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utilitycaster · 7 months

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Talking as players outside the game is an incredibly important part of having good PC/PC D&D relationships, and obviously the characters involved in the relationship talking to each other in meaningful ways is crucial, but I think the importance of talking in-game in depth to other people is really underrated, in that it not only tells the other player what your character is feeling without having to reveal it in-game to them, but also serves to engage other characters in the story and deepen those platonic bonds to the point where they might even serve as confidants or wingmen. To give a bunch of examples and what they achieved:

Vax telling Gilmore he didn't want to string him along made it clear out of game that his feelings towards Keyleth were his priority, even though it happened where the other characters were not able to hear.

Similarly, Vex giving her blessing eventually after her initial resistance signaled to Liam that this would not be a major break between the twins.

Vax asking Vex what she intended to do about her feelings for Percy served not only as an opportunity for her to voice them to someone; it also serves as a big green light for Taliesin as Percy to kiss Vex later that episode (which he had already from Vex's resurrection ritual, but it underscores it).

Pike talking about Scanlan with Keyleth and Vex allows her to make it clear that she does ultimately like a lot of things about him despite sometimes being annoyed, and her talking to him through her earring while Scanlan is very much not there but Sam is at the table also serves as this kind of green light.

Jester asking Veth about kissing in relationship to Fjord lets Travis know where Jester is at and invests Veth in-game in the relationship.

Caleb asking Jester if she's "sweet on [Fjord]" lets her openly reassess her feelings after an intense arc and also indicates in-game that Caleb has noticed.

Beau waiting to hear the sound of thunder signals to Ashley (who was not at the table but who was presumably staying updated on events) that Beau has feelings for Yasha; it also allows those playing Yasha (often Matt for pure RP and Travis in combat) to return that flirting, since the baseline was already established.

Possibly the most obvious example, but Beau and Fjord's conversation on Rumblecusp not only clarifies to the whole table where everyone is (opening the door, for example, for the scenes in the beer garden a few episodes later of Caleb having Fjord and Jester dance together and Caduceus encouraging Yasha to pursue Beau) but very much serves as a green light to Ashley and Laura respectively. This is then mirrored by them talking after Beau has asked Yasha on a date and Fjord and Jester have kissed, and everyone involved can "debrief" with their partners not present in-game.

As mentioned, this is mostly about PC/PC relationships because PC/NPC is an inherently different dynamic mechanically though still should be a conversation, but Veth describing Yeza and Jester asking Caleb about his feelings about Essek both give Matt clues for playing these NPCs and how things might be received.

FRIDA mentioning their crush on FCG to Deanna means it's not a complete surprise to Sam, since it is a very sudden relationship, and lets him prepare and decide how FCG would feel in the moment, and also establishes how Deanna will feel about it.

Similarly in the C3 Uthodurn arc, Fearne going to Chetney about Deanna is an incredibly good move from Ashley (to the point that talking about this is what led me to write this whole post). It lets Travis play out where Chetney is. It lets Aabria therefore hear not only where Chetney is, but also know that Fearne is potentially interested. It establishes a ton of the dynamics for a relationship that out of game everyone knows will not have a full campaign to play out since one of the characters involved is a guest. And finally, it signals to Christian as FRIDA what the situation is in case Deanna confides in them.

#critical role #genuinely this came from hearing snippets of rose city and Ashley's choices as fearne and thinking through some of her greatest hits #and also just thinking about how like...and this is a separate post #but how silly little small talk and joking and tiny reciprocated moments are so much of the connective tissue of a relationship #like...there's a reason why ashley's characters' relationships are good even when she wasn't around a ton in past campaigns #and it's because she does try to make the characters have moments when they can so it will count #the i've seen you a lot line or like that awkward watch early on are tiny but do so much and let Marisha as Beau know to keep going

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laniakea314 · 9 months

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Don’t tell me that Crowley, extremely powerful demon who can stop time, control the weather, create a nebula, shapeshift, resurrect a person and miracle pretty much anything he wants, couldn’t have gotten a new apartment in all those years since Armageddont and was forced to live in his car. I don’t buy it. He could’ve gotten a new place at any time, but maybe he just wanted to live at one particular place and was waiting for someone to invite him to move in, because if the request had come from him it would’ve been overstepping. And maybe part of the reason as to why he was so glum at the beginning of season 2 is because he was still waiting

Aziraphale didn’t look surprised when Crowley mentioned that he was living in his car and also helped him move his plants in and out of the Bentley several times, so he knew that Crowley was sleeping in his car. Maybe he did consider offering Crowley to live with him but was scared, too. Scared that he wasn’t ready (an echo of “you go too fast for me Crowley”), or scared that it might have been too big of a step for the both of them, since most of the times they’d interacted in the past was because their respective missions had pushed them to collaborate. There had always been some sort of excuse to spend time together. Now they had none, and neither of them had the courage to take the first step towards the other, afraid of crossing a line and compromising the fragile equilibrium they’d established throughout the 6000 years of their existences

That’s why Crowley’s confession at the end of season 2 is so so important and meaningful. It’s the first moment since the literal dawn of time that one of them acknowledged what they are to each other out loud

#And I would like to spend…#just you and me what do you say?#we could’ve been us #i will go down with this ship #ineffable husbands #good omens #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #david tennant #good omens 2 #michael sheen #neil gaiman #good omens s2 #good omens s2e6 #love confessions #good omens brainrot

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deramin2 · 16 days

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(Spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 1)

I don't have any expectations for wherever FCG will stay dead or come back somehow because I've spent 9 years watching Sam Riegel totally subvert my expectations in a narratively compelling way.

But I will say that "FCG shouldn't come back because it would lessen the impact of a narratively perfect death" is EXACTLY what people were saying about Percy's first death after C1 E68. (The first televised character death.) If he had to have an end, it was a fitting end that, while tragic, neatly tied up the thesis of the story. Would Taliesin even want him to come back? With Whitestone saved and Ripply killed, was there even much left to explore?

They found Percy's death letter telling them he loved them all but please bury him in a ditch with all his designs so he could be forgotten by history. He was so sorry for all he'd done and he could never make it up.

But they tried anyway, having to wrest Percy's soul away from Orthax. The players knew what they said in the resurrection ritual was meaningful along with their rolls. But they did not know they were also having to convince Taliesin. If they'd tried to appeal to Percy's soul in the wrong way, dice be damned, Percy was going to refuse. What we got was really meaningful and powerful roleplay (especially from Marisha and Laura) that did convince Percy along with successful rolls.

Being brought back did not at all weaken Percy's own sacrifice or the impact of his death. It forced him to confront everything he'd been running from. It forced him to see that there were people who loved him and would not let him throw himself away for them. They didn't want a martyr, they wanted their friend. It utterly changed the trajectory of his character.

There's only four ways I can think of on the table to bring FCG back:

True Resurrection — Incredibly expensive high level spell. They would have to find the materials as well as someone who both can and is willing to cast the spell in the middle of a war to stop a second Calamity. None of this would be easy. The ritual could still fail. FCG could decline to come back and the other players would not know that until they went to all the effort. The Raven Queen views True Resurrection as heresy which is why they didn't try it on Vax. How would a second chance change them?

Reincarnate — Lower level and cheaper spell. FCG would come back as a fleshy being instead of an Aeormaton. Would the experience live up to FCG's fantasies about it? How would it change them to realize they are truely alive, and always were, but are now also mortal? Reverse Veth story? Wild ass Pinocchio retelling? What does it mean to get a second chance but everything about you is different?

Wish — I think this would count as duplicating True Resurrection. High component cost and requires a high level magic user. (If it's duplicating a spiral there's no risk of no longer being able to cast Wish.)

Hag Deal — They do know a fatestitcher Hag who likes them and limes making deals even more. Orym may be able to just extend his existing deal. What are the consequences for the deal marker as well as FCG? Would the robit feel responsible for that person's fate? How would that affect how they feel about coming back and the meaning they need to make from it.

I don't think there's a right or best option because whatever we speculate on, the actual result will be full of meaning and very poignant. I can't imagine that Bell's Hells won't try to bring him back. They've lost so much already. They couldn't bring back Eshteross or Bertrand or Will & Derrig. They couldn't live with not even trying. Maybe their method works, maybe it doesn't. But at least they tried.

And if FCG does come back, they have to live with knowing that even though they saved their friends and put an end to Otohan, they also hurt their friends by treating themselves as disposable. They forced their friends to confront that each of them might have done the same and that's deeply unhealthy. It will change the character development tremendously.

My favorite film and play genre is where the protagonist dies (or nearly dies) (usually self-inflicted) at the beginning and has to journey through purgatory to find themselves again before they can return to the living. Films like Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) or Castaway on the Moon (김씨 표류기 2009). Death matters because it reminds you to live. The journey is finding meaning in both life and death and coming back utterly changed.

#critical role #Critical Role Spoilers #critical role meta #critical role campaign 1 #critical role campaign 3 #vox machina #Bell's Hells #Percival de Rolo #Fresh Cut Grass #wristcutters a love story #Castaway on the Moon

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bazaarwords · 1 year

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thank you @why-does-it-matterr! i think i got a little carried away, but i hope you enjoy!

cw: descriptions of injuries

There was a place she used to go to after the Order had days like these. Bad days. Ones that left her numb.

Historically, the place is both tangible and not—a lonely tower at the Cat’s Cradle, and once there, a few long moments of contemplation. But her old home is a long way away, and so Beatrice finds the part of her mind that needs this kind of treatment and sends it elsewhere. As for her body, she deigns to get to work instead of separating herself. The OCS may not be her world anymore, but there are wounded. People she cares for.

In the wreckage of their makeshift hideout, Beatrice wonders if maybe it’s never been the events of the day that seep the feeling from her. Maybe it’s always been this—this thing she must do to herself in order to succeed. Months of wandering have not divested her of the need to perform. The months have, however, been a reminder of all she’s lost.

She sets her feelings aside. There are things to do.

The first order of business: Camila’s shoulder is out of socket, and for all their collective expertise, Beatrice remains the best candidate to set it. Years ago, before the Order had swept her away, she’d spent a long summer volunteering in a hospital. It’s not the medical training she’d received afterwards, but the exposure was, at the very least, an advantage.

“Ready?” She asks, although she knows that Camila is always ready.

Camila, in the kind way she does all things, just smiles as if Beatrice is the one that needs the reassurance. She nods. “Go for it.”

Camila doesn’t flinch. She lets out a long, measured breath and she says, “ow” and she laughs at herself. Beatrice would like to take the time to laugh with her, but her joy is locked up in that faraway place. She squeezes Camila’s other shoulder, helps her into a sling made of a torn shirt, and moves on to the next.

Sister Dora has twisted her wrist. It’s discolored and swollen, but her bones are, thankfully, intact.

“A tarask,” she explains, “I thought it’d… well, I thought it’d kill me but…”

But she came back, Beatrice thinks to herself, searching the wreckage for wood to make a splint. She saved you.

She blinks that away—she has to. Sister Dora must notice her reticence. She doesn’t complete her thought. So Beatrice secures Sister Dora’s arm, and she moves on.

Yasmine has taken a glancing blow to the head, and Mother Superion has opted to stay up with her in the wake of the fight to monitor the damage.

“I’m okay,” Yasmine says when Beatrice comes by, holding up a placating hand. “I mean—I remember my name, so. So that’s good, right?”

Superion offers the smallest of smirks. It’s fond, not hard-won. “Yes, Yasmine,” she says, and rises up on unsteady footing. It’s not the new, halo-resurrected Superion.

“What happened?” Beatrice asks, firmer than she’d meant to. Emotions are nebulous when she settles into this way.

Superion shakes her head. “Nothing that should concern you. A few bruises.” She gives Beatrice a meaningful look—one she’s not present enough to catalogue. “There’s a cot in the back. Rest. We’re fine here.”

It sounds like an order, and even though she’s put the church behind her, she still respects Mother Superion. She can still recognize that she’s done all she can for the group, within reason. So she makes her way to the back room, feeling nothing. She sits on the edge of the cot, feeling nothing. She shrugs off her outer layers, feeling nothing.

Her mind has been in that faraway place, however, and as she returns to herself, everything sinks in.

While information comes in in pieces, on thing is for certain—there’s pain, everywhere. It would make the most sense to take stock of the worst places, the ones that need her immediate attention, but when feeling rushes back into her, the only thing she can think is that she needs to get out of this room and to wherever she’s gone—

There’s a jolt, razor sharp in the already excruciating throb of her abdomen. It’s quite obviously from when she’d been launched across a courtyard. The intensity winds her halfway to standing and her hip smarts as soon as she’s fallen back to the cot. She tells herself several times that she needs to get herself back in that empty place, that world where she feels nothing. Above all things, she needs to be there because she needs to find Ava.

A week prior, there had been a desperate call for help, a train from the small Finnish town she’d wandered into the month before, and Beatrice had found herself right back in the fray. Seeing the faces of her friends again after all their time apart had been bittersweet. When the fight had come to them, she’d remembered the last words Lilith had said to her. A holy war.

Despite her best efforts, she’s in the middle of it.

“Fuck,” she says, because she curses now. Because she knows that her knee is going to give out if she tries to stand. Because she’s effectively trapped herself in this room.

Frustration wells up in her like a lit fuse.

Assess the damage, she thinks, because what the hell else can she do?

The buttons of her shirt are slow work, her hands are weak from gripping her machine gun, her knives, the side of a building as she hoisted herself and Yasmine back to safety.

God is lost to her now, but it is a miracle that none of her injuries have drawn blood. A massive swath of skin along her side is purple and yellow but unbroken—it is the very worst of things. It hurts to draw breath, and hurts even more to bend and pull her pant leg up past her knee, to find the skin there in much the same condition. Upon further inspection, her hip, too, is a wild mess of bruises.

She’s a wreck, and what do they have to show for it? A few inches of ground? A few battered nuns, scrounging up whatever tools they can find?

Ava.

They have Ava. She just… doesn’t know where.

Beatrice had seen it happen as if in a dream.

The blinding light from above, the shockwave that had sent the tarasks flying in all directions, but hadn’t so much as nudged the sisters. When she’d looked, it was Ava’s form in the center of the light—Beatrice would know it anywhere, in any world—flickering in and out. She remembers shouting, desperate, stumbling through the wreckage. The details from there are hard to recollect. It’s when she’d been grabbed and thrown, it’s when the fight had resumed and she’d lost sight of Ava.

But she had seen her. That she’s certain of.

She closes her eyes, wincing as she tilts her head to the ceiling. The breath she tries to take is shallow and does nothing to steady herself.

“Beatrice?”

The pain of movement is forgotten, the voice like a ribbon of gold around her heart.

There’s Ava. There’s Ava.

The breath is gone in a rush, and Beatrice forgets the rest of the pain and she tries desperately to stand, to run, to move. Her leg gives out and Ava’s on her in a second, easing her back down.

“Ava,” she says, voice breaking, throat tight, “Ava.”

Ava kneels in front of her and she takes Ava’s face in her hands and she can’t look away. Suddenly, that place she goes—the one that is empty and lonely is filled with life. Filled with Ava. And she’s here, she’s real and alive and breathtaking in all the ways that Beatrice has loved. Loves. She feels nothing but it, looking at Ava.

“Bea,” Ava says, fingers wrapped around Beatrice’s wrists like they’ve been fused there. “Bea, you—you’re hurt.”

“You’re here,” Beatrice responds—nothing else matters. “Ava, you’re—“ She doesn’t have other words.

It should hurt to speak. It should hurt to lean forward, but then her lips are on Ava’s and nothing hurts, everything aches. Ava makes a small noise that lets loose something in Beatrice’s chest, and she wants to draw Ava closer, but her body betrays her, her whole side lighting up as if on fire. As if to remind her that respite is fleeting. But she doesn’t care, nothing else matters—

Ava notices her wince and pulls away. It hurts to try to pull her back, but still Beatrice tries. “Fuck,” Ava says, voice shaky, “Bea—hold on. You need—“

“I need you to not leave. I’m fine, I promise.”

“I’m not—you’re not fine, your—oh, God, Bea your side—“

Another Beatrice might have taken modesty into consideration. Her shirt is wide open, her trousers undone, and Ava is knelt before her, a hand on her bare knee. She just—she just wants so keenly that the constant, painful reminders of her body’s journey through battle feel like they’re killing her. She wants to pull Ava up and on to her lap, she wants Ava’s mouth on hers again, she wants, she wants, she wants. And maybe it’s her pilgrimage and her seperation from the church that’s allowing her this clear revelation, or maybe it’s just the relief to be in the same room as the girl she loves. Maybe that’s all it’s ever been.

“Let me… shit, I don’t know how good I am at this yet.” Ava focuses down on Beatrice’s splotchy, wounded knee, and the dark room is slowly illuminated by the glow of the Halo.

It feels… itchy, at first. It’s not a scab, but the injury takes on the properties of one—Beatrice tamps down the overwhelming need to scratch or pat at it, but then—as soon as it began—it’s gone. Ava pulls her hand away and the skin is as normal as it’s ever been. An oblong scar where bone is closest to skin from one too many skinned knees, but other than that? Nothing.

“How did you…” Beatrice trails off, swinging her leg back and forth easily.

“I’d… you know, I’d really like to explain it, but, uh. I have no fucking idea.”

Beatrice can’t help it, she laughs, a little hysterical. And then she wants to throw up.

“Don’t—no laughing. Stop it,” Ava says with a worried smile. She sets the tips of her fingers at the massive bruise on Beatrice’s side, and Beatrice can’t tamp down the shiver that rockets through her at the feeling. “Sorry. Sorry, I just need to...” Ava says, her voice thick, “just let me…”

The Halo does its work again, scrubbing her pain from her, raw and red until it’s not anymore. Beatrice takes a breath, and there is no pain.

“Good?” Ava asks.

“Good,” Beatrice responds. She wants that to be the end of it, but when she tries to move in again—“I think there’s another…”

Herein lies the problem. Her hip.

Ava looks down, and they’re in the middle of a war, but Beatrice wonders if she closes her eyes for just a moment, maybe they’ll be back in the Alps. Maybe there, this touch is necessary for another reason. Maybe Ava is looking up at her like this and maybe nothing has ever been wrong.

But they’re in the blown-out remains of a church, and there are demons everywhere, and in her darkest moments she’d worried that this—her and Ava—was lost for good.

Ava hovers over her bruise, and Beatrice nods. Ava is delicate, fingers light over her hipbone. This is not the time to wish for another life, but still she does. And for the first time in months, the wish has legs. It climbs out of that place she goes and it smiles at her, and Ava smiles at her too, proud of her work.

Beatrice draws her in, and the war rages on, but there are no more lonely places.

She has Ava. It’s enough.

#warrior nun #warrior nun fic #warrior nun fanfic #warrior nun fanfiction #ava silva #sister beatrice #avatrice #avatrice fanfiction #avatrice fic #fanfiction #fanfic #fics #sister camila #sister yasmine #mother superion #wn #save warrior nun #my fics #my writing

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the-nihilistic-rhapsodaire · 1 year

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Can we just talk about how amazing and just so goddamn wonderful the Animationsfamily adventure was?

At that time, I was pretty much just thinking of Bobby, hoping and praying that at the end of the journey, they could get him back. That Cucurucho can reverse his death and everything will be alright.

But, Bobby wasn't revived, unfortunately. And I remember I was just sitting there for a bit, feeling the tears sting my eyes, and I thought, "then what was the point of traveling 8000+ blocks on foot, if we couldn't get Bobby back anyways??"

However, the adventure with everyone on the server was never about resurrecting Bobby from the dead. It was never about bringing him back.

Ever since the beginning, the QSMP was always about uniting everyone regardless of the language they spoke. It was about forming friendships and meaningful connections with people from around the world.

Everyone on the server, including the new players-Baghera, Etoiles, and Kameto- working together to protect Jaiden and Roier and help them achieve their goal is everything to me, because it shows that despite not knowing each other that well, they care for each other a lot, and would do anything to help each other out.

Despite the conflicts, horrific lore, and telenovela levels of family drama,

QSMP is a story about love, friendship, and family.

It was, since the beginning of the server, it still is, and always will be about friendship.

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parlerenfleurs · 2 years

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It is lovely in MDZS how Wei WuXian essentially has the “male” role, in that he is the one pulling on Lan WangJi’s figurative pigtails, the one to give him flowers repeatedly, the one to say he’s pretty out loud and in his head all the time, and the one trying to get him to pay attention to him.

Lan WangJi, meanwhile, gets teased, looks pretty, receives flowers, gets embarassed, defaults to ignoring his crush to appear aloof and keep control, his chaste modesty is being scandalously transgressed via super-meaningful Lan ribbon and cold pond shenanigans, and he secretly keeps all the tokens of Wei WuXian’s affections

And also kisses him forcefully against a tree (but even then in the text and Wei WuXian's view, he's a "shy maiden") and fantasizes about shutting him up in a very specific way

Socially also, Lan WangJi is the pure and treasured daughter niece/sister, thematically, while Wei WuXian is the handsome devilish rake who "corrupts him"

And I find it hilarious how they both subvert everything I've mentioned above (by virtue of being extremely well-written characters who aren't confined to one stereotype but feel like real, complex, subtle people instead), especially after Wei WuXian's resurrection when their dynamic changes to become extremely funny more balanced

#mdzs #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #something something slaps the roof of MDZS #you can fit no hetero-normativity whatsoever in this bad boy

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wasted-women · 4 months

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ROUND 1A, MATCH 1 OUT OF 8!

Causes of Death & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Jiang Yanli

Cause of Death: Stabbed; Self-sacrifice to save her brother.

Propaganda:

she's your pfp that's got to count for something

I love JYL don't get me wrong! But also. She is solely written as a part of the male characters and does not get much in her own right. She is Wei Wuxian's older sect sister, or Jiang Cheng's sister, or Jin Zixuan's fiance/wife, or Jin Ling's mother he never got to know. Even what characterization people give her (like liking soup/cooking or standing up for her family despite being gentle) are things that have to do with her brothers. I wish we got more of her in her own right.

AND ALSO. ALSO??? HER DEATH MAKES. NO SENSE. Okay first of all - she was in Lanling grieving for her very recently dead husband & taking care of her newborn baby. Who would let that woman out of Lanling????? WHY???? How did she get out of there SO FAST????? She doesn't have a sword/isn't a cultivator (at least in MDZS) so she couldn't have flown. And then after she got there WHO LET HER JUST OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLEFIELD???? WHY DID SHE GO THERE???? Even if there was a short part of her saying "I need to talk to Wei Wuxian about how he killed my husband and I'm going to get there no matter what" would've clarified things a little bc it's like okay she needs to go there even if we don't know how. Where are my answers MXTX, where are my answers????

Qin Su

Cause of Death: Suicide; Stabbed herself with a knife. (NOTE: In some versions of the story, she was being controlled and thus forced to kill herself.

Propaganda:

I'm fairly certain this character was only created as set dressing for the main villain's tragedy. We get zero insight into her inner life, zero hints that any such inner life might even exist, and after she dies basically no other named character other than the aforementioned villain is shown to be majorly affected by her death, even those who logically should have meaningful relationships with her.

Compared to the other two main female characters in this series (who are also fridged) Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing, Qin Su is probably the least aggravating because she's barely in the show and has very little character that we see. But I still think it's worth noting. I really wish that she could've survived and been there in Guanyin Temple IT COULD'VE BEEN COOL OKAY.

Wen Qing

Cause of Death: Executed; Burned to ashes.

Propaganda:

The fact that Wen Qing is the character that originally said the thing about "I'm sorry" and "Thank you", which is repeated multiple times in the post-resurrection parts of the series, but is so rarely mentioned by name is so aggravating! She's such an important part of the plot that did SO MANY THINGS but just basically disappears after her death!!! The only time I really remember her being mentioned is when her brother, Wen Ning, mentions her integral role in the golden core reveal. Jiang Yanli's ghost haunts the series after her death, but Wen Qing's really doesn't, and that's so fucked up to me. She even dies during the same time that Wen Ning does, but then it's revealed he survived (well, "survived", he is a zombie, but he was that beforehand too) SO WHY COULDN'T SHE HAVE SURVIVED TOO????

#wasted women poll #jiang yanli #wen qing #qin su #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the founder of diabolism #chen qing ling #the untamed #poll bracket #poll tournament #character polls #polls #round 1 #round 1a

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floareadeaur · 1 month

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Hello!I really love your analyses (I am trying to read them all)and having personally returned to the fandom after 4 years it feels like I discovered a hidden gem.

Since my favourite characters are all vampires and since Ferid is also one I would like to ask you what do you think the ending of the vampire race will be like?I mean with the way the story is going it seems that in the end all the vampires are sadly going to die either from the resurrection or with Saito finding a way for them to die as he promised.I would like it if they somehow get turned back into humans and somehow live a peaceful life but it seems highly unlikely 😔.I love Kagami for creating such a complex and deep story but since Horn and Chess appeared there is a high chance that Lacus and Rene will also and seeing my boy Lacus finally appear after 6 years ( his last appearance in the manga was in 2018 if I am not mistaken) to just die hurts 😭.

(I know this is a pretty complex ask and you are not obligated to answer it if it's too much also I don't know if you have answered this already so if you did I am sorry)

Hello!

Please, do not worry about the complexity of the question.

It is true, this ask is one that requires more thought, but it is a pertinent one that deserves attention.

"Hidden gem", this is perhaps the nicest compliment I received here. Thank you so much!

I am really glad that my analysis is helpful and enlightening to this fascinating story. I will try to attach all my analysis in the masterlist to make it easier to read. (I kind of lost track of them and the analysis masterlist does not have them all. Sorry for that. )

Now about your question.

The answer is a complex one, and I really do not think I can offer anything with certainty.

Thus, I will rather discuss the existing possibilities and any assumptions I have.

In the end, we will see what happens in the manga further. What is certain is that I am sure that the ending will be extraordinary and full of meaning, commensurate with this special story, and I support the author whatever he chooses next.

Now I will present my ideas.

In the OnS world, there is a lot of emphasis on the concept of "soul". How the whole universe is created as a "prison" for this soul.

Infinite reincarnation, without the possibility of an end or a meaningful destination for the soul. This is how human life works here, in a continuous vicious circle.

To me, vampirism is simply another form of reincarnation. The same impossibility of freeing the soul, the same immortal "life", the same lack of meaning for the soul, only now in one body and at the cost of altering the memories and personality of the human souls trapped in this form of curse.

Moreover, vampire souls, as I said, do not have the possibility to die. They can only pass into another "form", as demons. So it is about human persons cursed with vampirism, which in the end can only become demons. Still a "circle" type trajectory, without escape.

That is why, I think, that just as humanity needs a new "restart", a release from infinite reincarnations (which maybe the resurrection will do), the souls of vampires need a form of release, of rest.

How will this happen?

Honestly, I do not know. Vampire souls are human, that much is clear. No matter what form they exist in: mortal human body, immortal vampiric body, demonic entity, it is all about human souls in different forms.

And right now there is no Heaven for these human souls, under any form, you know?

From here we can draw the conclusion, that maybe if Sika's suffering will find a solution, and if Guren will succeed in the resurrection, the laws of the OnS world will change and the possibility of a Heaven for all these souls will appear?

But the answer is, frankly, a complicated one. Because it is not just one way, I think.

For example, the vampires transformed by Sika Madu are basically the reincarnations of his angels. And Sika Madu wants to go back to Heaven with them, from whence they fell. So maybe these vampires will return to this Heaven in the end? As angels again, or as human souls?

But there are many other vampires who are not reincarnations of those angels, like Ferid, Crowley, Basteya, Lacus, René, Chess, Horn and the rest of the vampire race. These were just people. So what will be their ending?

And there is also something else. We are talking about the resurrection, which involved the death of every vampire, either for the resurrection of humanity or Mikaela.

But from what we have seen recently, these vampires are not much in the form of "vampires" anymore. Hundreds of them have been ingested by Ferid and their souls are in a state of metamorphosis to the demon form in Ferid's inner dimension.

Here comes a guess of mine.

Mahiru Hiiragi, before becoming a demon, said something, "Next time I am reborn I want to be an ordinary girl."

I think these words of hers should be taken more seriously, considering that since the age of 11 she has had visions and nightmares including about the Apocalypse. Perhaps she knew that there was a possibility that human souls who had reached the demon state would be reborn as humans someday. Perhaps this is a consequence of the resurrection Guren is currently working on.

Mostly, I do not think Ferid is working against Guren's plan by his current actions. Given that Guren's plan directly fights against Sika Madu's purpose, and that Ferid is involved in this plan willingly, I strongly believe that the "resurrection of mankind" means the restoration of the laws of this universe as well. That is, including what Ferid wants since he was 16, "breaking that circle", of meaningless reincarnation, changing the broken laws of the world.

Especially, Ferid did not say that he does not want anyone to ever be born again, but that he wants no one to ever be reborn in that " putrid " world. In that world of broken laws, which holds souls meaninglessly captive in infinite reincarnations.

Birth and rebirth are two different things. Or resurrection versus rebirth.

Rebirth drags the soul into a new life even if that soul has already lived a life. Rebirth leaves no room for rest.

Resurrection restores a life ruined by something, repairs it and perhaps gives it another meaning.

And if new laws are established for the universe, if the problem of infinite reincarnation in this hellish world is solved and Heaven is opened for human souls, maybe one good life will be given to resurrected human souls?

A life with meaning, at the end of which the soul has a Heaven where it can go.

And perhaps, the souls of vampires ingested by Ferid and turned into demons, as Mahiru Hiiragi implied, can "reincarnate" again as humans, now in a world that offers only one good and meaningful life for each soul, followed of the possibility of entering Heaven.

Thus, in this version, Ferid can be considered to represent the "gateway" through which vampire souls can get a chance to later regain their humanity.

And in the end, maybe the only vampire to die will be Ferid.

I think all vampires except him have had someone who loved them. Look at Horn and Chess, who are good friends in my view, or Lacus and René. Or Crowley with his comrades, with the friends he must have had in his previous life as Ferid's older brother.

All of them had love in their lives, people who loved them. And maybe that is why they need a new good life with these beloved people.

And Ferid, truly unloved by anyone, is the "sacrificial lamb", no matter how surprising it seems.

Basically, his greatest frustration is the rotten way his world works, its meaningless laws, the creation out of darkness by a corrupt God. And perhaps his happy ending is to die, leaving behind through his actions a world of meaning, a world born of love, something he always longed for but could not have.

There is a lot to say in this hypothesis, but what I am pointing out is that I am sure that Ferid will have a direct confrontation with Sika Madu, and more than anything, a discussion with this god of his, in which he will again demand the reason why everything is like that.

If you remember chapter 76 where Ferid asked Sika why the world is like this.

I think Sika might be willing to give Ferid an answer in the end.

In a way, you know, it may sound strange, but I feel a great similarity between Ferid and Sika Madu. Such a similarity that it seems for me that Ferid is a reflection of the curse placed on Sika Madu.

I would go into a lot of detail, but I risk making this essay too long.

The idea is that Ferid longs for a world with meaning, that good God, harmony and the possibility of a Heaven, the breaking of the cursed circle on earth. Just as Sika longed to reach Heaven again, where his Father (the other God) was, and just as he was cursed to live endlessly on that earth exactly like a Hell.

Even chapter 134, the fact that Ferid's memories where we find out how he feels about reincarnation follows the panel when Shinoa tells Sika that she will see all his memories. Beyond the sudden shift in perspective specific to the series. Perhaps this is also a clue related to what I say about the similarity between Ferid and Sika, about the sufferings of both.

If anyone is interested, I can elaborate more on this theory about Ferid and Sika.

Now, in conclusion, I am sure that no matter how everything ends, the vampire species will no longer exist. They are a cursed creation born of the suffering, frustrations and curse of Sika Madu. This is how the first vampire was "born", from his negative emotions generated by the received curse. So automatically this curse has to be resolved somehow.

And with the vampire species gone, surely their souls will find peace one way or another. I think a balance will be reached in the end.

I also have an idea for how Ferid could achieve this balance. I can elaborate on this in another post if anyone is interested.

After all, it remains to be seen how the author ends this fascinatingly profound story. I have full faith in Kagami and I am sure that the end of the story will teach us valuable things.

That is all for now. I feel like I wrote chaotically again. Please come back with questions about anything you feel. This topic is one that needs to be discussed a lot.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to look into it a bit. I had never answered this question before.

Thank you very much for the trust in my interpretation! I hope this answer was at least a little helpful!

My inbox is always open for such discussions. And remember that kind feedback is welcome!

I wish you and whoever finds this post a good day!

#ferid bathory #urd geales #rigr stafford #crowley eusford #krul tepes #lest karr #ky luc #lacus welt #rene simm #horn skuld #chess belle #sika madu #shikama doji #owari no seraph #seraph of the end #ons #sote #ferid bathory analysis #owari no seraph analysis

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