#19.3 Unravel
It had been some time since Agni felt this nervous. Not even talking with Jinsung Ha recently had made him feel like this. He fiddled with the mask on his hand as he waited for Grace to come back. He had thought hard on how to deliver the news, but he knew that no matter how he phrased it, Grace would be upset. Velt nuzzled under his palm and Agni gave her a few pats, before deciding that she would be better inside her bowl in his lighthouse, just in case the shinsu acted up around Grace after he received the news.
Grace came back wearing the comfiest shirt and shorts Agni knew Grace liked to wear on lazy days. He joined him on the floor, and they ate dinner together. Agni always finished last, so while waiting for him to finish his meal, Grace told him about his day with Bam. Grace was intrigued by how much his way of thinking had changed, and how glad he was to be able to be by Bam's side when he was having a bad day. It reminded Agni of the hidden floor, when Grace faced his sworn enemy.
They left the used bowls on the coffee table and went to brush their teeth. Afterwards, they turned off the light and went upstairs to sit on their bed. Grace's curious gaze never left him, and Agni curled his feet nervously.
Grace was the one who broke the silence. "So…what is it?"
Agni's breath hitched. This was the part he dreaded most. "I talked with the crocodile earlier. Did you know that he could manipulate stone already?"
"Huh." Grace needed a few seconds to let the information sink in. "Didn't Rak learn it on the Hell train? How does he know it?"
"Turns out our crocodile also traveled back to the past like us. He found the young crocodile and taught him."
"What?!" Grace gasped, wide eyed. "That means our Rak is–!!"
"He's dead." Agni quickly snuffed out that hope. They had been in delusion for long enough; it was time that they faced the bitter truth. "He suffered a fatal injury from the explosion. He couldn't have lasted long without proper help." Agni omitted the actual cause for Rak's death, but still kept his words true. "I'm sorry."
"…Oh." Grace looked lost, just like Agni was. His lips parted a little, but they closed before any sound escaped.
Agni gently squeezed Grace's hand, encouraging and comforting as he let the silence stretch on, giving Grace some time to process the information.
"Agni…" Grace whispered, "do you think Hatz and Isu…?"
Agni bit his lip and avoided his gaze, as the nightmare of that day replayed in his mind. He witnessed Hatz get his arms ripped off when trying to protect him. He could still recall the clang of a sword hitting the floor, and Hatz's suppressed scream that gnawed deep at his guilt. He witnessed Isu get beheaded after being taken hostage, the memory of warm blood painting them both still vivid like it happened yesterday.
Agni refused to acknowledge their possible deaths, because it felt like a nightmare that one day he could hopefully wake up from. He avoided the topic when Grace brought it up, so he wouldn't have to say it aloud and make it real. He had been so hard on himself, because he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he had failed Grace and everyone else involved.
Agni knew this had to change if he wanted to live better, now that they had gotten a second chance. So he swallowed down the lump in his throat that had built up over the years and asked mostly to himself; "What are the odds of their survival?"
"There's always a chance–"
"Grace." Agni looked him straight in the eye. "They were already severely injured before the explosion hit."
Grace fell silent and went still.
Agni felt a pang of guilt upon witnessing Grace's reaction. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap." Agni fiddled with his hands. He realized that he didn't know how much Grace knew of what happened. "My scar…do you know how I got it?"
"I…was told it was from the family heads' battle." Grace looked thoughtful. Agni knew he was trying to be careful with his words. "A stray attack?"
"It could have been worse." The memory of the scorching heat on his skin felt like it had only happened yesterday. He passed out right when he was about to heal Isu, and only found out later that he also lost sweetfish at that time. The days he spent recovering from the burn, to withstand the excruciating pain every second he was conscious, and finally coming to terms that it'd be a permanent scar, was one of the turning points that had changed him forever. Were Grace not there to care for him, he might have ended up destroying himself even more.
Agni hadn't realized he had his left hand clawing on his cheek until Grace pried his hand off and frowned, "You're doing it again."
"Maybe I should wear the mask…" Agni muttered to himself. After all, Grace gave it to him less so he could hide the scar but more to prevent him from unconsciously hurting himself. The only time he could safely take it off was when Grace was around.
Agni bit his lip nervously when Grace didn't reply. He no longer had the courage to look Grace in the eye that spoke so much concern, so he leaned close and rested his head on Grace's chest. "Rak, Isu, Hatz and Hwaryun were trying to get me out of that damned place. But we were caught while escaping, and…it was a bloodbath. I was…too occupied to react to the incoming heat. Rak shielded us from the explosion. And when I woke up…"
"They weren’t with you," Grace finished it for him after Agni trailed off a moment too long.
Agni nodded dazedly, "I've been telling myself that they're still alive, after a blow that could kill rankers. But…who am I kidding? I was lucky enough to survive with just this little–" Agni vaguely pointed to himself– "inconvenience."
Agni felt a hand gripping his arm, and he pulled away to see Grace looking at him with a pained expression. His eyes were glossy and his lips were pulled into a thin line. Trusting his instinct, Agni reached out to gently trace and cup Grace's cheek with his free hand.
"I'm sorry," Agni muttered. "I'm sorry, for not telling you sooner."
Agni silently witnessed tears that streamed down on his love's face. It was a bitter sight that Agni wished he'd never have to see again, that he had tried to avoid for so long by not telling him. He pulled Grace in and held him close to his chest, as if Agni was trying to gather his own crumbled heart back together.
Grace mumbled their late best friends' names as he held onto him tighter, shaking from each breath he took between sniffles.
Agni felt his own eyes sting with unshed tears. He remembered the years he spent climbing the tower together with his old team. Despite their banter being his source of headaches, Agni knew he too had come to acknowledge them as his cherished friends. Only when they were gone did Agni realize how much he'd miss having them around. Seeing the younger them didn't exactly close the gaping hole in his heart, but at least the emptiness was more filled.
Agni squeezed Grace tighter. "We have their younger selves with us now. We will protect them better this time."
Grace only nodded and sank further into his embrace. And Agni planted kisses on his hair, relishing the thought that after everything he had gone through, Grace was still a constant in his life. As long as he had him, everything would be okay.
When Grace started shaking again, Agni caressed his hair and hummed a comfort song they had known by heart. Still, it didn't make falling asleep any easier for Agni, especially not after admitting that his nightmare was very much real. However, as he had been through grief…this, too, would pass.
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The Veil and the history of the universe
I've been thinking about some connections between certain very specific concepts for a while now and mostly about how they relate to what we know about the Veil. It started with wondering about the reason for Lightfall's Collector's Edition books to bring back the concept of the OXA Machine and give us extra knowledge about it.
From there, it spiralled into more similar concepts that connect other prediction technologies, the Vex, the Darkness and most importantly how Maya Sundaresh seems to be involved with all of them. There's a lot of little details in a lot of different places about this (as well as from different times of Destiny, including one very interesting one from vanilla D1).
It's not really a theory or an attempt to solve everything, but more like an interesting dive into some possible overall connections between concepts that tend to repeat, most of which are tied to the new discoveries about the Darkness; how it's connected to the psychic aspects like memory, fear, pain and so on.
Contents:
The OXA Machine and the Psions
Inspiral raid lore book
The Device of the Future War Cult and Maya Sundaresh
The Veil
Since my line of thinking started with OXA, I will also start with the OXA here.
The OXA
What is the OXA Machine? Originally mentioned in the Collector's Edition booklet for Destiny 2 which is about Calus recounting his conquests and all of the actors that betrayed him in the Midnight Coup, the OXA is a "clairvoyant Psion machine." It's assumed the Psions made it and it was destroyed when the Psions were conquered by the Uluran. However, years later, a Psion scientist called Otzot rebuilt it and this time, Calus ordered for it to be captured and used. He also freed Otzot so she was known as "Freeborn Otzot." She joined the coup against him because he wanted to free all Psions and she feared that would ruin her unique position as the only free Psion.
It was also mentioned by the Psion Match, who wrote the entries in the lore book Confessions. Match was a councilor to Calus during his exile and wrote many entries on Calus' descent into what we know him as. Match writes the following (and gives it a possibility that the Psions simply inherited this machine and didn't make it originally):
Now I think of the OXA Machine, eternally lost and eternally rebuilt, passed down from civilization to civilization like a ship's black box.
This was a fairly vague concept, but we can easily figure out what this thing was: it's a machine used for storing information and prediction, much like any other in the Destiny universe. It wasn't used much as anything other than background flavour and you may know it from the strike Insight Terminus which mentions the OXA and Otzot in the dialogue at the end of the strike. We'll get to that a bit later.
For some reason, OXA was returned with extra details in Lightfall's Collector's Edition. It massively expands what the OXA is and gives the full description of what the acronym means. Page 13 in this transcript (chapter named "I am thirty-five years old" in Caiatl's book):
"The Odyle Xenotaph Anarchive. Sometimes OXTA, depending on how you construct the acronym. The alien oracle that led us to the graves of Aark." Must be wary, now. OXA is a Psion myth, and the Psions are a sensitive topic. My father wants to free them from bondage. "It claimed to record the story of the galaxy, and to prophesize what may yet come."
"A black box for galactic civilizations, if you prefer it in pilor's terms.” The Evocate-General nods to the pin on my right pauldron. I am conscious of my shaved-down tusks, of the sores left by the fighter's interface. "The doomed and the damned left the record of their downfall in the OXA."
The full name - Odyle Xenotaph Anarchive - isn't random gibberish. The odyle is a reference to the Odic force. This force (od, odyl or odyle) was thought to be responsible for some natural phenomena like magnetism, hypnotism, electricity or light. It was primarily tied to the human nervous system and relied on people's natural psychic sensitivity to perceive it or feel it. In this context it's most likely being used to represent some form of mental/psychic way of being influenced by or using this machine. In order to access it, one must have psychic abilities to access the source of this primordial source, like the Psions, who made (?) and remade it.
A xenotaph is most likely a play on the word cenotaph; a cenotaph is a symbolic grave built for someone or multiple people when there are no actual remains to bury. Literally, it's an "empty tomb." Here, the term swapped to "xeno" to indicate "alien." A xenotaph most likely means that it's a tomb of alien cultures which is also explained in the full definition given to Caiatl: it is literally a recording of dead alien civilisations. Similarly to a cenotaph, it's also technically an empty tomb; it's not direct remains of these civilisations, just a record of them.
An anarchive is a really tough concept to explain, but basically where the archive is simply a collection of information, an anarchive is the process of engaging, analysing and changing of the archival information for new and future purposes. This is possibly where the predictive aspect of the OXA comes in; the OXA holds information of the past civilisations, requires a powerful psychic to access and allows them to engage with this archive and come out with new information about the future, "prophesising what may yet come."
So in conclusion, the OXA is a psychic link to the history of the universe which allows those with special abilities to not only access this information, but also engage with it and learn of possible future events.
Why add this information for Lightfall? The OXA has always been more of a curiosity of an alien culture, not some sort of a major plot point. But when they take a past curiosity and add new information to it, much like with Nezarec, it may signify some sort of importance in the future.
As I mentioned earlier, pretty much the only time OXA was mentioned directly in game was in Insight Terminus strike. The Vex had information about the OXA and the Psion Kargen was trying to access it through the Vex. Two different lines at the end of the strike mentioning OXA:
Hmm, there’s only one data artifact here, labelled “OXA,” and it’s seriously corrupted. Metadata says it was last accessed by an “Otzot” centuries ago.
And:
There’s an almost unreadable data artifact here, labelled “OXA.” It’s heavily corrupted, but I’m able to make out “MSund12” from the access log.
The Vex records show that the OXA was last accessed by Otzot, but that it was also accessed by MSund12. This is Maya Sundaresh. So in one go we have a link between the Vex, the Psions and Maya Sundaresh who was a Golden Age scientist. They were all aware of and able to access the OXA.
There's one more Psion that mentions the OXA, in the Sisters weblore which is from Season of Dawn and relates to the Psion sisters that hijacked Osiris' Sundial. When they discovered the Sundial and inspected it, they were happy to find a machine that allowed to manipulate time and offer predictions. One of the sisters, Tazaroc, compared the Sundial to the OXA, but noted that the Sundial was better:
“It is so clear,” said Niruul, reverent. “An unobstructed glimpse into what was and what will be.”
“Not the troubled ramblings of a mad thing, like the OXA,” said Tazaroc.
Tazaroc considers the OXA to be "a mad thing" and that it only offered "troubled ramblings." The Sundial is far superior in its design somehow, but it's important to ask the following: do the Sundial and the OXA tap into the same (or at least similar) source? Are there other similarities between the two besides just the ability to look through time?
What should we take from this section? There is a great repository of knowledge and information about the history of the universe and the species that inhabited it which is stored and documented somewhere and it is possible to access and interact with it. The OXA is one example of this as presented through Psions and how they utilised it.
Inspiral
The lore book for Root of Nightmares raid is a curious one. The whole concept is that each entry in this book (10 total) is a record of the past that left an imprint of itself... somewhere. Each entry begins with a description of who left this information and how.
The first entry is immediately relevant here. It starts with a description of the recording:
It most definitely fits the feel of there being some sort of "black box for galactic civilisations" where data fragments are left to "mark their passing." This first entry is about the Ecumene, an alien conglomerate of species that united together to form the Ecumene itself. They are also extensively documented in the Books of Sorrow, as the Hive have came across them and wiped them out.
In this lore tab, we learn a little bit more about them. Their space was called the Habitable World and it consisted of a lot of different species joined together in the Ecumene through the power of the Deep. Aka the Darkness. This is interesting because we'd always think that any species alligned with the Darkness would be evil, like the Hive. Hell, the Hive themselves wiped out the Ecumene, despite essentially being tied to the same force. But obviously, now we know that the Darkness is not a uniformed force. It too has factions and different types of use.
The Ecumene were specialised in using the psychic aspect of the Darkness. The first entry, The Habitable World reads (still not on Ishtar and I will omit the big screenshots and just paste the text):
Meanwhile our Habitable World always grew. We offered the Fathomless Deep to any who wished to learn of our synergy, and it glossed the way to become more than we were.
And:
A new client-species drank of the Deep and understood the World as we tasted it.
And:
In the Deep may we be kept.
The third entry in the raid lore book, The Art of Symbiosis, is similarly interesting. It's a memory of the alien species called Qugu, also attacked and wiped out by the Hive. The title of the chapter refers to what we know of the Qugu from the Books of Sorrow; they are a species bound in symbiosis with another life form that they need to live. It begins with:
The Qugu were able to enter some form of altered state of consciousness known as "night-trances" to access past memories. This is noted by them to be an ability related to the Darkness.
I still hear from our parents, from our great-parents, distantly in my night-trances. And there are those nectar-made moments -- you know the ones, when you turn your thoughts to the Darkness and just listen, and the long sum of Qugu history graven there reflects dark-comforting advice.
And:
I have lived out my life with the tenebrous warmth of our ancestors over me like a (cloak/atmosphere?) between us and nothingness.
And:
I miss you. Funny, isn't it? How can you miss someone when you know they're always in the Dark? I close my eyes, and in the warm nest-hide of sleep, I know you are real and happy and out there on some other part of the world, far from the river, far from the [untranslatable] where our ancestors (dream/exist) together.
Both of these species had a connection with Darkness that was built exclusively on the aspect of the mental which is the domain of Darkness. As explained by Osiris in Lightfall, the Light is the domain of the physical, while the Darkness is the domain of the psychic, the mental. Darkness controls fear and pain and thought and memory. These species utilised their knowledge of the Darkness to form entire civilisations where these powers are crucial aspects of their lives.
The lore book details other characters and species that left their data fragments in what appears to be the memory of the universe. While some may have left their data fragments on purpose (like the Ecumene and the Qugu who mastered this Darkness ability), it's unclear if leaving a trace of your existence and your memories is voluntary.
For example, entry four, The Dark Below, is from Eris and entry seven, Irae, is from Mara who are both skilled in Darkness but it's not entirely clear why they would leave the few specific thoughts they had as data fragments on purpose; both entries are personal instead of representing their species. Entry five, The Brass Gardeners, is from the Vex who don't understand paracausality so it's unclear how they would leave the data fragment on their own. Entry six, Dark Glass, is from a Ghost recounting his close encounter with Darkness; again, this is a personal story, not a representation of Ghosts. However, consider that the Qugu entry is also a personal tale, it just happens to tell us more about the Qugu as a species as a byproduct.
Speaking of entries five and six, they're somewhat connected. Entry five, from the Vex, is heavily related to the Black Heart. Entry six is from a Ghost called Piri which we know from the context clues in the text. Piri is the Ghost of Lisbon-13, the only surviving member of the fireteam called Kentarch-3 who explored the Black Garden.
What do we have now with all this combined? Much like the OXA, we have information about how the Darkness is a repository of memory and history, how different species used it as a civilisational tool for collecting and sharing thoughts through psychic means. Even the Vex have somehow tapped into this, despite not being able to understand paracausality, though we do know that they tried, and they tried especially with the Black Heart which is a product of their attempts to recreate the Veil.
The Device of the Future War Cult and Maya Sundaresh
The Future War Cult was established in the Golden Age by Maya Sundaresh. Maya and her team experimented with a device, creatively named the Device, which was built on Vex technology.
We built the device in mimicry of the Vex gateway systems from Ishtar. An observatory, yes, but I think of it as a mind-ship. Capable of displacing its payload across space and time.
They experimented with it by letting different test subjects connect to it and observe what they see. Connecting with the Device had a lot of negative effects on people. A lot of them went mad with exposure, some died following exposure (note that going mad is a common thread with the OXA as well). Maya and her team eventually stoped their work with the Device, but the Device survived and was used again for tests by the contemporary Future War Cult during the City Age.
They acquired new test subjects and began letting them enter the Device to use it in order to experiment with the predictive Vex technology it was built on. It was crucial to the FWC and even their new leader, Lakshmi-2 was frequently using it. This is the source of their core belief that war is always coming and that they must always prepare for it.
This is interesting to us here because it's fairly similar to the OXA and what we've discussed so far. The OXA and the Device and even the Sundial to an extent are all predictive technologies tapping into some form of a source where the vast knowledge of the universe's history and future is held. It relies on a psychic connection to establish a link and to see through time. A lot of this is also built on Vex technology or ties in with the Vex in some form.
A very interesting bit here is the logs that the Future War Cult made from the experiments held in contemporary time, during the City Age. One of the test subjects exposed to the Device spent thirty minutes inside of the Device experiencing various visions and other sensations. Full log of her experience:
At 11:03 she reported a sensation of floating. At 11:06, a sensation of lights within the darkness of the Device. Between 11:06 and 11:32 she reported these lights variously as white, golden, and blood-red. At 11:32 she reported a sensation of someone taking her hand; a stranger, but also herself. Twelve subjects have reported similar experiences. At 11:33 she reported the sensation we have called "The Opening Of The Veil." The Device recorded temporal displacement of her consciousness to the order of six degrees. At seven she began screaming. Brainscans near-death. Removed from the Device at 11:34.
That's quite the line, isn't it? The Future War Cult logged a sensation that was presumably common enough among participants that it was given a name.
The Opening Of The Veil
Now, first, super important to note: this grimoire entry is literally from the beginning of the game. It's from vanilla D1. The game has gone under numerous changes for its plot and story. I feel like that's something that has to be said before jumping to conclusions. It could be a coincidence, something that feels more meaningful than it is.
However. Current writing can easily go back to what has been released, pick something and use it in the future, creating an apparent connection. This is such an evocative phrase right now, with current context, because...
The Veil
... has been described as a "physical manifestation of incomprehensible cosmic energy. Window into the mind and memory of the universe."
We consistently have this idea that there IS a memory of the universe's history and that records of it can be written and accessed through powerful psychic powers and mental links. The OXA records it, Inspiral records it. The Vex are a common theme of prediction engines and attempts at understanding this energy that permeates the universe. People peering into things like the OXA or the Device routinely get exposed to vast incomprehensible information about the past and the future, almost like they're accessing some common source where this information is stored.
While the concept of the odyle is not a real scientific thing, it might be a thing symbolically in the Destiny universe; a source of incomprehensible cosmic energy that functions on the basis of psychic connection. The Veil might be that odyle; a source from which the OXA and the Device and possibly the Vex (who have sought the Veil out in the form of the Black Heart) pull their information from.
The Veil might also be something akin to the OXA; like the OXA, the Veil is perhaps a similar device made by some civilisation somewhere to tap into this cosmic energy which is capable of connecting consciousness and allowing access to history and memory. This might be closer to the truth given the raid lore where Nezarec explains to us that the Veil is "the sapid secret of its [The Witness'] first victims." Whoever they are, perhaps they had the Veil and used it in the same way the Psions used the OXA; to access the memory of the universe and learn more about the past, but also about the future as well.
The sensation that FWC called "The Opening Of The Veil" might be describing that moment when someone successfully accesses this source, this odyle, where they can experience this memory and see how the history can potentially evolve into future events.
It's also interesting that Maya Sundaresh seems to be quite involved in pretty much every aspect of this. She started with Vex research on Venus. She and her team ended up becoming Vex simulations and her Vex research led her to the creation of the Device. She was also known to have accessed the OXA. Maya eventually curiously ended up founding Neomuna, a place where the Veil is kept and used to build the CloudArk, another exploration of linking minds and consciousness in a quite similar way to how it was described by the Ecumene and the Qugu.
The timeline here is unclear, as ever. Maya followed her creation, Soteria, to Neptune. At the same time, the Veil somehow ended there as well. We know that the Veil was stored in Nezarec's ship until Savathun stole it from him and hid it on Neptune. Did she hide it prior to Soteria's and ultimately Maya's arrival? Or did it get there because Maya was already on Neptune and Savathun deliberately left it in her care? Did Maya follow the Veil or did the Veil follow Maya, given her possible previous experience in touching it by heavy exposure to the Vex Network, simulations, the OXA and the Device through which she has touched the source of the memory of the universe?
Even if there's no connection between most of these, there's still a common thread of how Darkness governs consciousness, thoughts, memory and all other mental states of being. It's not just a way to see these things, but also a way to transfer them, merge them and interact with them in other ways. And this is also apparent through strand:
As I understand it now, it is the elemental manifestation of psychic connection. All minds are connected in a web of consciousness, which we can now see and feel. To wield Strand is to pull on the hidden connecting threads, and to use them to create, manipulate, and unravel.
Strand, being a manifestation of the Veil, further strengthens this idea that the Veil either is the source of this web (the odyle, the force responsible for these phenomena) or is capable of tapping into it in a very powerful way. Strand was also familiar to the Neomuna founders who understood that the Veil emits a "paracausal byproduct."
One way or the other, there's an underlying thread about the Darkness and how it relates to memory, history and consciousness and how different civilisations have been using this power for billions of years in different ways. There's definitely a point somewhere in this whole pile of information about the Veil's origin and purpose in its abilities to link minds through psychic connection and how all of that connects to other attempts at the same thing; to see the past, to see the future, to transfer minds through time and space.
And ultimately, possibly, why the Witness needed the Veil in particular to create a portal; the Light of our Ghost to transfer its physical form and the Darkness of the Veil to transfer its consciousness. Out of all of these different machines and devices, only the Veil is flawless in its execution when it comes to consciousness and psychic powers.
A problem to think about further: if this is on the right track, why would the Vex want the Veil, why did they want to replicate it (did they have it before? Maybe they're the first victims?) and what would it do for them outside of possibly being the source of predictive technology which is a very tentative link?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading and that it makes some sense. As usual, if it activates brainworms and gives you ideas, feel free to comment, suggest, correct or add anything!
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It happened in London - or a not so brief essay on Sinnettini, friendzone and what Italian goalkeeper Gigio Donnarumma has to do with them
Since after the Davis Cup and the meeting with the President of the Italian Republic the Sinnettini ship has made a comeback, today your friendly neighborhood tumblr user schumiatspa wants to take a trip down memory lane and share her humble headcanon on it
(The title is obviously a tribute to Friends and the iconic episode where Joey found out about Monica and Chandler)
Everybody and their mother knows that I live laugh love breathe for Sincaraz, and Sinnettini is not it for me, BUT even I have to admit that once upon a time there was something there: Jannik's gay awakening. In my humble opinion, some years ago (let's say 2021?) Jannik liked Matteo. I mean, how can someone not? Jannik really saw an older hot funny fellow italian player, fighting his way up the ladder and being crowned as Italy's new tennis star, and obviously his teenager hormones couldn't help but join the conversation - one day our young innocent carrot found out that wow, I might be not so straight anymore. Cue to a very likely mental breakdown because I think young Jannik had the emotional capacity and range of a tennis ball (now he is getting better, but boy was he a disaster before).
But if you look closely to the lore, you'll see that little to no Sinnettini was happening in the last years. Jannik was young, getting his first important trophies and wins, being called up in the national team, trying to navigate the madness that the ATP tour is, while Matteo was already famous and established, going as far as playing a Wimbledon final against Djokovic. And that specific day is THE day that inspired this entire post.
July 11, 2021, London: a great day for italian sport. Not only is an Italian tennis player (for the first time in history) playing the Wimbledon final in the afternoon, but after that Italy national football team is gonna play the Euro2020 final against England, in Wembley. We all know what happened: after a promising first set, Matteo lost to Djokovic, whereas in the evening Italy won against England at penalties, in front of 67000 people and Matteo, who was in the stands to watch the match. But what non Italian people might not know is that Matteo clearly fell in love with one of our players that day: our goalkeeper and star of the night Gianluigi "Gigio" Donnarumma (the man right here).
What seduced Matteo? Gigio's brilliant performance (he saved the last two penalties)? His innocent face? His cuddly teddy bear behavior? The fact that Gigio is one of the few people matching Matteo's height? The fact they are both sponsored by RedBull? Who knows. What we know for sure is that during the post-match interviews, they were together and Matteo was absolutely touchy-feely with him (Tumblr is hating me rn so I hope the links work). And he was very passionate about him during the match too (you can find proof here at 1.00). Or in the following months (he did not have to tag Gigio in that video, but he did anyway. Okay Matteo you do you I guess).
The things is: Gigio didn't reciprocate. And before you start booing him because how can someone say no to the Matteo Berrettini, the reason is very simple: at the time, at least according to Italian footieblr's expertise, Gigio was in a relationship of some sort with one of the hottest Italian football player/big dilf. Him:
His name is Salvatore Sirigu, my dear readers. Being able to reject one of hottest athletes in Italy because you are already dating another of the hottest athletes in Italy: that's the dream and Gigio lived it. Anyway, what does this have to do with Sinnettini?
Well, obviously this one of the reasons Matteo wouldn't reciprocate Jannik's feelings. The important thing that I want to point out again here is that over the past years (even up to last year) Jannik and Matteo weren't friends, just friendly with each other. And they said so themselves, at least Matteo did: in an interview from last year, he said that "he is very close with Sonego, and Musetti" but "he doesn't talk as much with Sinner, but it's normal, because you can't be friends with everybody". Again, my humble headcanon about this is that Matteo knew about Jannik's feelings (I wouldn't hazard a guess and say that Jannik confessed, but maybe he let something slip) and this kind of cooled down their relationship (not intentionally, but things might get awkward in these situations, so yeah).
BUT - and I swear I'm getting to the end of this long rant - we all know that they have a great relationship now. Why? Well, I'd say a bunch of reasons: the Davis Cup helped for sure, they have grown and matured blablabla but the main reason would be a cute young guy from Murcia (don't be surprised that the final conclusion is about Carlitos - everything should be about him). Jannik is not harboring feelings for Matteo anymore, because he has Carlitos in his life now, so I think this greatly helped create a true bond between Matteo and Jannik.
So Jannik has Carlitos, but who does Matteo have (not Gigio, but I think he is not interested in him anymore anyway)? That's up to you. Casper? Might be. Is he single? Also possible. Do you still think that Sinnettini should be endgame? I'm sorry you don't understand the amazing vision that Sincaraz is, but that's okay too. Is Matteo just focusing on his recovery? Great, because we really need his comeback.
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Deku’s hero costume and indicating tonal shifts within a story
This post builds on everything I mentioned in a previous one, and highlights the brilliance in Horikoshi’s character design. To be more specific, the brilliance in Deku’s design and his hero costume. I also want to start this post by saying that I am an artist myself, and while I’m always learning new things, I do have some knowledge and understanding of color theory and character design. Now, on the surface, Deku is purposely made to look as non-threatening as possible. He has very few sharp edges, his face is round, his eyes are round, and he has very curly hair. Furthermore, when you learn art and character design, one of the fundamentals is understanding how shapes affect the audience’s perception of the character. It’s a very complicated subject and shape language can be used in various ways, but to simplify: sharp edges and triangle shapes indicate harshness or intimidation, square shapes indicate stability and balance, and circles or round shapes indicate softness and gentleness. Izuku falls under the category of circle shapes and as previously stated without his hero costume, particularly in the beginning of the story before he loses more of his innocence, he looks relatively harmless. But let’s take a look at his first hero costume…
His first hero costume is very bright, with a mint green and white & red accents. Izuku has just begun his hero journey, and he has not had any pressure placed on his shoulders yet (except his need to not be useless and prove himself as having value due to his trauma from years of being looked down on for his quirklessness). He doesn’t know about the true history of one for all, or all for one. He hasn’t even encountered shigaraki yet. The use of highly saturated and bright colors are supposed to look odd on purpose, because this costume was designed by an bright eyed child who simply wants to be a hero, and not by a pro who’s been training for this moment for years. Furthermore, the light color scheme fits the idea of a positive protagonist who wants to goes into everything he does with an upbeat attitude. Think of Superman, who also have very saturated, bright colors in his design, and is another character is is known for his optimism. It should also be noted that the shaped in the hero costume are much sharper compared to deku himself. The stripe pattern, the utility belt, and elbow/knee guards are all very angular. This then can be taken in two different, yet connected directions. Deku, despite coming off as a harmless character, is able to function well as a hero right from the start because of his intelligence and ability to think on his feet. He’s an analyzer who takes his time to dissect his opponent’s weaknesses, and therefore one could say that he holds the capacity of being a very grounded character. Sound familiar? That is the square shape doing its job of conveying another aspect to Izuku that is best seen when he is in action as a hero. Thus, Izuku’s inner strength, reliability, and strong will are conveyed through square shapes in his costume. However, the angular nature of the same design patterns I’m mentioning, in addition to the pointy all might ears on his head, could also be hinting at Izuku’s ferocity in battle. I’ve already mentioned in a previous post I linked at the start of this but will link again just in case you don’t want to scroll up again lol, that Izuku has an intense, repressed inner rage that stems from his childhood trauma and self loathing. The sharp edges in his hero costume allude to this fact, but it can easily ignored since the color scheme is so bright and positive— his inner darkness can be overlooked by Izuku’s positive exterior. But let’s take a look at deku’s 2nd hero costume, and how it indicates a shift in Izuku’s character.
It should first be noted that Izuku only puts on this costume After the sports festival. The festival is where the process of an insurmountable amount of pressure being put on Izuku’s shoulders begins. He learns about the true legacy of One For All, he learns about his destiny to fight All For One, and he is told that he has to become the next symbol of peace and therefore has to have an “I am here” moment. All of these things are responsibilities that Izuku was never previously told about, and was never given any indication that he had to worry about. Thus, Izuku’s mental health begins taking a serious downward decline starting at this arc. This decline, or regression, follows him for the rest of the series all culminates in the vigilante arc. I won’t go into too much detail about that, because as previously stated I’ve already gone in depth about it, but I am mentioning this because this costume perfectly represents the beginning of Izuku’s regression. The color is much darker, and instead of white accents there are black ones. I cannot emphasize enough how big a deal it is for a superhero to change costumes to wear a much darker one. Spider-Man is the most well known case of this, as all of his darker toned or black suits often indicate a dark time in his life where he struggles with his inner rage and weight of responsibility. Does this sound familiar? Horikoshi loves heros such as Spider-Man, and that is why quirks such as blackwhip and danger sense are based off of Spider-Man’s abilities. It wouldn’t be much a stress to assume that is where Horikoshi also got the idea of making deku’s suit darker from. Therefore, Deku putting on his darker suit after he begins his slow downward spiral serves as foreshadowing to the audience that all is not well with our protagonist. While it may look better than his last, because he has become more mature and thoughtful about his choices, what it represents is not come-Worley positive. Furthermore, the hints of white, the remnants of his first costume, serve to show the remaining innocence he has left, or will have left by the time he stops wearing this version of the costume. It’s not much, buts it’s a beacon of hope that maybe it’s not too late.
By the time Izuku unlocks his shoot style, even more black is added to his costume in the form of his leg armor and his iron soles. He shifts to the shoot style after the summer camp and Bakugo retrieval arcs, which were very intense and traumatic events for him. He’s developing his own identity outside of allmight, which is positive, but the increasing amount of dark colors in his suit is concerning. His mental state is getting worse, he is continuing to enter a darker phase in his life, and it is happening at a slow enough pace that most other characters do not notice what is happening. Surprisingly, his costume does not change much for most of the future arcs. From a strictly character design perspective, this makes sense, as constantly changing a characters costume can make them less recognizable and thus alienate them from the audience. Plus, it’s simply easier to draw because the author will always know how the character is supposed to look. But, this could also be a sign of how Izuku tries even harder to put forth a positive persona while at the same time hiding what he is going through. We all know that things get worse before they get better, so let’s look at another costume change…
We don’t have many colored versions of Dark Deku yet, but from what we do have we can see how much work horikoshi put in his design to make it as menacing as possible. From the tattered costume, to the muddied colors, to Deku’s facing being hidden by a mask and cowl full of sharp edges, with only his pupils being visible. One thing about character design that I haven’t mentioned yet is the effect of showing/not showing a characters face. With characters, seeing their faces tends to make the viewers relate to them more, as we can more clearly see their facial expressions and make eye contact with them. Covering a character’s face purposefully creates a disconnect between them and the viewer. Think of characters who have something to hide, or struggle to be emotionally vulnerable. The personas of Batman vs Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man vs Peter Parker are comic book examples of characters who present themselves very differently as super heroes compared to their civilian forms, and wear masks that cover most of if not all of their faces. Furthermore, that is why in many Spider-Man movies the character will take off his mask a lot, even if it is mid-fight, because the audience needs to see his face in order to connect with him during those important moments.
Now with Izuku, as previously stated, we don’t see any of his face except his pupils while he is in his Dark Deku form. We are instantly disconnected from him. That is also why we’ve rarely seen deku wear his mask up until this point— even though we knew that it was always there as a part of his costume. The only other time that deku wears his mask for a significant amount of time is with his first costume, and when we is trying to simply imitate all might instead of trying to be his own hero (just as a lot of bright-eyed children would do when it comes to their innocent wish of wanting to be like their hero). He is trying to run from his emotions and who he is as Izuku Midoriya by hiding behind the persona of the Hero Deku, the 9th holder of One For All whose only purpose and source of value is to defeat All For One. Only when he takes the mask off at the end of the arc do we finally get to see genuine emotion from him. In addition, during this arc Deku is incredibly aggressive and vengeful. He has very little patience for his opponents. This is emphasized by the fact that there are almost no soft edges in his costume at this point. With it being torn to shred, there are shard and jagged edges everywhere you look. It may be a pain to draw, but it’s worth it for the effect it achieves. Any source of light colors are also gone. The white accents, which once represented the little innocence that Izuku had left as he continued to be plunged into the darkness of the hero system, are completely gone. His white gloved are now a dark brownish color, and even the dark green of his costume has become even darker. He’s so dirty that in many drawing of this form he is even drawn in all black, furthering the parallels between him and other comic book heroes with dark forms. He is the embodiment of despair and rage, thus cementing this costume as one that, in the words of civilians within the manga, “would never guess is a hero”.
Now this leads us to Izuku’s final costume change. Once again, we don’t have many colored pieces of this one and the ones we do have don’t show his entire body. However, we can notice some things about the color. Gran Torino’s cape is not longer just a thrown on addition, and instead Deku’s entire costume feels more cohesive and inclusive of the cape. Not only that, but the specific shade feels more like the color gold than a plain yellow. Gold is a color that often signifies success, and is commonly seen as the color of champions. Izuku is ready to finish this story, the legacy of one forand for all (lol, get it). But this time, he’s ready to do it with the help of his friends. That is what makes him a champion, instead of the villainous persona he had when he tried to complete OFA’s legacy on his own. Furthermore, the main color of his costume is much darker, and almost looks black. Izuku has been through a lot dating back to when he was a little kid, and he has a lot of trauma. He’s tried to run from that trauma all his life, but by the end of the vigilante/villain hunt arc, he finally is able to confront it in a healthy way with the help of his friends. He’s finally healing, and while he will never be able to get the childhood and innocence that he lost back, he can still find comfort and human connection as he moves toward a better future. Similarly, much of the lighter, more highly saturated colors on Deku’s costume will never come back. Gold is not a color often seen on children, and thus his costume is much more mature than his previous ones. While it may be bittersweet seeing our protagonist all grown up, the use of color and return to similar shape language signify that change is a part of life, and that at the end of the day a person will still be the same at their core. What matters is finding hope and success in the darkness.
So what does this all mean in the context of the story at large? Well, since Izuku is our protagonist and we go through the story via his perspective, as he regresses, and his costume changes, the story changes. We enter BNHA with a comedic and lighthearted story. There’s plenty of gags, pretty black and white interpretations of good and evil, and a decent amount of relatively laid back chapters/episodes. But during the arc that stain is introduced, Deku’s costume changes because of his own issues, and the story gets darker. His story gains more black accents, and the story becomes even darker. Deku has is dark deku form, and the story is the darkest it’s ever been. But once deku changes into his final costume, the story is still dark, but there’s a sense of hope that things will get better. Deku has hope that he can save Shigaraki. Thus, Horikoshi masterfully uses color theory and shape language to shape Izuku Midoriya as a character, his regression, and the increasingly dark tone of the story through the eyes of our protagonist.
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