#also no shoes because they were fighting me orz

[sandflakedraws]

thank u phos for making me look up how to draw gold

#houseki no kuni #phosphyllite #phos #sandflakedrew #i liked both versions for their own reasons so yall can have both #also no shoes because they were fighting me orz #i'm a lil behind in the manga but it fine

[hellfireinfrozenlands]

Hi!! I'm here for that NIF breakdown of why the massacre of the Chiyan army and Prince Qi's death was inevitable? I know i miss a lot of the subtext that doesn't explicitly happen on screen, so i'd love to hear your thoughts on the villains ^^

Hello! I didn't think you'd actually take up the offer :) Spoiler ahead!

Xia Jiang:

I'll start with Xia Jiang first because he is the easiest. As shown in ep38, Prince Qi suggested to get rip of the Xuan Jing Bureau. The Emperor dismissed that suggestion completely but Xia Jiang overheard that and felt threatened by Prince Qi. The thing is, even if he never overhear that conversation, he would still find a way to get rip of Prince Qi. If Prince Qi become Emperor, being the righteous and benevolent person that people said he was, Prince Qi would never approve of the way the bureau works, the torture, the killing, etc.. And since the bureau is working directly for the Emperor and the main reason why everyone is scared of them is because the bureau is trusted by the Emperor. So even if Prince Qi never suggest to get rip of Xuan Jing Bureau or if he still keep them around during his reign somehow, isn't disuse and mistrust amount to the same thing as disposal? Xia Jiang is a smart guy, he probably saw this coming. The conversation he overheard is only a reminder of his eventually demise.

Xie Yu:

By the time of the massacre, Xie Yu would have been the brother-in-law of the Emperor for about 11-12 years. He is an ambitious guy, always aiming for the highest power. He picked the current Crown Prince because it's easy for him to manipulate and control the court (funny enough, I think the Emperor pick him as Crown Prince for the same reason). Somehow, he was always losing to Lin Xie by a small margin. His wife is the Emperor's half-sister, whereas Jin Yang and the Emperor were full siblings. Xie Yu is a general (he was in the Chiyan army at one point too!) but comparing to Lin Xie, he was not as well-known and didn't achieve as much. It was probably frustrating for him seeing the other brother-in-law of the Emperor having all the influence and respect at the court. For him to gain more power, he would need to get rip of his competitors and become Da Liang's main defender. The Chiyan massacre killed two birds with one stone. Xie Yu is a simple guy; he just want power and honour for his family, both of which were very important back then.

It never stated explicitly how the alliance between Xie Yu and Xia Jiang came to be but I would bet it was Xia Jiang who approached Xie Yu first.

The Emperor:

Okay, to talk about the Emperor we need to talk about Prince Qi first. Here are what we know of Prince Qi:

- He was the Emperor's oldest son. Given that the Empress, the official wife, doesn't have any surviving son, the Crown Prince position would normally goes to the firstborn son, unless the mother of that prince's background is unsuitable. We don't know if Prince Qi ever become an official Crown Prince or not, but since it's inevitable, I would say the ministers and generals in the court would treat him like a Crown Prince regardless. That means if the Emperor is ill or absent, all the officials would turn to Prince Qi for leadership.

- Prince Qi's mother was the sister of the general who not only had the biggest and mightiest army in the country with long list of achievements to boost, he was also the Emperor's close friend and brother-in-law through his sister and wife (that's one messed up family O.o). I assume Lin Xie's words and actions would influence the court greatly. And Prince Qi no doubt had his uncle's support.

- Prince Qi himself was also a kind, smart and well-loved prince. In ep46, Prince Yu said that no one can become a second Prince Qi and no matter how hard Prince Jing try, he cannot compete with Prince Qi. Hell, even the Emperor himself said so (ep46). Prince Qi was the brightest, outshone all other princes and the Emperor too. Let's say if the Emperor and Prince Qi has different approach on an issue one day in court, whose idea do you think the ministers most likely lean towards to?

To sum, Prince Qi was this magnificent prince who is a better suited Emperor than the Emperor himself. Since so many people were willing to die to defend for Prince Qi's innocent, I would say he had the support of most ministers and generals in the court. He was loved by the people. He had the support, or at least approval, of the Emperor's own uncle and Li Chong, a scholar held in high esteem by many (this implied by Grand Princess Liyang in ep 51) (Li Chong is the person whose books Prince Yu want to gift to MCS in ep 2). His material uncle was this general who had held sway in the court. Etc etc... Not to mention he was good looking (said by Marquis Yan Que in ep34) and young. Prince Jing was 19 when the massacre happened so I'd say Prince Qi was in his mid 20s and the Emperor maybe in his mid 40s, perfect time to have a midlife crisis!

Putting aside the Emperor's suspicious nature, if you're in the Emperor's shoes, won't you feel inferior standing next to such prince? Many of your subjects rather listening to your son than you (ep 53), whether that son is the Crown Prince or not didn't matter. Your close friends (Yan Que and Lin Xie) sang praises of this son. It seemed as though everyone is just waiting for you to die and pass the throne to your son who will undoubtedly be a better Emperor than you will ever dream of. All of this insecurities of the Emperor you can see in the last conversation he had with MCS in ep 53. He said the perfect world that Lin Xie wish for no one can achieve that for him, not even Prince Qi. Lin Xie and Yan Que helped the Emperor with the rebellion against his father(?) and brothers to ascend the throne. They put all their hopes and dreams on the Emperor's shoulder but he couldn't give them that utopia (I disagree, but that should be for another time). They were disappointed, or so the Emperor assumed, but then they gained new hope in the form of Prince Qi. Once again, they put all their hopes and dreams on this young prince (Yan Que praised Prince Qi on several occasions and that's when he already dead, imagine what's it like when he was still alive) and unintentionally abandoned their friend, the Emperor. At that point, the Emperor was like a phone being pushed aside by a better model. He felt insecure but he couldn't show it because the Emperor isn't supposed to show weakness. Nonetheless, Xie Yu and Xia Jiang saw through him and they manipulated his insecurity and doubt to their advantage. The Emperor rebelled to get his throne, so he had no reason to assume Prince Qi wouldn't do the same. And the massacre happened.

The saddest part is that all of this could be prevented if only Prince Qi and the Emperor understand each other. If Prince Qi could understand his father, he could see the insecurity and how his presence affect his father's self-esteem. He could dial back a bit, maybe not challenging his father's decisions all the time and maybe not do it publicly. If the Emperor could understand his son, he would know that Prince Qi only did these things because he cared for the people and not because he didn't respect his father (or maybe he did, I don't know). Prince Qi had no reason to rebel with all the supports he had. There was no better candidate than him; all he needed to do is to be patience and prepare for his ascension. And to his father who had to fight tooth and nail to get to where he is now, Prince Qi's inevitable ascension is a something to be envy of. That's why to me, Prince Qi's last words, 'Father doesn't understand son, son doesn't understand father' is very poignant.

I need to shut up now, otherwise I will go on forever. I highly recommend you to watch the conversation between MCS and the Emperor in ep 53 again but try to look from the Emperor's perspective. It's an eye opener.

One of reasons Nirvana in Fire is great is its villains. They are very human and even though they are people living in a stringent and traditional period, I'm sure you know someone who have some of their traits. Eg. if you're a CEO and your company is about to be disbanded, wouldn't you try to save it no matter what? The reason why the consequences of their actions are so great is because of the power and position they hold which amplify the outcomes ten-fold.

P.S NIF is a show with a lot of subtleties. This is how I interpret the implications, feel free to drop your interpretation! And please correct me if I make any mistake. English is not my first language so I hope this makes sense!

P.P.S I want to add pictures to this post to make my point but I don't know how orz

#Nirvana in Fire

[dustybunny]

ramble bramble

So I know people have already said this before and stuff but I kinda wanted to put in my quarter and see what happens lol

OH before you keep reading, I’m on mobile as I write this and cannot add a read more break so!! IF YOU HAVENT PLAYED/ARE DODGING SPOILERS FOR EPISODE IGNIS IM SO SORRY I CANT HIDE THEM AT THE MOMENT////

I’ll be tagging this as well so please don’t get mad at me ; ~ ;

So here we go!

After thinking about it and comparing the bros dlcs it’s more then blatantly obvious that Gladio got jipped. Ok yea fighting and beating a giant one armed samurai dude to prove your worth was pretty cool, but it feels like there should’ve been more.

Prompto was able to not only come to terms with being a clone, but also start becoming independent and not so needing of the others just to prove himself.

Ignis bends over backwards to save the one person he cares about the most, not because it’s his job, but because he’s his brother. And not only that, but insuring he won’t lose him to some shitty god logic.

But then there’s Gladio— undergoing a trial to prove his worthiness of being a Shield despite facing death as the moderately high likely outcome if he fails. That’s it.

With the other two bro dlcs, they’re structured around the respective bro, with both also being a way to work on something in the future. Kinda like a emotional bankrupting gaming experience of a Dr Phil episode, but somehow worse. (I’m still crying please send help)

So with that in mind, Episode Gladio is seemingly out of place and not quite the same quality as the others. You could argue the later dlcs were merely buffed up in an attempt to win back the players and fan base.

But what if that’s exactly how it was supposed to be...?

Quickly, I re-evaluated Gladio’s character— strong, intelligent resourceful guy who is a survivalist and is pretty headstrong. He tends to analyze, and seeming to be lacking in empathy in certain events (cue the train scene) Moreover, he is the King’s sworn Shield, a job he trained for his whole life and takes very seriously.

And that last part makes his episode make that much more sense. While temporarily, he leaves the group to prove himself after being ragdolled by Ravus. Not only does he succeed, but also is able to retrieve the sword Cor lost when he attempted the trials.

It makes sense... but still feels off.

Let’s fast forward a bit.

During Episode Ignis, if you play along with Ardyn and risk your life to defeat him, the trash man leaves, thanking his immortality and lovingly telling Ignis he’s gonna die while Noctis finds him. Thankfully the group does and just in time, but one thing about the scene just ripped my heart out.

Gladio, in an attempt to hold back tears, watching over a tired and fading Ignis, gives a ferocious, emotional roar, “What were you thinking?!!”

Granted I was already sobbing my eyes out and was also exhausted from trying to make Swiss cheese out of the resident garbage lord numerous times, I seriously cannot tell you how badly that one line wrecked me.

And then it suddenly got me thinking.

Just how often does Gladio allow himself to be himself?

To review, Gladio spent his whole life training to protect a future king. He descends from a heavily militarized background, and for gods sake his own father fought in a war alongside his king to help bring peace. He’s got a pair of ginormous shoes he has to fill.

So when the bros are faced with difficult decisions, what does Gladio do?

Exactly what he tells Noctis on the way to commune with Titan.

His job. There’s not much else he knows.

It’s that one line during Episode Ignis that solidified it for me—

Gladiolus Amicitia, sworn Shield to Chosen King Noctis, is shit for luck at his own emotional control.

During the whole game, Gladio doesn’t break. Won’t even allow himself to. He’s constantly working, putting all his years of training into overdrive, trying to do what he spent his entire life on.

Everyone else in the group breaks at least a little. Even Ignis, when he has to tell Noctis what’s happened to Insomnia at the beginning of the game, is clearly heartbroken and not his normal sturdy self.

But Gladio doesn’t. Not in the way everyone else does.

His breaks are seldom, and sometimes really hard to pick up on when you aren’t looking for them.

His general hatred toward Niflheim, his snaps at Noctis during the Titan climb and on the train, his sudden distress when separated from the prince in the keep after defeating the daemon that ambushed him and his recently blinded friend. His line when he finds a nearly dead Ignis.

The only thing he seems to do for selfish reason is fighting. Hunting and taking down daemons, MTs, whatever. It’s the only way for him to release his emotions, turning it all into rage to destroy whatever he’s in front of that’s trying to kill him or his king.

It’s his only way to cope with what the fuck is going on.

His dad is murdered, his home destroyed, everything he knew turned on its head. And he doesn’t even flinch. Just keeps going, pushing onwards, focusing on being a worthy Shield. Analyzing and tactically moving forward. It’s what he knows. Buries everything else, even his own emotions to march on.

It what he has to do. It’s what he was trained for.

Gladio reacting to Noctis grieving Luna’s death was a mix of trying to do the thinking for the prince and himself. He couldn’t let his own building pain beat him. So he did his job. Keep moving forward. It’s when he lashes out that he breaks, and quickly tries to catch himself, choking down his feelings to keep going.

Keep. Fucking. Going.

That’s why Episode Gladiolus is so different. Instead of conquering some inner demon, he’s focused on the trial. To prove himself as a Shield. Swallowing down and shoving away his emotions, refusing to let them even touch the surface. It’s not that he couldn’t win, but rather forces himself to bury it away. Focus on the job. The only thing he’s known his whole life.

As much as I love all the boys, Gladio is by far the one I worry about the most. In future dlcs, I’m scared to see what’ll happen to him. If one focuses on him again, what are we gonna see? If it’s in the ten year skip, will we finally see him snap? All that time, bottling up everything, will he finally let it burst?

Ughh as much as I love this game it makes me think so much about all the poor kids involved in it # ~ #

And tbh I just want gladio to be happy. Lemme spoil me good boi, god damn it. There’s a very good reason I have an embarrassing surplus of ramen on my game and it’s so I can at least make my poor tol a little happy.

Hhhhh but that’s all my thoughts ;w;

Hopefully it makes sense. Mobile app is making it dangerously hard to revise and review //orz

And if you got this far, thank you for reading !! ;w;<33

hope you have a lovely day !! <33

#gladiolus amicitia #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #ffxv #ff15 #episode ignis #episode ignis spoilers #dusty thoughts #hhhh