#none of them were for the crastle duo

[liloinkoink]

wait that last post actually reminds me of a different post id been meaning to make about renchanting duo / dogwarts and their, like, "Story Arc," as it were, and how they start to fall apart the minute they move from doing things For and start doing things Against

ren's arc is about learning to stand up for himself / martyn / renchanting / dogwarts. at the beginning of the series he's sort of a pushover, letting ppl make "deals" for enchanting that favor the customer too much and revealing too many secrets. this gets bad enough he starts worrying he will lose martyn as an ally, even! and he's got a right to be concerned! bc martyn starts having his doubts, deciding not to show ren where the end chest is (not that ren checks, bc he doesn't want to have his suspicions that martyn doesn't trust him confirmed).

when he realizes he's not standing his ground enough, ren starts working on it. he works on standing up For himself. he works on being a more dependable ally for martyn. he works on making good deals For dogwarts, ones that don't sell himself and their business short. a few episodes later, scar comes knocking and asking to buy the enchanter, and ren's throwing scar out of dogwarts on his head, citing the fact he wants to support himself and martyn

but ren's arc changes when he goes red and he stops doing things For others and instead does things Against others. he goes red and starts going out to ppl and saying "you're With Us or you're Against Us," losing scott, one of martyn's long-term friendly acquaintances, as well as later breaking ties with cleo over burning joel's house and losing That long-time ally. nearly all of the desert's allies come from ren and martyn taking harsh Against stances

their biggest victories, conversely, come from For stances. their first fight to protect Skizz and get his banner back is a pretty solid victory, and it's For Skizz and For Dogwarts, the banner being a symbol of all that.

you put this vs like. Skizz charging the crastle for no other reason than cuz he thinks the server needs another death and dying near-instantly

this For and Against thing becomes messier as the fight goes on, bc of course nothing is going to sort so easily like this. the red army charges Against the desert and, despite grian rigging the whole thing to explode, none of them die and scott, grian, and jimmy all do, jimmy being eliminated. martyn continues chasing scar for their banner and as soon as he gets it he dies. it's not all cut-and-dry, and i acknowledge that.

still, even ren realizes he's strayed from their roots after eliminating scott, which is the most senselessly violent kill ren and martyn get. he says violence has blinded him, and that he doesn't understand how this all reached such a dire point. he's pinpointing, to me, how they strayed too far from For and started working Against.

you can also argue that trying to return to their roots is also what kills them. their last battle is to try to defend dogwarts from a siege, a battle For their home and the place they all forged their friendship. but it's too late to try to be the people they used to be, and it kills them

#says words #thinkin my thoughts #third life

[kozzax]

So the other day I was listening to music, minding my own business, and ran into a song that reminded me almost immediately of the Crastle duo. Now I need you to hear me out on this one, because it's a bit of a bold claim, but:

Bohemian Rhapsody is a crastle duo song.

"Mama, just killed a man / Put a gun against his head / Pulled the trigger now he's dead" [Bdubs, about the firing squad]

"Look up to the skies and sing" [the jukebox from the day 1 alliance]

"I don't wanna die / I sometimes wish / I'd never been born at all" [Cleo, setting up alliance after alliance to keep them safe]

Proper analysis under the cut because it got longer than I'd wanted it to!

Take a look at the early verses-- specifically at the "mama, just killed a man" verse. Super easy connections here: Bdubs, at the firing squad, killing etho and tango and saying 'ah, yeah, i killed someone. oh. i killed someone'. If I remember correctly, it was the next session that bdubs missed, so even the end of that verse-- "if i'm not back again this time tomorrow" can be interpreted in really interesting ways if you contextualize it as a conversation between him and Cleo.

The verse after it, too, can very easily be read as Cleo in the moments where Bdubs is gone. "Goodbye everybody / I've got to go" as she declares war on the Red Army for good, leading into her deal with Scar and the Widow's Alliance being set up as defensive measures.

Perhaps instead you'd think of the call and response "will not let you go / let me go!" portion. The back and forth of it reads the same as Cleo's final stand against Ren; as she chases him down in one final attack against him, with the repetition of 'no' at the end being the moment Cleo falls. Immediately after, swapping over to "mama mia! Mamma mia!" etc, as Bdubs and Tango race up into the crastle and Bdubs comes to the realization that Cleo is gone.

What about the lines right afterwards? "So you think you can love me and leave me to die? / Oh baby / Can't do this to me baby" featuring Cleo's grave, before Bdubs goes in on the attack for the rest of session eight. That final guitar section the final battle of Dogwarts, leading up to Bdubs in the Crastle again and looking down on everyone outside.

And the end: "Nothing really matters" as Bdubs pockets a clock and attacks Impulse, the alliance from day one forgotten. The faint "Any way the wind blows" at the end as Cleo's ghost, faint and barely there just as the line is, as Bdubs walks alongside Scar to his doom.

In conclusion: Bohemian Rhapsody is, in fact, a Crastle Duo song.

#3lsmp #team crastle #should i? tag bdubs and cleo? #uhh. probably huh. since this is a post about team crastle #bdoubleo100 #zombiecleo #i have a lot of thoughts about this #i have not stopped thinking about it since two days ago #so what if i dont have the energy to make an animatic #i can make the movie in my head #and then yell about it on tumblr #fun fact even though i have a whole list of songs that gave me mental animatics for third life #none of them were for the crastle duo?? there's one for cleo but #it's very much. focused on cleo not the both of them #every other group has one and joel has one too so it was about time #i'm very glad this is the song that's going to forever be associated with crastle duo in my head now #they deserve it

[lechairpourriedegrianri]

Title: Golden Forest

Words: 1366

Description: Grian sacrifices himself to the creeper to save Scar’s life on the first day. Scar swears his allegiance to Grian and they settle in the Flower forest with Scott and Jimmy.

Warnings: Mentions of blood, if you were fine with Third Life you’ll be fine with this

@whyamihereat4am since I said I’d tag you

By the time Grian realized what was going to happen, it was too late. His only option left was to dive in front of the creeper before it could reach Scar and act like the whole thing had been a big accident. The other server members accepted that he had valiantly saved Scar from an incoming creeper, and that was a lot nicer than the truth of a prank gone wrong. He had not been expecting Scar to swear his complete loyalty to Grian as a manservant as thanks for the save, but oh well.

With Scar by his side, Grian settled at his starter house in the flower forest, where the duo discovered the Flower Husbands, Scott and Jimmy. The two pairs got along well and cut down the two dark oak forests on the server, giving them a monopoly on the material and forming a strong alliance between them. A mild surprise but still expected, Scar lost his first life in the logging process, swarmed by mobs in an admittedly unimpressive manner. After some thinking, he decided that since he had not died in defense of Grian, their deal still stood.

Grian and Scar soon began a rampage of scheming and hijinks, selling dark oak subscriptions, “reputation”, and no-kill passes (one of which was bought by BigB). Due to the two yellow-lives who had quickly become its public face, the Flower Forest became known as the Golden Forest. While Grian and Scar handled sales, Jimmy and Scott hung back at the forest to handle production of dark oak.

Despite his strong alliances with Scar and the Flower Husbands, Grian kept up ties with his fellow Blue Sword Boys, BigB and Martyn. He secretly planned to ditch the forest and team up with them if things got rough. Martyn had his own alliances, working under Ren at Renchanting. BigB, on the other hand, had kept to himself, staying friendly yet distant with everyone but not making any promises. For a time, there was peace, both in the Golden Forest and the rest of the server.

But no good thing lasts forever. Bored and hoping to start some fun, Cleo set fire to Joel’s house, pinning the blame on Scar when asked about it. Joel had earlier lost a life to Tango’s Dare to Flare game (which claimed Jimmy’s first life as well), and got caught up in the flames, becoming the server’s first red life. Enraged, he believed Cleo’s deception and went after Scar, despite Scar’s denials of commiting the act. Not wanting to rebuild his house, Joel talked Cleo, Bdubs, and Tango into a team-up, forming an expanded Team Crastle.

As conflicts between the Golden Forest and Team Crastle brewed, Ren, Etho, and Skizz met in Renchanting and agreed to stay neutral by any means necessary. Martyn tentatively agreed to join as well and act as a secret agent within the Golden Forest’s forces. Small battles erupted throughout the forest, fortress, and tower, and several more yellows and reds cropped up. Ren, Martyn, and Skizz were taken out by a tnt trap, leaving the former two on their yellow lives and Skizz on his red. After that, Renchanting found themselves embroiled in the fight, leaving three opposing sides. Jimmy and Grian both were left on their red lives after unlucky arrow fights, marking the Golden Forest a crimson red.

Soon enough, the unthinkable happened. During a particularly brutal fight that brought Scott to his yellow life, Bdubs (also red) stormed Jimmy and Scott’s lakeside house in the forest and struck Jimmy down, the server’s first permadeath. Scar quickly killed Bdubs in return. Scott was heartbroken briefly, but soon realized he could only feel rage. He did three things: first, he had Grian build a creeper farm; second, he collected as much sand as he could from the empty desert to the west, and third, he held a funeral for Jimmy, building the most magnificent grave he could. Scott stood on the grave and asked Grian to strike him down, so that he too could become a red life and avenge Jimmy’s death. Grian complied.

As the deaths stacked up, Grian began to consider his lie. It was wrong to hide the fact that he had led the creeper to Scar in the first place, yes, but at this point Scar wouldn’t be able to find a place in another faction, and telling him would only breed discord in their group, right? In the Crastle, Cleo felt much the same about her lie to Joel. With Bdubs gone, she slid into the position of leader, but hung back from the combat, preferring to lead with a silver tongue rather than a diamond sword. Impulse had tried bouncing between the three warring factions, staying sweet with each of them. But he soon found that despite standing with all three, none stood with him. Skizz and Impulse soon joined the permadead.

With a massive supply of tnt, Scott lay an insanely huge trap across the entire Golden Forest. Martyn saw what was happening and discreetly tried to slip away and warn Ren, but Grian had discovered the traitor in their midst. He killed Martyn in cold blood, leaving a stain on his hands that he couldn’t wash out. Once the trap was in place, Grian and Scar led everyone to the Golden Forest for a bloodbath. After killing Tango for the last time and ensuring that everyone but BigB was present, Scott detonated the trap. Scott died. Etho died. And Scar lost his second life, leaving him the last to turn red, even after BigB.

Six remained. Grian. Scar. Cleo. Joel. Ren. BigB. BigB got away from Grian and Scar with a no kill pass he had bought from them, leaving Ren as their next kill. Sensing it was the time to do it, Cleo admitted to Joel that she had been the one to burn his house down and had lied about it. He was confused at first, then betrayed, then filled with bloodlust. Bloodlust that did not take long for him to fill. By complete coincidence, at the same time, Grian confessed to Scar that he had led the creeper to him in the first place. Scar was dismayed, but still threw himself in front of Joel’s blade. His promise was fulfilled; he had died defending Grian’s life.

Grian fled, leaving a returning BigB to be cut down unceremoniously. Joel found him soon enough, cowering in the wreckage of Joel’s old home. They mutually agreed to a fair fight and relocated to the starting village, in a spot Grian recognized as eerily close to the one where he had sacrificed himself to save Scar. The two stripped themselves of armor and burned their items, leaving them each with one wooden sword. One a deceiver, the other deceived, they dueled in a ring of fire as the dead cheered them on. However, Grian’s spirit had been weakened by Scar’s death and he found himself unable to keep up with Joel’s hollow, holy fury. Grian died, beaten, remorseful, and alone.

Joel found himself wandering a silent world. The collapsed walls of Renchanting, the stripped sands of the desert, the home he had once known, the tower he had once called home, and, lastly, the Golden Forest. He found a smoking crater, but with one notable addition. An obsidian tomb nowhere’s above the wreckage, and after digging into it he discovered Jimmy’s grave, preserved from the tnt annihilation by Scott. Joel climbed to the top of the grave, and leapt. He respawned back in his bed, his life still a gleaming red.

As Joel made his journey, Grian found himself in the Golden Forest, restored beyond its former glory. New buildings, plants, and details that were exactly what he imagined the area could be. Jimmy, Scott, and Scar welcomed him to the barbecue, and as he sat down at the campfire, he realized that the grave had been replaced by two statues. One of Grian diving in front of the creeper, and other of Scar diving in front of Joel. He was home.

Rankings:

14. Jimmy

13. Bdubs

12. Skizz

11. Impulse

10. Martyn

9. Tango

8. Etho (Tie)

7. Scott (Tie)

6. Ren

5. Cleo

4. Scar

3. BigB

2. Grian

1. Joel (Winner)

#third life smp #third life fanfic #third life #3rd life smp #3rd life #Grian #goodtimewithscar #zombiecleo #scott smajor #smajor1995 #smallishbeans #my writing