i want to talk about the paradox prism for a minute because it's really interesting to me
[everything below is purely speculation / headcanon - please don't mistake it for canon. beware of spoilers for sonic prime part 3]
similar to the master/chaos emeralds, the paradox prism has a level a sentience. not anywhere close to the same level as the emeralds, but there's still something there
the chaos emeralds tend to set up a line of dominos to cause a future event (ex; sonic taking tails under his wing and learning to become more responsible from it)
the paradox prism doesn't do anything close to that, but it does share something with the master emerald; it holds memories
the prism was able to create more versions of the people it saw based on the emotions it saw them project (tails, knuckles, amy, rouge, and eggman)
the different shards / shatterspaces are made up from other major events. whether from this timeline or another is different for each shatterspace
new yoke was created from the group's frustration with sonic + an ending where eggman's almost won (i believe this could be pulled from the events of forces, considering the enforcers)
i think the reason new yoke is the only shatterspace to have a version of eggman is because it's the only one that makes sense to have one
it's pretty well known by now that eggman will need a helping hand if he wants any chance at taking over the world
the only thing better than an evil genius is five evil geniuses, right?
the new yoke group are, as i said, everyone's frustration
nine is frustrated with his past. reminiscing about his tormentors brings him more anger than pain, and living in solitude definitely does not help
rebel and knux are frustrated by the loss of their home (and the egg council in general). having watched their home be destroyed was more heartbreaking than anything at first, it eventually grew to an anger that spurred them on to fix it
rusty is frustrated with those who disobey/fight against the council, but her anger eventually ends up directed towards the council for the way they used her.
i could go more in depth about the new yoke group, but this post is gonna be long enough as is wefoefwof
the shard being red could simply be because that's the color that represents anger, but i'd like to think that-going back to forces-it was a bit influenced by the phantom ruby/infinite as well
no place is formed by the underlying sadness + a devastating event that permanently changed the world (chaos' rampage)
im not connecting no place to chaos because of the fact it's flooded, im connecting it because of the way the stories parallelled
chaos' rampage begun when pachacamac attempted to steal and harness the power of the chaos emeralds for his own gain
dread seeks out the 'devil's ligthouse' solely to prove he is a legend, nearly killing his original crew trying to do so
both protagonists of these stories are selfish and caused destruction for their own gain
dread's, well, dread comes from his failure of proving himself to be the most feared pirate to ever live.
him failing to collect the shard caused him to believe that he truly wasn't a good pirate, leaving him to spiral into a life of cowardice.
the rest of the pirates' dread comes from their longing to be actual pirates.
because of his failure and cowardice, dread now leads a peaceful crew. they don't do any 'pirating', which leaves much to be desired
they enjoy the parties and all, but their true fun comes from being pirates, which dread deprives them of
boscage maze comes from the protectiveness surging between everyone + a world where harmony between enemies is possible to achieve (possibly comes from a timeline where eggman simply doesnt exist, leaving mobius to grow peacefully)
boscage is the shatterspace with the most life. it's full of all kinds of plants because nobody there is destroying it (intentionally, anyways)
thorn rose is protective over birdie and the green. she does what she can to protect both, even if it means hurting people she once called friends
keeping the jungle and birdie safe is her #1 priority, and nothing will ever change that (that's not to say something else can't join them in being her priority)
the scavengers are protective over their belongings and, no matter how strangely they show it, each other
gnarly was nervous when sonic touched his house, immediately turning aggressive to make sure he wouldn't damage it
instead of hiding the berry, prim showed it to the others for a chance they could all share it
instead of running off on his own, mangey let the scavengers follow him as he sniffed out the berry (+ him fetching the one that fell off the treetops, showing it off to the group)
hangry allows mangey to crawl around him, which we can assume means it happens a lot off screen as well
they stick together and cover each other's backs, no matter how hard the fight gets
while we don't know what this shatterspace was before it turned into the grim, it's pretty safe to assume that it was apocalyptic
who or whatever used to live here is long gone. the only thing standing are the purple crystal things.
my guess is it's a timeline where eggman won. he won, and the world died out because he ruined the ecosystem from building so many machines.
while purple is usually associated with royalty or mystery, it's also associated with power, ambition, peace, and independence
whatever happened to the world before the grim, it's very probable that it was out of high ambition with a need for more power. eventually, the world found its peace and is now independent
ghost hill is the blueprint. the time before sonic & co. make their mark on the world. a blank canvas.
maybe a timeline where they don't get a chance to make their mark on the world
yellow is a very light, energetic color. the feeling of happiness at the chance to create something new and fun.
ghost hill and the grim don't have much in terms of characters and design, but i think the colors of their respective shards give us plenty of information about them
the paradox prism is nothing like the chaos emeralds, but is also just like them at the same time. it's powered by pure chaos with no sort of indication on how it was created or why it has the powers it does
i wonder if eggman knew what the prism was exactly or if he only knew that it was powerful
did he know breaking it would cause the world to shatter? did he know how may memories it holds? how many lifetimes it's lived?
i also wonder if the prism knew sonic would shatter it, and that it was already preparing the shatterspaces; hence why it glows brighter
maybe it understood that sonic is a hands-on learner. maybe it knew he needed to experience the lessons first hand, needed them to-quite literally-slap him in the face
maybe it knew they all had their own flaws that they needed to be aware of. maybe it lived through the timeline where sonic never shattered the prism.
maybe the prism planned to be shattered by someone so it could share its memories. maybe there was some sort of pull that told sonic it needed to be shattered.
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So I've already shared parts of this on a discord server, but I have to scream about Ketheric Thorm on here as well. Obviously spoilers about the character under the cut! It's a long one.
The entirety of act 2 is about him, right? Jaheira, Shadowheart and numerous other NPCs shit on him for his fickle faith. First Selune, then Shar, then, as we meet him, Myrkul. You hear about his changes of faith on a whim, you hear that he's the person responsible for the shadow curse, he is painted as a villain, plain and simple.
You can figure it out pretty early on that Isobel was resurrected and that she is his daughter; the detail as well that he wants Isobel alive is so on the nose, it gives him away completely but there are still a few questions that remain unanswered, mainly about his faith.
And then you get to the mausoleum and the picture assembles; this entire tragedy, the death of hundreds if not thousands and the complete ruination of a landscape was all, ALL because you had this absolutely wrenched, heartbroken father who had lost everything and nobody answered his grief. He was left woefully alone, the Goddess whose daughter his daughter was involved with did nothing to save Isobel.
Imagine outliving your wife and your daughter. Imagine dedicating your life to fight the Lady of Loss, your Lady of Silver's enemy, and then be left so completely alone and in silence with your grief, with your loss. It's so, so poetic how and why he turned from Selune, and it's so understandable as well; he broke. His spirit completely broke. He couldn't deal with that void of having lost the only two important people in his life, seemingly undeservedly so. He was going mad with this and a lot of his ire was likely targeted at Aylin who, in his eye, represented Selune; she's literally her daughter, after all, and it was implied that even before the deaths of his family, he sort of saw Aylin courting Isobel as Selune taking his daughter from him, despite his service. This relationship was clearly not seen by him as a boon of "giving his daughter to the Moon-maiden".
His ways in the past clearly didn't spare him from tragedy and having to cope with it (which he clearly didn't, he snapped under the weight of his grief). He was clearly angry and unable to do anything, furious and helpless, which is a dangerous combination. A good part of his first change of heart must have been fuelled by a sense of revenge.
But then Shar didn't provide any balm to his aching heart either. If you read his letters in Grymforge and in act 2, he is so focused on enacting the will of Shar because he believes that healing lies in oblivion. Everything would be easier if he could just forget, if the damn world could just forget, if nothing was remembered because without Melodia and Isobel, nothing was worth remembering.
Then came Myrkul. Literally the only god who was not only able, but WILLING to give back his daughter to him. Imagine spending your all, EVERYTHING you have to serve two gods who would not give a single shit about the greatest suffering in your life. You were basically nothing, your loyalty didn't matter for shit, everything that was taken from you amounted to no recognition whatsoever: you should simply cope and seethe. Your grief will not simply go unanswered (which is not inherently antagonising) but ignored.
And then comes this supposedly evil entity who can alleviate your pain just like that, snap of a finger and it's a done deal.
I am so serious when I say that I believe Ketheric's main incentive was to extend Aylin's immortality to Isobel as well. You can read in her diary that she feels a taint after having came back, and there are things not even Selune can cleanse, but at this point, Ketheric doesn't care about Selune, vengeance is secondary if not tertiary, he's done that war during his Shar years and what did it give him? Literally nothing.
He doesn't even care about the fact that Isobel is still her cleric. He cares about the single most important fact: Isobel is back. Life is worth living again, there is something for him, and it was not Selune or Shar who gave it to him but Myrkul, and for this singular gift, he would raze the world for the Lord of Bones. Like people can clown on him for being disloyal but the man has the loyalty of a dog bonded to its owner.
He is powerful and is willing to go to insane lengths for crumbs. What is raising a single life for a god? Nothing. It has happened and it will happen again. But Ketheric will go to the ends of the earth to serve the single god who actually listened to him. The one god who didn't ignore him.
He knows that what he does is not the morally upright thing! He is so insanely self-aware that allying with Orin and Gortash and doing this entire plot with them only to then betray them is morally reprehensible at the best of times, he knows that people hate him, etc-etc. He was a Selunite at one point and he's not stupid. He just doesn't care; it could be literal Asmodeus and he wouldn't care as long as he got what he wanted, no matter the price.
He is probably the only one from the three of the chosen who has complete clarity over his situation, he almost sways (if you pass the check during his confrontation), he is not an inherently evil man blinded by power.
But he is inherently loyal to those deserving, and as of the story's standing, completely broken by his grief. In his eyes, at this point, the only one deserving loyalty is the one who actually listened to him. Isobel lives. It doesn't matter that she hates him, that his entire life has fallen apart, that literally nothing else that is good has come of it, because Isobel lives.
I don't think he regrets a single thing. His consciousness might tear at him at the end, but I believe he would do everything over again, exactly as he did, because in the end, his daughter was brought back. Because what would a grieving, broken parent give to bring back their child? Everything. Absolutely everything. And it's such a simply given answer, no second thoughts, no doubts.
Nobody can tell me that this man is fickle. Nobody. This man was willing to burn the world to the ground, create a Boudica destruction layer all by himself for the one single thing he wanted. For any God that would listen.
I don't know, I just have a lot of thoughts about his character.
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When I see Pav's design I see a guy who really does not care about his rank or appearances (other than the boots rant towards Levi, but I personally like to think that's him showing some amount of concern towards a younger soldier, or to annoy him like the other character exclusive interactions in an attempt to distance himself from your party). Pav's shirt and coat are unbottoned down to the point where they don't even look like they fit him, his chest and and his bullet scars are exposed, he has unkempt hair, and seemingly has a very casual/sloppy posture which implies a lack of respect for the army he's supposedly been indoctrinated in. This contrasts with the image of how most soldiers are expected to be disciplined - to be orderly, clean cut, and tidy, especially higher ranking ones when displaying rank/status. Overall, Pav comes off as messy and possibly not even in his right mind from the beginning. When considering his true purpose for being in Prehevil is to kill the Kaiser, He's practically on a suicide mission.
And this can be further backed up by his attitude towards failing to kill the Kaiser, being saved, and taken to the train. What was the point of joining the same army that killed your village, rising up the ranks through whatever horrible means you had to go through and very possibly willing to do onto others what was done to you in order to get close enough to the man that you deam responsible for everything that has gone wrong in the world, only to find out that he was a indestructible monster beyond your powers? After that, it's either start from square one again, wait to die, or live your life on the run from everyone. Pav had kept a facade for possibly most of his life up until that moment, but as soon as he's cut down the mask breaks apart and he breaks down in train mad at you for giving him a few more moments of life.
To summarize, I'm intrigued by Pav's portrait because it gives us that hint on what kind for person he really is underneath the Bremen "disguise". He can't wait tear the damn thing off himself.
Is he a Bremen pig? Probably not. Is he still a pig? Yes. Or... rather something more feral hiding in the styes that he's trapped himself in, waiting to start a rampage in until he's put down himself. (Hmm. I wonder if that's would actually be a good Moonscorched idea?)
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