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marimo-o · 3 years

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ok so im making a long ass post about Abzu (the game) within the context of mesopotamian mythology because I'm insane. It's gonna be a doozy and likely incomprehensible so <3 below the cut it goes! There's gonna be TONS of spoilers for the game, and, like, I guess for the mesopotamian creation epic, so. Play Abzu if you haven't and if you wanna read the Enuma Elish that's also cool. Good for u

(a note from afterwards: it's long. like, REALLY fucking long, holy shit. if you actually want to read the whole thing, be. prepared or something idk take breaks! the last two paragraphs (i know they're walls of text pls bear with me) contain most of the important information. like, the final hurrah of my brain after working on this for multiple hours! So if u wanna save time and avoid some of the redundancy, just skip to those last two <3)

So "Abzu" referred to two things; the fresh water people got from underground aquifers (also as the void-sea which was underneath the Sumerian underworld, Kur), and the deity; he only appeared in the creation story, Enuma Elish, because a big part of that whole thing was that oh no! He dies! And that's also a thing I'm gonna touch on (sorry about the lack of accent marks in advance, it's not available on my current keyboard^ ^;)

I'm gonna start off with a brief tale of what happened with Abzu the deity, and then move onto how both the deity and the concept relate to the game!

So like I mentioned, Abzu the deity only really appears in the creation myth. The story goes that the Primordial Soup divided into two beings, with Abzu representing the freshwater and Tiamat being the saltwater. They were married, and together birthed some of the first formative gods! Some of these gods, jealous of Abzu's power convinced Tiamat to kill him (or, I thought it was started by Tiamat growing resentful of the younger gods, one of those). Either way, Abzu was killed, and Tiamat ended up lashing out, creating the first "dragons", or perhaps becoming one herself; with "poison instead of blood". She is killed by Marduk, the god of storms and the child of Enki (one of the first gods created by Abzu and Tiamat), and from her body the heavens and the earth are formed. Imagine getting killed by ur grandson lol cringe /j

Now! The waters itself! This also brings Enki into the equation, who kinda took over as god of the waters in place of his dead father. He's also the god of creation, intelligence, crafts, mischief, and more! Very important guy.

Abzu refers to both the groundwater reservoirs that people depended on for both accessible clean water and for some agricultural work, and also to the void-sea beneath the underworld, where it is said that Enki rests. He had a temple at Eridu, a now-ruined city, and I remember hearing somewhere that he lived in a temple in an underground aquifer? But I can't find wherever I read that anymore so don't take my word for it. Anyway, the basics of Enki as a deity is: child of Tiamat and Abzu, widely worshipped in his time, god of the waters, generally a cool and important dude.

And now. Finally. We move onto the game. My head hurts.

So, for a quick (post-writing: lol it's not quick) overview of the game; you play as a funny little diver, who woke up in the middle of the ocean and, as the player, are given no clues as to who or what you are. You explore through the ocean levels peacefully at first, and with the guidance of a scarred shark (painted as a bit of an antagonist at first with the audio cues) you make your way to wells at the bottom-center of each level that revitalize the space around them; as they progress, many levels start out as barren, empty landscapes that give you a foreboding, nervous feeling going in, before using an energy from yourself to rekindle the life. Huge coral growths, seaweed, and a myriad of ocean animals spring to life. The player character can also ride on the sides of the bigger ones! The game also puts a big stress on unity between yourself and the environment; there's not a whole lot you can physically interact with, but you can play with the animals there and, like I said before, ride on some of the larger animals. There are also "meditation spots", statues where you can sit and explore the wildlife from more of their point of view, able to follow them seamlessly and see what the different kinds of fish and such are called. It's a calming experience, and really the most interaction you get with some of the more timid animals, letting you still see them up close even if you can't get there as the player character.

The story of the game is told via writings on the walls, which you can light up and access by solving small puzzles regarding connecting reservoirs of glowing waters, similar to that of the almost cosmic area you go to between levels; one thing I read described it as a kind of "rebirth area", which I can definitely see hehe!

At the end of the game, you've held the shark in its dying moments, you've discovered a strange factory that builds the weird triangular prisms that deliver anything that touches them a shock, the little flashlight dudes that you've found over the levels, and little divers that uncannily resemble yourself, and you've seen yourself disassembled to your funny little mechanical skeleton, weak and slow as you try to walk on land, before you are rebirthed from the void-cosmic-water area once again, fully yourself. There's a wonderful ending sequence where you swim through all these rivers, bringing life with you as you go, with the shark once again by your side. The whole game, you saw no land when you poked your head above water, just miles and miles of water, but you've travelled far enough to reach a reservoir. You cut the chains to a central triangular prism, and it grows over with moss. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, really, it feels like such a... grand gesture as you play through it. It feels personal.

Okay. Theory time. Finally, we're getting into the meat of it. Fucking hell.

So, imagine that you are this being. You're wandering an oceanic wonderland, observing and caring for what you need to, doing as any good little diver should. After a bit of poking around, you discover the start of the engravings on the walls; they tell the story of the people that were here before you, who built these temples and halls and used, or at least stored, the strange blue glowing "water" that you connect and move. It's a water of life, of sorts, one that they truly valued. You come to an impasse between areas, and this massive, scarred-up shark cuts in front of you. You're gonna stay hidden, that thing is terrifying! You try not to move. It doesn't spot you, or at least doesn't move to attack you. However, once it's safely out of view, you do follow it, and it leads you to a dark, desolate, empty chamber. This is wrong, you think to yourself. This isn't how it should be. There's a well, towards the bottom, and you approach it, taking... a fragment of light, from your chest, and imbuing that spark of life into the well. And, lo and behold, that intuition proved helpful, because the world around you springs back to life. Congratulations! You did it! And you continue to, as you work past puzzles and challenges and the appearance of these strange triangular mechanisms, that shock you when you get too close. These people worshipped a shark, as well, likely the same as the one you saw; the guide, now old and scarred, that brings you to where that spark is needed. Even later in the game, you see depictions of the triangular mechanisms, at first heralded as a positive, before these things are found to be the reason for this society's collapse. As if that wasn't perplexing enough, you see a depiction of a being that appears suspiciously similar to yourself, once again treated with reverence from the past civilization. In their hand is a ball of light, similar to the one shown when you revitalize the oceanic chambers. Well, that's certainly odd, you think to yourself. Perhaps this was a being that postponed the death of the civilization, or first allowed for those small chambers of life to exist in captivity instead of the open, natural landscapes you explored at the start. Regardless, it's now a relic of something long gone; but it still gives you something to think about. Later on, that strange coincidence of your similarities to that person are explained; you find a manufacturing plant, full of the vicious triangular mechanisms in each tight hallway, and right at the center of it all... multiple iterations of yourself, running down an assembly line, a spark not unlike what you saw before imbued into each of them. My, look at that; you've been responsible for part of this destruction all along, haven't you? Borne from that same ill that has been forcibly removing that spark from each of the places you've gone to. A bit inconsiderate of you, no? And yet... look at all the good you've done. You've rebirthed, revitalized, purified these ocean fragments, is that not enough? You are the keeper of these waters, regardless of the evil you had come from, despite the terrifying empty things may have reverted to. You, who trusted and followed the shark that seemed so scary at first. You, who followed it as it tried to attack a source of the evil, of the thing that was draining the oceans of their life. You, who held and comforted that shark as it lay dying, despite any fear you may have had. You, who attempted to traverse a minefield of those triangular machines, shocked over and over again and at the final moment, unable to make it to the finish line. You, who was rebirthed in full regardless by the oceans you'd cared for, by the void-sea you always returned to, to rest. You, who traversed a now-ruined citadel, temple, all of which had been flooded and had been dedicated to you. You, who brought life with you.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You're serving as a figure not unlike Enki, god and guardian of the waters. In the wake of Abzu, the avatar of the fresh waters, now confined to irrigation canals so as not to kill the younger gods, Tiamat lashes out. Her husband is dead, as far as she is concerned, and she goes to those younger gods to seek her revenge. The dragon, that which sucked the life from the seas and poisoned the waters. That which Marduk killed, to carve new life from. I would say that the shark is Marduk, even; given how the shark is the only one who is openly on the offense to those mechanisms, and who comes in at the endgame to finish them off, bringing new life with it. Even in how it all shapes up with the civilization before, in connection to the constructs; Tiamat was the mother of all in existence at that time. She was surely loved; but she turned hostile and violent. She could no longer be safely loved. And Abzu, both the glowing water we use to open doors and the light that we hold and the deep void-sea we enter between levels and father to all in existence, he was confined to small canals and reservoirs and put in a deep sleep so that he would not kill his own children. And by you, no less. Enki put him there. That is why you can use that water from the start; you lived in the Abzu, you came from it, and each time, that is where you return. That temple, now submerged and decrepit, is Eridu; the place where Enki was most worshipped. The other diver clones are the other gods, or perhaps the "dragons", now, that Tiamat had mothered. The smaller prisms definitely count in that "dragon" category; purely harmful beings that seek to destroy life. And in the end, indeed, you restore life; you and your son, upon killing Tiamat, return life to the world from her body. Perhaps you could not save those who once worshipped you, perhaps those structures will forever be in ruin. But there is no more danger, now; there is space to build and replenish. There is space to grow.

Fuck ok that was long as hell. Hi if u made it this far i love u. god fucking damn im never writing anything again after this. it took about as long as a full playthrough of the game, coincidentally!!

#my writing #abzû #abzu #giant squid studios #ancient history #the moss mumbles #im not joking this is horrible. like it's all just word vomit about sumerian legend -> the game -> the game again (but in second person)#and THEN we get to The Point. god christ

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eponymous-rose · 4 years

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I’ve also further progressed in my Vorkosigan re-read! Memory was as wonderful as I remembered (Illyan and Miles going fishing via improvised hand grenade out of boredom is always a highlight).

I love the way Bujold structures her books---I talked about that a bunch with Mirror Dance---but Memory is just brilliantly laid out. Miles is spiraling, Miles fucks up, Miles gets fired (the closest pop-culture parallel I can think of is a superhero having to permanently revert to their mundane secret identity), Miles’s friends manage to yank him out of the mire, and then... surprise bizarre out-of-sequence murder mystery! The victim’s not dead! Miles keeps finding clues out of sequence and realizing he was meant to be framed! And god, you’re so sure it’s Haroche right at the start and then you have that moment of “oh well shit of course he thinks Miles might have it in for the boss that just eviscerated his identity” and so you’re still surprised when that first instinct was right! And then he offers Miles his life as Naismith back. Even Cordelia placed a bet on Miles giving up his life as Vorkosigan. And... he doesn’t. Mirror Dance was about Mark fracturing himself to survive. Memory is about Miles dragging himself back together to live.

I love how Illyan takes the loss of his memory chip---it’s fundamentally a piece of him gone, but it’s also freedom from thirty years of being a tool of his emperor (and then of Aral), and his embracing this destruction of his identity and learning to move forward is such a great foil/foreshadowing for Miles’s revelation. Everything in this story is about moving forward, not without regrets, but moving forward. It’s so fitting that the romance story going on in the background is Alys and Illyan, two 60-somethings, falling in love (and god, I love the scene where Miles wanders in on them in the morning and thinks something like “huh that dress is more of an evening style isn’t it?” and then like ten hours later the penny drops).

And god, Miles and Elli. I love how this was done, how it’s made apparent that you can love someone, and they can love you, and you can be very good for each other in a lot of ways, but your circumstances can still be such that marriage will annihilate one or both of you. It’s nobody’s fault, but the inevitability and recognition of it means it’s not always a devastation: “He could feel the letting-go in them, with the easing of the tension and the terror, with the slowing of every pulse of their blood. Not pain, or not so much pain, but only a just sadness, a due measure of melancholy, quiet and right.” Even when they’re quite bizarre relationships, the relationships in these books are very mature and well-thought-out from a narrative point of view, and this is a wonderful example.

Just a really, really lovely book:

No wonder he was laughing. He wasn’t mourning a death. He was celebrating an escape.

“I’m not dead. I’m here.” He touched his scarred chest in wonder.

[...]

Harra Csurik had been almost right. It wasn’t your life again you found, going on. It was your life anew.

Aaaand on to Komarr! God! I love this book! The most Miles possible meet-cute for his future wife: board at the home of her family on an investigation, have combat flashbacks on a shopping trip with her, and wind up watching her husband die horrifically while chained to a rail on a planet with a toxic atmosphere, knowing if he reacts too strongly he’s likely to have a seizure that’ll dislodge his own breathing mask, killing him in the same terrible way. You know. Rom-com stuff.

Speaking of relationships portrayed well, Ekaterin and Tien’s disaster of a marriage is extremely chilling in its realism. Even as you absolutely detest Tien, you can see how Ekaterin got yanked into that orbit, and it’s all all all so tied in with the very same aspects of Barrayaran culture that we’ve seen Miles face: Tien destroys everything because of his perception of what the response would be to his illness (where Miles, for better or worse, never had the option of hiding it), and because of his shitty insecurities about Ekaterin’s fidelity (echoes of a young Aral come to mind). We’re given explanations (his brother’s literally impossible-to-live-up-to example) but are never expected to see them as excuses, which is a very fine line to walk. The end result is a believably fucked-up relationship that draws on parallels with every single time you’ve ever thought to yourself about a friend, “Oh god sweetie you can do so much better than him”.

And Ekaterin’s thoughts about being bound to this marriage are right along the lines of the most stick-in-the-mud traditional Barrayaran loyalties we’ve seen Miles exhibit, all tangled up in language about honor. And even though it very shortly (and mortally) becomes a moot point, I love that she gets the chance to decide to leave Tien in spite of that.

I also love the scene between Tien and Miles, talking about Nikki’s jumpship obsession, partly because of the obvious contrast between the two of them, but mostly because it illustrates how much of Tien’s awfulness is because he’s just... fundamentally a bitter coward with no imagination.

"Well, every boy goes through that phase, I suppose. We all outgrow it. Pick up all that mess, Nikki.”

Nikki’s eyes were downcast, but narrowed in brief resentment at this, Miles could see from his angle of view. The boy bent to scoop up the last of his miniature fleet.

“Some people grow into their dreams, instead of out of them,” Miles murmured.

“That depends on whether your dreams are reasonable,” said Vorsoisson, his lips twitching in rather bleak amusement. Ah, yes. Vorsoisson must be fully aware of the secret medical bar between Nikki and his ambition.

“No, it doesn’t.” Miles smiled slightly. “It depends on how hard you grow.”

The alternating POVs between Miles and Ekaterin are charming because we get to see Miles from an external (non-hostile) point of view and get all excited about each small revelation, and then we get to see Ekaterin both from Miles’s point of view and from the point of view of her own very active inner monologue, giving us insights we would otherwise have missed since she, as Miles says in the understatement of the century, has a tendency to underreact.

Their relationship is built up very carefully: there’s an obvious mutual interest practically from the first, but they both have reason to be cautious. There are those moments of genuine rapport early on, and then the shopping trip! It’s such a clever revelation, and so layered!

Miles was traumatized at Dagoola IV by watching Beatrice fall from the shuttle in front of him: he reached out to try to catch her, and just missed, and she died. And then we have this perfectly safe little parallel, with himself and Ekaterin falling off a water feature in a shopping district, and he manages to catch her, this time... and they both go over. It’s cute and oddly triumphant...

...and then he realizes exactly what it means. If he’d caught Beatrice, he’d have gone over with her. They’d both be dead, and that revelation hits right after he’s had a whole book to figure out just how badly he wants to live. And to Ekaterin, it’s a very quick summary of what and who Miles is: he’s the man who would not let go. BUT Ekaterin ALSO frames her leaving Tien in that context: she’s not just watching him fall, but purposefully releasing her hands. It’s so twisted and so complicated and such a weird little microcosm of their respective states of mind. And while part of it is Ekaterin giving Miles the little push he needed to properly process that trauma, fundamentally and on a larger timescale it places Miles as the “I’ve been in this hole before and I know the way out” path to Ekaterin’s healing. It’s so well done.

There’s also a hell of a parallel in the physical aspect of Miles’s seizures coming on unexpectedly in moments of great stress versus the psychological aspect of Ekaterin’s whole coping mechanism being built on trying desperately not to flinch or show strong emotion.

(And I don’t know where else to put this but special shout-out to the running gag of Vorkosigan House getting gradually overrun with cats, to the point where Miles starts, apropos of nothing and on a totally different planet, asking strangers if they’d like a kitten.)

These kids! Will they make it work? I may be only halfway through the book, but I have a funny feeling things might work out...

Also, here’s the “rescue” scene in full, because it delights me so:

The root-compacted soil of the edge sagged under her weight, and she began to slide precipitously forward. She yelped; pushing backward fragmented her support totally. One wildly back-grappling arm was caught suddenly in a viselike grip, but the rest of her body turned as the soil gave way beneath her, and she found herself dangling absurdly feet-down over the pond. Her other arm, swinging around, was caught, too, and she looked up into Vorkosigan’s face above her. He was lying prone on the slope, one hand locked around each of her wrists. His teeth were clenched and grinning, his gray eyes alight.

“Let go, you idiot!” she cried.

The look on his face was weirdly, wildly exultant. “Never,” he gasped, ��again--”

His half-boots were locked around... nothing, she realized, as he began to slide inexorably over the edge after her. But his death-grip never slackened. The exalted look on his face melted to sudden horrified realization. The laws of physics took precedence over heroic intent for the next couple of seconds; dirt, pebbles, vegetation, and two Barrayaran bodies all hit the chilly water more or less simultaneously.

The water, it turned out, was a bit over a meter deep. The bottom was soft with muck. She wallowed upright onto her feet, one shoe gone who knew where, sputtering and dragging her hair from her eyes and looking around frantically for Vorkosigan. Lord Vorkosigan. The water came to her waist, it ought not to be over his head---no half-booted feet were sticking up like waving stumps anywhere---could he swim?

He popped up beside her, and blew muddy water out of his mouth, and dashed it from his eyes to clear his vision. His beautiful suit was sodden, and a water-plant dangled over one ear. He clawed it away, and located her, his hand going toward her and then stopping.

“Oh,” said Ekaterin faintly. “Drat.”

There was a meditative pause before Lord Vorkosigan spoke. “Madame Vorsoisson,” he said mildly at last, “has it ever occurred to you that you may be just a touch oversocialized?”

#vorkosigan saga #vorkosigan saga spoilers #long text post

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famouslovehurts-ff · 6 years

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Runnin PT. 1 (Happy Birthday Trey)

So shoutout to @aviationfiction for sending this burst of inspo to my inbox. It’s been a while but I hope you guys enjoy. Part 2 will be ready soon casue the ideas are still running.

The female stared at the picture in her camera roll debating if she was really going to go through with this. Waking up on this day had been bittersweet only because their relationship wasn’t what it use to be. That was mostly on her accord, hoping the distance would help her mind be right for the new life she had created for herself, but it seemed like it was only temporary. No longer was she able to pick up the phone and call him whenever she’d like. Instead motions had been set into place where they had random run ins or news got back to her that she’d been mentioned by him.

Even though she didn’t follow him because she wanted him to be out of sight out of mind, she noticed her Instagram notifications whenever he did like a photo. After she realized she’d go look at the photo for a few seconds attempting to figure out what exactly about it did he like. Was it the way her hair was styled? Was it the color dress she was wearing? Did something in the photo drudge up a particular memory for the two? She was always critical after seeing his name pop up.

He typically liked photos after they’d been posted so his notifications stood out among the thousands she’d receive. Kelly always viewed that as an SOS was being sent out, but she never went to save him instead saving herself because what transpired between them was something serious. There had been plenty of nights where she wanted to tap on his name and hit him up, but she always chickened out. And it seemed like tonight would be no different, but if she was being honest with herself she missed him. His company had always been enjoyed and the vibe between them was like no other. There were no words to explain what was Trelly as they’d been affectionately dubbed.

‘Fuck it’ she thought as she typed up the simple words on the photo.

Happy Birthday @TreySongz!!

It was a picture of them from the Heart Attack video. Him kissing her cheek and her laughing and smiling like a girl in love. What people saw as chemistry was very much so real but fucked that up. She wished she could post a photo with a long caption but she didn’t want to overstep her boundaries. Instead she added xoxo along with the lips emoji before sending it her 7.3 million followers via her Instagram story.

Call it her white flag being raised.

A breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding escaped her lips as she threw her phone down. Sitting down on the edge of her bed she slipped out the heels on her feet. She’d gone out earlier in silent celebration of his day something she found herself doing since their demise. Call her crazy.

Her phone went off behind her. Grabbing it her eyes widened in disbelief at the notification staring back at her.

@treysongz: did you wanna be the last to say it?

What was he doing that he could reply almost instantaneously because the image hadn’t been up very long? Granted he got a notification since she at him but he was having fun or at least he was suppose to be. He was suppose to see this when she was asleep and he wasn’t suppose to respond either.

She clicked on the notification, taking her to her DM’s which were full of fan messages as well as business opportunities but none of that mattered. Instead she clicked on their conversation not even sure what to say.

All context clues were lost. Was he mad? Was he joking? She began typing a response but erased it before starting a new one.

Text me.

She included her number and almost immediately the message was marked as seen. Shit. Was he staring at his phone anticipating her response? Before she could put the phone down it started ringing with an incoming FaceTime call. She huffed at him being hard headed.

She accepted the call expecting to be greeted by an influx of noise, but it was relatively quiet for him being outside. The two stared at one another just taking each other in. It was clear he was outside but she could hear background noise. Maybe he had stepped away to have this conversation.

“Where are you? Are you having fun?”

“What the fuck are you doing Kelly?”

Her heard reared back like she’d been slapped because that hadn’t been the response she’d been expecting. She didn’t expect him to be hostile at all. Instead she wanted him to take her with open arms.

“Excuse you?”

“When was the last time we spoke? When was the last time you wished me a happy birthday publicly or hell privately? Better yet why now? What’s your endgame?”

Trey could get angry with her but he typically handled her with kid gloves. Clearly those came off and he was throwing real punches but she didn’t understand. Yes, she’d been inconsistent over the last couple years especially since the last time she’d done anything like this was 5 years ago but that didn’t mean she had some agenda. What if he had really been on her mind lately and she was choosing now to express it?

With each passing second he was making her regret her decision.

“I’m sorry Tremaine obviously this was a mistake. Happy Birthday.”

She got ready to run, like she always did by ending the call but his voice stopped her.

“Nah. You don’t get to come out of no fucking where and then just disappear like shit is cool, between us. It isn’t.”

Shit wasn’t cool between them? Who was the one wishing her blessings and mentioning her in interviews? Who was liking her pictures on Instagram? What he wasn’t about to do was play victim and act like he didn’t hold a part in this. Granted her part was a much bigger role but he contributed.

“Fuck you.” She spat. Not one for the vulgar language unless she was upset it was obvious Trey was ruffling her feathers.

“If we’re not cool unfollow me and stop liking my shit.”

The male laughed genuinely as if he was dismissing her notion.

“Is that what it takes to get your attention? Kelly you already know what is it, but I’m not about to be your plan B. Fuck that. You can either say what you need to say or you can keep on moving the way you’ve been moving.”

The words were on the tip of her tongue. All she had to do was tell him she was sorry, but there was so much he didn’t understand. So much she wanted to explain. Her eyes glanced over to the clock. He still had about 30 minutes to celebrate his anniversary of life and she didn’t want to mess that up by rehashing anything. If she knew this convo would go down like this she would’ve never hit him up.

“Happy Birthday Trey. I hope you have a great life.”

With that being said she ended the call, running again.

#Trey Songz FF #Kelly Rowland FF #Trelly FF

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marvelandponder · 7 years

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Better Question: Is Dr. Wolf Right?

Some time ago @drwolf001 posted a theory that Sunburst could in fact be a young Starswirl the Bearded. This was in response to a trailer for the season 7 premiere that has since been given more context, but the idea was so fun that it stuck with me. Given that we’ve already had some crazy time travel adventures, we know for a fact this sort of story is possible.

Time Travel Logic

Starswirl’s time spell is the sort that loops. As in, if someone uses the spell, their interference in the past is what leads to the present they came from.

This is called a causal loop (or temporal causality loop which just sounds cooler). It’s where an event is the cause for another event, which itself is the cause for the original event. Yeah... loop is a good word.

We’ve even seen it in action. In It’s About Time, we see Twilight worrying too much because of future Twilight, only to find out that was the problem she went back in time to warn herself about. A causal loop. In this case, a self-fulfilling prophecy (which is a type of causal loop).

But, even in The Cutie Remark, we’re working with the same rules.

It’s thanks to something called the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle. Back in the 1980s, a physicist named Ivan Novikov came up with a bunch of fancy physics principles that (for our purposes) basically boiled down to a simple conclusion: you can’t change the past.

These two ideas go hand in hand in the MLP universe, when you think about it, so here are our hard and fast rules for time travel:

Causal Loop: If you go back in time, your going back is what causes the present you came from (which causes you to go back in time, to cause the present, etc.)

Self-Consistency Principal: You logically cannot change the past that leads to anything except the present you came from

The Butterfly Effect: In the event you do create a change that doesn’t lead to the present you came from, any small change can branch out to have untold consequences temporarily; BUT, don’t worry: because of the self-consistency principle, you logically have to eventually fix things, otherwise you couldn’t have come back in time in the first place (you would be a different person in the first place, different memories)

So, Starlight, Twilight, and Spike eventually standing to the side and not interfering with the past was inevitable in order for them to be who they are. The fact that Starlight’s version of the spell continually brought them back to the past until they got it right seems to indicate that to me.

Starlight also specified that she used the map’s magic to go to any time and place she wants (for as long as she wants, they could apparently exist there “for all eternity”), so in terms of the actual time travel spell itself, she isn’t operating under different rules. Meaning, she hasn’t changed the whole causal loop thing---they still go back in time and reenact what would lead them to the present they came from, it’s just a bigger loop, thanks to some more powerful magic.

So, a character getting trapped back in time and going on to live the rest of their days there is entirely possible. It just means they were supposed to, because it’s another loop. A much bigger loop.

But, beyond all that time travel mumbo-jumbo, we obviously don’t have anything close to confirmation for the Sunburst goes back in time to live out his days as Starswirl theory. It’s theoretically possible in this world, but possible isn’t proof.

But, let’s say, hypothetically, the writers wanted to go down this path. I for one would like to know how they could do it.

Perhaps this is better suited for a fanfiction than an analysis series (and by all means, please go write stories based off of this theory). All the same, let’s treat this as a how it could be done sort of thing, to build on this theory with what’s already established in-universe.

To do that, we’ll need to gather some “evidence” (and again, I use the word with the spirit of fun in mind, there’s nothing conclusive). The first is the time travel spell itself.

Clue #1: The Disappearing Time-Travel Spell

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At the conclusion of The Cutie Remark, we see the nearly ripped time-travel scroll get... somehow mysteriously sucked away.

Now, Starlight said she was the one who designed the spell to take them back to the Rainboom again and again, so this may also be her doing, but it’s unclear what exactly is being done.

It seems to have some kind of shock-wave out, which I guess implies they’re out of the time-loop now, but that doesn’t explain where the scroll ended up.

All we know is the same time portal Twilight, Spike, and Starlight came out of seems to suck the spell up with it. But, not without first taking some magic from the map, which was what allowed the spell to be so powerful.

I’m not sure if that would enchant the parchment itself, giving it the same immense power to travel to any time for as long as the pony using it wants.

But the fact that it disappeared into a time portal, even if it appeared to be the same one they were ejected from, seems like something the writers left for whenever they need it.

Where did it end up? Was it supposed to do that, and if so why? We didn’t see anyone’s magic lifting it toward to portal, but was someone on the other side of that portal waiting? Does someone have the spell now (or better yet, will they)?

Clue #2: Starswirl “never understood friendship like [Twilight]”

In the past, we’ve seen supplementary material portray Starswirl in a variety of different ways. From Celestia and Luna’s point of view in the Journal of the Two Sisters, to his own in Legends of Magic, to a 3rd person, more objectively told story in the Reflections arc.

But in the show, what little we know of him comes from and in relation to Twilight. In particular, a line that always stuck with me.

That he was unable to complete his cutie mark restoration spell because he didn’t understand friendship. At least, not like Twi.

Which is a bit saddening, given that he mentored Luna and Celestia. Luna did end up feeling isolated, so perhaps Starswirl’s lack of expertise in friendship played a role in that.

It seems he was still focused on teaching them magic and writing his many spells. Even if he loved them as students, which I suspect he did given his B-canon portrayals, he evidently didn’t do enough to save them from their fate.

Does Sunburst not understand friendship? He and Starlight have reunited now, but then again, you certainly couldn’t say he’s an expert in friendship (and in the same way Twilight focused on her studies, Sunburst did focus heavily on the study of magic instead of, say, visiting Starlight). He’s still studying magic in the Crystal Empire so he might very well still be a borderline shut-in.

Now that he’s Flurry Heart’s magic adviser, perhaps that’s starting to slowly change. Then again, if Starswirl could not understand friendship and still be Celestia and Luna’s mentor, couldn’t Sunburst theoretically also miss some crucial understanding about friendship while looking after Flurry Heart?

Clue #3: Sunburst’s Talents with Magic Theory and Starswirl’s 200+ Spells

Here’s one of the more compelling coincidences.

Sunburst can’t perform any of the magic theory he’s been studying his whole life, but he’s a damn fine magic theorist. I might even wager a guess that Starlight’s habit of combining spells comes from Sunburst, as that’s something he’s been shown to do in The Crystalling Part 2.

We know for a fact that Starswirl was the “father of the anmiomorphic spell,” “the most important conjurer of the preclassical era,” and that he “created more than 200 spells”... but we don’t actually know if he could perform any of that magic himself.

Now that’s a stretch, but when you think about it, it holds true for just about everything we know about the things Starswirl’s done. Even when Starswirl banished the Sirens to the Equestria Girls dimension, it wasn’t like he made those portals with his own magic, he found them (at least, according to the Reflections arc).

And in Legends of Magic, he seems to know combat magic, but then again, he makes his escape off-screen, so we never see him cast much of anything.

For all we know, Starswirl might be a great wizard, maybe the greatest, but not necessarily a powerful one. His talent lies in writing spells.

Clue #4: Very Important Wizard

Okay, this one’s just neat from a story-telling perspective. We’ve been introduced to Sunburst as someone whose insecure about not being a very important wizard. That’s how we know him, a resourceful but ultimately powerless magician.

If, in fact, he were to turn out to be the most important wizard of them all, even despite his lack of natural talent for magic, that’s just... wonderful, don’t you think? That he found ways to be influential in the magic world despite the handicap of not being able to use magic?

He became the most important wizard of all time, even despite his problems performing magic himself.

Clue # 5: A... Changing Appearance?

Starswirl actually doesn’t have a consistent eye-colour or look at the moment. We’ve seen him with gold eyes, grey, and even purple.

And, most recently blue, in Legends of Magic.

I suppose if we were explaining how Sunburst could turn into Starswirl, his entire coat would have to grey completely (if we’re going with the depictions of Starswirl with a white or grey coat). A pony’s coat can grey in real life, so perhaps it’s possible in this world. Or we could guess that Sunburst would knowingly disguise himself as what he knows Starswirl to look like via some kind of spell, if he had a reason to assume that role.

Speaking of purely cosmetic similarities, I would also like to mention that in a manner of speaking, “Starswirl” and “Sunburst” are kiiiinda synonymous with each other. In the same way the Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer are supposed to parallel each other, it’s roughly the same name.

A sun is of course a star, and both a burst and swirl suggest an outward projection.

Another neat coincidence, I guess. Just like the fact that both of them wear capes and grow beards.

That’s what we’re left with when theory crafting something like this. Coincidences that can help us imagine fantastical fanfiction, but can’t ultimately take us any closer to knowing who Starswirl the Bearded actually was, whether Sunburst or just pony of a long-gone era.

One thing that still intrigues me, though, is that according to the comics, Starswirl didn’t die. He went missing.

And there are elements in play like his mysteriously vanishing time spell scroll that are available for the MLP staff to act on whenever they so choose.

So, perhaps we’ll never know who Starswirl was, outside of B-canon and the legends we’ve been told thus far. Or, maybe we’ll get to learn who he is someday, and some or all of this will come into play. Who knows? This pony has both a past and a future that’s shrouded in mystery. So much so that this theory is only one of many, and will continue to be until we meet again.

And until that day, I hope to share many more theories together.

MLP content? Sure, I’ve got some of that! Here’s my editorials and my reviews! I’d of course recommend checking out Dr. Wolf on Youtube. And for the heck of it, here’s the last three things I’ve done:

Fluttershy Leans In Review, Forever Filly Review, and New Fluttershy Editorial

Year of the Pony

Special Thanks to...

Original Theory by Dr. Wolf Sunburst Vector by ChainChomp2 Starswirl Cave Background by MysteryMelt

I’m a huge fan of Dr. Wolf, so I loved building off his ideas! If you somehow never have, you’ll thank yourself for checking out his channel. I’d also recommend checking out these talented vector artists! Without their hard work and willingness to share it, I wouldn’t be able to make the headers.

Gotta Get Back, Back to the Past

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scottlarouxwrites · 7 years

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Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey)

Suruga Monkey sets itself apart from the rest of Bakemonogatari by its execution. Where Hitagi Crab is slim and slick, and Mayoi Snail is careful and cryptic, Suruga Monkey is simply bombastic. The arc expands Monogatari’s stylistic palette, while managing not to take any sharp tonal turns or compromise on the artistic cohesiveness of the series. This allows for Kanbaru’s character and the events of the arc to flourish in their own unique way without seeming out of place. Suruga Monkey feels like a natural extension of the series, yet also different from anything we’ve experienced so far.

I would argue Mayoi Snail deviates in a similar manner, though not to such an obvious degree. Hitagi Crab is characterized by a darker, almost urban fantasy feel, full of religious artifacts and sobriety. Mayoi Snail jumps beyond that, presenting the viewer with a brighter and more satirical world (generally speaking). For this essay, I’ll just focus on the specifics of Suruga Monkey, rather than make a mess out of talking about everything. However, Mayoi Snail does exemplify the first major factor in this stylistic shift: the arc-specific opening themes.

Mayoi Snail’s OP, with its electric pop and chant-able closing lines, does not fit the style or tone of Hitagi Crab whatsoever. It doesn’t even fit Mayoi Snail. The school life narrative told through the visuals is reminiscent of a middle school slice of life series, and even the lyrics are cute if you plead ignorance to the events of the arc. Of course, the visuals and lyrics convey a double meaning once we know Hachikuji is a ghost, but that’s a different matter. What’s important is that this OP primes us for a different world than what was established in the first arc. Mayoi Snail is sillier, more energetic, and probably closer to slice of life than urban fantasy (not that it’s strictly one or the other, or even either at all).

This trend repeats in Suruga Monkey’s OP, which starts with an upbeat guitar riff straight out of a Sonic game and a shot of a basketball hoop. Again, I won’t analyze every little detail here, but this sports anime theme continues for a bit before blending with rom-com visuals and music, as well as further action series signifiers (such as fast cuts, close-ups of eager eyes, etc.). Besides that, the Revolutionary Girl Utena—and other shoujo or yuri shows—influence becomes overwhelming at parts. Obviously this OP is distinct from Bakemonogatari’s first two, but it’s also distinct from the feel of either previous arc. Someone who has never seen Bakemonogatari will expect something based on Suruga Monkey’s OP that isn’t directly delivered upon anywhere in the series. But more on that soon.

Let’s actually backtrack a bit to examine some editing and form from the first couple of minutes of the arc’s first episode.

Here we see some clear examples of how Suruga Monkey bends or reshapes existing stylistic themes for the arc’s unique purpose. Right after the typical title card opener, the camera sweeps wildly in towards a railing. This is one of the few (if not only) legitimate camera movements in Bakemonogatari and immediately signals a more dynamic and action-focused experience. The next shot of Kanbaru sprinting and her feet slapping against the pavement continue to set the pace, so to speak. This same cut of Kanbaru sprinting is then interlaced throughout Araragi’s conversation with Hachikuji, constantly reminding us of that faster pace. Keep in mind that this kind of discontinuity/aspect editing is a staple of Monogatari, and thus preserves a sort of stylistic homeostasis even as we’re primed for action.

The shots and editing of the conversation itself work to further integrate the idea of dynamic action. As before, there’s nothing shockingly new, just old style repurposed for a new idea: action. Araragi and Senjougahara flip-flopped all over the screen in Mayoi Snail, but this sequence is more pointed than the park scene. Hachikuji and Araragi walk across a still background; then a moving background “walks” across them.

The walking shot is spread throughout the scene, and the pair make their way to the middle and then the end of the frame.

The cuts also are wilder, with still shots of Hachikuji transitioning to dynamic shots of Araragi falling. Even within still shots, there’s a step up in action in the form of railroad crossing lights flashing. Then, of course, are the shots of Araragi and Hachikuji slapboxing, which feature some of Bakemonogatari’s best (most fluid, at least) animation. Finally, Kanbaru herself comes flying into the scene. Even if I’m reading too much into some details, this opening scene is undoubtedly designed to allow this arc to transition to intense action scenes—such as Kanbaru and Araragi’s final fight—as smoothly as possible. If nothing else, it is no accident that so much effort was put into the slapboxing cuts. This arc needs movement, and we need to be ready for it.

I think of this as stylistic permeability—within the “body” of the art, different moods/tones or focal points can permeate out into observable territory with different degrees of ease. Monogatari has high permeability (dramatic soliloquys, bloody brawls, comedic conversations can all take center stage easily); something like Serial Experiment Lain has low permeability (even when characters make jokes, they still sound bleak or mysterious or otherwise unable to distinguish themselves from the overall dark mood). Permeability tends to be why we condemn certain tone shifts but not others. The formal elements that lead to permeability are too complex a topic for this essay, but the editing described above is one good example.

This permeability is insured throughout the arc via near-constant movement within the frame—whether that be moving cars or walking sequences like the one discussed above or even just a comedic camera pan. Action is likewise primed through Senjougahara’s eye-piercing aggression towards Araragi, which allows for a heightened state of excitement moving quickly into a sequence of Hanakawa standing in the middle of speeding traffic, and then finally the Rainy Devil’s attack on Araragi. True, Senjougahara was similarly violent in Hitagi Crab, but her aggression here still benefits the transition to intense action. The question isn’t whether these details are absolutely necessary to the transition or absolutely unique to this arc, but simply whether they increase permeability.

Perhaps most importantly, the source of the arc’s apparition is as emotionally intense as the action is physically. In Hitagi Crab and Mayoi Snail, apparitions cause trouble as a result of quiet emotions or even a relinquishment of emotion. Araragi simply doesn’t want to return home after an argument with his sisters (among other subtle discomforts), so he meets Hachikuji. Senjougahara tries to abandon her feelings towards her mother, so she meets a crab. Although Senjougahara reaches a melodramatic peak upon accepting her feelings, and Hachikuji (a wake-up call for Araragi) experiences the same upon arriving at home, neither the crab nor the snail exist as a medium for intense emotion. They aren’t inherently connected to a character’s fiery passions.

The Rainy Devil, however, becomes a problem precisely because of Kanbaru’s passions—her anger, jealousy, and hatred specifically. The Rainy Devil is the medium through which Kanbaru channels those emotions. The tool she uses, you could say. On a basic level, the crab and snail are not associated with intense emotions, but the Rainy Devil is. It couldn’t be associated with much of anything else! This small change in the context of the narrative is possibly the key for transitioning into Suruga Monkey while preserving cohesion. The formal/editing shifts explained above smooth out any bumps and sew it all together, but the actual cloth of the patchwork is this emotional/motivational adjustment.

The actions and qualities of apparitions clue us into the psychological states of characters, and this is reflected directly in what we see on screen. I mean this quite literally. In Hitagi Crab, the grim hues, bizarre social interactions, and religious imagery result precisely from Senjougahara’s trauma. In Mayoi Snail, the vast emptiness of the park and the streets result precisely from Araragi wanting to be alone in the world. And in Suruga Monkey, the violence, speed, and overwhelming colors result precisely from Kanbaru’s jealousy and hatred. The inner and outer layers of the story and characters are bound together such that they demand this cohesion.

With the most intense action and violence spawning from the Rainy Devil, and snappy editing and dynamic cuts portraying said action, Suruga Monkey manages to transform our low-key psychological drama into something new. At its core, this arc is still Monogatari, so it’d be wrong to lump it in with other action or thriller or horror shows, but it is certainly distinct from its preceding arcs. Unique yet unifying, Suruga Monkey is a slam dunk.

Afternote:

I apologize for such an awful joke, but let me make up for it with some unnecessary analysis of a minor detail in the first episode of the arc. When Araragi and Senjougahara are studying together, Senjougahara is just writing the Gettysburg Address in English over and over again. I suppose it’s a decent speech to study if you’re learning English (middle schoolers all over America are forced to memorize it, after all), but I still found it a strange choice. So I decided to rationalize it by overanalyzing everything.

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War at the battlefield remains of Gettysburg. “Senjougahara” means battlefield, and we could consider the two halves of the Valhalla Combo like two halves of a nation. Senjougahara and Kanbaru split apart and one scorned the other, leading to something you might call a feud or fission. So: the battlefield of Gettysburg, the civil war of the Valhalla Combo…the Gettysburg Address?

I can’t imagine this being intentional, but if it is, then someone at SHAFT is as much of a madman as Isin himself.

Delayed by an impromptu drinking party and hangover, but here now (with a bonus!) Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey) Suruga Monkey sets itself apart from the rest of Bakemonogatari by its execution.

#analysis #anime #araragi #bakemonogatari #hachikuji #kanbaru #senjougahara #suruga monkey

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scottlarouxwrites · 7 years

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Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey)