#i like the hc that their element is their gender which however in turn causes Great Confusion abt the use of male and female distinctions

[randomwriteronline]

Do the matoran even know what the difference between male and female is. Did the great beings ever instil the knowledge in them or is it just something that they like. Picked up from other species like the vortixx and skakdi. And makuta i guess. Do they assume female and male are an oversemplification of the elemental thing. So like you have female which is Water and then all the other elements just get funneled into male which instead of a specific element is just Not-Water.

How do they rationalize lightning matoran then. Like are they a subkind of ga-matoran? Because water is a good conductor for lightning? And what about Orde and the psionics. Great Beings go well we cant have you be male now bc youre too destructive, lets make the next ones all female, and Orde is just like what the fuck is a male. Or a female. Never heard of that in my life.

#bionicle #random talks #honestly its very fun to think abt these things and using them to make the matoran even more distanced from the audience #really let them be their own weird n fucked up lil species #i like the hc that their element is their gender which however in turn causes Great Confusion abt the use of male and female distinctions #so i imagine they Did jus pick that up from other species and used it in a really simplified way. but also the dont know what it means #like they mightve assumed that Vezok n Vamprah and Tarix n Berix were female bc they were blue. which. is baffling to everybody else #but makes Perfect Sense for them #edit didnt include nonbinary/genderqueer identities bc based on the elemental gender hc theyd literally go 'oh yeah' and not question that #theyve got at least 12 genders probably so they can understand the idea of a spectrum #its SPECIFICALLY the male/female distinction thats Weird for them to have bc theyve got Absolutely Nothing to base it on

[lunuanaki]

hc; velka + occult rebellion

So, this is what I’m running with. @ligetraesc had some input here (ask about his messed up face). It’s no less thought out than That One Wiki Thread, and far simpler if you ask me. It also explains Gwynevere’s absence and how Velka justified taking up against her own kind despite being a goddess of sin and absolution; therefore, balance.

Okay, so. First off, the general consensus seems to be “Velka is a powerhungry mf who randomly took up arms against her own kind and Havel was involved somehow and yeah it was totally her fault!111 That’s why Gwyn hates her!!11 Something something Seath…!”

Well… where does it say that, exactly? In game, all I can find is allusions to a “rebellion against the gods”, not against Gwyn specifically. Out of the game is another matter, there’s all kinds of crazy ideas strung together by people who don’t understand thatMiyazaki didn’t want us to know everything so that we would add our own depth.* I’m gonna add to the mad ideas pile right here. Things not covered include outside factors like Priscilla and Seath. Occult presence in the Painted World could be there for any number of reasons, but for the purposes of this post, it doesn’t matter - shit happens during wars. The time around where Gwyn left, Solaire was thrown out of Anor Londo and the curse began to permeate everything is so squashed up in my mind, and it makes sense that it would be. If Gwyn left, of course the shit would hit the fan all over the place. With Gwyn gone, Anor Londo is basically a free for all. If you’re of the school of thought that Solaire is the Firstborn, then regardless of whether or not he was still there, he was not a ruler anyone could have faith in, as demonstrated by his loss of a whole bunch of history, his own god status and his dad’s Van Halen mixtape. Gwyndolin is probably the best equipped to rule in his place, but never will for a host of reasons I’m sure I don’t need to go over. That leaves Gwynevere. Now, let’s talk about Flann. Who the hell is Flann? A flame-god, so potentially a relation of Gwyn - though not a close one. He’s all fire where Gwyn and his family are light, to paraphrase ligetraesc; all the destruction and none of the nurturing or moderation. A cousin, maybe? A nephew? Distant enough to marry Gwynevere, and close enough to have a claim to Gwyn’s throne, perhaps…?

Hmmm. Now we’re cooking. Let’s assume this is the case, and that Flann had his eyes on the prize from day one. What’s going to happen as soon as Gwyn leaves? He’s going to start gathering support for his claim over Solaire’s. Solaire, providing he’s still there at all at this point, would be known as rash and thoughtless. I really doubt all that loss of the annals business (literal or not) came as a shock to anyone, however tragic it was. It’s more likely that he was gone by then, though. I do not put any stock into the Sunlight Bladedescription, as Gwyn’s tomb is an empty placeholder that could have been built anytime; we all know Gwyn isn’t inside. It’s a mark of respect, is all, and its carving likely would have started long before Gwyn left, so that he would have the peace of mind in knowing that it was done and so that he could see the final product, his “official” resting place before he left - Solaire could have returned to leave the spell as a tribute to his father at any point.

Anyway. If Flann can paint himself as a good replacement for Gwyn, he will gain the support he needs from all over the human and lord regions. He could easily engage himself to Gwynevere, solidfy his position and move in for the throne. It’s worth noting that I believe Lordran to be pretty rigid in its gender roles on the whole, so Gwynevere would have had trouble being taken seriously as a lone Queen in a world full of Lords and Kings; so it’s somewhat to her benefit as well. At least this way she has Flann’s armies from his overseas homeland to back her up if someone wants to step to her. So, Flann is now in Anor Londo using Gwyn’s toothbrush. Enter Havel. Havel, aka Havel “The Rock” Johnson, is pissed. He was one of Gwyn’s closest friends and cannot stomach the thought of some puffed up little candle-flame trying to take his place over Gwyn’s own children. Incensed enough to turn to the occult for help in getting rid of this little shitlord, he approaches Velka. Velka has her own interests in this situation; namely that Gwyn’s family are her family to a certain extent, and whilst she understands that Gwynevere needs support, it cannot be denied that Flann has taken her crown from her. Now, I don’t see him requesting absolution, do you? Velka has been watching this with total disgust. Flann has discreetly committed treason by disrupting the line of succession and stolen her friends’ birthright**. She agrees to help Havel and his peasant uprising with the occult magic she wields, turning a human mess into an occult army. Flann may be a flame god, but he still has Gwyn’s remaining army around him, meaning he still wields lightning spells even if he can’t personally use them (which is all speculation). For example, we know the Dragonslayer and his electrified spear remained long after these events. I imagine he would have aligned himself with Gwynevere regardless of Flann’s presence, as he was one of Gwyn’s Four Knights, and his duty is whatever Gwyn would want. Meanwhile, the humans need to defend against him and his like; cue the Effigy Shield (which also contains a nice little snippet about the occult side going for Nito and failing). So, what happened?! Everyone lost, that’s what happened. The curse spread while this war went on; people were going hollow and being dragged away, adding another cause of death to the list for Havel and Velka’s army. Flann, though he’d have a reduced number as Gwyn’s loyalists abandoned him for the dark side, still had Lordsoul holders while all Velka and Havel had were numbers and anger. Havel was a skilled enough man to grab Gwyn’s attention, but Velka is not a general, and Havel cannot coordinate a war against gods on his own. When he hollows and is locked in the Tower, Velka is at a total loss. It’s no surprise that they lost. But, they made their mark on Flann before they did and sent him running back home with his new bride - still king in name, but with Anor Londo an empty shell, its people cursed and its halls empty, does it really matter anymore? Velka flees with most of her covenant behind her, never to be seen again (possibly until DS3). Gwyndolin is left babysitting a city he never wanted with the ghost of his sister and her insane guards, and maybe Velka won after all; because, while people talked of her ambition and her desire to rule as if it were a given, her final aim was to put Gwyndolin where his father was before and settle Flann’s debts (and soothe her itching soul) by erasing his crimes.

So, that’s about it, I guess! I might tweak this post if I think of more to add, but I want to keep it as simple as possible. I’ve got cotton wool brain today, so feel free to throw stuff at my inbox - there are definitely details I’ve thought of that didn’t make it into this post, but I can’t recall all of them.

Edit 1: From @sosayethlight;   #[I would add that I feel some humans were split between loyalty to Gwyn or Gwynevere or the Gods as an idea]#[and chose to fight ‘for’ her even while seeing Flann as an… Undesirable not!Gwyn]#[While others ignored her direct orders to stand down and accept matters]#[flocking to the Occult Rebellion and by proxy Velka and Havel]#[which might well explain where miracles UNIQUE TO GWYNEVERE come from in a certain archive…]#[war trophies from a knight-priest of the former Princess Guard..?] All of this, yes. I should have said as much about the humans being split myself, but I hadn’t thought of the spells in the archive. We areon fire if you’ll pardon the pun. OOHH, a double. :D

* I can’t find the interview now, but he used to read fantasy books in English - he didn’t actually read English well, and anything he didn’t understand, he used to just make up to fill in the story. This is what he said he was aiming for in Dark Souls. ** I believe the Gwyndolin vs Velka feud to have been cut from the game because it directly contradicts the idea of the Book of the Guilty being linked to both Velka’s covenant (via their indictments) and the Darkmoons; they can’t have collaborated like that if they were supposed to be enemies, so Team A made a decision to throw out one element or the other. They weren’t enemies in my mind - they were a team of sin stompers.

#headcanons ;; velka #can you believe i worked this much on her i can shes perfect