loved ones.

Phew. Long post. And I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. I’ll leave it for now. My eyes are wrecked.

Bottom line, I enjoyed the book quite a bit, especially the parts before half the Windrunners got killed, but the stench of the dumpster fire that is Shadowlands lore still reeks no matter how much potpourri Golden sprinkles on it.

#sylvanas novel spoilers #rambling about wow #sylvanas windrunner #nathanos blightcaller #the jailer #9.2 spoilers #sylvanas x nathanos

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azureflight · 3 years

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So, I have just read all of the free chapters of Men of the Harem

Not gonna lie, I expected that concept to be executed completely shittily, but it was done, at the very least, in an internally consistent manner. They lay the ground work of how and why, so far, they don’t seem to be breaking any societal or political rules of the setting, only stretching it, which is perfectly in line with the main character’s personality and ambitions.

The story so far is very has managed to be not too horny for its premise. While there is certainly an anticipation as to when she will actually make a real use of the harem, the actual plot is one of political intrigue and not too terribly done. I am really interested in seeing where all of this assassination-tomb desecration-false accusation conspiracy will go.

I will say this now, I will be very disappointed if they pull a “haha, Latil DID assassinated her father, it was an unreliable narrator!” that is way too cheap.

My personal guess is, it was Sonnaught who did it. Yeah I know, common sense dictates it was Thula or his mother or one of their supporters, or more likely someone from within the harem, but I have a tinfoil hat right now and I will wear it:

Sonnaught is desperately in love with Latil.

There is a prophesy about her becoming a tyrant.

Her father, after declaring her his heir, watches her actions and rising tensions, with the words of the sage, he starts to get unsure of his own choice.

Both of his children have personal armies, he fears a civil war. He asks the Black Forest to investigate his daughter to see if she is conspiring something vicious.

Sonnaught, realizing the emperor might change his mind, kills him. Emperor, killed by him, assumes it must be Latil who gave the order.

He DOES name Thula his heir in his dying breath.

The only problem here is why he did not also expose Sonnaught as the murderer. My guess is that he was not for clear thought when he was finally discovered. When they found him he was almost gone and upon seeing his son, he only managed to tell him something like “you must stop her/you must be king/run” etc. Enough to convince Thula and his folk that the king changed his heir, but enough to expose who the killer was.

I think, Anatchka eventually deduced it was Sonnaught who killed the king, being head of the royal guards who is deeply loyal Latil and her husband’s potential change of heart regarding succession, he has both the motive and the opportunity. And that’s why she screamed about dying in betrayal. And why her words make no sense to us for now.

In Latil’s eyes, she and her son are the traitors, so why would she scream “you gonna die of betrayal” too, when Latil killed the traitor and avenged her father (in her eyes). Anatchka thinks Latil stooped as low as assassinating her own father, something she became completely convinced of when she heard Latil executed her own brother, so from her perspective, she is screaming at a treacherous kin slayer that what she sowed, she will reap.

As for which foreign country Thula made a deal with using the seal, so far the only options are either an empire we never heard of , or Karisen. If it was an empire we don’t know about yet, then there is no speculation to be done until we learn more.

However, if it was Karisen, I have a theory:

Klein’s words about his brother not giving up on what he wants and grabbing it by hook or by crook, makes me think, he made a deal with Thula, in which he would help him win the war, and after the victory, Thula would spare Latil and send her to Hyacinth. It would probably not work as smoothly if Thula literally captured her and sent her packing to Hyacinth, so it was probably meant to occur in a way where Thula would allow Hyacinth to send some troops to help her escape after defeat. Which would be rather easy to execute, since Thula would be in on it. He writes her letters, sends her gifts for 2 years straight and then saves her from “death” after defeat, he probably believed that she would have forgiven him by that point.

And the seal was used either to confirm a marriage arrangement or at least a deal to send her as consort. Which, in case of victory, if Hyacinth didn’t receive her as his due, he would use to demand her.

Overall, I am very curious as to where this will all go. Not gonna lie, I do wanna see Latil lead armies in conquest, becoming decisively victorious and then make mistakes while high on glory, that will eventually bring ruin to her empire after her reign.

I like the histories of warlike rulers who were well respected and glorified in their time for military success, only to be retroactively shamed for “bad ruling” or fundamental flaws that later get blamed for major issues or outright downfall.

To be worshiped as successful and strong in life, only to be derided as a failure in death, not because you lost battles, but because the cascading effects of your other decisions, such an irony. And it is one that even the likes of Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great cannot escape.

People like mighty, militant rulers when they are in charge, but then they are almost always criticized for being overall lacking in other areas or straight up incompetent in matters of state other than warfare, after their reign.

I kinda wanna see how “history” remembers Latil and her harem, say, a hundred years after her death.

#men of the harem

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dragontamer-nia-2 · 4 years

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Olivier [Beyblade theories on crack]

Welcome to my random rants about random beyblade things. I have a lot of things to say about the Euro Team and how tragically underestimated and undervalued they are, as characters, but also as very smart plot devices, so in these posts I'm gonna pick a fight with the writers and yell at clouds while probably drunk. If you want a trip, and you think you don't like the Euro team, then jump on.

This guy.

I love this guy.

This guy is great and I swear to god they knew what they were doing when they decided when and how to introduce him.

So, from the encounter at the top of the Eiffel Tower in ep 33 we know that this guy is mysterious and that he blades; he randomly starts roasting the Bladebreakers unprovoked, which is always fun, but fucks off before anything interesting can happen. What the writers decided to do in the next episode was split up the team, and have them find out more about Olivier separately: since everywhere they go they meet someone that has at least heard of him, we can't help but feel that this guy is kind of a big deal. From Max we learn that he's bloody rich, from Rei we learn that he's a great cook, from them both (when two guys conveniently share the information right in front of them… anime logic) we learn that he's the best blader in France, and from Takao and Kyouju we learn that he likes art, and… prepare your tinfoil hats, guys, because we're going deep.

The thing is, we know this guy is manipulative, and we know it because he offers Takao lunch in his own super expensive restaurant to distract him from the fact that he just ruined hundreds of people's day. Kyouju even points out that something's wrong when he sees Takao go into the Louvre absolutely furious at Olivier, and then sees them come out like buddies. We also know it because… come on guys, have you seen his face? Have you seen his evil smirk? He's a walking troll face. It's like the animators want us to not trust him. And yet, every background character seemingly adores him, even though we don't really get a specific reason why.

I mean… this is a kids show, I know. And the writing is messy most of the times. But this guy. This guy is shady as fuck. You can take him at face value and assume he's a well-meaning asshole, completely oblivious to normal interpersonal relationships, living in rich people's world where he can just do whatever the fuck he wants. Or. He could be one bad day away from being a chaotic-evil type of supervillain, because it's almost like he's doing everything he possibly can to lure and provoke Takao into battle while holding the façade of smiles and politeness. And the funny thing is that Takao doesn't even notice his intimidation attempts (while Kyouju falls for them at every step)

But, exactly, how manipulative is he? And, more importantly, is he even aware of it? Let's assume the worst about him for a second, that everything he did and said had the purpose to push buttons and provoke a reaction. Then just in episode 34 we have the following:

- He reserves the whole Louvre knowing that the Bladebreakers were going around famous tourists attractions

- He immediately interrupts Takao and makes him waste time on honorifics before letting him speak

- He invites Takao and Kyouju, two guys clearly not dressed for the occasion and who probably don't know proper etiquette, to his high class, really expensive restaurant, serves them delicious food he cooked himself, and even implies that he could kick everyone else out if he wanted to

- He namedrops that one guy from Team Who, in a conversation that really wasn't going in that direction, and then uses the bait to imply that he's much stronger than those guys, knowing fully well that Takao was having a hard time the previous day against them

- He basically corners Takao into battling in the middle of a fucking public park, knowing that there are a lot of people around and everyone wants to see the French champion battle

Now. The thing is, I can't prove he's the Machiavellian mastermind I suspect him to be, and the only way this whole thing works is that, in this episode, Olivier somehow got Takao and Kyouju alone and the rest of the team (Kai in particular) is not there to call Olivier out on his bullshit.

On the Eiffel Tower, at the very end of ep 33, Olivier did mention, among other things, that he has unresolved business with Team Who, and it's Kai that questions him to get more information. And what does Olivier do? He immediately cuts him off with "none of your business" and basically flees. We even get a reaction shot of Kai. Afterwards, Kai goes around trying to find out more information about Olivier on his own, and spies on the battle unseen. What's going on here? Well, Kai is not like his teammates, he's not naive, he knows what manipulation looks like and I think Olivier realizes it. That's why Olivier doesn't even try to play dumb with him like he does with basically everyone else, and that's why Kai circumvents the problem by playing bully with random kids instead of trying to confront him directly.

And I know all of this may be "chemicals are making the frogs gay" level tinfoil, but come on, just look at Olivier's reaction when Takao barges into the Louvre and somehow finds him. What does he looks like he's thinking?

At the end, it doesn't really matter, because Olivier doesn't win like he expects. Granted, at this point he can't lose - because the arc has just begun and Takao needs to work harder, and because Olivier already shit-talked Team Who in two different occasions while the writers want them to be a legit threat for the Bladebreakers. But Olivier can't win either, because we're already at the end of episode 34, we have three teams to juggle, and Takao can't keep losing and having to fight against the same people the whole arc. So they tie… and Olivier is shook. He miscalculated. For some reason this guy, this clueless, impulsive idiot, didn't lose immediately and neatly like he expected. And since Olivier does have honor, and respects people stronger than him, he immediately changes his tone, shuts down the peasants that don't understand these kind of things, and he starts treating Takao like an actual person (kinda).

Option A) Oh, what's this guy doing here while the Louvre should be closed?

Option B) How lucky, I caught him alone

One thing that stands out, though, is that he is the one member of the Euro Team who never loses. They had reasons to make his fight with Takao a tie, but why did they make him tie with Rei? Although I do have my own little theory about this, I noticed that he's the only member of the Euro Team that actually has other things going on in his life other than beyblade. The guy is rich, he is very interested in art, he works as a chef and wins culinary competitions. The fact that he's probably a bored psychopath is balanced by the fact that he seems to have his personal life together, he doesn't put his whole worth into spinning tops clashing against each other, and he has the self-confidence to admit when he was wrong. Which is… more than we say about the other European guys.

So, I'm thinking, because this is called Beyblade theories on crack after all, and there's too much reasonable stuff in this post so far… maybe the writers wanted to use the Euro Team to make a point about not winning, and being ok with it, and they really couldn't make it with the Bladebreakers because they are the protagonists. They can't lose - not permanently. Olivier doesn't win, twice, and… he's shook that he miscalculated, he seems to be honestly confused, his whole drive is not winning, but understand what's going on. That's why he sends the Bladebreakers to Giancarlo, that's why he convinces him to bring them to Ralf, he does want to study Takao, and… is he using the rest of the Euro Team as guinea pigs? Or did he notice something that's missing in them, and subconsciously wants to fix it?

Here's my hot take, and the conclusion to this dumb post. Olivier is not aware of his own machinations. He's a natural manipulator and he has a talent to read people or get info out of them, and he mainly does this by playing dumb and wait until people scream at him who they are and what they want. He reads the Euro Team, he reads the Bladebreakers, and realizes one thing: they could help each other. He baits Takao with the prospect of more beybattles and then follows him to see what happens. If it's chaos, good, if it's some life lesson, better. He manages to get Giancarlo on board and the both of them, combined with Takao, eventually get to Ralf. But what Olivier doesn't realize is that the very thing that he is subconsciously asking Giancarlo, Johnny, and Ralf to fix, is their inability to lean on other people, their skeptical and wary natures, their need to be perfect, without weaknesses, in the eyes of the world; and if Olivier was aware of his own machinations he would have realized sooner that, all this time, all he wanted was to have friends. And if I’m right about anything about this, then the writers will have done a good job with at least one member of the Euro Team, because it’s not only a fucking genius way to introduce the arc, the team, and the theme, but he’s also a damn good character.

I love this guy.

#beyblade #bakuten shoot beyblade #olivier boulanger #euro team #beyblade theories on crack #but wait #there's more #I'm just waltzing into the fandom with posts no one asked for #but I'm rewatching beyblade 2001 and it's a blast #also sorry if I made mistakes #english is not my first language #and i'm drunk and tired

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