#13.5

[tears-of-taelia]

re: melia & emma

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. The way that the newest version of the Blacksteeple Castle chapter has presented Emma is interesting. There will be spoilers ahead, so don't read if you're still working your way through version 13.5!

My ramblings begin below. Here are some official pics (by the amazing Zumi) for reference.

As we know, during the events of Blacksteeple Castle, Melia wore a disguise to hide her true identity. This disguise is removed when Madame X slashes it with her sword. There is a small animation that follows, where a dark magical aura envelopes “Emma” before she is revealed to be Melia.

After the subsequent chaos, the disguise is not brought up again. However, the character of Emma is revealed to still reside in Melia’s cognition, apparently unbeknownst to Melia, as she says, “I thought I left you behind at Blacksteeple”. How odd.

Then, (a long time) later, while exploring the 3rd Layer, Melia stumbles across a deathbed journal entry written by a Garufa Inc. volunteer named Emma. It reads as follows.

My name is Emma. I undertook the Archetype's power today, and it failed miserably. I was unable to manifest its power and was mortally wounded during a test. I thought I actually had potential... but I guess not. The doctors say I don't have long left. It's cruel, isn't it? Life is just so cruel. But this is the path me and all the other volunteers chose. Humanity has nothing left but us. ...Is it all worth it in the end, though? What do we want to survive for? ...Anyway. I'm losing energy fast. Garufa Incorporated is our last hope. Please, save us.

Melia expresses to Nim that she finds it odd that this person and her Blacksteeple cover share a name. Nim passes this off as a coincidence, and understandably so. Emma isn’t exactly a rare name (though perhaps things are different in the world of rejuvenation?). The coincidence still seems to bother Melia for some reason.

Now, there are a LOT of theories about Melia out there. Despite hours and hours of gameplay, her true identity has yet to be revealed.

People have theorized for years that she is Maria, and the game seems to heavily imply that that is the case. If Anathea had four children, Erin, Maria, Alice, and Allen, and Erin, Melia, Alice, and Allen know that they share a mother, Anathea, then it would logically follow that Melia is Maria. In addition, Melia and Maria physically resemble each other, Melia is unsure of her origins prior to meeting Jenner, and Maria has not otherwise made an appearance in the current timeline (besides the whole Marianette ordeal in Gearen Sewers). So, it’s not exactly a dramatic leap.

It is eventually even addressed by the characters themselves.  When Erin directly asks for her opinion on this matter, Melia balks, and seemingly contradicts herself.

MELIA: Hahah... I guess I've known for a long time that I was Maria. Ever since our interaction with Angie, that name has been going through my head in my dreams. But I have to disagree, Erin. I am not Maria. ERIN: But out of the process of elimination, you must be. MELIA: Sorry, but it's true. That's what my mind is telling me, desperately. I am not Maria. I am not Maria. That's what echoes in my head.

If Melia is and is not Maria, then… how…? In what way? Who is she? Why would she share a connection with Erin? Why is she the only one with Genesis Syndrome? And what does Emma have to do with all of this? I don’t really have an answer. But there is something I want to muse on.

Let’s circle back to Melia’s “disguise”, if we can even call it that. Her cover as Emma made her look like an entirely different person, unrecognizable to the Player character. She has a different outfit, hair color, and eye color. If we are to believe that this is an ordinary disguise, we would need to believe that, with one slash, Madame X was able to tear through a wig, two color contacts, and an entire outfit, including thigh high boots. We would need to believe that Melia conveniently decided to wear a different outfit underneath this disguise, and that Madame X was able to slash off her exterior outfit without marring the one underneath. We would also need to believe that the special, dark, magical animation the occurs at this moment was purely aesthetic and meaningless.

So, yeah, I don’t really believe it this disguise is your regular, run-of-the-mill costume.

We learn that Melia was sent to Blacksteeple through the powers of Spacea and Tiempa. She was on a mission as a Storm Chaser, to save the Player character and gather information. As we know (all too well) from V13.5, Spacea and Tiempa are powerful. Specifically, they have powers over space and time akin to Palkia and Dialga. They use these powers pretty recklessly to manipulate many characters throughout the story. However, every instance of power they exhibit is strictly tied to their dimensions, space and time. Spacea does magic related to space. Tiempa does magic related to time. So, how, then, would they be able to create such a magical disguise for Melia? Through Garufan dress-up magic? Creating an illusion? Maybe. I wouldn’t be shocked. But I think it’s more than that. I think that Spacea and Tiempa used their magic to revive a version of Melia from the past, a different dimension, or a different “layer” (past world?). Perhaps… the third layer. A different appearance. A different life. Emma.

I think of it sort of like what happened with Narcissa during the Dufaux sidequest. But, instead of S+T directly swapping Melia with Emma, they just projected the appearance of Emma onto Melia.

There isn’t much to support or detract from this speculation. What we do know? We know that Melia is and is not Maria. We know that both Melia and Emma struggle to manifest the Archetype's power. We know that Emma resides in Melia’s cognition, like Melanie. We know Melia was deeply bothered by Emma’s journal entry in the Third Layer. We know that the outfit Melia dons when using her powers is very reminiscent of Emma’s.

We also know that Emma is dead.

Or, at least, presumed dead.

Just like Aevis, Aevia, Aria, Axel, Aero, and Alain.

You see where I’m going with this?

We know Emma dies disappointed, having believed she had “potential”, according to her journal entry. Did someone else think she had potential too? Perhaps, her “majesty” herself?

I know I’m not the only one to theorize that Melia is another Interceptor. I mean, it is heavily implied throughout the story. Melia is one of two characters for which we have seen Variya appear. The other, of course, being the player character. Melia is able to enter Zeight. In fact, she enters her own Zeight a couple of points during the game. She is shown with the triangular core motif a couple of times as well. She has led a lot of the research about the Interceptor phenomenon, in the Blakeory Athenaeum, for example.

How this all ties in with Maria, though? I don’t know. In the case of the Player character, we know that A-team didn’t want to live, and agreed to let Variya choose a different soul to take control over their body. Presumably, that soul is us, literally, the player, the person playing the game. Could Maria be the soul taking over Emma? Could Emma be the soul taking over Maria?

Who knows.

I do know there are holes in these theories. I know the events of the Renegade Route may complicate everything. (truthfully, I am too much of a wuss to complete the renegade route myself. I watched a youtube video of someone else's playthrough, so I know the broad strokes of what happens, but I definitely don't know the renegade lore in the same way I know paragon. maybe I should rewatch it at some point and take notes)

But this has been bouncing around my brain for too long and I wanted to put it in writing to help organize my thoughts. If you made it this far, wow, you rock! Thanks for reading. I’m interested if anyone has thoughts about this, if anyone can potentially disprove it, or if anyone has their own version or counter version of this idea! I live for this shit.

#pokemon rejuvenation #13.5 #theory #melia #emma #maria #just wanted to dump this somewhere

[lurker-extraordinaire-657645]

OK. PUTTING THIS IN BIG TEXT SO PEOPLE SEE IT

I'M GONNA TAG ANY POSTS/REBLOGS WITH POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR POKEMON REJUVENATION V13.5/KARMA FILES WITH #13.5

THAT'S IT. #13.5.

YES I KNOW ITS SHORT BUT IT HELPS ME REMEMBER

ill start reblogging stuff in like. a few hours and ill boost this a few times before then too

#13.5 #<- example tag !!!!! #if this doesnt work for one reason or another please tell me !!!!!

[luvsickfairy]

as soon as i **** ** ****** *** *** ** *** ** it’ll be over for everyone

#chatterbox *･ﾟ☆ #ok girl #using this account as a vent blog?? maybe! #23 #13.5

[yuumi-kitten]

PATCH 13.5 NOTES

#patch notes #13.5 #yuumi rework

[zagreus-eats-your-bread]

#doctor who #beep the meep #dr who eu #13.5 doctor #10 three to be quite honest #david tennant

[seasideoranges]

#zukka #very serious art took me 13.5 hours #drew this 2 months ago

[vocafigoftheday]

Today’s Vocaloid Figure of the Day is:

Hatsune Miku Symphony 5th Anniversary Ver. 1/1 Scale by Good Smile Company !

#shes listed as a 1/1 scale because its a recreation of an illustrated figure supposedly #unnecessarily confusing imo shes only 13.5 inches tall to be clear #hatsune miku #vocaloid #miku symphony #anime figure #miku symphony 5th anniversary #scale #good smile company #figure

[eldritch-ace]

I know I’m not the first person to say this but they were cowards for not giving us 10 in 13’s clothes.

#doctor who #tenth doctor #doctor who 60th anniversary #power of the doctor #art I made #is he supposed to be the 14th doctor? or 13.5 or 10 2.0? #have we decided that #also tried to do one form of circular galifreyan numbers but not sure how well it worked

[juiceshiru]

#pokemon rejuvenation #13.5 spoilers #rejuv spoilers #rejuvenation spoilers #yuhhhh

[tears-of-taelia]

How many times have we done this, Interceptor? You betrayed me at one point.

composition

#pokemon rejuvenation #melia #emma #did i take a screencap of the entire altar incident and pause it frame by frame to transcribe the backwards text? #no #maybe #perhaps #no fr tho i love all of the small touches in 13.5 #the replay value is phenomenal #i know i'm not the only one who finds paragon melia off #who even is melia anyway #melanie + maria? #what about emma? #only upon drawing this did I realize how nearly identical Melia's Archetype winx club fit and the Emma “disguise” are #working on a theory about that whole disguise situation and might post something soon #in an actual post tho bc it's probably bad to be abusing tags like this #but the stream of consciousness format is so fun #anyway i had a lot of fun making this. trying to make art for fun and for me again. 2024. #linked the composition inspo in the post body! super dope great study

[sorryiwasasleep]

I know he already talked but the funniest fucking thing would be if for 14 (13.5?) David Tennant used his real accent.

Like no other changes from 10, he’s just Scottish now

#doctor who #tenth doctor #fourteenth doctor #13.5 doctor? #what are we calling him lads #is it 14? #even tho it’s only a few eps? #david tennant #dr who #doctor who spoilers #I’m two seasons behind #and don’t know why this would be amusing to me #but it’d be SO amusing

[one-bat-day]

Oh wait it’s Jason’s birthday today so double post

Or his bday may have been yesterday idk either way happy bday/belated bday

#Jason Todd #happy birthday Jason Todd #Jason Todd dc #red hood #the red hood #under the red hood #red hood and the outlaws #RHATO #rhato rebirth #day 13.5

[testosteronetwunk]

i just thought you were funny but apparently you're hot too??? I hadnt realized that i was actually thirst-following you damn bro

thank youuu hehe have these as a treat

#i wear a size 13.5 boots btw #testosteronetwink face

[lemonade-juley]

Outfit Crescent has was from @delightful-69

Crescent and Aevia hanging out again...

#wouldn't be the smoothest given Crescent was uh. a little silly during rejuv's story #but i def think Aevia would want to reconnect with her only living friend... #lemon arts #pokemon rejuvenation #pokemon rejuvenation spoilers #13.5 spoilers #v13.5 spoilers

[kiroons-hyperfixtations]

I draw M2 and Melia slightly different from the other. So I wanted to do a study based on that.

#kiroon’s art #pokemon rejuvenation #pokemon rejvuenation spoilers #13.5 spoilers #pokemon rejvuenation melia #melia theolia #pokemon rejvuenation m2 #m2 theolia

[felikatze]

right so. when replaying rejuv for v13.5. i'm literally only on ch9 rn and forgot most of endgame but i'm having thoughts that the interceptor has wayyy more characterization than before.

like i've pondered "is the interceptor a direct player stand-in or their own distinct entity?" before but replaying made me really im favor of the latter

and i think that. the kind of core defining moment of the interceptor as a Person. is always grief. The moment that made them a person is grief.

spoilers for like, mooost of the game, maybe? primarily up to blacksteeple and terajuma though

a lot of waffling without much point other than "i love silent protagonists and unconventional explorations of personhood a lot"

So. the first time control is REALLY taken from the player's hands in how the protag FEELS is. melia's "death". because no matter how you play, the interceptor was stuck in depression for a week and just staring at a wall until they had enough energy to finally set out again in melia's name.

and, really, the FIRST thing they are defined by as a character is the loss of their mother. when the oceana sinks, the protag is the only person left, and the motivation of the pokemon journey for them amounts to "do ANYTHING to fill the void, and maybe find out what happened to mom in the meantime." They miss their mom! A lot!

Blacksteeple is of course the point where this gets even worse. When Nancy dies for them, they're catatonic again. And after that, so much of them is defined by the grief of her sacrifice. Like the optional encounter with a Nancy ghost in Amethyst Cave, right at the top of it, when the interceptor's first brush with grief came in its depths. "Why do I feel this way?" they can't comprehend the emotion they're defined by.

Even before they got a journal to snark around in, sidequests that gave them the occasional line of actual dialogue, the interceptor has always grieved, and they do not want to grieve again.

Like. Okay. The A-Gang, right? Wasn't it that they allowed the interceptor to use their souls because they were tired? this terrible catastrophe happened to them. they're all dead and gone, their home is destroyed, they just... cant go on anymore. their grief destroyed them.

in a way, the interceptor is made to grieve. and they are made to move on, again and again and again.

#feli speaks #pokemon rejuvenation #rejuv spoilers #man.... i truly cannot wait to see all the new stuff #I AM ON CH9 OF 13.5 DO NOT SPOIL #i played all of v12 though