#also why as of this point in the timeline (Brotherhood) he has not used his powers in combat

[hyperfixation-tangentopia]

Power swap with all four celestial monkeys? How do you think that would go?

(Tongbi with Macaque's powers, Macaque with Wukong's powers, Chikao with Tongbi's powers, and Wukong with Chikao's powers)

Alright, this is gonna be fun! Please note some of what I'm about to say probably is not canon to LMK, buuuut it's an AU and I can do what I want, so.

Tongbi with Macaque's powers: I think this would simultaneously be the easiest and hardest switch to manage. Tongbi and Macaque's powers would both be helped by sitting and waiting for the right moment, which would help Tongbi in grasping Macaque's powers, but Tongbi is used to hard, rock-solid earth, where I imagine shadows to be more finicky and fluid and harder to get used to. Once he did, however, he would abuse the heck out of it. He'd constantly teleport in and out of places to avoid talking to anyone to get what he needed, vibe in shadows when he didn't feel like talking to people, and honestly just be annoying as hell to pin down because if he didn't want to talk to someone, he'd just portal off.

Macaque with Wukong's powers: Alright, so...Wukong's powers are helped by self-confidence. Macaque, I've gotta be honest, does not seem to have a ton of that going around (at least in this time period). He'd already have practice with stuff like the clones and such in his own way, so once he figured out how to manage it from Wukong's side it probably wouldn't be too hard, but he would also take FOREVER to fully grasp Wukong's powers. He'd probably get frustrated and think he wasn't going to get it, and honestly I don't see Wukong's powers sitting right with him even when he did. He'd constantly try to use shadows instead of Wukong's powers and the entire thing would just screw with him.

Wukong with Chikao's powers: Chikao's powers run on sheer drive and passion to do stuff, a sheer determination, and I don't see Wukong having any shortage of that to go around. ...maybe a bit too much. I could see him constantly accidentally setting off storms, summoning a ton of lightning on accident and striking gashes in the ground to release it, accidentally causing downpours instead of light sprinkles, etc. After he learned some level of restraint though I could see him taking to it really easily.

Chikao with Tongbi's powers: You know what I said earlier about Tongbi possibly getting the hardest one? I was wrong. Tongbi's powers rely a lot on being 100% confident in what you're doing, then waiting for the right moment to dig your heels in and fight if you have to. Chikao is not good at waiting. She has a degree of self-restraint but not nearly enough patience to properly deal with Tongbi's powers. She doesn't dig her heels in, she dashes in first. Adapting to Tongbi's powers would be adapting to something entirely different for her, an entirely different style she wasn't really made for. She has the confidence, but not the patience. And it would be an extremely long time before she got Tongbi's power down if she ever did because of it. But if she did, she would not be one to piss off, because she would have no qualms with quite literally picking up mountains to throw at people.

#tealstars #WHOOF I rambled so sorry #nice little look into how I imagine their powers to work too #this is also why Tongbi very VERY rarely uses his powers #it's extremely rare he has that level of confidence in himself #also why as of this point in the timeline (Brotherhood) he has not used his powers in combat #hope any of this made sense lol

[cienie-isengardu]

I feel like if Bi-Han didn't love Kuai or was abusive it would've been stated. It'd also bring into question why Kuai would care to avenge him if he was treating him like trash. It's not Bi-Han is the only person he cares for, Tomas is literally right there. Like Kuai was jumping through hoops for this man and unless Bi-Han was some master manipulator which doesn't fit Bi-Han's personality since Bi-Han makes it really apparent when he doesn't like someone.

Seriously this is the guy who told Quan Chi his plan was insane to his face and Bi-Han's social skills are kind of lacking. You cannot convince me this guy was some puppet master. I'm not saying Bi-Han is dumb but he's not this master manipulator intent of using his brother's emotions.

Also why would he even bother? Seriously Bi-Han's main priority is survival, why would he care to manipulate his brother if he didn't care for him given it's not like he benefits from Kuai being around.

Kuai Liang was introduced as the younger brother of Bi-Han in Mortal Kombat II (November 1993) and their brotherhood has been a vital part of lore for literally three decades now. After such a long time, I too think if alive Bi-Han was ever meant to be seen as the abusive or uncaring brother, the source would outright say so already. Instead Mortal Kombat gives us a conflict between younger Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot, the resurrected yet corrupted by the dark magic version of Bi-Han. A corruption acknowledged by Kuai Liang himself, like he did in Mortal Kombat Armaggeddon:

And even within that conflict between alive Kuai Liang and Wraith Bi-Han, Noob Saibot was not always written as the vile creature out there to kill or hurt his younger brother for fun, which can be especially seen in an alternative timeline[1].

Did Kuai Liang idolize his brother? Most likely yes, as Bi-Han was his closest family he had and with unnaturally advanced ice skills, the older brother rose through ranks to the point Grandmaster acknowledged him as the most cunning Lin Kuei assassins. However it is not like Kuai Liang was completely blind to human Bi-Han’s flaws - the degree may vary from one source to another, like between one of the oldest Mortal Kombat comics (“he was stubborn in many ways”) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (“The dreams. For a long time, I thought the worst thing that I could become was my brother. I was wrong.”). The closest example I can think of in which Kuai Liang outright calling original Sub-Zero to be evil comes from Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm TV animated series (1996) and even then it was said in context of serving the forces of Darkness, not if Bi-Han was abusive brother[2].

Yet within strictly game timelines, Kuai Liang may be angry at Noob Saibot, he may be disappointed by his brother’s (post mortem) choices but as far as I managed to check, he had never accused Noob Saibot of not loving him, or being uncaring or abusive when the man was alive. In contrast, Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) actually gives us Smoke’s accusation that MK1!Bi-Han was always cold to him and though this is not necessarily equal to being abusive, the game hints at an uneasy relationship between those two brothers. I don’t think original and alternative Kuai Liang has ever accused his Bi-Han of anything similar. Quite opposite actually, in MK11 Kuai Liang stated he thought (alive) Bi-Han shared the same values as him - while Noob Saibot noted that Kuai Liang always mimicked him. What may itself imply Kuai Liang's principles were inspired by elder brother.

The source material uses the word “corrupted” specifically to describe Noob Saibot, as to highlight that Noob is not the Bi-Han’s original self. Kuai Liang uses that word, and of all people he is the one that knew the best what kind of man Bi-Han was once. Otherwise I believe younger Sub-Zero would already remark that Bi-Han as an evil Wraith is no different from his human self and so far Kuai Liang did not say anything like that.

This is especially seen in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) and Kuai Liang’s anger is understandable as Noob Saibot supported Kronika and Cyber Sektor that attacked and killed his clan members. However, as Sub-Zero’s ending shows, when he decided to study each second of Bi-Han’s life to understand what made his older brother the way he was, he tried to understand why Bi-Han’s embraced “Sektor’s corruption” and why "reveled in the vile power given to him by Quan Chi"

not why Bi-Han did not love him, or abused, or manipulated. Those have never been a matter of doubt, only the process of adapting into the darker side of Lin Kuei and life as Wraith . So once again, corruption by power - or even being a merciless assassin, does not necessarily mean Bi-Han was a bad brother. I know that for the majority of fandom one equals the other, however Kuai Liang has never accused Bi-Han of being on purpose cruel or uncaring toward him. If anything, the problem lies in the fact that Bi-Han embraced all the bad things that happened to him. Again, like the ending says, Kuai Liang needed to reshape Bi-Han's life (events) not Bi-Han’s whole character to get back the beloved brother he missed. So the problem did not lie in Bi-Han’s character itself, but in things that happened to him. 

And frankly, there is a lot to say about the fact that Bi-Han rarely speaks about honor in contrast to Kuai Liang, and how in general he is more aware of Lin Kuei’s dark deeds than his brother ever was. The original Sub-Zero seems to be much more disillusioned with how the world works and thus better at adapting to its cruelty. He even warned Kuai Liang in the past to never trust anyone, especially a family, and it is like the opposite act to manipulation. At the same time, Kuai Liang too was accused of having a “frozen heart”.

I think that ultimately it all comes down to what fans want - a tragedy about two brothers that by twist of cruel fate are destined to be enemies or story about a survivor of abuse/pathological system coming in terms of his trauma and realizing his brother was not a good man and building for himself a new, healthier life. Each story has a great potential on its own, however I personally feel that Mortal Kombat has never truly gone with the second scenario. Kuai Liang being blind to his brother and clan’s darkness may make sense when he does not have an outside relationship that made him rethink his own brotherhood with Bi-Han. Yet Kuai Liang, even a much older, experienced man still recognizes Noob as the corrupted version of Bi-Han, not the same man just with a different outfit. Despite all the bad blood between him and the Wraith, he has never truly abbadon hope to save his brother’s soul, so at least to me, it doesn’t sound like a man freeing himself from abuse and trauma by rejecting an evil family. 

And also, if we agree that Kuai Liang was either so indoctrinated by the clan or lacked any other support to recognize the abuse when it happened to him, then the same benefit of doubt should be given to Bi-Han, as he grew up in the same pathological environment. You can’t excuse one survivor of abuse and then condemn the other. The brothers dealt with their trauma in different ways but this is not good victim vs bad victim contest.

As for Bi-Han manipulating anyone... he was introduced in Mythologies: Sub-Zero as the most cunning Lin Kuei assassin and Noob Saibot was too hinted to be smart and biding his time while serving Shinnok, Quan Chi and Shao Kahn. So I believe he could be pretty cunning when needed. But yes, the man doesn't feel like a person bothering with manipulation for the fun of it. Sub-Zero, like all cryomancers in general(?), was a pretty straightforward man. Like I mentioned before, from source material it seems to me he rather kept warning Kuai Liang about not trusting anyone (and he did that as Noob Saibot too in MK11's intro dialogues) than playing on his younger brother’s loyalty. But to be honest, we don't have enough sources to say for sure how growing up in Lin Kuei looked for both.

SIDENOTES:

[1] Sadly, MK11 did not fully utilize the conflict between Redemption (Kuai Liang) vs. Recognition (Noob Saibot!Bi-Han) alluded by the official BIOs and intro dialogues. Frankly, the mentioned game barely did anything with their brotherhood in main story mode, however the intro dialogues paint an interesting take on brothers feelings toward each other, especially Noob’s one toward Kuai Liang, as they differ from original timeline Noob. Back then he was out there “free from compassion” [MK Deception]

and at least twice tried to murder his brother (attack on Lin Kuei/MK Armageddon and Noob-Smoke’s ending/MK Deception), while in the MK11’s intro dialogues for example, he does not side with Frost - who from story mode perspective was the logical ally, as she wanted to kill Kuai Liang. Instead Noob openly dislikes and disrespects her and even criticizes his brother for trusting her in the first place. Similar thing happens with Geras ordering Noob to bring Sub-Zero to Kronika and suddenly Noob goes with his standard “only death are my kin” 

Geras: Bring your brother to Kronika. Noob Saibot: The dead are my clan now. Geras: Do you serve or do you not? 

while he has no problem acknowledging his and Kuai Liang’s brotherhood. The intro dialogues in second timeline definitely played a different angle than Noob as Bi-Han completely stripped of his humanity. And again, sadly NRS did not dwell on it in the main story.

[2] Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm actually referred to events from the Mortal Kombat film (1995), in which Liu Kang killed Sub-Zero thanks to Kitana’s advice to use an element “that brings life”. Even the scene of original Sub-Zero’s death was similar to the one from the movie, minus of course the violence/impaling itself. Yet the film outright stated that Scorpion and Sub-Zero were slaves under Shang Tsung’s power, so in that case, “Bi-Han” wouldn’t be on Mortal Kombat Tournament on his own free will for all we know.  The full dialogue about MK:DotR!Kuai Liang’s reasons for joining the good guys side below:

Sub-Zero: It is true, I was once Lin Kuei  and fought for the forces of darkness. But that was long ago…Back when my brother was still alive…It has been many years now since Liu Kang faced my brother in Mortal Kombat. [...] Sonya: So, why’d ya turn on your clan anyway? Jax: Girl, your parents ever teach you the word "tact?" Sub-Zero: After his death, I realized that my own brother was innately evil and without honor… I could no longer fight for what my clan believed in…That was when I decided to help you. Jax: Then why the disappearing act? Sub-Zero: In spite of what I knew, I was too filled with hate to go on. So I sought seclusion to try and find inner peace. Sonya: I guess what we’re all wondering is…can you ever really forgive Liu Kang for icing your brother? Sub-Zero: What Liu Kang did, he did to save Earth. He fought with honor and great purpose.

It was cartoon intended for children so it is make sense that brutality and complexity was reduced to acceptable norms, however A) “Kuai Liang” still didn’t call “Bi-Han” and evil/abusive brother and needed time to sort out his feelings, including hate (for Liu Kang) and  and B) saying “Bi-Han” and in general Lin Kuei were evil was the easiest way to explain why he changed sides than saying anything else (this point is actually relevant to “Kuai Liang”’s feeling for Lin Kuei/Bi-Han seen in the second episode - he may consider them evil but he would fight Scorpion to avenge what he did to Lin Kuei and wondered if Liu Kang could beat “Bi-Han” without Kitana’s advice so his feelings definitely aren’t one dimensional. I think it is safe to assume he was still processing his emotions and relationship with Lin Kuei/"Bi-Han") 

I guess this cartoon may be one of the reasons why people tend to consider Bi-Han to be an evil brother while painting Smoke as the only one Kuai Liang's brother that should matter. Still, a source is a source, so I’m bringing it to the table. 

#mortal kombat #my replies #bi han #sub zero #kuai liang #bi han and kuai liang brotherhood #noob saibot #beside the mk defenders of the realm i don't think kuai liang went so far to openly call bi han an evil person? even the snow blind started #like that only to show us that kuai liang's trauma has nothing to do with bi han and only with his own pride that led to tragedy? #i truly think that after 30 years if bi han was meant to be abusive asshole the sources/Kuai Liang would say so already #noob saibot is corrupted version of bi han and kuai liang acknowledged that #yet there is no “oh yes this is my brother he died but overall he did not changed much when it comes to make my life miserable” #and i'm gonna trust kuai liang's words more than any fans headcanons lol

[chronological-barnacle]

Vakama is baby, but he's done it before

ok so these posts by @crystaltoa and @goattypegirl have been orbiting each other in my brain for the last 36ish hours and finally coalesced into something hopefully coherent

if we run with the idea of the Vahi as a big "TIMELINE RESET" button which ensures both its own creation and un-creation, suppose it could also ensure the creation and un-creation of its own creator as an additional safeguard? suppose that, at the moment of its use, the Vahi reaches backward in its own timeline to trigger the birth/manufacturing of a Matoran imbued with the necessary metatemporal intelligence and potential for Toa-hood just in time for them to fully master the art of maskmaking before crafting the Mask of Time -- and simultaneously, resetting the new timeline to a point just before its maker would have been made. you can't have a metatemporal intelligence just operating freely, after all -- who knows what else a being of that nature might make when left to its own devices?

so: of course Vakama is only like 500-1000 years old when the Great Cataclysm strikes -- that was all the time he needed to master his craft before it was Vahi-o'clock. that's how it goes every time.

but this still leaves some issues unaddressed

canon shows no signs of the Vahi having capabilities like this. BUT we've only ever seen it wielded by Toa, who were not terribly good at it. if it takes higher levels of focus and control to unlock the timeline-resetting capabilities, perhaps it was meant for a bearer with more skill and power, experienced in the use of Legendary Kanohi...perhaps, in the event of a universe-threatening catastrophe, the Vahi was meant for Artakha to use?

but if that's the case, why would Vakama have respawned in Metru Nui instead of Artakha? maybe Metru Nui has better Maskmaking 101, maybe that's where the Great Disks usually manifest whenever the timeline resets, maybe he has showed up on Artakha's island some of the other times.....maybe he lands in whatever region the Disks have ended up by then.

so if it's not necessarily set in stone where in the MU Vakama might appear, master maskmaking, become a Toa, collect & combine the Great Disks, and forge the Vahi, then we'd need a way to ensure that the mask gets to Artakha as soon as possible upon completion no matter where it shows up. and THAT is where Voporak comes into play

inevitably, once a fresh timeline is stable, someone[s] will eventually be like "imagine if there was a Mask of Time, would that be fucked up or what" and imbue somebody else with the power to sense temporal anomalies (there'd probably also need to be a new Voporak after every reset - the Vahi would undo the previous one since someone with time-sensing abilities would likely sense that the timeline has been altered, and you can't risk that knowledge getting out if you want affairs to stay stable. gotta keep things tidy, no loose ends! so who knows how many different beings have been Voporak before our current timeline? there's no reason to assume it was a highborn Steltian every time). for an optimally stable time loop, Voporak would set out directly from Artakha, swipe the Vahi, and hightail it home

so now we can identify where the current timeline started to go askew: the Brotherhood sent our Voporak to Odina instead of Artakha, which leaves us with a Vahi-retriever loyal to TSO. at this point it still would've been possible to course-correct and undo the Cataclysm entirely, but then Vakama wielded the Vahi himself, which -- despite needing to be a Toa in order to successfully forge the mask -- he technically wasn't meant to do

(on another note, this all could inform Teridax's motivations for wanting the Vahi. perhaps he thought he could alter the timeline further in his favor somehow, in addition to speeding up the brainwashing of the Matoran)

as goattypegirl's writing on the subject already states, whatever Vakama achieved with the Mask of Time did successfully prevent the Cataclysm from destroying the GSR or wiping out all life inside, and the fact that Mata Nui's mission was a success and that Spherus Magna was restored in what should have been a doomed timeline -- essentially a time loop that never got closed -- is frankly a miracle

and the remaining Great Beings are definitely in for a shock when they learn that not only does the Vahi still physically exist, but so do Vakama and Voporak

#''vakama is baby''-posting taken to unnecessary extremes #they took his ass to the time loop #over and over again #bionicle #toa metru #story threads

[dailyfryes]

Jack the Ripper DLC: a rant

Alright well, I always said I was going to write a rant about the Jack the Ripper DLC and how nonsensical it is. Since my boyfriend is playing it for the first time and I’m watching him play it... yeah well here’s my rant: 

I don’t even know how to begin this, there’s an endless amount of plot holes and I’ll probably forget a few things. 

Let’s just start with the beginning of the game, you play as Jack and literally murder a cop in plain view of the public. In fact Jack kills a lot of people in this game who aren’t just the canonical five. It’s absurd. Obviously I know it’s for a video game but it just seems too over the top, I feel like there would be a bigger outroar from the public and more newspaper articles. But anyway this is the smallest gripe for me.

I absolutely hate how this DLC has Jacob being too soft about Jack to kill him. You’re kidding me, right? Yes, I know Jacob has a soft spot for the disenfranchised, but this is his empire he has built in London all at risk. His position as a Master Assassin, and no doubt a Head Assassin at the London Headquarters, all at risk. His FAMILY at risk. As much as he might view Jack as a son, he would love his own son and wife (and perhaps other kids if he has others) far more than he would care for Jack. God, they don’t even mention his family (or Evie’s!!!! She’s even still referred to as Miss Frye???)! We know for a fact he has a son (at the very least) during this DLC as Lydia is born five years after. Since Jaocb becomes a grandfather at 46 he would’ve had a wife by the time he went to India with Evie, Henry and Jack - yet she’s not in the photo. (Let’s be real though: Ubisoft is crap at keeping up with timelines.) And, no, I do not believe it to be in his character to be unmarried or a man who sleeps around (it’s not in his character: he is very devotional, and it’s also pretty biphobic to characterise him as someone who just sleeps around). I would assume Jacob sent his family away from London, but no we don’t even get a mention of them, or Henry. AND even worse: the entire London Brotherhood just dips?????????????????? This makes me assume Jacob is the Head Assassin because why else would the disappear? Even so, since when were Assassins such cowards?? It’s literally one man. 

Jack having influence over London, that’s why the Assassins left. This makes no damn sense. It is insane to me the power that Jack has over people in this game. Even so, why would a strong Brotherhood just leave because of one guy and some gang members? These London Assassins are stupid! So, Jack kills the canonical five, which he and both we know aren’t actually prostitutes, they’re Assassins. And yet Jack and his lackeys have a vendetta against prostitutes? He’s working with Lady Owers? Why? Why the hell would she work with him (like yeah I know she does it because she doesn’t want him to kill her: but why is he even after her??? She’s not a bloody Assassin!), he’s supposed to be completely and utterly anonymous. Not just anonymous in the form of an alias, literally no one is supposed to know who this man is. How did he even approach her to work with him anyway? Why is he going after prostitutes when he only wants to kill and get revenge on Assassins? Jack the Ripper was a misogynist who targeted prostitutes because he hated women. He mutilated them because he hated women. This DLC Jack is just after a vendetta against Jacob and the Brotherhood, so while I understand why the Assassins used prostitution as a disguise, it makes no sense that Jack continues to go after regular prostitutes. The writers made it clear he wants revenge, only does Evie at one point hint at him perhaps being a misogynist (”Do you hurt women to prove you’re a man, Jack?”) - this just seems like a lazy throwaway line to try tie in with the fact the real Jack was a misogynist, but again, this is not why he [this DLC Jack] killed the canonical five. So, it makes so sense. Also, I’ve said this before but, Jacob has not had a thing with Nellie like some of you in this fandom believe. 

Influence over the Rooks in Whitechapel, this I guess could be more believable. I don’t know about y’all but by the time I finished the main game I was rich as hell from all the races and boat raids etc. And as a Master Assassin in London I imagine Jacob (and Evie) would’ve done quite well with themselves and would be able to afford to live in the richer areas of London (I’m thinking the Strand, personally). So, perhaps the Rooks from poorer areas like Whitechapel are feeling left behind, and perhaps could be swayed to go against Jacob. But then you get to the hulled out war ships. It’s littered in Rooks. There’s no way in hell Jack has all these Rooks and all the ones in Whitechapel/London City following him. Jack won’t even be paying them! You’re telling me not ONE of the Rooks on the hulled out ships thought, hey this is kind of messed up? No one out of the hundreds of Rooks said anything, ever? Also what even IS this hulled out war ship place about? This makes the LEAST amount of sense. So Jack, for sadistic reasons, is taking a lot of people prisoner, paying a hangman and other lackeys, to ferry out his prisoners (even the game doesn’t know why he chooses his prisoners asides from him being sick in the head), watch over them in the hulls, organise their murder and then dispose of the bodies? This is dozens upon dozens of people missing. Yet there’s no outcry in the newspapers. Nothing. Also, Evie quite literally lets some of the prisoners free, assuming they got out by boat before Jack got there, they would be telling everyone they were held prisoner by Jack (the game really doesn’t make it clear if they got out or not). Not only that but Evie just took a boat out there, does that mean anyone could just accidentally stumble across these ships? I assume if they did they’d die too: their families would report them missing. But the dumbest thing of all, Evie phones in to the London Police to let them know what is happening, so the police get sent to investigate. Jack then comes back and kills them all. So these policemen, dozens of them, are not going to return and the London Police will know about it. They will go to these ships again and see a massacre of prisoners and policemen, it’ll be big news. Nah, nothing about it is even brought up again. It’s the dumbest thing about this stupid DLC.

Also, Jack goes back to the Lambeth Asylum to get revenge and kill the nurse who abused him as a child, Evie literally says “Jack’s trail of death continues”. Again... how is this not news, how is this not one of the canonical murders? Oh, because it makes no sense. He kills so many non-Assassins, so many people beyond the canonical five, that it makes no sense there’s such an outcry about five women being murdered. It’s like the rest don’t matter. The thing is it’s hard to make a game about Jack the Ripper the way Ubisoft is trying to, there’s too much murder at every corner, but it’s expected in an AC game; it would be boring if you didn’t have anyone to fight. I would’ve preferred Jack to be some elusive target for the Assassins: something the Brotherhood hasn’t dealt with: normal people. Not an Assassin, nor a Templar. Even still, a Templar would’ve made more damn sense than Assassin. However, I feel like even I could write a better DLC with Jack being an Assassin that wasn’t as nonsensical as this. My boyfriend, who doesn’t like AC as much as me, even said this DLC made no sense plot-wise.  

Side note: I would love to see how livid Evie and Jacob are at the pathetic London Assassins that come crawling back from their hiding holes. They left their stronghold, one of the most powerful cities in Europe, they left the citizens behind. Ugh. Obviously not all of them leave as Mary Jane Kelley is murdered on the Fryes’ birthday, but how could the majority of them leave their brothers and sisters behind to be murdered or to fend for themselves? Also, Jack’s motive being that his mother died... the dying mother trope is so overdone: think of BvS or Civil War. Yawn. Oh and Frederick put his head on the line by not revealing who Jack was - like think about it: he was hounded and deemed a failure by everyone. It’s a huge and unrealistic ask of Evie, in reality he would’ve exposed Jack but hey, we love Freddy. Freddy is the best associate confirmed. 

Oh and there’s some people in this fandom who believe Jacob lived in Whitechapel?? (Again he’s probably rich, so, LOL!) He obviously wants to be right in the middle of it: to try catch Jack. This is clearly temporary lodgings, and also a means to stay away form his family to keep them safe if Jacob hadn’t already sent them away by that point. I’ve even seen some talk about the photos on the wall there, like the one of a bride, those photos are copy and pasted all over this game, they mean nothing. Evie literally has them in her train cart in the main game.

Right now that’s all I can think about: I’m sure I left other points out. But please feel free to send me an ask if you want to keep talking, I love talking anything and everything about Syndicate. 

If you’ve read this far, thank you :) and sorry if there’s typos

#Assassin's Creed Syndicate #Jacob Frye #Evie Frye #Jack the Ripper #Assassin's Creed #JTR DLC #Text #Admin Talk

[istopaskingmemate]

ok shadowpeach timeline nobody asked for

First things first Wukong and Macaque couldn't have grown up together. This is because wukong was born an adult so either Macaque would have to be an adult when wukong was born or wukong would have known Macaque since he was a child either way it would be weird. and no macaque was not also born an adult he had birth just with a mutation. if he was born from wood he would be called the wooden six-eard macaque or something. Therefore they were not both born on FFM and met at some point.

when did they meet: well the brotherhood formed when wukong was between 320 and 500(when he was sealed) years old. In demon years that is between 8 and a half and 13 years old(see this post for calculations) macaque has an adult body in all images we have so according to my research the youngest macaque can be is 16...the best I can do is wukong at 12.5 making him 468.75 years old and macaque at 600. That means that they had been friends for 31 years before their break up. 31 is not much compared to what we thought however it's still a very long time.

Macaque vs the brotherhood: this means that the past shadowpeach scene where it's just them likely took place within the same week as the dinner scene with the brotherhood. Which tells us nothing about who met first. However, based on Azure's flashbacks and intro azure probably "met" wukong before Macaque. in the into wukong seems defensive against wukong and because I believe the intro is more reliable than Azure I gonna go with wukong had to be "convinced " in a convo like this

Wukong: "What are you doing here I told you to get lost!" >:/

Azure: "woo there I-I know. my brothers and I mean you and your people no harm. we were simply inspired by leadership so much so to leave the corruption of heaven and thus we wish you to form a brotherhood with you"

Wukong with sparkles eyes: "Wow really with me? And we'd be brothers? I've never had brothers before!!! :D"(wukong is being naive here not stupid)

Macaque would never allow this so I'm going to go with that the brotherhood was first and Macaque and Wukong were closer because they live on FFM while the brotherhood doesn't. This would also allow for Wukong and Macaque to have only known each other for 31 years because I'm pretty sure the brotherhood was formed for a longer amount of time in jttw.

When did their falling out occur: it happened in 3 phases

Strike 1: the battle in heaven when macaque and the rest of the brotherhood left wukong alone on the battlefield resulting in his capture and attempted execution. This is why wukong is so pissy with Macaque under the montien and promoted the line "cause you allways rush to my rescue". wukong was 500 (13) and macaque 631 (16)

Strike 2: their argument under the montien. wukong is pissy at Macaque and decides that within 15 seconds of his BFF's new attitude (after him being missing for 49 years btw) that he wasn't going to take it and left. Which fair wukong was being a bitch Macaque had the right to leave but it's heavily implied he never came back. He left wukong under a motien without food or water. keep in mind macaque would not have known that wukong physically couldn't die so bro left him to death twice. their ages are harder to place here because by the time they have their argument wukong has clearly been there awhile. He's not struggling or yelling or crying or even looking around to see his surroundings he's just there quietly fuming. Wukong doesn't even ask Macaque to get him out, he's resigned himself. He's been there awhile but not so long that the crazy has started coming in. For humans this would mean less than a week but wukong is not human so who knows. no matter how long wukong has been under the montien macaque has still aged 49 years in his absentce. Therefor wukong 500-ish (13-ish) and macaque 680 (18)

Strike 3: their argument in jttw. I don't think Wukong killed Macaque. I think if he did Wukong would have mentioned something about LDB restricting Macaque but I still think there was a conflict. This means that wukong thought that after their second argument, macaque left him a third time. while Macaque was probably killed soon after this encounter and was manipulated to think that he was killed by Wukong in that encounter or an imagined subsequent encounter. Wukong would have been 1100 (29) while macaque would have been 1280 (34)

Reuinen: we all know this one. When LBD revied Macaque he found mk and abused taught him, Wukong found out and fought him. Their ages are hard to place. The Pokemon cards claim that wukong is 5000+ and Macaque is 4000 but this would only be possible if Macaque was born during wukong's imprisonment or if wukong at 13 was BFFs with a 89-year-old Macaque and the clock stoped when he died. Neither of these options seem likely (also the card state that Red son is 420 meaning he was born 80 years after his father's imprisonment which no) so I'm going to ignore them. Personally, I see wukong as in his early 30s due to demeener but using the calc the youngest he can be is 42 (1600). The pilgrims seems to have done a lot of stuff before they died so I went with 1725 or 46 years and he's just emotionally stunted from his time under the mountain. This means Macaque was born 1905 years ago and would be 50 or you could say the time he was dead didn't count and he would still be 34. it's up to you

let me know your opinions

#the age difference is uncomfortableat times but wukong has an adult body and is probably more emotionally mature then normal 12 year olds #since he runs his own kindom. so IDK if want to ship past shadowpeach that your choice but wukong's age is from jttw but maybe you can argu #macaque finished growing early and he was 15 it doesn't make it much better but #lego monkie kid #sun wukong #six eared macaque #mk #azure #peng #yellow tusk elephant #look

[teecupangel]

Have you seen much of Stargate SG-1? Cause Desmond needs an actual good dad other than his ancestors and I think Jack would be a good one for both of them. Especially if it wasn't too long after his son's death.

Maybe a way this would happen would be that Minerva feels bad about either him dying or just being 1 upped by Juno and gets SGC's attention somehow to avoid the flare another way

Stargate SG-1 is one of my most favorite scifi series (and I have a soft spot for the original Stargate movie)!

Okay, so for this one, we need to setup the timeline first.

As far as we know, the Stargate movie is still the canon prequel of Stargate SG-1 (even though a running gag is Kurt!Jack only has one ‘l’ and might have been a different dude) which means that Jack lost his son and became part of the ‘first’ Stargate project around 1996.

At that point, Desmond would be 8 years old.

So, for this to work, we’ll tweak the AC timeline a bit and we’ll use Minerva to set it up. Minerva realized in 2012 that Desmond, as he is right now, would not let the world burn so she uses what time she has left to change the calculations. For this one, let’s assume all Isus is either a Goa'uld or Tok’ra but the distinction between the two started after the Solar Flare on Earth when many of them left Earth to escape the Solar Flare. This is also how humans started to be ‘dispersed’ in many corners of the galaxy.

With that brief explanation out of the way, Juno’s imprisonment would actually be her actual parasitical body being confined in the Grand Temple, connected to the POE network (and the Grey) and reviving her means Juno using Desmond as her host.

Back to Minerva’s plan, she realized that for Desmond to fully understand why it’s better for him if he let the world burn, he must understand the true threat of her species so she pushed forward a new calculation where an 8 year old Desmond sneaked out of the Farm by hitching a ride with one of the Assassins on his way for a ‘milk run’.

He just meant to look around for a bit then sneak back into the pickup but he got distracted by all the strange things he had never before seen. He bumps into Jack who had just returned from the Stargate mission and is trying to take a break and Jack notices the many bruises such a small boy has.

At this point, Desmond knows that he can’t say anything about the Assassins and Templars but he’d already started to think that it’s all bullshit. Still, he keeps his mouth shut because he’s scared that his dad would punish him.

That only raises more alarm for Jack and it doesn’t help that Desmond is around Charlie’s age. So he takes the kid to the police station because that’s the right thing to do (in his eyes) but he keeps checking up on him, even after Desmond gets placed into child services’ custody.

By that point, the Assassins know Desmond is missing and they find him but their ‘rescue attempt’ is thwarted because Jack was there for the first time. This would be the part where Jack and Desmond had started to form some kind of bond and Desmond has slipped quite a bit that Jack believes he’s from a secretive cult that might be training child soldiers for nefarious reasons (also, being called an Assassin Brotherhood? Always suspicious).

At the end, Jack adopts Desmond because of their bond and Desmond starts living with him. Because the Assassins haven’t given up on Desmond though, this meant Jack needed to keep a close eye on him. That’s when Stargate Command gave him an offer he couldn’t exactly refuse. In exchange of him leading the flagship team, Desmond could stay in the most secure military base in America while Jack is offworld.

Unorganized Notes:

So, in this scenario, Desmond would grow up more like Wes from Star Trek (but not as annoying).

Desmond would also grow up having Carter and Daniel as his aunt/uncle and the research team would be more or less his teachers (although it's more of a self study thing). He’d have an interest in anything he doesn’t know because of how the Farm lacked such diversity of information.

He would also serve as some kind of son surrogate for Teal'c who teaches him their way and fighting style. Desmond enjoys it because Teal'c is a kinder teacher than William Miles.

His favorite time will always be fishing with his dad though.

Let’s be honest, Jack got swindled considering how many times Stargate Command got attacked/infiltrated/had a bad day but, at that point, Jack trusts Hammond to protect his son when he’s not there. Also, the Assassins can’t get to Stargate Command which is a plus.

To be fair, the Brotherhood stopped around 2000 because that’s when Cross killed the mentor so the Great Purge was in full swing (at the same time, Stargate Command is busy with the whole ‘Russians have their own Stargate’ thing).

The Isu DNA is more or less related to the Ancient DNA in some form or another. Desmond also has an easy time understanding off-world tech (of Goa'uld origin or inspired by Goa'uld tech) but everyone just assumes it’s because he likes to listen to Carter and Daniel.

Would Desmond still get kidnapped by Abstergo at this one? Probably, considering, 2012 is around the time of SGU which meant Jack is out of the Stargate Command (sorta? Kinda?) and Desmond would be old enough that Jack would let him take his own path. Maybe he’s in the military, maybe he’s part of Stargate Command. Either way, Abstergo would have a harder but not impossible time to take him.

You know what would be funny? If Minerva’s end game had always been for Desmond to be offworld by the time the Solar Flare hits Earth. I mean, it’s highly possible that Stargate Command would find out about the Solar Flare earlier (especially if maybe a friendly like the Asgard told them about it) but a sad ending would be that Minerva’s end game was for Desmond to never learn about the Grand Temple. Maybe even make sure he can’t get back to Earth in time by ensuring the calculations would push him to be part of the Icarus Project and becomes one of the highest-ranking officer stranded in Destiny (also, since he has Ancient DNA, this means SGU’s people would have an easier time in Destiny… sorta)

#minerva screws up the calculations to save desmond #desmond o'niell #i would have liked him to be in atlantis instead #but timeline wise #it would be hard #since he’d be a bit too young for the atlantis expedition #sgu’s destiny though is fair game #if you want more stargate x desmond miles content #esama has a fic set in sg1 and sga #so check those out if you’d like #no desmond o'niell though #assassin's creed #desmond miles #ask and answer #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #fic idea: stargate #fic idea: crossover #jack o'neill #stargate

[maeve-on-mustafar]

I've been seeing a lot of discussion and negative reaction surrounding Mace's characterization in TOTJ, and honestly, while I understand people's frustration with the treatment of Mace, I'm kind of surprised by the amount of surprise I'm seeing across the fandom? Because to me, it seems like Mace's character getting thrown under the bus to make other characters look more sympathetic has been going on for a while now.

TBH, though I understand TV series reach a wider audience than books ever will, I do wish there was some more interest from fandom in discussing it whenever it happens, not just when Dave Filoni does it.

Like, I loved the Star Wars: Brotherhood novel by Mike Chen for its portrayal of Anakin and his relationship with Obi-Wan. But I will be the first to say that this book treated Mace terribly, characterized him as a blind pawn of Palpatine and a constant antagonist of Anakin, and didn't portray him with any redeeming qualities. I made a post about it here with various examples from the text.

But only a few people seemed upset by this characterization of Mace. Over and over, I saw his extremely unpleasant characterization dismissed as, "Well, Anakin is an unreliable narrator," even though there's a scene where Obi-Wan thinks to himself that Mace has a grudge against Anakin. The most critical discussion I ever saw of Mace's characterization was the Tapcaf Transmissions podcast.

I also want to talk again about this scene from the Obi-Wan and Anakin comic by Charles Soule:

I typically see a lot of defense of Mace for this moment, and I kind of get it, because I do think it brought about even more bad faith interpretations of his character. And I often see this moment discussion from a Watsonian perspective--that in the moment, there was nothing Mace could do to help Anakin, and he had to obey Palpatine, and therefore, he didn't do anything wrong.

But I want to talk about this moment from a Doylist perspective. I discussed it a little bit in this post, but to summarize this interaction and my problem with it, the author chose to use the only prominent black character in the Prequel trilogy (Mace) to make a white character (Anakin) look more sympathetic. There was no reason to include Mace in the Anakin-Palpatine origin story. So why would the author choose to have him there at all, much less in such a direct and aware way, when nothing in the films or TCW or previous canon media indicated Mace Windu had a role in facilitating the relationship between a 12yo Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine?

Well, because it reduces Anakin's responsibility in the matter. There's a reason Charles Soule opted to make Anakin very young when Palpatine started to sink his claws into him rather than a couple of months before AOTC. There's a reason Palpatine starts honing in on Anakin's past trauma of being a slave and using it to manipulate him. Because it reduces Anakin's eventual culpability in betraying the Jedi and makes it look like he's not a grown man making his own decisions, but a young adult who's been preyed upon and manipulated by the ultimate authority figure all his life.

And I believe that reason of making Anakin is the same reason for the addition of Mace being the person to give permission for Palpatine to meet with/counsel Anakin. Because it changes the Jedi from only being suspicious of Palpatine and his relationship with Anakin from the time of ROTS to a sudden ten years prior. Now it comes across as less like the Jedi being blindsided by the Chancellor interfering and pulling strings for Anakin to him doing so for a decade, half of which when Anakin was underage. And by extending the timeline this length of years, the narrative makes the Jedi look kind of dumb for never acting on their uneasiness about Palpatine and Anakin.

But if you're not convinced by any of my arguments so far, I want to close with this final point: let's look at the source material. Let's double check what Mace's views were on Anakin spending time with Palpatine in ROTS, and if there's anything to indicate that would lead Charles Soule to believe Mace would give the okay to Anakin hanging out with Palpatine.

And in ROTS, we have the following:

MACE WINDU: It's very dangerous putting them together. I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him.

So, yeah. Charles Soule opted to change an element of Mace's character and introduce this unnecessary retcon so that Mace could be the one to allow the Anakin-Palpatine relationship to foster and therefore play an unwitting role in his own demise.

And that's my main reason for disliking Mace's part in Obi-Wan and Anakin. His role isn't about his own character, it's about making Anakin look more sympathetic and Palpatine look more predatory. And I love Anakin, but I hate that Mace was treated this way, and I hate the way he was treated in Brotherhood.

To be clear, I'm not blaming anyone for being upset about how Filoni characterized Mace, but I do want to point out that this is an issue that exists outside of just Filoni.

#mace windu #my meta #anakin skywalker

[bawkrya]

Um actually, the toothpaste-[I shan't see the bit through but please use this ask as setup to unlock more cdrama infodumping, I like hearing about ur deranged men mwah<3]

hi jae im using your ask for the cql infodump.

--

ok so like we going into the intricacies of these three motherfuckers and why shipping them in certain ways is a little fucked/fundamentally misunderstands their character(s)/etc.

CW for discussions of a bit of a variety of abuse

NMJ - Nie Mingjue LXC - Lan Xichen JGY/MY - Jin Guangyao/Meng Yao

So: run down for those who may not know these characters and what they're about.

All together, the three are known as the Venerated Triad. The three all played major roles during the Sunshot Campaign-- a war of the Jin, Jiang, Nie, and Lan Sects against the Wen Sect, who was trying to take over all sects --with Nie Mingjue/Chifeng Zun (one in the middle) known for leading the Campaign, Lan Xichen/Zewu Jun (one on the left) Also leading on top of protecting ancient Lan books when the Lan Sect had basically fallen, and Jin Guangyao/Lianfan Zun (one on the right) infiltrating the Wen Sect and sending battle plans to Lan Xichen, which ultimately helped them take down the Wens.

After the Sunshot Campaign ended, the three swore Brotherhood, which is like, really complicated to explain, but in most books in this genre, it can be gay.

So like why is it bad to ship all three if they did one of the gay rituals. Well.

Jin Guangyao initially joined the Nie Sect, then known as Meng Yao, as a form of servant. He was known as the bastard son of Jin Guangshan (the Jin Sect leader), whose mother was a sex worker, and was raised poor despite having the blood of arguably the richest man in the cultivation world. He was bullied to actual hell wherever he went, until it was brought to the attention of Nie Mingjue-- the Nie Sect leader. NMJ defended him, and pretty quickly promotes him to be the second in command of his army, especially after seeing how skilled MY was in this subject. He basically becomes an advisor alongside NMJ, became friends with Nie Huaisang-- NMJ's little brother --and was very well trusted by NMJ. But, despite now having a higher position within the sect, MY was still ridiculed by the General, and quite harshly at that, literally just because his mom was a sex worker. For the drama I guess, MY just DOESN'T tell NMJ about this.

Later on, a mass-murderer named Xue Yang would come to be held in the jail of the Nie Sect. Without anyone else's knowledge, the two were already colluding, as at some point MY was colluding with the Wen Sect? This shit is so confusing on timeline when it comes to CQL it's kind of insane, but anyways, MY already knew Xue Yang, and after a few days of him being held in the jail, Xue Yang miraculously escapes as the Wen Sect very suddenly attacks the Nies.

While this is happening, MY very deliberately kills the General of the Nie Sect RIGHT in front of NMJ. Like NMJ saw the whole thing. But he still has the gal to be like XUE YANG KILLED HIM!!!! XUE YANG KILLED HIM DA-GE PWEAAASSEEE!!!!!!! but they don't really get to dwell on that because someone else tries to attack NMJ-- to which MY saves him by taking the stab in the stomach for him.

Once they manage to get the Wens off their ass, NMJ has MY come to the little Nie meeting room, and is basically like (through tears) WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT MAN. Because again, NMJ trusted MY a lot. MY was, at that time, probably his most trusted guy in the whole sect that wasn't his baby brother, and now he's murdered his general and let an actual insane criminal loose. While NMJ claims the only reason he won't kill MY is because MY saved him during the battle, there is a lot of underlying care that he has for MY, so he just exiles him and boots him out of the Nie Sect.

"why can't that be gay" to me its a very surface level take to just ship them off of this. have some nuance. we'll look into these characters more intimately later.

Now. From here. MY would join the Wen Sect as Wen Rouhan's advisor. And he's REALLY playing up the part-- because at this time, it seems most likely that the Wens will win the war-- so MY would have a high ranking govt. position in the ruling sect. But. Wrenches are thrown into the plan, and eventually, MY realizes that he needs to have an escape route for whenever the Wens tip over, and they're no longer on top.

This is where Lan Xichen comes into play.

At the time, the Lan Sect had been viciously attacked by the Wens, where the vast majority of its people were eliminated, and the Cloud Recesses/where the Lans live had been destroyed. Lan Qiren, Lan Xichen's uncle, instructed LXC to take the ancient texts from the hidden Library of the Lan Sect, and to run. Because, if everyone else did get killed, at least the ancient texts and the Lan Sect Leader would still be alive. And very begrudgingly, LXC does. While running away, MY would save LXC and provide him somewhere to stay-- which gives MY the out that he needs. He gains the trust of at least one of the leaders of the opposing Sects, and because it was trust gained out of mercy, it was something that he could easily use against LXC should it ever come to that.

Over time MY gains more and more of LXC's trust by sending him copies of the Wen battle plans, giving him intel about the Wens, etc. etc.. And as more and more of it proves to be right, the more LXC trusts MY-- even though he had previously betrayed NMJ in a major way. Because NMJ is still pretty pissed/sad about what happened. Though, LXC doesn't tell NMJ that MY is the intel because he knows it would piss him off.

etc etc etc time goes on, the Sunshot Campaign comes to an end with the Wen Sect going under, and MY is revealed to be the intel that saved the other sects. MY goes to the Jin Sect, getting the name Jin Guangyao (which is a whole other post I could go off about (tho in defense of JGY LMFAOO)), along with the title Lianfang Zun. Again, he's basically an advisor guy, except this time it's under his dad who fucking hates him to death.

This is when the three, LXC, NMJ, and JGY, swear brotherhood. And again this may not seem so bad for a ship, but this is a very heavily summarized thing. Let's get into JGY's craving for power.

No matter what context you put JGY in, he will want power. It's a matter of proving himself to a father who doesn't care about him, proving himself to those who ridicule him for having such a "lowly birth", all that-- he's a viciously insecure man. When he was with the Nies, he had a high rank. He was cared for and adored by the ruling family of the sect-- but the Nies weren't the wealthiest or most influential sect. The Nies weren't a small sect by any means, but they weren't the Wens-- who were able to overthrow an entire sect over night, and initially get away with it because the other Sects were too scared to challenge them. And when the Wens were going under, the Jin Sect was once again the most prominent sect-- even if it was NMJ who was leading the whole campaign.

This craving for power was something that NMJ had noticed and would quickly come to oppose, but as he was slowly succumbing to his way of cultivation, people weren't so ready to believe him. He was "irrational and violent", a stark contrast to JGY who seemed to make himself at home with his new position in the Jin Sect. And eventually, NMJ would start to shut his mouth on the matter, especially when not even Lan Xichen would fully listen to him-- and he had a deep amount of trust in LXC. He would start to comply to keep the peace, which meant swearing brotherhood to a man that betrayed him, and letting that man back into his home.

These trips JGY made back to the Nie sect was mostly to perform what I believe was called "Tranquility" for NMJ. The saber spirits that the Nies cultivate are self destructive for its user, which was why NMJ's health overall was starting to decline. He would have outbursts of rage, his mental state was skewed, all that. And Tranquility was meant to help sooth his Qi in hopes of postponing the inevitable-- there wasn't a single Nie Sect leader that lived a full life while cultivating saber spirits.

BUT! BC JGY WAS MAD AT NMJ! JGY altered the score of tranquility in such a subtle way that not even LXC would notice for like, 16 years, and did it in a way that it worsened NMJ's health. So like. For over the course of what. Six Months. JGY was slowly poisoning NMJ through these visits-- and as of canon for Fatal Journey (The Nie Spin off Movie), taught Huaisang this distorted score, which lead to NMJ murdering members of his own sect in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Literally only LXC was playing the right version of Tranquility for NMJ, but he wasn't the one able to make the most visits as he lived the furthest away from Qinghe/the Nie Sect.

But yeah um. NMJs fucked up state lead to the best scene (NMJ kicking JGY down a whole flight of stairs) and the worst scene (NMJ fucking self imploding). He dies because of all this thoguh. Yeah.

now for xichen. my lovely webkins plushie soaked in milk that gets slammed against a wall 20 times in a row.

I can't deny that Xiyao aka LXC/JGY was like......... a Thing. Ok. But the thing people fail to realize is that Xiyao is an abusive relationship through and through, because JGY only used it as a way to have power. And the thing that trips people up about this is because JGY is human. He's comically evil in every other instance except for his relationship with LXC, which is why people think it was earnest, and that they just didn't get their happy ending because of things JGY did "in the past".

And I won't deny that JGY did have some underlying care for LXC-- because abusers don't ever want to believe that they're doing something bad. He believes he's doing what he's doing for his own sake, that he's in the right because if LXC doesn't have trust in him, then who will? LXC is an influential figure still, even if it's the Jin Sect that's on top. And LXC is the only person who stands up for him regularly within the four major sects.

Xiyao in a plot related setting makes sense. It was a survival tool for JGY. LXC was a gay man who was very vulnerable during the war. His father was killed, his sect was on the brink of total elimination much like the Jiangs, the survival of ancient history was on his shoulders so he needed to survive-- and JGY provided that link. He was LXC's shoulder to cry on, someone he could trust with personal secrets, and while there may have been a genuine connection from JGY as well-- his whole intention with the relationship was to gain power. While LXC may have indulged in sharing secrets, JGY probably never did. Considering he kept the whole music score and murdering their sworn brother a secret.

You can even see how JGY functions relationship wise in maintaining a certain image in how he treats the whole situation with Qin Su-- his wife and um. Half Sister. He love bombs to hell, and when it doesn't work he gets angry and lashes out. I don't think he would have needed to be as unrestricted to LXC as he was Qin Su, because LXC very much............ Has Issues. And I don't think it's helped because his mother was locked up by his father in a cottage for years on end in total isolation. LXC has NOOO basis of a healthy relationship, so I'm sure he accepted what JGY presented at face value. Which is why I think it was so easy for JGY to maintain those lies for literally 16 years.

JGY took advantage of skills taught to him by LXC to murder NMJ. He took advantage of LXC's favor to put him in a good light to the cultivation world, and he was able to get in to the Jin sect with LXC's encouragement. LXC is the literal pillar to JGY's success, and if that pillar falls, he has nothing to back him up.

Sure, he might have Su She, a dedicated follower who did a lot of his dirty work-- but Su She was despised even by LXC. He might have had Xue Yang to fall on for even filthier shit, but Xue Yang was a notorious mass murderer who eliminated a minor clan just because he felt like it. LXC was the ONE guy who he could rely on wholeheartedly to keep his reputation in tact. Which is why he begins to act so irrationally when he sees that he's losing LXC during the Guanyin Temple scene-- which is where JGY dies. AND GET THIS! GET THIS!

JGY DELIBERATELY. PULLS LXC INTO THE COLLAPSING TEMPLE WITH HIM, BEGGING HIM TO FALL WITH HIM-- BUT OH, OH LAST MINUTE HE PUSHES LXC AWAY FROM THE RUIN TO SAVE HIM ONE LAST TIME. SOMETHING THAT WILL STAY ON LXCS CONSCIENCE FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!

their relationship is BUILT on JGY doing something good for LXC in order to make LXC feel like he owes him. I'm sure over the 16 years there were MANY positive events from JGY that LXC clings onto, but JGY still killed NMJ. He still killed Jin Guangshan, and pushed Qin Su into killing herself. He forced prostitutes into continuing to have sex with JGS even as the man was dying, he killed his own son with Qin Su after finding out they were related, and wiped out a minor sect after blaming them for the death of his son. He falsely accused Mo Xuanyu of sexually harassing Qin Su (or himself if u go off of the novel), and exiled MXY because he just didn't like him. All that! All that under LXCs nose.

so I just. I CAN'T take it when people say oh, i love 3zun because they make each other worse. NMJ and LXC TRIED to make things right between all three of them, and JGY couldn't settle for that. It's two victims and a murderer/abuser. Even when NMJ was still hurt by JGY's betrayal, he would ask LXC how he was doing in the Jin sect. He WANTED things to be better even if he knew things were getting worse, and he bowed his head out of respect for LXC, which would lead to his early death.

When you say shit like oh they make each other worse, I feel like that should only apply to characters who are mutually destructive. LXC was a victim of abuse. NMJ may have argued and fought back, but he was a victim of petty grudges. In an ideal world, NMJ would've been completely content with straightening things out and understanding the circumstances-- but the circumstances here were viciously damning, and JGY only made it worse.

and again like. LXC was a peacemaker. He didn't like that NMJ and JGY hated each other, even if they would be visibly pleasant to one another, he wanted them to go back to the way it had been before the Sunshot Campaign-- which is why I think he proposed the Sworn Brotherhood. But I don't think he knew every single intricacy that lead to the downfall between those two-- a simple solution like that wouldn't work.

And as I mentioned earlier on NMJ's and JGY's relationship to each other being surface level if you shipped them-- this may just be my own interpretation of NMJ, but I very much believe he saw JGY as another little brother. So, on the same level as Nie Huaisang-- who he cares very deeply for. JGY and NHS were around the same age (iirc jgy only a few years older, but not in NMJs age group), the two got along with each other greatly, and i believe both shared similar interests. So. I think the dynamic of NMJ holding JGY to the same standard as NHS is a lot more interesting and takes more things into account. Not every relationship between not-blood-related men needs to be romantic. lmfao. It also just makes the betrayal and how NMJ receives it a lot more personal to me.

These three have such an interesting dynamic to me that can absolutely be explored. Again I won't say that Xiyao is made out of nothing-- there's elements there, but to make them into a cutesy little pair is a vicious disservice to JGY's character, because you can't separate him from his manipulative nature. It's a core part of his character whether you like it or not, taking it away just takes away JGY's appeal. On top of that, shipping them for the abuse aspect is like..................... lmao. It's not mutually destructive. you're weird.

anyways nielan sweep, those two were sucking and fucking on the battlefield. a warriors bond can never be broken

(art by Valdrift, I commissioned this giggles)

#Asks #dragonji #HIIII THIS ASK IS FRM FCKING JANUARY #I have a milk ask sitting in my inbox from december too.

[garbage--account]

Random opinion #6, 'cause IE ares was disapointing and it makes me sad😢 (part 6) :

7. About the other matches :

Seishou gakuen vs Kidokawa : showing a match who isn't about the main team is actually was actually a good idea (when it doesn't shorten Zeus's). I enjoyed it overall. I just don't like ares/orion Gouenji. Idk he seems... too nice, if that even make sense. (The fact that we don't have news of Yuuka and about his dad wanting him to become doctor doesn't help i guess, but i guess he became a background character now). I mean, watch season one and ares, he isn't the same character anymore. Also, was it really necessary to introduce us to override? We see overrides since season one, we now that when you combine 2 shooting hissatsus, you have a brand new more powerful hissatsus 🙄

inakuni vs hakuren : it was a mess... and this why it is my unironical favorite from ares 🤣 (shirou and atsuya are also my favorites). There was a missed opportunity tho : the fact that Inakuni and Hakuren pratically mirrors each other. I mean, they are both "from the countryside", never participated in any official match before (so literal nobodies at this time), with captains who struggle being proper captains (Michinari 'cause he is Michinari / Shirou spending all his energy to deal with Atsuya while neglecting the others), and a forward/ace striker that think he is the main character (Asuto and Atsuya) while the rest of the team is the background (bonus point : their goalies being the most useless ever). Can be funny while useful for character development, can even be serious at some point. Imagine the 2 teams be like "i don't even know we got here and what's going on now but YOLO i guess lol" and at some point, somone wins we don't know how, and we're just like "that's life". That would make the final winning move of Inakuni less fustruating, 'cause idk Cross Drive came out of nowhere. I also want more Nae and Atsuya annoying siblings energy. Also, Ares Shirou seems too confident : let's have him actually contacting the reinforcement comitee and they send Someoka. Could expend forever but let's move on.

Alia gakuen vs inakuni : what's interesting in sun garden is that they're basically literal "found family" the sakka team. Like they all are adopted bros and sis. This was well portrayed by the Hirotos relationship into the match, and i think it's sweet the team adopted the rich kid even tho they're all orphan and not him and that he's kinda an ass. Kira H. was also a good surprise : i hated him in outer code but became one of my fave of areorion. I would have liked to see more of Nagumo/suzuno dynamics, and more of Reina, Midorikawa and Saginuma. Especially Saginuma 'cause he is done so dirty in areorion : bro can't even stop most of the shoots and still got selectionned into IJ. Like tell me about him! Is he the big bro in his brotherhood? What happened to his writting skills? I don't mind him having a goofy personality in this timeline, but what about the gaslighting and all in the og? He made Fubuki have a mental breakdown! Also, a missed opportunity : in Hakuren, one of the reason of their dramas was that their captain had a hard time staying firm on Atsuya because he is his lil bro. Imagine that, but all the team are your siblings lmao. Finally, even if he is already among the better point, i would like to see more of Hiroto : i mean this is the only moment he has character development and is just a "bad boi" striker for all orion, even if he appears quite often and has so many occasions for this! Make him interact more with Atsuya and i am actually serious about that : both kinda think they are the "star/main character" of their team but with different mood (like barbenheimer lol), plus they both supposed to be dead in the og. Hiroto has already more in common with Atsuya than Haizaki, and they didn't even met at this point ! Last after the last thing : at the end of the match, hiroto and tatsuya pull out the most beautiful hissatsus ever just to be stopped by Norika, Asuto and Kozoumaru. What an anticlimacting ending... the hissatsus came too late.

Vs tonegawa tousen : even though ares did not gave us the best matches, the main ones have their highlights anyways (read above). However, Tonegawa really only has Endou (sorry Sakanoue). Like it was memorable 'cause Inakuni had no idea how to get a goal from overhyped Endou (and there is also a racoon girl). I can't remember anything else 😭 Even the (french ?) dub is aware of that and they called it "lambda school" (which basically mean random school) : the savagery omg. I don't know how to make the other team members memorable but here a plot suggestion (southpark inspired me) : Tonegawa Tousen is a humble soccer team that only plays for leisure, as a hobby. But since every soccer club needs a sponsor now, they participate in the "job fair" kinda event at the beginning (read part one). What they haven't predicted is that a reinforcement comitee member will join them afterward. Moreover, they got Endou, who is determined to make them train like hell with truck tyres and participate in FF, 'cause that's his definition of fun. It's not that they don't like Endou (who hates him anyway?), but they didn't want to be competitive and under the spotlights. Sponsor is not really helping 'cause it want its advertisement. So the team tries to make Endou understand subtly what soccer really means for them : "you know Endou, we are just happy to have the occasion to get together with friends, having fun, being silly, to be able to laugh when someone fails without hurting his pride, to take bets to determine who is the best, being able to confort each other when we are not okay and forgetting the rest that sucks. After the training, we usually talk shit and laugh together around a meal, it's the time we all have a genuine smile despite how bad the day could be. And you know, even if we are not great at this game, this soccer club is enough for us. Do you know what we mean?" and Endou answers "yes i totally get it" while understanding that soccer must be really important for them to be this emotional and does the contrary of what they expected. After Tonegawa won matches, the team usually cries 'cause they're still stuck in this tournament and Endou thinks they're just really emotional that they got this far and couldn't believe it. He stays unaware the whole time and guess his teammates are dramatic. When they finally lose, their joy is short-lived 'cause they soon feel pathetic to have been in such situation because of miscommunication and of course Endou thinks they're just dissapointed to not have won and cheers them.

#Inazuma Eleven #inazuma eleven ares #The hakuren and tonegawa tousen ones are supposed to be funny #While Zeus teikoku and alia a bit of angst fuel #They all end up to be a bit both #Idk when part 7 'cause it's about Nosaka 🤮 help

[deathdxnces]

according to the wiki, the noxian invasion happened during 984 AN and 989 AN and i'm just trying to make sense of the timeline more or less for my own reference which is why i'm not getting into what all the other characters were up to so

irelia's story suggests her family's death happens early on in the invasion, considering she returns home because "rumors of foreign invaders sighted off the coast" get to the placidium (so she's 11 when they die and she discovers her powers, in 984).

usan, having struggled with the kinkou's ways since the jhin investigation, finally leaves the order to fight noxus directly when the invasion starts. he's banished from the temple by kusho, but he isn't an enemy to the kinkou yet. i assume this is also in 984, since it takes some time of fighting before he goes for the tears. it's around this time he gets his first few followers, acting as part of the navori brotherhood (which irelia joins right after her family's death). it's also probably when he starts to be called zed.

it's suggested the vastaya (those of them who joined the war and fought beside noxus, that is) begun joining the noxians at some point around 985. this would also have marked the beginning of zed's hostility towards them, although it'd reach it's peak and become much worse following swain's capture of the placidium of navori in 986, which is suggested to have been made possible with the vastaya's help (more specifically, the one vastaya who is later rewarded by being made fae'lor's governor).

the war, at this point, has lasted around 2 years, maybe a little more and ionia's resistance is suggested to be on the verge of being vanquished entirely by swain. and it maybe would be, were it not for irelia, at "barely fourteen" according to her bio, miraculously succeeding in almost wiping out the entirety of the noxian high command present there — including swain himself, although he survives because of the demon. her victory makes irelia the (reluctant) leader of the growing resistance.

zed is not present at the placidium. the noxians isolate his forces in the siege of thanze, cutting them off from the rest of the brotherhood (purposefully, maybe? before irelia's stand, i assume zed would've been one of the most significant leaders/threats noxus had to contend with). after ensuring the civilians are secure in the tunnels beneath the village, that is when he returns to thanjuul for the tears of the shadow, claiming the temple and supposedly killing kusho. some of the kinkou die, but most are purposefully allowed to flee, while a smaller number choose to side with zed. this means the order of shadows is formed in 986.

kayn's bio states using the child soldiers was darkwill's plan to exploit the ionian's compassion after the disastrous battle at the placidium. it's unclear when exactly that starts, but considering it seems pretty desperate and the kids had like no training, i'd assume it was a pretty immediately employed strategy, or at least as immediate as it would be possible to regroup, conscript the children and take them to ionia. 987 seems a reasonable year to place zed finding kayn in the epool river.

i frankly have no idea what's going on for them in 988 other than uh they're still fighting in the war. irelia's bio says "reluctantly, she led the growing resistance for almost three years of grueling battle before her triumph at dalu bay", so that was either late 988 or early 989, and she was 16ish. this is said to be the victory that really drove the noxians away almost completely, effectively ending the war (with swain's coup happening the same year, and the grand general ending the occupation of ionia).

#» out of character — ⌜main sup irl.⌟ #» character study — ⌜both the tranquil sea and the tempest.⌟ #i went back to the bios to see if some of the stuff the wiki listed made sense #and irelia being 'barely' 14??? hello??? #the fact she's made the leader of the resistance right after.....

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

A few of the delights of X-Men 92, House of X issue 5.  I’ll put this under a read-more for spoilers.

Sienna Blaze, who I don’t think has shown up on Krakoa in 616 continuity?  I don’t remember seeing her.  She’s one of those mutants who might be too dangerous for the island, given that her powers can be incredibly destructive, but there are many mutants hanging out on Krakoa that are far more dangerous.  Also, I think I see Revanche in that panel?  I guess Psylocke is Betsy, then, and the body swap still happened.  Poor Kwannon.  Also, poor Blob.  Good try, Freddie, you were up against impossible odds.  Fabian Cortez gets to do his thing one more time.

Doug in his New Mutants “graduation uniform,” a shout-out to the original New Mutants run.  Some of those “graduation” costumes didn’t look half-bad, but Doug’s is kind of terrible.  What’s the point of the visor?  That being said, I do appreciate a costume with an actual flack jacket for one of the most vulnerable mutants with non-combat powers.  Especially given that he originally died from a bullet through the torso.  Should have been wearing that graduation costume, Doug.

Also, Shard!!!!  Another character who hasn’t appeared on 616 Krakoa.

Phantazia!  Yet ANOTHER character who has yet to appear in 616 Krakoa, even though I could list several reasons why “rescue Phantazia from Shield custody” would have been a fantastic Marauders one-issue side adventure.  But at least she hasn’t been forgotten.

Dark Beast presents a Chimera done in the most 90′s way possible.  I love the corniness of all the combined bits of character uniform.

I can’t tell if that’s Frenzy or Cecelia Reyes in the background there, but I’m glad to see her, either way.  Also, Marrow and Maggot, for peak 90′s.

Another Morph shout-out, I love it.  Apparently they have a celebrity impersonation channel on Mojo TV.  Good for them.  I wonder if this is also a reference to an Exiles storyline, where Mojo forced Morph to perform on Mojovision by holding one of his teammates hostage.

So, the island gets attacked by Trask/Nimrod, Jubilee gets mortally wounded, and Jean Grey gives her the power of Dark Phoenix to let her use her Big Bang jump start the timeline powers one more time.  The series ends with Jubes destroying Nimrod and saving everyone, then reverting back to Jubilee as we know her, at the arcade playing the X-Men Arcade game, with no memory of her previous lives.  Not a bad ending for the mini-series at all.

This series gave me so many great 90′s cameos.  Shard, Phantazia, Marrow, Sienna Blaze, all the Nasty Boys.  Feral on the X-Men - I just wish we had seen Thorn in the background somewhere.  All four of my favorite Brotherhood boys (Pyro, Blob, Avalanche and Toad).  And Pyro even got to be part of X-Force and work with Darkstar and Cannonball on what I assume was “Team Blond.”  Callisto and Dani Moonstar on the Council, something which frankly should be part of 616 continuity.  At least two shout-outs to Morph, plus a background cameo during a Sentinel attack on the island (I am absolutely convinced that character is Morph, don’t try to tell me otherwise.)  Jubille as a much more benevolent version of Moira.  (Which just reminds me that Moira herself could have been a benevolent character as well, if the writers hadn’t decided to completely destroy her.)  Dark Phoenix Jubilee, hell yes.  What a genuinely fun mini-series.

#x-men 92 #spoilers

[spoilertv]

#SpoilerTV

[harcidian]

fma post-series predictions

with Arakawa's new content coming up on July 12th, 2021, I wanted to share some details I tied together to form a general idea of how the series can possibly continue beyond the canon timeline, based on all the clues in the manga and in brotherhood. Even if Arakawa doesn't follow this theory, at least I'm able to get it out of my system.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying these are canon, or that these should be canon. These are mere observations and some are completely assumptions, so take it with a grain of salt.

Let's start by enumerating the characters' goals in the future, then defining the basic symbols, then drawing out assumptions on how these can be connected.

For this discussion, we'll be following what the silver pocket watch looks like in the manga. I have no idea why both FMA 2003 and brotherhood changed it, so if anyone knows, feel free to share!

note: I'm also using this headcanon for my ongoing post-fmab fic, meridian :)

(also this is very lengthy, so just click keep reading if you want to read more)

Due to Tumblr's photo limit, I wouldn't be able to add a picture for every point. But all these are from the mangahood unless otherwise stated, you could cross-check if you like!

Character's goals

EDWARD ELRIC, ALPHONSE ELRIC, CHIMERAS

At the end of the series (both anime and manga), the Elric brothers mentioned two goals.

first

"a new rule to counter the law of equivalent exchange".

Alphonse told Gracia that receiving "ten" and giving back "ten" only amounts to a zero-sum gain. So he proposed that if they receive "ten", they will give "eleven" in return.

In real life, this could be analogous to how interest rates work.

Gracia then asks Al what keeps them driven to come up with this principle, and he told her it's because of "a little girl we couldn't save."

This leads us to their next goal.

second

"once we pool what we learn from east and west together, maybe we'll find a way to help those who are suffering from alchemy".

Ed plans to head West, while Al plans to head East. Both of them seek knowledge on bringing chimeras back to their original bodies.

Al also mentioned studying the PURIFICATION ARTS in Xing.

The chimeras also strategized on how they would get their bodies back.

First, they take the soul out of the body and keep it safe in a separate location, then they take the body and separate it. They also cautioned about the "SPIRIT", which connects the soul to the body, and if it gets cut the soul can't come back to the body.

ROY MUSTANG, RIZA HAWKEYE, AND THE MILITARY

There were also two things that the mangahood hinted on what the future has in store for the military officers.

first

In Volume 16 of the manga, Riza tells Ed that their first priority is to "restore power to the parliament and move the country towards true democracy". Then she also shares that they plan to "negotiate with other nations to reduce our armaments" and "abolish the state alchemist program". Lastly, "end up on trial for the injustices we committed in Ishval".

However, the last plan should be taken with caution. There is an anomaly between the idea of getting hanged for their crimes and what Volume 15 is connotating.

In Volume 15, the highest-ranking priest in Ishval wanted to offer his life in exchange for the lives of thousands just to end the slaughter. However, Bradley tells him that one life is still equal to one life no matter who that person is. (It makes sense, in a way, but then again they only need it for the transmutation circle).

So I'm not sure if Arakawa wants military war criminals to experience death by firing squad or something but I guess it just depends on the way you interpret it.

Sidenote: After hearing about Roy's plan for "self-destruction", it appears that Ed has his own way of telling Roy to "stay alive". When Ed told him "you won't go far in life being that petty", he decided not to pay Roy back until he becomes the Fuhrer. And when that time comes, he'll borrow some more and will pay it back when Amestris becomes a democracy. Roy tells him, "then I've got a long life ahead of me". Ed also tells him "not to worry the Lieutenant."

second

Manga: Dr. Marcoh tells Roy that he would only use the Philosopher's stone to restore his sight if he agrees to restore Ishval.

Brotherhood: Roy already plans to restore Ishval without knowing that Dr. Marcoh can restore his sight. First, he plans to call off the military occupation from Ishval, then he'll return the holy land to the Ishvalans living in the slums.

In Riza's words, "This may not erase our sins, but it's the least we can do to fix it." (in the English dub but it has similar connotations in the manga)

OUR HEROES FROM XING (LING YAO, LAN FAN, MEI CHAN / MAY CHANG)

For now, I admittedly don't have much evidence on what's to come for them, but I think it's important to note that Ling Yao canonically becomes the Emperor two years after The Promised Day, where he decided to accept all clans.

I think that's all I have for the characters' goals, I'm sure I missed some, so feel free to let me know!

Now that all of that is in place, let's talk about the common symbols and how these are clues to what could possibly happen next after the series.

SYMBOLS AND THEIR CONNECTION

1. The "star" symbol on the silver pocket watch and its relation to the "spirit"

Again, I can't help but notice that the star symbol on the pocket watch looks different in the manga and the anime (and it honestly bothers me) so I'm going to have to rely on what it looks like in the manga.

So let's talk about this symbol.

In alchemy, a hexagram represents "the fifth element", the "quintessence", the unity of all elements [1] (it's Wikipedia lmao but it has citations. I'm too scared to check on other sites, I don't wanna dive too deep into alchemy)

We know that Hiromu Arakawa follows this symbolism since she used triangles for Flame Alchemy

(fire: plain triangle for fire, air: a triangle with a stripe on its top, and earth: an inverted triangle with a stripe at the bottom) [2]

I find it interesting to know that Arakawa specifically placed it on the silver pocket watch.

Caution, this is more speculation than observation and I've used it for my fic. I believe it stands for Time, and time has many connotations. The length of an event, a process from one point to another, and, of course, FMA's theme: immortality.

In an alchemical, philosophical, and chemical sense, time can be seen as the period that a substance exists, also known as volatility.

The volatility of a substance is central to alchemy, where alchemists believe that mercury is the most volatile substance. And it's interesting to note that alchemists code mercury as the Spirit.[3]

Remember when we were talking about the Spirit? About Ed and Al's plan to bring chimera's back to their original bodies?

SPECULATION: I, therefore, surmise that the quintessence, that time, that the Spirit, has something to do with splitting the soul of the chimera and putting the human soul back to the human body.

It's also interesting to note that volatility is a property used in Distillation (both a chemical and alchemical process). In Distillation, a liquid mixture is separated back into a pure component by heating it until the component with the lower boiling point (or higher volatility) evaporates.

And Distillation is one of the 12 Purification Arts that Al talks about, based on the magnum opus [4] [5]

Another interesting fact is that Ed and Al's goal of "fixing the volatility" have been foreshadowed all along.

2. Ed, Al, and Izumi's symbol

This represents the Crucified Serpent, where Arakawa modified it and placed wings and a crown on top of it.

I find it interesting that this site has defined what a crucified serpent means, and at the same time, defines what Ed, Al, and Izumi's symbol meant in relation to that.

So “fixing the volatile” generally means stabilizing the active principle, something which can separate harmful and beneficial elements from each other or even transform the harmful (pure active, too active) into the beneficial (balanced active).

The symbol that Izumi, Ed and Al wear, however, is not the crucified serpent alone. It is the crucified serpent winged and crowned. As we can see in many manuscripts, wings are used to mark progress or advancement of an alchemical solution toward perfection. Crowns mark the final stage of a spirit or solution: perfection, completion, ascension.

If we interpret snake = Mercury = spirit, which is a common symbol chain, then the symbol can suggest that the final “rendering” of the spirit, by death or enlightenment, will produce the pure, perfected, incorruptible spirit that, in alchemical terms, tends to go along with an incorruptible body. In this reading, the symbol indicates immortality, the standard promise of the philosopher’s stone. [3]

Basically, Arakawa is telling us that Ed and Al's goal has always been to fix the volatile or "render the spirit".

From the same quotation, another important factor we should look into is "Mercury", "volatile" and "snakes".

Do you remember another FMA symbol with snakes?

Yes. It is in Riza Hawkeye's tattoo.

This will be the last thing we'll interpret for this post and is the symbol that basically says it all.

3. Riza Hawkeye and the emblem of Flame Alchemy

Manga and Brotherhood

Source of the last picture [5]

I'm honestly a little skeptical of the last picture, because, in the mangahood, Riza's tattoo does not look like that, unless this was revealed in one of Arakawa's FMA guidebooks.

Anyway, we see that the snakes in Riza's tattoo look like an inverted Caduceus, which is the staff carried by the Greek or Roman god Hermes or Mercury. It is a symbol for medicine, and it also has Biblical roots where Moses crucified serpents to cure diseases back in the day [6]. Yes, we've gone full circle, we've mentioned the crucified serpent earlier, where it also mentioned the crucified serpents being related to Moses' healing [3].

We also know that snakes = mercury = volatility, and based from soterianyx's analysis:

Master Hawkeye meant for these two representations (the sun and the serpents) to be deciphered as one unit. When sulfur (the sun) and mercury (the moon/the serpents) are placed together, they are usually depicted in alchemical illustrations as the “Red King” and the “White Queen,” respectively. Riza would be considered as the White Queen, and whoever successfully decoded the array as the Red King. [5]

In alchemy, sulfur is related to the sun, fire, ambition, and is non-volatile, and mercury is related to water and volatility (correct me if I'm wrong, also I'm too scared to link it directly here but you could see it as the first result when you search "mercury and sulfur alchemy")

And if you remember that fire has the triangle symbol, and water has the inverted triangle symbol?

Yes, this merge forms the hexagram = the quintessence = time = life!

And in alchemy, this union between two dualities, fire and water, masculine and feminine, the Red King and the White Queen, is called the Alchemical Marriage [7], where two things become one.

(will edit this from time to time I'm so sleepy right now asksksakjd) Note: If the last picture is indeed true, then there's one more thing I'd like to point out.

Surrounding the largest circle in Riza's tattoo are 12 symbols. These 12 symbols are also known as the Zodiac signs. Interestingly, these signs are also used as a cryptography for the 12 Purification Processses in alchemy (the one we also talked before) [4]. This observation is also noted by soterianyx [5].

Calcination (Aries) ♈︎

Congelation (Taurus) ♉︎

Fixation (Gemini) ♊︎

Dissolution (Cancer) ♋︎

Digestion (Leo ) ♌︎

Distillation (Virgo ) ♍︎

Sublimation (Libra ) ♎︎

Separation (Scorpio ) ♏︎

Ceration (Sagittarius ) ♐︎

Fermentation (Capricorn ) ♑︎

Multiplication (Aquarius ) ♒︎

Projection (Pisces) ♓︎

Whew finally done.

How'd you like that? Thank you for reaching the end.

I also used this headcanon in doing my post-series fic, meridian . You might want to read it if you want to know more of my speculations since I'll be making my own analysis in the worldbuilding I'm doing there.

Other FMA blogs: @royriza - for royai stuff

@fullmetalanalyst - for my analysis

#fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood #fma analysis #fma meta #fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #this is written as objectively as I can #ack i need sleep #fma mangahood analysis #alphonse elric #riza hawkeye #roy mustang #fullmetalanalyst #hanamuri #fma symbols #shocks im so tired i cant even think of the right tags

[homunculusalbedo]

Albedo is a Homunculus

After analyzing the game Genshin Impact, along with comparing it to outside sources of media, I believe that Albedo is a Homunculus. I am aware that many others have also theorized this, but I’m taking it a step further. Not only is Albedo an artificial human, but he is the result of a horrific sacrifice at Khaenri’ah. Bold words, I know. But hear me out.

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the Genshin Impact story quest “Princeps Cretaceus” (Albedo’s story quest), the story quests involving Dainsleif, Albedo’s story, Albedo’s voicelines, and for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Please continue on at your own risk.

Let’s begin with the definition of a homunculus: Dictionary.com states that a homunculus is, “an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist.” For starters, Albedo is shorter than a lot of other characters, and is around the same height as Xiao, who is frequently teased for his short stature. 

This checks the box of a “dwarf”, though it’s not in the strictest definition of the word. Regarding Albedo’s origins, very little is known. 

In Albedo’s Story 3, some information is given: “Albedo has no memory of any blood relations. From birth, he was already adventuring deep within domains with his master.” 

His master, the alchemist Rhinedottir is also described as, at least to Albedo, “his only kin.” 

Rhinedottir talks often about alchemy in Albedo’s story, especially chalk. She says, “ ‘From soil was birthed chalk.’ “  and “ ‘Chalk is the spotless soil, and was used to make primordial man.’ ”  in Albedo’s Story 5.

Rhinedottir then tells Albedo,  “ ‘The chalk: that is you.’ “ If Albedo is ‘the chalk”, then he was used to make primordial man. Or more likely, he was created from chalk. The rest of the story practically confirms this by saying, “His master was not his birth mother, but Albedo has no doubt that his life stems from her nonetheless.“

For more connections between Albedo and chalk, his title is literally “Chalk Prince” in German and his story quest title is also “Chalk Prince” in Latin.

So, Albedo = chalk

Ok, so Albedo was created by Rhinedottir. Yaaaaay... but... how? Alchemy is no easy business, no matter how simple. Creating a human being must require a lot of power and work. So how did Rhinedottir create Albedo?

It has been stated in Genshin Impact that Albedo practices Khemia, an advanced form of alchemy that originates from Khaenri’ah. He learned this from Rhinedottir. For those who don’t know, Khaenri’ah is a civilization that was brutally destroyed 500 years ago. Dainsleif comes from there and witnessed its destruction. In the same story quest where this is revealed, it is also stated that the Traveler witnessed the fall of Khaenri’ah. Needless to say, it was a history defining moment that wiped out an entire civilization. The exact details of how it was destroyed aren’t known, but given how powerful Khemia is, it could easily be the cause of its destruction.

Now let’s switch gears to a different universe: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This is also a world full of alchemy, but this one has rules, the main one being: NO HUMAN TRANSMUTATION. The reason for this law could be the result of many incidents, but it could most directly be related to the law of equivalent exchange.

In FMA, the law of equivalent exchange rules over EVERYTHING alchemists do. In order to do something, something must be given in return. When the two main characters of the show, Ed and Alphonse Elric, attempt to bring their mother back from the dead, they cannot offer anything of an equivalent value. This results in Ed losing an arm and a leg and Al losing his entire body. Instead of their mom, they get an incomplete mass of limbs, gunk, and overall disgusting substances.

Yet in the FMA world, several homunculi exist, like Lust, Gluttony, Greed, etc. However, they are only able to exist because of something called a Philosopher’s Stone. The stone allows alchemists to partially bypass the law of equivalent exchange. How? Because the stone is made up of millions of souls. Those souls are used as payment instead of the user losing something.

Genshin Impact does not run on the same exact rules as FMA, but even in real life everything has an equal and opposite reaction. This logic applies to both of these worlds.

Now, I propose my theory:

Albedo is Rhinedottir’s creation made up of the souls of the people that died in Khaenri’ah.

We’ve already established Albedo as a homunculus and that in the FMA universe, immense sacrifice is required to create a homunculus. It’s not too far of a stretch to believe that Albedo was only created as a result of the destruction of Khaenri’ah.

“But what about the timeline?” Well I’m glad you asked, random person.

Given how Dainsleif has survived for over 500 years, is it really so unlikely that Rhinedottir also survived? And regarding Albedo’s age, the homunculi in FMA don’t age because their energy is powered by the Philosopher’s Stone, so why couldn’t Albedo work in the same way? Plus, maybe Rhinedottir found a way to store the souls from Khaenri’ah to use at a later date.

This could also explain Albedo’s fear of losing control on himself. At the very end of his story quest, he says, “If one day, I lose control... Destroy Mondstadt... Destroy everything... Can I rely on you to stop me?” If Albedo’s very existence stems from the deaths of many people, it’s no wonder he holds so much power. That, along with the dangerous form of alchemy he practices, spawns a high possibility for more death. 

FMA goes to great lengths to show how powerful the homunculi are, with each of them possessing a unique ability, like creating armor. Albedo may hold similar power, just we haven’t been able to see it yet.

With that fun theory out there, here are a few minor details to note.

In FMA, each homunculus has an ouroboros somewhere on their body that signifies their status as a homunculus. Here, we can see Greed’s tattoo.

Albedo also has a mark on him, on his neck.

Now this could just be a coincidence, but it’s still something fun to point out.

That concludes my theory! If you have any comments, questions, additions, corrections, clarifications, or anything to say, please let me know!

I hope this was enjoyable. Have a nice day!

#genshin impact #albedo genshin impact #genshin impact theory

[teecupangel]

In fact, I was going to cover Harry's sixth and seventh years as well, and then I was going to introduce Desmond, like in an open-ended epilogue or something. That would be 2009, so... Hm... Harry would be what, 27, 28 years old? Old enough to sign adoption paperwork, at least lmao The funny thing about this is that Bill and the other Assassins know since 1995/6 there's something going on in Europe, but they don't know what the hell is going on in Europe, just places like Tiber Island are open again and HOW THE FUCK DOES NOBODY KNOW WHERE TIBERINE ISLAND IS, WHAT THE FUCK THIS SHIT IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING wait a minute, what was he talking about?

I put the Rogue theme in there because I think it's really beautiful and also because it would be a great theme for the first kill of Harry's cute little novices lol

Hunting season for the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters is open and it's going to be amazing

Oh, and a meme:

Harry, in the pensive, learning about the Sunburst and Desmond Miles' role in stopping this just after a round of "detention" with Umbridge/Snape and three days without sleep because of the mental connection with old snakeface:

Oooohhh, got it.

Also, you can handwave Tiber Island being ‘unavailable’ as the Assassins actually not having any idea that Tiber Island was an Assassin base because it’s one of the secrets only given to the mentor.

Speaking of which, by your timeline, the Mentor would still be alive and this means that William Miles would be a ‘field agent’ or a team leader at best. You can totally make William Miles be in charge of figuring out why there seems to be some discrepancy in the memories of the Brotherhood that seemed to originate in Rome for some reason. You don’t even have to give him the full ‘William Miles’ name, maybe Harry and the others hear him talking to someone above them as they try to ‘fight off’ the spell and they’d be a mysterious organization that is connected to Tiber Island. Having a smaller part than a minor character, almost like a shoutout or a reference then bam! The epilogue introduces Desmond Miles and the readers finds out that small (almost throwaway) scene was meant to hint Desmond’s inclusion to the story.

Although, instead of the entire Tiber Island being ‘unavailable’, it might be better if it’s only the Assassin hideout in Tiber Island that’s unavailable since an entire island would be hard to hide, even if we use Fidelius Charm (also, Tiber Island is open to the public and has a hospital in it so hiding the entire island would mean making everyone in the island at that point either be hidden as well (and not knowing they’re hidden?) or would mean they’d have to evacuate the island and that seems too unfair to them),

Ooohh, yeah, Rogue would also work as Harry and his novices are ‘rogues’, both to the magical world and to the Assassin Brotherhood. Magical Assassins would definitely be scary af and, at some point, the Death Eaters would be faced with the realization that they weren’t hunters but preys.

And a meme for a meme:

#ask and answer #just the assassin brotherhood being ‘???’ over some weird gaps in their memories #they know they’re missing something #but they don’t remember what it is #is it isu bullshit #it sounds like isu bullshit

[imperiuswrecked]

To me, it doesn’t make sense to make Magneto the main villain because it has been done so much before and it would connect it so much to the Fox Films. Also I think there is a GREAT laziness in writing Magneto especially in films. He generally didn’t want to kill all humans, subjugate them yes because he doesn’t trust them. Which isn’t a ‘good guy’ move in itself and he slips in and out of.

He legit murdered genocide I think when he was going to kill all humans. Like no.

I also think that the average cinema goer likes Magneto too much… or maybe that is me. It would also require them to recast the most famous faces of the franchises?

Like is anyone going to care if they recast Jean, Scott, Iceman, Rogue, Kitty, Beast even Mystique but Magneto? I don’t know. I have long been a fan of an actual Jewish actor playing Magneto but following Ian McKellan would be difficult for the casual fans to accept. I don’t think Fassbender left such an amazing impression.

Even my most average MCU fans friends (and god they love the MCU 😤 but I see past it) still talk about how much they want to see a Magneto solo film.

To me I would put the focus on their reveal and sentinels. Then again I thought they’ll go through Krakoa stuff. Like it turns out the mutants have been living on this Island etc

With the ‘simpler times’ comment I have to for the sake of my sanity have to think that it was because Pietro knew where he was. Things were clear to him, as much as it hurt he had his sister. The following trauma had not occurred. Again I don’t think this is true but I am trying to reason bad writing. He didn’t doubt his morality but was indebted and controlled. Shitty actions were out of his control.

I don’t read Avengers so I didn’t know he was shelved for so long.

I think the Trial of Magneto is trying to ride on the coattails of Wandavision because even though she’s not a mutant a lot of the internet was wanting Magneto to show up. So what is the best way to get those fans who wanted to see that? Set up a family comic book where they establish the family again because I guess the MCU fans heard they’ve changed their background and themselves didn’t like it.

I see the Trial of Magneto as something poorly thought out as they saw what the audience was interested in. The timeline kind of clashes uncomfortably with Inferno. Which makes me think it was wedged in there to ride the Wandavision train and undo the retcon on the side of the main storyline.

Thank you for reading my essay/rant

Ok so I'm going to first say you have a lot of great thoughts and great on picking up the whole forced feeling. You are right, it does feel wedged in there and it does feel forced because that's exactly what Marvel did.

The Trial of Magneto was supposed to be an X-Factor plot, it was Leah Williams next arc, here's an article link talking about her podcast: link (yes I know it's bleeding cool but I don't have time to listen to the podcast)

Leah Williams tells us that X-Factor was canceled because Leah's pitch for the Magneto/Wanda story for X-Factor, now called Trial Of Magneto, became such a popular pitch at Marvel but they thought the reader numbers for X-Factor wasn't big enough for this story, so they wanted it as a separate comic. And canceled X-Factor #10 rather than seeing it run as originally planned, with the Trial beginning in X-Factor #15. Williams says she only learned about the cancellation of X-Factor when she was writing #9, so as she had to finish the series quickly, squeezing six issues worth of story into those last two issues, calling it "cramped and rushed".

So I'm not a fan of Leah but the way Marvel treats it's writers has always been terrible so this cancellation doesn't surprise me. Could this be about W*ndaVision? It's likely, but it's more likely this has to do with Hickman bowing out. It's no secret literally everyone hated the retcon and I always knew it would be undone but I didn't think it would take 6 years but here we are.

Hickman leaving is a bigger thing, he stated in an interview ( link ) that he had planned Krakoa and X-Men to be a 3 arc story, and he wasn't allowed to move onto the 2nd arc because the clowns at Marvel liked the idea of Krakoa too much and I'm so mad because that's exactly the kinda behavior that annoys me with the fans, them thinking Krakoa is just a fun playground for the mutants to mess around with.

"Oh, plans have changed entirely," Hickman says. "When I pitched the X-Men story I wanted to do, I pitched a very big, very broad, three-act, three-event narrative, the first of which was House of X. And while this loosely worked as a three-year plan, I told Marvel upfront that I honestly had no idea how long the first part would last because there were a lot of interesting ideas that I had seeded that other creators would want to play with, and so, we left this rather open-ended. I was also pretty clear with all the writers that came into the office what the initial, three-act plan was so no one would be surprised when it was time for the line to pivot." Hickman continues, "However, I also knew that I was cooking with dynamite, and it was very possible that what I had written in House of X, and the ideas contained within, was not actually the first act of a three-act story, but something that resonated more deeply and worked more like Giant-Size X-Men, where it would represent a paradigm shift in the entire X-Men line for a prolonged period of time. So, during the pandemic, when the time came for me to start pointing things toward writing the second-act event, I asked everyone if they were ready for me to do that, and to a man, everyone wanted to stay in the first act. It was really interesting, because I appreciated that House of X resonated with them to the extent that they didn't want it to end, but the reality was that I knew I would be leaving the line early."

I'm so MAD because the thing I was predicting, that Hickman would have it come crashing down and everything would be revealed to be terrible and Mutant Death Sex Cult Island wasn't a paradise is never going to happen because the fucking CLOWNS at Marvel don't want him to move past it. I may have my personal gripes about some of Hickman's writing but we can't deny the man wrote one of the best if only the best Marvel Event with Fantastic Four/Avengers/Secret War.

As for the simpler times comment, like I have my theories that I wrote out here, and that's what I think is most likely but I do think Pietro's life has never been easy or simple once his adoptive parents died. Pietro could be drinking to a time before the Brotherhood.

I would love for a Jewish actor to play Magneto and any other characters who are Jewish. I would love for a Jewish writer to be able to write them too. However Ian's performance literally set him in the minds of the people as Magneto, not even Fassbender's bleh one note Magneto could compare. Imo the only reason people liked the younger Magneto was because he was young, handsome (? ig idk i dont simp for him) and they could ship him with young professor X (cowards. where is the old man ship???) But I feel like a new actor could definitely fill the role if they are Jewish and the writing was good.

Magneto's writing in comics... well I just wish we could have a Jewish writer for him. There's some great stuff for him but I feel like characters like him and Doom could be written better by non white/american writers.

Although by today's standards the og X-Men trilogy doesn't hold up I will defend the first two movies with my life simply because after Blade these movies opened up the idea that a good serious, non campy version where characters called Magneto and Cyclops were taken seriously. X2 in my mind was the definitive X-Men movie. Was it totally comic accurate? No, but it doesn't do what the MCU does, it doesn't treat the watcher like they need to have their hand held through all the military propaganda and "hints to the comics". Also side note; the reason no one cared about any of the other X-Men being recast is because all through most of the X-Men movies the focal story point has been Professor X vs Magneto. If they really want people to care about those characters/actors then we would need stories that focused on them. Not like how Storm barely had any character growth or plot in the og X-Men and even young Ororo got mishandled by the script. This is why I feel we should have "origin movies" for the X-Men that don't do what Wolverine Origins did and try to make a whole new cast but instead should use the stories as they are. If it was Kurt's story then we would see him join the X-Men, and have the other actors revolve around that. Same with each of the others, the X-Men work best when they are working off each other and each given enough screen/page time to shine. Unfortunately we all have our favorites, even movies and writers, so those are who are going to be pushed for fans to love.

Thank you for your long rant and sorry for my own long rant/reply.

#xmen #x men #comic talk #xmcu #magneto #erik lensherr #imp answers