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windebris · 2 years

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HERE IT IS, THE LONG-AWAITED (its been an hour) Lonely King by CG5 analysis post!!!!! its a bit long so i’ll put it under a cut but hoooooooo boy its a good one.

We open on, instead of vultures in the desert, two (literal) ducks on the cacti and one duck (cq) in the desert. Theyre chirping. Its an implied sunrise, this is a new beginning for quack or at least He wants it to be; the sky is red, which is always a bad sign for future endeavors.

Right off the bat the screen is divided into to parts, one shadowed and one light. In the shadowed part (left) its all unpacked boxes and unhealthy coping mechanisms (cough alcohol cough) and on the light half (right) hes got poker chips stacked up high and books and work. He wants to seem like hes got it all together, hes the king hes the boss hes got this. But really, hes struggling when no one bothers to look (ie the fiancés that left him [he left? Both] and the friends that dont check in)

the colored cards represent characters but the fact that he smashes through it right after is telling; id guess the ones at the very top are quackity & charlie, then foolish, purpled, and fundy underneath. The dark green id guess tubbo. You cant see it very clearly in the screenshot but the far bottom left is shades of gray, so id say schlatt, and the middle two are pink/yellow and green/white, so techno and dream. Far right is purple so im thinking karl. Wilburs gotta be in there somewhere, and so does sapnap so possibly the two in the more middle bottom area? Unsure about the yellow/green and solid blue near the top.

ANYWHO the reason i bring this up is that the ones right at the base, at the cornerstones and the center, are the traumatic people. No matter how far up he builds, cq’s very foundation is these experiences that he may not be able to see from the top, but he’ll always shake if theyre shifted.

The ones at the TOP are the ones he build Very Carefully, and with the purpose of Being At the Top, that Matters More and is Where he Is Now. this is what quack Wants people to see about him.

Here hes literally digging a grave for pictures of his enemies (schlatt and two turned away photos), (it juxtaposes with the lyrics being like ‘i was told i had to walk away [from my enemies]’ but the lyrical analysis is a Whole different post) but hes crying as he does so!!! It introduces the blue as a ‘this is what im feeling, it doesnt have to bring me control its what i am rn’ color, kind of an expression w/o limitations. Later that’ll express differently w the color but rn its the first time we see cq cry in the vid, and to my knowledge its the only time. I could be wrong about that tho. And he is Very Alone in this scene, theres no one to support him so hes Literally burying his trauma!!! Hence the never crying again!

I love all of these stills in the mirror bc he's reflected wearing the outfit associated with his time of 'owch' with the particular person overlaid in red over him (red = pain = success for the one dealing it out, hence the abundance of red in las nevadas bc he wants to be the one in control), but OWCH WHY KARL I LOVE KARL SO MUUUCH

i'll TELL YOU why karl it's because he fits Right in with the others in the sense that he was a Betrayal. schlatt was skeevy going in, but he was his husband he was meant to be at least Not-Bad, then Bam betrayal. Wilbur was meant to be his friend, was meant to be a fellow countryman, then Bam explosion. etc, so Karl not Only fits right in but is arguably the most stark and important bc of these flashes bc he's the only one that's only mentioned once, Here. bc cq doesn't see him as an enemy per se, like he clearly describes the others as. no, Karl is Pain, he is Red, he is Betrayal, but never an enemy (hence why he wasn't in the roulette spinner scene)

he's making himself a New Kind of villain PURPOSEFULLY!!!!!! HES WELL AWARE GOING INTO IT THAT THEYLL SEE HIM AS THE BAD GUY!!!! He Chooses to be the inflictor of pain rather than the one who takes the brunt of it bc it's the only way he can stay safe!!!!! that's why he hurts dream, he's stealing the 'smile' and the position bc when dream was in charge no one dared hurt him. no one dared. but quackity isn't red naturally!! his scar is a different color (barely noticeable) and the red on him (beanie, tie) are choices!! he Chose to wear those as opposed to before all of the server hardship when he Chose to wear blue (naivete? or maybe an unconscious hope that things would turn out good)

Theres a certain swagger that comes with choosing the ‘wrong’ path that i love about cq. Hes sauntering down to hell with a handbag full of golden poker chips and an even more golden smirk and tbh so girlboss of him

THERES NO HEART IN THE CARD SUITS IM GONNA CRY

Also! King imageryyyyy with the throne! It goes along with the title ‘lonely king’ because obvi its a throne, hes got the king thing going on, but also hes the only one in this frame. The colors are muted except for the red (pain, loneliness, control, what he seeks for so long but cant stand to have in reality) and some gold on the poker chip (illusion of control? Illusion of importance, surely) so hes Very Lonely

TRANSITION!!!!! before now the colors were All red and orange and white black brown and GOLD GOLD GOLD, but now we have variety, he's introducing friends, he has hope; the first time we see them they're suits on cards (earlier in video) but now they're pictures on a wall like important figures in his life (see: portraits of wil and schlatt except this time they're on the wall, unbroken, bc he so desperately Wants these ppl in his life) as distinct from pawns like initially (re: cards)

Also, notice that purp is the Only One not smiling! He holds a grudge (a well-deserved one, but hey this is cquacks perspective so im not gonna go into it here lol)

Here they are as the cards earlier; still have the color, still have the hope, but theyre impersonal. No faces beyond the bare minimum, and honestly those look pretty intimidating and blank. These are pawns, theyre workers, theyre something to be used. So when quackity swipes over them in red paint-its preeeetty clear he wants nothing to do with this newfound hope. Given this is earlier in the music vid (before the first pic i used, actually) its in character at that point; theres potential hope in these pawns, and thats gotta be stamped out with the red, the control, so he cant get hurt with them.

BACK TO THE TIME FRAME I WAS IN AND A L S O THE ESTABLISHED COLOR SCHEME which meeeeans somethings disrupted the relative safety, cq's settling down ain't gonna happen, mistrust has crept back in and we're unstable again hence the gold sparky sparks in las nevadas colors!!!! red, again, he wants control, but Gold is that legacy and prestige he sees everyone else get and it's falling apart (or about to) in front of him

quack is evilly grinning up at purp (notice the ‘up at’ as in hes below him in terms that purple has power OVER him but quack still wants to claim that sense of control), like oh yes stealing the dream motif again with the haha you can't get to me I don't care about your attempt on my life EXCEPT the Second purp goes for cslime the smile drops. he cares about someone, like it or not, and the chosen villain storyline doesn't hold up anymore bc he cares, at his very core he cares so much and that's why he didn't want his people to get close (hence the card suits) and when they Did (picture frames) he gets screwed over. bc quackitys character is about betrayal. and as soon as the red and gold disappeared, pain and ambition and control traded for hope again, that colorful wonderful thing, it was ripped away just as fast by one of the people he trusted. whether the color purple is a motif there I'll leave up to you (Karl, purpled)

AND! HE DIVES AFTER SLIME EVEN WHEN HE KNOWS INTELLECTUALLY THAT THE GUYS A GONNER ALREADY! THATS AN UNCONSCIOUS, IMMEDIATE REACTION!!! Just wanted to add that. Bc it wasnt a choice, he didnt choose to let these people in like he chose to keep them Out initially, but by god does he grip them close once theyre there. I wouldnt be surprised if cpurp joined the lineup beside karl and wil and schlatt and techno for betrayers.

THE RETURN OF COLOR AGAINNNNNN (I'm sorry for the overabundance of color analysis but it's There. I promise it's There and im not just insane.) and maybe it's not quite hope outright and I was wrong, but it's hope in something. slime is essentially dead, quacks been betrayed again, but this time he has something left. las nevadas isn't even Considered in this frame bc he's so consumed by this loss. our boy is coming BACK, BABYYYY and! and! he's on an equal plane with slime, they're standing shoulder to shoulder!!!! that is So different from every other position we've seen him in compared with other people who held power over him previously; schlatt stood over him, and so did Wilbur and tech and Karl that one time, with the one time they Weren't putting them in a grave that quack was digging at (I'll add a picture of that below) and they weren't even there!!! he put picture frames for a semblance of control!!! here, he's actually on even footing with his Friend, which makes the loss even more heartbreaking

hes disheveled, his beanie is gone (perhaps the most telling thing that hes gone through an abyss [hero’s journey anyone?]) this is his big moment (w/n the music video, im sure theres more to come for the character, however briefly)

and there's blue on what's presumably wils picture bc of ghostbur, duh, but also bc ghostbur fundamentally has the more free state of mind that quackity associates with hope. ofc all that's gone by the time he's revived but it's a nice thought

he's angry!!! singing directly into the dynamite, his scar is Bright Red unlike in previous scenes, this guy is Angry and rightfully so. he's had his moment of weakness (cough hope cough) and it's set him right back to vengeance and control and Pain. there's no gold anymore, he doesn't seem to care about the legacy element or the wealth, he just wants the safety of control. it's a spotlight, he's the only one left to care about, everything's drowned out except himself and the pain he can bring (ie the explosive. Wilbur callbacks anyone, he's literally a shadow but whether it's of Wilbur or of his former glory is debatable esp since glory is a motif here)

back to fake smiles, back to card suit imagery, we've boomeranged to the beginning and all hopes of permanent character development are gone. we're leading up to a breaking point in the narrative (background is kinda swiveling btwn orange and red like lava, like it's close to an eruption but that's kinda a reach) but we're not there yet

THIS IS LITERALLY JUST CC QUACKITY. HES TAUNTING US. HE STOLE ALL OF CQs color and put it into his own background bc this man is enjoying the panic he creates with all the angst.

Okay but in all seriousness about that one, all black = mourning = oh gosh quacks gonna die. Hes totally gonna die. OR its just for the vibes idk. But this man is Literally holding the fate of las nevadas (colors motif yes to all of it hes got the pain and control and the unrevealed card ‘up his sleeve’) in his hands. I am So here for this its gonna be an awesome finale

And i just rewatched the first bit and this totally supports my thing that blue is hope and red is pain. that in addition to there being no heart on the ‘throne’ from earlier-- its bc it was broken :D it flashes for like .01 seconds and it took a solid five attempts to pause on lol. the tiny broken heart makes My heart break

ive skipped the Whole part w c!Tommy and the bit with the mirror smash (its rly fascinating, so many mini-scenes all in one!!) for someone a bit more versed in the VODs to analyze, but ohhhh buy was this fun. Ty for reading through my incoherent mess of an analysis, it my little english enthusiast heart very happy :D

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wackus-bonkus-maximus · 2 years

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I finally finished reading odnlb! It was quite a ride, worth all the spoilers. To celebrate, I'm gonna risk my rep and give you an attempt at a song analysis with "Absolutely Anything" by CG5 (feat. OR3O). Yep, it's another duet. I just think it suits Adrien around Lila. Or to a lesser degree, Gabe around Lila. Both Agreste men are strung along by Lila, but I'm just gonna use Adrien for this one.

The male parts are about a guy trapped in a situation he can't escape. The first two stanzas neatly summarizes Adrien's situation. He's in the depths of dark despair, he can't succeed. He'll never be the same again after everything he's seen.

"She's here and there and everywhere" is an interesting line to me considering Lila, and finally reading chapter 28, well shit. And the part where he sings "I can hear you calling" and begging "won't you set me free?" is practically Adrien anytime Gabe (or rather Lila?) calls on him.

"I'll do anything, anything

Anything that you need me to do

Absolutely anything for you"

The part of the chorus doesn't feel like it's about Lila, rather, Maribug... but Lila sure wants it to be about her instead, as with lyrics sung by the female later on going:

"You'll do anything, anything

Anything I ask you to do

But you don't have a clue"

This part sums up Lila's manipulations around Adrien. Man, did I mention how creepy the female parts are like? The way she seems so blaise about the male's suffering? And seems to be in control of every horrible thing happening to him? Hmm...

"I will be aware of the ink, swim or sink

Watching out for anything out of the blue

But this nightmare's coming true"

This is the second half of the male's chorus. Adrien did everything he could to be careful but there's nothing he could do to stop the worst of it from happening anyway.

The rest of the song feels like a prediction, especially around the female's parts. My interpretation is just my speculation for your fic so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

"I'm falling apart, I'm falling" is a lyric shared by the male and female singers but there're different contexts for each. The male is falling apart as he begs the person calling on him to set him free. The female on the other hand, followed this part with the lyrics, "this body I must renew"... this part of the analysis gets a little more into my speculations.

Just as Adrien is falling apart using Cataclysm on himself to break free, what if Lila is also falling apart as well from overusing her powers? With the fox's illusions, she could cover it up easily (externally, she can glam herself up. Internally if she's in pain, she can give herself the illusion of being in perfect health). With a wish, that's one of the things she could fix while sacrificing say, Maribug.

(The next lyrics may be familiar to those who have a tiktok... so for the cringe this may cause, I am so sorry)

"I used to be so beautiful

Now look at me

My actions are undutiful

It's clear to see"

This is what'll happen to her rep if she gets exposed to the public once she's defeated... but what if this were more literal? Evidence of her abuse of the miraculous' powers leaving a toll on her body her illusions could no longer cover up? She's already hiding her appearance in general, she's probably not as pretty as she presents herself either way.

"Have you ever wondered what heaven is like?"

"I don't think I'll ever get to see it."

(Yeah bitch. You aint welcome there.)

"Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boy?

The heavens are waiting"

Kidding aside, I think heaven here is everything she believes she's entitled to: fame, riches, Adrien... She does not deserve anything, but she wants it all, and she'll use anyone to get them.

And finally the song ends with "this nightmare's coming true, look what you've got yourself into". Even if she's clearly the one pulling the strings, Lila would totally blame the victim for getting strung along by her. Be it Adrien, Gabriel, Felix... it's not her fault she played them like her flute.

oh my goodness, eris! i'm blown away by your insight and observation skills!

this song goes almost as hard as your analysis.

first of all, i'm so glad you enjoyed odnlb so far! it's definitely one of the largest stories i've written, and all the backstory only adds to that. secondly, i'm so struck by how adrien and lila this song is!

i love the contention in this song that incorporates hers and marinette's enmity. they're fighting over adrien, yes, but it's a battle for his life and livelihood. i think the female singer's parts do a great job of conveying lila's creepy possession, and the male's verses are acutally so horrifyingly sad. he's really trapped with this monster of a woman, and one who wants to possess him wholly--adrien's worst fear.

when i read your speculation, i immediately opened my notes app. let's just say, some of the things you said in your prediction were 👍🏼👀✨ it's clear you've been paying very close attention to the story and that made me grin an evil grin like monarque with all the miraculous.

lastly, "I think heaven here is everything she believes she's entitled to: fame, riches, Adrien… She does not deserve anything, but she wants it all, and she'll use anyone to get them" really made my jaw drop. this is so, so good! lila is certainly not a spiritual or religious person, and the heaven she envisions is exactly that perfect life you described. it's why she's doing what she's doing. she thinks she can obtain paradise by having all those things she wants, and that's why she squashes anything or anyone that comes into opposition of that. rip nathalie.

ty for the song rec it's perfect!

#odnlb #one does not love breathing #odnlb song rec #odnlb speculation #odnlb analysis #odnlb discussion #cg5

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