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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 days

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i am confused

Making this its own separate post + expanding on it so it doesn’t get lost in the quagmire that is the book 7 part 8 update 💀

Feel free to let me know your own thoughts or theories too, I’m just rambling here.

***Spoilers below the cut!!***

So like… Is anyone else confused as to how Silver can use his UM Meet in a Dream so many times with NO ONE making a comment about how he's building up a considerable amount of blot???????

Vargas Camp seems to suggest that using one's UM typically uses up a considerable amount of magic compared to a non-UM spell. (The boys felt it would be dangerous to cast UM without at least a sizable magestone.) This is not true of all UMs though; Kalim's Oasis Maker, for example, allows him to offer up a small amount of magic to produce a great amount of water. So let's say for argument's sake that Silver's UM is similar to Kalim's and does not require a ton of magic per use. (Edit: this detail is confirmed true in the recent update.)

But??? That still doesn't make a ton of sense???? Silver was in constant battles against Silver Owls while in Lilia's dream, meaning he is physically being chipped away at. No matter how physically fit, capable, or well-trained he is, Silver is only human and his stamina and perseverance has its limits. He also suffered immense emotional distress in Lilia's dream after realizing that he is the son of the man who killed Malleus's mother ON TOP of having doubts that he is worthy of Lilia's love AND fixating on how no matter how hard he tries, he can never truly "pay back" his father. I guess it can be argued that the pixies healed them on their trek (+ there was that one scene where Lilia and co. rest in a Silver Owls camp) and that Silver "got over" his feelings after Sebek shouted at him about how much Silver is loved... Even then, that's not really a good explanation??? Silver climbed up those daunting mountains surrounding Castle Blackscale--mountains which have oppressive magic that harms humans. This is POST-pixie encounter, so he'd still be walking in with damage from that, not to mention the blow of lightning magic he took from Maleanor???? I'd also think that while Sebek's pep talk (well, pep shout) helped clear Silver's head, it wouldn't invoke a sudden character change on the spot; Silver would no doubt still have lingering feelings and would need time to properly sort them out and reconcile with them. They haven't been addressed in full yet, at least not until Silver can like get some closure on his own terms, maybe by sitting down and talking with Lilia about everything they learned. (That's definitely a topic for post book 7 though.) Now think about how many times Silver is expected to use his UM. At minimum, he has already used it 4 times (to show up in Yuu's dream, then to hop into Sebek's dream, then Lilia's, then Idia's). In the most recent update, Silver has used it no less than an additional 4 times (to jump from Idia's dream to Epel's, then to Rook's, then to Vil's, then to presumably a Scarabia boy's which is where the next update will likely pick up). THAT'S ALREADY 8 TIMES????? And he has like 11 or 12 more dreams to visit, including having to jump back to Idia’s dream and then prep for fighting Malleus???? It's like 20 times Silver is expected to use his UM, with very little down time in between because... oh yeah, TWISTED WONDERLAND IS ABOUT TO HAVE ETERNAL NAP TIME IF THEY DON'T HURRY TF UP 🤡 That's not even mentioning the increased loads each time Silver casts his UM (since they're collecting students like Pokemon to gang up on Malleus). If previous UMs imply anything, more people should make it more difficult to pull off a spell. Ruggie had to use a magic-enhancing potion to control a whole statium, Cater is strained the more clones he creates at any given time. Jamil's hypnosis magic cast upon a group causes him to accumulate blot so much faster. Shouldn't this be a major concern for Silver??????? Should I be concerned for Silver????????

Don't get me wrong, I love that we're able to dream hop and see what each of the main cast characters are dreaming of, but 💦 I don't know if I should be worried or not about Silver's health???????? Because I could see why the devs would just hand wave it off in this instance (cuz how else are they going to travel to each dream and save the world? They're kind of on a time crunch here...), but at the same time I can see it going the other way and sort of breaking immersion?? Unless this is all intentional and they're going to jumpscare us with a Silver OB or him struggling against it later in book 7 💀 (I mean... the guy hasn't gotten his limited SSR for book 7 yet, so maybe it'll be related to this???)

Or is it just possible for him to break the limits of his magic since this is a dream...? We’ve seen other characters OB at will and be able to seemingly stay rational while in that form... but if that's the case, then why does Silver still feel tired and physically worn down in Lilia's dream after fighting so much? Why do they worry about taking too many hits and actually dying within the dreams? Can't he theoretically stay at "perfect" health after using his magic so much???

Does it not count as using “real” magic since they’re in a dream and therefore have much more flexibility in how they spellcast?? Or is it that it’s their dream!selves casting so it’s not real magic since it’s not their physical forms spellcasting…? Is blot accumulation slowed since Silver is technically sleeping and rest helps with healing from blot?? But then how does that impact their real bodies if at all?

I DON'T KNOW, I'M CONFUSED OTL

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aliciagemsilica · 2 days

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I always had this canon in my head that the traditional vow for people in Briar Valley………instead of putting a ring to your partner . You and your fiancé touch the tip of the spinning wheel together.

Especially for those who aren’t native of the Briar Valley……the first testament to show your determination to become part of the night. By prick your fingers together with your spouse and exchange a true love kiss. I think it’s very romantic.

If you got cheeky spouse they probably tease you that if you fail to show the love for your fiance then you might curse to sleep for 100 year as a result. But I don’t think they really go that’s far………?? Well if you really do sleep for 100 years your fae lover still able to wait for you though………🤷

#twisted wonderland #twst #diasomnia #briar valley #twst theory

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mirrormazeworld · 3 days

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About Summoning

(Just some notes, lemme daydream for a moment...)

My sudden thoughts when I read this post by yuurei is that :

From Idia's birthday card it's said that

"Summoning is a difficult magic that requires extensive knowledge and the accurate execution of complex procedures within a limited time frame by inputting lengthy commands within a set timeframe, clearing multiple missions in a predetermined order, trading items like rare food or plants in exchange for help from dire beast and fairies or any other rare species."

And then it got me thinking...

Isn't this something in the prologue is also summoning magic??

Crowley's words when he said the incantations like when he said "the flower of evil" or "show me the visage I seek" can be counted as "inputting lengthy commands within a set timeframe".

However, I actually still don't know which one he was summoning...the common knowledge is that, it was Yuu, but I can't help but think it was Grim, or maybe both...

But what bothers me the most is the fact that to do summoning, it's required to trade/sacrifice something in exchange for help from the summoned creature, so...

I initially thought maybe Yuu would be sacrificed for Grim but when I think about it again, Yuu was the one who was being summoned by Crowley and both Yuu and Grim were technically being summoned and appeared from the same coffin, so...

What was he sacrificed exactly to do that kind of "summoning ritual" that can summon someone from another world/dimension?

If he really is sacrificing himself to be "poisoned by blot" just like how hatter in Industrial Revolution (19th century) was poisoned by mercury (mad as a hatter) from "Crowley is Mad Hatter theory" I wrote last year aside from how the Mad Hatter has riddles associated with both Raven (why is a raven like a writing desk) and crow (from through the looking glass) then I don't know what to say....I don't think my heart would be strong enough to take it......😭😭😭

And the fact his SSR card has a lot of HP despite not being a defense card and also a HP regen ability just doesn't help much because it makes me think "it's because he has a lot of HP and can do HP regen that he is still able to function well up till now but he himself is running out of time (life)"

#twisted wonderland #twst thoughts #twst theory #dire crowley #twst crowley #crowley twst

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misspoken-pea · 2 days

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Twst theory instead of studying:

Fae history (or lack ther of) (Briar Valley)

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The reason why we don’t see much record of fae history nor do we have much understanding about fae in twst textbooks or in general is simply because just like any white colonised country (a country that never managed to recover most of their lost land at that), Briar Valley / Kingdom (the major land of origin for most faes) history was written over and downplayed by its colonisers during / after the irl events of Lilia’s dream.

The people know about Malleus simply because he is royalty and overpowered, not because they gaf about Briar Valley culture. He is simply a notable oddity on a global scale.

Which leads to one of my head cannons as to why Tsunotaro was so feared. It wasn’t just because he is powerful, no, it’s because he is also a tool for political fear-mongering.

Imagine an ex-colony starting to rise in power and recover from the damages it took from a war that wiped out half its population under the protection of it’s extremely magical capable queen (a power hard to cultivate in the world of twst).

The best way for other countries to maintain and establish their global dominance is to isolate Briar Valley via propaganda, which is already greatly achievable due to the fae’s mystified existence (lack of technological advancements and buried history). Now where else to better start then demonising the magical-nuke of a gothic royal family Briar Valley prides on?

And the thing is, these rumours are highly believable with people’s lack of understanding on magic and the seemingly endless pool of power the Draconias have, effectively obscuring the image of fairy-kind. The fact that Malificia is too tired to bother with the propaganda as she is tired with life (slightly implied in game) and Malleus being a mentally troubled autistic teen worried about making friends at school does not help.

So of course sweet ol’ Mal is not gonna make friends at school aside from his brother, his dad and the neighbours loud ass kid. Cuz who else’s gonna approach the emotionless all powerful Godzilla god-like creature that lives in the dark, feeds off of newborn babies, and will blow you to bits for even slightly angering him because all faes are arrogant and horrid creatures/j.

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So yeah this is my ted talk on why Malleus is a loser (affectionate) who can’t make friends (self projection beam).

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst headcanons #twst theory #twst thoughts #twst rant #twst malleus #malleus draconia #twst fae #I also believe mal is aware of the propaganda #that’s prolly the reason he didn’t tell us his name in ch2 #cuz even if we r from another world he’s afraid that we would hear about the rumours #and associate it with him and therefore be afraid of him #he just wants someone to give him a chance to know him fr #I have a lot of feelings #can you tell I have a hyper fixation on politics?#no you don’t :)#shut up pea se

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hanafubukki · 2 days

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I’ve been thinking and what if we do end up in Malleus’ dream world?

What then? What if his happiest dream is nothing grand?

What if Silver and Co end up in his dream and it’s just Malleus spending time at that cottage in the woods?

Just him spending time with him, Lilia, Silver, and Sebek?

Nothing grand, just them enjoying everyday life?

Not only that, what if we do add in that there’s other people involved?

His grandmother, random people who are not scared of him, and people who talk to him normally.

He’s just Malleus Draconia.

His parents aren’t even alive.

This simple dream of his, is his happiest dream.

How do you wake him up then?

How can you bring yourself to do such a thing? What do you say to him?

That’ll despite it all, despite the pain, we’ll get through this together?

Despite the fact that out of all of them, Malleus will live past them all?

How can Silver wake him? It was him who started it when he talked to his brother, but now it’s him who will end it.

But can you imagine? He wants a simple domestic life just like Silver wanted. Their dreams similar.

What do you say?

I keep thinking about this, because while it might not be the grandest dream, it is his happiest one.

One that is easily achievable.

#I have a wip somewhat dealing with this scenario but arghhhh the more I think about it?? what did he ever want than to be with those he love #he’s just malleus who wanted to be with his family make friends get along with his human neighbors and who likes gargoyles ahhhhh #twst silver #malleus draconia #twst theory #twst character analysis #twst analysis #twst book 7 #diasomnia #silver vanrouge #twst malleus draconia

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somecoolpigeon · 8 months

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If this theory turns out to be true, I hope the game allows Lilia to wring Crowley’s neck as a response alshfjdhsk

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst fanart #twisted wonderland fanart #twst theory #twisted wonderland theory #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland spoilers #kinda not really but just in case lol #ツイステ #ツイステファンアート #dire crowley #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge #diasomnia #my art

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bklily · 2 months

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The difference between the TWST servers after this recent March update has been incredibly funny.

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rayroseu · 5 months

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I love how Meleanor's dragon form can serve as little hints about how Malleus grew up as a dragon🥹💚🐉🦎

source

Comparing the frills on their cheeks... it seems like their frills grows with age and gets lighter and more connected to their eyes, it seems to get more purple skin/highlights as well.

In contrast to Meleanor's adult dragon form with hard scales, Little Malleus seem to have softer skin/scales, so i think their hard scales develop over time too. Also their snout gets more patterned too.

The spikes on their backs seems to separate as they get larger. Looking at Little Malleus, he has spikes that are close to each other yet on Meleanor's spikes, they're kind of sectioned in her head, torso, and her tail.

Their horns grows darker as it gets taller. Its noticeable on the horns of their head and on the wings.

Their horns also get more ridges over their development! Since Baby Malleus has smooth horns but now in Malleus' grown up form and Meleanor's, its more textured.

I think their horns are purple at the start then starts to get dark green??? Both Meleanor and Malleus' horns in card art always have green highlights after all.

I wonder if they're more green-colored in their human form bcs it symbolizes their empathy and how they're more humane and how connected to nature they are, but when they're in their dragon form, that green-color is reserved only in their internal organs (eyes and mouth), so "they shut their kindness off".

As a result, their form is mostly dark purple on their dragon form, the color of (evil?) void magic. So, its like when theyre in their dragon form, they're encasing their empathy inside to showcase how cruel/sinister they actually are, it could also convey that in their dragon form, they're not channelling their "fae magic" but their controlled power over "darkness/evil/hell"

Malleus after all said, he's the ruler of those who follow the darkness, Meleanor is the evil princess, and Maleficent has all the powers of hell.

Also I realized Meleanor (based on the Battle pic), might be as big as a entire castle and that's just her at ~300 years old... She looks like she could wrap her own castle with just her dragon form lol.. So I'm really curious at how massive Malleus dragon form is... Maybe its Ramshackle size for now since he's just 178 years old so might not be a dragon at a size of an entire castle yet-

These are just my thoughts after staring at Meleanor for so long kwhkdhsk also bcs I want more Baby Malleus content,,,, It's what Meleanor would've wished😔😔 especially the time where he first transformed into a human🥺💕💝 I think it'll be precious to see Baby Malleus clutching to Lilia for dear life because he can't balance on two human legs jdkdhlssj🥹🥹💝💖💖 Imagine Lilia's surprise seeing Meleanor's horns on their kid as soon as Malleus transformed to a human,,, 🥹🥹🥹 Levan, where are your genes...

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cibadiditotobekitoti · 22 days

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As much I love the bald Idia I bet the game is a bit too afraid to make this pathetic ikemen loses all of his gorgeous hair so I have an edgier headcanon for fire-out Idia

#dogibarks #twisted wonderland #idia shroud #twst headcanon #twst theory

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yaksha-lover · 11 months

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I know there’s a lot of debate about whether Malleus could ever actually be with someone like Yuu, considering he is a fae and prince, but the more I think about it the more it feels plausible. While there’s most likely never going to be any canon romances in the game, I think it’s an interesting discussion. Keep in mind this is just my opinion!

We know about the fae-human war that occurred in Briar Valley before Malleus was born (the one that Lilia fought in). Lilia has talked before about wanting there to be peace and understanding between humans and fae.

Well, what would be a better way to do this than uniting the two groups through a royal marriage between a human and a fae? Irl, this kind of marriage does have historical precedent. This union allows both parties to come together and witness specifically the ruler of their nation forgo any prejudice for the other group by sharing this deeply personal relationship.

Even though a lot of fae may look down upon humans and vice versa (probably similar attitudes to Sebek), if the King of Briar Valley were to marry a human, it would facilitate both political and social change amongst both groups. Families and relationships like Sebek’s parents (human-fae) would probably become much more common and socially-acceptable

Furthermore, the next royal heir would be of both fae and human descent, making them more appealing to both parties (aside from those who would remain prejudiced against half-fae like Sebek).

Lilia speaks of how a constant inability to compromise led to such conflict as the war. Marriage is pretty much the ultimate compromise to tie the two groups together. There will be incentive for both human and fae to support the royals of Briar Valley. The political change would hopefully be having everyone be allies, of this being the thing that makes them actually sit down and have political discussions instead of going straight to war. This would hopefully only facilitate more compromise and unity between the two factions, with them being able to support each other with resources and trade, for example.

The catch is that some of these benefits would likely only apply if the human Malleus married was chosen by the humans in Briar Valley who previously fought against the crown/fae. This is difficult because (as of now) we don’t have much knowledge of any such powerful (human) political opponent groups, or if they even exist after the war.

I think it would still generally be beneficial for him to marry a human (probably one of another kingdom I suppose is another solution). Marrying Yuu specifically may be difficult because of them being of ‘low-birth’ in the eyes of snobbish royals (it seems like Briar Valley is still a feudalist society) and being magicless, but I’m not sure those things are deal breakers.

Another problem that arises is the difference in lifespan, but (and this might be cope) but I like to think the Draconia family would have access to something that would make extending an otherwise healthy person’s life possible (whether magic, magical artifacts, etc.).

I honestly doubt Malleus’ grandmother would really deny him the choice of who he marries after everything that’s happened in his life. Also just like…realistically, who’s going to stop him? Malleus will be King and he also has his magic to back him up, so it’s not like any advisors can say no and his grandmother doesn’t have any other family members so she can’t threaten to disinherit him.

Plus, I don’t think there’s evidence to say that he would necessarily be forced to have a very specifically arranged marriage with any other kingdoms right now. I doubt Malleus is down to marry any of the other powerful royals or families (Leona, Kalim, etc.).

So it’s not really like he’s necessarily making a fatal mistake in ruling by not gaining an essential alliance through marriage. Sure, he probably couldn’t marry just anyone, but I think there is a case to be made for him marrying a human (and perhaps Yuu in some alternate timeline where twst is a dating sim).

#tldr i can’t cope with malleyuu not being possible #i need to hang on to this crumb of hope #twst #twisted wonderland #malleus draconia #malleyuu #malleus x reader #malleus draconia x reader #twst theory

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prince-kallisto · 8 months

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JP THEORISTS ARE ON ANOTHER LEVEL OMG-

The Dark Mirror’s Overblot markings always had me feeling suspicious because of the little horns, but the Diamond shapes are??? The exact same as Meleanor’s crown???? WHAT.

I JOKED BEFORE THAT MELEANOR’S SOUL WAS TRAPPED IN THE MIRROR ALL THE WAY BACK IN JULY AND THAT SHE WAS THE “FLOWER OF EVIL” CROWLEY WORSHIPPED BUT NOW I AM AFRAID.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend rewatching the opening prologue just for the way Crowley speaks. His voice literally shows off how much he revers his flower of evil. But notice how addresses his “flower of evil” who is the “fairest one of all,” AND the magic mirror. It’s like there’s two separate entities inside. And perhaps the hand in the prologue isn’t his, but it is Meleanor’s ungloved hand.

We never actually did see the moment of Meleanor’s death…it makes me wonder that if near/at the time of her death, someone else was there to capture her soul, or at least manipulate her magic somehow. The Dark Mirror definitely is just the spirit trapped inside the Magic Mirror from Snow White, so I wonder if the markings on his mask is a sign that someone else is trapped deeper inside the mirror…and only Crowley can call out to the second soul inside.

Although he can only see small reflections of her, she is still “alive” in the mirror, and the only way for Meleanor to have a “physical” form is through blot, just like Ortho’s soul in Book 6. It’s likely why Crowley knows so much about blot and has a very close connection with STYX in there first place- through the Watchmen, he learned how blot can create a vessel for a soul. And Crowley managed to find 7 souls that resemble the Great Seven so much, and their blot is so powerful. Ortho became a mass of the entire Underworld, but perhaps Crowley only needs 7 powerful souls with Phantoms of the Great 7. So perhaps Crowley isn’t trying to revive THE Great Seven, but he does need the Phantom’s sheer power for Meleanor to have a strong enough form.

Crowley please explain yourself I’m too tired to even yell at you rn 😭🐦‍⬛

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst theory #twst overblot #twst meleanor draconia #twst meleanor #twst dire Crowley #twst crowley #twst levan #twst revan #twst Magic mirror #twst dark mirror #twst spoilers #twst book 7 #twst book 7 spoilers #KallistoPost

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 days

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Hi Raven!! Easter eggs in case you didn’t notice but Rook’s bedroom in his dream on the Neige side. It has many vector redraws over Epel poses! Credit to @/MoonlightEquin1 and @/lovesfirstkiss_ on Twitter for noticing this.

I think I found the Twitter posts you're talking about (here and here for those who are interested)! It looks like Epel’s Union Jacket, Suitor Suit, Birthday Boy, and School Uniform initial artworks were used as a basis for some of the Neige paper goods shown. (nxebwbkxnskw THE SUITOR SUIT BEING USED AGAIN… First it was for “Epel”, aka actually young Marja/this grandma, now for Neige…)

This just lends credence to Vil’s belief that Epel’s cuteness could rival Neige’s… thus making Epel Vil’s secret weapon and “poison apple” to defeat Neige in book 5. Maybe Neige copies many of Epel’s poses because Rook also sees the similarities between them (this is, after all, his dream). It’s great attention to detail on the part of the devs!! And, of course, very good eye to the fans who spotted this.

You know what I caught while looking around Rook’s rook for any other potential Epel card matches??? Well, besides the fact that RSA!Vil STILL wears friggin tall heels as part of his uniform?? 😭

Enhance…

IS THAT.

IS THAT CHE’NYA IN THE TOP LEFTHAND CORNER… The cat ears and the colors are too similar NOT to be???? Rook knows who Che’nya is???? Somehow??? 😭

I get why there would be photos of Neige, a celebrity, but why photos of Che’nya…Unless… Rook acquired these pictures personally 💀 Like, he snuck on over to RSA campus and hung out in the bushes taking shots of Neige AND his classmates… Or he ripped it out of the RSA yearbook that he somehow got his hands on??? (The creepy part isn’t even that Rook is the type of character to do this, the creepy part is that this is behavior that’s “normalized” for Rook so we don’t even bat an eye at it when he’s involved.)

Also?? At first I thought the others in this photo card were the Dwarves (since, excluding Che’nya and Neige, there are 7 of them), but the hair colors are nowhere near the same. But they obviously must be RSA students because of the uniforms they wear. (Is one of them Vil?) And there seems to be a… redhead…

A… redhead… prince(ss)????

RIELLE???????? HONEY… IS THAT YOU???????? Is this foreshadowing for us meeting Rielle in the Octavinelle dreams and/or in the second huge arc of the main story????? here's exactly seven of them if you ignore Che'nya and Neige, meaning this count of RSA students would be perfect for another seven books of main story... aM I REAdiNG tOO MYCh JntO TH!S?????????

I didn’t expect to fall down this rabbit hole from an Epel and Neige centered ask but here we are, I guess 🤯

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ventique18 · 26 days

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🐉: "Lilia, as per your advice, I've been trying to rekindle my relationship with the man who contributed his sperm to Mother."

🐉: "Just recently I've been pulling a prank on him."

🦇: "Contributed his-- at least call him by his name. My goodness. What happened in the past was not his fault."

🦇: "So? What kind of prank?"

🐉: "I have been hiding things that are important to him these past few days. Just so he could feel a fraction of what Mother felt when he disappeared without warning."

🦇: "Oooh that's a good one! You should try hiding yourself too just to amp it up!"

🐉: "Lilia, you do not understand. It has to be something he would look for."

🦇: "Oh that's... That's... Sigh."

#it must be so awkward to be lilia lmao #twisted wonderland #ventique rambles #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge #papa draconia #twst theory

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irafuwas · 9 months

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some thoughts on how lilia views love

I’ve been watching through the Stitch event and there’s a bit of dialogue Lilia says that unfortunately made me Think, so I wanted to gather my babblings here.

This post contains spoilers for: Book 7, Tsumsted Wonderland 2, Lost in the Book with Stitch, Spectral Soiree/Endless Halloween, and Tamashina Mina

After spending the day fighting off Gantu’s robots, scavenging for food, and exploring the island, the boys rest for a bit in an old cottage they found. Lilia wants to take the opportunity to spruce up the cottage and make it more resort-like while they’re enjoying this “vacation”, and Riddle and Jack are both surprised and a bit peeved to hear him say this.

Riddle: Don’t you want to find a way off this island as soon as possible, Lilia Senpai? Malleus Senpai, Silver, and Sebek… Everyone at Diasomnia must be worried sick about you right now. I should think you’d want to assuage their concerns a tad bit faster!

Lilia: …Thing is, I trust them.

Riddle: You trust them?

Lilia: Mm-hmm. Knowing them, no doubt they understand I’m safe and sound and having a good time right now. Malleus and the others know I’m not the type of guy who’d get in a pickle over something as trivial as this. And that’s because they know me very, very well – just like family!

(snipped)

Lilia: It’s truly wonderful having people in your life who trust you and wish the best for you - and for whom you do the same in return - no matter how far apart you may be.

When you take this dialogue and look at in isolation of this event, then it’s a wonderful thing to hear Lilia say. He trusts his boys and they trust him - because they’re family, and that’s what families do. It’s always great to hear the characters themselves acknowledge their strong bonds with each other, and I thought it was really cute how Stitch got so happy to hear Lilia talking about his Ohana.

But when you take what he said and consider the broader story of Twisted Wonderland (vignettes and events, included), and you consider other things he’s said and done in the past… This dialogue just hurts.

There’s been small moments here and there that made me think Lilia has kind of an unhealthy(?) or warped(?) view of love. I’m not sure what the best word for it is, but I’ve noticed that he doesn’t like people worrying over him, he doesn’t like emotional farewells/sappiness, and he really doesn’t like letting others see him when he’s weak. Additionally, he seems to value himself very little – he doesn’t think people would be worried about him if he were in danger, or that people would be happy getting pictures of him, or that his departure in Book 7 would hurt those around him so much. I’ll go ahead and put examples for each point so you all can understand better what I’m trying to say.

He doesn’t like people worrying about him

We can see this partly from the quote this whole post is based on, as well as from Book 7.

Based on his conversation with Riddle, Lilia’s way of thinking appears to be:

If someone trusts me -> that means they wouldn’t worry about me

As well as:

If someone worries about me -> that means they don’t trust me

But we do worry about the people we love and care about, don’t we? We worry about our spouses getting home safely from a business trip, and our kids making friends at school, and our friends acing the interview they’ve been practicing for because we love them, don’t we? And because we want the best for them. But it doesn’t seem like Lilia thinks the same way.

And to add onto this point, it’s very clear the boys do worry about Lilia a lot, contrary to what Lilia claims. Due to Lilia’s departure, Malleus brought a snowstorm to the island in his sadness, Silver considered dropping out of school and leaving with his father, only to end up breaking down and crying in front of their crown prince of all people, and Sebek used his one wish to make Lilia be healthy and have him stay with Silver forever. They were all worried terribly about him in their own ways, but it doesn’t seem like Lilia ever noticed (or maybe he did, and just didn’t want to bring it up for some reason. Who knows.)

At any rate, he also gets mad (well, more like tsundere lol) at Silver when the boy was on the verge of tears after Lilia took a nasty hit for him. (I know this exchange occurred with General Vanrouge, and he was quite the asshole back then, but he’s still retained that dislike for people worrying over him.)

Lilia: Oh, would you quit it with the sniveling. I drank the potion, didn’t I? I just to rest for a little bit, and then I’ll be good as new.

He doesn’t like emotional farewells/sappiness

He exhibits his distaste of sappiness in Book 7 and the Welcome to Tsumsted Wonderland 2 event. In the latter, when everyone is saying goodbye to their tsums, he mentions he doesn’t like the gloomy atmosphere. He wants goodbyes to be happy (and most likely, free of any emotional weight). The same can be said in Book 7, when he wholeheartedly agrees to the going away party the students wanted to put on for him, as well as when Silver mentions his father had wanted them all to send him off with a smile. I’m not sure if Lilia just doesn’t enjoy people getting serious with their emotions towards him, or if he doesn’t like seeing it in general. It gives me Macho Man (tm) vibes, kind of? Like, “don’t let people see you cry and feel sad because then you look weak” kind of thing but idk.

Lilia: Farewells are certainly sorrowful, but I hate leaving things on such a gloomy note. Let’s keep our chins up until the end. Tsum, your ability to surprise others was exceptional, and you made today so much fun. So long!

He really doesn’t like letting others see him when he’s weak

There’s still a lot of loose ends to be resolved in Book 7, one of them being the full extent of Lilia’s motives for wanting to leave so suddenly. It does seem to be he’s telling the truth that his magic ran out early, since he couldn’t muster up enough strength to fight back against Malleus when he was about to Overblot, but we don’t know if the real reason for that is just because he “went a little to wild” in his youth, like he claimed, or if something else caused his magic to deplete so prematurely. But we did hear him reveal a little bit of his motives when he was talking to Floyd at the party.

Floyd was dismayed he never got a chance to fight Lilia, and he wished he could’ve seen Lilia go all out at least once. When he asks Lilia why he’s dropping out, Lilia says under his breathe that he didn’t want “them” to see him so weak.

Lilia (whispering to himself): …It’s because I didn’t want them to see me so feeble.

Regardless of why his magic ran out and why he wants to go the Land of Red Dragons of all places, we know part of the reason for his departure is because he doesn’t want Malleus and the others to see how far he’d fallen from his former military glory. (sidebar: I have a feeling he thought he’d be a burden on Silver and co. with him losing his magic, and he was trying to leave so quickly to escape his shame towards his rapid loss of strength and independence (I imagine since he’s a magical being who comes from a country that runs on magic, him losing his powers must feel very isolating and limiting, like he’s lost a lot of the control he used to have over his own life).)

He doesn’t think people would be worried about him if he were in danger

In Endless Halloween/Spectral Soiree, Lilia was surprised by how much Silver and the others had been worrying about him and Malleus when they disappeared. Interestingly, even though Lilia is the one that Silver was the most relieved to see (it’s hard to tell with the live 2d models, but it looked like he went up to hug? Lilia and Lilia slapped his hand away), Lilia later says “I didn’t think you’d be so worried about us.” (referring to himself and the others involved with the party shenanigans).

(I am aware they changed this line to “I didn’t think you’d be so worried about me” In TWST EN, but I’m just focusing on the JP version).

I just found it weird that even though Silver was very clearly worried about Lilia the most, Lilia kind of redirected Silver’s concern over from “Lilia” to “Lilia and everyone else”. Did it make him uncomfortable to hear Silver was that worried about him? I’m not sure, but it just stood out to me as being a little strange how he responded, and how surprised he was that his own son would get worried about him suddenly disappearing.

He didn’t think people would be happy getting pictures of him

At the end of Lilia’s Tamashina Mina vignette, Yuu stops by Diasomnia to give him some photos he’d taken of Lilia on their trip, and Sebek, Silver, and Malleus are delighted to see them, since it’s not often they get to see photos of Lilia. Lilia is surprised at how happy they are to receive those pictures of himself. But why wouldn’t they be happy? They love him and treasure him dearly, of course they’d be overjoyed to have pictures of him to remember him by. It’s like he thought they wouldn’t care about him that much, which is really bizarre, considering the whole “even if we’re not related by blood we’re still family” thing he told Malleus before.

Lilia: To think, you’d all be so delighted just to see some pictures of me. I never would’ve imagined you’d all react like this.

He didn’t think his departure in Book 7 would hurt those around him so much

This relates back to what I mentioned in the first point, but there’s one scene that demonstrates this perfectly.

After Silver breaks down in front of Malleus, Malleus teleports both of them to Lilia’s going away party. All eyes should have been on Malleus with how strangely he was acting, but the first thing Lilia honed in on was that Silver had been crying. And not only that, but Lilia looked surprised that Silver had been crying. And why wouldn’t he cry? The one person who formed Silver’s entire world and sun and stars was about to leave him and go die all by himself on the other side of the planet. There is no reason Lilia should’ve been surprised at Silver’s tears, yet he was. And I gather that’s because he never thought the boy could ever possibly want to choose to stay by his side, to choose him over all the hopes and dreams he’d burdened on the poor child from the moment he could walk, to choose him over his real friends and his real family members.

I hope when Lilia “wakes up” from his dream, the first he does is ask Silver what he’d been crying about back at the party. And I pray to god they will actually talk things out and Lilia will finally apologize for how much of a complete idiot he’s been acting.

My headache’s coming back so to wrap this up quickly, my current understanding of Lilia Vanrouge is that he either doesn’t realize just how loved and cherished he is by his family members, or that he does realize it and just pretends not to. If it’s the latter, which is what I personally lean towards, I think he does this as a means to protect himself.

He’s already lost so many of his loved ones, and he very well may be putting up these walls around his heart and pushing away the people who love him just so he doesn’t have to get hurt again. We don’t know how he became an orphan, but his birth family either gave him up or passed away and left him behind. Even when Queen Maleficia took him in, he was always made the scapegoat for the princess’s schemes, and it sounded like he was brought up more as Levan and Mallenoa’s inferior than their equal. And then war struck their nation. And then his one best friend went missing and the other one probably gave up her life trying to protect the very child who'd go on to shatter the ice surrounding his wounded heart.

Perhaps with Malleus and Silver and Sebek now, he thought his best option would be to exit their lives before they had a chance to do the same to him, because he knew they would do the same to him. Everyone does.

As a final note, I still keep going to back to what he said in Cater’s Halloween vignette. I think this one line sums up his views of love better than I ever could:

“But the more precious a bond is, the more pain it can inflict.”

(source)

#lilia vanrouge #twst silver #twst theory #twst #twisted wonderland #twst spoilers #twst analysis #not really a theory or anything more like its just me babbling but yeah

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