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promisedangel · 4 years

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Fresh Meat: Confinement- Chapter 25

First

Thank you so much for your patience. I figured out part of my problem was circular topics. I’m in the process of trimming and streamlining the future events of the story to prevent this from happening again.

Chapter 25- Status

Alphys turned back towards Chara with concern. It had been a long time since she saw Chara in such a state of grief and dismay. She almost felt at a loss. She wanted to say something. Anything. She thought about her words as she carefully grasped Chara’s hand with both of hers. Chara’s eyes drifted to their grasped hand, their sobs unhindered. Alphys spoke gently, “Chara. I promise it won’t get that bad.” Chara’s voice cracked through their sobs, “Please… don't lie to me.” “I’m not lying…” Chara shot a glare. They pushed their upper body up to Alphys’s eye level. They raised their voice, “You are lying!” Alphys shivered. She jumped back with a startle. Chara continued to shout at her, “You are lying to me and lying to yourself! You haven’t stopped him yet, so what makes you think you will stop him from hurting me further?!” Alphys curled inward. She raked her brain for a few terse moments for anything better to say. Chara’s expression slowly cooled back to their sorrow with the realization of what they’ve done. They laid back down on their bed and spoke quietly, “I… I’m sorry. I… should not take this out on you.” Alphys twiddled her claws and replied in a chastised tone, “No… you’re right. I shouldn’t be making promises I can’t keep.” She approached the bedside again. She got down on her knees and spoke gently, “So… instead I’ll promise I will do everything I can to mitigate your pain.” Chara sighed and closed their eyes. Their mood and tone evened out to relief, “Thank you.”

Alphys stood. Her tone brightened slightly, “Um… I’ll get your breakfast ready. We can decide what to do after. Okay?” Chara silently nodded. They watched as Alphys left them alone, only to return sometime later with a tray of food and water. Alphys carefully placed the tray down at the foot of Chara’s bed. She approached Chara cautiously. “Do you want help sitting up?” Chara affirmed, “Since I am on my stomach, I will need help slowly adjusting my leg.” Alphys went to the foot of the bed. She quickly scooted the tray under the bed. She questioned, “Okay. Did you want me to hold your leg up?” Chara nodded as they tossed the bed sheet to the side. Alphys slowly lifted Chara’s left leg upwards. Chara hissed slightly but began to turn over on the bed. Alphys helped Chara settle back onto the bed in a sitting position, including the ice pack. Once done, She gave Chara the tray. She sat on the floor at Chara’s bedside as Chara slowly began to eat.

Alphys broke the silence with a question, “Um… can I ask a… difficult question?” Chara raised a brow with their cautious reply, “About?” Alphys grimaced before she spoke, “What… I mean, why do you think he’s broken you?” Chara paused their meal. They were silent for a moment. Alphys replied nervously, “Y- you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable.” Chara recounted, “Before he broke my leg… he asked me a question. If I answered correctly, he said he would let me go before he sent the Royal Guard after me.” Alphys’s eyes widened. “He… He wouldn’t do that. Not after you were almost taken by that intruder.” “Exactly. It was a cruel trick.” Chara expression seemed distant as they continued, “I don’t think there was a correct answer. It was too vague, only asking left or right.” Alphys’s eyes narrowed. She gave a confused tone, “What kind of question is that supposed to be? Is that even a question?” “You see my point. In hindsight, I can only see it as a trick to break me.” Alphys’s expression softened. She sighed, “After everything that’s happened, I shouldn’t be surprised you feel this way. I…. never thought something like this would happen. But I think part of me is surprised something like this didn’t happen sooner.” Chara muttered dryly, “He enjoys it, you know. His expressions, his tone, his posture as he looms down at me. He enjoys every second of it.” Chara shook their head, “I should have figured that out when he laughed at me when he punished me with the laser.”

Alphys cleared her throat. Her expression oozed her discomfort with the topic. She tried to change the subject. Her tone was nervous at first, but slowly relaxed as she spoke, “Um... did you want to give the wheelchair a try? Or did you want your hair washed? Like we discussed.” Chara gave a despondent gaze. They relaxed as they slumped their body against the wall. They spoke quietly, “After I've eaten.” Alphys nodded, “Okay.”

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The morning passed into the late afternoon as Alphys tried to cheer Chara up. Learning the limits of the wheelchair did little to improve Chara's despondent mood. Washing their hair had just as little effect but fluffed Chara's hair to a semi-clean state. As much as Alphys wanted to stay and continue to help, Chara shooed her away quietly. She sighed, complying with Chara's wishes.

Once kicked out, she knew her next move was to confront Dr. Gaster about Chara's leg. Yet, no courage bubbled. No voice of confidence to disown this kind of behavior. As she thought of things to say, her throat seemed to close on her. Her expression lowered. She at least had to hear it from his side.

Alphys knocked on Gaster's door. She heard permission to enter, indifferent as usual. She entered and closed the door behind her, but did not approach his desk. He gave glances towards her in between his stacks of papers. He spoke evenly, “I assume the human has been tended to?” Alphys leaned against the door as she nodded. She quietly asked, “Why did you do that to them?” Gaster replied bluntly, “It was necessary.” Anger flashed on Alphys's face. Her confidence temporarily restored itself. Her mind caught up with her quickly. She bit her lip before she spat words. She shook slightly. No, even if she wanted to, this wasn't the way. She had to endure it to stay by Chara's side. Her expression deflated to a resigned sadness. She confessed, “You broke them.” Gaster rolled his eye sockets but did not make eye contact with Alphys. He retorted, “I know it seems harsh, but the human keeps finding ways to escape. All I did was ensure that it stays where it can be protected. We cannot afford any more mistakes.” Alphys swallowed the rest of her desire to retort. It showed as hesitation in her voice, “N... no, sir... I don't mean just their leg. I, um, think you shattered their mental state.” Gaster paused from his paperwork. He looked up at Alphys with hints of shock and trepidation. He questioned, “Are you saying its will is broken?” Alphys looked away and affirmed, “Yes...” Many emotions battled within Gaster. Disbelief budded first: was the human truly broken? Or was Alphys exaggerating? He had noticed the human slowly become more and more submissive as the month went on. Perhaps this was the last shock the human needed before they broke. A small smile appeared and disappeared just as quickly. He was grateful for this news. Truly. He felt more at ease with the knowledge his work became easier to manage. Just in time to take blood on a regular basis. He spoke with a calm smile, “Good. It will make drawing blood next week easier.” Alphys seemed despondent. Her tail curled around her feet. Her boss's reaction flashed by so fast for her. In the end, he only had a few calm words to say about it. She sighed, “I see.” Gaster went back to his paperwork, “Is that all?” Alphys shook her head. She replied quietly, mournfully, “Yes, sir.” Alphys turned towards the door. She opened the door and hung on the doorknob for a moment. Her desire to retort bubbled once more. If not about the cruelty, then at least about Chara's mental state. But, it was brief with the knowledge nothing would come of it at this point. Not if she wanted Chara to be somewhat safe. She exited quietly.

Alphys walked back to her room in silence. There was still time before she had to start making Chara's dinner. The day and night before had been heavy on her, she had begun to drag her feet and tail as she walked. Halfway back to her room, her cellphone began to ring. She raised her eyebrow, confused. Was Gaster calling her back to his office for something? A chill ran down her spine at the thought. She fished her cellphone from her pocket. She answered the phone carefully, “Um... hello?” “Ah Alphyss, good. I'm relieved I remembered your number.” Serol's voice calmly projected from the phone. Alphys sighed in relief. Her relief quickly switched to confusion. She questioned, “What's wrong, Serol? Did something happen?” Serol sprinted through speaking, “No! No no! I sswear nothing hass happened!” He cleared his throat before he continued, “I... I thought about what you showed me this morning.” Alphys paused. She looked around the hallway. She saw a camera a ways ahead of her on a corner. She spoke tensely into the phone, “Um... give me a minute to get back to my room.” Serol made a quick affirming noise. Alphys hung up the phone quietly. She wanted to sprint to her room, but she held back that instinct. Her eyes drifted back to the camera in suspicion. Even though he wasn't actively looking, she knew he could rewind any camera feed with any footage. She couldn't risk it.

It took a few minutes for Alphys to retreat to her room at a casual pace. She closed the door behind her before she slumped and slid down the door with a groan. Once sat on the ground, she called Serol back. He answered quickly, “Yess?” Alphys apologized, “I'm sorry... if there was any chance he knew I let you in Chara's room, I... I don't know anymore.” Serol spoke calmly, “I undersstand.” Alphys stood up and made her way to her bed, “Anyway, what did you want to talk about? You said you thought about Chara's leg or something?” Serol's tone turned serious, “More broad, but yess. I want to help you.” Alphys blinked. She sat on the bed as she spoke in a confused tone, “Help me?” “From the little I've sseen of Chara'sssituation, I can only imagine the pain they've been through. Dr. Gasster may be keeping them ssafe from monssterkind, but the way he'ss doing it feelss wrong.” Alphys's tone turns to a slight somber, “Serol, I don't think you can help me.” He gave a nervous chuckle, “Yess, well, I am not sure how to help. That'ss why I called you.” “Again... I'm not sure you can. Not since he's increased security into the lower lab.” “I sstill have accessss while my team and I are working on the sssoul sscanning devicce. And, if I prove usseful beyond that, I could have accessss indefinitely.” “What if you can't 'prove useful' to him? What then?” “I can ssneak ssomething in the ssupplies. The hum- erm, Chara needss food, right?” “Well... yes...” “And part of your dutiess iss to check those ssupply shipmentss, yess?” “I'm losing his trust. He could check the shipments himself.” Serol paused, “Then... I can help you regain his trust.” Alphys groaned before she replied, “Serol... I really appreciate you trying, but things are too high strung now. I don't want you getting in trouble either.” She sighed, “If... I agree to accept your help, do you think you could only help when I ask?” Serol affirmed, “Of coursse, I won't be recklessss.” Alphys relaxed. She smiled as she replied, “Thank you, Serol.” “Pleasse call for my help ssoon.” Serol hung up the phone. Alphys gently set her phone on her nightstand. She rubbed her face and groaned, “Serol... you don't know what you got into...”

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A week had gone by without incident. Chara shook and held their right shoulder tightly. Their right arm was opened, elbow down along their bed. New bandages were tightly wrapped around their elbow, a tiny splotch of blood bled through the bandage. Chara watched silently, glowering at Gaster as he walked towards the door. In one hand, he held a large vial. Blood freshly stolen. He looked back one last time, a dark, satisfied smile across his skull. Chara's glower faltered as he looked back. He spoke, “If you are like this from now on, you can expect to be rewarded in a few weeks.”

Chara's eyes instinctively drifted to Gaster's pocket, knowing exactly what he meant. Their expression brightened for only a moment before Gaster opened the door. He looked to his right and spoke, “Ah, perfect timing, Alphys.” Alphys's voice rung from just beyond the door, “I didn't realize you'd be doing the blood draw this late...” Gaster sighed, “Sadly, I'm running behind today. A few meetings ran longer than expected.” Alphys spoke gently, “Well, hopefully, you catch up.” “I will.” With that, Gaster disappeared. Alphys sighed in relief. She entered the room with a tray of food for Chara as always. She spoke with worry, “Did he hurt you while drawing blood?” Chara accepted the tray as they spoke, “Not physically. He was testing me; seeing if I would react.” Alphys spoke with understanding, “And you didn't.” Chara paused from drinking their water. They squeezed their glass. They gritted their teeth and spoke, “But I wanted to. I wanted to say something. Anything. I could barely look at him. I scowled at him as he left, but I couldn't when he looked back.” Alphys nodded silently by Chara's side. She kept a sympathetic gaze. Chara continued, “I hate him. But, I don't want to hurt anymore...” Alphys spoke gently, “I know. And I'm here for you.”

Tears budded from Chara's eyes. Anger bloomed in their expression. They raised the glass above their head. They raised their voice, “I hate feeling useless!” Chara threw the glass. The moment it left their hand, they gasped and widened their eyes. Alphys and Chara could only watch helplessly as the glass hit the floor and broke into several large pieces and some small pieces. Both Alphys and Chara gaped at the broken glass, their minds at first failed to process the event. Alphys began to step towards it. Chara noticed this and began to apologize, “I'm sorry. Truly.” Alphys shook her head before she responded calmly, “It's okay. You didn't hurt either of us.” Chara removed the covers from their bed. They sniffled and wiped their tears away. They spoke, still recovering from their sorrow, “Let me help.” Chara carefully crawled out of bed. Their leg still had some pain from moving, but it was not debilitating due to the gauze healing the break. Alphys started to bend down to pick up some of the glass before she noticed Chara. She began to panic slightly, “Oh! No, no! I can take care of this! Don't... don't strain yourself!” Chara carefully crawled on the floor. They were careful and aware of the pain in their injured leg. Alphys resigned, “Okay... Just be careful. I can pick up the small pieces without worry.”

Chara affirmed. They stopped around the foot of their bed. They grabbed a few smaller pieces silently. They cradled the pieces in one hand while they picked up glass shards with the other. They grabbed a larger piece. They flinched and made a small noise. Alphys noticed immediately. “Are you okay?” Chara held the piece to their chest. They spoke nervously, “I thought I cut myself, but I’m fine.” Alphys blinked. She let out a, “Oh... okay. Just be careful.” Chara nodded. Alphys's focus returned to picking up the pieces. Chara relaxed and looked down on the newest piece of glass in their hand. The glass had cut into their palm just under their pinkie and their ring finger. Their mind drifted as the intensely looked at the piece of glass and the blood it freed. Chara looked over at Alphys. She looking in a different direction as she picked up the rest of the pieces. Chara slowly slipped the blood dipped glass shard under the sheet of their bed. Chara went back to picking up the rest of the pieces with Alphys. The two used the tray to hold the glass. Alphys sighed in relief, “Okay. That should be all of it. Thank you for helping.” Chara mused dryly, yet apologetically, “It's the least I can do for breaking it.” Alphys dismissed it, “Don't worry. It was an accident.” Alphys collected the rest of the utensils and silverware from Chara's bed, “Okay. You rest up. I'll see you tomorrow.” Chara nodded, “See you.” Alphys left without another word.

An expert from the journal of Dr. W.D Gaster

The human is far too clever for its own good. It tried one last time to escape last week. I had no choice to deal an extremely harsh punishment. But it was worth it; Alphys informed me the human's will has broken. Today, I was able to test this during the first scheduled blood draw. The human couldn't look me in the eye, let alone retort to anything said. Despite this change, I cannot take the chance it won't escape again. The new room is nearing completion. With it, I won’t have to worry about escape ever again.

#predatortale #undertale predator au #undertale au #undertale fresh meat #Confinement #fresh meat confinement #chara #alphys #serol #original character #gaster #w.d. gaster #chapter 25 #fanfic #fanfiction #tw blood

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rwbyconversations · 5 years

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Dante, and Vergil’s Impact on His Character Arc

I’ve been a long-time casual fan of the Devil May Cry games, though my skills at them are woefully inadequate. I’m more a fan of the crazy action that the series strives to provide in each of its entries and the wonderful misadventures Dante keeps getting dragged into, to say nothing of watching in awe high-level players pulling off combos so wild and energetic that they add years to my life expectancy.

But while it’s never been a main draw to the series, I feel like Devil May Cry is, at its best, a series that does manage to generate enrapturing characters and create fluid arcs across its games, and I feel that this comes across in what might go down as the greatest unintentional character arc in gaming, that of Dante.

While Dante in the first two games didn’t have much character, especially in DMC2, Devil May Cry 3 is when Dante’s characterization was finally solidified, not least of which because of the vocal talents of Reuben Langdon being added to Dante that gave him so much character across his future appearances. It’s not an exaggeration to say Dante is one of the most well-received and iconic protagonists in modern gaming, and I think that was solidifed thanks to the work of Itsuno, the Capcom team and Langdon in DMC3. What also helped was the introduction and solidification of Dante’s relationship with his brother, Vergil. This relationship has gone on to have major impacts on Dante’s character not just across DMC 4 and 5, but also in retrospect allows for Dante to develop an arc through DMCs 1, 2 and even the Animated Series.

As such, in this essay I’d like to look at Dante’s character across all five main Devil May Cry games, in particular focusing on his relationship with Vergil and how it impacted him across his life. Please note this essay will contain spoilers for Devil May Cry 5.

1) Pre-series and 3

Dante was born alongside his twin brother Vergil to Sparda and Eva, a demon who woke up to justice and sought to defend humanity from his demonic kin and a human woman who he fell in love with. The boys before they were eight were granted two halves of the Perfect Amulet, which when combined could open the path to the demon world. Sparda would die of unknown circumstances when the boys were young, and when Dante was 8, the family home was attacked by demons. Eva hid Dante away in a closet, telling him that if she died, he was to escape and assume a new identity. Eva went on to die trying to find Vergil (Dante assumes he is dead as well), with her death shaping Dante and Vergil into the men would become later in life- Dante would swear vengeance on all demons, while Vergil would develop the mindset that had he been more powerful, he could have prevented Eva’s death, which would cause him to seek out Sparda’s sword, Force Edge.

While growing up, Dante has become a freelance mercenary operating under the name of Tony Redgrave. Before the games, he spent time working with Enzo Ferino, who would pass along jobs to Dante, and Nell Goldstein, a gunsmith who made Dante’s signature pistols, Ebony and Ivory. Dante in a manga set right before 3 has learned that Vergil survived the attack on the Sparda Manor, and while he is initially ecstatic to learn of Vergil’s survival, the two quickly realize that they are both driven to accomplish goals that the other would get in the way of. Vergil defeats Dante in a duel, but lets him keep his half of the Perfect Amulet.

When 3 starts, it’s been a year since their first meeting. Dante is 19 and has nearly finished work on his new office, determined to follow the phrase “If you’re good at something don’t do it for free” to the logical conclusion in making demon hunting his job. After a mysterious man named Arkham offers Dante a chance to see Vergil at the top of a tower that arises from the earth named Temen-ni-gru, Dante sets out to confront Vergil and have an “interesting time” fighting the demons along the way. Vergil meanwhile, is drawing Dante to Temen-ni-gru to acquire Dante’s half of the Amulet and acquire the powers of Sparda hidden within, along with Sparda’s blade Force Edge.

Dante doesn’t take the whole affair seriously at all at first, joking all the way up to his first meeting with Vergil that this will all be a large party- and that the lack of food, drinks and women shows that Vergil knows how to throw a stinker of a party. Vergil takes the jokes in stride and even makes one in return, apologizing to Dante since he was so eager to see Dante, he “couldn’t concentrate on preparations for the bash.” Dante is quick to make a fight out of the conflict, drawing a gun on Vergil which... goes well for Dante.

It probably shows how bad Dante’s day is going when this isn’t even the first time today he’s been run through the chest.

Vergil slaughters Dante in their first fight, showing a complete lack of regard for any of Dante’s attacks. This attitude reflects into gameplay as well- Vergil is a challenging boss fight this early in the game and will defeat you if you drop your guard for even a second, forcing you to adapt to his fighting style and making it so you can’t just spam the same tricks over and over. There is a deliberate power imbalance between Dante and Vergil in their first fight, and Vergil even angrily calls Dante on refusing to tap into his demonic power. Dante’s blithe response that “I have no father,” and that he’s not tapping into his power just to spite Vergil only further enrages Vergil, and he wastes not time winning the battle by running Dante through- first with Yamato, then with Dante’s own sword Rebellion.

Vergil gives a look into his mindset here as he talks down to Dante. "Might controls everything. Without strength, you can't protect anything... Let alone yourself." It’s a look into Vergil’s psyche that shows that just like Dante, he never got over Eva’s death and likely why he’s never formed a serious relationship beyond a one-night-stand in Fortuna. It’s almost like Vergil’s afraid of opening up his heart in case it gets broken again. But yet it’s in him running Dante through that he forces the lesson onto Dante- that Dante will not be able to overcome the remaining trials in his way without tapping into the power granted through Sparda’s blood in his veins. And as such after reclaiming Rebellion, Dante forcibly triggers his Devil Trigger for the first time, embracing the demonic monster he had spent years rejecting.

This is Dante’s lowest point in the game- ironic given how this happens at the top of the tower. He has no allies, he’s lost his amulet and Vergil has made a mockery of him in their first duel. But slowly, Dante gets back up and steels himself for round 2, punching a pillar in frustration only to watch as his energy causes it to explode from the force. And upon realizing the power he now wields, Dante cuts loose in a glorious cutscene showing his drive and refusal to give in as he freefalls down the side of the tower and defeats a swarm of enemies, all while Devils Never Cry kicks into high gear.

Bless me with your gift of light Righteous cause on judgment night Feel the sorrow the light has swallowed Feel the freedom like no tomorrow

From this point on, DMC3 shifts focus and becomes a race between Dante and Vergil to see who can uncover the secrets of the tower and unlock Sparda’s power first, both unaware that they and Lady, a human woman trying to hunt down her father, that Arkham is playing everyone so that he can swoop in and steal Sparda’s power at the last second.

Dante and Vergil fight again fight after Vergil has unlocked the last barrier holding back Sparda’s power. Along the way Dante slowly comes to terms with his demonic heritage and learns to embrace its power more, all while Vergil rejects his humanity, believing that true strength will come from the power of a demon. What Vergil doesn’t know however is that Devil May Cry’s humanity possess a power that no demon could ever dream of possessing- something Vergil learns the hard way in 3 and 5, while Dante rubs it in Agnus’s face in 4. Devil May Cry 1 director Hideki Kamiya would eventually confirm on Twitter that what humans possess is simple- heart. The heart to get back up after a crippling defeat and prepare for round 2, or to simply never accept defeat, is in fact one of Dante’s greatest weapons, greater even than his sword, guns or electric bat guitar.

... Man Devil May Cry 3 gets weird and I love it.

It’s through using his heart along with his demonic powers that Dante is able to grow as a fighter, represented in-game as the player not just upgrading Dante’s styles and weapons, but becoming better with the tools provided and taking the time to become more stylish and visually exciting with each new fight being an opportunity to pull of a new stylish combo.

Dante’s second battle with Vergil occurs in the basement of the tower, with the fight ending in a draw as before either can strike a finishing blow, Lady and subsequently Arkham intervene in the fight, Arkham having planned for Dante and Vergil to wear themselves out fighting each other so that neither of them had the power to stop him from stealing Sparda’s power for himself. And despite being a lowly human, Arkham is able to play Dante, Lady and Vergil like chess pieces and take the power of Sparda for himself, before the power mutates him into a giant blob monster that threatens the world.

Vergil disappears for much of the rest of the game as Dante races after Arkham to stop him, defeating several more demons within and absorbing their energy to create more Devil Arms (alongside taking Beowulf off Vergil after he dropped it). Dante initially fights Arkham alone, but even as a giant blob Arkham proves a significant threat to Dante until Vergil offers some backup. Putting aside their mutual differences, the two brothers decide to honor their father by beating the ever-living crap out of the man who stole his power, delivering the finishing blow through a combined Ebony and Ivory shot while saying Dante’s signature line.

youtube

A moment so good I had to include it twice

It’s also notable that this is the one time Vergil gets over his aversion to firearms-

I’m sorry DID I STUTTER

After Arkham is defeated and sent away for Lady to deliver the killing blow on, there’s a moment of silence between Dante and Vergil. The Jackpot scene and its immediate aftermath really does sum up a lot of their relationship- they may have been fighting almost every time we’ve seen them thus fat, and there is genuine aminosity between the two, but Dante and Vergil are ultimately just brothers who ultimately respect each other and might have even been more permanent allies were it not for their ideological differences... differences which directly cause the game’s final boss.

Vergil dives in after the Perfect Amulet, landing on the edge of the Demon World itself with Dante in hot pursuit. Vergil bluntly orders Dante to give him his half of the amulet, and when Dante refuses to and challenges Vergil on what he’ll do with the power, Vergil snaps at him, charging with his newly acquired Force Edge. Dante has none of it, catching the sword and insisting that his soul is saying it wants to stop Vergil. It’s disheartening that both brothers come to blows so soon after their effective teamup, but neither of them will compromise on their goals.

Vergil’s final fight is a perfect climax of the game, both emotionally and mechanically. As Dante and Vergil keep fighting, two facts remain the same- the location of the fight is geographically lower and lower each time, and Dante gets better with each bout, losing in the first round, drawing with Vergil in the second and in the third, after having embraced Sparda’s heritage, coming ahead of Vergil and winning conclusively. It’s still a difficult bout for the player but after all their time in this hellish night with Dante, you’ve mastered the game and are able to meet Vergil beat for beat.

Dante wins the final clash of swords, with Vergil stubbornly refusing to accept defeat and hand over his half of the amulet. He encourages Dante to leave him in the Demon World, before letting himself fall of the side in an effective suicide. Dante tries to reach out to him, but Vergil slashes open his hand as he falls, bringing his half of the amulet with him. Dante doesn’t say a word for the rest of the scene, but his face and body language betray how emotionally compromised he’s become by Vergil’s loss. He glumly brings Force Edge with him to the surface and meets up with Lady, whose attempts to lift Dante’s spirits coin the name of the series- “Maybe somewhere out there, even a devil may cry when he loses a love one.” Even though it does lift Dante’s spirits and gives him a name for his shop, Vergil’s suicide haunts Dante for years, and the first signs of it are present even in the ending of DMC3, where his final taunt before the credtis fight scene sounds like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s ready to take everything the world can throw at him.

In a post-credits scene, Vergil squares off against DMC1′s main villain Mundus. Vergil cockily decides to take him on, but the results of the battle were already known in DMC1, where Dante fights Vergil as Nelo Angelo.

2) DMC 1, 2 and Animated Series- Depressed Dante

In advance, I am going to say this: obviously enough, DMC 1 and 2 were written before DMC 3 and any attempts I make at retroactively making 3′s narrative tie into both of them is weakened as a consequence as it falls into headcanons more often then not. Being blunt, DMC 1 and 2 didn’t have as much focus on story as 3 so any attempts I make to connect their stories might come off as trying to connect threads while wearing cooking gloves. Just keep that in mind for this part barring anything I say on the anime.

Nine years after the Temen-Ni-Gru incident, Dante has set up Devil May Cry and takes extermination jobs for anyone who calls his shop with the elusive password. While he’s making dry quips and nonchalantly dealing with the threats he faces while fighting Mundus, he’s notably less energetic compared to his younger self. Dante is more somber and reflective almost as a direct consequence of his dealings with Vergil, and while he’s still cracking wise when he confronts the demons Mundus has scattered around the island, he’s far less talkative than he was. One of his more talkative moments comes after Mundus kills Griffon, who had genuinely earned Dante’s respect through their repeated encounters across the game. Dante is quite livid at Mundus killing one of his own soldiers in such a callous way, as he tells Trish:

“Mundus... His heinous ways make me sick; killing his own like they were nothing. He's the one that took the life of my mother for sure. My mother always used to tell me that my father was a man who fought for the weak. He had courage and a righteous heart. In the name of my father I will kill Mundus!"

Dante has an unexpected family reunion when he fights Vergil, covered in armor, as Nelo Angelo several times over the story. Nelo Angelo provides some of the tougher fights in DMC1, managing to disarm Dante during their first bout and neatly delivering a killing blow before Nelo spots Dante’s amulet and retreats, as if Vergil refuses to give Mundus the satisfaction of having Vergil kill Dante for him. Dante admits grudging respect for Nelo Angelo, saying he didn’t expect to find anyone with “guts and honor” in the castle.

Their second battle sees Nelo removing his helmet, revealing Vergil’s corrupted visage underneath. Despite the enhancement of the armor, Vergil loses again to Dante, this time seemingly dying as he explodes in a flash of lightning, leaving nothing but Vergil’s half of the Perfect Amulet. Dante stops to recollect a childhood memory of himself and Vergil wanting cake for their birthday, before combining the amulets and using it to reawaken Sparda and have it resume its true power.

The rest of DMC 1 has Dante suffer from Trish’s betrayal and subsequent redemption, but while he ends the game on a victorious note after having beaten Mundus and saved Trish with a variation of Lady’s line to him, he’s also despondent at the loss of Vergil yet again, which leads to Dante being more sullen in the animated series and DMC2, which both take place five years later when Dante is 33.

Dante’s characterization in the DMC Animated Series is often considered divisive due to him being rather mellow and sullen compared to his more distinctive appearances, especially since Reuben actually provided Dante’s voice under a false name. However, intentionally or not, Dante’s characterization in the anime bears a lot of symptoms consistent with depression: Dante is even more of a slob than normal, frequently is tired and sleeps all day, eats only comfort food (strawberry sundaes in the show) and only ever comes alive while working. But since Dante is so powerful in the anime, he’s lucky if a fight lasts more than a few seconds. When looking at the anime in the context of DMCs 1 and 3, it gives the impression that Dante is just worn down after losing Vergil in 3, only to then kill him in 1. This leaves Dante as the last member of his bloodline, which drags him down. Fortunately, Dante has Lady and Trish to keep dragging him out of bed and getting him to care, and he seems to slowly be recovering from his depression by the time of DMC2.

Devil May Cry 2 has no real plot and Dante has been stripped of almost all the characterization in 1 and 3 which made him such an iconic character. Like nearly everything else wrong with DMC 2, this largely comes down to the disaster of a development cycle that the game had- director Hideaki Itsuno admitted in an art book that when he was brought on to direct DMC 2, he was replacing a director who had botched the project so hard that Itsuno only had four months to essentially develop the entire game, including the script. As such, Dante’s character is very flat. Barring one line (“King? Here’s your crown.”), Dante has no memorable quips or dialogue, with most of the development being handed off to Lucia instead. Dante’s one significant character trait is his habit of flipping a coin to choose events for him, a trait that has rarely been acknowledged since. While this Dante does fall into the line of thinking we’ve used so far, that Dante is suffering from depression for much of his late 20s and early 30s, it’s hard to even consider this as a possibility when Dante’s stoic nature is just because of a rushed script and weak writing, and it feels almost dirty to try and tie in the depression theory to this.

Thankfully, Dante’s character would like much of the series get an extended redemption thanks to DMC3, but the next entry in the timeline put him back on track..

3) DMC 4 and the reclamation of hope

For a long time, DMC 2 was the final point in the timeline, in part because of Capcom’s shame for the game being so great that they are actively reluctant to acknowledge the existence of DMC2. Before DMC 5 released, Executive Producer Matt Walker confirmed that the timeline had been changed from 3-1-4-2 to 3-1-2-4, and one of the consequences of this was that Dante’s character arc began to flow naturally.

While there are several scenes in DMC4 set before the game begins, most notably the explanation of why Trish gave the Order Sparda’s sword which also leads into the intro cutscene for Trish and Lady’s route in Special Edition, a long-standing fan theory is that Dante begins DMC4 with some vestiges of his Anime/2 depression remaining, hence why he fails to exhibit any of his typical stylish moves during his assassination attempt on Sanctus- he just jumps down the window and shoots him point-blank in the head. It’s only when Nero attacks him and subsequently lasts longer than most of the Order guards that Dante begins to treat the fight with his usual charm. It’s made clear that he’s not taking the battle against Nero too seriously, and it’s evident that if Dante wanted he could turn Nero into a smear on the pavement in a heartbeat. But the Devil Bringer, along with Nero’s refusal to let Dante get away, impress Dante enough to let Nero go, which leads to Nero spending much of his route hunting Dante down until the two finally meet again and have a rematch at Fortuna Castle.

Even with his new upgrades, including Vergil’s sword Yamato and his new Devil Trigger, Nero is barely able to keep up with Dante, who in gameplay is a nightmare to fight due to having access to all four of his DMC 3 styles at will and being played by an AI seemingly designed to wreck your day. To little surprise, Nero loses and is disarmed of Yamato. Dante is eager to reclaim Yamato, telling Nero “It belongs in the family,” but chooses to let Nero keep hold of Yamato for now due to having become less hot-headed and wanting to use the weapon to help save Kyrie. However, Sanctus is revealed to have been revived and traps Nero in the Savior (an artificial demon the Order created that requires Sparda’s blood and sword) before it marches on Fortuna City with Yamato. Dante races back through the route Nero took, determined to reclaim Yamato and destroy the Savior.

Dante doesn’t develop much during his playable segment of the game, barring the new Devil Arm cutscenes confirming that he is back to his usual jovial and eccentric self. Much like with Nero, Dante’s power means that the threat of the Savior is quite small in the grand scheme- Dante can defeat it in a head to head fight and the story doesn’t try to convince you that this threat can top the one presented by Mundus. Dante eventually returns to Fortuna and after confronting Agnus in one of the greatest cutscenes in human history, reclaims his brother’s sword and then frees Nero. Between the two of them tag-teaming the Savior and Sanctus from the inside and out, Dante and Nero bring a stop to the Order’s plans and destroy the Savior, Dante reclaiming his father’s sword.

With that, Dante leaves, job complete. Nero confusedly asks if Dante wants Yamato back, but Dante blithely tells him to keep it, confident in Nero’s abilities now as a Devil Hunter.

Nero: "What...? I thought this meant a lot to you...?" Dante: "That's the only kind of gift worth giving. I want to entrust it to you, and so I am. What you do from here is your call."

Deadly Fortune (the Japanese only DMC 4 novelization) and DMC 5 would go on to confirm that Dante allowed Nero to set up a new branch of Devil May Cry in Fortuna. Nero asks Dante if they’ll meet again, but Dante only shoots a wave over his shoulder. Little did they know that meeting again would take eleven long years, before they got to join up back together for more hijinks.

youtube

By the end of DMC4, Dante has finally gotten over the trauma and baggage he’s been carrying since Vergil’s death. Seeing the new generation of demon hunters in Nero has reignited the spark that laid dormant inside of him for so long. Dante’s 38 by the time of DMC4, meaning he carried those dark emotions inside him for over half his life, but with Nero wielding Yamato, Dante has finally become able to let go and become the cool uncle/mentor figure Nero needs.

4) DMC 5- Acceptance and peace

... so of course just five short years later, everything goes right back to hell for Dante. He’s still not great at managing the financial side of his business, but the arrival of a mysterious young man named V with a promised contract that will provide cash up front gives Dante all the drive he needs to get into gear to confront Urizen. But unfortunately, Urizen proves far stronger than anyone feared, and he effortlessly defeats Dante, Trish, Lady and a late to the party Nero who lost his Devil Bringer two weeks prior. Dante, desperate, breaks out his Devil Trigger and orders V to get Nero out of there, deriding Nero as “dead weight.” Soon after, Urizen beats Dante out of Devil Trigger and shatters Rebellion, sending him flying out of the Qliphoth and into a coma for a month.

V eventually finds Dante by the ruins of an old manor, the demons having not found him because of the Devil Arm Sparda having hidden Dante’s presence. After a little fakeout stab, Dante is restored to fighting form and immediately goes to get ready for Round 2 with Urizen, all while Nero, now armed with the Devil Breakers, desperately tries to kill Urizen himself. Dante first gets himself some sick wheels and makes for the ruins of the Sparda Manor where his life got flipped on its head over thirty years prior.

Somehow, this isn’t the craziest weapon in the game.

After lamenting on how he always seems to get a sword through the gut, Dante impales himself on the Rebellion like Virgil did back on the top of Temen-Ni-Gru. And just like then, Dante unlocks a new level to his demonic abilities, gaining the Sin Devil Trigger and a new Devil Arm, the Dante. Armed and ready, Dante makes for Urizen to show him whats what. While Urizen makes a hasty retreat, he is able to supercharge himself with the Qliphoth fruit before Dante arrives, but even this increase in power isn’t enough to stop Dante, because not only has he gained more power through Sin Devil Trigger, but Urizen, just like Vergil, has failed to learn the important lesson of humanity in Devil May Cry.

Side-note, this is the greatest cutscene in the history of video games. I don’t really have any way to tie the Faust Hat to this analysis but I thought we all needed a reminder that this was a glorious thing.

Dante, unlike the audience, has always been aware that Urizen was Vergil or at least his demonic half. Urizen is literally Vergil's ambition and greed manifested into a malevolent, power-hungry demon, and much like Vergil himself, Urizen fails to realize that through sacrificing his human half, he’s lost the true power within himself. It takes until Dante lays the smackdown on Urizen even after being supercharged with the Qliphoth root. In Urizen’s eyes, Dante hasn’t sacrificed anything to achieve this power and fights Urizen simply because it’s the right thing to do, and that desire to protect others

Urizen: How... How are you so powerful?! You never lost anything! Dante: It's not about loss... Strength is a choice! Fighting like hell to protect what matters! You threw away everything you ever had! No wonder you have no true power! Urizen: Danteeeeee!

Ultimately, Dante defeats Urizen and leaves him a dying husk on the ground. But before he can deliver the killing blow, V tricks Dante into letting him finish the job, allowing him to merge with Urizen and become Vergil, brought back from the dead.

All of the main characters in DMC5 have their own subtitles along with their name when introduced, and Vergil’s is perfectly fitting from a meta angle- he was Dante’s first major opponent in DMC3, and now here he is at the end of the Sons of Sparda saga, the final boss for the last hours of the game.

Dante immediately freaks out at Vergil’s return and goes to kill him, but due to expending so much energy on Urizen, Vergil is able to push him back with ease, telling him to heal his wounds before trying to face him. Dante stubbornly begins climbing back up the Qliphoth, even as Nero tries to dissuade him until Dante tells Nero the truth that Vergil is his father, before pressing on alone and leaving Nero to escape the tree. Dante and Vergil both never even consider the possibility of not fighting to the death. The last time they tried to talk things out at the edge of the Demon world, both Dante and Vergil proved their ideologies were just too different for them to peacefully co-exist. The tragedy of DMC 3′s climax stretches on more than twenty years later for these two, and neither are of the mindset that this can end in any way that’s not one of the twins standing over the other’s body. .

On the way, Dante finds V’s three Summons- Griffon, Shadow and Nightmare- who reveal themselves to be the manifestations of Vergil’s traumatic memories from his time as Nelo Angelo. The familiars force a fight against Dante, warning him that if he can’t beat them he doesn’t stand a chance against Vergil. Though Dante makes no note of it, eliminating the familiars has likely ensured Vergil will be able to live without the trauma from his time under Mundus. Dante is particularly respectful to Griffon, the servant of Mundus who he never got to properly defeat in battle and the one he almost respected. It feels like Dante finally being allowed to have the fair fight with Griffon that the demon deserved more than a decade prior.

Ultimately, Dante makes his way to the top, with both the brothers pausing for a moment to ponder how many times they’ve exchanged blows. Dante even admits that them fighting is the only memories of the two that he can remember since they were children. Ultimately they draw their weapons, and begin their final clash.

It’s ultimately a desperate knockout brawl, with both fighters giving it their all and using everything and anything they’ve learned over the years to gain an edge in the fight, but it ends on a draw with both stopping to catch their breath after a fight that canonically goes on for more than twenty minutes. Vergil finally realizes that Nero is his son. The two stop for a second, Dante gently ribbing Vergil for being young once as well, but even then it loops back around to their deathmatch. Despite both being clearly exhausted, they fire up their Devil Triggers and prepare for another charge, only to be interrupted by a new demon- Nero, having gained the strength to activate his own Devil Trigger and regrow his lost arm, now determined to stop the two twins from killing each other once and for all.

Throughout DMC5, starting with the “Dead Weight” line, Dante has had a habit of disrespecting Nero. Granted, Dante is canonically stronger, but he bluntly tells Nero multiple times that he effectively doesn’t care what Nero thinks of a situation, Dante will do it his way. Yet again he tries to assert dominance over Nero, but this time Nero, now armed with a new Devil Trigger and at the peak of his strength while Dante and Vergil are both exhausted, bitch slaps Dante out of the fight and promises to make Vergil submit to him. Vergil in turn doesn’t take Nero seriously, but promises him a fight when Nero bluntly repeats that neither of the brothers are dying today. What follows is an extended curb stomp as Nero pays Vergil back dividends for ripping off his arm at the start of the game. While Vergil normally wouldn’t be so easily defeated by Nero, his exhaustion from fighting Dante and expending so much energy on maintaining his Devil Trigger have drained him of the stamina he needs and as such, Nero canonically dominates the fight.

This, Ninja Theory, is how you make your protagonist screaming “Fuck you!” look insanely cool and not pathetic

Nero makes Vergil take a knee, but the situation changes from the immediate battle. Dante and Vergil resolve to descend into the Underworld to cut the Qliphoth's roots. When Nero counters that this potentially leaves the two stranded, Dante quietly tells Nero that it’s because of him that they can make this risk. With Nero on this side of the barrier ready to protect humanity, Dante is comfortable potentially trapping himself on the other side of the dimensional border with Vergil. And as such, the two brothers fly into the Underworld and destroy the Qliphoth once and for all, leaving Nero, Lady and Trish to safeguard the human world.

When we next see Dante and Vergil, they’re in the depths of the Underworld. Just like when Vergil lost to Dante in DMC3, he asks Dante to go back to the human world- Vergil wants to atone for Urizen’s sins and that involves ensuring the destruction of the tree. But Dante doesn’t want to leave his brother alone this time, noting that someone needs to keep an eye on Vergil- if only to ensure a repeat of the Nelo Angelo incident doesn’t happen. As Qliphoth tree roots begin to form around Dante and Vergil, we play as Dante one final time in a playable credits sequence.

When we cut back to Dante and Vergil for the final scene, they’re locked in yet another battle. But this time, it’s a friendly spar with no malice or aminosity between them barring normal brotherly bickering. Dante even quips that he’s one up after winning while Vergil counters that Dante miscounted and that they’re even. As they ready for another round, a new wave of demons emerge and without breaking stride, the two begin clearing house. As Vergil snarls at him not to say it, Dante shoots the camera a triumphant grin before uttering his catchphrase one last time as the game concludes.

“Jackpot!”

5) Conclusion- Devils Never Cry

While it likely will never be listed as a primary reason for the character’s critical acclaim in favor of his charm or bombastic personality, Dante’s character arc across the Devil May Cry series is an overall well-written arc of a character, and this is complemented extraordinarily well by Vergil serving as his rival in two of the games. Despite only physically appearing in 60% of the numbered games canonically, Vergil has a huge role on Dante’s life, starting when they were barely children before traumatic circumstances separated them. Then when they met on the tower when they were just 19, Vergil humiliated Dante and forced him to embrace his demonic heritage so he could keep up with Vergil in a straight fight. Ultimately though, while also maturing as a person, Dante not only fought Vergil to a standstill but went on to defeat him in a straight fight. But Vergil’s deaht would haunt Dante for years to come, and that misery would intensify upon fighting and killing Nelo Angelo, driving Dante into a deep depression that lasted years until Nero reignited the spark in Dante and brought him back from the brink. Through Nero, Dante regained his purpose and drive, and when Vergil threatened to come back as Urizen and then as himself, Dante was swift to try and destroy this at the root- Vergil had upended his life and mental state twice already and he refused to let it happen a third time. It took Nero moving past his own trauma and literally bitch-slapping sense into him for Dante and Vergil to begin to reconcile, and by the time of their final scene, the two brothers are now finally united as a demon-slaying team that will last the ages. Itsuno not only saved Devil May Cry (from himself, but again, four months) after DMC 2, but retroactively tied the first two games together with the third and subsequent games to give Dante a (largely) coherent character arc across the series. For that, Itsuno and writing team, along with Reuben Langdom, deserve massive respect for accomplishing what many wouldn’t consider doing for a “dumb Japanese action game.” To say nothing of the work done to turn Vergil from a one-note villain in DMC 1 to one of the greatest rival characters in gaming, and particular praise must be given to Dan Southworth for his work as the character over the last decade. Character content like this is what will ensure that Devil May Cry as a series stays relevant not just because of its near-perfect gameplay, but its surprisingly touching character moments between these goofballs that makes me always eager for more adventures in this universe.

Thank you for reading.

(also who expected the Subhuman redux to be so good? All it took was getting rid of the kid-touching creep and getting an actual musician in the book, who’d have thunk it)

#devil may cry #dante devil may cry #vergil devil may cry #devil may cry analysis #devil may cry 5 #dante #vergil #nero #nero devil may cry #devil may cry 2 #devil may cry 3 #devil may cry 4 #devil may cry the animated series #reuben langdon #dan southworth #hideaki itsuno

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thetwistedargent · 5 years

Note

Au Scully fucks Skinner in season 1 and Mulder finds out about it after they're together

I know this took a LOOOOOONG time, but I haven’t been in a writing mood. This is the first thing I’ve written in a very long time, so please don’t judge too hard.

It happened after theX-files was shut down the first time. When Scully was convinced she and Mulderwere alone in their fight against the forces of injustice.

She hadn’t planned it.The idea to confront her boss much less do THAT with him was inconceivable atthe time.

She had gone to somedive bar, alone, to drown her sorrows. She didn’t want anybody from the bureauto see her. She didn’t want them to know how much the X-Files had come to meanto her. So, it was a surprise when downing her second—or maybe it was her third—drinkthat she looked up to see AD Skinner drowning himself at the bottom of a bottlein the very same establishment.

She wasn’t sure whatcompelled her to hop off that bar stool with hands on her hips and high heelsclinking on the floor and confront him, but she did. She held nothing back, andSkinner just sat there with an intense look on his face. He didn’t say a worduntil she let out a huff and her lips went still.

By this point she wasinches away from his face with no intentions of backing down.

“Are you done, AgentScully?” Skinner said through gritted teeth with a tinge of annoyance in hisvoice.

His words set her off.No, she was not done! Her right arm swung out on its own accord, palm up readyto make contact with Skinner’s completely-devoid-of-emotion face. He wasquicker than Scully. His large hand reached out to grip her wrist with such aforce that made Scully yelp with surprise. He pulled the redhead tight againsthis body.

There was so much hewanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her about the Smoking Man. He wanted totell her how it wasn’t his decision to close the X-Files. He wanted to tell herthat he believed in the work she and Mulder were doing, but he couldn’t say adamn thing. So, he did the only thing he could do in that position. He slammed hislips against Scully’s, this time with no intention of catching the slap that hewas sure was coming his way.

There was no slap,only a rush of pent up emotion and battling tongues. Two lost souls that hadbeen broken down by a system they once believed in above all else.

And that’s how Scullyended up with her skirt pushed up past her hips and her shirt spread open,riding Skinner in the back seat of her government issued car. A night that theyboth agreed to never speak of again and for all intents and purposes hadignored to the point of forgetting it was a thing that actually happened… untilnow.

The three of them had been drunk off their asses when itslipped. From who’s mouth, she wasn’t sure. She hadn’t even remembered it inthe morning, but Mulder and his photographic memory did.

“You fucked him, Scully! You fucked Skinner! Our boss!”Mulder screamed out at her while he paced around her living room.

“God, Mulder, it was ONE time years ago! The X-Files hadjust been taken from us and-“ Scully responded, but was cut off.

“BACK WHEN WE THOUGHT SKINNER WAS WITH THEM?! So you fuckeda man who was not only your boss, but who you thought was part of a conspiracyagainst us?!” He huffed.

Scully rolled her eyes. “He was on OUR side, in case you’veforgotten. It was a mistake, Mulder, one that he and I both agreed would neverbe spoken about again.”

“Yeah, well so much for that agreement! Skinner got brightred and giggled while looking at you when the topic of car sex came up! Hepractically painted a picture and hand-delivered it to me. Could he have beenany more obvious?!” Mulder said with a jealous tongue.

“I’m not talking about this anymore. It’s none of your business!”Scully responded.

“The fuck it is, Scully! You belong to me!” He inhaledsharply, regretting his words the second they came out of his mouth. “Scully, Ididn’t…”

She cut him off. “I am no one’s property! I don’t belongto anyone!” She moved to the door and opened it for him. “Get out, Mulder!” Shecouldn’t bear to look at him right now.

He simply tucked his head down and walked away like a sad,angry little puppy.

#msr fic #my fic #scully x skinner fic #msr au

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inquisitorhotpants · 5 years

Text

The Knight and the Prince

This remains one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. Takes place after Aberration but before chapter 47 of Chaos & Opportunity. Kryn has a massive romantic streak and makes her sister cry. (the kinda-sequel, where scourge finds it, is here. the collection of kryn’s fam!fic is here)

Once upon a time…

in a land torn by war and strife and suspicion, there lived a brave knight named Semiri, with shining ebony hair and piercing sky blue eyes. She was bold of spirit and noble of heart, a wandering adventurer who valued freedom and justice above all other things, a welcome sight both to the weary and downtrodden, and on the field of battle.

One day, she chanced upon a glade surrounded by tall, sinister trees, untouched by the sunlight. In the center of the glade was a tower, its stones black as a moonless midnight, and it loomed over the too-calm clearing with a palpable air of malevolence. Semiri took a deep breath, drew her sword, and approached it, determined to face whatever evil surely lay within before it could wreak havoc on the peaceful village nearby.

The ornately carved wooden door swung open with a tortured groan from its rusty hinges, and a chill breeze rushed over Semiri, making her skin prickle. She crept through the deep gloom, tensed and waiting for a confrontation.

“Why have you come?”

She spun around, sword extended. In the central room, lit by candlelight, stood a beautiful man, strong and strapping. “Who are you?”

He offered her a courtly bow, but made no move to come closer. “I am Prince Scourge.”

“I … don’t think so," Semiri scoffed. "That's impossible."

The man blinked, nonplussed at her reply. “What?”

“Prince Scourge is nothing more than a story. The legend says he was sealed away from the world by the mad king Vitiate, who wanted to keep him all for himself. The cursed prince was made immortal, but doomed to an immortality of solitude, never knowing the small joys of the world or the love of another.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “That’s an excellent summation of my current situation, yes.”

Semiri stared at him for a long moment, dismayed to find that she was more smitten by the minute. “And no one’s rescued you?” Her brows knit together as her outrage grew at this blatant miscarriage of justice. "You've stood here for centuries alone?" She drew herself to her full height, her voice cutting through the surrounding darkness. “Well, I, Semiri, vow that I will find a way to release you! Await my return, for it will herald your freedom from this horrific curse!”

She traveled the length and breadth of the land in her search. In each village she visited, she heard tales of the mad sorceress Kryn’la, said to be extraordinarily gifted, even in the obscure and forbidden arts. An aged hermit with a shock of snow-white hair, living on the edge of the Plain of Sorrow, told her of another like himself residing in the Seething Swamps, there to direct the true-seeking supplicant toward the sorceress. The second hermit, a veritable copy of the first, sent her to traverse the Lightning Lands, insistent that she would find the sorceress there, if her intent was pure enough and her need great enough.

At long last, after Semiri felled a great nightmare beast of horns and teeth and thunder and knelt gasping for breath upon the loamy ground, the sorceress’ home revealed itself, tucked into a nearby cliffside. The sorceress herself was seated on her porch, preternaturally youthful and ravishing, with vibrant scarlet hair and a sardonic smile. She looked up from her tome as the warrior approached.

“Ah, so you have come, Semiri of the Sentinel Blade."

Semiri stopped a short distance away, hands on her hips. "Sorceress Kryn'la, it is whispered far and wide that you are a master of arcane arts both common and inscrutable. Following the directions of your acolytes, I have sought you out to petition for your assistance in rescuing a man sorely cursed."

"Will you not bend your knee?" The sorceress rose from her chair, ebon robes flowing behind her as she closed the space between them. "Will you not prostrate yourself before me? Are you not frightened that I will also curse you?"

Semiri, being of stout heart, did not move, did not even flinch. "No, my lady. You will help me, or you won't, and I do not believe any amount of bowing will change what course you have likely already decided upon."

The silence spun out as the sorceress regarded the knight, the slightest of smiles curling her lips. "It is as I foresaw. If you can pass the trials, I will give you what you request, Semiri of the Sentinel Blade." She pointed toward an opening in the cave. "Your first trial awaits. Do not keep the Apprentices waiting." Without waiting for Semiri to move, she strode back to her seat, resuming her reading.

Semiri battled the fierce Apprentices to conquer the Trial of Strength, defeated the cunning Pirate at dice to win the Trial of Luck, impressed the learned Scholar with her careful reasoning to succeed at the Trial of Knowledge, and withstood the punishments of the stalwart Guardian to persevere through the Trial of Endurance, returning to the sorceress in high spirits. “My lady, I have passed your trials." She proffered her hand, revealing the tokens she had received. "I offer you the proof of my success.”

The sorceress turned from her workbench, pleased. “I knew you would.” She held out a vial, full of violet clouds and brilliant white lightning, a violent, twisting storm in a bottle. "Take this. He must consume every drop. The pain will be fearsome, nigh unbearable, for the curses of the Mad King are not so easily broken. But if he can endure it, and you can endure standing by as he bears this writhing agony, he will be free."

Semiri reached for the bottle, then drew back her hand. "And the catch?"

A wide, genuine smile graced the sorceress' face. "Clever girl! Such a simple and obvious thing, yet so many do not think to ask. There is a possibility the the curse will not be broken, but rather transferred to the nearest person."

"Me," Semiri whispered.

"Are you willing to pay even this price for your prince's freedom, Semiri of the Sentinel Blade?" Kryn'la asked solemnly. "Will you take his place, eons passing you by as you languish in the candle-filled room, the world's pleasures lost to you for eternity?"

There was not even a moment's hesitation. "Yes, Sorceress. I vowed to free him, and I will, even if it comes at the cost of my life and freedom."

"I expected as much," Kryn'la said, studying Semiri's face. "Perhaps what you are feeling is True Love, and it will aid in your endeavors." Her expression softened for the briefest moment before resuming its usual sternness. "Now begone, I must resume my studies and you have a prince to save."

Semiri thundered across the countryside, the vial strung on a length of leather and cradled against her chest, and last she arrived at the tower, unchanged from how she left it many moons ago. She leapt off her horse, heaved open the door, and strode into the oppressive gloom. "My prince!"

Scourge appeared in the same room he'd been in last time. "Semiri?"

She extracted the vial, cradling it gingerly in one palm. "I have acquired a potion that can break your curse. But the sorceress informed me it will be excruciatingly painful. Do you still wish to be free?"

"No pain can be greater than an eternal solitary lifetime. I will bear it, if it means being able to leave this room again."

She crossed the vestibule and handed him the bottle, then stepped back. He stared at it for a long moment. "Something so simple to destroy this curse," he marveled. "I would never have dared dream such a thing even existed." His hand paused on the stopper. "Will you keep watch, Semiri? If something should go wrong, for you never know with magic of this nature, will you end it?"

She took a deep breath, then unsheathed her sword and assumed her ready stance. "I will."

He uncorked the vial, the unmistakable smell of lightning filled the air, and he tilted it up, the last of the storm disappearing from the bottle.

Silence fell, briefly, over the tower.

Scourge's hands began to shake, and the vial fell to the blackened stones, shattering into a million pieces all winking in the candlelight. His hands tightened into fists, and he fell to his knees, arms wrapped around his chest as though to hold himself together. A stomach-turning wail rent the unnatural quiet of the tower, bursting forth from his mouth like a loosed monster.

Semiri gulped, but stood her ground, when she saw the dark tendrils snaking out of his body, writhing, curling around each other, pausing to scent the air. She steeled her nerves, head held high, and silently reaffirmed her vow to take his place if that was what was required of her.

A keening, so high-pitched as to be on the very edge of hearing, filled her ears, and acrid smoke billowed out of the candlelit room as the tendrils withered away into nothingness. As it cleared, she saw the prince prone on the cold stones, and rushed to his side, relieved when she could tell he was still breathing.

"I think 'excruciatingly painful' was something of an understatement," he muttered weakly, opening his eyes. "But I'm glad you were here."

She smiled and extended her hand. "Shall we leave this awful tower?"

Outside, the door to the tower firmly shut behind them, she turned to look at him, grinning when she saw him standing with face upturned toward the azure sky, smile on his face as the breeze caressed his skin. "What will you do with your newfound freedom, Prince Scourge?"

He held out his hand to Semiri, pulling her close when she took it. "I will cross the land with a brave and beautiful warrior, and see what adventures await us." Their lips met as the sunlight broke through the trees for the first time in centuries.

"Hey, boss." Kira drops down on the couch and nudges Semiri. "What was in that package you got?"

"Oh!" Semiri starts, hurriedly swipes at the tears on her cheeks. "Just a fairy tale, that's all."

Kira's eyebrow shoots toward her hairline. "Someone sent you a fairy tale?"

Semiri nods. "It's a silly thing, really. My sister always has had a flair for the dramatic and ridiculous." She cradles the datapad to her chest. "I'm going to go put this away."

#OTP: Once Upon a Dream #jedi knight #lord scourge #swtor #i just love it

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dear-dr-kenzo-tenma · 5 years

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Doctor Kenzo Tenma - TV Tropes

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Monster

An Aesop: In-universe, he gives some of these.

Action Survivor: Dr. Tenma is initially an average person, insofar as a well-known brain surgeon can be average. The series' circumstances force him to become a hardened survivor.

Adaptational Attractiveness: In the manga, he starts off plain and downright funny-looking. The anime takes its cue from the later chapters' more adorable Tenma◊.

Adorkable: Before his badass upgrade made him stop being a doormat.

Adrenaline Makeover: Ahem.◊

All-Loving Hero: This is both a large advantage and similarly a large disadvantage to him because of the complex location on the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism that Monster inhabits.

The Atoner: As kind-hearted as he is, he sees his absolute biggest mistake as being something he alone can fix. And despite numerous opportunities he gets where he could abandon his self-set mission, he refuses every time. Johan: (Seconds after killing Junkers in front of Tenma) I was supposed to die that night. You're the one who resurrected me, doctor.

Badass Pacifist: He can take a beating, jump off a bridge to avoid confrontation, and save people's lives while avoiding the police and criminals alike.

Beware the Nice Ones: Tenma is kind and righteous, but false accusations force him on a path to become much more assertive.

Barbarian Longhair: Subverted, he's not, by any definition, a barbarian. But by most persons in the series, his long hair is perceived as ugly.

Beard of Sorrow: He is normally beardless, but after he learns about Johan's true colors, he attempts to grow a beard and overly disregards his appearance.

Beware the Honest Ones: Tenma's idealism turned out pretty bad for his money-grubbing boss.

Big Good: This is particularly evident in arcs where he is offstage or not the main character. In keeping with his nearly messianic role, by the end, nearly all the characters would do anything to protect him.

Break the Cutie: By all accounts, he's sweet and adorable, but his entire life was ruined by the actions of a former patient.

Care-Bear Stare: He frequently does this, illustrating his initial idealism.

Celibate Hero: Post-Eva, although there is some subtext involving Nina that may avert this. In Another Monster, it is explained that he was still quite the celibate during his high school years and even purposely didn't get together with a girl who liked him (and the feeling was somewhat mutual) merely because he was friends with her (cheating) boyfriend.

Character Development: He begins as a well-respected, compassionate doctor. Over the series, he becomes more driven and relentless.

Cheaters Never Prosper: Averted, though not soon enough for poor Gillen's complex. He cheated on a test in medical school, which made him excel, and caused jealousy in one of his classmates. This acquaintance later becomes an important character.

Chronic Hero Syndrome: Despite his goal of hunting down Johan, he'll never turn down helping a stranger, even if the person's a criminal.

Clear My Name: Averted. His reason for hunting down Johan isn't to clear his name, but rather to correct the error he made in keeping Johan alive.

Combat Medic: "This is the carotid artery. Even a ballpoint pen could kill him, if you pierce it in the right spot."

The Drifter: Justified, since he was a murder suspect and has to be on the run from the police.

Expository Hairstyle Change: Starts off clean-cut, but gets progressively more disheveled.

Extreme Doormat: He used to be very submissive to his boss and his fiancee.

The Fettered: His beliefs frequently make him question his mission.

Forgets to Eat: Quite frequently. At other instances, he'll bemoan the lack of soy sauce in Western cuisine.

Friend to All Children: The good doctor loves children, and he is perfectly willing to help them. He even formed an Intergenerational Friendship with Dieter, a kid.

Friend to All Living Things: He saved a hurt bird in the time he was training as a gunmen. Later, when he was talking with a former friend to all living things, a finch landed in Tenma's arm.

Gentleman and a Scholar: He is a highly-accomplished brain surgeon and an incredibly caring and selfless man.

Good Is Not Dumb: Well, he's good, and intelligent. Heck, he's a brain surgeon. Beyond fitting the literal trope title, however, Roberto underestimates him at one point because of his goodness and pays for it by losing the use of his right arm.

Good Is Not Soft: While a genius neurosurgeon, he is nice, humble and compassionate. When Johan becomes a threat, he takes a level in badass and takes a journey to stop him. Also, he doesn't hesitate to threaten people with his pistol if their actions endanger one or more lifes.

Grew a Spine: He decides to stop being the doormat of his fiancee and his boss after seeing the immorality of both (the fiancee is not that evil, but this counts).

The Heart: Tenma is the moral center of a morally complex series.

The Hero: He is inarguably the protagonist, and he's very heroic, motivations and rumination aside.

Heroic Resolve: Kenzo has one in his battle against Roberto.

Hero with Bad Publicity: Wanted for the very murders that he keeps trying to stop.

Honor Before Reason: Though he cares about the "right thing" rather than any type of personal honor.

Hospital Hottie: He has a cute appearance, be well-groomed or not.

Humble Hero: He never takes credit for his good deeds and maintains that all people are equal despite conspicuously being better than everybody else in every imaginable way.

Hurting Hero: He's haunted by the actions of a former patient, who destroyed his life.

I Can't Dance: According to Eva, Tenma claimed to not be able to dance. They stood and held each other on the dance floor instead.

I Just Want to Have Friends: According to Eva in Another Monster, he was chronically lonely and thanks to his workaholic tendencies, he was unable to make friends other than Dr. Becker.

Intelligence Equals Isolation: His medical capabilities make him isolated among peers.

I'm Not Hungry: When he was captured by the police, he refused to eat for so long they had to put him on an IV. Which doubles as Fridge Brilliance, as he was trying to end up in the infirmary in order to get in touch with Gunther Milch.

Inconvenient Hippocratic Oath. All the more so (or not) for being an integral part of what he comes to be about after the first episode.

Incorruptible Pure Pureness: One of the rare examples of this trope being pulled off successfully. No matter how complicated things get, he retains his idealistic views on humanity.

Just in Time: He saves Reichwein, who came VERY close to being killed by Roberto, just in time in episode 30.

The Last DJ: Both played straight and averted, in short succession. His integrity makes him lose his job.

Last-Name Basis: People tend to call him by his last name rather than his first name, even when they've got to know him well—including Nina and Eva (though the latter is the one that does it least).

Looks Like Jesus: His long hair and stubble look make him somewhat similar to Jesus.

Magnetic Hero: He's kind, charming, and persuasive.

Manly Tears: He does cry, but it doesn't make him appear weak; it showcases just how horrible his life gets, in spite of how much he tries.

Married to the Job: Noted constantly, one of his fellow physicians tried to hook him up with other loves, but he was more focused on his job.

Messianic Archetype: To counter Johan's Antichrist

Nice Guy: He's very nice and will help even his enemies. This is both a blessing and a curse, considering how dark the series is. It gets him a lot of friends, but it also gets him into difficult situations.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He helped Johan, and then he's framed for murder. Johan: I was supposed to die that night. You're the one who resurrected me, Doctor.

Parental Favoritism: It's mentioned in Another Monster that his father favored him, his youngest son, over his other brothers. However, his mother favored his two older half-brothers (who are unrelated to her) more than him.

Perma-Stubble: He grows one during his Expository Hairstyle Change.

Save the Villain: At first unknowingly, in the case of saving the young Johan from his asked-for bullet wound to the head. By the end, [spoilers] he does it again, this time intentionally, to defy Johan's point.

Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Thoroughly believes this, when he decides to operate on Johan's brain-bullet and disobey the director's orders to ignore the kid and work on the mayor's cerebral-thrombosis. He starts doubting himself, when he sees what Johan has become.

Skilled, but Naïve: Tenma's a surgical prodigy, but it's not his relative inexperience with a scalpel that gets him into trouble in the beginning. It's his inexperience with another aspect of being a doctor: hospital politics.

The So-Called Coward: "Tenma the Weenie! Tenma the Weenie! He peed his pants, too!" Even more so considering the full story given in Another Monster. After the first time the other boys scared him during hide-and-seek, Tenma decided to go through it again in order to conquer his fear. What ended up happening was that they couldn't find him and thought that he just went home, so when one of the mothers told them it was time to go home, they left Tenma by himself. When they found him still hiding in the abandoned yard at night, they probably stopped picking on him simply because he had the guts to do all that.

Technical Pacifist: Although he has no problem pushing, kicking, shoving, and threatening with violence, he has a hard time causing harm to others even if it is to defend his own life.

Think Nothing of It: Does not like to take credit for his achievements, e.g. denying that he'd saved the Turkish district.

Thou Shalt Not Kill: A personal philosophy that looks especially interesting when pitted against his initial tantrums of, "These people need to die."

Took a Level in Badass: Early in the series, after receiving weapons training from an ex-mercenary.

Trademark Favorite Food: Heckel notes that Tenma thinks that any recipe can be improved with soy sauce. And if the fandom on Tumblr has anything to say about it, sandwiches.

Turn the Other Cheek: Constantly, over and over again. He does this to his fellow doctors, as well as his enemies.

Übermensch: By the end of the series, although he starts out as a very clear-cut Last Man. His personal beliefs evolve over the course of the series. He becomes less conflicted, and more willing to do what's necessary.

Unkempt Beauty: He looks like a hobo and still looks very well. Even most fans think he looks better with the hobo look.

Unwitting Pawn: Used, reused, and subverted. A lot of his actions, even his goal are propelled and encouraged by Johan.

White and Grey Morality: How he sees the world.

Wide-Eyed Idealist: Determinedly and stubbornly so. Tenma is convinced that all life is equal, and that everyone can be saved. His beliefs put him at odds with nearly everyone, as he's one of the few idealists in the series.

Wrongly Accused: The whole plot is to save Johan who framed him in the first place, though he's more concerned about saving him and less concerned about being proven innocent.

source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Monster

#just for fun #and reference #Kenzo Tenma #Naoki Urasawa's Monster #Dr. Kenzo Tenma #Dr. Tenma #Monster tv tropes #Dr. Tenma tv tropes #analysis #op

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theliterateape · 6 years

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"You’ll Never See His Like Again!": Revisiting Comics Legend Stan Lee’s Best, Most Literary (and Vastly Underrated) Story, The Silver Surfer (1978)

By Jarret Keene

Stan “the Man” Lee is dead, but his creations are alive, pouncing across theaters, game screens, and t-shirts with equal parts vitality and sorrow. Today, Spider-Man and Thor and Captain America and Black Panther and so many others dominate our media landscape to a degree unthinkable 40 years ago when my father bought me The Silver Surfer graphic novel from a B. Dalton inside Tampa Bay Mall.

Back then comics (22-page floppies) were relegated to a single spinner rack in mall bookshops, a gimmick to draw kids into the store so their parents felt obliged to pick up garbage Sidney Sheldon’s thriller Bloodline. But The Silver Surfer didn’t fit in a metal rung; instead it was displayed amidst the regular literary trade paperbacks. Today it is vaguely praised on obscure blogs as being among the very first efforts to push comics into the realm of the literary epic during a brutal moment in the history of the comics industry. Staggering inflation, a crushing 1977 (and then a 1978) blizzard, and rising paper costs nearly sank DC Comics. Marvel, though, endured such challenges with Stan Lee’s relentless cheer, his grace under pressure, his courage to always try something new when everyone else cowered, caved.

In the late 1970s, the U.S. continued to fall apart. There was the ongoing energy crisis, serial killers like Ted Bundy lurked in every shadow, the Jonestown mass suicide played out like a dress rehearsal for a larger and more diabolical event, toxic waste burbled in landfills adjacent to pleasant neighborhoods, and Soviet Russia rattled its nuclear saber. You wouldn’t know this from reading Marvel Comics, every issue offering a column called Stan’s Soapbox, wherein Lee waxed passionately, positively, and with the eloquence of a poetry-reading pitchman, about what was forthcoming from “the House of Ideas.”

Today Marvel is an idea-resistant shell of the company Lee built and oversaw, a house of ideology teeming with dour, OMG-chirping social-justice superheroes (gay mutant Iceman, lesbian Latinx warrior America Chavez, Muslim teenager Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, female cancer-stricken Thor). Instead of debuting new characters, the current editorial team is content to reverse race and flip gender of, and add a dash of disability to, classic characters. In its prime, though—and starting in 1961 with the first issue of Fantastic Four — Marvel excelled at depicting authentic outcasts who felt a fierce responsibility to protect even those who hated them, feared them, wanted them dead. Lee’s characters — which he co-created with Jack Kirby, the artist who visually defined comics for an international audience — didn’t nurture wounds of identity and grievance; they waged their internal battles on a mythic scale. In the same way Oedipus confronted the ignorance of his birth, in the same way petulant Achilles struggled to overcome his narcissism, so did hapless high school reject and science nerd Peter Parker combat his own teenage doubt and ego and feelings of inadequacy.

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) containing the debut of Spider-Man, is arguably the single greatest and most important comics story ever written, its 11 pages defining not just the Marvel superhero but also the last half-century of U.S. comics. “With great power comes great responsibility” wasn’t merely an inspirational and moral slogan; it was also a metaphor for American exceptionalism, which could only result in senseless death (like, say, the murder of Peter’s uncle, Ben) if not applied toward just and proper ends. Parker is spoiled, his own worst enemy. He’s a purveyor of fake news, taking photos of himself in action as Spider-Man and selling them to the Daily Bugle to cover the cost of college tuition. We love Parker for his flaws, though, and for his commitment to overcoming them. We cherish his humanity even as we’re thrilled by his brawls with violent predators like Kraven the Hunter, bulky crime boss Kingpin, hideously armed Doctor Octopus.

The Silver Surfer isn’t human like Parker. The Surfer is carved from the “doomed messiah from beyond” mold a la Superman (or Beowulf or Jesus). But he isn’t adopted as a baby and given a Midwest upbringing. He is a silver-skinned alien riding a floating board, arriving on Earth to determine if it’s suitable for his planet-eating master Galactus. Lee and Kirby made a wise choice in never pinning down the exact size of this god of interstellar death, who, like the Surfer, was first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four #48–50 (1966). That three-part story is a must-read, yes, but then, a decade later, Lee and Kirby collaborated on a 100-page retelling of the Surfer-and-Galactus saga, only this time the superheroes were removed, leaving just the god and his fallen angel. The result is a romantic, philosophical, and artistic statement that outstrips everything else Lee and Kirby collaborated on prior — which is saying a lot. It is also the last major work either of them would produce for Marvel, or for any company thereafter.

Today Marvel is an idea-resistant shell of the company Lee built and oversaw, a house of ideology teeming with dour, OMG-chirping social-justice superheroes

The Silver Surfer was published by arrangement with Fireside Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster in New York known for publishing a famous chess book. Based on a Kirby sketch, the cover is by artist Earl Norem, known for painting the covers of men’s adventure magazines and more than a few Marvel mags (like Savage Sword of Conan). Indeed, the painted cover gives the book literary gravitas. The interior art is all prime Kirby, with eloquent inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Glynis Wein (first wife of the late Len Wein, who created Wolverine). The Silver Surfer is a feast for a comics-lover’s eyes; my battered copy still radiates visual power. But it’s the heartbreaking story and dialogue that set this effort apart from anything else in the history of comics and in the bibliography of Lee and Kirby.

Here the protagonist must choose between living forever to serve a devourer of worlds, or else die alongside eight billion earthlings to be rejoined with the obliterated love of his life, lovely and golden Ardina. In The Silver Surfer, Lee gives us a hero who sells his soul to the devil so as to thwart a holocaust and save a populated globe. He only meets a few dozen — many of who attack him physically. But he understands their potential to grow beyond their limitations. It’s not a story in tune with the 1970s, that post-Vietnam, post-JFK, post-Watergate era during which Marvel delivered dark, humorous characters like Ghost Rider. No, this was something else entirely.

The opening splash page is the closed fist of the planet-eater: Behold! The hand of Galactus! Behold! The hand of him who is like unto a god. Behold! The clutch of harnessed power — about to be released! The tone here is elevated, serious, Lee is writing in a style that evokes the Old Testament of the King James. The second page is a splash, too; in it, the mitt of Galactus opens and from it erupts the Surfer, who “streaks through the currents of space — ever-seeking, ever-searching — for he alone is herald to mighty Galactus.” The image is the visual distillation of an artist’s self-confidence, his arrogance. After all, doesn’t every artist believe himself to be God as he manipulates his characters, his images, to suit his imaginative fancy? It’s also a breathtaking rendering of a big bang, or a biblical birth of the universe, without a benevolent designer in control. Here the god of the universe is a destroyer.

The universe seems endless and infinitely alluring to this mysterious star-wanderer, who yearns for his own homeworld, Zenn-La, lost to him forever for reasons Lee doesn’t initially explain, but we presume Galactus ate it.

The Surfer enters the atmosphere of “a verdant sphere” unlike any he’s seen before. Soaring high above the streets of New York, he doesn’t hide from view. He is fascinated by the fear in the eyes of people, noting “how it is always the young who are the first to accept — and to trust.” He sees a woman who reminds him of Shalla Bal, a woman the Surfer loved on his own world. Haunted by her memory, he pursues this woman through the alleyways of Manhattan while imagining a conversation with this Shalla Bal lookalike. We learn that, years ago, the Surfer sacrificed his mortal body to Galactus to save Zenn-La from destruction.

Finally, the woman abandons him to his painful recollections… and then Galactus suddenly appears in a whirlwind of crackling energy, ready to devour Earth.

He congratulates the Surfer on a job well done and articulates in excruciating detail how he plans to sate his appetite: “Here shall I drain the gently rolling seas. Here shall the bountiful land yield to me its gift of life.” It is an impending act of reverse creation, a backward Genesis. But the herald of Galactus isn’t having any of it. When the Surfer fails to convince his master that the price of eight billion souls is too high, he lashes out at Galactus with “the power cosmic,” using it seal the destroyer in a concrete cocoon. It doesn’t hold Galactus for long. Disgusted, the world-eater blasts the Surfer from the sky, cursing the herald to live amidst “the dunghills of man” for a spell in order to ponder his mistake. Then Galactus disappears.

The Surfer recovers from his fall, then disguises himself by altering his appearance to resemble a male fashion model from a billboard. He wanders the city with admiration for its denizens until muggers approach him in Central Park. The Surfer shoos them away with a pyrotechnical display, then pledges to walk around without hiding his identity; concealment did nothing for him anyway. Meanwhile, we witness Galactus gorging on a planet in another solar system. Sated, his thoughts turn toward his missing herald. What can Galactus do to make the Surfer submit? The world-eater’s counsel, a sniveling Master of Guile, advises Galactus to provide the Surfer — our alien Adam — with an Eve, someone to betray the Surfer’s heart.

And so beautiful Ardina enters the picture. She sneaks the instantly smitten Surfer beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and they share in the pleasures of the spaceways. Floating now on a patch of green ringed with bright flowers in a neighboring galaxy, our hero is tempted to give up his standoff with Galactus. In the same way Dido tempted Aeneas to give up his destiny to found Rome, so does Ardina begin to entice the Surfer to submit to her — and by extension Galactus. He refuses, says he’s willing to die to save Earth, and so Ardina leads the Surfer on a journey into human darkness. “You will perish for a worthless cause,” she warns. She shows him “brutal images, a morbid montage of heart-rending scenes filled with carnage and strife.” Domestic violence. A child killed by a hit-and-run driver. A mass execution. Bombed ruins of a once-thriving city. The Surfer is jarred but not dissuaded.

And then something interesting happens: Ardina, designed to coldly seduce the Surfer to make him betray his convictions, ends up feeling a warm love for him.

So much so that when the Surfer, driven mad from having set foot inside a suburban home where the walls seem to be closing on him:

The ceiling — almost touching my head! No room to move! No place to soar! I see no sun — no sky — no endless reaches of rolling space! Wherever I face — wherever I turn — I am surrounded by smothering objects! Shelves and books! Pictures, clocks, and lamps! Chairs and drapes and shuttered windows! But where is the sky? Where is the cold, crisp touch of rolling space? Where are the hills, the seas, the nourishing stars in endless profusion? Without them I perish!

Interestingly, the aspect of humankind that nearly causes the Surfer to surrender his mission is man’s stultifying existence inside tract-housing boxes.

Troubled by the experience, the Surfer races to escape Earth’s atmosphere. Riding bitch, Ardina screams: “The barrier! You have forgotten the barrier!”

The Surfer falls to Earth while Ardina re-materializes before Galactus inside his giant space vehicle. She admits she has failed. She confesses her love for the Surfer. Displeased, Galactus recalibrates her cloned body for one last mission. A mission that involves shattering the Surfer’s heart.

Meanwhile, the Surfer continues to be attacked by various humans. He is shot at, shackled and hammer-smashed, then the U.S. military blasts him with an ultra-sonic cannon, which nearly kills him. Ardina consoles him for a moment, kisses him, telling the Surfer she is with him and by his side, even after death. Which is when Galactus dissolves her into dead particles using a matrix-drone.

Now Galactus asks the Surfer to again join him in scouting the universe for other edible planets. It’s the only way Earth can be saved. The command is agonizing, for what Galactus offers is a living hell. To save Earth, the Surfer must cast off death, the ultimate escape and the one chance he has at being reunited with Ardina. But as the Surfer himself says: “Never was there a choice!”

The curse of immortality at the cost of true love is a familiar idea in ancient epics. The sea nymph Calypso offered Odysseus eternal life, but he refused it in order to be with his wife Penelope. But the Surfer has no options; he can’t be selfish enough to die and thus doom the Earth. What makes him a hero is his refusal to surrender and his willingness to embrace the agony of existence, of enslavement. He must deny himself every exit for humans to live on until they hopefully change themselves for the better. They must have a chance; the Surfer and Galactus give them one.

The Surfer returns to the gauntlet of Galactus, disappearing within the destroyer’s fist.

✶

In this story, there is no Fantastic Four. No cameo appearances by Lee and Kirby. No clever narrative captions. Just the purest narrative of a hero fighting for an ideal, for the steadfast belief in our ability to one day rise above our petty evils, our arrogance and wrath. Lee wrote so many masterpieces of comics literature, but this one is his best because it best speaks to the principle he and his characters lived by: Never succumb to nihilism and despair. Never forget that we are similar in our anxieties and weaknesses, and that our individual identities matter less than our collective aspiration to improve our world and the lives of the people who inhabit it.

It’s a moral stance that today remains obscured by Internet social-justice frothing and the political insanity of being ruled by a reality-TV star. But the embers of Lee’s views are there for anyone to ignite and carry forward. Make no mistake: the world is poorer now without Lee. As the blurb on The Silver Surfer ’s back cover announces: “You will never see his like again!” We can, however, always see Lee’s passion and his love for humanity — for life! — in the work he and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and others left for us to enjoy.

Lee didn’t need to die for our sins. He endures, and so will we.

Never was there a choice.

Jarret Keene is an assistant professor in residence in the English Department at UNLV, where he teaches creative writing and ancient and medieval literature. His fiction, essays and verse have appeared in literary journals such as New England Review, Carolina Quarterly, and the Southeast Review. He is the author of several books and editor of acclaimed short-fiction anthologies. He is currently working on a critical biography of comic book legend Jack Kirby.

#Stan Lee #Silver Surfer #Marvel Comics #Comics as literature #Silver Surfer First Appearance

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Best Castlevania Monsters and Bosses Ranked

https://ift.tt/3F1aUOS

Few series have been more resilient than Castlevania. The first few games in the franchise were fairly standard 8-bit platformers (albeit with a unique horror vibe), but over time, entries in this series became less linear and more about exploration, eventually helping to inspire a whole new subgenre: “Metroidvania.” While the 3D Castlevania games never quite reached the same heights as those earlier titles, they’re still excellent (maybe even underrated) experiences in their own right.

Regardless of your favorite Castlevania, I think we can all agree that the series has given us some of the coolest enemies around. From new takes on horror icons like Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster, to more original creations like skull towers and flea men, the Castlevania series is filled with monsters and bosses that brilliantly pay homage to this series’ genre roots while establishing a legacy of their own even if they already enjoy one elsewhere.

In honor of the 35th anniversary of the first Castlevania game, here is our look are the absolute best monsters and bosses to come out of this classic series.

15. Zombies – Castlevania

Essentially Castlevania’s equivalent of Super Mario’s goombas, zombies are the very first enemy you meet in the original game. While they don’t pose much threat on their own, but can get incredibly annoying if they manage to gang up on you from all sides.

Zombies have become a series mainstay (they appearing in some form in almost every Castlevania), but their first appearance is arguably still the best. These zombies are just rotting corpses in tattered cloaks with the singular purpose of doing as much damage as possible, and it’s easy to love them for their memorable simplicity.

14. Giant Ape Skeleton- Castlevania 64/Legacy of Darkness

The N64 version of Castlevania remains divisive due to a questionable camera and controls, but there’s no denying that the opening moments are among the most memorable in the series. As either Carrie or Reinhardt approach Dracula’s castle, they approach a large gate and are immediately confronted by a towering skeleton wielding a bone as a club.

Taking place just a few minutes into the game, this is ultimately an easy boss fight that sets the tone for a much more cinematic Castlevania experience than the 2D games that came before. Though giant skeletons have popped up in other Castlevania games, none of those encounters have been nearly as memorable.

13. Medusa- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

Medusa heads have been a constant annoyance for the Belmonts since the very first Castlevania game, but the series’ spin on the mythical monster doesn’t really take center stage until she appears as a full-on boss in the criminally underrated Lament of Innocence.

Admittedly, this Medusa doesn’t put up much of a fight, but the giant, floating head makes for an especially cool looking battle, especially once the snakes on her head continually lash out and she starts flinging stones at Leon.

12. Bone Pillars- Castlevania (Various)

Bone pillars are another example of how Castlevania games can make simple ideas really cool. Basically just two dinosaur skulls on top of each other that shoot fireballs in opposite directions, bone pillars have evolved with the series over the years, expanding their repertoire of attacks to include giant spike balls and even laser beams.

The pillars rarely prove to be much of a challenge for any Castlevania protagonist, but they’ve become so iconic that it’s hard to imagine a game without them.

11. Cockatrice- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

The first few Castlevania games were heavily inspired by classic horror movies, but as the series evolved, Konami dived deeper into folklore from all over the world to find some obscure, yet awesome, legendary creatures. The legend of the cockatrice (a chicken egg hatched by a toad) sounds ridiculous at first, but a couple of encounters make it clear that this giant chicken creature is no joke. The cockatrice’s ability to turn Soma Cruz into a stone statue gets annoying fast.

While the cockatrice makes for a fearsome enemy in Aria of Sorrow, it’s an even better ally in Circle of the Moon where you can summon the beast to pummel enemies with boulders.

10. Julius Belmont- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Aria of Sorrow took a lot of risks with the Castlevania formula by moving the setting to the future (which also meant incorporating modern weapons like handguns) and forgoing the traditional Belmont protagonist for a leading man who may turn out to be the new incarnation of Dracula. It all results in one of the best and most innovative games in the series.

Among one of Aria of Sorrow’s cooler surprises is a boss fight with 21st-century vampire hunter Julius Belmont. Julius’ attacks are exactly what you would expect from a Belmont. He largely focuses on using whip attacks from his trusty Vampire Killer weapon but mixes things up with sub-weapons like axes and holy water. It’s a fun treat for fans to finally see how they’d fare against a legendary vampire hunter after playing as the Belmonts for so long.

9. Satan- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

When Dracula is usually the main antagonist of the Castlevania series, how do you dream up an even bigger threat for him to face in a game where it turns out that you’ve been playing as Dracula all along? As Dana Carvey’s Church Lady character used to as on SNL, “Could it be Satan?”

The final battle of Lords of Shadow is an epic and challenging one-on-one against the Lord of Lies in a fittingly hellish arena that leads into one of the better recent twists in gaming history. That alone makes it the best 3D Castlevania game to date.

8. Death- Castlevania

Dracula’s number two has been a constant source of frustration for Castlevania players. Seriously, the boss fight against him in the first title might be the most difficult in the entire game, and he’s only slightly easier in many subsequent titles. But hey, it’s death incarnate, so what do you expect?

Death’s appearance has changed little over the years. He’s mostly been portrayed as a scythe-wielding skeleton in a cloak, but he’s also always been a fearsome foe who has even displayed an odd bit of respect toward the Belmonts. That quality alone makes him one of the more unique recurring foes in the mythos.

7. Merman- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Mermen don’t make a ton of sense, even in the fantastical world of Castlevania. Why does Dracula always have such a massive sewer in his castle? Could mermen even really live anywhere else? They seem pretty content to only hang out down there, which seems kind of weird, even by Castlevania’s standards.

Anyway, the mermen haven’t changed all that much since their first appearance in the original Castlevania. Since they’re heavily inspired by the iconic design of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, there also hasn’t been much reason to fix what isn’t broken. They remain an iconic enemy in the franchise, mostly known for posing a little more threat than the typical zombie while adding a little bit of variety to the castle setting and probably not smelling that great.

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6. Slogra and Gaibon- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

For the record, Gaibon is the gargoyle and Slogra is the thing that looks like a pterodactyl’s skin stretched over a human skeleton. They first appeared in Super Castlevania IV as endgame bosses Simon Belmont fought separately, but they teamed up in Symphony of the Night as Alucard’s first real challenge inside Dracula’s castle.

The designs alone are really creative (especially Slogra), and they looked particularly impressive at the dawn of the 32-bit console generation. Of course, graphics have improved quite a bit since then, but it’s still just plain cool to watch Gaibon pick up Slogra and repeatedly try to drop him on Alucard.

5. Legion- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

Castlevania enjoyed something of a resurgence in the 2000s, with a string of excellent portable entries that are still among the best Metroidvanias ever made. Harmony of Dissonance might be one of the weakest of those games due to its unusually low difficulty and NES-quality music, but it did make up for it with some especially impressive visuals.

Appearing in two different forms, Legion looks especially intimidating in Harmony’s brighter graphics engine. The first form is the classic ball of bodies, this time held aloft by six angelic wings, while Legion’s second form is a giant ball covered in a shell of bones. Like most Harmony of Dissonance enemies, Legion doesn’t pose much of a challenge, but it’s especially fun seeing Juste Belmont slowly chip away at the giant creature.

4. Beelzebub- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Beelzebub is another Castlevania boss that isn’t necessarily the most challenging, but his unique design earns him a high spot on this list. Like something out of a nightmare, or at least a Hellraiser movie, Beelzebub is a giant rotting corpse hanging by hooks. Incapable of attacking Alucard himself, he instead dispatches waves of buzzing flies that you have to fend off while dismantling him piece by piece.

While most Castlevania monsters are firmly rooted in folklore or classic horror movies, Beelzebub remains an especially impressive example of how the series can sometimes put its own stamp on more modern horror designs.

3. Dragon Zombies- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Castlevania did the whole undead dragon thing years before Game of Thrones, and this franchise’s take on that concept was significantly more awesome. Dragon zombies have actually shown up in a few games, but Circle of the Moon ups the ante by throwing a pair of them at you simultaneously. The left dragon spews fireballs at you, while the right spits out balls of electricity.

It’s a real pain of a fight, and when you finally take out one of the dragons, the other one regains a bunch of health by feeding on the corpse of its fallen companion. Years later, this remains one of the best, and most difficult, boss fights in any Castlevania game.

2. Chaos- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

The true source of Dracula’s power makes for one of the most graphically interesting boss fights in the franchise. The idea of “Chaos” as an enemy isn’t new in video games, but in Aria of Sorrow, Chaos has two forms. First, Soma fights it as three demonic statues circle around the screen. When they go down, Chaos reveals itself as a simple black orb defended by four projectile shooting eyes and a massive skeletal dragon. It’s a nonstop kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes that resembles, well…chaos.

Aria of Sorrow is arguably the one other Metroidvania that comes closest to matching (or even exceeding) the greatness of Symphony of the Night, and a lot of that is due to its fantastic creature design. This incredible design contributes to Chaos’ status as one of the best boss battles in the series. Still, Chaos isn’t the greatest threat the Belmonts and company have faced…

1. True Dracula- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Of course, Dracula had to be number one on the list. The eternal quest to slay him is the entire reason the Castlevania series exists. Which Dracula to pick, though? After all, there have been a lot of great final confrontations with the head bloodsucker over the years. For a lot of gamers, the final battle in Super Castlevania IV is especially iconic, but it also doesn’t hold many surprises.

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In Portrait of Ruin, Dracula first mixes things up by attacking with Death at his side. That’s pretty neat on its own, but after you’ve seemingly dealt with both of them, they merge into True Dracula: a giant demonic bat creature that fights with heavy stomps and screen-filling attacks. Just the design alone is way more impressive than the typical tall, pale guy in a cape. You have to pull out all the stops to beat True Dracula, making for what’s easily the best and most epic encounter in the entire franchise.

The post 15 Best Castlevania Monsters and Bosses Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

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paraclete0407 · 3 years

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['And I Will Give You Rest]

- ‘People determined to keep their inner lives’

- 'All Milwaukee started to hunker down for or toward Delta'

- 'The magic of Half Price Books was gone but so were the racists'

- 'The visions of turkeys - "appreciate me," their insouciant defiance"

- '"Hyper moron" meaning sth approximating to "going too far"'

- 'That the few things which had caught his eye in past were still the things which counted in his heart, ghosts or otherwise. The strange sermon from Christ Church about ghosts not being alive but a love nevertheless but what was that supposed to mean? Magdalen took the Risen Lord for a ghost in the garden but was that just my self-aggrandizing-Christ-Complex-ing retort to a pinpoint criticism of my trivial existence? Moreover were my demons gone or were they battling each other more than ever ‘Parliament of Devils / Fallens Angels’-style out of Paradise Lost or one vice / sin trying to compensate or counter-balance for another and if so & there again was Putin going to nuke Milwaukee just to put an end to the push-me-pull-you I-know-ha-ha know-you-are-but-what-am-I I-have-heart-failure-meaning-you-have-heart-failure Shadowplay Mirror Stage monstrosity and abandonment?

- 'They were trying to get life right for the first time for the first time in a long time, and for a time he ventured in to or in any event towards a space "beyond irony" in which he had a positive or living wish and could perhaps meet someone new. He wasn't keeping secrets or rather was not centrally defined by these secrets, by his past. JEP had quoted inadvertently or otherwise from 'The Great Gatsby' as did General Mattis although it was hard to tell if either of them understood the part about young men's personal testimonies being marred by redactions or self-censorship. His mother had quoted from Got saying that winter was coming; Shanghai-1 had quoted from Confucius saying, 'I hope that my future child will not hesitate to abandon [sex]'s faults.' I was working on 'My First Major Mistake' and postponing or 'bracketing' my 'little stories' about amatory failure. At the height of the self or self-system a 'Sospira' happened - a flight up of sighing or prayer in which borrowed or received - rather inherited or patrimonial words came to override accustomed 'messaging.' Future King Edgar said, 'Speak what we feel / not what we ought to say,' but I'd been trying for basically a decade to say what was right to say, spurred or overdetermined by Colossians 4:6. I was disappointed by the 'genocide-monkeys' on Amazon.com who hawked General Mattis memorabilia as though the conscientious leader of men (boys / lads) and female youths as well had been an exponent of massacre for massacre's sake like the Call of Duty game in which they mowed down airport-travelers in order to ingratiate themselves with Russian terrorists. But I didn't think the children of tomorrow wanted spies or infiltrations and my 'John le Carre / J. Alfred Prufrock Jr.' hyper-fanfictions were only theoretical invetsment-options; what they wanted were literal "Spaceships to Venus" whilst I had long since contented myself with IZ*ONE's "Spaceship" and pictures of tender shadows covering journeyers in airports. "Our Souls at Night" was fundamentally about failures, vanities, cruel reversals, 'Harvests of Sorrow,' lingering bemusements of schooling as well - the man perhaps feeling at life's end pace Augustine 'one's body is one's wife,' that he had no other flesh.. Why had I told myself that love-stories like "A Walk To Remember" were less toxic than my premarital-but-expecting-practically-predestined-to-get-married military counter-terrorism fictions in which people acted ethically almost 100% of the time instead of comporting themselves as 'principle monkeys,' who'd said in their hearts, 'I have to do this; I do this - therefore, I rain chaos and "War without Mercy" on everything and everyone else & why would I follow one rule unless to blow apart another.' My ex-boss had said, 'What do couples talk about?' IT's your kids stupid! Except Jewish couples talked about non-Jews - everyone were tribal hacks going Gr. "hyper moron." But, with him and her, I had had an atheist's heart and an 'expressive-individualist-Milleniial-complaint-self-consciousness-JZM-O-Sole-Mio-CCP-revenge-Faustian-Pact-monkey''s tongue.' Atheism, Satanism, demon-summons + infections, metatstatic death-cult Scientism, blasphemy of Spirit, sons and daughter of destruction. B. and I had kept quoting Moshe Rabbenu, 'Heaven and Earth as witnesses AGAINST you - that ye shall surely die!' And they totally massively desperately loved Mao; adored 'Parasite,' - an ecstatic orgasmic rapturous 'yes' to WW3

'A Final Love'

'That do'st prefer the upright heart and pure... sing Heav’nly Muse' - and I remembered Penn Station New York in view of CS Lewis on 'Home' - the angel said, 'Divide, divide, divide' - I wanted to abandon PhiEd and attempts to change some minds forever; my own heart was here with a dream of there. [German submachinegun] made me feel secure but in this apostolic-revelatory new century the naked or dove-silvered dreamers hesitate through fraught cold forests searching for an Eastern Empire & I remembered 'Crowns of Glory,' wanting to be the First Gentleman of the United States by 2056. Tender shadows + the pleasure of helping people like the pleasure of thinking that you know the truth. We consecrate sometimes and sometimes merely symbolize or indicate or theorize; 'maybe mine.'

I am crossing the bridge - the mountain-divide - Chinese rocket with the guy-wire 'That's not even it' - the Gothic spire went straight up; was I tempting God like 'Paradise Regained?' - the little children had moved me to simplify my language then I happened across 'may reticulate "nay come on take the chance of anger..'" I discussed the anguish of King Hezekiah and forgot again; I canceled my parents, fathered my brother. Isaiah 38:15. Shadows in Madison WI and a dream of 2 angels over mountain; Uchida Mitsuko's D-960, sobbing, ‘why already do I have to die; have I taken the Westward path; why did I ot get married; why did I not move out; why am I still writing music instead of living a life of love in material and physical and marital and domestic and all other respects?’ His anguish in a distant way I see now is like that of Cui Jian in ‘Yi wuo suo yo’ - ‘I have nothing.’ At the moment of peak creativity or ‘spiritual productive power’ he confronted the end of his life on this Earth, rather than the lodestone or seed of a future which would allow him to ‘make it big.’

I had left behind sacred professions esp. jurisprudence; possibly because my underlying vocation had been for the priesthood or at least my most basic identity was Christian and I had attempted to bypass this, preoccupied with ‘getting established,’ as if one had to be a man in full before making the simplest purest decision.

I imagined eating bread with honey and an egg for breakfast at Memorial Union and then studying all day but I could not determine my mind to be filled with the details of the legal code instead of bringing forth something out of myself or in the end succeeding as a writer. My experiences at law school orientations had been discouraging; I had no idea what my prospective future classmates really stood for or meant by their words or ‘speech-acts’ except that they were utterly intent on making much of themselves and their lives or their time on this Earth; they seemed to be ‘capering; jet-set kiddies.’ A Dept. of State spouse seemed to brag or revel in her international experience / exposure. I met a Korean who was married to a Japanese and who had experienced a stroke at a comparatively young age (due, I can only infer in retrospect and after 11 years, to extreme militation of one soul or spirit against another); I perceived that his habit of telling the same story to everyone he met might have been unconscious, as if he kept forgetting that he already said or had lost track of the fact that he was being artificial. After receiving the first and the second Pfizer jabs I started to perceive the blood in my own brain and several times became severely concerned of an impending stroke or other failure of the circulatory system. I worried too that fasting had thinned my skull and rendered my brain over-sensitive to external electric fields.

We talked for a little while and walked out in the night together; it was a sacred experience; however, I had no expectation we would really become friends or meet again.

I had read 'The Executioner's Song' and seen 'Michael Clayton' about getting out of Milwaukee and pure blonde Charity-receptive girls of 2007 seemed to be gone though I could've made some listen in '16...

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chromemuffin · 6 years

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Quan Zhi Gao Shou / The King’s Avatar Novel (Vol. 1, Ch. 1-10)

How these liveblogs work: I read five chapters of the manhua at a time, then the equivalent chapters in the novel. This is probably going to take forever seeing as there are 800+ translated chapters available as of the time of writing this post and over 1000 chapters total, buuut at least each chapter is short.

Fair warning: I always sound as if I don’t like what I’m reading or I’m criticizing it (just read my captive prince liveblog lol...), but I am actually enjoying it immensely.

Volume 1: Banished Battle God

Chapter 1: The Banished Battle God

My first comment of the entire novels: What is with the “eccentrically-shaped ashtray”? It doesn’t specify what this ashtray looks like, only that it’s unusual. Why include this detail in the first place if you’re not going to tell us what it’s actually shaped like? Now I need to know!

This was also in the manhua, but I didn’t bother bringing it up then: Why was the first bit of dialogue translated as “Arrived”? I’m pretty sure it’s this character: 来. I never managed to learn enough Chinese to be worth a damn, but I do Japanese to English translations on the side and I’m pretty sure a loose translation would work better. idk, it just bothers me. Don’t mind me, though. I like nitpicking over translation stuff. And I won’t get to do much more of it.

Anyway.

“He gently removed the card from Glory’s dedicated log-in device.”

I love this description, a little throwaway word ‘gently’ tells so much about Ye Xiu as a guy who really loves and respects this game. I think he already know what is in store for him to some extent, but he doesn’t take it out on the game. In fact, he was playing right up until it was time for the meeting. The novel states that the manager didn’t even him any advanced notice, I’m assuming of their decision to remove him from the team, but that Yu Xiu also wasn’t surprised.

“Only they quickly recovered because there was another important person that deserved their attention.”

Hm, pretty girl or new team leader asshole? Tough decision indeed.

Ah, ok. So that’s the deal with his pseudonym. It’s so close to his real name (in English lettering at least) that I confuse the two. But it’s far easier to tell the difference when I look at the characters 叶修 / 叶秋.

It’s kind of confusing because (at least in the translation), he is referred to as his alias Ye Qiu in this chapter, whereas the summary and other places refer to him as Ye Xiu.

lol “Mine!” How shameless.

“After one year, even if he wanted to return again, for the elderly, without a year of intense competition to maintain his skills...”

‘for the elderly’ is just...hilarious because he’s only 25. that’s not old. (well, in this game’s context it is, but geez is that an early cut-off age)

Chapter 2: Area 3 Number 47

“As tactful as he is, he wouldn’t think to blame the club for retiring him.”

But that’s?? exactly?? what happened??? You’re already kicking him out after all he did for the team over the years. I mean, it’s a sound business decision, but no need to be so nasty about it. The stuff Ye Xiu pulls off in-game aside, he seems to be a relatively decent person, even going as far as helping out his friends to the point where he doesn’t have enough left to pay the penalty fee, whatever amount that is.

Ah, Su Mucheng, I like her the more times I read these opening scenes across the various media...She has a cute character design in the animation, which I watched when it came out, but she actually turns out to be quite mature and adorably worried/supportive.

Icicles also formed on his head. If he didn’t take shelter, he would die.

Seems a bit dramatic, but so is icicles forming on your head!! It must be really, really cold out, huh...

Su MuCheng was always gentle and serene. Even during in an intense PK confrontation, she always held a smile. Speaking about her, Ye Qiu sometimes watched as she smiled while causing her opponents to explode into pieces. When she then politely said sorry, he would always inexplicably tremble a bit.

ah, yes, I’m pretty sure the animation skips this observation, which builds a bit more character for Su Mucheng since we don’t see her again for a bit. Ye Xiu, also, seems a bit more “alive” in a sense in the manhua/novel, because of little comments like these.

Chen Guo is also a fun character ^.^ “She slammed the keyboard directly shutting down the game.” definition of a rage quit, huh.

Chapter 3: Special Duty: Night Shift

“My hands were frozen cold or else 30 seconds would’ve been enough.”

show off. Though he doesn’t really come off as showing off. The poor opponent must have been so confused, though. Wins 52 times in a row and suddenly gets beat in 40 seconds flat haha.

“Ye Xiu… … Ye Qiu? It really is him!” Chen Guo excitedly thought. It looked like she really had uncovered his hidden identity! This showed that he really was Ye Qiu. If she had seen the name Ye Qiu written, then she wouldn’t have believed it.

This part confused me a bit in the manhua, but it’s clearer here. At least the Ye Xiu/Qiu mess is clarified early on. Still don’t know why the narrative refers to him as Ye Qiu in the beginning if his name is actually Ye Xiu (and is the one used in the summary)...??

She had been prepared to use everything she owned to get his signature. Ye Qiu’s signature, ah! Who had it? No one!

Chen Guo’s thought process is just fun to go along with, haha she’s so dramatic. And also works well narrative-wise to show how popular Glory is. I mean, she works at an internet cafe but that doesn’t mean she has to be into Glory herself; but she is, played for a long time, and is up to date with the professional scene to some degree if she knows the names and faces of all of Excellent Era’s members.

...she [had] a strong urge to change the word Xiu into Qiu.

haha.

“Oh, so it’s like this… … how generous.” Chen Guo sighed with sorrow. This person’s strength was powerful, his account definitely wouldn’t be weak. Powerful accounts were extremely valuable. Gifting it away so easily was very valiant.

The irony in this part never fails to amuse me.

Later, in Glory’s fifth expansion, a lot of experts obtained the qualifications to complete the Challenge skill becoming the first ones possessing access to all servers.

This is an interesting tidbit. I like the novel, where it’s easier to absorb all the rules of the game/professional scene.

Ah, so the account card Ye Xiu uses is actually one from 10 years ago? And he held onto it for this whole time, not using it. That’s...pretty amazing, I would have lost mine after 10 years.

His hair looked as if it hadn’t been taken care of in at least half a month. His face didn’t look too healthy. Although it was white and clear, it was that sort of sickly pale. His two eyes gazed at her listlessly...The guy in front of her didn’t look too young, but was unexpectedly also so dejected and disdained.

I remember people being upset that he looked more handsome in his other appearances. He’s the sort to not care about appearances, and I guess he doesn’t get out much, stuck inside playing Glory all day. But, well, if he looks dejected and disdained it’s probably from what just happened.

“full-time night cat“ AH this is why the manhua drew him as a cat when he said he likes nights. I guess it’s an expression.

His approving attitude made Chen Guo feel very apologetic. This small storage room truly wasn’t a place for living.

lol not to mention Chen Guo drops a bucket of paint on top of the bed along with a whole shelf in the manhua. She didn’t seem as apologetic in the other mediums as she does here, though.

Even after all this, he had never asked for his boss’s name.

haha kind of important don’t you think.

Chapter 4: Mysterious Expert

“If you also want to go out and eat, don’t ask my employees to go on an errand for you.” Chen Guo said.

“Next time, could you tell us in advance? Can’t you help deliver it to us?” A person said.

“The Internet Cafe only has so many people. How could we deliver it all back? Enough of this nonsense, if you really want to eat so much but are too lazy to buy it, go ask for their phone number. Wouldn’t they be willing to deliver it?” Chen Guo said.

“Sister Chen do you have their number? Lend it to me so I can copy it down.” A person said.

“What would I do with their phone number? I have people to run errands for me. Why would I inconvenience the restaurant?” Chen Guo said.

Chen Guo is pleasantly vicious. I wasn’t overly fond of her in the animation, but she has great expressions in the manhua, and her dialogue is just great in the novel.

lol “it looks like I’m forcing him play.”

This Heavenly Domain wasn’t a single map. It was another world. The map was as big as the combined worlds of five other servers. This place had difficult instance dungeons, powerful equipment, precious materials, and also freedom. All experts would meet up there. The Heavenly Domain was a player’s final destination.

So that’s what the Heavenly Domain is...I don’t know if I ever quite figured it out casually watching the animation.

“Don’t fake it. You actually haven’t retired. It’s just that you were unable to win a seat, so you were kicked out right?” Chen Guo said.

Ye Xiu was speechless.

“No offense… …” Chen Guo realized that her words had somewhat stabbed at his sore spot.

Way to hit it where it hurts! Unintentionally, of course. I seem to like manhua Ye Xiu for his expressions, and novel Chen Guo because it actually gives some more depth to her character.

“Oh so it’s like this?” Tears streamed down Ye Xiu’s cheeks. Ye Qiu was currently chatting with you face to face, sister.

lol wait is this just an expression or- he’s not actually tearing up in this scene is he.

“Oh?” when Ye Xiu flipped to the last page and looked, a sudden wave of shame hit. Thinking about it, this hand guide hadn’t changed much over ten years. This was something players couldn’t update any further. For missions that veterans would choose, how could no one have come up with this type of strategy already? Right now, he needed this type of strategy. Just as Ye Xiu was ready to follow this strategy to take missions, tears immediately began streaming down his face. He was once regarded as textbook level figure! Now with a beginners guide in his hands, how could he endure this shame?

Ye Xiu’s a lot, ah, more expressive than the animation gives him credit for. I’m sorry, I laughed. He’s just so thrown off by having to start from scratch.

Chapter 5: Skill Match

But at this point everyone was still level 0. Their jumping abilities were too poor and there was no way they could jump high enough. Everyone repeatedly bouncing up and down was truly a cute and beautiful scene.

WHAT LOL Ok this wasn’t in the manhua was it, it’s indeed a glorious image. I like how the narrator even describes it as a ‘cute’ scene haha.

Aah, I appreciate the little break away to explain the mechanics of the game. It’s not terribly useful seeing as the game doesn’t actually exist in real life, but it’s decently interesting.

But if this skill set that had been picked by peak-level expert like him was seen by ordinary players, they would definitely laugh.

And an area where Ye Xiu doesn’t have to feel ashamed of, haha.

Chapter 6: Thousand Chance Umbrella

It’s not as if it wasn’t explained in other mediums, but the novel definitely has the time to go through all the details like the evolution of Glory’s class system and why no one would suspect anyone to play the ‘unspecialized class’ anymore.

Soon after, he directly headed to the storage chest in the warehouse and opened it. An equipment unexpectedly lay inside.

Accounts that transferred servers should be empty...

But Lord Grim, which had just transferred to the tenth server, unexpectedly had an equipment inside.

No one knew how this happened, but it seemed as if Ye Xiu had been expecting it. He knew that he would find an equipment here...

This, too, is interesting! Because it seems as if the warehouse pops up out of nowhere in the other mediums, and you’re not really sure if it’s something that everyone else can access or not if you weren’t paying attention to the fact that the umbrella is a ‘silver’ weapon and thus a unique item that no one else would be able to acquire.

...there wasn’t a trace of happiness in Ye Xiu’s expression. On the contrary, it was filled with grief. A rare tremble once again emerged on his right hand.

but then, there’s this. ;-;

The customizable/self-made weaponry is actually quite smart. Reminds me of the custom furniture you can make and add to the Sims... (look, I really am not a gamer haha, I have no clue how many real life games have similar features) I didn’t really understand what was so special about the umbrella before (I probably wasn’t paying 100% attention...).

Only, it could be a unique surpassing peak Epic equipment or it could also be a unique piece of trash.

Or it could be a unique piece of trash. hahaha

Ye Xiu gently retrieved the Thousand Chance Umbrella and placed it in Lord Grim’s hands.

Also the fact that he, gently, places a bunch of pixels into his inventory/avatar’s hands is telling how much this game and this item in particular mean to him.

Damn, reading about playing a game really puts me in the mood to play a game, too. I don’t really play games like this one, though...

Chapter 7: Midnight Phantom Cat

You saw clearly, spoke well, planned well, but in the end because of a single unexpected accident, your dreams and hopes all disappeared into nothing leaving only this incomplete Thousand Chance Umbrella to me.

“You originally had talent in Glory, a successful talent… …” His fingers gently wiped over the keyboard. With a quiver, Lord Grim cast a heal onto Sleeping Moon’s body. When Sleeping Moon promptly praised him again, Ye Xiu’s mind was no longer in the game.

More sad hints of the past. .-.

“It’s here.” Ye Xiu saw that typing might have been slow, so he immediately yelled vaguely. His mouth still held onto the cigarette!

Ooh! He spoke! Or, ahem, ‘yelled vaguely’.

He was even a little skeptical thinking that his healing might snatch away the enemy.

Don’t you hate it when you’re minding your own business, not even fighting, and the monster goes to attack you anyway? lol you know how many times my teammates died from that in Final Fantasy Type-0...the worst part is that you can only control one of the 3 party members at a time, so to save them you have to keep switching between characters. or deal with having no one to heal you and only bring 1 character. idk I really liked that game.

Beautiful! Ye Xiu couldn’t help but praise him.

lol lots of praise going around in-game. everyone’s still playing nice-nice. Well, in Ye Xiu’s case I guess he is genuinely praising him.

Ah, so Ye Xiu was actually going to warn the others, was he. He just didn’t get the chance. I wondered if he purposely didn’t say anything even if he knew Sleeping Moon’s plan, I can’t remember what happened in the animation.

Chapter 8: A Life and Death Struggle

In these seven seconds, not only would the mage die but Fallen Sun would die too. He might as well try to save one of them.

Ye Xiu had lost faith in Sleeping Moon and directly abandoned the mage to heal Fallen Sun.

I do like how they handled the back and forth for the battle scene here, it doesn’t have too much of a lag between action while explaining Ye Xiu’s thought process.

He couldn’t tell if Fallen Sun had bad luck attached to him. Right when the Bleed status wore off, the Midnight Demon Cat swiped at him again causing him to Bleed yet again. These types of status inducing attacks only had a small probability to appear. But it seemed as if someone added a 100% percent probability halo around Fallen Sun.

Don’t you hate it when that happens. I don’t think anything fishy is up? He just had bad luck. It’s also totally relatable haha.

Could it be that this guy had seen through his own own plan at that time?

Sleeping Moon sure manages to get a lot of musings into the space between attacks here. This is funny though, because the novel gives confirmation that Ye Xiu only realized this recently, when Sleeping Moon purposely let the others get attacked. He isn’t that godly that he realized it from the start.

“50%? I like 100%!” and “...be at ease and drop dead!”

lol and there the shamelessness comes out. Well, Ye Xiu also lost all respect for this guy so.

Furthermore, he opened it extremely exaggeratedly and the umbrella actually flipped the other way. He retracted the umbrella a bit...

Um, so this is possible with a real umbrella of course, but a virtual one too...?

Chapter 9: Ye Xiu’s Two Hands

A pair of hands that made people’s cheeks stream with tears appeared in front of her eyes — Ye Xiu’s two hands.

Those must be some pretty impressive hands.

The hands were beautiful hands.

And in case you didn’t get it the first time: Ye Xiu has beautiful hands. Well, that is in the chapter title after all.

lol and Chen Guo examining his speed, I guess he must be taking it easy since the boss isn’t a difficult one.

Their banter is also so fun to read~

Chapter 10: Shameless Novice

lol did you really get out of the dungeon just so you could switch computers to get a smoke. I don’t think he particularly cared about finishing it, since it just provides exp probably.

Haha “the shameless novice” but what does Sleeping Moon gain from labeling him a novice? Shameless, yes, to discredit him.

These identical messages mixed together with other anger and hate. Although the system automatically blocked profanities, people’s intelligence were boundless. They used same sounding words to complete their mission.

ah, yes, the ways people get past profanity blockers, particularly fun in languages with hanzi! (hanzi right? Chinese characters?)

“Just because I’m angry doesn’t mean I have to show it.” Ye Xiu didn’t look angry. He was even smiling. While doing so, he logged out of the game and shut down the computer. Changing over to the smoking area was still his current ambitious dream.

Ah, I love this series. He just really wants a smoke.

But I can relate, I’m fairly expressionless most of the time, even when I’m excited.

Only players over level 20 could leave the beginner area. When that happened, PK’ing would be opened up. In the meantime, those level 20 and under could only point fingers and argue.

lol just...lol

But now that he couldn’t form a team, his leveling speed would only increase.

HAHA joke’s on you, it apparently works out better for him, they can’t even start PKing so there’s really no use getting into a tizzy over it...not that that stops people from creating drama. ever.

Lord Grim was equivalent to three people. Furthermore, with Ye Xiu’s skills, he wouldn’t be slower in clearing a dungeon than a five man team. He might even be a bit faster.

The video game context really gives validity to Ye Xiu’s ability to breeze through the early stages of the story as well as his strength being far above the others. Plus, it’s true. There are some games where teammates slow you down, you might as well go at it solo.

“Hello hello.”

What a nice way to end this part! I’ll be bouncing back to the manhua now.

So, yeah, like I said. I’m actually having a lot of fun, the novels don’t linger on the mechanics long enough to become boring. Plus, Ye Xiu’s background - being 25 and already on the pro scene for 7 years - makes all of his overpowered-ness not just believable, but expected. Reading him go through the early stages of the game is sort of like watching a let’s play - relaxing.

#quan zhi gao shou #king's avatar blogging #qzgs novel blogging #qzgs vol 1

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mateojez-blog · 7 years

Text

Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover

"The world was pure darkness. but I was born into a radiant world enveloped in a brilliant light. From within that light, my master gazed upon me and smiled. Before he disappeared, the one who made me bestowed names on his 6 apprentices, and passed down the Book of Prophecies to 5 who came to be known as the foretellers. The 5 read the manuscript, and were shocked by the final entry. The fated land will be a battleground for a great war. Light will see defeat and expire, while darkness prevails evermore. They decided to draw on the powers of the book to prevent that from happening. They harness unimaginable forces from the future to protect the light and keep the world safe from the inevitable darkness. You should know that they share the same goal, but they don't follow the same path. Don't lose sight of yours, okay?"

- χ Back Cover opening

In X Back Cover we finally learned about the Master of Masters and the Foretellers. We saw what lead to the Keyblade war but also got a million unanswered questions. The lingering question is still: "Who is the traitor?", next in line is: "What's in the box?" But let's start from the beginning.

The apprentices have names that origin from the Latin names for the deadly sins:

Ava - Avaritia (greed)

Invy - Invidia (envy)

Gula - Gula (gluttiny)

Aced - Acedia (sloth)

Ira - Ira (wrath)

Luxu - Luxuria (extravagance, lust)

Despite their names the Foretellers or Luxu don't behave accordingly. Or do they?

When Invy and Ava got into a fight on the bridge Invy accused Ava of being greedy enough to, despite having her own union, collecting the best Keyblade wielders of other unions and training them. That showed Invys envy. Gula broke up the alliance with aced because accusing him of not doing anything to bring any of the other Foretellers into the alliance. Acusing him of sloth. Gula showed his gluttony when he wanted Ava to give him her Lux to summon Kingdom Hearts. Ava told Invy that she saw Wrath in Ira when he askeg about Gula, but in fact Ira seemed just a bit tense, nothing special...

So before the Master vanished he gave Luxu a Keyblade and a box. The Box has a sigil on the top saying "X SUPER". The super could stand for the remaining sin SUPERBIA (pride), but is it referring to the Master of Masters? In the part of Luxu's case, we see the Master telling him that he is the indisposable number seven. After that the Master says to Luxu: "C'mon! It's simple. You six plus me is seven. WAIT. DON'T TELL ME I DON'T COUNT!" To which Luxu responds "No... Uh, um..." If he doesn't count he can't be Superbia, if he does, it's him.

The Traitor

"The one unable to forgive this distastefulness, who thought of fate with pessimism and lost true strength... The one who will misread the truth and step into secrecy. And with that one swing, the bell that tells the end of the battle will sound... and the battle will finally begin, at the destined time."

- Book of Prophecy, Kingdom Hearts χ

"On that fated land, a great war shall transpire. Darkness will prevail and the light expire"

- Master of Masters, χ Back Cover

"The lost page talks about the one who bears the sigil."

- Master Gula, χ Back Cover

The First passage tells us when the war will begin and gives us hints who could start it, the second, where the war will take place and the outcome, and the third one tells us who the traitor is.

We can find 4 people in the first passage: Aced, Ira, Gula, Ava.

Aced can't forgive the distasteful betrayal from Gula.

Ira was a pessimist about the fate and wanted to try and change it at all cost.

Gula misread the Lost page and didn't tell anyone that he had the page.

Ava confronted Luxu about being the traitor, after Luxu told her who the traitor was and attacked him, when Ava's and Luxu's Keyblades clashed the bell in Daybreak Town rang.

Before any of the Foretellers, Luxu got his task from the Master, he got a nameless Keybade, which Luxu dubbed "No name", and a box with the sigil "x super". Luxu's task was to pass the Keyblade with the Masters eye to his apprentice and to observe the others, but to stay out if sight in the beginning. Luxu disappeared while the Master handed out the tasks to the Foretellers. And soon after the Master vanished.

The story unfolded, the Foretellers fought, made alliances, broke them, attacked each other, got angry and so on, Luxu hid the box somewhere and came to the hill where the Master talked to Ira, to watch over Daybreak Town and the Foretellers.

After Ava refusing to help Gula summon Kingdom Hearts she talked to Invy and decided that she will collect Lux like the other foretellers in order to keep the balance and stall the war. After her meeting with Invy, Ava gathered the Dandelions and she put them to the final test to prepare them for what's to come. She sent the Dandelions to the realm of Unchained and put them to sleep. In that sleep they were do relive the adventure they had so far and experience the pain and sorrow of the Keyblade war in a dream, the sadness and pain would wake them up in a new world that their light created while all the others would give their life in the war.

After that Ava stumbled on to Luxu and asked him where he was and what he was up to. Luxu explained that he has to watch. Ava didn't like the answer so she confronted Luxu on being the traitor and taking advantage of the Master's will. Luxu drew his Keyblade and told Ava who the traitor is and Ava didn't believe him. Ava drew her Keyblade and clashed with Luxu and the bell in the Daybreak Town clock tower rang marking the beginning of the Keyblade war. Luxu vanished.

Gula wanting the Master to return was going summon Kingdom Hearts, so he started collecting lux. In order to balance that all other Foretellers did the same. Luxu appeared just to put the spark needed to start the Keyblade war and Ava took the bait.

Basically, Gula filled a barrel with gun powder, Ava was used as a rope and Luxu was the spark to light up the rope.

Ava, Gula, Invy, Ira and Aced died, just like all other participants, Luxu holding the Keyblade with the Masters eye and with the box looked as Kingdom Hearts appeared and absorbed all the lost hearts into it. It wasn't shown that Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by the darkness nor was it shown that the χ-Blade was shattered into 20 pieces, 7 of light and 12 of darkness. The only person to know is Luxu and the Master of Masters. We know for sure that nor Kingdom Hearts, nor the χ-Blade or Keychain of the χ-Blade are in the box because something was in the box before the war and both Kingdom Herts and the χ-Blade destroyed after.

But let's return to the traitor.

Gula said that it's the one that bears the sigil, maybe he was talking about the Recusant's sigil.

In Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance we learn about the Recusants's sigil

"Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII, gave new names to all who entered its ranks. Each name was an anagram created from the member's original name plus the letter X.

This X is known as the Recusant's Sigil, and has manifested itself in both obvious and insidious ways throughout Sora's adventures."

Besides that, Young Xehanort told Sora that they tracked him through the sigil. So it's possible that the X or χ(chi) is used to track the box, the other possibility is that is directly linked to Master of Masters, Luxu, Xehanort or even Sora.

So the traitor is one of these people:

Master of Masers - Mysteriously vanished, hid something into a box, never to be seen, possibly tracking Luxu, everything started with him telling the foretellers of the nightmare.

Luxu - Despite being ordered to observe, he returned and provoked Ava and used her to start the Keyblade war. Or maybe Luxu opened the box, if the lost page tells about the Recusant's sigil, a sigil is a mark and recusant means the one who doesn't want to submit to an authority or comply with a rule made by an authority.

Gula - Wanted to summon Kingdom Hearts (and succeeded) despite knowing the cost

Xehanort - Despite Luxu not having a book of prophecy, Xehanort knew what is written in it. Maybe he opened the box. And inside, among other, was the original Book of Prophecy. The Masters copy, we know that there were 6 books, 5 for the foretellers and one for the Master, where he took the Lost page out. Maybe the master put a copy into the box, gave Gula the lost page and gave the book to another foreteller...

Sora - In Dream Drop Distance before the fight with Xemnas, he says to Sora: "As the Flash bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that of a recusant."

The Player of Kingdom Hearts χ/Unchained χ - As we know the person who set everything in motion was the Master, but in reality it was the Dark Chirtiy or Nightmare Chirity. It was the one to toss seeds of doubt and distrust between the Foretellers. And as we know it belonged to the Player at the time. Just before the Keyblade war it cut the connection to the Player and said "Let us meet in another dream." And it appeared as the Anti Black Coat Nightmare boss in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.

So it was the players fault to some extent, it would explain why Ava was so different to the Player if the Player was from another any Union except Vulpes. Before the Keyblade war Ava talks normally to the Player, tells him/her that they should leave, but During the battle when you meet Ava she attacks you and tries to kill you.

*There are similarities between Xehanort and Gula, the both want to summon Kingdom Hearts just to find out something and hope to bring balance to the world.

I just want to know if everything was destroyed and Luxu and the Dandelions didn't have a Book of Prophecy, how does Xehanort know about the last passage on the last page?

Hope I helped someone with this. These are my thoughts, predictions and observations

Feel free to comment

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts lore #kingdom hearts theory #kingdom hearts x back cover #kingdom hearts x #Master Xehanort #xehanort #master of masters #foretellers #chirithy #Keyblade War #Keyblade #sora

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