#lone wolf tlsq

[avidrawsthings]

What's Chiara and Reina's relationship like? And how did the Lone Wolf quest go for Reina?

They hit it off relatively well from the start and have remained great friends since then. As adults, Chiara was one of Reina's bridesmaids at her wedding, and is known as 'Auntie Chiara' by her kids. They absolutely adore her.

When they first met, Reina was drawn to Chiara's kindness while Chiara herself admired Reina's genuine honesty. It also helps that thanks to her upbringing, Reina never had any sort of prejudice against Werewolves.

They met much earlier on, back when they were assigned their dorms in their First Year. Although they exchanged friendly greetings, Chiara expressed preferring to be left alone. Reina was initially confused by this but respected her wishes regardless. Any exchanges they'd have were always polite at least.

They do eventually become friends by the end of their First Year. Going forward from there, Reina invited Chiara to her *Scape during every full moon so she could transform without worries about being exposed or hurting anyone. The repeated visits eventually grant Chiara her own Scape and key to go with it.

*To elaborate, Scape is also known as Dreamscape. It's where folks go when they fall asleep. The place can also be entered physically with a Scape Key. The appearance of Scapes depends on the individual. For folks like Reina and Chiara, it appears as a beautiful paradise.

I suddenly remembered in some old dialogue how Chiara expressed interest in learning how to skate, and Reina was more than happy to teach her. That became their bonding moment.

As nervous as she was, Chiara eventually got the hang of it.

Lone Wolf

As for the Lone Wolf quest, it'll be a bit tricky to explain since I made a ton of changes to the HP timeline in my au. One of those changes was that Lupin had been residing at Crystal Beach since 1981 since it's a safe haven for Werewolves. Chiara and Reina would have no reason to encounter him.

I've been playing with the idea that the central conflict of Lone Wolf was instead caused by R using some of their own Werewolf members, in a ploy to weed out the current Werewolf students and manipulate them into joining their cause.

I don't remember what year the original TLSQ was set in, so for now I have it at Year 3. Reina and Chiara have already been friends for over a year by that point.

#ask avi #hphm #hogwarts mystery #hphm mc #hphm reina #reina cortez oc #hphm chiara #chiara lobosca #long post

[ddejavvu]

hogwarts mystery spoilers, i suppose?

i'm completing the tlsq for halloween where you find out chiara is a werewolf, except, i started the game when it came out, and already ALMOST completed it once, meaning i am well aware that she's a werewolf. i've also completed the 'lone wolf' tlsq, where she introduces you to remus, and i take her on garden dates every day, trying to up her relationship level with me. long story short, her saying it was 'nice to finally meet me' after i just kissed her in hagrid's pumpkin patch twenty minutes ago made me giggle

#i love chiara #it's probably 'cause i love remus so much #but she's just so <33333

[missnight0wl]

I can't believe they put Jacob's theme song to the same scene as MC talking to Peregrine. Talk about insult to a great and once-meaningful tune.

I know, right? I had the same reaction when I played that chapter.

Although I have to point out that “Brother Theme” kind of lost its meaning a while ago already. For example, it was used in the “Lone Wolf” TLSQ after our duel with Chiara when MC finds the sunrise photography. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as insulting as with Peregrine, but… it doesn’t make sense either? Jacob had nothing to do with that situation. They could’ve at least made MC mention him somehow later on, like… I don’t know…

“It reminds me of Jacob, in a way. It’s hard now because he is missing/is in hiding, but there’s still hope we’re gonna be a happy family again.”

It really is a shame that Jam City apparently doesn’t care about the meaning behind this theme anymore. They basically turned it into “a generic emotional soundtrack”.

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm jacob #hphm peregrine #brother theme #jam city #ask #anonymous

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

ugh they keep releasing quests in early years it’s so annoying. this weasley party quest takes place in year 4, the hogsmeade festival (probably) takes place in year 4, & the scarlett quest takes place in year 3. they could at least distribute some of them to year 5 or something smh 🫤

At this point I think they have two ways forward to clean up the mess that is HPHM's continuity

1) They can go through all of the existing TLSQs and place them in different years, that make more sense. This is likely the easier of the two routes, but to do so, they'd need to make their peace with abandoning the approach of having the TLSQs drop as early as possible. My one worry about this is that they already pulled several of the game's existing quests for "fixing" (including Penny For Your Thoughts, a direct prequel to the Scarlett TLSQ) and have yet to put them back even though it's been years. Part of me doesn't want them to go this route because I worry what it would mean. But it's still more feasible than...

2) The second route, which is to go through every single chapter (and quest) in this game with a fine-toothed comb and add in alternative versions of the dialogue when needed for any combination of quests that may or may not have been completed by the player at this point. Yeah, I don't see them doing this, even if I think we'd all appreciate it. There are only a few major examples that really need fixing (Howling Halloween badly needs an alternate version for players who have completed Lone Wolf) but in general, there are a lot of little things that could use a bit of updating and revising and give this game's dialogue a lot more polish.

Jam City, whatever you decide to do, just be aware that there are currently a boatload of continuity errors. Most of them are small, but they really add up. How you choose to fix them is up to you, but please fix them.

#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #Jam City

[carewyncromwell]

“It's not so hard living all by yourself --  It isn't hard...yes, I know that's what you'll say.  It's what you have told yourself over and over again in darkness... You try to hold back all the thoughts, But you know -- I just want you as you are --  Just the you that I see right before me... It's all that has been on my mind...”

~“Lend Me Your Voice (English Dub)” from Belle (2021)

✧✵Lone Wolves Gameplay Masterpost✵✧

A series of gameplay posts based on Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery’s Lone Wolf, Animagus Adventure, and Flying Solo TLSQs, which chronicles how resident Slytherin paragon and “Mama Bear” Carewyn Cromwell befriended Chiara Lobosca and Talbott Winger, both of whom would go on to become two of her closest friends.

She Seems So...Lonely

The Hospital Wing

Questioning Pippa Macmillan

Chiara Reveals Her Secret

Remus Lupin

The Night of the Full Moon

The Morning Will Always Come

Does He Even Realize How Rude He’s Being?

Sneaking into Filch’s Office

The Animagus Potion

Speaking to McGonagall

Talbott’s Past

Confronting Merula

Learning Obliviate

When Not to Use It

Talbott Accepts Carewyn’s Help

Talbott’s a Poet and Yes, He Does Know It

Birds of a Feather

Prongs’s Solution

🦅 Bonus Materials

Chiara Character Playlist

Talbott Character Playlist 

Chiara/Carewyn Ship AU Playlist

AU Ship Ask (featuring Talbott and Chiara) 

Carewyn, Chiara, and Talbott in Divination (gameplay post)

Carewyn’s Opinion of Chiara

Carewyn’s Opinion of Talbott

Carewyn Discusses Her Inner Circle (including Chiara and Talbott)

Somewhere Only We Know (one-shot featuring Talbott and Carewyn)

Talbott Art Request - Auror!Talbott

Chiara Art Request - Carewyn Dresses Our Girl Up 

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #lone wolves #masterpost #chiara lobosca #talbott winger #carewyn cromwell #gameplay #roleplaying #minerva mcgonagall #merula snyde #rowan khanna #penny haywood #nymphadora tonks #remus lupin #aesthetic

[auroracrystal1]

Something exciting happened to me in the game ; My memory book, which was empty in the adventure section, has three TLSQs that I didn't have a chance to play: Weird sisters, Hagrid's birthday, and lone wolf.

So, I played 'the weird sisters' TLSQ, and I really enjoyed it.

Poet Myron

'So cool' Orsino

Silent Kirley

I had forgotten Hogwarts Mystery was so fun in the past, and I wasn't frustrated with MC after playing it.

Needless to say, Snape had such a hilarious role in this.

And for the first time in the game, I could show that I'm interested in Bill.

I don't know why Hogwarts Mystery never let us date a character

in the HP series.

Lol, classic Myron

And I didn't except that I would find new information about the original story too!

You know what does it mean, guys? These piece of information IS important. There are other TLSQs which I didn't have a chance to play, but only these three came to my memory book.

Hagrid's birthday is important, because we meet Amos Digory for the first time and he mentioned it in the game. Lone wolf is important, because we add Chiara in our friends' list after that.

But the only prize we get after this TLSQ: a super bad-ass outfit, AND these questions:

Who wrote this letter, and who did they send it to?

Did they break its course? If not, how did they survive? If so, why would they want to return?

also, oh my god, Kirley! You barely talk, but when you do, you talk so eloquently!!

PS: I wanted to send Kirley's questions all, but apparently you can't upload more than 10 pictures in tumblr

PS 2 : I just remembered, something. When I met Amos Digory for the first time in Y7 in the Ministry, one of us reminded that we had met in Hagrid's birthday party. Which as I said, never happened.

But in Y6, when Alanza introduced me to the weird sisters, they didn't mention they had met me before.

I'm not sure what to think about this inconsistencies, but I'm only sure about one thing : R's letter worths to be checked again.

#Hogwarts Mystery #HPHM #weird sisters #severus snape #bill weasley #hphm tlsq

[lampear]

Lone Wolf TLSQ triggered immediately after talk with Rowan.

I have seen walktrough from year 6 student POV, but energy/star requirements are different in dif years. I didn’t find them on reddit, as it was with Teachers TLSQ, so I’ll try to get that numbers myself. Maybe it was already done and it’s just me being really bad at searching.

This definitely is not super accurate, as at first I was taking screenshots to save funny students comments, overlapped energy doesn’t return to energy bar, instead progress just runs further, and I doubt that 5-en actions still give 6 progress points.

And I prefer to spend energy on stars, than let the timer expire, cause my max=28 it will be only two hours of waiting to full bar compared to three for timer.

So here, from year 2 student.

1.1: 1 star, 1 hour, probably 5+4+5+5+7, cause my energy got level up bonus and was dropping like 55-?-46-41-36-29, and at 51 I still didn’t get the first star. Total is 26.

1.2: 1 star, 3 hours, 28 to get three stars, .

1.3: talk with Chiara.

1.4: 5 stars, 1 hour, [23] energy was spent. Start making energy themed screenshots.

1.5: 1 star, 3 hours, (?)13+7+5+10+10.

*2h wait*

2.1: 5 stars, 1 hour, [24] energy spent.

2.2: 1 star, 3 hours, [10]+28(to fourth star)+?10(and there was overlap)

2.3: 1 star, 3 hours, [10]+40 cause I cannot figure how divide inside overlaps. I started shooting actions, not energy bar level at start and finish. Here it was [3+2+4+1]+4+5+3+2+4+4+3+2+4+3+3+2+1=50. 

2.4: 5 stars, 3 hours, [49] with two 5-en actions. Finished in one turn cause of morning, secret spots and adds.

2.5: 5 stars, 1 hour, [25]  with two 5-en actions.

*3h wait*

3.1: 5 stars, 3 hours, [49] three 5-en actions

3.2: 5 stars, 1 hour, [23] with one 5-en action.

3.3: 5 stars, 3 hours, [52] two 5-en actions.

*3h wait*

3.4: 5 stars, 8 hours, [81] ten 5-en actions, but it possible that I lost some energy in the last star.

4.1: 5 stars, 3 hours, [47] four 5-en actions.

4.2: duel.

4.3: 5 stars, 8 hours, [90] six 5 en actions.

Total time: 1d 22h.

Of course I found that information after finishing the quest and writing this post. Well, at least checked that 5 en really give 6 progress.

#hphm tlsq #hphm

[missnight0wl]

I’m sorry, but Snape having a soft spot for Chiara is one of the best parts of this quest.

Also, if you choose the option to tell that you need a Memory Potion to remember homework and Chiara gets upset after Snape’s refusal, he actually says: “Don’t cry, Lobosca... If it means this much to you, then I suppose, just this once...”

Although, I wasn’t very impressed by how subtle he was with the Wolfsbane Potion:

Bonus:

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm spoilers #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #chiara lobosca #severus snape #lone wolf tlsq #playing hphm

[missnight0wl]

Can you give an in-depth analysis of the Chiara friendship side quest, the Beauxbaton side quest, the Celestial Ball side quest, and the First Date Sidequest?

Oh my… “in-depth analysis”? I’m not even sure I know what you’re expecting. But I’ll try my best!

“Lone Wolf” TLSQ

It was a good side quest overall.

The situation with breaking through to Chiara was pretty similar to Talbott, but at the same time, her backstory was unique enough that it didn’t feel like repetition. And Chiara is an interesting, well-rounded character. I also really liked Snape’s role in all of that and his relationship with Chiara.

There were two things that I didn’t like. First, the fact that the quest triggers both for people who didn’t complete the previous Halloween TLSQ and those who did. As a result, they had to adjust the plot to situations where MC knows and doesn’t know about Chiara being a werewolf. And in my opinion, if MC knows about that, it took them way too long to connect the situation to Chiara, simply making them look dim. I think it could’ve been avoided by making Chiara’s quest trigger only if you completed the Halloween one – so the way it is for Talbott. Of course, then we run into a problem because the Halloween TLSQ activates only once a year when it’s also Halloween in real life, but it wouldn’t be a problem if it triggered simply when you reach a certain point in the story – as it should be.

The second thing I’d like to talk about is Remus Lupin. I know a lot of people were very excited to see him, but for me? Eh, I could live without it. It just was a bit strange once you realised it’s Tonks’s future husband. But more importantly, I think that his reaction and advice for MC were kind of odd and irresponsible. I mean, yes, the whole talk about the power of friendship was sweet and whatnot… But your friends weren’t spending the nights with you in their human forms, Remus. That was the reason why they became Animagi – because werewolves are far less dangerous for animals. Lupin didn’t know if MC is an Animagus, and MC themselves clearly didn’t think to use it. Telling a kid to spend a night with a transformed werewolf who shouldn’t have any control over herself could end up really bad. Lupin was the most qualified to help Chiara to not hurt herself or anyone else, so I believe he should’ve been the one to stay with her. Sure, it could create stupid implications that an adult man is spending the night with a teenage girl, but like… we’re risking the kid’s life otherwise. Or they could’ve come up with an entirely different solution. Just, don’t tell me Lupin’s advice was to tame a werewolf with the power of friendship…

“Hosting The Beauxbatons” TLSQ

It was… all right? It might not be my favourite, but it wasn’t bad.

I was a bit annoyed by Penny’s involvement, but it’s mostly because of her general overexposure. Still, I believe she could’ve been easily replaced by another character. Also, I think that the whole cover about the transfer to Hogwarts was unnecessary and, in fact, should’ve worked in Aurélie’s disadvantage. Rowling actually stated that Hogwarts, in particular, serves only Britain and Ireland, so technically, such transfer was rather unlikely to happen. I think they could’ve said that it’s simply the exchange. Rowan would notice that Aurélie acts weirdly anyway. Oh, and MC was pretty dim with figuring it out again. I’d just like them to be a little brighter sometimes, y’know.

While I can’t say I’m Aurélie’s biggest fan, she definitely grew on me as a character throughout the story – and I suppose it was the intention so I’d say it’s a job well done here. The addition of her brother as the motivation for her research was a pretty neat idea, even if comparing it to MC and Jacob felt a bit like a reaching, in my opinion. Part of me also wishes Aurélie was a boy, simply to remind people that Beauxbatons is not a female-only school, despite what was shown in the movie.

Finally, I quite enjoyed the whole plot with Nicholas Flamel. It was a pretty good mix of small mystery and fanservice. I’ve also seen a theory that it could be the Philosopher’s Stone that’s in the final Cursed Vault (check it here!). Personally, I prefer if anything that’s inside there was an entirely original idea – just as the Vaults themselves – but still, it’s something worth to consider.

The Celestial Ball TLSQ

I enjoyed a big part of this quest, and my biggest complaint about it is that they turned it into the romance quest when the majority of it was simply about friendship.

The part I enjoyed the most was probably Rowan and Ben, and I actually don’t see it as “forcing” them to go the Celestial Ball. In my opinion, it was shown well that the main reason why they didn’t want to go at first was because they thought they’re not good enough: they talked about things like nobody would want to go with them, that they’re too awkward. And that’s what MC was working on later – not just on changing their minds, but mainly on their self-confidence. Both Rowan and Ben definitely need that so it was pretty great to see it. Another character who was treated nicely here was Bill who overcame his rejection from Emily Tyler. It was just delightful to watch if you ask me.

Unfortunately, it was kind of ruined by the requirement of choosing a date for the last part. I still think that it’s such a shame that we didn’t get a route where MC could decide that they just want to have fun with all their friends. Especially that everyone else went single. Jam City basically said that you can’t enjoy the school dance without a date, and it’s kind of ridiculous.

I also think that placing this quest in year 4 was rather an odd decision, even if only because both Merula and Ismelda were datable options. Don’t get me wrong, I do love Ismelda as a character, and if you want to romance Merula – you do you. However, MC’s relationship with both of those girls was still definitely more negative in the main story at that time, so it just is rather out of place. It’d make more sense to happen in year 5, although, then we have a problem with Beatrice being trapped, and it’d be odd to organise the ball when all school is afraid of the Portrait Curse… which brings me to the next point.

“First Date!” TLSQ

Dating was never very high on my priority list for this game. I thought it could be fun but no pressure from me, y’know. But now, I see that Jam City is not handling it very well, reducing romanceable options etc. So to be honest, I think it’d be better to not introduce romance to the story at all. Just leave it to people’s headcanons. Of course, you can say that the players were demanding that, but I believe it was mostly because the devs declared very early on that there will be dating. And it was a mistake, in my opinion, as it created expectations they’re not prepared for.

I simply think that it’d be better to invest time and work from dating content into something everyone can enjoy, and what could potentially have a bigger impact on the main story. Develop characters in general, develop their friendships with MC AND between each other. Show us our friends who rarely interact with each other. Perhaps there’d be some conflicts between them, or on the contrary, they’d discover that they get along surprisingly well!

But that being said, let’s move to the quest since that’s what the question was about. I played it myself only recently on my replay account. In general, I’d say that it was a mix of cringy and adorable, and to be fair, I suppose it’s pretty much how teenage romance is. I was probably the most bothered by the whole note situation, yet I know it’s something a teenager could do so… The quest could’ve been initiated differently and better, but I can accept it. Surprisingly, I wasn’t really troubled by the situation with Tonks. I mean, yes, it wasn’t the right thing to do. However, I feel like friends/older siblings checking on a protagonist’s date is a pretty common cliché in teenage stories, and the quest is basically a bunch of such clichés, so I guess I can as well just deal with them all.

 I hope I covered at least part of the things you were expecting. If I didn’t address something you’re interested in, feel free to ask!

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #lone wolf tlsq #chiara lobosca #beauxbatons tlsq #aurélie dumont #celestial ball tlsq #first date tlsq #analysis post #ask #anonymous

[missnight0wl]

Here’s a crazy idea, but stick with me... What if it was the girl you actually know is a werewolf herself? Huh?

Let’s be honest, it’s still pretty bad. 

Does this quest trigger for everyone, even if they didn’t complete the Halloween TLSQ? Is it why MC acts like an idiot so it could fit the scenario where they don’t know Chiara already? I guess it makes some sense... but still *sigh*

(It’s also stupid that they adjusted Ben’s behaviour to Y6, but apparently, MC remembers Chiara only because of Fenrir’s attack - even though they attend Divination together.)

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm spoilers #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #penny haywood #chiara lobosca #lone wolf tlsq #playing hphm

[missnight0wl]

A rare occurrence of MC using their brain cells:

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm spoilers #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #chiara lobosca #lone wolf tlsq #playing hphm

[carewyncromwell]

“I suppose it makes sense that in Looking-Glass Eyes, I see all my flaws, reflected back at me. But as I write this down, I now realize — If that’s my view of her, then what must she see?”

~Talbott’s Second Poem, Lone Wolves Series by @carewyncromwell​ 

x~x~x~x

I realized it’s been a while since I gave my OG girl Carewyn a proper portrait, so I decided to do it with a bit of an animated twist! This quote is from my rewrite of Hogwarts Mystery’s Lone Wolf, Flying Solo, and Animagus Adventures TLSQ’s, which chronicles how Carewyn became friends with both Chiara and Talbott, and the image itself is set when Talbott and Carewyn first collide, in the Great Hall -- 

Both Chiara and Talbott had this feeling, upon formally meeting Carewyn, that she could see through them to a degree, hence why they approached Carewyn a bit warily. This comes back to Carewyn’s latent talent for Legilimency, which she subconsciously uses when meeting people and trying to get a good fix on their character. It can make her come across as a bit intimidating to others despite her strong moral compass and overall amiability, hence why Chiara at one point says --

“I guess I misjudged you a bit. You just seemed so calculating — like you were willing to do whatever it took to find out what happened…but it’s not ‘whatever it takes,’ in the sense that you’d hurt people, to get to the truth — it’s that you’ll do whatever you have to, in order to help. You’ll put your mind and effort toward helping those people you’ve decided to help. Even if you break rules and you intimidate everybody with your confidence…your motives are kind.”

Even Talbott admits to Carewyn toward the end of the series --

“(...) Even if you do play the hero too much and you seem obsessed with putting on this pretty face around everybody…well, I get the feeling that it’s kind of a front – something to protect yourself. To keep the people who might hurt you at arm’s length…kind of like what I do. It’s not exactly the same…but it’s similar, somehow.”

The combination of her strong Legilimency potential and severe trust issues that came about from losing Jacob so suddenly has made it so that Carewyn can generally read others a lot more easily than they can read her...and so for as nurturing and noble-hearted as Carewyn is, there’s still this discerning, powerful aura about her that might discourage people who lack confidence from approaching her, particularly as she gets older and becomes more self-assured herself. This is no pure, innocent maiden -- this is a general in the making. 

My musical accompaniment while working on this include “Within You” from Labyrinth, “Looking Through Your Eyes” from Quest for Camelot (otherwise known as The Magic Sword), “Sanctuary” by Hikaru Utada, and “How Does It Feel?” by Avril Lavigne, the last of which is actually my friendship theme for Talbott and Carewyn! 

Hope you guys like this! As always, please consider liking/reblogging/commenting, and I hope you have a lovely night! xoxo

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #my art #carewyn cromwell #animation #art #slytherin pride #I'm actually kind of proud of this! #even if the teeny weeny talbott in carewyn's eyes is so friggin' hard to make out don't look too carefully plz XD;;

[missnight0wl]

Is Jacob dead?

Before we dive into this question, I just want to say that the whole idea is based on three other assumptions:

Jacob we found in the Portrait Vault is not real Jacob. I talked about this idea quite a lot on my blog, so if you’re interested in details, you can check this masterpost.

We’re not done with the final Cursed Vault. This is another idea that appears in my posts pretty often. I guess the best summary of it would be this post.

Rowan is alive. The shortest explanation of this idea is probably this post.

I’ll mention one scene from Y6Ch42, but its context is not really relevant here, so the spoilers will be mostly for Y4 and Y5.

Now, with that in mind, we can move to the main issue.

The idea of Jacob being actually dead was present in the story pretty much from the very beginning. Admittedly, it was usually Merula joking about him being dead, though you can’t really tell me it wasn’t something that MC feared as well. It seems to me that they were kind of suppressing it, though. And I think that a very good example of it is the “Wizarding World Famous” SQ from Y3 – which is currently unavailable in the game, sadly, but I don’t think it means we should ignore it. After all, those quests are being added again (see: The Weird Sisters! TLSQ, for example).

Anyway, by the end of this quest we had this scene:

(screenshots from I-GGames YouTube channel)

And when you think about it, it’s really quite unsettling. First of all, Rita basically suggested that the Mysterious Voice MC’s hearing might not be Jacob’s. And secondly, why would she imply that he might be dead?

Moving on, we kind of abandoned the topic of Jacob’s possible death. I mean, Merula continued her comments even in Y4, but MC themselves never really addressed it on-screen. And truth be told, I sort of stopped thinking about it seriously, too. Until there was a moment in Y6 where MC sings a song, and you choose “Odo the Hero”. See, Jam City decided to play “Brother Theme” in the background for this particular song. Interestingly, these are the lyrics:

And Odo the hero, they bore him back home / To the place that he'd known as a lad, / They laid him to rest with his hat inside out / And his wand snapped in two, which was sad.

Now, I know that “Brother Theme” kind of lost its meaning with the new devs. I mean, they randomly put it in the “Lone Wolf” TLSQ after our duel with Chiara, for example. Still, it got me thinking… It kind of sounds familiar, considering that MC always wanted to “bring [Jacob] back home”. And Madam Rosmerta even used exactly those words in the past while talking about our brother. Plus, a part about “his wand snapped in two”? Just like Jacob’s wand left in the Vault of Ice? Like, it seriously does sound like it could’ve been about Jacob, don’t you think?

And you know what? While I do think that “Odo the Hero” is probably just a coincidence, I also have to say… Jacob being dead actually makes sense.

I suppose the most important thing here is the change in R’s messages between Y4 and Y5.

Y4Ch3:

Y5Ch1:

In Y4, R wanted to stop MC. But in Y5, they suddenly needed them. We learnt later that it was about the Legilimency door (and possibly the final Vault). I discussed it in the past already, and I think we should keep in mind here another thing that Rita told us about Jacob in her first SQ:

I bring it up often when I talk about vault!Jacob being fake because “being trapped in the portrait” is not the same as “being held captive”. So, I believe that Jacob was indeed imprisoned somewhere by R (and it wasn’t the Portrait Vault). However, something major changed between Y4 and Y5. In my personal story, R “lost interest” in Jacob because he got so ill that they weren’t sure if he’d survive long enough. Yet, if Jacob actually died… Yeah, it works even better. In Y4, R wanted to stop MC because they still had imprisoned Jacob. In Y5, Jacob was already dead, so R needed MC to open the Legilimency door.

Now, there’s one more very interesting scene in Y4Ch7. If you choose Rakepick to talk about the arrowhead, and you tell her that you know about it from your brother, this is how it goes:

And honestly, her reaction is just… so odd. Sure, you might say that she was scared that Jacob told us that she’d betrayed him and left him in the Portrait Vault. But even if it’s true – it doesn’t really make sense that Rakepick would be worried about that. I mean, she told us that Dumbledore told her about our visions in the past. Even if she lied, she should expect on her own that Jacob might’ve revealed her secret somehow already. Either way, it’s too late to be worried about that – if Jacob wanted to warn MC about Rakepick, he’d do it by now.

HOWEVER, if Rakepick was suspecting that Jacob might be dead, the fact that MC heard his voice could mean that he’s still alive – even though she also implied that the voice we hear might not be Jacob’s at all. So, would she be afraid that Jacob is alive, and that’s how the secret of her betrayal might be revealed in the future? Well, I doubt it. And that’s because I don’t think it’s supposed to be a “scared” animation.

If I recall correctly, there was only one other situation when Jam City used that animation for Rakepick – and it was after Pettigrew Obliviated us:

And in my opinion, she wasn’t scared there at all. If anything, she was excited. Excited that they finally had a lead for the vault portrait, that they’re getting closer to the Portrait Vault. So… would she also be excited about Jacob being possibly still alive? Well, I believe that yes. 

I’m not gonna insist that Jacob and Rakepick were as close as they’re in my version, but I suppose that they had some kind of partnership. In my post: “How the Cursed Vaults work?”, I explained how they might’ve placed the clues in the columns together. So yeah, I believe that Rakepick wanted him to be alive. Unfortunately, the end of Y4 came, and her concerns came true – Jacob died.

Moreover, Jacob being dead would explain why R needed to place the imposter Jacob in the Portrait Vault. As I mentioned above, I assume that MC is also needed for the final Vault, and not only the Legilimency door. However, if MC would learn that Jacob died, they might’ve abandoned their search for the Cursed Vaults. Let’s keep in mind that for MC, it was always about finding Jacob. So, R allowed us to find “our brother” to give us hope. But at the same time, they made sure that we still have to chase after him because he’s chasing after Rakepick, so that’s our new motivation.

So, everything checks, right? Well, except for one thing… It would suck. From the narrative point of view, Jacob being dead would be pretty lame. It’d be a similar kind of a cheap plot twist as the stories where at the end, it turns out that everything was just a dream. It’d be pretty disappointing if MC went through all of that to find and save their brother, only to discover that he died years ago. Unless… Jacob can still be saved.

In the past, I made a couple of posts on what might be the real treasure of the final Vault. In one of them, I proposed that it’s “the twin” creation of the Veil in the Ministry of Magic – and by that, I mean something that allows people to come from the afterlife. See, there’s a fan theory that the Ministry was actually built around the Veil, and that’s how it became a part of the Department of Mysteries. So, what if something similar happened with this “other Veil”? After all, in the “Nearly Headless Nick” SQ, we had this scene:

It would make sense for such “other Veil” to be extra protected with the whole system of the Cursed Vaults because bringing people from the afterlife can be definitely more dangerous than the Veil at the Ministry. On top of that, we know that R is interested in immortality:

And being able to come back from the dead is kind of immortality, isn’t it?

If the ancient construction like that is really the true treasure of the final Cursed Vault, it could help us bring Jacob back. And I made it clear at the beginning that I believe that Rowan is actually alive because I don’t think it should be about choosing between Rowan and Jacob. But if Rowan is alive, it doesn’t really matter – it’d be obvious that we should use it for our brother.

Finally, I think that this whole plotline would add a quite interesting layer to Rakepick’s character. Imagine that at first, her motives were pretty selfish. I still kind of doubt that she’d be particularly interested in the treasure itself, but I can totally accept that it wasn’t simply about helping Jacob. But then, maybe she got a bit attached to him or something, and once she learnt that he’s dead, she realised that she failed him in a way. Maybe she even felt somewhat guilty. Therefore, she was like: “All right, I messed up with Jacob. He was an innocent victim of this war with R. But now, I can at least help MC get to the final Vault, so they could bring their brother back”.

That’s why she joined R by the end of Y5 – to know what exactly they’re planning once Jacob was dead. That’s why she faked Rowan’s death – so R wouldn’t kill anyone for real, yet MC could reach the final Vault (assuming that experiencing the death of a loved one is a requirement to enter it). And that’s why she’s probably laying a trail of breadcrumbs for us even in Y7.

Personally, I don’t love this idea. But at the same time, I have to say... it does add up.

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #hphm jacob #hphm r #patricia rakepick #pro rakepick #rita skeeter #cursed vaults #analysis post #theory #hphm theory

[carewyncromwell]

Hey everybody! Welcome to Lone Wolves -- a special roleplaying series centered around Carewyn becoming close friends with our favorite Hufflepuff Healer, Chiara Lobosca! This friendship is one I’ve had very little chance to explore, but truly, Carewyn was the James Potter to Chiara’s Remus Lupin (meaning this in the sense of Carewyn doing everything she could to help Chiara, not the bullying thing), so I’m so very excited to showcase it properly. But yeah, because of Carewyn basically being Chiara’s “Prongs,” this series will feature elements from both the Lone Wolf and the Animagus sidequests, so it will also feature pieces of how Talbott and Carewyn’s friendship got started, though of course they became closer later on. *eyes the Flying Solo TLSQ and smiles* 

To get you all up to speed with when this fits in Carewyn’s canon, this story is set in Carewyn’s fourth year, A.K.A. the year of the Forest Vault and Patricia Rakepick’s reveal. Over the previous summer, Carewyn has made the most strides toward becoming the Mama Bear we all know and love, embracing fashion more seriously and gaining a lot more self-confidence and control over her stormy emotions. She’s not quite the Mama Bear we all know and love, mainly because she hasn’t become a Prefect yet, but she’s still grown up a lot since the days when she used to constantly lose her temper with Merula. 

Now that the notes are out of the way...let’s get started!

x~x~x~x

[In the midst of investigating the sleepwalkers all headed mysteriously toward the Forbidden Forest, Carewyn received some very troubling news from her friend Ben Copper -- there was a new rumor circulating around Hogwarts that someone had been attacked by a werewolf. After following up with the Gossip Queen Penny Haywood, Carewyn found out that the rumor was oddly mum about which student had been attacked, which made the Slytherin question whether the rumor had any truth to it at all...but Penny was able to tell her that she wasn’t the only one curious about the rumors. Penny’s dormmate, Chiara Lobosca, had also expressed a lot of interest in the attack and had been investigating the matter too.]

The next Cursed Vault has to be in the Forest -- it’s the only thing that makes sense. And there are plenty of dangerous creatures that live there -- if the werewolf sighting has anything to do with the Vault, then I have to figure out what it means before Rakepick does...

[So after lunch that day, Carewyn went to the Hufflepuff table to go speak to Chiara herself. 

It wasn’t hard to pick the Hufflepuff out in a crowd -- Carewyn had never spoken to her before, but her bright white hair made her stand out even more than Carewyn’s Weasley-worthy ginger locks did. She was sitting by herself at the very far end of her house table, her gaze locked on the table rather than anyone else. A strange kind of melancholy seemed to ripple off of her that Carewyn couldn’t quite explain.]

She seems so...lonely. 

[Her heart welling up with compassion, Carewyn approached Chiara as gently as she could.]

Carewyn: “Chiara Lobosca?”

[Chiara looked up at the sound of Carewyn’s voice. When the two girls’ eyes met, Chiara’s eyes narrowed just a little bit, not mad, but hesitant and almost guarded.]

Chiara: “Yes?”

[Carewyn offered a smile.]

Carewyn: “I know we haven’t met before...but my name is Carewyn Cromwell -- I’m friends with Penny.” 

Chiara: “I know. Penny speaks of you often.”

[It was not said bluntly -- merely soft and matter of fact, and perhaps even a bit wary, as she squinted up at Carewyn like a dog trying to suss out if a stranger was friendly or not.]

[Carewyn’s face turned more serious as she got right to business.]

Carewyn: “Penny told me that you’ve been asking around about it...and well, I’d like to get some answers too.”

[Chiara looked startled.]

Chiara: “You would? Why?”

[Carewyn settled herself down on the bench across from Chiara, folding her hands on the table between them seriously.]

Carewyn: “I’m worried it might have something to do with the Cursed Vaults. The sleepwalkers have all been coaxed toward the Forbidden Forest, and the rumors surrounding this werewolf attack point to it having happened in the Forest. But the rumors I’ve heard are way too vague -- no one even seems to know who the victim was...”

[Carewyn’s almond-shaped blue eyes became a little smaller and more determined.]

Carewyn: “If I’m going to get to the truth, I need to talk to the victim herself and hear it from her first-hand. I was hoping you might’ve heard something I didn’t.”

[Chiara hung her head.]

Chiara: “(very quietly) ...I’m sorry...but I don’t know anything more about who was attacked than you do.”

[Carewyn’s lips came together thoughtfully as she considered this.]

Carewyn: “Look...”

Carewyn: “I mean, it’s clear that we both want to get to the bottom of this. If these rumors are just that, that’s great -- but if they’re not, perhaps the two of us can find out the truth faster, if we help each other.”

[Something in Chiara’s eyes hardened, but once again, it wasn’t out of anger, but out of something very guarded. Carewyn could practically see the walls going up behind them.]

Chiara: “...That’s very logical, Carewyn...but I don’t think we should.”

Carewyn: “(frowns) Why?”

[Chiara looked away uncomfortably and didn’t answer. Instead, after a moment, she said,]

Chiara: “...Tell me something, Carewyn.”

[Carewyn looked horrified.]

Carewyn: “No! No, of course not! I mean...I don’t know much about werewolves, but...well, I know they’re not in control of themselves, when they transform. My mum did a report about their role in history, for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures -- they just want to live normal lives, most of them, without being judged for their condition. Most of them don’t mean to hurt anybody...”

[Something softer flickered in Chiara’s expression -- something almost comforted -- and yet, it disappeared so quickly, as if it was hidden behind another tall wall.]

Chiara: “...Yes, but...does that really matter? Whether they meant to or not...someone was hurt.”

Carewyn: “(very firmly) I want to know all the facts before I pass judgment. Even if the rumors are true, and someone was really attacked by a werewolf...I want to know the werewolf’s side of the story too. Who knows -- maybe they’re just as much a victim of the Cursed Vault as the sleepwalkers are.”

[Chiara’s lips twitched uncomfortably.]

Chiara: “I doubt that, but...I’m sorry, Carewyn, I just think this whole thing is something I’d be better off doing alone. It’s nothing personal, it’s just...I have my own reasons, for wanting to do this, and they’re not the same as yours.”

[Carewyn raised her eyebrows.]

Carewyn: “Do you want to hurt the werewolf?”

Chiara: “(startled) What? No!”

Carewyn: “Do you want to find out what happened and prevent anyone else from getting hurt?”

Chiara: “Yes, but -- ”

Carewyn: “Well then, our reasons seem to have enough in common. (more gently) ...Chiara, I understand if you don’t trust me -- as I said, we don’t know each other at all, except through Penny. But from what I can see, we both want to do something to help. And as much as I’m okay with working alone and I’m sure you are too...we need to find out how much water this rumor even holds, if we’re going to be able to do anything about it. And I’ve heard it said that two heads are better than one...”

[She smiled.]

Carewyn: “Whatever your reason is for wanting to find out the truth, I’m pretty sure it’s a kind one. And considering that your reason makes you want to help Hogwarts, just like I do...I’d like to help you get the answers you’re looking for. Especially since they’re answers I want too.”

[Chiara considered Carewyn, her head tilted slightly to the left as her lips subconsciously spread into a very small, but sweet smile.]

Chiara: “So where should we start?”

[Carewyn’s face grew much more serious again.]

Carewyn: “Well, all we have right now are second-hand rumors. What we really need is a first-hand account with all the details...but we can’t get that, if we don’t even know who was supposedly attacked in the first place...”

Chiara: “If Madame Pomfrey treated the girl after the werewolf attack, I’m sure her name would be in there.”

[Carewyn’s eyes lit up.]

Carewyn: “That’s brilliant!”

Chiara: “(grimly) Don’t get too excited -- I already tried asking Madame Pomfrey if I could take a look, but she wouldn’t let me near them...”

[But Carewyn didn’t look the least bit daunted by this.]

Carewyn: “Maybe...”

Carewyn: “Meet me in the Hospital Wing -- we’re going to go get ourselves that name.”

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #lone wolves #carewyn cromwell #chiara lobosca #penny haywood #roleplaying #gameplay

[missnight0wl]

Since the topic of Ismelda came up and no one ever talks about her 🙈😅 I feel like JC doesn't know what to do with her (?). Like they didn't know what to do with Tulip so she appeared less and less, only like a cameo, there was the Cook Off but that tlsq came and went, and she was the least memorable character in there.

But Ismelda is weird cause they seem like they want to include her but don't know how? They can't decide whether she's getting nicer or is still the same old Ismelda. If she's over Barnaby or not. If she's Merula's friend or not.

One of the SQ that most gives me this feeling is The Quibbler - that no one talks about it ever, but I loved that tlsq - in which we see her doing something half understandable (a werewolf in school is dangerous and Dumbledore is an idiot), half unacceptable (especially because it's Chiara we're talking about).

But the thing is, we see her hanging out with a different pair of kids every scene like little henchmen, which is already unlike her, but also several of them were Gryffindors, and it's so OoC.

And I also didn't entirely understand her purpose here. Was it for the money? The pleasure of screwing over Dumbledore? Screwing over the werewolf? It was a really bad thing she almost did and I don't get how JC wants us to view her, because then we get her really friendly in other tlsqs of the same year, which returns with my theory of they're confused about what to do with her.

(Sorry this is stupidly long).

No worries about it being long! In return, you’re getting a pretty long answer. Apologies in advance because I’m gonna be very critical about “The Quibbler” TLSQ as it’s one of my least favourite quests, and I believe that Ismelda is not even its biggest problem.

But first things first. It’s probably just my nit-picking, but I still want to talk about it. I wouldn’t really compare the situations between Tulip and Ismelda. I believe that the main reason why Tulip was moved to the side is her strong connection to the main story. It was revealed by Matt London that her wand is a hand-me-down from her grandmother who attended Mahoutokoro, her parents work at the Ministry (where R might have bigger or smaller influence), there was the whole thing with her friendship with Merula, and Matt London just seemed to be fond of her in general. The problem is that Jam City got lost with their main story at some point. I believe that some of the elements I mentioned about Tulip might still be important, but I think that the problem is not necessarily that Jam City doesn’t know what to do with Tulip – they don’t know what to do with the main story. And Tulip suffers because of that.

I mean, look at Tulip in Y4. She had her whole investigation on Rakepick and the Cursed Vault which led her from House-Elves to Hogsmeade. Then, it was just dropped like a hot potato. Sure, there might be an in-game explanation for that: she was silenced by Rakepick. I mean, there’s no way Patricia didn’t learn about her investigation, and if she was discovering things faster than MC was supposed to, then Rakepick might’ve done something with it. It’s more likely, though, that JC started getting confused with the main story. Too bad that all notes they have on Tulip when it comes to future plans are about that. Anyway, the end result is kind of the same: that they don’t know what to do with Tulip. But as I said, I’m nit-picking.

Now, the situation with Ismelda is very different, in my opinion, because I don’t think she has much direct connection to the main story at all. What I mean by that is that she’s not really interested in the Cursed Vaults, for example. I believe that she joined Merula mainly because she wanted to belong. I don’t know, she just never really showed that she might care about the treasure or even the search itself. Because of that, the writers could work on her just as a character: someone who’s not exactly MC’s friend, but also is not as antagonistic as Merula. And that’s good! But ultimately, I suppose that Ismelda became a victim of the major change in the writing team by the end of Y5.

I talked about it a bit in my analysis on how MC was supposed to use Crucio on Rakepick, perhaps you recall. Either way, I strongly believe that there was some big change around that time. It even can be seen in our recent discussion about Rowan and Barnaby: how the writers seemingly don’t remember that Rowan tutored Barnaby for years etc. And I suppose it’s just the same with Ismelda. Notice how at the beginning of Y6, MC doesn’t remember at all that Ismelda is not that bad. We also totally abandoned the conflict between Ismelda and Merula. It’s not exactly that they grew apart because in Y6Ch13, there’s a scene where we learn that Ismelda still spies for Merula, for example. On the other hand, Merula hangs out with Ben suspiciously often – and Ismelda seemingly doesn’t have any reaction to that. Their relationship is still weird like that in Y7, actually. But what happened with Ismelda’s jealousy from Y5?

Now, the thing with her crush on Barnaby actually seems pretty realistic to me personally. I mean, as someone who used to have a big crush on their friend, I have to say – it’s not that easy to simply say: “Oh, I’m over with that!”, but also you want to be over with that, so it just ends up being very confusing. Of course, it could be as well the case of inconsistent writing, too, but that one thing doesn’t bother me much.

Moving to “The Quibbler” TLSQ, though… I don’t want to sound dismissive or anything, but I honestly don’t think there’s any point in trying to understand Ismelda’s motivation there or what the writers wanted us to think – and that’s simply because I doubt that its creator put much thought into it at all, to begin with. And the most problematic part of it is actually Chiara.

First of all, Chiara was super OoC in this quest. We know from the main story that she likes Divination very much, she’s very serious about it, she even believes Trelawney is a real Seer. There are even parts in Divination classes where she enjoys reading The Quibbler. But here, she suddenly laughs at the magazine? Why? Her strong scepticism makes absolutely no sense! Sure, you could argue that this story change her perspective on Divination and all of that, but the problem is that there’s no such conclusion in this quest. At any point, Chiara didn’t say: “Perhaps I shouldn’t make fun of The Quibbler after all” or anything like that. So, I’m sorry, but I just can’t accept this explanation.

Secondly, Chiara wanted to win money for the ingredients for Wolfsbane Potion, right? And we even had this scene:

But then, as soon as Chiara gets money, she’s all happy that she’ll be able to get ingredients in time. So… Chiara needed only money to get ingredients? So, the quest basically implies that DUMBLEDORE DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE CHIARA MONEY FOR INGREDIENTS? I mean, if Chiara needed only money to be sure that she’ll make it in time, what exactly was stopping Dumbledore from getting the ingredients from the same source?

I’m sorry, but it’s so bullshit. You can say a lot about Dumbledore, but he wouldn’t refuse to give Chiara money in a situation like that. You also can’t tell me that he didn’t have money. And even if you want to believe that Albus would be a scumbag like that, we saw in the “Lone Wolf” TLSQ that Snape cares about Chiara a lot, so he would give her money. Hell, Snape would buy the ingredients himself, brew the Potion and deliver it to Chiara.

The way I see it, someone really wanted to put Chiara in this quest for some reason, but they knew it doesn’t exactly make sense – so they needed a scapegoat. Sadly, Ismelda was the easiest to turn into a bad guy of the story. Honestly, I don’t think that the writer of this quest was thinking anything about how we’re gonna view Ismelda. They just needed to distract the players. I hate to say it, but it’s kind of an equivalent of Merula’s sad backstory. Just in this case, it was rather: “Let’s not care about writing a logical side quest. Let’s make everyone worried about precious cinnamon roll Chiara instead”.

I’m sorry if these statements sound a bit too strong, but I’m really annoyed thinking about how many people were hating on Ismelda after this quest while I didn’t see much on how little sense this story made in general. And truth be told, this whole situation kind of made me dislike Chiara…

Overall, I hope that “The Quibbler” TLSQ was an exception when it comes to Ismelda’s character. I assume that her role will still be somewhere between [MC’s friend] and [Merula]. I mean, I believe that that’s how she is usually (“The Quibbler” TLSQ aside). That being said, I also expect that Jam City is not gonna remember all of the past stories, so I suppose that Ismelda will never be truly consistent.

I have no idea if I addressed your concerns properly. I hope I did. If not, as always, feel free to ask for clarification.

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #ismelda murk #chiara lobosca #the quibbler tlsq #tulip karasu #jam city #ask #indigobackfire

[missnight0wl]

what do you think of Ismelda’s behaviour in the Quibbler TLSQ if you’ve played/seen it?

I mean…

I’m not mad about it or anything. And I’m definitely not gonna hold it against her. In fact, I don’t really get why it triggered the “must protect Chiara” reaction in so many people. I mean, I do get why: because Chiara is a precious bean who must be protected at all cost and whatnot. But to be completely frank, I think that Ismelda’s behaviour was pretty justifiable.

First of all, it was very clear that it was nothing personal against Chiara. I don’t think that Ismelda even knows her beyond “that Hufflepuff girl with white hair”. If anything, Ismelda wanted to screw Dumbledore over.

And honestly, can you really blame her for that?

Seriously though, the thing about werewolves is that… they ARE dangerous. Like, it’s not just a harmful stereotype. Yes, WE know that Chiara is sweet, kind, protective, and all. But once she’s transformed? Of course, there is the Wolfsbane Potion, but let’s remember that it was still a new invention at the time of HPHM. I’m not sure how well-known it was what’s its effects. And even if it was common knowledge, it’s still super risky! You skip one dose, and you turn from a lovable understanding teacher into a bloodthirsty creature who wants to kill their students.

What I’m trying to say is that even if we removed The Quibbler’s prize and whatnot, it’d be understandable for Ismelda to be concerned about one of the students being a werewolf. And we saw that she was terrified when Tulip and Tonks pranked her, so it’s not that unreasonable to think it’s indeed the case, in my opinion.

The only thing that kinda bothered me is that it didn’t really have closure. And you know what I’d love to see? If Chiara’s plot was entirely removed from “The Quibbler” TLSQ and merged into her “Lone Wolf” TLSQ to replace that stupid cameo by Lupin. Then, we could actually have closure on that with Ismelda getting to know Chiara, maybe learning more about the Wolfsbane Potion etc. If done properly, she wouldn’t even have to learn about Chiara’s secret, just about werewolves in general (because I also like the prank part quite a lot, so it could stay). And the thing about Ismelda is that while she does impulsively some stupid things, she can tell right from wrong with just a little bit of guidance. So, I think it could be a pretty neat story – and an improvement for both TLSQs.

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #ismelda murk #chiara lobosca #the quibbler tlsq #ask #anonymous