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thefirstknife · 6 months

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What are the Tones?

Whomst've asked me this. You're fuelling my unending obsession, thank you.

I posted about the tones before! Most of it is listed in this post! But I'd like to add some stuff now that it's been some time since then.

The tones are noises made by the spires on Mercury (Lighthouses). Whenever someone dies, the spires emit a tone. They basically react to death in various ways, depending on how the death happens; there's different tones to dying to Light as well as different tones to a perma-death. This is peculiar because nobody could hear them except Brother Vance.

He made Trials of Osiris to study them (because it's an endless source of Guardians dying over and over). Mara knew about his research (Trials was accessed in the Reef in D1) and warned him to stop because it's dangerous. It's unclear why. Osiris did the same years later. As a matter of fact, Osiris was super dramatic about it:

"What I have discovered…" "…is dangerous enough to destroy every man, woman, and child in existence. You're meddling with forces outside your grasp," Osiris reprimanded.

The tones are interesting because they're still largely unexplained. Mara implied that they symbolise Guardians being attuned to Darkness and being able to wield it, which is true, but Osiris' reaction implies something more. And it has to be more, because Osiris detected the same tones as coming from the anomalies of the missing planets and from the Pyramids. Long post under:

In my previous post I also connected that to the fact that egregore seems to be emitting some sort of sound/frequency attuned to the same thing: anomalies, Pyramids and, obviously, to the source of it all (the Witness). So there's some sort of frequency in Darkness that is audible and comes from all places connected to the Darkness network (and that network manifests physically as egregore). And in this case, anomalies and Pyramids (and ships infested with egregore like Glykon and Leviathan) are fine; it makes sense that they link to the Witness!

But spires on Mercury? Why them? My bestie made a post recently after we went unhinged (again) because the same lore book that deals with the tones also makes a really strong implication that the Vex were deliberately led to Mercury by the Pyramid Fleet in the Collapse. There, the Vex drained Mercury of Light, hollowed out the planet and used its materials to make the spires (and the Infinite Forest, a simulation engine) and then they waited for the Pyramids to return. Which they did, in Arrivals.

To make things more complex, after Titan came back, it was confirmed that the Witness did not take the planets randomly. There was a purpose to each one being stolen. Mars was taken to search through our Golden Age and Collapse database in order to find where the Veil may have been hidden. This could've been just a random coincidence, but then Titan came back and we learned that the Witness wanted Ahsa dead because Ahsa not only knows the origins of the Witness, but also how to get through the portal (and who knows if she has any other potential powers to helps us get in there or help us otherwise).

Io is unclear, but there are many options; it may have been taken for the Pyramidion and Vex stuff which Asher got ahead of. It may have been taken to study the Tree of Silver Wings (the Witness had another seed it gave Calus in Lightfall), or it may have been taken to study the Traveler's past or the Light in general or maybe something else. The point is, there are options that we can understand.

But Mercury? Zero clue. The only thing that may have been of interest is the Infinite Forest, but Vance sealed it so if the Witness took Mercury for that and couldn't get into the Forest, then Mercury would've been useless and probably released sooner unless the Witness is just keeping it out of spite or thought that maybe it would be able to find a way inside. And of course... there's the spires and the tones. Mercury is somehow linked to Darkness and the Witness, it has to be, and we have no clue what the Witness wants with it.

Not only that, but there's another curious thing about Mercury, or rather, the anomaly of it. It was mentioned in Duality dungeon, by Calus. When Calus tried talking to the Witness on the Glykon, the Witness eventually responded and it told Calus to come to the anomaly of Mercury:

Through the Crown of Sorrow, the Voice in the Darkness called out to me, beckoning me to the absence of Mercury. At first, I feared the Leviathan would not survive the journey, as the Glykon had been rent asunder by a similar journey. By my Leviathan, it is strong. Its heart beats anew, and as it pierced the veil of creation... the Voice greeted me. There were such sights to behold.

So when Calus disappeared off the Glykon, he went back to the Leviathan and bolted straight for the Mercury anomaly in which he was able to communicate with the Witness. Why Mercury? Glykon went into the Mars anomaly. Why couldn't the Witness speak to Calus in there? Or in any of the other anomalies? Why specifically Mercury? This is driving me insane.

But if Mercury is somehow connected to the Darkness network through the spires, is it possible that it serves as some sort of a communications hub? Maybe that's why the Witness is still keeping it? And it still is! We can see it in Root of Nightmares, in the Witness' room. Titan is still obviously there as well because it came out before Titan returned, but Mercury and Io are still trapped. This is also confirmed by the tiny excerpt we can see from the TFS Collector's Edition which I talked about in here.

Or the reason for Mercury is something completely different. We have no clue why Mercury was taken and what's going on there and why the Witness called Calus there and why the tones happened and why are they the same tones that can also be heard from anomalies and Pyramids.

To fuel me even more, they decided to drop two lore pieces in Season of the Deep that relate to Mercury and the tones tangentially. I know literally everyone and their grandma thinks that Targeted Redaction is just there to be funny (and so did I at first), but I genuinely can't accept that as being just a joke. The gist of it is that Osiris has no clue who Vance is and that is, to put it simply, impossible.

Obviously Osiris did not like the Cult and they were annoying to him, but he knew Vance. He spoke to him only once, but Vance is the one who told him to "plant the seed," a message that Mara gave him years before. This literally sets up the entire Season of Arrivals. Not only that, but Vance told Osiris about the tones and Osiris was deeply troubled about them. He's the one who continued the research and went around the solar system after planets disappeared, investigating anomalies and discovering that they emit the same tones. He mentions Vance, by name, twice in Immolant:

"Do you hear that?" Osiris asks, turning to Sagira. He turns the ship's scanning array toward the anomaly. "Like the tones Vance described. From the spires, and then the Pyramids. It was coming from the anomaly that replaced Io as well."

"We could use the Crucible right now. Your trials. This will be very helpful. You mean to stay, yes?" "I will. Long enough to show you how to implement the simulation; but tonight, I must disembark," Osiris says. "So soon?" Osiris tenses his jaw in forced silence. He twiddles with code. "I'm worried about what Vance found."

At the same time, Osiris also sends us the seasonal artifact from Hunt, Fang of Xivu Arath. In it, he mentions:

The zealots that followed me to Mercury have proved themselves useful… twice now, actually. They possessed an artifact in their stores: a Hive fang.

The zealots being useful "twice" refers to Vance telling him about the seed and having this artifact kept safely in the Lighthouse (technically, it's three times: in Curse of Osiris, Vance told us where to find the machine to bring Sagira back and it was being kept by the Cult, but it's unclear if we told Osiris the details). Osiris, again, specifically mentions Vance when he recounts where he got it from, in Immolant:

Sagira had chided him for storming the Lighthouse and ransacking Vance's possessions. "They're my relics," he said to silence her protests.

I know Osiris has been through a lot, but his memories are completely and perfectly intact... Except for Vance. That's bizarre to me, given that there's several important points that tie them together, like planting the seed on Io (something he wouldn't have known to do without Vance relaying Mara's message) and research of the tones, something that Osiris spent a lot of time doing and was explicitly worried about; so worried, in fact, that he was willing to part ways with Saint just to continue that research.

In my old post I also mentioned how Osiris even went to Ana to tell her to ask Rasputin if he heard any tones in the Collapse, but Rasputin wasn't up yet. And when Rasputin was finally up, we had much bigger problems to deal with so I assumed that Osiris never asked because the priority was to find what's on Neptune. But now I think that Osiris didn't ask because he doesn't remember. Because the memory of Vance and tones and whatever they mean was deliberately removed from him while Savathun had him imprisoned. Or, perhaps, the Nezarec tea messed with it. After all, Darkness is memory.

This would obviously imply that the tones are something so important and dangerous that Savathun (or someone else) wanted Osiris' knowledge of it removed so that maybe she could have leverage or to know something we don't or perhaps for some other purpose by some other actor. This was such a big point that the entirety of Immolant part 1 is almost exclusively dedicated to Osiris inquiring into the tones.

Another possibility is also that Osiris' memory of Vance was messed with because of Io and the seed and Tree (and then as a consequence, obviously, he would also forget about the tones).

There's also a possibility that Savathun is literally right now messing with me and she did it for no reason at all just to generate imbaru or mess with Osiris or maybe she even wanted to do one nice thing for him and remove the memory of the weird Cult and the tones aren't important at all.

But I don't know. The fact that they're the same thing that the whole Darkness network uses and that ultimately leads to the Witness seems like something that should be important. However, I don't think Mercury will return before TFS, especially since TFS CE has Eido writing about how Mercury is still in the Witness' grasp. But, consider also that we don't know the timeline of when Eido's writing is set. It has to be set after Ahsa's reveal about the Witness' origins, but before TFS. We don't have enough information to tell more. There's also Vex shenanigans to consider, something that will certainly be a plot point post-TFS and Mercury is a prime location for that.

Either way, there's something going on here, added also with the second lore tab release in Season of the Deep that tangentially ties to Mercury, which is Unexpected Resurgence. In it, Shayura is approached by Sister Faora, an incredibly niche character who was leading the Cult of Osiris before Vance. She's shown still wearing the insignia of the Cult. We never learned why she stopped leading them and why Vance took over; she just kinda disappears from the lore book (Trials and Tribulations, the one about the tones). But apparently she's in the City and she's still wearing the Cult robes and she's back in the story... for some reason??

It honestly feels like some sort of a setup for something in the future, something that might deal with Mercury's return. I need to stress just how small she is as a character: she only actually appears in three lore tabs before Unexpected Resurgence, all in the same lore book. The rest of her stuff is just flavour text on the Kairos Function armour pieces from Curse of Osiris. That's it. Why return her in Season of the Deep? Mind boggling.

This whole thing about the tones and Mercury consumes me every day and night. The fact that Deep mentioned Vance in a way easily dismissed as a joke (but also, note the name of the weapon: targeted redaction) as well as Faora coming back is just too wild to me to be a random throwback or a just a joke. Not when it's beyond clear that Osiris should remember Vance, the Cult, the tones and the rest of it. It's even unclear at this point if he remembers that he planted the seed on Io.

So what are the tones? What are they indeed. They're music from the spires of Mercury that reacts to death and uses the same frequency as the entire Darkness network with the Witness at the top. What is their purpose and what is the purpose of Mercury and why did the Witness take it and what is this plotline and when will it be resolved? Summary:

#destiny 2 #mercury #vance #osiris #darkness #witness #long post #lore vibing #ask #it's going to be funny when this turns out to be nothing at all. just like some noises that darkness makes #but no way. it has to be something. it has to be... bro...#but for real i would love if all missing planets got fully resolved #mars was resolved and ana was resolved #titan was resolved and sloane was resolved #io is.... questionable but asher was resolved #mercury and vance are just ?????????????????#i am the bearer of the curse. i haven't stopped thinking about the tones since season of the worthy when that lore book came out #seeing osiris losing his mind about them in immolant (the most important lore ever) just strengthened that #and then nothing. he got yoinked. and then he returned and apparently doesn't remember. HELP.#insane. kicking and screaming and throwing things. i understand the cult of osiris now #i get it vance. you're so valid.

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skitskatdacat63 · 3 months

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"Victory belongs to the most persevering" - Nandopoleon Alonsoparte

+ First Consul Nandopoleon

Wow look I finally drew him properly! This was like the 2nd or so AU I've ever made, but honestly I feel so strongly about it that it's really intimidating to try and make a satisfying explanation post for it. I want it to be perfect ah. But I will one day! Maybe a web weave or smth in the meantime. But I digress. Napoleon Bonaparte = Fernando Alonso, please contact @/skitskatdacat63 for details.

In this painting I drew the uniform Napoleon wore during the Italian campaign in the 1790s, bcs I think it's so pretty, and not just the typical Napoleon outfit everyone knows(tho dw I'm in love with that one too.)

Though I will say, it was a bit weird drawing Fernando in navy blue(is this a sign for 2025?), so I had to draw him in the bright red First Consul uniform, to return some order to the world y'know

I ended up picking "victory belongs to the most persevering" as the Napoleon quote to use, but that was really hard to pick tbh. I literally have a whole folder of Napoleon quotes that remind me of Fernando LOL. Some others, to give you an idea:

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."

"From triumph to downfall, there is but one step."

"Morality has nothing to do with such a man as I am."

"It requires more courage to suffer than to die."

Etc etc., again: I have a folder ;;;

I don't think this drawing was nearly as complicated as the Seb one, but for some reason it made me suffer more. I think you just get into this really intense mindset after drawing smth super detailed, and it's very frustrating. But I like it! His face was very confusing to me(the angle of the eyes), and then it randomly hit me how to draw it so that was cool. Look at him face :) handsome boy

Also here's the process! I think I'm gonna try and draw something each weekend as a gift to myself after the school week(if I have actual ideas for it lol)

#lmao i think ive only talked in depth abt this au to two people?#well and harassing my parents with the parallel reasoning #i talked abt it in the read more but yeah ah this is extremely important to me #like just crucial characterization and historical implications and all that #so its smth i really hesitate to make a lore type post bcs it will never be perfect enough for me LOL #(i wanna read more actual napoleon literature to have better basis tbh)#i mean ask me if you have any questions cause i do see that this looks a bit crazy on the outside djfkkglv #actually the funniest part i will mention is that the napoleon tumblr fandom and our fernando fandom ARE SO SIMILAR #<- cofi knows. cofi understands. they literally talk abt him the exact same way we talk about fernando. its sooooo fun #cut from the same cloth and all that. but god i hope they never see this ill die im just a observer #f1 #formula 1 #fernando alonso #nandopoleon alonsoparte #<- yes i am extremely proud of that #catie.art.#fa14

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arx-aru · 8 months

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War-Dead Catacombs

This is honestly an incredible dungeon, in terms of all the subtext.

For reference! It's the one hidden in the corner of Radahn's arena where spectral Cleanrot Knights make battle with equally bodiless Radahn soldiers--

There's a number of fascinating details in here:

Like all catacombs, the halls are littered with human remains. However, these are presumably older than those of the Battle of Aeonia (because the corpses in Radahn's arena, exposed to the elements (and his cannibalistic frenzy) still have tattered surcoats, waistcloths, et cetera. These bodies, however, are mere skeletons, bereft of any clothing). So far as I can find, there's not actually any of the Radahn and Malenian battle debris assets that litter Caelid inside here. Given how ubiquitous they are, this must have been intentional. None of the bodies entombed here belong to these soldiers.

Naturally, Radahn himself is simply too large to get inside, so this place isn't actually so much a tomb as the singular point of refuge in the Wailing Dunes.

So. They've lost their flesh by the time they entered, evidently--meaning their bodies are still outside, being gorged upon by Radahn.

These are spirits of, presumably, the same variety as the Headless Knights or Latenna; that is, they are the essence of their dying will--their continued animation(as opposed to the crestfallen one-sentence spirits elsewhere) is reflective of a degree of resolve and intention at their time of death.

The final moments of the Radahn and Malenian armies, then, was to make it to this location. There are no spirits roaming outside, after all. They tried to escape Radahn and preserve, if nothing else, their dignity in death... but failed, one and all. Tricky to outrun a man who would hold up the very stars, after all.

And, of course, this is one of the very few instances of AI factions actively fighting each other... and they were near-certainly concerned, primarily, with escaping Radahn when they died. Yet they fight on. So deep is the loathing between the Radahn and Malenian hosts that they'd forgive each-other not even in death, not even having their bodily dignity violated by both their lords. Whether this is borne of unshakeable faith or hatred is difficult to say, of course, but the item descriptions of their respective armor sets might shed light(the Cleanrot Knights knew full well what would happen to them but accepted it, whereas the Radahn knights struck their lord's crest from their hearts when everything fell apart, even though Radahn's frenzy wasn't necessarily his fault. Importantly, the reliability of lordsworn armor descriptions in general seems shaky at best, so I don't put huge coin to that exact conclusion).

The movesets all these guys use is, as far as I can tell, the same as their surviving counterparts. That is to say, the cited sources of their battle arts, skills, and abilities in item descriptions hold true to their spiritual essence. In other words: so intrinsic is the rot and disability to the Cleanrot Knights that they yet retain their limp, their wings, and the rotten acid they cough and heave upon their foes. So fundamental was the martial prowess of Radahn's men that they keep Artorias spinning and spamming combo attacks--they are not in the least phased by their own death. So unshakeable is the faith of Malenia's vassals in their two gods that they still cast Miquellan magics and proc the Malenian sword insignia effects.

They actually respawn, when they finally manage to "kill" one another. Indeed, none of these people were equipped to kill the bodiless. So they'll keep fighting, again and again and forevermore, until true death do them part--if ever, even, it finds its way to their forgotten Tartarus.

Basically! After the player finally defeats Radahn and offers a small measure of closure to the Shattering, they're allowed to see what war does to the everyman's very soul.

These gods were family, once.

These soldiers, beholden to the private affairs of strangers, were comrades. Many were probably friends.

It all begs the question--was Ranni's scheme to begin the Age of Stars worth it? Is the era she'll usher in, should she even succeed, of greater meaning than how the people of the Lands Between were molested, body and soul?

Well, maybe. It's hard to say. Impossible, really.

But we might imagine what the dead would answer, if they'd not been robbed their chance to speak.

#elden ring #elden ring lore #elden ring theory #malenia #malenia blade of miquella #radahn #starscourge radahn #cleanrot knight #I like Ranni and Radahn a lot #to be clear #but the narrative they (and malenia) serve asks a more important question #than like #who best girl is #or who's right or what have you #I LIKE THIS GAME #caelid cant stop bringing in the Ws on environmental storytelling what can b said

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cutebutalsostabby · 2 months

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Which Link is most likely to go for a trans surgery?

Hmmm. Well: all of them are SOME flavour of trans and/or genderqueer (I don't make the rules, except when I do, and yep: thems the rules), but I don't think many of them would actually have surgery, per se. For several reasons, which all basically boil down to this: Hyrule is a better place than the real world, and they can do cool stuff we can't do here. Behold as I infodump all over your question.

First off, my opinion is that there's less social and legal pressure within most of the game settings to conform to particular gender presentations. Which is obviously far from the sole reason why surgery would happen in the real world, but it does mean that you can decide 100% for your OWN sake, not for anyone else's. Note: Western transphobia developed under specific conditions which we don't have to transpose into fictional worlds. We can just do what we want. It's great.

Second, and this one is pretty clearly demonstrated in game lore, mechanics and dialogue: kids in Hyrule, Skyloft and the Great Ocean are treated really well compared to the real world, in that they have 1) the ability to make personal decisions WITHOUT parent consent, and 2) direct access to libraries, doctors, clothes shops, potion shops and etc. Sure, money is a factor here, but the Links at least tend to have spare cash and/or the ability to earn it. Plus, potions at least are not that expensive, nor is that one medical bill from the Oracles games from memory? Idk. If you have 50 rupees every now and then, you're probably set. So if there's a particular surgery a trans person might have in the real world as a direct result of not being able to make their own choices during puberty... that doesn't have to apply in a fictional world. Unless they either didn't know or didn't have access at the time.

Related to the above: most of the games have some form of magic and often also some form of science. I think surgery would be a last resort, used either where magic isn't available or where the magic that IS available doesn't do enough. So probably only for major changes and/or in low magic settings.

As for who, then, based on the above:

TP!Link does come from a low magic world where one of two doctors is a raging racist, and that could limit his access to HRT equivalents. The fact that he comes from a small village could also impact his access to information about being trans, though his house IS full of books and his adopted dad and childhood friend's dad ARE connected with a bunch of people across Hyrule, including the one non-racist doctor. If I didn't HC him as being intersex and totally fine with his body, he'd be my pick.

Since I do: Hyrule (ZeldaI&II!Link).

I HC him as transmasc, but I think he was probably late to put actual words to that, given he's been travelling alone since a young age. Potionsellers do exist within his world, but they're a) rare, an b) expensive. My boy is POOR. But luckily, the town healers and magicians both offer their services for free! YAY! He can get all the surgery and magical HRT he wants :) just so long as he's both cool with having a little blood spilled and able to stick around in a town long enough to recover. Which he uhh... CAN do... right?

Congrats on your top surgery, Roolie!! 🎉🎉🎉

#asks #long post #zelda lore #the important kind #legend of zelda #queer #idk if this was intended as an LU question but if it was that's fine too #queer those fools into oblivion

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ask-thearchivists · 7 months

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The Cartographer: Hey Curator! You won't believe how many habitable satellites I found in this next solar system.

The Cartographer: Hey. Why are these mortals out of stasis?

The Curator: The Coordinator is running an experiment on their social behaviors in atypical environments. Personally, I can't wait for Charmer to get back so he can get all fake polite to someone else for a change.

The Cartographer: Isn't she normally so busy directing everything? Why would she purposely take on more work?

The Curator: Well. I have one theory.

The Cartographer: Oh?

The Curator: It's been so long since our little sibling was…taken from us. I realized a little while after she insisted on doing this project that, if he was here today, he would have become an adult by now.

The Cartographer: Oh.

(Silence)

The Cartographer: Do you think, where they are, they can age? Sometimes I think about him returning to us and being unrecognizable.

The Curator: I don't think so. You saw the disk. The Titan Collected a Collector. Charmer thinks their stasis might be interactive, but he would need to be awakened.

The Cartographer: I hope they're not awakened until right before he's released. How terrible it would be to be trapped in a disk. I can't imagine the interactivity of it is very satisfying. Especially for a child.

The Curator: Yeah. By the way, Cartographer, the mortals like to ask us questions.

(The Cartographer is open to questions)

#ask the archivists #ask blog #asks are open #toh the archivists #the owl house #toh #toh oc #the archivists #id in alt text #the collector #toh the collector #FINALLY FINISHED THIS FUCKING POST #ask them questions go go go go #WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING TO TAG POSTS THAT MENTION THE COLLECTOR #it's important for lore reasons that I tag them!!!! *explodes*

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shrumboooooooooooooooooooooooooo · 1 month

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is mana transfer in dungeon meshi only done via hands or is it just skin on skin contact? if skin on skin, can falin and marcille transfer mana to each other by frotting?

#or perhaps mouth to BOOB?!?!?!? O_O #these are the important lore questions that i have in my head #dungeon meshi #farcille #any loreheads PLEASE answer

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ride-a-dromedary · 6 months

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I would have liked to see the reunion between Halsin and Thaniel when he woke up.

#BG3 Musing #Halsin Posting #like i know this isn't the halsin show however comma like...it's important #as a complete side note the weird thing about thaniel (and oliver) is that they seem like a Kara-Turan nature spirit #right down to the good/evil divide that exists within them (or i suppose it's more like...malevolent? mischievous? in oliver's case)#because they don't appear as place spirits nor do they align with the standard elven nature spirits #so my question is what in hell is a kara-turan nature spirit doing in faerun?#like i genuinely think thaniel followed halsin when he left his childhood home and took up domain where the druids did #because they were connected - before the market town began to spread - before the shadow curse #but my dude how did you even GET here??#(the answer is i'm overthinking it - the developers likely did not even consider this and also it leans more into 3E lore anyway)

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corrodedcoughin · 1 year

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90s au where stobin and Gareth and Eddie meet at a bar. How do they meet? Arguing over the bar’s sonic the hedgehog game. For months the two pairs have been playing it separate nights. Eddie and Gareth on Fridays (usually they have gigs on Saturdays) Steve and Robin on Saturdays (the Official start of their Saturdays nights). Both pairs unknowingly having vendettas against each other for the leader board (never the top spot, they accept they aren’t that good and it’s always headed by some guy called jargyle<3)

Anyway one weekend corroded coffin have a gig on a Friday so gareth and Eddie decide to keep their tradition alive but move it along to Saturday. They arrive at their usual time and set up shop at the game, quickly devolving into their routine of each others nicknames, Eddie being Sonic and Gareth being Tails. They are getting In The Zone when Steve and Robin arrive, absolutely OUTRAGED that somebody is at THEIR game and not only that! They’ve stolen THEIR names, Steve is Sonic, Robin is Tails. They plant themselves in a booth and order drinks, ready to pounce on the machine as soon as those two imposters move.

Only they end up maybe drinking more than expected, possibly riling each other up to the point of storming over to the two guys because how dare they steal Steve and Robins Saturday night ritual?! Their names! Maybe even their high score!

Gareth and Eddie are heading towards drunk themselves, losing more money to the machine than they can justify and over the top celebrating when they clear a level. Which is when Robin taps Eddie on the shoulder, spinning him round to explain Just How Rude he’s being with Gareth standing just behind Eddie’s shoulder, sipping his beer and squinting at Steve who is giving Scary Dog behind Robin. Gareth is maybe further gone than he realises because in the middle of Robin’s speech (which is very eloquent and impressive he must admit) he’s whisper shouting in Eddie’s ear ‘hey dude major hottie behind the cool lesbian. Want me to wing man you?’

And Eddie? Eddie slides his eyes over to ‘major hottie’ who happens to have the fluffiest hair and sharpest jawline he’s ever seen and whisper shouts back to Gareth because he too, is more drunk than he possibly wants to admit, ‘oh my god he’s so hot man, I think he might be a meringue. Menagerie? Mirage!’ And goes to extend a hand towards Steve.

Robin, now slightly endeared from being noted as a cool lesbian, turns to look at Steve who has his Loverboy Game Face on and figures she can swing this display of bad flirting into an opportunity to get her Saturday Night Ritual back on track. Nothing is getting in the way of her playing Sonic with Steve, it might just be a little detoured along the way.

#Gareth is in awe of lesbian swag and Robin appreciates him for it #(he has Exponential Tboy Swag)#this was originally going to be stobin and Gareth and Eddie shouting about how they are the REAL tails and sonic and the other couple are #FAKES #but I couldn’t figure it out #there’s also another version where Steddie argue over who is sonic and who gets Dustin as their tails #then shadow the hedgehog appears and Eddie demands he’s shadow #ALSO IMPORTANT Gareth and Eddie’s name is MothBoys 2 me #freak and Jeff enjoy their stories but have their own jersey devil band. sometimes cc break into the separate bands during #a gig. this is called Crytid Communications and have a small but enthusiastic cult following #Robin gets called in to play trumpet from time to time and she gets to be whatever cryptid she desires #this is more of my own cc lore sorry #also you’d think I was a sonic Stan. No I just used to watch let’s plays for anything to relax and recently got back into it #this is stupid sorry my dudes #genuine question how are we all?#I haven’t asked since I came back. catch me up on y anything you desire!!! I missed being here!!!#don’t worry it wasn’t a noticeable absence I don’t expect anyway to have noticed lol BYE #gotta go fast #stranger things #eddie munson #steddie #steve harrington #platonic soulmates stobin #stobin #gareth stranger things

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hersweetrevenge · 3 months

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corey commentary: the official making of h40 🎃🔪

honestly i feel like this book really helped me refocus my thoughts on corey and brought me back to basics for the first time in a while.

i've split this post into a few specific topics based on my own thoughts and the book details that i found most interesting. a lot of this i've talked about before but i'm bringing it back with evidence babyyy.

WARNING for suicide and suicidal ideation, murder, manipulation, mental health issues and crises, and passing mentions of child abuse.

costume

corey's costume was developed in reverse (pg. 176), starting with his final look, the leather jacketed bad boy, and working backwards to the opening scene look, the good boy on his way to the sock hop.

i love that this was the process, i think that's so interesting from both a design and character perspective. taking him from what he became to what he was? it feels sort of like they were centring nostalgia in a way, starting with who corey became and then looking back to who he was (and who he will never be again). it kind of makes his downfall even more heart-breaking to me.

rohan mention's wearing coreys clothes in his real life and how no one even looked at him (pg. 184). in the commentary he also mentioned wearing corey's glasses a lot to get into the character mindset.

very interesting that we have tried and tested proof that corey can literally fade into the background and go unnoticed. it must be a combination of trying to be visually more plain but also a very quiet demeanour. but then you have the angle of corey being forced to reduce himself to as small and quiet and invisible impossible. i like the way corey both wants to be invisible (to avoid confrontation) but also desperately wants to be seen and heard and believed and understood by someone.

frame of mind/suicidal ideation

rohan mentions that there's an element of corey having not been able to kill himself before, because it was too hard to do, but looking into michael's eyes he realises he can just "call it quits" and let michael do it. then, after he is spared by michael, it gives him "permission" (pg. 198)

i think it makes a lot of sense though that michael letting him go is what tips corey over the edge, maybe reinforcing his own buried guilt (if michael let him go, he must be evil, right?) and making it feel a lot easier to make horrific choices (murder) while also making his emergency exit plan (suicide) feel easier too, if he wanted to.

corey being "tainted" by the shape because he's so close to being that anyway (pg. 172).

i don't personally believe in evil as an actual supernatural force in these movies, but corey is definitlel portrayed as more susceptible to michael's influence, even if michael does actuall demand anything of him.

i think @/slutforstabbings was the one who mentioned this to me. but when corey meets michael he is mentally and physically more susceptible to reacting irrationally in a very real-world sense. he has a history of abuse, experienced a major trauma (the accident), been under intense stress (the party), and had a recent head injury (the fall from the bridge and smacking his head in the sewer). these factors all contribute to a mental health crisis and drastic change in personality.

i feel like this confirms that corey was likely headed for (possibly another) breakdown in the future, but the events of the party/meeting michael just triggers it sooner.

emotional control

rohan mentions corey purposely doesn't feel anything since the accident (pg. 188).

this might have been my favourite detail that gets mentioned. i've always thought that corey's way of surviving post-accident was to just shutdown completely and switch off all his emotions. it's interesting to know that rohan was playing him that way.

and also a lot of the time when corey does feel strong emotions, they are turned in on himself to try and keep them private, like his anger at terry results in him hurting himself (accidently) with the milk bottle, or him regularly climbing over the bannister at the allen house but not being able to let go while during the day he thinks about some outward expression of rage through the blowtorch at the garage.

the mirror scene symbolises the first time corey feels in control (pg. 198).

i've written about this a lot before, but i very much agree that the mirror scene is a moment of processing both "what the fuck just happened?" but also "this is what control feels like". corey's whole breakdown, starting from killing nelson, is about regaining control over his own life, even if it means un-restraining himself and doing horrific things.

killings

ryan turek (exec.) and paul logan (writer) specifically state how ends is essentially a revenge movie, with corey's kills start as revenge killings, but if he survived the kills would get more random (pg. 167).

i feel like this highlights the way that corey's connection with the shape is cut short, unlike michael who had it for decades. the shape (or the idea of it) lets corey get his revenge, but after that he could keep going, he'd pick up momentum and he wouldn't be slowing down.

this seems like this is pointing towards killing being corey's method of control rather than some more direct desire to kill.

he becomes "addicted" to violence and he knows it (pg. 191).

"addicted" is a super interesting word choice and i feel like it fits perfectly. corey starts with revenge, he has his reasons, but as time goes on he could find a reason for anyone if he wanted to.

if corey survived ends and got away, he'd be living his own life for the first time ever. i think there are a lot of things he'd over indulge in, and killing being an addiction plays heavily into that -- there would be nothing to tell him to stop.

high priest!corey

rohan specifically describes corey leading doug to the sewer as him bring michael a "sacrifice" (pg. 206).

vindication !! @/slutforstabbings once said to me, while we were talking about the ritualistic nature of corey and michael's relationship and killings, that corey replaces nelson as michael's high priest, as the person who brings the sacrifices and channels michael to the outside world.

manipulation

rohan says that corey "plays" at being the shaking little boy again when he jump scares laurie while waiting outside for allyson (pg. 204).

i love this, because i fully believe corey thrives on manipulation. i think corey is fundamentally a good person anyway, but in dealing with joan he knows how to make himself inoffensive and agreeable, and i think he knows that that "character" is a safe bet to keep people happy.

and the novelisation confirms that this almost works !! laurie thinks he's just awkward and still upset from the night before. the thing that makes laurie doubt how genuine he is, is that she can see how he changes -- she can see the way he switches from one demeanour to another. proof right that he can play at being who he needs to be in the moment.

but then, by the time laurie shoots him, corey really is just a scared little boy who is in way over his head and unequipped for the situation he finds himself in (pg. 226).

corey is unprepared and unpractised -- he doesn't have the experience that michael has in bouncing back. he isn't michael. he's fucked up big time, his plan has fallen through, and he's backed himself into a corner. all the terrible things he's done, everything he's been through, the taste of control -- it's all for nothing is laurie can get the upper hand on him like this.

he's scared and out of his depth but he's dangerous, but corey ends the film the same way he starts it, in a situation he has no control over and with only himself to blame. only this time he's having the last word, he's going to do what he could before and he's going to take laurie down with him.

relationships

rohan said ronald is "the loveliest thing" in corey's life, and that the gesture of giving the motorbike is "beautiful [but] manly and detached" (pg. 182), which is a way more sympathetic view than i have.

this is a wayyy more sympathetic view of their relationship than i have. i do like this angle though, the idea that corey and ronald did have some sort of relationship but that neither of them can express it very well, that they're taking the stereotypically masculine route of small gestures and not a lot of words. which seems at odds with what corey really needed from the only male role model in his life, but it's kinda sweet that corey must like ronald enough for him to be a good part of his life, rather than just neutral.

maybe the takes about ronald being a good stepdad aren't wrong 👀

corey falls for allyson most deeply when he sees how she is on the edge just as much as he is (pg. 215).

this made me wonder if allyson and corey could have ever been together without the events of the movies? if they still met by chance, would they get along? would the attraction still be there?

their relationship is based on parasocial affection and shared similar traumas, there's a certain emotional intensity there that translates to them making rash decisions and commitments that i don't think they would otherwise.

joan's last words (in an even more extended death scene) are begging "michael" not to hurt corey (pg. 222).

joanne baron has talked about joan's motivations and perspective in some interviews, so this scenes lines up very well with what she's said previously. joan has never treated corey like a person, he's an object for her to control, but her two moments of concern for him (when he comes home the morning after the party and her death scene) come from a seemingly natural and genuine place.

also, the biggest factor that made me loose my mind over this: she doesn't know it's corey killing her. she begs this masked murderer not to kill her son, not know that it is her son beneath the mask 💀

she's begging someone not to hurt corey after years of being the one who has hurt corey. it's too late to turn back, it was always going to end like this, but can you imagine what went through corey's mind in that moment? that his momma wanted him to be safe but never made him feel safe when she had the chance.

me whenever there is a direct quote from rohan in this book:

#corey cunningham #h40 #halloween ends #halloween movies #lets not count how many times my evidence consists of ''well rohan said'' 🤡 i have no backbone #he could tell me chuck e cheese had been appointed director of the fbi and i'd eat it up no questions asked #corey reminds me of girl inter/rupted when susanna talks about how killing herself became her go to solution --#-- for any inconvenience. which makes the concept itself less serious and more easily doable #i dont think corey would do it even if he thinks about it but i think he liked having the thought there --#-- that if he really had to then he has an emergency exit plan #also something i didnt include but need to put out there. it mentions that the motorbike ron gives corey is ?? corey's dads ??#i feel like there might have been some miscommunication on that fact ?? or its true --#-- and therefore the most important detail for lore/character/plot in this whole goddamn franchise

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