#i will not be speculating on this situation because i feel as if it is a huge overstep as a fan to assume i even know a little bit about her

[70-percent-water]

Everybody in a twenty mile radius likes to throw out "It defeats the point of his character" every time somebody speculates about AM with a humanoid form, but I think there's a way you can frame it that would actually make his character motivation way more layered.

AM can pull shit out of the fucking ether, he can create scenes full of life and people, but here's the thing. It's all a facade, none of its real, none of the NPCs he cooks up are able to think or feel for themselves (least from my knowledge). Their emotions and responses are predetermined lines of code AM has created based off of observational knowledge instead of personal experience.

So, say AM finally decides to stop bitching and give himself a more personable form, it should be easy right? He knows what emotions are, he feels hatred clearly...but, does he feel it in the same way a person would?

Imagine him coming into a body he's built, expecting that maybe, he'd be able to experience the life he feels was stolen from him by way of his existence a machine-

He has the parameters set in place, he has reactions to stimuli and objects around him, but he still doesn't feel satisfied because all of his responses are just...fake.

It's all an algorithm, and he realizes that despite the power he has, he still can't truly give himself the one thing he wants, and he gets even worse.

So, maybe he abandons the body completely, retreating back into his original state. Or maybe he sticks with the android like form, but he doesn't take care of it, using the thing for the soul purpose of fucking with people on a more face to face level.

Desperately hoping in the back of his mind that one day, he'd be able to understand what it's like to feel, only for that notion to die out as the form spirals into disrepair making him a terrifying mess of broken parts.

Now this isn't me ignoring his refusal to even try and make his situation better in the original cannon, I understand thats a big part of his character, but this 'what if', has been haunting me-

#food for thought #ihnmaims am #allied mastercomputer #ihnmaims #i have no mouth and i must scream

[jeons-catalyst]

I know my question is going to be pure speculation but… talking about young/debut jikook, who do you think between the two of them actually made the first decisive move? Not necessarily a kiss, i mean some sort of turning point, the definitive shift from “bros” to “not bros”. Also, do you think the passage from friendship to love (fresh love) is noticeable in some contents/months or were they good at blending it in, because they’ve always been kinda flirting? Sorry if this is a mess but yes i’d LLLLOVE to know your thoughts on fetus jikook if you haven’t shared already. Thank you a lot.

Hey anon,

Honestly i have never thought one of them intentionally made a first move. I think it just happened. I have always felt like Jimin and Jungkook always liked each other but just expressed it in very different ways so how i picture it might have happened was during one of the numerous nights together. I mean there must be a reason why those two particularly liked spending nights together the most right? I couldn’t just be because they had the same sleep schedule or just enjoyed goofing around together in the wee hours of the night.

I think on one of those nights they spent together, they might have been talking or watching a movie or even sleeping and cuddling and things just happened. They were both young and shy so i don’t think either of them would have actually had the courage to actually say anything to the other even if they both suspected that they felt something more for each other. Maybe they way sleeping together one day and cuddling and their hands started wandering and they ended up kissing or something. That is how i always thought it must have happened.

There was a very visible shift in their dynamic around the end of 2015. They just became softer with each other and that boyish roughhousing that we saw in the previous years disappeared almost completely. Jungkook in particular became more sensitive to Jimin and his feelings, they started gravitating towards each other way more than before and i noticed that there was this certain “shyness” that i felt between them when they would touch each other. There’s not many things that i am sure of in life but i am positive that those two crossed some limits with each other around that time. I don’t necessarily think it was anything serious at that point though. I mean i think they liked each other more than friends should and were definitely attracted to each other but i don’t think the feelings were that deep yet. I think at this stage it was more or less just lust and attraction but as time went on, their feelings for each other started to deepen and maybe they started finding themselves falling in love with each other. Like it wasn’t just about the physical anymore but much more than that. They started to fall in love with more than each others bodies or cared more about each other’s wellness than the pleasure they could give each other. I feel like watching them over the years really paints a picture where one can see them grow out of different stages of their relationship (whatever it is). I think around 2017-2019, they were in the peak reckless years of their “relationship”. They were less cautious and pretty much just let their hearts do thinking for them. They looked so in love with each other during these years and they didn’t really care to hide it.

Many people say GCF in Tokyo would have never been published if it was actually about Jungkook’s love for Jimin but try being in Love with someone you cannot openly tell the world about. Try doing that and maybe you will understand why Jungkook did what he did. When people are in a situation where they cannot openly love each other, they find other ways to scream about it. Jungkook used his GCFs. Think whatever you want about GCFs and why Jungkook did them but i don’t think it was a coincidence that he decided to highlight Jimin in every GCF as much as he did. He wasn’t looking to expose them or to give us hints about them, but i think that was more for him and Jimin. When Jimin goes on Weverse and writes “I miss you” and Jk responds with “me too”, that isn’t them trying to give their supporters hints. That is them doing it for them. They cannot openly tell the world they love each other so they find other ways to do it which only they understand. It is fun for them.

I had mentioned before that the biggest convincing factor in favor of Jikook for me is how fetus Jikook behaved with each other. They were so painfully obvious that i don’t get how anyone could watch them and not see how those two felt about each other. Jimin was a mess (i say this lovingly) Jungkook was a mess too in his own way because he couldn’t even admit to himself that he probably liked Jimin more than was normal but his body betrayed him every single time. The need he felt to always hover around someone whom he constantly shoved into walls and whose proposals be rejected, betrayed. Their need to always isolate themselves from the rest of the members to sleep outside alone betrayed them. They liked each other and always felt the need to be around each other but they didn’t always know it.

#jimin #jikook #jungkook #my asks #jikook blog #fetus jikook

[ikamigami]

My thoughts on Eclipse

I understand that not everyone has to agree with me on this for various reasons. Also I'm not trying to condone Eclipse's abuse or bad actions. None of the things Eclipse went through justify the awful things he did - which I think that new version of Eclipse is aware of.

I think that OG Eclipse wanted to be better than Old Moon - better as a brother hence why the first thing he wanted to do upon meeting Lunar for the first time was to hug him.

Lunar ignored Eclipse then because he had games - this action hurt Eclipse so much because it reminded him of how it felt when he realized that he was abandoned by Old Moon.

I think that Eclipse was questioning why he slapped Lunar because he wanted to be better than Old Moon yet he did the exact same thing. But because he thinks that regret is a sign of weakness he decided to push these feelings away.

Also when Eclipse apologized - I think that Eclipse has a problem with sounding genuine when he apologizes because he doesn't want to seem weak so it results in the apology coming across as disingenuous.

I think that Eclipse didn't want to end up like Sun hence why he try so hard (too hard) to not be seen as weak.

Would OG Eclipse apologize to Lunar? I don't think so. Though I think that abusers can feel genuine remorse - Old Moon is good example of this yet he never apologized to Sun for all the shit he had done to him - and OG Eclipse is a parallel to Old Moon.

Also Old Moon also rarely apologized to Sun for his behaviour and even if he did it was coming across as disingenuous because he still continued to be abusive towards Sun.

We can argue if showrunners did a good job in showing that Eclipse cared but I digress because we see that now Eclipse is changing.

I think that Eclipse still was abusive towards Lunar more than that one slap. Lunar probably doesn't remember much things from that time in details due to trauma and death causing his memory issues.

I agree though that Lunar was too self-centered and that even if he saw exactly why Eclipse was the way he was he didn't do anything about it. Though it's dabatable if Lunar could've done more - it's not always that easy to say "yes" or "no" in these types of situation because it's not as "black and white" as people think.

Abuse in family is more often than not a very complicated matter.

I used to think that Eclipse is only manipulative and nothing more but I changed my mind upon seeing more of his perspective.

I sympathize with him but like I said I don't condone his actions and abuse. Though I don't want to force anyone to feel sympathy towards Eclipse. It's an individual thing.

Though like I said people are way dismissive to Old Moon's abuse towards Sun than to Eclipse's abuse towards Lunar.

Also Lunar doesn't have to forgive Eclipse and honestly I doubt that he will.

And slightly unrelated I like that new Eclipse is more understanding towards Sun hence why he tries to not be so mean to him and why he avoids him or at least that's what I think.

Slight rant under the cut

The only issue I have is that people were saying that they see that Eclipse cared and that he also suffers which turned out to be true later. Though majority of fans didn't see it like that at the time when it were just speculations.

But when I tried to explain that I see hints to Sun having depressive psychosis and being suicidal majority of fans didn't agree which is okay. But what's not okay is that some folks were bullying me for this and spreading lies about me.

And they say that show disproved my speculations about Sun with "Sun has a child" episode but the truth is that they not only didn't disprove anything which I already pointed out in my recent post about that episode but they also harmed not only me but also many other fans with mental issues as well by portraying Miku like that in that episode.

Also I don't like that people can freely relate to Eclipse and other characters but I apparently can't relate to Sun because I'll receive backlash for it.

I also don't like how Moon no matter old or new is always in the spotlight when Sun just gets mostly funny lore episodes.

Also I don't believe in Sun healing off-screen. And while I think that Sun is doing better compared to last year, I think that he's still not fine - he just either denies it or just tries not to worry others.

#sun and moon show #sams #sams eclipse #laes lunar #tw abuse #sams sun #sams moon #tw trauma #tw mention of suicide #tw rant #i needed to get it out of my system

[galatoma]

I hope that shubble is having a wonderful and happy time with people who care about her and that she's just chilling and vibing rn

#i will not be speculating on this situation because i feel as if it is a huge overstep as a fan to assume i even know a little bit about her #personal life like that

[sonknuxadow]

you know i do wonder how many sonic characters actually have living parents. like knuckles is the last of his kind so obviously his parents arent around anymore. both guys who could be considered shadows dads are 100 percent confirmed dead. sonic is canonically an orphan im pretty sure. and on the other side of the coin cream is like the only character in the game cast who has a living parent we actually see onscreen. but what about everyone else i dont think theres a straight answer for any other character. other than rouge's mom being mentioned a couple times i Guess but we dont even know anything about her or if shes still alive just that she existed at some point. are these kids constantly putting themselves in danger because they dont have parents around to stop them or because their parents just dont care

#like what about tails. im guessing he didnt have any sort of family he was attached to if he left to be with sonic so quickly #but that doesnt really mean he didnt have parents at all. maybe he had parents and they just sucked i dont know #what about amy. what if she had parents this whole time we just never see them. #what about blaze. considering shes a princess id assume she was born into that role #but i dont know if her parents are ever actually mentioned #maybe theyre dead and there was no one else to take on their role and thats why blaze has so much responsibility at such a young age? #silver . he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone i cant really imagine him hvaing parents sorry #considering charmy is 6 and living with vector. an adult whos obviously not his biological dad. #i feel like something probably happened to charmys parents #espio i dont really question as much #becuase it feels very common in the sonic universe for teenagers to have more freedom than would be expected in real life #or maybe its not that common and the teenagers we're actually following are just living the most fucked up lives ever. i dotn know #but either way. espio where are your parents buddy. are they still alive. vector where are YOUR parents are they still alive #i dont know if i actually want canon explanations for all this though #because its kinda fun not knowing every detail about every characters life and being able to speculate and insert your headcanons n stuff #to be clear im talking about game canon #i know stuff like archie sonic and the sonic movies and the 90s cartoons will sometimes give characters new family members #or talk about their family situation even if the games dont say anything about that sort of thing

[dw-flagler]

funny how much victoria places squarely on the shoulders of tattletale. she COULD HAVE STOPPED THE ENDBRINGERS AT ANY TIME but she DIDN’T just so that leviathan could KILL MY FAMILY. honey you sound insane.

#now this is just speculation #but maybe victoria is playing up tattletale's role in everything from the complete collapse of brockton bay to the destruction of new wave #because she's trying to subconsciously play up her own role? #especially in amy's self destruction #like for that one i'd put about 75% on the adult members of new wave #another 20% on the PRT and various authorities (counting the wards in that though they get like 3% of the prt's share) #leaving about 5% to be split between victoria and probably all the undersiders #the only thing i'd say was squarely victoria's fault was chasing amy at the end there #like all that other stuff she was just being a good sister #tattletale's only real things here were the bank and not trying harder during the slaughterhouse 9 crisis #the not trying harder probably goes to all the undersiders though. they had their hands full though #it's literally not their jobs. they're fucking bank robbers #anyway this 100% that i've handed out here is actually the like 50% that *doesn't* go to the slaughterhouse 9 #what i'm trying to get at is that victoria and tattletale really had very little to do with amy's mental break #honestly most of the fault probably lies with carol (even more than jack probably) #ANYWAY #she's upselling tattletale's control over the situation because if tattletale could have stopped it then victoria could have stopped it #again speculation #what i'm trying to get at with this massive tumor of text is that obviously victoria has a massive grudge against tattletale for some reaso #maybe she feels kind of guilty over what happened and how she didn't like. stop it. and she's pushing that off as “tattletale did it?” #i dunno it's thin

[lover-of-mine]

are in you mind ?! lmao because I did though for a moment imagine is Eddie , like Eddie goes missing finding a kid because we know that's his kryptonite , buck goes ballistic finds him alone gets the kid to safety but when he is trying to get Eddie something happens the boat shift and boom buck drowns Eddie jumps in saves him and that jam we want of the desperate cpr , and also we have another fuel for tension because initially Eddie doesn’t realize the reason he didn’t get trapped underwater was because of buck maybe he had a concussion or simple in the chaos didn’t notice but he founds out that buck basically sacrifice himself and oh boy the conflict we could have there would be delicious

Babe, we're completely in sync here kspakapakakaoak I was actually thinking something along those lines but with Buck ending up trapped being about the damage to his lungs over the lightning? Like, he loses his footing because it's hard to breathe and he ends up getting dragged down and then Eddie goes ballistic until he realizes he's the reason it happened and he wasn't paying enough attention to prevent it. The conflict that could go on there?? The things that could be brought up?? The fight they could have over it?? Ugh, it could be DELICIOUS!!!?

#yes yes yes #this is why i like the idea of it happening over a random person #i feel like this being a 3way rescue would be too much #like if theres too many people we care about about to die to die in the same situation it would be overwhelming not in a good way #but this? #Buck almost dying because was being reckless???? #the CONFLICT #it was be the best thing that ever happened to me #kspakapakpsksoa #alexa 💜 #i really need a tag for asks #drown buck 2024 #911 spoilers #911 #911 speculation

[gynecologistmsfrizzle]

‘if she’s straight then she’s just a terrible ally trying to sell a product!’ yall the g*ylors are so close to getting it.

#I genuinely feel bad for them #not for the ‘speculating on other peoples sexuality’ part #but because a lot of them are reckoning with the fact that a woman who means a huge amount to them is actually just . a celebrity. #they DID largely get themselves into this situation but it’s not a situation that seems pleasant. so I have pity. #rhi talks

[orcelito]

I've been following that AITA blog for a bit now and it has me thinking about my own life situations with conflict and drama. A passive "do I have anything I could submit to that blog?" But upon thinking about it, it's like... I really find no value in asking strangers whether I'm "the asshole" in situations. There are situations where I'm clearly not at fault, situations where I was a little shit but it was justified, and at least one situation where I have a definite "Oh yeah, I was definitely the asshole there". All in the past, so it's not like I'd even need advice or anything. I already know, so what's the point?

Maybe it stems from me being a generally self-aware and self-confident kind of person. I know what's going on with myself, know when I've wronged people, & I have a mentality of "well, I'll try to not do that in the future." Even if I feel a little guilty thinking back, what's the point of asking after something when I know I'm at fault? Or situations where things were complicated and both people had fault in things, but I know I wasn't being shitty on purpose & that's what matters to me. Ultimately, it results in a bunch of strangers drawing conclusions about things I really don't care about outside input on.

Still love reading the blog tho. There's something about reading up on random people's life drama that satisfies that gossipmonger soul in me So well.

#speculation nation #i think the most blatantly YTA thing id get is when i ghosted that guy i was seeing back when i was 20 or so #wasnt ever actually dating but i made it sound like i would. very much led him on. #then realized i just wasnt into cishet guys At All and dropped him out of nowhere bc i was 20 and didnt know how to deal with feelings #objectively it was a pretty awful thing for me to do. and i feel bad that i did it. #have i ever tried to reach out and apologize tho? no lmao #it happened so long ago now i feel like itd bring more animosity than relief anyways. #id like to think ive learned from it tho. Dont Date People Just For The Hell Of It. #god it rly is my romantic history where im the biggest asshole. my prior girlfriend too #i do feel bad about that. i never meant to hurt her but that sure is what i did. #it was better to break it off when i did. wouldve been better had i did it earlier but oh well. #then as a teenager and my whole fucked up romance life then... #but NO LONGER!!!!!!!! hopefully lol. im rly into my current girlfriend and after my last one ive been dedicated to. not do that again. #cant date people just because im bored. that's never ended well for me. #i learned my lesson this time for SURE!!!!! #anyways yea id say more constently id be The Asshole in these situations. but im only human man it happens. #other situations it's usually just fucked up situations with me being a toxic little shit in response bc it's all i knew. #idk. community voting doesnt matter to me. learning from my prior mistakes and shortcomings is what matters to me. #it's interesting to see the blog tho. people are insecure about some of the most trivial things sometimes...

[professionalowl]

not reblogging the post because i know it's a flawed test (and infuriatingly poorly worded to wit) but the RAADS-R autism test is going around again and i got an 87, which is i think what i got the last time i took it and also tracks - i'm personally pretty certain that i'm not autistic, but (autistic) friends of mine have historically been split on the issue because apparently i 'act' like an autistic person and they're often surprised when i say i'm actually not

#my *closest* friends tend to think i'm not but - to quote one guy - '[i'm] very smart and smart ppl tend to have traits that overlap' #which is an interesting assessment (he's autistic tb clear) and i think i know where it's coming from #i'm very direct with comments; i often have trouble with empathy; i'm clever (or y'know 'clever' for a given value of the word); #i don't feel emotions particularly strongly - or immediately - and this comes across in my speech #which i've been told can come off as detached/disaffected/uncaring even when it's not trying to be; #i'm apparently quite difficult to read sometimes? or come off as intimidating per neutral expression; #uh. one time an english teacher told me that i'd taught her to 'think more logically' whatever the fuck that means; #these are i think stereotypical autistic 'smart guy' traits which do not actually map on to the majority of autistic people afaik #at least not as a package or all expressed the same way - but in this case i think it's a category error #interesting food for thought nonetheless. i spend some time thinking about it because people do ask me occasionally #and the general autistic mileu of tumblr.com has actually helped me be nicer to myself about those traits #(as well as check myself abt other people; i'm not going to pretend to be some kind of saintly autistic whisperer or w/e) #considered going back and taking the test with the 'most generous' and then the 'least generous' answers and comparing them #but i can't be bothered. add a button for 'in specific situations' or die by my hand #i WILL say that some of said autistic friends who were surprised to find out i wasn't #expressly thought i WAS because they drew a correlation between their behaviour and my own #so it's not just 'people are misreading me because of stereotypes about how autistic people act' although i do think that can be an element #let me know if this post is weird or w/e it is literally just speculating on myself and how people perceive me #as a consequence of tending to occupy circles otherwise occupied largely by neurodivergent people #('fandom' and 'archaeology and anthropology')

[seenthisepisode]

.

#before i go i just like to say something about that poor kid from heartstopper being forced to come out to the twitter crowd #first of all this just proves a point how toxic the bird app is and i hope it doesn't die because if those people come here..... #also something something this aligns so well with these terminally online teeangers who have everything about them in their bios #and find you suspicious if you don't. constant surveillance over one another because if you don't have everything public then that means #you have something to hide. like this is a pattern and given the audience of that show are mostly teens and early 20s.... this just fits #and the fact that some of these idiots celebrated after they bullied him to come out because yay bi guy plays a bi charcater #this is insane and also disgusting please get help #there is this post going around with the tweet screen how real people can't queerbait #and i see people being like hahahha misha did queerbait tho and it was extremely funny when he had to come out as straight #and. being in this fandom for years. and the fact that he said it in a private m&g. and the fact stands called him a queer man #and the fact he backtracked only after TWO DAYS. like this thing is still very.... well it makes me uncomfortable because i still think #he might have had to backtrack for some reason. idk it just makes me feel weird because laughing at this situation feels wrong #but idk idk and like i don't have to know and i dont want to speculate. i just think both of these situations must have been horrible #but one of them is turned into a joke...... #also i know nothing about harry styles but accusing taylor swift of queerbaiting. WHERE #don't project your sexuality (or your anything) onto celebrities like they are fictional characters........ #anyway....... i had to get it out lol.

[gayofthefae]

Was just reminded that we do not, in fact, know for sure at all what Mike was going to say to El as they held hands. And now I am going feral once again.

#i don't think he was going to like break up with her #but i do think that he might have wanted to...talk to her #like in a way that starts with 'i love you so much' and ends with 'which is why i want to keep you in my life in another way' #like if it were something like that i do not think it would have been about will at all i think it is about HIM and his love for HER and his #relationship with himself and his personal relationships TO his feelings for will #but in a certain way it's that kind of thing where like genuinely 'my feelings for you are none of your business' you know? #because sometimes it's like that kinda and in that situation it was and would have been and will be #elmike speculations #stranger things #elmike meta

[honeylover]

ok I'm in tsn rpf mode one more time look away. accidentally watched a video of Jesse Eisenberg being ??rude and it reminded me of the making of tsn doc because it was that weird charismatic rude that he used on Andrew. remember when Andrew said that Jesse amplified and woke up certain parts of him. Yeah I believe that was partially related to a kind of anxious desire for closeness or approval bc that's the easiest way to be woken up and Jesse definitely has that kind of humor where he puts you down but wants to have dinner with you every night. He doesn't want you to say sweet things in interviews but he's lonely in L.A. without you

#this is all speculation this is not real i dont know them. now to continue: #im not trying to say that jesse is a bad person i think he has an unconventional communication style #and andrew seems to enjoy strong emotions anyway #plus it seems like a level playing field. idk it just seems symbiotic to me because theyre both weird in complementary actor-y ways #tsn #gravel #i hope some of this makes sense. i don't think the situation is bad but i think jesse might've triggered Andrews attachment system a little #would definitely explain Andrew feeling so drawn to him #ok I'm done it's over!!! thank you for indulging me

[holyshit]

.

#2015 anon #personally the timing is not really something i like to speculate too much about because i think it's impossible to really know #there's so little information we know that it's not something i feel i can really make guesses about #and in general it's such a personal decision with a lot of varying factors that goes into it #that can change with time and with their situation #so it isn't even necessarily something i WANT to speculate about since it's so personal #so- no clue really because i haven't thought about it sdkjfdsk sorry i can't offer a bigger conversation #asks #anonymous

[teamseaslug]

Distinct type of woman is one who goes to a goth club and is shocked when she has to interact with something

#this is so specific but if youve never been in this situation you probably dont know what im talking about but if you have you get it #its like..... theyre nice girls. its not like theyre being rude or anything. but the ones who are just like. trying to see what it is ig? #and they hang around in the corner all owl eyed #and are shocked when someone friendly wants to talk to them because its a local spot and everyone knows everyone #not even in a hitting on you way just in a Hey Whats Up! :) You Enjoying The Music Tonight? sorta way #and are like. theyre not upset but they're always like startled and shocked #i think (but i dont know) its that theyre shy and introverted and want to people watch in a... not aggressive I Want A Goth Mommy way #but obviously want to see alt people. maybe shy and closeted gay or something #maybe just trying to see if they like something #but they arrive and are alone and stick out like sore thumbs and look confused and scared so ofc someone says something #or asks if they wanna dance or chat because everyone who goes to these sorta establishments is a little introverted but usually nice #and its like they are aware theyre percieved suddenly and they maybe think we think theyre a creep? but again im just speculating #on what this is. i see like one of em every 2 weeks at the club #if im tipsy ill ask them to dance and 9/10 if i ask they will but thats cause i cant dance LOL so they feel confident #then theyll give me their number and I'll never see them again. #anyway. shy bitches sound off what do you think this is #sydney talking

[harrowing-of-hell]

i've been meaning to talk about the scene where cytherea's body shows up underneath harrow's bed, and the whole "is she actually there or not?" question, because many people seem convinced that ianthe was gaslighting harrow and i genuinely don't think she has any reason to do so. the scene itself is deliberately ambiguous for several reasons. the most obvious is that harrow hallucinates. she knows this. the audience knows this. this is precisely why she seeks out ianthe in the middle of the night, because harrow doesn't trust her own senses.

harrow also used bone to shackle cytherea's body to the floor— and yet her body somehow disappears from underneath the bed without breaking these shackles. initially, this would indicate cytherea's body is another hallucination.

however, we also know that there's something weird going on: for some unexplained reason, cytherea's body apparently doesn't trigger blood wards.

after cytherea's body goes missing, it also can't be detected by john or found anywhere on the mithraeum.

one possibility is that cytherea's body is negating magic somehow. her body is being necromantically preserved by john and thus her body is imbued with john's magic. that may be why wake can move around in it completely undetected by john himself, and also may be why she is able to bypass blood wards and other types of necromancy.

but again, no concrete answers are given, and any ideas or claims are just pure speculation. all we know is that cytherea's body has been able to do weird things and avoid detection, so it's not exactly unreasonable that, if she was underneath the bed, she may have been able to escape the the shackles somehow.

additionally, though i'm not at all inclined to believe this, we also can't rule out the possibility that both of these appearances of wake-in-cytherea's-body were hallucinations and the only time harrow really saw her was in the incinerator room when she was trying to kill g1deon.

at the end of HtN, gideon claims that cytherea's body was obviously there, but she isn't reliable because she only has access to harrow's memories. she would recall that situation as harrow did, meaning she would remember any hallucinations harrow was experiencing. unlike harrow herself, gideon doesn't doubt harrow's experiences, but harrow feels the need to confirm whether she's hallucinating when it's not already obvious to her that this is the case.

and then there's ianthe, who's behavior during this scene is weird:

ianthe says very little during this entire scene before leaving harrow's bedroom, and i think this is deliberate, only meant to make it more ambiguous as to whether the body under the bed is actually there or not.

but it's actually because of ianthe's behavior here that i believe that harrowhark seeing cytherea's body underneath the bed was an hallucination.

there are other times where ianthe comments on harrow's psychosis:

in both of these situations, she's not nice about it! in fact, ianthe takes the opportunity to insult harrow or question whether harrow's actually seeing the things that she's seeing.

importantly, her behavior in these two instances is very different from what she does when harrow tells her to look at cytherea's body underneath the bed and touch it. ianthe doesn't insult harrow at all or call her "crazycakes" or "mad", just asks if harrow's been sleeping, says good night, and walks away.

i think that this is because ianthe gets really uncomfortable whenever she's confronted with harrowhark being in undeniably vulnerable positions.

when she sees harrow bloody and naked after being attacked by g1deon, she brushes it off by essentially going "yikes", but the fact that she makes no attempt to help harrow recover from the attack and hastily walks away from the sight of harrow's maimed body is very telling.

her walking away is so unexpected that i've seen several people say that they're not sure why ianthe didn't take that as an opportunity to manipulate harrow (even harrow expected it to happen, and welcomed it). and yeah, from what we see of her character in HtN up until this scene, it does seem ooc for her to just walk away with nothing but a quippy comment.

but to understand her behavior i think it's important to note that ianthe does see harrow as an equal! at any given opportunity she brings up the similarities between herself and harrowhark. ianthe also does this because she's down bad, but regardless, she would never equivocate herself to someone who she thinks is lesser than her.

i also don't think she would do this if she didn't care about harrow— and she does care about harrow! she was genuinely happy to see harrow was alive before realizing that it wasn't harrow but gideon-in-harrow's-body. at the beginning of HtN she kneels before harrowhark in "unmistakable supplication" and looks at her with "half-beseeching, half-contemptuous despair" as she offers to help defend harrow's body once they go into the river to fight the RB.

ianthe has no reason to gaslight harrowhark for fun the night before the RB is supposed to attack. she incessantly taunts harrowhark with her impending death all throughout HtN, but she doesn't actually want harrowhark to die. gaslighting and destabilizing harrow further when harrow is already likely to die directly goes against this desire.

imo ianthe does enjoy having someone rely on her and is willing to be manipulative to achieve that, but i think she relied on harrow just as much as harrow relied on her. in HtN, harrow is very much filling the coronabeth shaped hole in ianthe's life and i don't think ianthe would risk losing that.

that's all to say, i think it's precisely because ianthe sees harrow as an equal and cares about her in her own fucked up way that, when faced with harrow's vulnerability, her immediate reaction is to brush it off and help harrow save face by walking away from the situation.

ianthe views vulnerability as a weakness and thus thinks she is doing harrow a favor by walking away from harrow in her times of weakness and making no further comment about it. it's like how many people react when they see a stranger crying it public; they would feel similarly embarrassed to be seen crying in a public space, so their way of helping that person is to ignore the fact that they're crying and prevent them from experiencing further embarrassement. she would want harrow to ignore her moments of weakness, and so in turn, she ignores harrow's moments of weakness.

in a way this is kinda how they show solidarity to each other in HtN; despite how they threaten each other with death, harrow defends ianthe when she's struggling to use her rapier arm, keeps ianthe's secrets, never explicitly mentions that ianthe cries at night to anyone (actually i think there are several scenes where harrow suspects ianthe has been crying, and she doesn't mention it aloud). in turn, ianthe thinks it best to not acknowledge or make it known that harrow experiences hallucinations. they know they're both in shit positions and aren't trying to deliberately make it worse for each other.

this is ultimately why i think ianthe wasn't lying when she said she didn't see cytherea's body; she not only has zero reason to do so outside of "for fun", but destabilizing harrowhark further would go against the fact that she wants harrow to survive the RB fight. ianthe's behavior when harrow asks her to look underneath the bed is also directly in line with the other occasion in which she has to interact with harrowhark in an extremely vulnerable moment: she seems incredibly dismissive of the situation, and then walks away.

#tlt meta #ianthe tridentarius #harrowhark nonagesimus #the locked tomb