#it's very FromSoft come to think of it

[thevulpinehero1]

GWatch -- Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Ep 1

Since Armoured Core came out and everyone's in a mecha mood, I figured I would talk about an entirely different mecha series instead. The plan is to watch one episode a day, talk about it, and include one (or more) screenshots to facilitate enhanced rambling. I want to start with the original series since I've watched it before, see if I can get through it all, and then maybe move onto some other Gundams if I have the spirit.

Beware! Spoilers for a 40 year old anime inbound, as well as possible misreporting since I probably am not going to fact check too well. Gundam nerds may feel free to correct me and dispense wisdom where appropriate. Also, I'm just going to go with whatever name spelling is on the subtitles I have at the time. Sorry, not sorry.

The first thing I have to talk about is the theme song, which honestly gives me emotions. Nowadays, we all have this image of Gundam as basically the show that invented the real robot subgenre, but you would absolutely never get that impression from the theme song or OP. Honestly, go find it and listen to it -- it's actually amazing how widely it misses the tone of the series, with lyrics like "Bring to bear the rage of justice!" and "If you are still burning with furious rage, you must fight the towering foe!" It sounds much, much more like a Super Robot theme song for like Daitarn 3 or Raideen or something, than something you would see associated with a classic "war is hell" series like Gundam.

And this was probably completely intentional. I remember hearing that even as far back as its initial run, the series had to fight the sponsors/toymakers in order to carve out its own identity, and part of that was projecting a surface level impression of a more palatable Super Robot style show. (Some things never change, I guess...)

To me, it adds a lot to the charm, because the singer is obviously going in and doing their best, singing an ode to a giant metal hero of justice who doesn't really exist outside of the fertile imagination of an advertising/toy exec who has been thoroughly mislead. I love that. I just want to go and tell them, hey, I appreciate you, you are singing your heart out on this theme song for an entirely different and imaginary series than the one they've actually made, and you're killing it. You are fighting the good fight, and you may be one of the reasons the series even got off the ground in the first place because you were part of this obfuscation.

This is Amuro Ray. His shadow looms large over every Gundam protagonist that will follow him; many of them either use him as a blueprint for their personality, or are meant as a study in contrast to it. He kills a lot of people. He eats a lot of sandwiches. There are long and intricate scenes of Amuro eating sandwiches, and they are among my favourite scenes in the whole series, and, in fact, any Gundam show I've ever watched. I'm not kidding.

I picked this screenshot not just because it shows a stone-cold, unrepentant sandwich-murderer in his natural habitat, but because it also showcases another thing I love about the show: the goofy animation. This was not a show with a huge budget. There is something weird or goofy happening in every episode, almost every scene, and the first episode -- traditionally one of the best funded in most series -- is no exception. Amuro eats like a turtle. Hayato's hand is an amorphous, misshapen blob. I think it honestly adds to the charm; the series is scuffed, and probably knows it's scuffed, but it's doing its best to tell a story in spite of that.

For now, Amuro is not the pilot of legend. He sits around the house doing science in his underwear, his neighbours don't like him enough to tell him about an actual military evacuation that he's supposed to be undertaking, and without the aid of his childhood friend Fraw Bow (who he mostly summarily ignores), he wouldn't bother to evacuate at all and would likely die at home. He's a scrunkly kind of dude. Maybe even a scrunklemeister. Your boy probably smells like a scratch and sniff card if you rubbed off all the panels and tried snorting them all at once.

The show is surprisingly quick at characterising him, too. Within a minute or two, we know all the above, plus that he seems to have a certain amount of tension with his father, who his neighbours blame for bringing the military to their peaceful colony. His father, Tem Ray, loves him at least enough to put a picture of him on his desk, and makes vaguely prophetic statements about how kids as young as Amuro are already joining the war as guerrilla fighters. Foreshadowing hit different in the eighties.

One scene I didn't actually remember, but really should have in retrospect, is the part where Amuro confronts his father ("Do you care more about Mobile Suits than humans?" is the absolute first thing Amuro says to him), and the death of Fraw Bow's mother and grandfather, both of which expose a more sensitive core to the scrunklebeast within. It's very convenient/poetic (delete as appropriate) that Fraw Bow was herself very nearly caught in the explosion that killed the crowd her family was in, and only survived because she separated from them in order to check on Amuro.

I was also kinda surprised to relearn that Amuro doesn't really 'fall in' to the cockpit; he very deliberately gets in, having happened to read the manual earlier, in an effort to either protect the remaining civilians or take revenge for the ones who've just fallen (the context doesn't really make it clear which one, but he rushes to the cockpit soon after Fraw Bow sees her family die and is making her escape).

One thing that's really interesting in the metacontext of the series is that although Amuro ends up being one of the best pilots (he's a legend in mecha anime for a reason), he kinda starts out as one of the worst. Many Gundam protags are either experienced, have some level of training, or have other reasons why they're hot shit right out of the box; Amuro really does not know what he's doing, and is carried entirely by the fact that the Gundam itself is dizzyingly durable for the time period. It also comes with a learning computer (which I bet sounded very advanced in the time the anime was made, but kinda brings certain chatbots to mind in the present day) to ease the piloting burden while he learns how to use the dang thing. Not only that, but he goes up against a lot of mobbers who aren't that much better than he is and can't do much against his much better machine.

(A really interesting experiment is to contrast Kira from SeeD, which follows a lot of the original Gundam's major story beats quite closely for the first part of the series and is almost a spiritual remake in some parts. Kira almost has the opposite end of the equation going on -- a very good pilot from day one, he has the misfortune of having five other named dudes who are close to his level and have machines that are arguably better than his in a vacuum, and he fights them pretty regularly.)

Anyway, through more luck than skill, Amuro manages to get through his first Mobile Suit battle in Side 7, but Bright is already looking to utilise him as labour, and Char is advancing on the colony. That's the first episode, more tomorrow. (I don't intend these to be exhaustive or talk about every little, but I wanted to go a bit more in depth for the first ep, and I don't want to restrict myself from veering off on tangents because those are fun.)

#mobile suit gundam #gundam '79 #anime blogging #idk #felt like a fun thing to do #there's a whole other conversation about Gundam's meta eternal recurrence #and whether it's a play on war never changing #or just laziness for reusing the same plot all the time #probably a bit of both #it's very FromSoft come to think of it #there's your armoured core 6 segue right there #screenshots #Gwatch

[butchladymaria]

Immortality, Motherhood, and Pain: A Closer Look at Annalise and the Doll

Finally revisiting this from ages ago, because the parallels between these two are just SO fascinating. Content warnings for discussions of misogyny, genocide, abuse, and pregnancy/childbirth.

This analysis will cover the parallels between Miss Doll and Queen Annalise through the lenses of the misery of immortality, the trauma of marginalization, and the liberation they find in motherhood. Both the Doll and Annalise are undying, both coded as mother figures, both marked by death, and both very, very alone.

Miss doll and Annalise are the only characters in the whole game who are undying. You can kill them, but not meaningfully - not in any way that matters - and they seem to know it. Neither will try to stop you, nor will they fight back, should you choose to attack them. They will come back, and your violent betrayal will have seemingly meant nothing to them. They both are very aware they will outlast whatever violence you may inflict upon them. It's evidenced in their dialogue:

If you attack, Annalise says:

“Enough. If only Our life was so easily forfeit… Grieve not, for Us.” “How sad this is. If only Our life was so easily forfeit…”

If you attack Miss Doll, she used to say:

“I must have displeased you. Go on, shut me down… Even so, this vessel will remain in your service… So have no fear."

I think this point of comparison highlights just how deeply they've both been desensitized to violence and abuse. They do not beg for mercy, they do not put up a struggle - they only remark on it with distant chagrin. They both seem keenly aware that their flesh need not be in one piece to fulfill its purpose.

But where Miss Doll was made to embody the Victorian patriarchal ideal of womanhood, Annalise wields womanhood as her last weapon against the dehumanization of the church’s genocide through her queendom. Upon being resurrected the next time you return to the dream, Miss Doll will act as though nothing had happened at all. However, if you bring her flesh to the Altar of Despair, Annalise will call you an arrant fool, and remind you that “Vileblood or no, forget not; We are thy Queen”. Miss Doll kneels to serve the hunter, while the hunter must kneel to serve Annalise. Miss Doll has been conditioned to passively accept dehumanization and submission, yet Annalise demands respect through your submission even in her dehumanized state. Miss Doll is subjugated by the trappings of womanhood, while Annalise is lifted from subjugation by her womanhood, in some ways.

I find this fascinating, however, because while Miss Doll appears in every way as a pure, demure Victorian woman was meant to, they are also dehumanized through the denial of gender. To Gerhman, their creator, they are nothing more than another tool of the workshop. An object. Even the Doll themself uses neutral "I" pronouns to refer to themself in the original translation. I think it is pertinent to note that the only canonical reference to Miss Doll as a "woman" comes from Eileen. In the original Japanese text, she refers to the Doll with a term of endearment reserved for young girls. Miss Doll's appearance is the historical ideal of the subjugated woman - yet when Eileen confers upon her the status of "woman", she does so in an endearing and humanizing way. Therefore, for both Miss Doll and Queen Annalise, the status of womanhood is a rebuttal of their own dehumanizing subjugation: Annalise as "queen", and Miss Doll as "daughter".

Both characters are arguably seeking/find liberation through motherhood. Miss Doll gets "Childhood's Beginning": their creator and animator have both been put down, the hunt is finally over and they are no longer bound to serve its participants, nor must they watch their beheadings. They cradle the newly ascended hunter. It is a highly atypical “motherhood”. It exists in the performance of the role rather than the biology of childbirth. In the same way, the Doll possesses a highly atypical “womanhood” which exists in performance alone, rather than in biology or even identity — but nonetheless, it is real, and it is hers. I, perhaps too optimistically, choose read it as humanizing for them; because unlike their “womanhood”, Miss Doll is allowed to choose this for themself rather than having it imposed upon them.

In the same vein, Annalise seeks to birth a child of blood for a similar but perhaps more somber reason. She wants a child because she wants an heir — which is to say, because it is the only way she may once again have kin. Because it is the only way she may fulfill her duty as Queen. She witnessed everyone she ever knew or loved — surely her own family included — slaughtered before her eyes. Annalise seems to seek motherhood in order to be a homemaker - in the most literal sense possible. She wants to rebuild the community, the home, which was so brutally torn away from her. She wishes to restore honor to Cainhurst. For Annalise, having a child is an open act of rebellion against the genocidal eugenics-frenzied bloodthirst of the Church. I can't help but wonder if part of the reason Alfred is so hellbet on destroying her, why the Executioners imprisoned her the way they did, was to strip her of bodily autonomy so she couldn’t “reproduce”. Her desire for a child is her way of seeking liberation for her and her people.

In this sense, taking up the role of a mother, of "women's work", is what confers the agency upon both Annalise and Miss Doll which had been otherwise stripped from them. Annalise's by the genocidal eugenics of the Church, and Miss Doll by the pact of servitude she was seemingly born into.

#percy theoryposts :) #i'm aware this is a generous interpretation #miss doll #bloodborne is very much about womanhood and the trauma it brings but i think its a stretch to say that message is executed perfectly #the few fem-presenting characters who get hopeful endings do so by escaping/trying to escape a cycle of violence #but it also involves taking on very traditionally feminine roles which have historically been subjugating in and of themselves #so you kind of have to take from that what you will #but at least the pattern seems to be that those roles are liberating and powerful when they are CHOSEN rather than forced #ie: arianna is FORCED to become a mother #and this is not remotely empowering to her #i think it comes down to the concept of socialization though: the doll CHOOSES to become a “mother” in the symbolism of the game #but they also have been conditioned their whole life to know nothing but serving others #so its....................... iffy #i also dont know if i'm certain this was Intentional on the part of fromsoft. bc especially in elden ring they dropped the ball slightly im #but its MY interpretation god damn it #plain doll #bloodborne #queen annalise #annalise queen of the vilebloods

[demilypyro]

I think Dark Souls 3 is the most “self-aware” Fromsoft game, only possibly topped by Elden Ring. With Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 they’re still figuring stuff out, and Bloodborne was very experimental, but Dark Souls 3 says “alright you know what this is” and just lays it on really thick.

Some have called Dark Souls 3 uninspired, and to a point it’s true that it reuses a lot of stuff, while Dark Souls 2 made more of an effort to invent new things, but I think the game is making a point. More than any other game in the series, DS3 is playing the hits. It languishes in the tropes the series itself established, plays around with them and creates variations on them, but retains their core. It’s almost joking about how repetitive it all is.

You know the drill, says Dark Souls 3. Here’s your hub area, here’s your firekeeper, here’s your standard covenants, here’s Patches, here’s the Onion Knight, here’s all the weapons you know and love, here’s a mimic in the very first level, here’s a stormruler fight, here’s a boss that evokes Big Hat Logan, and here’s a boss that strongly evokes fan-favorite boss Artorias. One of the major bosses is literally wearing the skin of one of the bosses from Dark Souls 1. It’s all a rehash, but it works, because it knows it’s doing it. It’s the point, it’s central to the plot: the world has repeated and repeated itself to perpetuity and it’s breaking down and it can’t go on, so it’s time for it all to come to an end.

Dark Souls 3 is a statement on franchises, how they repeat themselves and stagnate, and it indulges in its own legacy to an almost comical amount, but it also says “this has to end somewhere”, and that’s the note it leaves things on. The final boss is an embodiment of the franchise itself, an amalgamation of people who have perpetuated the cycle, symbolizing every single person who’s contributed to the franchise’s continuation, and by defeating it, you lay the series to rest. The fire can’t be linked any further. The cycle breaks.

Finally, in the DLC, the idea is taken further, leaving the game on a statement of hope. One day, a new world will be created, it says. A little game called Elden Ring will sift the ashes, taking a lot of the tropes and running with them, and leaving some to rest where they were. Using the blood of the Dark Soul to paint a renewed experience.

#i just think it's all really neat #dark souls 3

[hoarah-babylon]

I had to make a BIG post going over everything that's got my brain whirring after watching the story trailer - it's all my speculation and personal opinion so don't take it as fact yada yada IT'S FUN SPECULATION TIME

(I'll put it under the cut bc this is gonna be a LONG one)

“Miquella the kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction. And the betrayal. An affair from which Gold arose. And so too was Shadow born."

My interpretation of this scene is that we are seeing the creation of the Golden Order by Marika. She plucks grace from something dead and fleshy, and holds it up to the Greater Will, beckoning in her new age. It would make sense to me, considering the voiceover, that this is a dead god that has been betrayed by Marika so she can pursue her Order and claim power. It does like quite reminiscent of Kos from Bloodborne to me. The fleshiness of the corpse also reminds me of the godskins/snakeskin. However, I don't believe this is the Gloam Eyed Queen. From my understanding of the timeline (mainly thanks to @eldenringslut) the GEQ didn't come about until later on during Marika's reign - if we are seeing the creation of the GO, and my understanding of the timeline is correct, I don't think it would make sense for this to be the GEQ. I can't deny different aspects of this do allude to things related to her though - the dusky sky, the godskin-like flesh. But I almost think that would be too 'perfect' for it to fit together like that, especially with how much people want to know more about the GEQ, I think fromsoft would want to keep us in the dark and surprise us. Whatever we are seeing here, Gold and Shadow seemingly came about at the same time.

We get our first look at what appears to be Messmer's army. They appear to all wield spears which ties into Messmer's whole Impaler thing, along with the shot of the person(?) impaled on the steps. I wonder who these people were, if they had to stay in the Shadow Realm after the battle was done (if it is?). I find the design on the helmet interesting - at first glance I thought it could be a tree or roots, but actually doesn't it kind of remind you of the black tendrils that shoot out of Messmer's flame? I think it could be either, or both, or maybe it's a chicken and egg situation and they're related somehow... my first thought when the initial gameplay trailer came out was that the dark tendrils in Messmer's flame could be deathroot or something similar to that. Maybe I wasn't far off?

We get our first shot of Messmer here. His pose pretty much solidifies to me that this is his army - this is the pose of a character commanding an army. It's so classic fantasy, the composition and everything, I love it. Messmer is awesome. I'm obsessed with the snake-like flames flying above the carnage.

"What followed was a war unseen. One that could never be put to song. A purge without Grace, or honour. The tyranny of Messmer's flame."

My take on this is that once Marika had won her battle/betrayed the God we see her pluck Grace from, she had her opponents banished and/or wiped out at the hands of Messmer. I have to say, it does surprise me that it seems Messmer was around and fully grown at the creation of Marika's Order. The implications there leave me with so many questions. Who is his other parent? Marika is Numen, and they seldom give birth. This is not an insignificant thing for her to have a child, especially if the theory of births being governed by the Erdtree/Golden Order is to be believed, and this must have came about before then. It would also go against the idea that Messmer is the full brother/secret triplet of Miquella and Malenia, considering that Miq + Mal were not born until Marika had left Godfrey for Radagon. I find that detail so intriguing... especially because I was so on board with the butterfly theories.

No idea who this is, but they're cool and that definitely looks like the kind of weapon we'd be able to pick up. It just looks like a PVP weapon, know what I mean? Very reminiscent of Vyke as well imo, similar pose to the box art of him along with the billowing cape. This reminds me, I'm noticing an emphasis on hair in this trailer too - I never took much note of Marika's hair before but in this trailer there was a lot of emphasis put on how long it is, how similar it is to threads of Grace, and Miquella's hair too. It's making me think of the bible story of Samson but let me not go too off the rails

Here we have some of the coolest shots in the trailer imo. This posits the Lion/Omens as enemies of Messmer to me - which to me supports the view that Messmer is aligned with Marika. The Lion/Omens always came off to me as if they were making a mockery of the GO - positioning themselves as enemies to Marika/the GO. We get another good look at his Flame, with the tendrils. They almost remind me of thorns actually. That final shot looks like a victory scene to me. It also really hammers home the Impaler thing. The man knows his brand!

Then we pan up to see what hangs above this burned city - this 'shadow tree'. THIS IS MARIKA'S RUNE.

I think we are seeing the origins of her rune as part of the modern Elden Ring here - Grace/blessings dripping from the bough of this tree. I have to say given the imagery relating to motherhood on the run up to the DLC, the rune does look vaguely yonic, especially on the seals. I think references to motherhood are in this trailer too - Marika taking something from a fleshy orifice with a voiceover talking about seduction, I can't imagine that wasn't intentional. So far the main character we have seen is her child, after all. The whole story of Elden Ring revolves around Marika's children. I have a feeling Marika's relation to motherhood and childbearing is going to be a big theme in the DLC.

I remember when the first gameplay trailer dropped, people theorised that this was Ranni's rune, and I was happy to believe that because of the similarities to Rennala's rune. But now I believe it's Miquella's rune, for several reasons, one being it reminds me of Malenia's rune, and they are twins after all. Although Rennala and Malenia's runes are oddly similar, it just makes more sense to me that it would be Miquella's, considering we are following in his footsteps. I think these rune spikes are going to be our DLC equivalents of sites of grace.

"And so kindly Miquella would abandon everything. His golden flesh, his blinding strength..."

Abandoning his flesh is very reminiscent of Ranni... but why would he need to abandon his flesh? Perhaps after Mohg stole him away? Though I have to say, I'm warming up the idea that Mohg never actually had Miquella, he just thought he did. That might not make sense considering that body in Mohg's palace is how we get to the Shadow Lands, but I don't know, something about it doesn't sit quite right with me for some reason. The line 'his blinding strength' is a bit odd. I can't take credit for this next idea, I saw it on twitter, but someone suggested that this is referencing him potentially abandoning Malenia - his strength, his blade. For Miquella to abandon Malenia though, it doesn't exactly align with what we know of his character. This is the person that turned his back on the GO because it could do nothing for Malenia's sickness. He'd need a really good reason to do that to her. Maybe it was his only option? I'm so intrigued about why Miquella is even in the Shadow Lands to begin with. What are his motivations? Perhaps it's something to do with his proclivity to want to welcome all, especially those outside of Grace, I suppose those in the shadow lands fall under that mantle.

"Even his fate."

Now THIS is super interesting - our first look at St. Trina! In her usual purple - associated with sleep. It does also look like she's sleeping here, sinking... What on earth does it mean to say that Miquella abandoned his fate as we are shown an image of St. Trina? Was he meant to eventually become Trina fully? We don't know much about her, but we do know Trina is an aspect/alter-ego of some sort of Miquella. Considering his parents were one in the same body, it's not a stretch to assume this could be the same case here. But in Marika/Radagon's case, it doesn't seem completely intentional - with the Ring shattering, I always got the impression they each fought to be in control of their singular body. Perhaps Miquella/Trina worked together rather than against each other? The queer part of me can't help but think of some kind of allegory to transition and Miquella having to walk away from it for whatever reason... but I really don't know enough to figure anything out from this.

I saw someone point out that this shot of Trina looks like Trina's lilies too, which is super cool (sorry I don't remember who that was).

"But we are not deterred. We choose to follow. Will you walk with us?"

I'm honestly surprised to see all these characters that we saw in the previous trailer just hanging out, I assumed they'd all be enemies of different factions. But here they look like allies, and from the voiceover they sound like it too, asking if we will join them. I think the voiceover is one of these NPCs. Seeing the fighting guy second on the left has got me super excited, what if he teaches us the hands-on combat we saw him do in the first trailer? I also think the crouching character on the right is the one we saw sleeping in the purple area (Trina?) from the last trailer:

Anyway, these are my thoughts, I hope they resonate in one way or another. I can't wait to come back in a couple months and see how wrong I was <3 yayyy

#i spent 2 hours putting this together and i'm meant to be sleeping #the brain rot is SO fucking real #i'm too tired to proofread so if i spelled anything wrong no i didn't #loreposting #elden ring #sote #shadow of the erdtree #messmer the impaler #numen #marika the eternal #marika #miquella #st. trina #elden ring shadow of the erdtree #elden lore #fromsoft

[beesmygod]

CHAPTER 3 OF "YOU HUNTED", A BLOODBORNE LORE EXPLAINER IS FINISHED!

COVERING IN EXHAUSTIVE DETAIL: THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT PTHUMERU TO THE ATTACK ON CASTLE CAINHURST

"you hunted" is a laborious attempt to impart the plot, the themes, the ideas, and the morals of bloodborne to you, an audience scrambling for answers. it is a document that is not fucking around: i have been ripping the game apart at it seams to get at cut content to see it with my own eyes, i have make a point to prioritize the actual canon and delineate between my theorizing and what is explicitly stated, and i am deeply unsatisfied with many of the "fanon" explanations that we have come to erroneously embrace.

what i mean is: think you know bloodborne? well, you don't. and even if you do (you don't), you will probably learn something new from this document. don't think you know bloodborne? well, come continue to not know it, but with a greater understanding of the shockingly tightly wound worldcrafting fromsoft is capable of.

"you hunted" currently runs in two forms, a rough draft on my website and the above .pdf version intended to be the most refined version of the document. if you read my previous versions, this has been refined and edited to the moon and back with more to come.

thank you. please read my bloodborne words. i promise i try to make them entertaining for all humans. if you have an experience with any fromsoft game, you will find many of the themes and ideas in this game very familiar....

#bloodborne #bloodborne lore #beaborne #<- now you can block me

[nervousalpacahologram]

The Fish Theory

I'm Making this post so I can either be proven right or wrong when the DLC Comes out.

In Elden Ring, there's a suspicious hole in the story. That hole is perplexingly mermaid-shaped.

When Godwyn is found in game, something's happened to him. He's become gargantuan, twisted, stuck in the pose of his death and staring listlessly out into the darkness of the Deeproot Depths.

He's also a mermaid.

Why?

One could chock this up to a cool design decision, invoking the Ningen and the other aquatic imagery associated with Those Who Live In Death (Boats, Scales, Fins, Stagnation, Flies, etc). His head resembles a clam, and his hair is matted like it's wet. He has a tail, scaled and mermaid like. This could all just be a cool design.

But Fromsoft, the ones who put staggering amounts of detail into random pieces of iconography, building techniques, and even the road tiling to denote who created it and why, are not one to toss something into a game for it to look cool.

There has to be a reason Godwyn looks like that.

I personally believe that Godwyn was always this fish monster, and never a regular Demigod.

My Evidence:

1: Godwyn's face is never shown.

"But there's paintings of most characters!"

Not Godwyn.

"But the Statue of him cradling Miquella and Malenia!"

There's no confirmation that this is Godwyn. it may very well be Messmer, given his relationship to fire, his descendancy of Marika and/or Radagon, and his neat fit into the Butterfly Theory (Miquella=Nascent, Malenia=Aeonian, Messmer=Smoldering). Again, no confirmation.

"But we see him in the Intro and the cinematic trailer!"

That I will give you, however there is precedence on how this could be subverted. In the shot of him dead:

His face is obscured by shadows and hair, purposefully keeping him anonymous. And yet, a power of the Golden Lineage, demonstrated by Morgott and Mohg, is to project versions of themselves elsewhere:

(Godfrey even displays this to a lesser extent, with the golden clone of him in Leyndell.)

I believe that images of Godwyn and his appearances in the Lands Between are projections of him.

In every shot of Godwyn, you never see his face fully or his legs at all. Both are obscured, and even the shot of his eye only shows the barest hints of skin, which could be the more alive version of his clam-head skin. His forearms, where the fins grow out of in his Prince-of-Death form, are even suspiciously covered up. The skin of the Prince-of-Death is even the same as the head, so no contradictions in skin color there.

My final piece of evidence is this:

All of Queen Marika's children are cursed.

I'm talking specifically of Marika, and not the ones descended from Radagon taking charge. Morgott and Mohg are Omens. Miquella, Malenia, and Messmer are cursed or appear to possess unnatural features (Eternal youth, rot, serpentine characteristics). Ranni, Radahn, and Rykard appear perfectly fine.

So why does Godwyn appear normal, when none of his borthers or sisters do?

I think Godwyn was born as this mermaid-thing, or at least partially. He was born in the Age of Plenty, a time close to the Crucible, and may have inherited inhuman characteristics. But perhaps they were more easily covered-up, or perhaps he could project a version of himself that was more human, or maybe he simply wore a Mimic Veil.

This could explain his alliance with the Ancient Dragons, also creatures of the Crucible. It could explain why Deathroot confers aquatic features on those it effects, instead of the more avian features already associated with Death in the form of the Twinbird: Godwyn, already cursed, is the source of these appearences.

Godwyn doesn't look like that because of the Deathroot, Those Who Live In Death and those infected by Death look like that because of Godwyn.

#Completely crackpot theory (probably) but I just had to get this out #I feel the DLC will give us Death lore #elden ring #godwyn the golden #godwyn the prince of death #elden ring godwyn #rune of death #elden ring theory

[miquella-everywhere]

okay so i see that your one of the few sane elden ring fans who understands miquellas character and i wanted to ask how you think miquella will end up being in the dlc & if you think if he ends up getting "corrupted" in what way :P

How I think Miquella will be?

Well obviously I have my biases because he's my favorite character lol But I would personally like for Miquella to be a companion character and we will be able to assist him in his goals when we eventually find him in the Realm of Shadow (fromsoft plz 😭)

But in terms of how I judge his character....

If anything I hold Miquella in the same regard as I do Ranni in terms of "the end justifies the means" I see Miquella as someone who deeply understands that in order to enact great change a great sacrifice is needed to achieve it. Like regarding Miquella sending Malenia to kill Radahn to free the stars, it would not surprise me in the slightest bit if Miquella anticipated that Malenia would have had to unleash the Rot in order to gain the upper hand on Radahn(the dude is a beast) Miquella probably wouldn't have wanted it to come to that, but in the end Miquella trusted Malenia to make the call if necessary.

And when Miquella's whole plans hinge on the very stars being freed, desperate times call for desperate measures. Especially when one of his enemies is a Golden God that has a strangle hold on the very fabric of reality of his world.

Mah boi is nuanced to hell and back and that's why I love him. He wants to create a world where the outcasts can live in peace and he will do anything to see that it happens.

But now in terms of if Miquella will be corrupted?

Well, he kinda of already is technically, thanks to Mohg and the Formless Mother.

I've said in a previous theory post about how I think that Miquella is waging is own personal war against the Outer Gods and that he is legitimately the biggest threat to every single one of them thanks to Unalloyed Gold, and who knows what else he is capable of...

But then you hear those theories(😒) about how Miquella is manipulating Mohg and how he's secretly evil and stuff....

But my theory is that it's actually the other way around, and that it is in fact the Formless Mother who is manipulating Mohg, using his weird obsession with Miquella, to essentially corrupt and cripple the young Empyrean because he is just that dangerous to them.

Malenia is right when she said he is the most fearsome of all....

BUT

As the DLC summary has explained to us Miquella has just straight up ditched his body, and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Miquella has effectively juked the Formless Mother and her meddling bullshit, and has gone off to the Realm of Shadow to achieve something that has likely been a big part of his Grand Scheme for a very very long time now.

So then Miquella is basically unbothered, moisturized and in his lane lmao 😂

And so, okay this is heading into heavy speculation territory, but with the Ranni and Godwyn situation it's been established in Elden Ring canon that there is a Body and Soul dichotomy is going on. And I find it interesting that when I look deeper into Miquella and Malenia curses, that seemingly, Malenia was cursed in soul and is harboring the Scarlet Rot/God of Rot within, meanwhile Miquella was cursed in body, to remain forever a child.

But now that Miquella has left his body he is practically a wandering Soul, and that one voice in the trailer that refers to Miquella as "pure and radiant" I think that could also be applied to Miquella's Soul, meaning that Miquella's Soul at this point is completely pure and practically untouchable, at least from Outer Gods meddlings.

So no, I do not think that Miquella will end up "corrupted" as in turning evil and becoming a boss fight, because for now, there is just not enough substantial evidence pointing in that direction. And in terms of him pulling a Griffith and betraying everyone and doing something/becoming God for his own selfish gain is just dumb and bad writing 😒

Like I don't know how else to convey this, but the absolute biggest piece of characterization regarding Miquella is his dedication and love for Malenia. And he will do anything to keep his promise to her.

#i love him #míquella is so cool i cant wait to meet him lol #hilarious that you think im the most sane about miq 😂 because i think im the most insane about him akdhsjsjd #elden ring #elden ring theory #miquella the unalloyed #uri answers #shadow of the erdtree

[scope-dogg]

I find Steel Haze Ortus' design pretty interesting. Overall I think it's very obvious that Armored Core took a lot of inspiration from Votoms in its earliest iterations, and even as the look of the series has gone in its own direction in subsequent generations, one aspect of the design language that's remained the same is how pretty much all of the ACs are stripped of humanising characteristics that are typical to most "hero" mecha in real robot anime and adjacent media, especially when it comes to the heads / faces of the ACs, even other hero characters like White Glint are very non-human in the way they look. I think Ortus bucks that trend somewhat and cuts a lot closer to the mold of "hero" mecha - if you pay attention to the design of the head and legs in particular and the way it stands more upright instead of being crooked, hunched over or otherwise misshaped in some way (when compared to a human) like most other ACs in the game, including the original Steel Haze that Rusty pilots through most of the game. Sure it has the six eyes because it can't diverge too far from the established aesthetic, but if you were to cut those down to the standard two and then tell me it's from Full Metal Panic or something I'd believe you. Given that Rusty's the closest thing to an actual unambiguous good guy in the game, I just thought it was interesting to see how Fromsoft leveraged visual mecha design tropes to play up that side of the narrative.

#armored core #mecha #respect the robot

[shuttershocky]

Not sure if you're looking for any game recommendations considering FF7R, but Genokids looks like it'd be right up your alley. It's a character swap hack-and-slash based on DMC and Kingdom Hearts and it currently has a demo up on steam.

Oh I've heard that name before! I checked out the page and it looks really cool, definitely downloading the demo.

It's kind of funny. With Soulslikes (which I have to preface here that I still enjoy mind you, even the clumsier non-Fromsoft designs like the new Jedi games) taking over what the default "action game" looks like, it feels more and more like all these character action / stylish action games became more closely-knit communities that expect to mostly share the same players.

So much sharing in fact, that almost all of the indies pay some kind of overt homage to DMC in their storepages like it's a secret password to accessing their target market.

I mean, the first line of the Genokids store page is a Vergil joke.

An even more extreme example is Slave Zero X. It's not even a 3D action game but a 2(.5)D one, making it closer to Strider, and yet the Devil May Cry mention still comes first

The action game landscape has changed so much from the PS2 era that these games can't just say "action" and get their players anymore, the communities have to namedrop Dante to find each other. Very interesting to think about.

[bogunicorn]

thoughts on what fandoms the da:i characters would be in

I will do this for you but ONLY if I amend it to "fandoms they would be annoying about" because it's funnier and otherwise I'm just assigning them shows they would be into and that's too subjective and less fun

One of them has to be a Homestuck and it's Sera, Sera is the Homestuck. Sera has a Trollsona that she doodles on everything, she would 100% absolutely try to dye herself gray using sharpies and vodka for a cosplay. She references it all the time and is annoying when you don't understand her jokes. She still tries to get people into it, but she considers Andrew Hussy a mortal enemy these days for Reasons.

Solas is a Song of Ice and Fire bitch. Not the show. The books. "But wait, Boggers!" you might say (if you know me well enough to call me "Boggers"), "What about LOTR? Why isn't Solas into LOTR?" And to that I say, he's definitely read it and is a nerd about it, but this is about fandom, and fandom to someone like a Reddit-addicted bitch like Solas is about theory crafting, debates, and politics, and ASoIaF being complex but unfinished really lends itself to the kind of deep internet toxicity that I think Solas would crave. Also he likes wolves.

Cole is a Supernatural Superfan. He has all the cheesy "join the hunt" merch because for a while it was his chief special interest and all he wanted was SPN stuff. He's kind of obsessed with Baby, specifically. His favorite episode was Baby and he has an AO3 account full of fic written from the car's perspective. He didn't cry in the finale until he saw the Impala under the canvas and he's been lowkey upset at Sam for doing that ever since.

Dorian is an old school Baldur's Gate fan. Like, BG1 and 2. He's played other RPGs of that era, those are just his favorites. What makes him an annoying fan is that he thinks complicated = good and looooooves to complain about how "simple" and "boring" current-era RPGs are. If you can't softblock yourself from all progress by making one mistake two hours into your playthrough, it's too easy. He's active in fandom spaces and is largely helpful, like he writes tips and guides and will answer newbie questions, but the price for his help is dealing with him being smug.

Leliana is a FromSoft fangirl and a Soulslike aficionado. Nightingale says git gud. She'll happily team up with you in co-op to get you through stuff if you ask, but she also explains mechanics and such like you should have known them already and thinks you're just not trying hard enough to listen, even though her advice is almost incomprehensible.

Cullen is an MCU fanboy. He fully believes they're the peak of cinema. He compares literally everything to an MCU movie, as he has seen all of them, multiple times, and thinks you're "thinking about it too much" if you criticize them in more than the most banal of ways. Usually it's fine, like, being excited for stuff is fine and enjoying mainstream things are fine, but you can only have so many "Thanos was a great villain" conversations with this dude before you go insane. Despite seeming incapable of critiquing the MCU, his criticisms of the DCEU are spot-on, sharp, and demonstrative of actually very impressive media analysis skills, but also coming from a starting point of "DC Bad, Marvel Good", so it's like, we could've had it aaaaaaaaall.

Cassandra is in the Bridgerton fandom. She read the original books and liked them, so she was one of the first people watching the show. Most of her fandom stuff happens on Facebook with other book fans. Watching the show with her is fun until the exact second she says "well, in the BOOKS" and then rattles off a list of the most inconsequential changes, distracting you from a pivotal moment in the show and forcing you to rewind. She is very pressed about the seasons going out of order from the books.

Varric is a Critical Role evangelist. He was there when it started, he's listened to everything. He's listened to other real play podcasts and shows, but CR is his favorite. That's not annoying in and of itself, what's annoying is that he will not stop trying to get you to watch it. If you even breathe in the direction of a DnD-related topic he tries to give you "advice on where to start" with CR. His friends put up with it because he's their Forever DM and they love him, but he sure does do a lot more obnoxious sound effects now than he used to and they're planning an intervention about it.

Josephine is a Disney Adult. She seems normal and then bam, you get blindsided by something insane, like that she owns every single Disney character Funko Pop, or that she's gone to DisneyWorld for vacation every year for the last decade, or you go over to her house for dinner and find Hidden Mickeys in her bathroom, or she's really intense about pin collecting and limited edition mouse ear headbands. You wonder when she has the time and energy to collect all this. And there's more of it every time you see her. But the thing is that she's pretty quiet about it as long as you don't poke the bear. You know that she's seen every one of the new remakes in theaters, but you don't dare ask her opinion about them. Her favorite princess is Cinderella and she tells you "the original dress was silver" with exactly the same amount of excited did-you-know energy every time.

I hate to break this to you all, but Iron Bull is a Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan fanboy. Yep. Yes he is. His toxic trait is that he shuts his brain off and just enjoys the gritty action sequences. He liked Batman v Superman. He bought the Snyder Cut. He thinks Nolan's Batman is the absolute best that franchise has ever been and ever could be. I'm sorry, it's heartbreaking but it's true. I know, I'm sad, too, we can hold each other.

Vivienne has been in the Anne Rice fandom under the same pseudonym for ever. She was one of the original fans and was much more active in fandom when she was much younger, but she made her fannish activities more and more private as she became more established in her career. You would honestly never know it meeting her IRL; at most, people come over for dinner parties and might notice that she owns every single Anne Rice book, but they're part of her overall book collection and don't really stand out. Secretly, though, she's been keeping up with the Anne Rice fandom under a pseudonym this whole time and goes to the more modern in-person events using her fake name. She might kill you if you ever connected her fandom activities to her real life in any way. She's also just, like, she's really bad at letting people be wrong about these books. Really, really, really bad. There are epic-length threads on old forums that are just her and one other similarly deranged person fighting about obscure Vampire Chronicles lore.

And finally, Blackwall is a Game of Thrones girlie. The show, not the books. He's one of those "I don't like fantasy but I like Game of Thrones" guys, and he thinks GoT is mold-breaking and special and better and grittier and more realistic than other fantasy and that's why he likes it. His most irritating fan trait is that he thought season 8 was good and that the ending was good and he likes to get into heated debates with other fans about it. However, he does not know what Reddit is, he only talks with other GoT-watchers in Facebook, which is why he and Solas haven't had the fight to end all friendships yet. Yet.

BONUS! Krem is into Star Wars and Scout Harding is a die-hard Trekkie, and they go to big cons and cosplay together. They're not annoying at all, I just wanted to mention it because I feel like that's in-character for them.

**also if you like this and think "i'm gonna give this fine person a follow because they're so funny about dragon age", i made a new DA sideblog at @skyholdstarbucks where i'd post anything similar to this in the future

#asks #bog post #dragon age #dai #i like doing these so if people have prompts send 'em #and i may get around to them #sera #blackwall #the iron bull #solas #cole #varric tethras #cassandra pentaghast #dorian pavus #vivienne de fer #josephine montilyet #cullen rutherford #leliana #krem aclassi #lace harding #da headcanons

[wyllaztopia]

My question is: let's imagine that Nightmare had a childhood friend, his one and only childhood friend, and that she was a little girl who liked to fight to protect him and who literally had scars because of that because she literally fought every day to defend him, let's imagine that she survived the "incident", After the corruption of Nightmare how would he be with her? Would he be distant because he doesn't want to remember his past and the fact that he needed someone to defend himself, would he be tsundere with her or would he have a soft spot? Because I mean, his brother did not protect Nightmare because he was not aware of the others who harassed him, but she was the only one who had protected him, in part in any case. sooo.. would he be able to hurt her as much as he would be able to hurt Dream? After all, it's not as if she had protected Nightmare from absolutely everything, because as you said, it's not the only reason why Nightmare became corrupt and there were many others who added up.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ (i love that enoji-)

I really love your version of Dreamtale! Joku doesn't give any more news so I have trouble orienting myself with Dreamtale’s story, but you show a whole new vision of things with Soulsborne! The philosophy you gave to Nightmare is much more complex than that of the original but I really hope that Joku will develop Dreamtale in the future! And we're counting on you for Soulsborne and his development 🫵🏼

thank you for such kind words omg this version of dreamtale literally came to mind when me and @neotxnic were reading the original dreamtale comic after we had a session of elden ring - it was also around the time i was delving deep into the dark souls trilogy lore. i wanted to add more depth and tone to the world of dreamtale and fromsoft games have really good story telling and lore so i wanted that to reflect on our revision of the story. note that i'm not trying to compete with joku and the original dreamtale. i think the original is good as is and very fun + heartfelt to read. on anotherrrr note - this will be a really long response to the initial question so buckle up because i will lore dump.

For this specific scenario, I won't make this character's insertion into the lore canon yet - I actually want you lot to share your opinions on the addition of Nightmare having a childhood friend.

-

Nightmare and Dream were both born from the roots of Motus Arbor (the Tree of Feelings, the very being of Nim or what's left of her). The two of them are task to guard the tree - Dream guarding the negative apples and Nightmare guarding the positive ones.

Dream sought out to the people, he believes that through guarding the tree, he also has to guard the feelings of others. Thus, he often travels around the kingdom where he does his best to help his people have a brighter day.

Meanwhile, Nightmare keeps to himself and guards the tree while Dream focuses on their people to keep their emotions stable. He usually sits by the bed of motus arbor and reads books under its huge shade.

Because of Nightmare guarding the positive apples and the stereotype people have formed of him being the guardian of negativity (despite Dream's attempts to let people know that Nightmare isn't a bad person), many other kids would go behind Dream's back to harass Nightmare and accuse him of taking advantage of the positive apples.

This happens often but Nightmare never paid mind to these claims or mistreatment. Because of his pessimism being influenced by the positive apples that he guards, he's more of a realist (pessimism-leaning) - and so he doesn't see much value in the bullying.

However, a young girl around his age would stand up against the bullies, speaking up about their prejudice and unfair treatment. She called them out about how their judgement held no merit because they didn't know Nightmare personally, what right did they have to come to such conclusions about a person?

As the kids went away, Nightmare told her that there was no need for her to stand up for him since he wasn't affected by the mistreatment. He was perfectly fine simply ignoring the flock. She shook her head at his statement,

She told him her belief that passiveness won't progress society to a better environment. If we simply ignore the bad, does that make us good? Does that stop the evil? Does that stop the dishonesty? How will a wrong become a right if nothing is done for it to be so?

This philosophy was quickly dismissed by Nightmare; "Fighting fire with fire never bears any good fruit."

Despite their opposing ideals, this girl would pursue a friendship with the dark prince. She was true to herself despite how different their worldviews are but somehow, some of their morals were seen to overlap - such as their respect for intellect and honesty. The two both found enjoyment in books and being less social. It was a blissful friendship where they didn't feel the need to be someone else and the other was perfectly fine with it.

However, the conflict between Dream and Nightmare happened. Nightmare saw that Dream was being mistreated by the other kids, that they were abusing his kindness - and he hid his feelings from his very own brother, Nightmare. The guardian of negativity slowly realized that Dream's ignorance and selflessness - whilst spreading happiness… it was happiness given the wrong way. It was a clear imbalance.

And for the first time, he'd heed his friend's words: something had to be done. - and as for how nightmare would treat this friend of his in the present time? well, he holds no attachments. he had already stripped himself for any positive feelings towards anyone - including the very friend that pioneered his current ideals. however, deep down, he respects her integrity - a thought lingers within him that she'd understand his plans if one day she were to find out. however, if he finds reason to, he'll kill her with his own hands.

#lore dump #way too long waaay too long #long post #agdt #ag dreamtale #ardent gospel #wyllaztopia rambles #dreamtale au #nightmare sans #dream sans #ask

[fallout-lou-begas]

What do you think is the key to making a noun title work. Your latest BG3 posts got me thinking about how a major point of bemusement for me is the oddly boring Word Combinations in that game, like Dark Urge, Rite of Thorns, which all seem to have a certain triple-A quality baked into them. Take that in contrast to something like Fallout, with names like Dead Money, Honest Hearts, which ooze with flavor. What would you say is the key factor to making a word combination of that type work?

This is a phenomenal question tbh. I think it comes down to context, vibes, and phonetics. High fantasy jargon is always more susceptible to flopping, I think, because it's already a genre with so MUCH jargon and it will always by nature of the genre be coming off with an air of importance. "Rite of Thorns" alone makes me think of like six different very generic and forgettable novels with more or less the same exact cover -- similarly, are writers all still naming their fantasy novels "A Noun of Word and Other Word?". Basically, when you say something like "Dark Urge," it very much draws attention to itself.

The benefit of words like Dead Money and Honest Hearts is that they are actual real life expressions already. "Dark Urge" is technically already a real life expression ("I had a dark urge to kill him then and there") but turning it into a capitalized proper noun is the tricky thing. I actually think the better point of comparison is "old world blues," which is not just the title of a DLC but the in-universe name of a melancholic longing for the pre-war world, used in the same way that people use the words "nostalgia" or "sonder" currently.

I think that ultimately my answer on what makes a "good" combination of words for a proper, titled concept is "it depends, but it's always going to be much more difficult in fantasy because fantasy is comprised of an absolute mountain of proper, titled concepts, and people's mileage varies." Strangely, I think Fromsoft games handle this well, because the storytelling is so, so, so minimal otherwise that loose affiliations of proper, titled concepts is basically all you get.

#asks #anon

[katyspersonal]

I am kinda interested, what is Sulyvahn exactly? Is he supposed to be a tree? I checked out the design of many bosses and it does seem that having tree elements in his design isn't unique as there many characters who have these elements as well (demons,humans,giants etc..) , also his wings look very similar to the wings of the "angels" we see in lothric.

I am pretty sure that with whatever turmoil the developers faced upon creating this character and deciding what he'd be, in the end they've settled for him being either a half-tree or a quarter-tree! Also look at these images:

( x ) Ok sorry if I had to see it then so did you fdhjfhdssfd

Okay the thing about him, he was born in the Painted World, which would make him either a Tree Person or a Crow Person! He doesn't show any corvid features, and as for the wings, Tree People do have them anyways:

His mother likely was Tree Person!

( x ) The dialogue directly referencing this is a cut content, of course, but it is one of those moments where Fromsoft cuts something without actually cutting it!

There is this particular Tree Woman who guards one of his youth spells, who is also heard crying before you approach her! As for why I'd mention he could be '25% tree' and not just a Tree Person, I will just quote what @val-of-the-north already said on the potential of Gilligan being his father:

As for Gilligan, it's probably to mention it as a jokey what-if lmao. People aren't ready for the truth. The gist of it though, is that in the area with that angry tree woman, there's a hidden, comically long wooden ladder that only appears when you defeat all the tree women in the area. Stupidly long ladders are the dude's staple, so the theory goes that it was Gilligan's way to come down, meet his family, and leave. Suly's mother would then hide the ladder so no one could use it. Of course, her son would one day discover the illusion and leave, dissatisfied with the Painted World, and her mother never saw him again

It's also worth pointing out that you can find Gilligan in the game itself, though he isn't exactly in a living state. He is found in the Profaned Capital surrounded by his wooden ladders. Suly has also been there as part of his rise to power so there's a second connection lol. Interestingly enough, his spell descriptions mention he "had not yet experienced loss", which might imply he did experience it in the future. It could have been losing his dad

So yeah, it might sound like a shitpost but like.. Where is the evidence against this idea? fdsjfjhds So if he had a Tree Person mother (who is 50% tree) and a human father, that'd make him 25% tree. AND it works with how as you can see from his model, he IS notably more humanoid than an average Tree Person! Nonetheless, still absurdly tall hahah

Personally, I think he doesn't have a face, either 🤔 It looks like it's not a mask, but his head and "face" is JUST like this, featureless. We were not supposed to see him 'naked' by normal means in the game, of course, but Fromsoft is notorious for putting too much effort into something only like, 3 dataminers on Earth will appreciate xd They bothered to model him this way under his clothes, so I just take it as legit! Nor I think that he somehow 'lost' his normal face later on.. though this IS a good question as to why his wings are considerably bigger than average Tree Person's ones, so I'll think about it later,

#ask replies #dark souls #dark souls 2 #pontiff sulyvahn #dark souls 3 headcanons #dark souls 3 references #screenshots #also if you were in Gilligan's place you'd do the same don't lie lmao fsdhfhdshfddfd

[blaiddfailcam]

Fuck it, below are my favorite gifs I've made of Bloodborne (so far) in no particular order.

I didn't post all of these in sets, at least not yet, mainly because I needed to balance the arrangements as far as color and even camera motion. Too many sweeping shots in a set is kind of obnoxious, as much as I love making them.

Bloodborne is pretty tricky for making gifs, requiring a good deal of patience and ingenuity just to get the hunter out of the shot. But once I figured out a few methods, things took an interesting turn!

[CW for blood—obviously—gore, and body horror]

Yahar'gul Chapel

I know I wanted a shot of the Amygdala statue in Yahar'gul, but it felt too easy to record it head-on, and besides, why not just post a screenshot then? Then I saw a flickering candelabra, and the celestial larva statue, and it seemed like a dramatic angle. I liked the shift from gold to blue—from knowledge into mystery.

Hunter's Nightmare

I did get to use this one in a set, and although the spray of bullets at bottom are a little irksome, I thought the way the camera swept past that urn in the illusion of a crane shot was cool. Really, my hunter is just crouching behind a fence.

Cathedral Ward

FromSoft is supremely gifted at arranging their mapspaces so that large setpieces like the Astral Clocktower are naturally framed by environmental pockets. Somewhat instinctively, I knew I had to capture this descending shot in time with that large huntsman emerging from the alley mist. The fact that it looks as if the viewer is peeking from behind the coffin was an accident, but sells the feeling of dread.

Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower

This one worked out almost too perfectly. I thought I'd just get a basic shot of her approaching, but then she did that and I gasped, lol. Her set was surprisingly quick to put together.

Old Yharnam

I was still figuring out some camera tricks by the time I hit Old Yharnam, and this was my first attempt at moving the hunter with the monocular activated while tilting the camera independantly. I had to crop out the hunter, so it's woefully grainy, but I think it sells the effect well enough.

Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos

This was promptly after I threw a pebble at her.

Quite thrilling.

Iosefka's Clinic

The very first gif I made of Bloodborne! I wanted to capture that "oh fuck" moment of the scourge beast feeding on those dead mobs, and the only method I knew would work (not having the monocular yet) was to sit by a wall. As it happens, Bloodborne doesn't apply translucency to foreground objects, so I was surprised to be able to get this peek from behind a shelf of medical equipment, simple though it is. That would never work in Elden Ring!

Vicar Amelia

I may reattempt her set in the future, as I learned a few tricks for "shooting" after defeating her, and I should've upped the brightness. Still, this angle of her seemingly pulling the hunter out of Laurence's beastly skull before squashing them was pretty dramatic—and a total accident.

Moon Presence

Moon Presence may not be a very difficult fight, but let me tell ya, trying to capture it had me gnashing my teeth. It moves so sporadically, it's hard to find a good backdrop, and it never seems to want to do much more than flop around. Worse still is that to get all of its cooler moves, you need to dish some hefty damage to break its limbs, but without killing it prematurely. In the end, I was pretty happy with even this straightforward tilt shot with the moon appearing to descend behind the crawling chaos.

○ ○ ○

I still have plenty of footage to sift through and memorialize as gifs, but I think I need a little break to, you know, enjoy the game, lol. There's plenty I still want to capture, and I figure there's a bit of a vacuum for Bloodborne gifs, owing to the lack of a PC release and all. Not that it can't be finegled, but it doesn't mean it's impossible on console, either.

...Hopefully this doesn't come off as pretentious. I just have a lot of fun making these for some reason, ameteurish as they may be.

#my gifs #bloodborne

[dragon-communion]

Okay so here's my wild speculation on the DLC.

The major fault in the current Golden Order, and what caused it to fall to shit, is the separation of life from death. Marika tries to hold the land in a ceaseless golden age, a ceaseless citrinitas, that is entirely unsustainable, though she supports it well with bread and circuses. That's the point of coliseums- turning conflict into entertainment, and her early reign was very characterized by war. Hence marrying Hoarah Loux, and then civilizing him into Godfrey to maintain her preferred image.

I digress.

Elden Ring has a constant theme of twins and duality. Malenia and Miquella. To a certain extent, Ranni and Godwyn. Marika and Radagon. But we know that there's something false and unnatural about Marika/Radagon, or else their children wouldn't have been cursed.

Here's my opinion on the childhood curses:

I think omen children come from making babies the "primal" way. I think Marika literally banged Godfrey, and the result was omen children. It's said that omens could happen in any family, and I really think that's because it's unnatural to have babies come from tree amber or flowers or whatever, so people would do it the animal way sometimes, and then omens would happen. Sex has just been... phased out of the Lands Between entirely by the time we get there, to the point that hugging Fia is "vulgar".

Marika and Radagon, no matter what the real origin of their duality, are incomplete somehow. They don't count as two people anymore. Children born of a singular god leave room for a second influence to attach to them regardless. We don't know what attached itself to Miquella. Based on the trailer, his "fate" involved St. Trina somehow, but we really don't know enough about what she is to him or what her real goals were. Malenia, obviously, had the metaphorical gap in her filled by Scarlet Rot.

However.

Each of Marika's children has expressed a variation of Death. She excised Death from her Order- now Malenia presents with Rot, Miquella has some affinity for Sleep, Godwyn is the Prince of Death (yes it was Ranni's fault, but still), Melina has something to do with Destined Death and has that strange eye.

I don't think that's an accident.

I think the seduction/betrayal mentioned in the trailer involves Marika's own duality. Separating light from shadow, life from death. She's the light. The Lands Between are bathed in light. She tried to peel out the pips in Yin and Yang and deny that each exists within the other. And following Fromsoft's theme of endless light and endless life probably being a horrible idea, it's all breaking down now.

The Numen are stated to have come from a different land, possibly a different world. Marika's people. What if the Land of Shadow is where the Numen came from? What if it's only called the Land of Shadow because she tried to quarantine everything that would obstruct her light there, and then she left her most fanatic son there to play Satan and burn the unworthy forever in a hell away from her and her Order?

I'm not sure what Miquella is looking for there, though he obviously is searching, but I think it would make sense if he's looking for the Gloam Eyed Queen. Yes, he probably feels pity for everyone subjected to Messmer, and I think he would support the idea of helping the people there, but his chief motivation has always been his sister and their curse, and I think it would be a wild departure of character for him to abandon Malenia. His flesh, sure. His power, sure. But unless we're wildly mistaken about who and what he is, Miquella's interests involve defying the gods and fate so that he can cure his sister. And who would be more diametrically opposed to Marika than the Gloam Eyed Queen, the woman who specialized in killing gods?

She obviously might be dead, but death doesn't really seem to be stopping anyone from being present or causing problems.

I think Miquella is investigating the nature of Death and Shadow, because the existence of these things proves an existence outside of the Order and Light, and therefore something removed from the influence of an outer god. Hell, he has to make us his own sites of grace, from what it looks like.

What do you think?

#elden ring #elden ring theory #miquella the unalloyed #queen marika the eternal #the gloam eyed queen

[beesmygod]

BLOODBORNE LORE Q+A PART 2: CAINHURST STATUES

part 1

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THE HUNTER ASKS:

all the statues in yharnam are weird. even the ones that look normal are so fucking weird. nearly every statue in this game hints at something much larger and stupider than we ever could have imagined.

before we start, for clarity's sake, the chalice dungeons are comprised of four major areas: pthumeru (the largest area and the aforementioned "tomb of the gods", it is a city that rose and fell eons before yharnam), the hintertomb (previously explained), ailing loran (a long ruined city whose fate echoes the fate of yharnam), and great isz (a dungeon that is overlapping with "the cosmos" and is of great story importance). they are NOT main game content. some people completely skip them because they appear to be repetitive and are honestly kind of boring. and yet....

this ties into castle cainhurst's "normal" statues. the first clue something is off is that all the knight statues are missing the right leg. all of them. and not in an uneven way that would imply they were knocked off by some art hating maniac.

it wasn't until the DLC came out that this became retroactively significant. the item description for the old hunter's trousers reads:

A widespread belief of the period was that "beast blood crept up the right leg," and this led to the double-wrapped belt.

the dlc takes place in the time of the old hunters, the distant past. but the knights predate the hunters, right? they have to. the rifle spear was said to be based on a "lost cainhurst weapon". its a pale and poor imitation of the reiterpallasch. and the statues...

the statues in cainhurst clog up rooms to much that they make moving around difficult. they're all the same 4 statues: a queen, a king, a different queen holding a child holding an orb (?), and a tasteful contrapposto nude. i cannot stress how many of these fucking things are just lying around or shattered around the castle. the depictions of the generic king and queen (in truth, these are recreations of statues around notre dame) match depictions in other parts of the game but absolutely no mention is made of their rule now or in the past.

how old is the cainhurst lineage?

old. really, really, old.

here's the only other place you can find the statues: as gold statuettes in the treasure rooms of the pthumeru dungeons

ah, and i know what you're thinking: obviously this is just fromsoft re-using assets in that classic sloppy late game kind of way. but there's. more. a lot more. its not just this.

its so old that the armor you see in the throne rooms and a portrait of a knight in cainhurst castle can be found scattered throughout the lowest parts of the labyrinth.

in modern cainhurst, the fellow above has been transformed through dastardly means into the gargoyle-esque enemy called the "child of antiquity". "bastard of cainhurst" probably would have been a better and more thematically appropriate name.

he is not the only cainhurstian (?) depicted on the this wall of what you probably thought was reused concept art. its probably that. but its something else too. you know who else is in these paintings and also in the chalice dungeons?

her.

in the sinister chalice descriptions ("sinister" being a modifier that adds her to the dungeon for extra challenge) she is described as a "mad pthumerian". h-how can she be a pthumerian if she's a cainhurst noble?!

have you noticed that bloodlickers will appear in chalice dungeon rooms where you've preformed a visceral attack? the only other place they're found in the game is cainhurst! they're read to be blood drunk nobles who have become vampiric like mosquitos or ticks. why are they in the dungeons??

there's also this cainhurst knight who continues to live and serve his queen. i believe one of his guaranteed encounters is at the very bottom floors of the labyrinth. how did he get down there??

did he get down there?

or...did they come up? the subjects of the portraits are pale and thin.

"The old nobles, long-time imbibers of blood, are no strangers to the sanguine plague[...]"

how old? how long have they been imbibing blood? they've experienced blood plague before?!

why do both the bloody crow of cainhurst (one of annalise's knights who is evidently not a vileblood) and the shadows of yharnam (the entourage of queen yharnam) drop "blood rapture" runes which are deliberately vague about which queen the rune is in service to?

how old is the cainhurst lineage?! WHAT is the cainhurst lineage?! annalise, queen of the vilebloods, is the sole survivor of a massacre that wiped out the rest of the vilebloods (an ideologically charged name imposed on them by the church). she was left alive simply because she could not be killed but she was forced into a mask she cannot remove. but the mask does not prevent her from making us into a vileblood, as we only have to drink her blood to do so.

what could the mask be hiding? why does her dialog change when you unlock the lowest chambers of the labyrinth? how are there two undead queens?! (yucky item from bloodborne warning)

all hail the undying queen of blood!

#long post/ #bloodborne #forsaken castle cainhurst #bloodborne lore #this literally only discusses two of the statues in the game. im in trouble