#but you meet strange people

[yourgfdgirlfriend]

last night a guy actually put his hand on my shoulder blade (i was wearing a suit) and told me ‘petite’ in an acknowledging, slightly praising voice, looking at me expectantly, as if I was now supposed to swoon over this outstanding ‘compliment’. i raised a single eyebrow. he then told me I shouldn’t be ‘so cold’. i turned to my friend and told her what he said and she said ‘he did not’ and I said ‘he did’ and he still could not fathom all night why I wasn’t interested

#kink parties are strange sometimes #i mean they are fun #but you meet strange people #and i tend to make female friends i flirt with all night instead of meeting even a potential sub #not that that surprises me #the men i’m interested in don’t go to parties like that #they lay in bed humping a pillow and daydream about a dom kidnapping them in between bouts of crying because they’re lonely #prey animals don’t go to the hunting ground #the cute soft crybabies i want are way to shy to go anywhere near those parties

[add1ctedt0you]

Canonically speaking, jc' reaction to someone he doesn't like/has strong negative feelings towards, because that person was a jerk to his sister, is to regulate his emotions according to how his sister feels. In a jyl lives au, after wwx's return, canon jc is going to his sister, saying something like: 'while I think we should throw at least a cup of tea at him because he left us you and a-ling like that, it's your choice, jin zixuan was your husband. What are we feeling now, jiejie?'

#I was reading a jyl live and in the notes the author wrote: 'I made jc & wwx meeting as painful as possible'. Why would you do that lol. jyl #jzx's wife- is right there. shouldn't she the one to be mad? no obv. she says to jc to back off and stop being a jerk lol #canon jc rebuild his sect and co-raised his wonderful nephew. Without no one but himself. A jc with his sister by is side is the healthiest #dude out there. The fact imo it's that most of jyl lives au aren't about jyl #Her life wasn't about her. Her childhood wasn't about her. Her death wasn't about her #Let at least her survival be about her lmao #jzx should divorce fanon jyl tbh and marry jc lol #Imo it boils down to people thinking that be mad about a loved one's death/lying make you the devil #Which is a bit strange #Or maybe it's that in a jyl lives au you kinda have to acknowledge how hurtful wwx's actions were. A crime in this fandom. #mar!nonsense

[crowskullls]

Zam wants to be ♠️ with Minute SOOOOO bad. And Minute has no idea why. He’s so confused by it. Reluctant and honestly pretty tame Kismesissitude

#princetech #I think about them so much #LS sundial you are everything to me #Kings sundial I miss you but ohhh pairings where they just beat each other up a lot is so good #Zam begging minute to fight him and minute is just SO baffled #Zam is so strange and Minute can’t even begin to understand #guy that likes getting beaten up and dying meets guy that doesn’t see the point of fighting without a proper reason #I hope they kill each other More #umm if the CCs see this hi! hey! what the fuck! #sorry for homestuck reference posting #unfortunate that they understand homestuck quadrants now #watching the Old Habits Die Hard vod finally #been so busy with work I haven’t been caught up fully #Zam expecting Minute to spawn trap his bed makes me feel insane #Zam laughing during this fight too. he’s so fucked up for that #reminds me of how Starfox used to be. Zam really needs to have SOMEONE to beat him up or else he loses his mind #but he’s already lost it so who’s really winning here? #okay enough rambling in the tags #need more people to post abt them. please please ple

[licorishh]

*FONTAINE SPOILERS*

Y'all laugh at the fact that Tartaglia randomly falling into the Abyss one day as a kid ended up being the catalyst for Fontaine's eventual predicted destruction but all this means is that from the start Tartaglia was intended to fall into the Abyss and become a Harbinger and thus has always been doomed by the narrative

#genshin impact #childe #tartaglia #kind of helps line up his story i think #gives it more purpose than just “he fell in a hole by accident and that hole happened to be the frickin pits of the underworld” #doomed to fall into the abyss and wake up the whale. doomed to be trained by skirk and become a harbinger and eventually meet the traveler #DO YOU SEE WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS #i'm honestly so so curious if they're gonna have him start to doubt his values eventually #i am desperately hoping he has a moment where he has to choose when we inevitably fight the tsaritsa #AND HECK I HOPE HE STICKS WITH US #i really don't want my boy to be SO doomed by the narrative that he frickin DIES >:( #people say he has a lot of death flags and that's kind of true but i think he's safe since he's a playable character #i know playability is totally different from the canon versions of the characters but still #it'd be quite strange to play as a dead guy who doesn't exist anymore and has no further value to the story #can't believe i'm gonna have to wait two frickin years for snezhnaya. unfair #anyway who's excited for the interlude chapter and the inevitable dainsleif comebaaaack

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Oh hey I'm legitimately about to start crying over a middle-grade book. Ok.

#nevermoor #i speak #morrigan internally spiralling as she meets all these incredible people #thinking how she doesn't compare #thinking how they must all be thinking jupiter made a mistake in choosing her #and then the NEXT SENTENCE disputes it! #'how extraordinary!' 'i'm glad to know you... you must truly be somebody wonderful' #because how others see her ISN'T how she sees herself! #she sees herself as not enough. because she's never been enough. #and now there's this world full of strange and confusing people. jumping with umbrellas and leaving alpacas random places #and jupiter won't give her a straight answer about anything #and everyone is saying things she doesn't understand #but it doesn't matter because this entire world (except for the talking cat) is embracing her and saying #'darling darling girl. you ARE enough. you're more than enough. you're wonderful.' #*wails*

[averyshittyseal]

...... ok listen here:

BARCUS WROOT

End of my Ted Talk.

No really I had this story in my head with Abel and Barcus and it's... ARGH!!! I WANT TO DRAW THEM MORE.

Sadly Abel is my never-going-to-happen Tav.

There will probably be some typo, oops , sorry

#At first there was a strange mood #Abel really couldn't stand people automatically saying he's a underdark monster #same when you fisrt meet Barcus he scolds you for saying “aren't you far away from home” #but then the story continues and... well 👀 #barcus wroot #bg3 barcus #barcus my beloved #bg3 #tav #tav bg3 #tav x barcus #barcus x tav #my art #:') <3

[skinnypaleangryperson]

I love that part whenever I am reaching a point of inner life that was inspired by a piece of media where I no longer feel the need to talk about it in conventional forms, which never really happens for me anyway since I seem to be one of the few that is naturally nuanced, and instead begin to go inside of an incredibly deeply spiritual maladaptive inner life, which can expand for years if not the rest of my life like a personal fantasy that only I can see that is probably more human than 90% of people's experiences.

#bojack has carried me More than any fictional character ever has in my life #we've been together for around I think almost 4 years straight now #I'm pretty sure it was in 2021 when I had my episodes when I consumed it for the first time and felt that certain kind of surreal multivers #feeling #so yes 4 years now #my real life has been absolutely terrible in ways that are meant comprehension but meeting bojack was the one thing that is truly magic and #beyond this world #it might sound pathetic and strange to other people for a cartoon character to feel like a profound gift from God #but we all think differently #the sweep of love that I just felt even just a couple of hours ago and then composed an incredible song within an hour #Love is all that you need

[mcybree]

good morning! i’m insane about the coven again!

(thinks about cleo learning that betrayal is inevitable and people are out for themselves and that there are very few people that they can trust. who had been stabbed in the back by the very first person she had met in this world. and then they meet el who is earnest and insecure and vulnerable and inexperienced and they go “this is someone i can Trust.” and never sees her as anything other than a friend and rival who stands on equal ground. and scott is also someone cleo can Trust because he’s proven himself to her over and over again, lifetime after lifetime. thinks abt c!cleo and trust)

you are sick and twisted for sending me this you know that. in 2024 no less

#I’m not gonna pretend I fully understood Cleo’s pov or even know *why* her finale made me strangely emotional #but the trust she puts in others being so integral to a character that becomes sort of the sum of everything can be so special #Does anyone want to do a wc!cleo watch party. thinking about how awesome that was again #etc.etc #wcsmp #I dont even have much more to add Im just thinking about “next time we meet we’ll meet as people” and feeling ill #Thank you for the second banger cleo ask im gonna go . eat acrylic paint #asks

[sailforvalinor]

📔

Since last year, I’ve had an idea for a Harry Potter fic rattling around in my head prompted by the realization that Lily’s death is necessary for the love-magic-protection that enables Harry to survive both killing curses, but James’s isn’t—what does the world look like if James Potter somehow survives? I came to the conclusion that because the protection spell that Dumbledore originally uses to protect Harry until he comes of age applies to those of Lily’s blood, he would still want him to live with the Dursley’s, and thus Dumbledore decides that the best course of action is for 21 year old, traumatized, newly-widowed James to fake his death. It’s safest for Harry, the Death Eaters already think he’s dead, and it’s really useful for Dumbledore to have a piece on the chessboard that both the Death Eaters and the Ministry don’t know about. James isn’t thrilled about this, but he’s too distraught (and too used to Dumbledore being right about everything) to argue. He’s really only a few years out of school, after all.

I know I had worked out all the logical kinks on this one at some point but I don’t really remember now—but the fic would involve James working as a sort of secret agent for Dumbledore, a wild card, if you will, while keeping an eye on Harry from afar. This James would be a little different than the one we’re familiar with—a bit more mature and serious, and of course absolutely wracked with guilt. He hardly resembles who he used to be after losing Lily, and he’s pretty dang desperate not to make any more mistakes, lose anyone else.

Snape of course is one of the only other people who would know James was alive, and the bad blood between them is as terrible as ever, as Snape would blame him for “letting” Lily get killed. (As if James doesn’t blame himself enough.)

Sirius would also know, as he was the first one to Godric’s Hollow after the attack and would have found James, but that doesn’t do much good after he’s arrested. The only way I can think to workaround the fact that Dumbledore would know Sirius was innocent if he had talked to James is if James was so seriously incapacitated after the attack on Godric’s Hollow (don’t ask how I don’t know. WAIT MAYBE IN THIS VERSION VOLDEMORT ENCOUNTERS LILY FIRST AND HER LOVE MAGIC EXTENDS TO BOTH HARRY AND JAMES??? OH MY GOSH???) that the “trial” occurs before James is lucid enough to talk and Dumbledore gives evidence against Sirius because he assumes he’s the Secret Keeper.

Other than fulfilling Dumbledore’s wishes and keeping an eye on Harry, James spends a lot of his time trying to figure out how to break Sirius out of Azkaban. Maybe he succeeds earlier than in the original series? He also is trying to hunt down Peter, of course—probably spots him in the newspaper like Sirius does. Or maybe he sees him with Ron while watching Harry?

Does Remus know that James is alive? I’m gonna say yes, but Dumbledore doesn’t know that. It makes no sense for him not to, he’s the only friend he has left.

I figure by Prisoner of Azkaban, James has had enough of Dumbledore’s nonsense and reveals himself to Harry—it would be pretty dang poetic if it’s during the first patronus scene, and it IS actually him casting it from across the lake. How would Harry react to finding out he’s been alive this whole time? Idk, it would be complicated, but man I’m getting emotional just thinking about it.

Also, while it does make sense that Dumbledore wouldn’t want James to use his original wand, I know it makes the most sense for James to have acquired a spare one somewhere—but the concept of James Potter with a Glock hit me over the head with a broom, and I’d love to somehow finagle it into making sense because can you imagine? Someone in the HP universe with a gun?? The comedic potential???

A dementor: *appears*

Harry and Sirius: “EXPECTO—“

James: *shoots it in the face*

#james: *shoots dementor in the face* ‘AVADA KADAVRA’ #I’m a little obsessed with this James being kind of terrifying. not in a ‘cold calculating danger’ sort of way but a ‘white-hot #unpredictable burn-you-if-you-get-too-close’ sort of way. who knows what he’ll do. like you see Harry and he’s got a bit of an edge but #then you meet his dad and you’re like ‘oh THAT’S where it’s from.’ (ik people love the parallels between Harry and Lily but we are missing #out on the Harry and James ones). kind of obsessed with the idea of James being one of the only people Dumbledore was ever scared of #(especially if he ever found out about his REAL plans for Harry…) #also I keep thinking about one of the strange things to happen during Harry’s childhood (like the blue hair and him teleporting to the roof #of the school) is him being watched as a six year old by a stag on the playground. this happens multiple times #james potter #anyway does this make sense? it’s 3 am and I don’t know #also this James would 100% have a Moment about the resurrection stone

[thestobingirlie]

character: i’m a freak

tumblr users: wow. they’re canonically gay!

no. they’re just a fucking weirdo lmao

#can people not just be strange and unsettling anymore? #not everything is (or has to be) queercoding!! #and sometimes gay people are the most normal boring ass people you will ever meet. and that’s okay <3

[rogueolight]

MARYAM DANCESTOR…. i lav her….

#i wanted to keep the oldfasioned ish maryam hair vibe #she is a serial killer…. she is also in jail. #coincidently that’s where she meets the other 10 #not 11 because serket descendant is strangely normal and at college. #top 10 most likely people to kill you in the bathroom of a party #and then laugh about it #girls will kill you with the stilettos on #i’m still working on this idea #cw blood but its purple

[glitterfartsprinkle]

strange ventish art i made earlier because schools stress inh me out. ill explain more in tags

#uurgh okay. i realized that a lot of the people i consider my friends do not consider the same for me (irl) #and when i think im laughing with them they're actually just. laughing at me #and its strange to just now realize it. i feel so overwhelmingly embarrassed that i say the things i do #i dont even know theyre embarrassing until someone says “stop talking” #i desprately want to make it to my new schpol next year because its massive #and I'll be able to meet new people #but im alone right now. and thats the worst pain ive been in for a while. thank you if you read this #vent

[ofallthingsnasty]

You know what's juicy? A yandere forcing you to do the whole 'meet your parents' thing. How would they keep you in line? Or are you broken in already? Any well-known pro hero would just have to work their charm a little to convince them they're the right fit for you - like Hawks. Or Mirko. Any top 10 hero will probably meet little resistance on their part. (Because even if your spouse croaks - you’ll probably be set up for life.)

Lower ranked pros might not hog the front pages every day but they can still work the public - and to a certain extent, your parents. Who could say no to someone as caring and sweet as Fatgum? They just know he’s going to make you so happy. And someone like Nighteye? Good for you, he seems respectable enough and it looks like you’re finally taking your life a little more seriously. Most villains don’t even think of meeting your parents - but Overhaul would. He can’t help himself, he needs to do it the old-fashioned way (not to mention that it’s quite the twisted power play on his part). And that man can be quite the charmer when he wants to be - even if he sits on your parents’ couch, stiff as a board and just a tad pale because it is a little dusty. You won’t recognize him. I think Compress would be quite similar. What if you do try to tell your parents that something is very, very wrong - what if you try to escape - how will they handle it? Are they able to play it off, talk themselves out of it or do your parents simply not buy it? It’s a ridiculous notion, right?

And probably the most important question of them all: Why? What‘s their motivation?

#tw.yandere #yandere bnha #like why do they need to meet your folks? #are they traditional and don't wanna marry you before meeting the in-laws? #is your disappearance getting attention? or #if you haven't been 'napped ... maybe people have started to notice that you're acting strange and never around... uh oh #*are #or maybe you've had a 'happy' little accident... #or maybe... it's just another way of claiming you #or breaking you - if they can win over your family you'll never get out... #endless possibilities #mind you i think a top 10er 'napping you would probably be a tremendous amount of work #i prefer the classic toxic relationship for those shjdhsj #only exception to this is probably enji... i think my man's would have to keep you a secret for life #but if he really really really had to meet the parents i think they'd just straight up faint #and the villains my my #we all know kai could sweet-talk anyone hehe #and there are so many who'd never do it #100% shigaraki that man doesn't care one bit hdjsfhsjk #what does HE want with your parents??? are you stupid??? #re destro though oh my god #straight up older than your parents dfhsjhfdsjjkfs #oh lord dskjajdk #and dabi: you know what that mfer wants your family to know exactly who he is and what he's doing to you #but he'd never meet them nu uh #probably knocks you up and mails them some pics hjshdsaj signs them something cheesy like 'xoxo your son-in-law' #every day i walk to uni and every day i have too much time to think

[lilbitofmac]

What is the best fanon-made trope to appear in ironstrange fics in your opinion? I've always been weak to the idea of Stephen falling in love with Tony over those 14,000,605 futures where he saw that Tony really was Earth's Best Defender. Are there other tropes you like for this ship?

OOOOOOOOOOOO MAN that’s a tough one. I’ve read through the entirety of the ironstrange tag on Ao3, and the two are so compatible that almost all tropes just work well!!

I agree that that trope works the best for the ship, honestly! That’s why it’s so common among the fics! The reason that Stephen falling in love with Tony and recognizing Tony has Earth’s Greatest Defender works so well is because he’s genuinely one of the very very few people to acknowledge that aspect of Tony. LIKE C’MON the man goes from calling him “Stark” to “Tony” at a break neck speed. That’s love right there. It’s nice to have a ship where the two individuals truly appreciate one another for who they are.

The trope I’m really enjoying right now is Tony being the one sent back in time. Mainly because it’s something that shakes up the usual narrative we’ve all come to accept with this ship, which is that Stephen knows Tony so deeply that there isn’t really much else to learn. He just loves and appreciates him. But when the shoes on the other foot? Tony tends to self-sabotage himself a lot. With Tony having the foreknowledge of what happens in the future, does he really deserve to fall for this sarcastic, egotistical neurosurgeon? Stephen is the one with the better understanding of magic and the universe as a whole (he’s still a man and makes mistakes, but with how much he’s seen and accomplished, he’s more equipped for these situations). Tony, on the other hand, for as much as a wide perspective that he has compared to regular citizens, he’s just a man!! He’s so very human, so what is he suppose to do in a situation where he has all this foresight?

The final tropes I’ll bring up are just post-Endgame scenarios. For Tony lives AUs, seeing Stephen grapple with his decision to prioritize the universe for this one man is always a pleasure to see; especially with how much he cares about his oath to do no harm: “This is the man I’ve fallen in love with, and look at the pain my decision caused him.” Phenomenal. Usually with those fics, Tony’s just tired of his bullshit and won’t let him indulge in his self-hate for too long.

For post-Endgame fics where he doesn’t live, well, there aren’t many ghost!Tony fics, but there should be! Stephen grieving over his loss and Tony dealing with the fact that he’s conscious and “what happened to ‘I can rest now??’” Plus, if you’re gonna have a supernatural element in a fic, there isn’t a better way of doing it than with a ghost and a sorcerer!

#sorry if this formats weird idk what it’s doing tbh #honorable mention is the fics where they meet during the earlier years #I fucking LOVE seeing how people write these two egotistical men snarking at one another and then making out #they’re both so sharp and cold during earlier years and so to see them soften for one another over time 😭💕 #fantastic #THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION sorry for the essay LMAO #doctor strange #stephen strange #ironstrange #tony stark #iron man #response

[hella1975]

i have such a reputation that four separate people incorporated pringles into my birthday gifts. be that girl

#to the point my one mate today (the one i almost ditched in that seminar LMAO) ((WAIT I NEED TO TELL YOUSE ABOUT HIM)) #anyway! he was like 'oh i actually got you something!' which given our dynamic despite RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AHEM #is so unusual like he was NOT required to get me a gift. but then i immediately was like 'it's pringles isn't it' #and he was just like 'sigh. yeah' LMFAOOOOO #and you know what? chuffed to utter bits. ive already eaten half of them in 24 hours. scranning even more as i type this #anyway back to that guy. so you know i sometimes mention my flatmate from first year who also happens to be on my course #so off the bat we've got a weird friendship bc he's not just a coursemate bc i also lived with him #but also first year halls were assigned not chosen so it's not like we were actually FRIENDS #especially bc my flat did NOTTT get on lmfao so me and him were mainly just. acquaintances who lived and studied together? #very strange foundation to have with someone. but we went all of second year barely staying in contact #and then this year we live in the same area and for the LIFE of me i cant remember how we got back in contact #but all of a sudden we were messaging every day and meeting up before lectures and sitting together in them and stuyding together etc #and we get on REALLY well like he has my exact sense of humour i know ive posted about him several times #over the past three years being like 'me and this guy are the funniest people i know' 'he would do bits on tumblr' etc #AND THE OTHER WEEK HE ADMITTED THAT HE LIKES ME AND WE WENT ON A DATE #AND IT WENT REALLY WELL BUT I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME FIGURE OUT HOW I FEEL ABOUT HIM #SO IM TRYING NOT TO PUT PRESSURE ON ANYTHING and i was super clear w him also that im not actively searching for anything #so if smthn happens organically then it happens but if not it's my final year and that will always take priority and he was super chill #so i dont feel like i HAVE to make a decision just yet but we're going out again tomorrow #and it's like. even if it doesnt become smthn romantic i just really click with him?? like we get on so well??? IT'S SO FUN #AND THAT'S WHAT MATTERS! WOOHOO! pringles post derailed by a MAN. awful #hella goes to uni

[thefirstknife]

The God-Wave and the Witness

I've recently been seeing an increase in confusion in regards to the new lore from The Witch Queen about the Hive siblings, the God Wave and the new reveals that all of it was orchestrated by the Witness.

Some even go as far as to say that this was a retcon from how it was described in the Books of Sorrow. That is incorrect. The accusation of retcons comes from a misunderstanding of both old and new lore. I want to clarify this for people who might be genuinely confused. People were confused at the time of release as well, but I thought that with time, this would become clearer? Apparently it didn't and there's still confusion about it.

The new reveal in the cutscene with Ikora and the worm is here. The same dialogue is repeated in Resonant Fury Plate lore, but with additions that I will highlight:

—-It delays our desires so that it may seek its own. These frail siblings… will soon be claimed by the Light. Unless we claim them first. Our whispers were fed to a weak mind. But we have watched these siblings. These children of the king. They are brave minds. Clever minds. Ambitious minds. Yet unsullied by the weakness of aging that plagues their kind.—-

"Then what compels them to hear our whispers?"

—-Desperation. We will tell the most cunning sibling of a cataclysm. A prophecy… of great loss. We will feed her fear. Her pride. We will say… Young Sathona. The end is coming. A great cataclysm. A God-Wave. In the Sky… there is only death. But salvation… lies in the Deep. Lead your sisters down. Your cunning will spare their short lives. And you… will be reborn. The Witch Queen… Savathûn.—-

People seem to be interpreting this as if there was a retcon about which of the siblings first spoke of the Syzygy, aka the incoming apocalyptic event on the Fundament. In Books of Sorrow:

My father died afraid. Not of vile Taox or the Helium Drinkers, but of his orrery. He screamed to me —

“Aurash, my first daughter! The moons are different! The laws are bent!”

And he made the sign of a syzygy.

Imagine the fifty-two moons of Fundament lining up in the sky. (It wouldn’t take all fifty-two, of course: just a few massive moons. But this is my deepest fear.) Imagine their gravity pulling on the Fundament sea, lifting it into a swollen bulge…

Imagine that bulge collapsing as the syzygy passed. A wave big enough to swallow civilizations. A God-Wave.

In Books of Sorrow, the Osmium King learned of the syzygy from the worm familiar and then told Aurash, the eldest sibling, about it. Aurash became obsessed with it almost as much as the Osmium King, but didn't know when the syzygy would come:

I have to find a way to stop it. Before the God-Wave annihilates my species. If I could only get back into my father’s orrery, I could learn exactly when!

This is important. At this point, nobody knew when the syzygy would strike. Osmium King was later assassinated and his children had to flee. These bits are important.

You see, the Witness acknowledges that the whispers were first fed to a "weak mind." Aka the Osmium King. The worm familiar was first his and he was not able to fully understand the whispers of the worm and he never fulfilled what the Witness wanted. The knowledge of the syzygy is still coming from the Witness, via the worm familiar, first to the Osmium King. The Witness also acknowledges that it watched his children and that they are brave, clever and ambitious, but also desperate. The Witness shifted its words to them now.

The same Books of Sorrow chapter also has Aurash acknowledging that Sathona always has a clever plan and "mad ideas" that get them out of trouble. Weeks into their travel away from home, Aurash says:

But more and more we have come to rely on Sathona’s wit. She will go off to be alone (she insists she must be alone) and return with some mad idea — steer into the storm, throw down a net, eat that strange beast, explore that menacing wreck.

Somehow Sathona seems to manufacture good luck by sheer will.

Aurash doesn't know it at this point, and the readers don't know it either, but Sathona has taken the worm familiar. She is getting these "mad ideas" from the worm. She is not manufacturing good luck by sheer will, she is being led, by the whispers of the worm. Sathona reveals this in her own chapter in the Books of Sorrow, immediately following the previous one:

1. It was my father’s familiar. I ripped it from him as we fled. It is a dead white thing, segmented, washed up from the deep sea. 2. It’s dead, but it still speaks to me. It says: listen closely, oh vengeance mine…

She also specifies that everything she told her sisters to do was directed by the worm: she says that she "knows where to find secrets," "knows where vast slow things with long memories live," "knew it [the needle ship] would be there," and that she "knows its purpose" and "what happened to the crew." She also lies to her siblings and contradicts Xi Ro who wants to sell the ship. Instead, Sathona insists that they should use it to dive into the Fundament. This is in agreement with Aurash who wants to get into the ship and command it. Sathona says:

Aurash wants to open the ship and see if we can take command of it. I know this is the right thing to do. I know because I asked the worm…

Another important part is at the start of this chapter where Sathona specifies that at the point of her writing her chapter, they've been traveling for a YEAR:

This year of wild voyaging, these lightning nights and golden days, these forays into ancient wrecks and windblown flights from monsters: these are the happiest times of my life.

Next chapter of the Books of Sorrow also states the following (Sathona speaking):

“We three will die here, in exile. Taox will outlive us. And Aurash, brilliant-eyed Aurash, you will die of old age long before you have proof of your God-Wave, or any way to stop it.”

Why does this matter? Well, a full year after the death of the Osmium King and after a full year of traveling, Aurash still doesn't have either proof of the God-Wave or a plan to stop it. Yes, Aurash first heard of the God-Wave from the Osmium King, but didn't have proof, had no clue when it would happen and had no idea how to stop it or escape it.

For a full year of voyaging, it was Sathona who was talking to the worm. The worm was telling her all sorts of things, things that Aurash believed were just good luck that Sathona was manufacturing by "sheer will." For a year, the Witness was speaking to Sathona, giving her directions, telling her how to survive, where to find the needle ship, where the Worm gods live and to dive into the Fundament.

Obviously, in Books of Sorrow we didn't know that it was the Witness speaking through the proxy of the worm familiar. But we knew, from the Books of Sorrow, that Sathona, aka Savathun, was being given instructions on the syzygy, the God-Wave, where to find the Worm gods and how to reach them in order to escape both the God-Wave and their own mortality through that worm familiar.

It's really confusing to me why people think this is a retcon. Yes, Aurash, aka Oryx, was the first sibling to hear about the syzygy from the Osmium King. But Oryx didn't engage with the syzygy or the God-Wave further; he wanted to go back to their father's orrery to learn more and for a full year still had no new information about the God-Wave or how to stop it. Savathun did. It's directly explained in the Books of Sorrow that she spent a full year being fed whispers telling her where to go.

This was further clarified in The Witch Queen, but not changed. Nothing was changed, it was just expanded that in the year of Savathun being given instructions, the Witness was feeding her fear and her pride and telling her more and more about the syzygy. The Witness also fully mentions that it tried the same with the Osmium King and that it didn't work.

Simplified order of events from the Books of Sorrow: Osmium King acquires the worm -> Osmium King learns about the syzygy from the worm -> Osmium King tells Aurash about the syzygy -> Osmium King dies -> Sathona takes the worm -> Sathona keeps the worm a secret for a year while it feeds her information the siblings need to survive -> Sathona uses the knowledge gained from the worm to lead her siblings to meet the Worm gods

Simplified order of events from the POV of the Witness: Osmium King acquires the worm -> Osmium King learns about the syzygy from the worm -> Osmium King dies and fails to fulfil the worm's purpose -> Sathona takes the worm -> The Witness uses a year of Sathona's time to feed her information and additional knowledge about the syzygy because she's smarter than her father -> Sathona fulfils the worm's purpose

Had Oryx thought to take the worm from the Osmium King, then the Witness would've told him all of this. But he didn't take the worm. Oryx simply heard about the syzygy from the Osmium King, didn't have time to learn more before his death and then Savathun secretly took the worm for herself.

Oryx still spent time trying to understand the syzygy and the God-Wave and tried coming up with a plan to stop it, but he didn't have access to the primary source of information about it; the worm. Savathun had it secretly. Oryx even noted that Savathun was often going off alone and insisted on being alone and then returned with "mad ideas." Meaning, she was off alone to secretly commune with the worm.

This is communicated fairly clearly as a sort of an early mystery in the Books of Sorrow and then explained by Savathun herself in her own chapter (which she also starts with "My secrets").

I feel like this bit in the Books of Sorrow about Savathun secretly communing with the worm alone for a year is often ignored or missed or misremembered. It's very direct in how it's told, specifically about how she suddenly appears with knowledge about the needle ship and the Worm gods and insists that they should dive, while in the meantime, Oryx is despairing about not even having proof that the God-Wave is happening. So yeah, Oryx was first of the siblings to be told about the syzygy by their father, but he had no connection to any of the actual important information about it because Savathun stole the worm and kept it secret. As she does.

Also note that the Witness' speech never says anything about Savathun being the first to ever find out about the syzygy. In the extended version from the lore tab, it states that the first to learn was the Osmium King, who failed, and then the Witness moved on to influence his children. Due to Savathun stealing the worm in secrecy for herself, the Witness couldn't reach Oryx so Oryx was left with only what his father said, which wasn't enough. Books of Sorrow specify that it wasn't even enough to know the basics, such as proof that it's happening at all. Savathun was always the sibling with the most information on the God-Wave.

Another point that's vaguely adjacent that I want to address as well is that this reveal... didn't feel like a true reveal to me. I loved the cutscene and all, but the point of the cutscene ("The Hive were lied to") was an obvious reading of the Books of Sorrow. I didn't expect that to be contentious, even in-universe. Yes, obviously, Books of Sorrow saying that the Traveler is causing the syzygy is bonkers. Traveler doesn't destroy entire planets. The Darkness does.

Furthermore, the Darkness has been consistently depicted as having gravity powers. Where there's gravitational anomalies, there's Darkness. The connection between Darkness, gravity and the Fundament has become exceptionally clear once Last Days on Kraken Mare released which went into out first proper view of what the Collapse was like and what exactly happened. Specifically, it details how the Darkness warped the moon Titan, then released it, causing it to undergo a devastating tidal wave that destroyed the Arcology. My post from 10 months before WQ released that mentions the Fundament as the first recorded instance of Darkness using gravity to destroy.

Like, that is a direct parallel to the Fundament. When this released, it was the final nail in the coffin for what really happened with the God-Wave. I genuinely didn't think that this would be treated as a huge reveal for The Witch Queen. Like, obviously, yes, the Darkness did that to the Fundament and blamed the Traveler to galvanise the Hive into destroying it.

I still loved the whole full official reveal with an absolutely incredible cutscene that still gives me chills. I think revealing things plainly and in an accessible way for everyone is the best course of action for something so important, instead of leaving it to connections between lore books that not everybody will read. I really loved that this was finally fully explained, unambiguously, as was the whole story of how the Hive were tricked. It also curbed all the edgelord theories about how the Traveler is actually evil and the Traveler did that to the Hive.

This confuses me even fruther then when people are saying there's a retcon or that it's a contradiction. The lore around the Books of Sorrow, the Fundament, the Hive and their connection to the Darkness' lies (as directed by the Witness) is one of the most solid pieces of writing in the entire game.

It's the type of lore that has always been written so well and so clearly in line with other lore that it was really easy to take hints from it and understand where the narrators were deceived. Yes, the siblings were told by the Worm gods that the Traveler is causing the destruction of their home and they forced the siblings into an eternal pact in order to make them go hunt down the Traveler for all eternity.

Meanwhile, every other lore ever is showing that the Traveler is not the type to destroy anything and clearly the Darkness it the bad guy here so obviously, the Worm gods lied to the Hive. It's what made reading Books of Sorrow so tragic and ultimately, well, sorrowful. You're kinda expected to conclude that the Hive were the victims of their circumstances who were tricked by malicious forces into doing the bidding of someone else.

I'm glad The Witch Queen fully confirmed that and explained it so beautifully and tragically. It's a fascinating piece of Destiny universe history that ties the power and intent of Darkness across time and space, from the Hive to humans and beyond.

#destiny 2 #hive #witness #darkness #lore vibing #long post #every so often i genuinely see this take #and often it's just people being confused. which is normal! there's a lot of stuff here #and books of sorrow are big and also old #but they're still relevant! and they help us fill in the blanks with this specific event #the new reveal worked directly with the books of sorrow. it didn't contradict them #i'm baffled to see people claim otherwise #you're fine if you just didn't know. that's expected and i hope anyone who didn't know understands things better! #my confusion is with people who claim to be experts and say this. especially books of sorrow enthusiasts #like i've seen self-proclaimed lore experts saying that this is contradicting books of sorrow #and no? it clearly isn't? like. it's right there in the chapters. savathun was always in charge of the worm familiar #oryx only knew what his father said #my guy didn't even have proof that it's real. meanwhile savathun was having secret zoom meetings with the worm for a year #it's actually adorable that he believed his sister is so smart that she was just manufacturing information and good luck for them #oryx vc: 'yeah my sister goes off alone and then comes back with strange instructions that make no sense. she is so smart :)' #savathun: 'get a load of this guy. i am talking to a worm bro. our father's worm! i took it! it's telling me things!' #honestly if they just listened to xivu arath none of this would've happened. absolute dumbasses (complimentary)