Okay, my brain refuses to think about anything other than Murderbot, so I looked at every use of the word "friend[s]" in TMBD and... created some pie charts. Normal human activities.
Some Thoughts™ I had while putting this together (under the cut):
In All Systems Red, Murderbot notes that the PresAux crew are all close friends (twice! and goes on to explain their internal relationships which I think is very cute). This is pretty much the only use of 'friends' in ASR, except for when Murderbot says that SecUnits can't be friends with each other.
It seems that this may be one of the first times Murderbot has ever really been around a group of friends before? Murderbot notes that this is not the norm for its contracts and admits that the fact that they are all friends and the way they interact with each other make it actually enjoy that contract (before!!!! the hostile attack, so it already enjoys this contract before they start seeing it as a person etc ghghhhh). [Inference: Friendship seems enjoyable.]
The first character that calls Murderbot its friend is ART in Artificial Condition. Murderbot immediately refutes this (and then goes on to call ART its friend to its clients for the rest of the book). [Inference: Maybe ART is Murderbot's friend. And maybe that is... agreeable]
Rogue Protocol has more than twice as many instances of the word 'friend' as any of the other novellas. Why? Miki. Friendship and its implications for non-humans are a central theme because Miki is friends with everyone. Murderbot initially scoffs at the notion that Miki and Miki's humans are friends. At the end of the book, after witnessing how desperately Don Abene tried to stop Miki from trying to save them, and her grief after its death, Murderbot has to admit that she had in fact been Miki's friend. [Inference: Humans can be friends with bots and can sincerely care about them]
In Exit Strategy, Murderbot tentatively uses the word "friends" for its humans for the first time (several times actually). It questions whether it can actually call them its friends or not and later realizes that it had been afraid what admitting that the humans are its friends would do to it. At the end of the book, Mensah tells Murderbot the PresAux crew are its friends, which is the first time a human has directly said that to it (at least on-page). [Inference: Humans can and want to be Murderbot's friends]
In Network Effect, Murderbot seems to be more habituated to the word 'friend', confidently calling ART and Ratthi its friends, like it is no longer just trying the concept on unsure if it fits. There are many instances in which other characters refer to MB as ART's friend or the other way around and Murderbot's humans refer to Murderbot as their friend several times. Generally, there seems to be less hesitancy, because yes, all of them are Murderbot's friends, why wouldn't they be. [Inference: SecUnits can have friends. This SecUnit has friends. They care about it a lot.]
Conclusion: The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a construct that does not seem to consider the possibility of friendship for itself and is fine with that - until it accidentally starts caring a little too much and suddenly more and more people annex it as a friend (ew) to the point where it can no longer deny that this is happening and has to begrudgingly admit that yes, it has friends now and maybe that is actually not a bad thing.
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I've seen a lot of people claim lately (mostly JC antis) that WWX performing the experimental core transplant on JC was emergency surgery, and I just have to stop them right there.
This was not emergency surgery by any means. Emergency surgery implies that it is something that NEEDS to be done, or else it would mean imminent death for the patient.
JC did not need that core to survive. He could have very much lived without it. He only needed it for revenge. To get back into joining the war effort to avenge his parents and his sect.
WWX didn't have to do it at all. Sure, JC was miserable, borderline suicidal. But I've seen and read aus where him coming to terms with his new disability is and can be very much possible. Hard, and a lot to work through mentally and physically, but not impossible.
JC did not force WWX to give up his core. It was very much implied that he would grow HIS OWN one via Baoshan Sanren. There was no way JC could have assumed that it was WWX's or anyone else's core for that matter when the concept of a core transplant did not exist at that moment in time. He was the first one to have survived and lived to tell the tale.
Plus, his mental state at that time was questionable. On the surface, he was willing to "consent" to anything if it meant getting his core back, regardless of how and why. But because of his vulnerability, that doesn't mean he consents to being treated like a guinea pig, nor should he have been treated like one for that matter. Although the intentions were good and pure, his vulnerability and naivety was still taken advantage of here. That cannot be disputed.
He also did not consent to having someone else's core (someone else who he cares for deeply, mind) being inserted in him. That possibility was obviously something that would have never crossed his mind in that moment. It is unfair and unreasonable to assume it would and claim he consented to something he didn't even know was possible.
He was led to believe that Baoshan Sanren could successfully give him a new core willy nilly, no questions asked because she was a fabled person with amazing abilities. It was that he consented to here alone, nothing else.
So yes, although WWX's intentions were pure and from the goodness of his heart, he did in fact mislead JC. The whole core reveal and the shock revelation behind it is proof of that. What would be the point in that scene otherwise if it was 100% consensual? And Jiang Cheng's famous "why didn't you tell me?" Break down?
It's okay to accept the moral greyness behind WWX's heroic actions, you know? It won't make him any less of a protagonist, nor does it undermine his HUGE sacrifice. You're still allowed to like him, warts and all. I know I certainly do!
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Part two of my FX Sleep Token post! Again, hope these make sense, and I'm not just spouting nonsense lol.
Part Two includes: Sundowning and This Place Will Become Your Tomb (below the cut, of course)
Part One -> One, Two, Jaws and The Way That You Were
Part Three -> Take Me Back To Eden
+ If I've missed something, feel free to add your own thoughts!
Note- some of these are FX, others are sound mixing and music bits I wanted to mention. Any song you don't see mentioned are songs that I couldn't find anything to pull out of them. Plus, reminder; these are my interpretations, I'm sorry if you can't hear what I hear, or you think something different.
The Night Does Not Belong To God
- At 2:48, an odd, muffled noise emerges. To me, it sounds like an excerpt of a crackled phone call; the type where whoever you're calling is far away, and both of you can barely hear what eachother are saying. It reappears, quietly, at 3:00, 3:12 and 3:55 (loudest and closest to actual words here). A fruitless confession the other will never hear. (I hope that makes sense).
The Offering
- At 3:40, a drum beat starts that sounds like a panicked heartbeat. With the build up of backing vocals, and white noise, it creates a very stressed atmosphere; makes you feel like you want to run. It's primal, almost.
Dark Signs
- Massive use of backing vocals in place of instruments (along with the usual synths and beats) in this one. Lots of general vocalisations and the lyric "I might break and bend to my basic need to be loved and close to somebody" in the background of the chorus. The build up of the backing vocals make the song slighty cluttered, in a good way, and gives off this impression of a bunch of different thoughts overlapping eachother; an uninterpretable inner monologue.
Give
- White noise that raises by two chords at the end of each lyric. It's subtle, but it makes the song feel more full. This is throughout the whole song, minus the chorus.
+ Would just like to mention Vessel's breathing at the end of Gods. Gods itself doesn't have any specific FX notes, but I felt like that alone needed a mention.
Drag Me Under
- Unironically, the opening chords sound like Undertale's Fallen Down
- My favourite thing about this whole song, other than how ethereal and soft it feels, is that the vocals steadily get louder, along with the instruments. Vessel's asking to be dragged under, and, as the listener, it can be interpreted two ways. The person Vessel is looking for is 'under', where you are as the listener, and he is steadily decending towards them until he gets cut off. So close, yet so far, y'know? Or, you are, as the listener, above Vessel. He's asking to descend, but, instead, he's acending towards the listener and away from what he wants. Away from love, and towards Sleep. Hope that makes sense.
+ I just wanted to mention the piano at 1:15 in Blood Sport. I had my friend listen to their albums, and her instant reaction to this part was "Sounds like stars twinkling and atoms colliding. Kind of like the start of Gustav Holst's Jupiter." and I thought that was pretty cool, so I thought I'd mention it.
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Album Notes: My favourite album by far. Sleep Token moves away from the minimal instruments and focuses more on more traditional metal aspects with their songs, allowing for the existence of Gods, The Offering and Higher (while also staying in tune with a 'softer' side, creating Drag Me Under, Take Aim and Shelter). The whole album has a sense of endless, almost unreachable longing to it. Almost feels religious, in some aspects. Again, with the five stages of grief, it's bargaining. Wishing for something you had, but you've lost.
Atlantic
- At 2:37, Vessel starts up with some vocalisations that sound like two whales replying to eachother. And then, of course, there's the actual, digital-sounding whale call sound that's used. Having had a bit of a look around, what they're mimicking is closest to a Sperm Whale's greeting chirp or a Blue Whale's typical mourning call, which, considering both are common in the Atlantic Ocean, fits wonderfully.
Like That
- All of the beginning beats are muffled. Also, if you turn your sound up and put headphones on, there's a continuous door knocking from 0:00-0:15. First lyric? "Trapped under the surface of your words". We listen to Vessel from under the surface Their words.
Descending
- Whole song has a muffled, water effect on it. Can especially he heard in the first 15 seconds. Deeper into the song you go, as the listener, the more the water effect can be heard. You, as the listener, are decending further; drowning.
High Water
- In the final breakdown, from 4:40-the end, there's muffled screaming, shouting and sobbing. It can be heard most in the last 20 seconds.
Fall For Me
- Lyrics from Distraction are mirrored in this one
E.g; "'Cause I'm broken into fractions" -> "Through a fractured existence"
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Album Notes: This whole album has a water like effect to it; so many instruments are muffled as if being played underwater and there are water motifs in general. It puts equal focus on more heavy songs, no trad metal this time though, in High Water, Hyponsis and Alkaline, while also, for the first time, allowing for soft piano and acoustic songs like Telomeres, Missing Limbs and Fall For Me. The album as a whole is tragically beautiful in its own sense, and full of yearning and longing. If we're still sticking with the five stages of grief thing, then we've finally hit depression, and it definitely feels like. I will admit this is the only album that gets tears and sobs outta me.
Thank you for reading through all my thoughts and feelings, whoever you are. Remember, the night belongs to you; worship <3.
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