there’s a question to be asked i think about to what extent “getting out” can be conflated with “being saved” in this show, and what freedom actually means to any of these characters.
like you can argue that shiv saved ken by voting against him on gojo, but what if your intent behind saving someone is to inflict a worse punishment than if you’d just left them trapped? can a child weaned on poison survive on milk, or are you just sentencing them to a death by inches, starved of the only thing they know? and if you save someone specifically because you know that being saved is the worst thing that can happen to them, is that kindness or cruelty? at what point does a good thing become a malicious act?
and you can say that roman is finally free, but what exactly is he free from? the company? his father? does unlocking a cage mean saving a dog, or are you allowing him out on the street knowing there’s a kill shelter nearby? if the driving anxiety behind roman is that he’s an idiot and a failure—that he’ll never amount to anything, and trying will only lead to pain—and he’s finally cut loose once all of those anxieties have crystallized into cold hard fact in his mind, what has he actually escaped from? if the cage is in your mind, is it even possible for somebody else to unlock it?
the fundamental truth of a tragedy is that even being saved can be a death sentence, if the characters are incapable of escaping the thing doing them the most harm (themselves and their childhoods)
239 notes
·
View notes
“And you’d never betray me, is that right?”
Bdubs gasps at the insinuation that there is any hypothetical world where he betrays Etho. “No, never! I’d never even raise my sword, see?”, he gestures at the space between them, and Etho realizes he never put his sword away after working at the spawner. “You would cut me down easily, I know it! I’d sooner die, would rather die, than hurt you even a little bit!”
The praise feels like salt water over wounds. Constant, hurtful. Cleo’s words whirr in Etho’s mind as he turns them over and over again, “Bdubs is loyal. He likes to pretend he’s not, because he likes for you to do things for him”.
Etho and Bdubs have a conversation about loyalty, perception of character, and who they can be with eachother.
27 notes
·
View notes
Half of this theory's been around for ages I'm just adding more but
Is this anything. I know the theory of Toni Kensa (which could easily be short/nickname for Tataki Kensaki, making both canon) and the Squid Sisters being related but.
Is it any coincidence that one of the promo characters literally has the exact same name with the exact same spelling and coincidentally is seen using. A charger (Marie's weapon) in the Direct he was first seen in. I'm gonna call him Saki with this because what else can I do when he refuses to tell me if it's his last name or not
I'm already going too far with this but there's also the fact that he primarily wears greyscaled colours (cough Toni Kensa before the Kensa brand existed). And I've heard people say the hipster cut is a budget Marie cut before. So that's A Thing.
I don't know what's going on and we haven't seen Saki in five years anyway so I don't know why I'm theorising now but I just find it weird that. The family crest on Marie's kimono, Toni Kensa, and now some random kid all share the same name. Especially since S2's main story mode puts this emphasis on family (Callie & Marie). And the fact that everyone who's ever modelled for Kensa has used black ink, implying that Kensa himself probably has black tentacles (like Callie does) or even white ones (like Marie.) and the greyscaled tentacles could easily be a family thing that just happens as you get older. Especially with the family thing since we know it doesn't happen to everyone (Captain 3 doesnt have greyscaled tentacles despite being older now than the Squid Sisters were in S1.) If it's true then that would mean the greyscaling happens around at least 17 years, which explains why S2 Saki has regular colours because he'd be 15-16 at the time (S2 protagonists are two years older than S1 protagonists are.) (I just realised my logic on that one is way off base and they'd actually be around eighteen by S2 but roll with me here. It still works, he'd just be a late bloomer.)
Anyhoo ive been high on this theory for like an entire day now but suffice to say. (1) Saki should've been the protagonist of S2 (2) in my head it's canon that the Squid Sisters, Saki and Toni Kensa are cousins (3) wait that kinda fits because the gaudy pair of black bracelets on Saki's shirt feel very Kensa (4) I'm going insane help.
Having said that, if it is canon that raises the question why didn't Marie directly ask Saki for help with Callie- but she could very well have not wanted to worry him or put him in danger, especially since S2 was kinda his time in the spotlight as a turf war player, especially since that's the one point in the timeline where neither the Squid Sisters nor Toni Kensa were getting attention. Now that I think about it, there's no real confirmation that Cuttlefish's family stopped with Callie and Marie's parents, and them two respectively. For all we know, Saki is Marie's little brother or something like that. For all we know there could even be four cousins to the Kensaki clan instead of the two Squid Sisters.
I'm gonna write a fic based on this actually. Do y'all wanna hear more of my crack theories about the promo kids because I also have one highlighting the fact that (a.) Tof-U and Kensaki seem to be opposing each other a lot (second in command to their leaders and/or killing each other midmatch) and also the fact that Half-Rim and N-Pacer are literally what happens if you give them fanchildren
Yes I am insane
Sorry
10 notes
·
View notes
To be fair, AM is Dimitri's story, his trauma and his relationships with rest of the Blue Lions, Byleth and Supreme Leader. So as much as it sucks that it doesn't get addressed, the Nabatean vs Agarthan doesn't really have much to do with Dimitri. It's why you can defeat one of the big Agarthan generals in the final map without any fanfare or acknowledgement from Dimitri's end.
With SS/CF, Supreme Leader is working with the Agarthans so the Nabateans vs Agarthans conflict comes into play there and for Claude, well he wanted to learn about Fodlan's secrets so it's believable for him to also gain knowledge about the Nabatean vs Agarthan conflict in VW.
Yep, that's why AM is so frustrating.
You are teased with Idunn, Jahn and the subsequent worldbuilding, but in the end, you only get rid of Marquis Laus/Zephiel and call it a day.
And while AM is a good character driven story, in a nutshell - Dimitri learns what it means to be a Lord, for the others, but also for himself - but ultimately not one I am terribly invested in.
It had a good concept of "Lord falls then rises up" but with Hresvelg Grey galore (Flamey ? Who is Flamey?) and the "told but not seen" maxim, the story just imo ends in a "nice" box, without anything else.
I disagree about the conflict between Agarthans and Nabateans being developped in SS/CF and VW because, hey, bar Thales going all "stupid pointy ears you banished us to oblivion so I'll suicide us all to get rid of you!" it's just... there.
We know there is some backstory between the two factions, but it ends up before it starts.
SS/VW receives an infodump (yay!) from Rhea but that's it. We don't understand the crux of said conflict, just see some of its consequences, don't push Camp A against Camp B and see what comes of it, no, it's just Camp C (Billy is Sothis's host, but never knows what everything is about) getting rid of Agarthans. Was Rhea there during the initial war, what have the mole people done to the world to make Sothis angry, did Sothis really erase all humanity like they claim, who are the "humans" living on the surface, is Fodlan really a post apocalyptic world -
The routes will never answer - at best the DLC added a book from the agarthan POV more or less confirming parts of Rhea's infodump, but that's it.
Tru Piss isn't interested with Fodlan's lore and answers - we're just following Supreme Leader as the world burns, so it's the only case where I can buy the "let's not focus too much on the Agarthans vs Nabateans conflict".
And ultimately, this underlaying conflict imo sort of contradicts the good endings/visions we end up with VW/AM
VW's ends prejudice/borders so everyone should be able to live together despite their differences?
Sothis landed on Fodlan, shared tech with Fodlan people, who used said tech to try to kill her, she retaliated and it culminated with the genocide of her children.
How can you coexist with people who are different from you if said people want to slaughter you?
AM is, as you said, mainly Dimitri's story, but I think it is summed up with thos lines :
If we could just accept each other and make mutual concessions, one step at a time... Perhaps... Who knows if that's even possible.
Everyone has something that is unacceptable within them. I certainly do, and I'd wager you do as well.
I wonder which is best, Professor... To cut away that which is unacceptable, or to find a way to accept it anyway...
It's the same story, what if some people want to accept each other and are ready to make concessions, but the other people don't want to make concessions, and use chainsaws to vivisect the first group?
Dimitri's journey is to reject the "cut away that which is unacceptable", as he tries to offer his hand to Supreme Leader (and she ignores it). But with Agarthans and Nabateans, how could this work? To Thales'n'pals, a good Nabatean is a relic dead Nabatean, and for what it's worth, Nopes heavily suggests Rhea knew since day 1 Barney had some "agarthan presence" but still welcomed them, so Nabateans reach their hand out, and the only Agarthans we see pull the chainsaws.
Should Nabateans still reach their hand out and accept Agartha's prejudice - the same prejudice that led to their genocide ?
Or in that specific case - because fantasy life isn't real life and you can't really make concessions with people who want to get rid of a race on this specific topic - the "earl grey" is flushed down the toilet and the "a good pointy ears is a relic" faction is cut away?
12 notes
·
View notes
In case someone stumbles across this, mind lending a hand to a girl who's on the verge of banging her head against a wall?..
What do you think Anathema and Newt's daughter would do as a career? And, what would she have studied, or be studying, at Oxford?.. She kind of strikes me as someone who'd be interested in journalism. But, I've thought, maybe she studied English Literature, or, Hell... Mathematics. I'm struggling to catch that particular thread, yet it comes up immediately as other characters are interacting with her.
Maybe, a vibe comes to your head. Which is... Very odd of me to ask, because all the information about the character is in my head, not yours. Her name's Agnes (obviously). She's a witch. She's a lesbian. Her favorite gemstone is amethyst. She likes scarves and shawls... She's anxious to meet her familiar. Her faceclaim's probably Alba Baptista. I don't know what else to say about her right now.
3 notes
·
View notes
I’m playing ruined king (it was finally on sale on xbox and holy shit it’s so fun!!!!), and a bunch of the random NPCs in the background are wearing the same sort of serape/cloak style* as graves does. it fills my heart with so much joy that graves in large part just looks like any other bilgewater working class boy ambling around the harbour looking for work or someone to rob hahaha. the young tfgraves skins have some fashion swag:
(malik’s outfit is something quite similar to what TF is wearing here, notably, so that seems to also be an existing fashion style in the serpent isles to this day)
but current day graves really does dress mostly like bilgewater joe schmoe except that he gets his details more lovingly rendered and his shirt is unfathomably tight, and I love that for him
he’s iconic, is what he is. who needs to be elaborately overdesigned when you can just become main character through sheer heedless strength of personality (and also gay longing, that’s the secret spice)
(this game is only impressing on me further that bilgewater is a fucking BANGER of a setting, though, I am hoping so hard for it to get the arcane treatment because I think it would be unspeakably cool. that long sweeping shot in the opening from underwater in the white harbour with all the coffins floating and a variant of the bilgewater theme kicking in as we move up to see the entire island over MF’s shoulder!!!)
*I think it’s implied from an npc early on that this style is actually a buhru garment originally -- and that the paylangi are wearing it the wrong way around fhdskjfhas. double hilarity: the npc goes ‘it looks dope tho. so fair enough!’. ah prime bilgewater attitude <3
60 notes
·
View notes