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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About "Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" from The Owl House

Wow. They are really pushing it for that secret message, huh?

Anywho--Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons!

I think it goes without saying at this point that Season Two of The Owl House is setting itself up as a season without filler. Now, filler episodes aren't always bad. Yes, it hurts when a series turns away from the main plot for a week. But at best, they're utilized as a chance for the writers to play around with the characters and developing said characters without it relating to the overarching story. So, some people who see that consider it a bad thing that a series doesn't have that many filler episodes.

I like to call those people: F**king morons.

Don't get me wrong, I see where some of you are coming from. And I'd be willing to agree...if The Owl House was a plot-driven series. Which it's not. It is a character-driven series. Because for every plot thread and narrative that the show presents, they always relate to the characters and develop them further each time these threads get brought up. For example, look at "Knock Knock Knockin’ on Hooty's Door" (It pains me just to write that). Several narratives move forward, and it’s all done to make the characters grow. And to explain how requires going into spoilers. So keep that in mind as you continue reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Hooty: Might as well start with the character that this episode is about.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't a huge fan when I found out we're getting a Hooty-centered episode. I've grown to love him over time, but he is a comedic character that's best used in small doses. Primarily due to how his voice is grating to me (My ears are still bleeding...). With that said, I do really love his contributions in "Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" (Seriously, there couldn't have been a less awkward title?). Hooty's antics when trying to help everyone are as hilarious as they are heartwarming. He deeply cares for his friends but just doesn't understand how his plans could do some unintended harm, which is pretty lovable if you ask me. We also get some surprisingly great insight into his character, as he feels insecure about basically being the comic relief who doesn't really do that much other than being funny. Rarely do you get that level of dimension from a comedic character, and it's even more uncommon for that to work out as well as it does here. It once again proves just how competent the writing is in this series to the point where we get an episode about Hooty, and it's funny and heartwarming instead of being annoying. And whoever is responsible for that, you're the best.

Lilith’s Letter to Hooty: I mean it when I say that I love how Lilith kept her word about her and Hooty becoming penpals. Their friendship was something I would have never expected to love, and I'm still shocked that it works so well, so seeing it continue like this just warms me to the bone. Plus, it is pretty sweet that Lilith's kind words are what inspired Hooty to do what he's done in this episode...meaning it's Lilith we should thank here--SON OF A WITCH! Even when she's gone, she's still working her way into my heart!

King going through Puberty: What?! KING IS EVOLVING!

(There, I made a Pokemon reference. Do I get my cookie now?)

Eda Keeping Herself Awake to Train Herself: I'm willing to bet a large sum of money that this has everything to with Raine getting captured last week. If Eda was still the most powerful witch in the Isles, she might have actually saved them. But she isn't, and now the love of her life is in the clutches of a tyrant planning something that could potentially be the end of everything. So I can understand Eda pushing herself to her limit to get back on top again, as I would probably do the same. It's not healthy in any way, and Eda would be doing more harm than good. But when it comes to the people you love, logic doesn't always win out in the end.

Luz Wanting to Make her Way into Amity’s Heart by Making the Echo Mouse Happy: ...That's it. I Just...I just love everything about it, ok?

This was also when I knew that I was wrong to doubt that there would be zero Lumity in this episode. I realize my follies now, and I humbly apologize.

Hooty Teaching King About Demons: This was so funny. So, so funny. Probably doesn't come as a surprise, especially since The Owl House proves itself as a comedy before, but the jokes have never hit as frequently and as hard as they did here. From Hooty getting offended by King's dance to him and Dana's insert wanting a "DNA sample," everything managed to successfully make me lose my s**t. It does come at the expense of King suffering, but I can stomach that much more than if it were Eda or Luz. And, as a bonus, we get lore about how demons work, added with another great joke of King getting in trouble with Hooty for saying he already knows this stuff. Humor isn't always the show's strong suit, but when it works, it f**king works.

King Wanting to Know What he Is: But despite how funny King's vignette was, we still get to see more of his character grow. We learn that he's frustrated now that there's this big question mark over his life now, feeling extra angry that his father "abandoned" him to leave such a present mystery. It shows the hidden resentment he has that Lilith inadvertently brought out, made even worse when King's father hasn't responded to the video yet. King hasn't really gotten that much development until "Echoes of the Past," so it's pretty cool that the writers haven't really slowed down on it. Especially when it leads to these great moments of King venting his frustrations.

King’s Shouting Powers: KING learned FUS RO DAH!

(And now that's a Pokemon reference AND a Skyrim reference. WHERE'S MY GOSH DANG COOKIE!?)

Eda’s Nightmare: If King's vignette hits you hard with the laughs, Eda's will absolutely hit you harder with the feels (never make me say "feels" unironically again). Knowing that Eda's life got thoroughly screwed over by the curse is something we could figure out on her own. But seeing just how much the curse ruined her life and tore apart relationships that mean the world to her really does a swell job at ripping apart the soul. What's even more tragic is, technically speaking, it's all sort of Eda's fault too. She kept hiding the curse, refusing to be a burden to others who would do all they could to help. If she had only been open and honest, things probably wouldn't have changed much, but they most likely would have been better than they are now.

Eda Attacked her Father as the Owl Beast: ...I don't know what I was expecting when "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances" hinted that there was some possible tension between Eda and her father...but it definitely wasn't this.

The fact that we see blood where his eye used to be doesn't make things any happier, either.

Raine Broke Up with Eda: Before we get into anything else, let's celebrate the fact that it's now confirmed that Eda and Raine really did use to date in the past. Because this show is just f**king phenomenal with its LGBTQA+ representation!

But, seriously, this is a fantastic reveal that goes far beyond just shipping...well, sort of. It shines a new light on Eda and Raine's interactions from last week, revealing that while they're not a couple anymore, they still very much love each other. It helps make their last interaction especially tragic, as they were both on the same page now and could very well be together again. Only for them to be forced apart for the second time in a way that's much worse than the first. And I frickin' adore that this series changes the impact of one episode one week later. Again, it shows just how competent these writers are, and kudos to them for making something so...perfect.

The Moon Person: WHO THE FU--Nope. Nope! We have more than enough mystery bulls**t to deal with through CreepyLuz and Philip Wittebane, so I am PUTTING YOU ON THE BACKBURNER FOR NOW!

(They're probably nothing more than a one-off character, anyway)

The Owl Beast and Eda are Connected: Through visuals alone, we, the audience, can clue into what the curse really means. The Owl Beast doesn't want to be a part of Eda as much as she doesn't want it to be a part of her. Whether they like it or not, and they very much don't, they're stuck together. The thing is, and this is what I love the most, they still decide to make the best of their situation rather than let it ruin their lives even more. This might be the best possible turn Eda's curse could have made. It'll still affect her, and there are probably more negatives than positives, but at least now, it's not the worst thing in the world. And I feel like that's all anyone can ask when in a position like her own.

Eda's “Pretty Dream”: I don't know what emotions are toiling inside me more with this moment. Awe and wonder over how beautiful Eda's dream is, or heartbreak over the implication that she has only had nightmares since getting cursed...I'm gonna say both. Yeah, it's definitely both.

Eda’s Harpie Form: Well, fan artists are gonna have a field day with this...especially the freaks.

(You know who you are. And you're weird!)

Luz Calling Amity a “Cotton-Candy Haired Goddess”: ...Have I ever mentioned how much I love this show?

Hooty Kidnapped Amity: ...Hooty, if your stupidity wasn't charming, I would be more than willing to call the authorities over how you kidnapped a girl in your version of a knapsack and locked her in the basement. For that is going to ring SO MANY alarm bells in people's heads.

Amity and Luz Stuck in a Tunnel of Love: *Smacks lips* Mmm. The adorable awkwardness of this moment is just *chef's kiss* magnifique!

Luz being afraid of getting made fun of:

Amity’s look of hope: I mean...just...f**king--LOOK AT HER:

That is the look of a girl who, while embarrassed as hell, still is ecstatic to learn for a brief moment, everything that she is hoping for has a high chance of being real. Who, in their right mind, wouldn't go "Aw!" at something so pure and innocent?!

Luz Destroying the Tunnel of Love: This is how to effectively utilize dramatic irony. The audience can understand why Luz is tearing the place apart because she explicitly states that she's afraid of Amity rejecting her in the end. They also know that's bogus, thus making it extra painful to watch Amity's heart break more and more with each second (which is perfectly represented through Amity's expressions). You feel bad for both of them, and even worse when you know that it can easily be prevented by the simple art of communication. That's what makes it great dramatic irony. Knowing the point of view of each character results in a scene that evokes emotions in two different ways.

Hooty’s Breakdown: This was...genuinely hard to watch. Not that it was badly written, far from it. It just...hurt seeing how destroyed Hooty was when he realized he failed the people he has such an admiration for. On the upside, a wholesome moment follows soon after as the Owl House gang tries to reassure Hooty that he's done a lot of good that night. It's a pure action that shows even though Hooty gets on their nerves all the time, they still care about him...damn it. I think I'm gonna cry.

Eda’s Advice for Luz: ...Eda...You're the best.

You found out that your surrogate daughter wants to ask a girl out, and not only were you quick to deliver the best possible advice ("Just go for it!"), but you also quickly reassure her that it doesn't need to be perfect.

And you know what? That's it. Eda is the best cartoon mom! She might not technically be Luz's mom, but I don't give a s**t because she is the best!

Luz and Amity Ask Each Other Out: Shh-sh-sh-sh...

Do you hear that?

...

...It's the sound of dozens of Lumity fans collectively losing their s**t...and I'm one of them.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!

IT!

IS!

CANON!

AH-HAHAHAHAHA!

HOLY S**T! Holy s**t! Holy s**t...might just be the best way I could possibly describe this! Finally, after all the waiting, speculating, and praying, THESE TWO IDIOTS FINALLY GOT TOGETHER! AND IT WAS PERFECT! I mean, it was awkward as s**t, but that's what makes it perfect! You know why? You wanna--Hey! *snaps fingers*. You want to know why? It's because they're teenagers. Of f**king course, it's going to be awkward! This is their first relationship, so there will be a lot of missteps along the way. And that, in itself, brings me to the best (second best part?) thing about it happening in episode eight of the new seasons. Most endgame couples get together in the climax or even at the end of the series. But to have them get together this early on, means there will be quite a few episodes dedicated to showing them grow as a couple.

And better than that--EVEN F**KING BETTER THAN THAT--dozens of kids are going to see these two, a realistic depiction of young love that just so happens to involve two girls, and are going to learn once and for all that there is nothing wrong with being who they are. That fact alone is f**king incredible. Yes, it sucks that season three got cut short, and we'll have even less time with Luz and Amity, but knowing how many kids have felt seen today almost makes it worth it in the end.

And if I see one mother f**ker saying this was poorly paced, I might just hunt them down for SPORT...Sorry if that was an overreaction. I'M JUST SO HAPPY! Because they're happy! Look at them. Listen to them! It's so...GAH-HAHAHA!

“They’re adorable! And deserve all the happiness!”: You're darn right, Hooty! You're darn right.

King’s Father(?) Shows Up: What the--WHAT?! They're doing this now?! Here?! After everything else?

Oh, man. What could this mean? What dynamic changes will this cause in the main cast? How could the writers fit this in during the next two episodes? And what--

Hooty Eats the Letter: ...Pfffft--HAHAHAHA!

Oh, man...I should be mad, and I wouldn't blame others if they are...but that is too much of a brilliant f**k you that I can't help but appreciate it. Bravo writers. Bravo.

WHAT I DISLIKED

...Dislikes? Dislikes? You would honestly believe that after everything I witnessed in this episode, that I would have the gull to list anything wrong with it?!

HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT I WOULD BE SO CALLUS TO--Actually, I do kind of have an issue with the episode's title. It's just too much of an awkward mouthful for me to get behind. I understand that the writers wanted to sneak the K into the secret message, but were there really no other titles starting with K that they couldn't come up with?

But that's just a personal issue, and in no way do I think anybody else would feel the same way. Especially with how well-written everything else is anyway.

IN CONCLUSION

"Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" (title aside) is another A+ episode. It was hilarious, heart-wrenching, and downright adorable while keeping me entertained with every minute. I'm sure there are some issues I was willing to ignore due to how expertly written everything else was, but why bother looking for the chinks in the armor when I could just enjoy a perfect episode for being so...perfect! Some of you might be willing to disagree with me, but to that, I say: Don't knock it till you've tried it.

(Now, if you don't excuse me, I'm going to go lie down. It's...It's been a day.)

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #the owl house reviews #the owl house spoilers #toh spoilers #toh hooty #king clawthorne #eda clawthorne #raeda #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #lumity is canon #what i thought about

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Adventure, 02, and the “secret double life”

Adventure’s concept of “Chosen Children” prophesized save-the-world heroes is hardly unique to it, and given that it ostensibly follows so many fantasy tropes, it’s easy to see it as having a textbook pattern of the “secret identity”/”secret double life” tropes, in which adventure-faring kids keep everything from their parents and society under the idea that if people found out about their adventures, they’d be kept from action or be experimented on.

But as much as it’s easy to see it that way, in fact, Adventure and 02 had a somewhat different view of the matter. Although 02 in particular, with its concept of “wake up, go to school, save the world,” probably gives off the strongest “double life” aura, in actuality, Adventure and 02 both had an underlying sentiment that the concept of keeping Digimon from one’s parents -- and, eventually, the public -- was practically impossible.

(Unless otherwise stated, translations for Adventure/02/Kizuna are from Ryuu-Rogue/PositronCannon/L Subs, respectively.)

The Hikarigaoka incident

The aftermath of the Hikarigaoka incident in 1995 (or, in other words, the Greymon and Parrotmon incident depicted in the first movie) was depicted in Adventure episode 29, in which, as it turned out, was passed off as a “terrorist bombing incident” -- and that kids like Takeru who attempted to explain the situation to their parents were dismissed for imagining things.

The Adventure novels add a bit of extra addition that there might have been some external finagling to make sure things were cleaned up, but even then, things weren’t all that clean-cut. For one, the Hikarigaoka incident was a rather short one that was cleaned up in quick order -- there was a minimal amount of destruction compared to what later events would bring (only a single localized area in terms of collateral damage, especially since Parrotmon wasn’t there to cause wanton destruction), the full brunt of the incident may not have even spanned so much of an hour, and both Digimon involved vanished almost as quickly as they came. It really is just enough that you could sweep it under the normalcy filter of wanting to throw out any supernatural explanations, especially since the kids themselves eventually succumbed to the adults’ explanations.

And yet, even despite that, Takaishi Natsuko still found the Hikarigaoka incident a topic of interest to the point she started doing independent research on it -- especially when a certain incident four years later pushed things far beyond the range of plausible deniability. The novels make this pretty explicit:

Among her normal jobs, a side project that she was working on involved investigating the “Hikarigaoka terrorist bombing incident” four years ago. It was an incident that occured in the very place where they had lived. Not only did it capture her interest, but as she kept investigating it, she found many aspects about it that weren’t acceptable explanations to her. It still wasn’t enough information for her to put into an article or a book, but someone, somehow, had managed to find out that she was working on it and had contacted her wanting to talk. But when the time of their appointment came, the man she was supposed to meet didn’t appear. What was that man’s name? Oikawa? I think? Well, I’m never going to set up a meeting with him again.

So in other words, the fact that she had spotted a rat was somewhat public enough for someone to figure out that she was on the case. Not to mention that said someone had also spotted a rat -- someone who was not possessed by any Digimon vampires at this point, and was merely just an enthusiast trying to reconnect with a mysterious phenomenon from his childhood and dealing with grief for his recently deceased friend. It probably would not have been long before the truth would have been fully spilled even by itself -- but later events that would confirm everyone’s suspicious pretty firmly were already on the horizon.

Menoa Bellucci and the advent of Chosen Children

In a bit of “hidden” Adventure lore, the number of Chosen Children thus started to double every year -- something cited by Two-and-a-Half Year Break (Koushirou’s track) and confirmed by directorial statement. (Kizuna’s To Sora is consistent with this principle, and the 02 epilogue being set in 2027-2028 also tracks with the global population being partnered to Digimon with that precise number.) Either way, Adventure episode 53 confirmed that the eight “Tokyo Chosen Children” from 1999 (or, in other words, the Adventure main cast and their partners) were hardly isolated singularities -- there was a group of Chosen Children before them that placed an incomplete seal on Apocalymon prior, and, according to the Adventure novels, four of their partners evolved over a long period of time to become the Holy Beasts. The fact that there had to be at least four gives only a very narrow period of time said Chosen could be from, most likely between 1997 (4 Chosen) to early 1999 (16 Chosen), with the very short real-world time in between likely correlating to enough time in the Digital World for their names to be lost to their history.

(Note that Oikawa Yukio doesn’t count here; although he and Hiroki made contact with the Digital World through video games in the 80s, there is no indication that Oikawa was fundamentally partnered to Pipimon at this time, in the same way that it was only after the Tokyo Chosen Children witnessed the Hikarigaoka incident that “the one who wishes for stability” -- Homeostasis -- came up with the idea for creating a system to tie Digimon evolution to human partners.)

Kizuna confirms it further by introducing Menoa Bellucci, who says that she met Morphomon (and, presumably, did become a Chosen Child) at the age of nine, meaning presumably 1997 -- making her one of the small handful of people who became Chosen Children before the Tokyo eight.

The little snippets we get of Menoa and Morphomon’s life are interesting, but also telling. For one, their life together is depicted through a bunch of photos with both of them there, through events such as birthdays and travel...and given that someone had to have taken all of those photos, this means that it is extremely likely Menoa’s parents were fully aware of Morphomon’s presence and existence as her partner. In other words, Morphomon was not a secret to them in the first place.

Another interesting thing here is that it’s never said that Menoa went on any incredible world-saving adventure during her time with Morphomon, so it’s ambiguous whether she did or not. It’s entirely possible that she did but doesn’t want to bring it up to Taichi and the others because of how much baggage would be associated with it compared to, well, the rest of her early childhood life with Morphomon; given the time dilation that was in play prior to 1999, it’s very likely any adventure she could have gone on would have been lost to Digital World history. (That said, given that Morphomon doesn’t seem to have any ties to Holy Beast lines, a group of 4+ Chosen distinct from her and the other Tokyo Chosen Children by necessity would have to be from 1998 or early 1999.) She does, at the very least, seem to have evolved Morphomon at least once, given that she cites “loss of the ability to evolve” as part of the process of partnership dissolution when explaining it to the others (and it’s implied very heavily she only has her own personal experience to work with). But if Menoa’s parents were sufficiently supportive, it’s possible they might have had no problem with Menoa having a large and very cute butterfly friend -- especially if Menoa didn’t go on some grand adventure and wasn’t even in danger anyway.

We also learn a bit more about the Yagami siblings in Adventure episode 21, which takes place on August 1, 1999, and that Hikari has been witnessing the increased Digimon contact with the human world (part of a long, ongoing process of the Digital World slowly coming into more concrete contact with the human world) for quite a while now, but because it isn’t very “clear” contact yet, she’s the only one who can see them. She’s been trying to tell people for a long time, but nobody believed her -- and that’s the only reason she kept quiet about it.

There’s also another interesting line in this episode, when Taichi considers never returning to the Digital World and staying home with Koromon -- it seems that he intends to be straightforward with Koromon’s presence and not hide him from his parents! At worst, he simply thinks his mom might think Koromon to be a nuisance -- but not something he has to entirely keep a secret, meaning he also trusts his parents to be open-minded about a weird pink talking creature.

The Odaiba fog incident

The “Odaiba fog” incident refers to the events of August 3, 1999, spanning Adventure episodes 35 to 54, when Vamdemon covered Odaiba in fog and launched a bunch of mass kidnappings in the search for the eighth Tokyo Chosen Child, put a large amount of adults to sleep, was defeated by the Chosen Children, and eventually was followed by a projection of the Digital World in the sky, resulting in the surrounding witnesses observing the eight Tokyo Chosen Children and their partners rising into the sky, returning to the Digital World, and defeating the Dark Masters and Apocalymon.

Unlike the Hikarigaoka incident, this was not something that could be easily ignored. People in Odaiba saw, in vivid daylight, a bunch of strange monsters kidnapping them and stuffing them in Tokyo Big Sight. The Digital World appearing in the sky, Digimon falling out of them, and freezing anything they touched happened all over the world. Ultimately, this was not the kind of thing you could just sweep under the rug!

Daisuke, Iori, and Michael recount their experiences with this in 02 episode 14, and Spring 2003 and the Adventure novels depict this as a formative experience for Daisuke wanting to become someone strong enough to protect others. The kids’ parents in Tokyo saw their kids fighting in the sky (in fact, it’s likely everyone did, but only the parents were aware of the actual identities of the kids up there, considering it wasn’t like the sky gives you much of a close-up view). And, of course, we had our “intrepid reporter” Ishida Hiroaki, who was insistent on covering these incidents in Adventure episode 35 before he even knew his sons were involved, and Takaishi Natsuko, who, as per 02 episode 38, ended up tacking this on her list of Digimon incidents to investigate.

So by the conclusion of this incident, it is pretty safe to say the populace knows that Digimon are a thing. Of course, they still haven’t made sense of all of it, and everyone (including Hiroaki and Natsuko themselves) is missing some key details, but the fact that these monsters are A Thing That Exist is hardly a secret. In fact, this is made pretty explicit in 02 episode 39:

The governments of every country most certainly did not just see that whole incident and decide “well, that’s nothing to worry about” -- they immediately went ahead and started doing military research on the Digimon! But Gennai and his fellow Agents figured out pretty quickly that very bad things would happen if the Digimon became public knowledge and government militaries started exploiting them, so they secretly wiped away data regarding Digimon in order to hide their existence.

Note that this does not mean they wiped everyone’s memories -- they’re not that all-powerful -- but merely made it so that anytime anyone tried to do organized research on Digimon, poof! -- the info would just magically vanish. Of course, that doesn’t stop pen-and-paper work, and, again, it also did not stop reporters like Takaishi Natsuko or Ishida Hiroaki from doing investigations into everything from a journalistic perspective, nor humanities scholars like Takenouchi Haruhiko or Kido Shuu from taking an interest in Digimon. And, of course, it’s not like you can just wipe human memory that saw all of that happening! But it sure does put a major slowdown on attempted organized research of Digimon to the extent of being easily able to do the kinds of things Gennai and the Agents feared, because it makes it significantly harder to exchange info or collect anything.

Which of course leads to...

The events of 02

The Tokyo Chosen Children got a “break” of sorts after the events of Adventure, and for the most part they didn’t have to think too hard about how to deal with their Digimon in regards to society, especially since they were separated from them. Then, in April 2002, Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori get their partners, and they, Takeru, and Hikari become lucky enough to be able to bring their partners back and forth between the real world and Digital World. With their partners small enough to be passed off as plushes, and no Digimon battles taking place in the real world at this time, the kids choose to keep their Digimon activities a secret from their parents.

At this point, it should be pointed out that this was not actually strictly necessary in terms of keeping the Digimon from society -- especially on the part of the Adventure kids, whose parents already know they exist and certainly have not forgotten! In fact, this is made into a prominent scene in 02 episode 18, when Koushirou’s mother is surprised Tentomon is not there (even though there’s no indication a conflict is going on at the time), in contrast to Koushirou having just been worried about opening a gate in her presence.

In fact, Kizuna adds an important detail by showing us a newspaper clip from around 2002 (when Menoa was accepted into university), indicating that apparently the concept of a “Digimon partner” was well-recognized enough that Morphomon was openly in the newspaper clipping, accompanied by a caption identifying her as Menoa’s Digimon partner. (Kizuna having so much attention to detail with background lore that it even complies with the doubling-every-year principle, it’s not something you can easily pass off as a writer mistake.) Doing the math, 16 Chosen Children in 1999 means around 128 by 2002 (which also tracks with the approximate amount we see around the world in 02 episodes 40-42 and 50). That’s still a drop in the pond in terms of how much the global population truly understands this, but considering that there were reporters like Takaishi Natsuko and Ishida Hiroaki already on the case, it’s not too much of a stretch to think that the press and informational publications would have an idea.

So why did the kids still try so hard to keep the Digimon from their parents and society? A lot of it has to do with the way the kids make their plan to infiltrate the Kaiser’s base in 02 episode 18.

Prior to this point in the series, their fight in the Digital World had been an after-school affair, one that they were capable of hiding instead of having the truth presented up-front to their parents, whether they liked it or not. Starting in April 2002, the kids voluntarily chose to enter a territory war after school. Think about how they’d have to explain this to their parents -- “oh yeah, by the way, I befriended a mysterious monster and will now be going to another world after school to fight a territory war with even bigger monsters on a near-weekly basis” -- of course, most parents would start being obstructive and immediately put an end to that, and there would be so much they’d have to explain to them. In fact, the way the kids parade their Digimon around and try to use the “plushes” excuse instead of really making any decent attempts to hide them indicates they’re not really trying that hard to maintain a facade, just enough to not get awkward questions and people intervening with their actions. After all, if even incidents like the ones in 02 episode 9 can be safely passed off as “being over late at a friend’s place,” why not use that excuse?

So when they first start a real trip into the Digital World that may span multiple days (with Miyako being visibly out of place with this, a sharp contrast to her seniors being used to the idea of being “trapped” there for days on end), Iori says very explicitly that he doesn’t want to worry his family, and the discussion immediately shifts to how they’ll keep this from their families. Interestingly, when Daisuke suggests just lying about it, Hikari scolds him for doing so -- implying that it’s not like she (or the others) is even comfortable with that kind of lie, hence why they ultimately resort to having the seniors stage a camping trip so that the lie can at least be a bit less far-fetched.

But the fact that they can do this in the first place ultimately ends up being a luxury, because they can get away with this as long as the conflict is still in the Digital World. Eventually, we arrive at...

The Christmas 2002 incident

A lot happened on Christmas 2002, especially given the timezone stretch and the number of episodes it spanned, but this effectively sparked the point of no return where Digimon incidents were unavoidable and staring everyone in the face -- especially since it spanned multiple days. Dark Towers started appearing all over the world, wandering Digimon started appearing everywhere, Chosen Children around the world mobilized to round them back into the Digital World, Demon and his army invaded Tokyo, Oikawa kidnapped a large number of children, and eventually the battle with BelialVamdemon on New Year’s Eve ended up bleeding into the real world, with Chosen Children appearing en masse to help them defeat him.

During the course of the international Chosen arc, we do see that quite a few other kids have been hiding their Digimon from their parents -- indeed, not everyone is like Menoa, and especially if they’ve been involved in dangerous incidents or are very small children! Even Mimi tries to hide her involvement from her parents in 02 episode 10, despite them already knowing about the Digimon from the Odaiba fog incident, because -- as they say in the episode -- moving to the US was partially motivated by them wanting to get away from all of this, so, naturally, they’d prefer Mimi have nothing to do with it. But Takeru is comfortable enough to call his grandfather in to help, presumably deciding that he was trustworthy enough about it.

And, indeed, the first major break we see in the facade with the core cast’s parents is with Takeru’s mother Natsuko, who correctly deduces that something is going on and confronts Takeru about it -- to which he immediately does not attempt to cover up or deny, and admits without hesitation. Natsuko, in turn, decides to accept it without grilling him too much, deciding that she’ll trust in Takeru to handle this (presumably, especially after seeing him handle quite a lot even at the young age of eight). At the end of 02 episode 45, Ken -- whose parents have seen so many horrors going on with him that the explanation of him engaging in dangerous monster battles would be more of a comfort to them, because at least they’d be aware of what’s going on -- ultimately chooses to confide in his parents, leading to them and the rest of the Adventure kids’ parents actively choosing to support their kids in their fight over the course of episodes 46-48. Naturally, as much as they’d probably rather their kids not get engaged in dangerous things, they understand what this is and that it’s important, and at the very least want to support them as much as they can -- Koushirou’s mother laments in 02 episode 48 that she wishes she could do more besides just bring food!

02 episode 46 has a moment where Oikawa and Archnemon watch a TV program with people trying (very badly) to blame the recent incidents on a mass delusion -- the TV show itself is portrayed as a sort of trash gossip kind of special -- and Oikawa provides an explanation for the impasse of acknowledgment where people seem to be increasingly aware of Digimon but also not quite aware: things are undeniably happening, but people still aren’t quite ready to accept an explanation that borders on the supernatural. The entire concept of Digimon is a massive shake to the status quo, after all, so while certain investigative and curious people like Natsuko or Haruhiko are naturally more open-minded, and many parents are likely to pay closer attention when kids are involved, only slightly over a hundred Chosen Children (many of whom are still erring on the side of keeping it a secret) and a few reporters aren’t enough to really help people understand...

...but all things considered, it seems to be enough that the Chosen are now functionally giving up on hiding it at all!

By the time of episode 50, the situation has now escalated to the point where any member of the families of the Tokyo Chosen Children who wasn’t already aware of what was going on is now definitely aware, as they await their children’s return from the Digital World. Considering that Jun was already witnessing the return of dangerous things as early as 02 episode 38, and Iori’s grandfather Chikara discovers Armadimon’s existence in episode 47, it becomes rather important to point out that Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori failed to hide their partners’ existence and involvement in Digimon battles for any longer than eight months (April to December 2002). That is how flimsy the facade was. Again, they weren’t even doing that spectacular a job keeping their partners under wraps, Chikara discovered Armadimon by sheer accident just from Armadimon being too big and being unable to control his hunger, and, ultimately, it really is pretty hard to conceal the existence of a living creature constantly accompanying you everywhere.

The aftermath of 02

Well, firstly, there were definitely other things that happened right after the events of 02 that would be pretty hard for people to deny. For instance:

The Internet being the Internet, the incident in Our War Game! could have potentially been passed off as some kind of graphics stunt. But the 2003 Diablomon/Armagemon incident? Nah. People saw that one, and even actively participated in that one! In real life!

With that, as much as Oikawa claims that people are too stubborn to accept changes to the status quo and thus accept Digimon, ultimately, Spring 2003 makes it clear that the Christmas 2002 incident made enough of a fuss that the involved parties all got put on the spot by the public and media. This got to the point where the kids had a risk of their privacy being invaded, and had to be covered by their parents.

My mother, who followed the Hikarigaoka incident as a non-fiction writer, along with Sora-san’s father, are known today as “Digimon critics.” Although the two weren’t sure whether they appreciated their new titles or not, they accepted it and went from investigators to people who were most sought after... ...Thanks to [Hiroaki], we were saved from publicity. It’s sort of like… we’d like to keep our identities and the Digimon a secret. I don’t mean forever, when I say that, but the relationship between us and our partner Digimon is unique and other people probably wouldn’t understand that. For example, we can’t have people thinking that Digimon are slightly strange pets. If they do, then they won’t take us seriously either, and of course, the Digimon wouldn’t like that perception themselves. That’s why, until we get the general public to acknowledge Digimon and the Digital World for what they really are, we’d like to lay low. But in order for that to happen, someone must go out there to explain about the Digimon to others. It was both my mother and Sora-san’s father who accepted that role wholeheartedly. We told the two everything we knew, and they spoke for us to the TV, newspapers, and magazines.

Being people directly connected to the children and understanding of their position, but also in media and publicity positions, Natsuko, Hiroaki, and Haruhiko took on the jobs of advocating for Digimon and explaining their part to the world, while also deliberately acting as go-betweens so that the kids could maintain their privacy. But nevertheless, at this point, the incident in 2002 was such a major thing that it basically was a turning point for people realizing that Digimon exist and are a major presence, and starting to grill informed parties about the details (and, technically, getting those details from the kids themselves, speaking through said media outlets). Hikari also starts working on a “surprisingly useful” informational video for new Chosen Children confused about having a partner -- encouraging them to contact them for help -- and it is also revealed that Shuu, Miyako’s sisters, and Jun had all just gotten partners, meaning that the issue was now starting to become significantly more relevant to their families.

Kizuna also drops an interesting detail about what happened right after 02, or, rather, right after 2002:

The articles describing Menoa’s Digimon research team have titles that indicate that this is one of the first major Digmon scientific research efforts in the world, indicating that, shortly after Menoa’s admission into university and establishing herself there, she began to open up the field of Digimon academic research (her declared major beforehand had been “biology”, presumably the closest she could get to studying Digimon when such a topic didn’t formally exist yet). This is significant because it means that Gennai and the Agents had finally dropped the embargo on Digimon organized research, since it presumably would have been bad for Menoa’s data to vanish without warning -- and, indeed, it makes sense that they would allow for Menoa’s research team to proceed, since Menoa is a Chosen Child herself who has a vested interest in studying Digimon for the greater good and advocating for them in the same way Haruhiko is.

It also provides potential context as to why Menoa may not have been involved much in Digimon fighting and battles in the past but was chosen as a Chosen Child anyway -- Koushirou describes the definition of a “Chosen Child” as such in Two-and-a-Half Year Break:

Having a partner Digimon isn’t really that special. Being a “Chosen Child” means… to cease the hostilities that break out and inconvenience the Digital World. In order to do so, that child gains a partner Digimon faster than another.

While it’s not necessarily in terms of aggressive fighting, a bright and intelligent child like Menoa being chosen to “fight” in the sense of using her intellect to study more about Digimon and help advocate for them seems like a fitting way to fulfill this role in her own way. But, alas, as Gennai and Homeostasis and the Holy Beasts couldn’t necessarily predict what happened to Ichijouji Ken and his fall into becoming the Kaiser, they didn’t seem to be able to predict Menoa’s unfortunate fate and downfall...

Kizuna and 2010

Again, To Sora citing the number of Digimon partners to be over 30,000 by 2010 correctly tracks with the “doubling every year” principle, so it’s probably prudent to assume it’s still been applying over the years. 30,000 is certainly a lot, but it’s not exactly a huge chunk of the global population -- especially since said 30,000 are spread out all over the world, and it’s hard to say how many of them would even live in Japan, let alone Tokyo. It’s a big enough number that Koushirou and Miyako now need to maintain a whole network of Chosen Children (Hikari’s video presumably helped with that), but there are still a lot of unknowns, like the still uncharted territory of the partnership dissolution phenomenon.

Nevertheless, what we see in Kizuna is what you’d probably expect from a society that has now had eight more years to properly digest the existence of Digimon and Digimon incidents. This is most starkly demonstrated in the opening, when a waitress comes by to berate Agumon and Gabumon for making too much noise -- and that’s it, with no weirdness or being taken aback by their presence or existence, just telling them to calm down. The characters in the movie carry around and parade their Digimon quite openly in almost all walks of life, and others interact with them in a very normal manner. One of the credits scenes even shows Daisuke’s higher-up at vocational school being more annoyed at Daisuke’s fight with V-mon than he is at the fact V-mon is there. A newspaper article from early in the movie also correctly identifies Parrotmon and Greymon as Digimon (even if not their specific species), and it is merely treated as an incident rather than paying any particular attention to the fact that Digimon exist. The drama CD also indicates that Daisuke and co. are at the point of sneaking their Digimon into a karaoke bar because said bar has enough awareness of Digimon to charge them admissions fees!

There’s another interesting minor detail in that Palmon, Tailmon, and Patamon are depicted on digital cameras without any static interference. In Adventure and 02, it was impossible to catch them on digital camera in the real world, because, as per Adventure episode 39 and 02 episode 33 (among others), trying to do so would cause nasty static interference and ruin the attempted photo/recording. (This is presumably why Menoa’s photos with Morphomon seem to be film photos.) But for a society where the presence of Digimon is becoming more and more expected, and digital cameras are naturally becoming more commonplace, it would be very bad if this continued to be a problem -- so it makes sense that, by 2010, technological research would have figured out a way around that.

Obviously, not everyone has a Digimon yet, and it’s not like everything in the world has accounted for the assumption people will be walking around with partners -- after all, Taichi’s thesis still involves having to help advocate for Digimon partners and the fact that many people are still skeptical about them. But nevertheless, people are not surprised or perturbed by them anymore, and when something does happen with them, they’re relatively accepting of them. Again, 30,000+ is not exactly a lot to the extent that the entire population has a partner, but with the doubling-every-year principle in play, it seems like society is already well on its way to adjusting to their increasing presence and the eventual point in 2027-2028 when everyone will be expected to have one.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #kizuna spoilers #shihameta

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bonsaisheep · 3 years

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Unified Theory of all of WoD and CoD

Ok, so this all comes out of an off hand message a friend sent me regarding the God-Machine and the hedge. In trying to figure out the full implications of " the God-Machine has no presence in the Hedge due to not having any contracts with it, and therefore no way to enter and influence it", it somehow led to me coming up with a unified theory of all of WoD and CoD, as messaged to a friend in like a million texts. This is a slightly more coherent write up.

So the unified theory starts with Changeling the Lost. Per what is, as far as I am aware, “canon” lore, the God-Machine has no presence in the Hedge due to not having any contracts with it, and therefore no way to enter and influence it, indicating that the God-Machine did not create the Hedge or the Fae, indicating that they predate the God-Machine and are more fundamental to existence. Extrapolating for this, it is quite possible that the reverse is true, the Hedge created the God-Machine.

So at the absolutely basic level, the Fae, the hedge and the pacts came first, with the pacts functioning a mix of ways, some of them more like a function then anything else. At some point there was a glitch in the system, and effectively one of these functions became a separate independent existence. This separate "program" being the God-Machine, effectively evolved to be a self creating kernel, with the OS being existence itself (or at least earth). It's why the fae are so alien, because they are literally alien to humans, (and why they have so much disregard to humans, after all, they are simply parts of this odd spontaneous system). The God-Machine has no issues giving its creations their own perception of how both the world and their kind were created. After all, it doesn’t have to match up if it is nothing more than an illusion.

Changeling the Lost and Changeling the Dreamers both fit into this fairly directly. Changelings from Changeling the Lost are basically the Fae picking up one of these curious things and poking at the programing so to speak, converting this odd language to their own. The Changeling the Dreamer changelings are bits of Fae code that slip into the God Machine system. Effectively the Fae pacts and the God-Machine are separate programming languages, and the CoD changelings and CoL changelings are bits of the Fae programs, either native to the Fae or altered, that exist in the God-Machine system.

Demon the Descent is probably the most straight forward. This plays out as exactly laid out by the book. Rebellious programs escape the God-Machine.

The Mages in both Awakening and Ascension play out similar. Basically they are people who can see the “code” and alter it. It is also why things go wrong when they are too obvious, it creates abnormalities that can be identified by the God-Machine and the programs, forcing them to fix the exploit, or else, the exploit itself causes damage to the reality code.

Orpheus is pretty much the same stuff as the mages have going on. The Orpheus agents are able to perceive the code and search past their own bodies.

Beasts from Beast the Primordial are basically a small form of malware, out to search and destroy. There is no higher purpose beyond fulfilling this drive. Perhaps they were created by a demon (the program kind) as a form of rebellion, or a bored fae.

Vampires as in Vampire the Masquerade, the Requiem and Kindred of the East all function the same at a base level. They are best described as corrupted data, using others to supplement their own messed up data packets. They are able to spread this corruption, but not in its entirety, leading to the generation differences. (It also makes it so the earth kernel doesn’t know how to properly interact with them, allowing for all the fun vampire powers. (If physics can’t properly interact with you, fun stuff can happen)

The bound from Geist: The Sin-Eaters are both the payload and the infection mechanism of the Geists. The Geists themselves are basically a computer worm. Odd bits of a program mashed together from Fae and God-Machine programs, not really made on purpose.

Werewolves as in the Apocalypse and the Forsaken work similarly but on different levels. Both are effectively a Firewall/virus scanner/anomaly detector, with the Werewolves from the WtA being the far more beefy version. Unknowingly, they are creations of the God-Machine and work to fulfill their purpose as part of the kernel.

The mummies from Mummy the Resurrection are basically a corrupted version of the Firewall/virus scanner/anomaly detector. It was the original approach taken by the God-Machine, but the bit of code that made the mummies became corrupted over time (as in data corruption), so the God-Machine went on to make the Werewolves, and the mummies continued on.

The Arisen from Mummy: The Curse are fragments (as in you the ones you used to have to defrag on older computers). Bits of data leftover from incomplete deletion.

Wraith: The Oblivion is basically people hanging out in the recycling bin of the god machine

and the god machine is really bad at remembering to empty it.

Demon the Fallen is where it gets weird. Like so much it comes down to Fae BS. The “God” from Demon the Fallen is nothing more than a Fae who enjoys using this odd earth as a fun playground. The demons are fae creations (similar to the Fetches), able to offer their own minor alterations to the God-Machine code. The fae played out a small war game on the God-Machine, eventually growing bored and just, leaving some it’s creations behind in “the pit”.

Not all of it is programming metaphors. hunters, as in both Hunters the Reckoning, and the Vigil, are humans who got a peek at the supernatural, and decided to intervene. The exposure was through different means, the HtR being a system wide glitch on the masquerade, and Vigil being random chance.

The remade/broken are also fairly straight forward. Changed per the inherit rules of the world, they are nothing more than a possibility the system allows, perhaps with the occasional unexpected result. Same with the Prometheans (From Promethean the Created).

For the exalted there are a few ways to take it. The first being that they were the intial programs ran on the God-Machine kernel, but they took too much processing power, so it crashed the system, forcing the God-Machine to do the equivalent of a factory reset.

Another way this could be worked in is that the exalted are other simultaneously existing programs/functions. Self replicating code, that played out their own drama in their own created spaces.

They could also be purposeful creations of the fae, trying their hand at making their own systems and programs, perhaps for their own amusement or to serve an unknown purpose.

The god machine really sucks regarding information degrade, but I guess this is what you get out of a spontaneously existing program that came from Fae BS. It is safe to assume that random spirits, odd creatures and the unexpected are either an error, effectively a computer virus of either Fae or Demon origin, an odd bit of kitbashed code, or a purposefully altered program that had super unexpected results.

#personal #CoD #WoD #world of darkness #chronicles of darkness

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felassan · 3 years

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I've been thinking about how Ghilan'nain is amongst the gods that Solas trapped and wondering what she did to be grouped with the rest of them. But according to the lore, she wasn't the same after the hunter incident and maybe her everlasting wound turned her cruel to the point that she made creatures out of cruelty/to be destructive and frightening. I'm curious to see what the DA says too! <3

Hello! This answer is under a cut for length. TN spoilers under cut.

Part of it will be that she was a part of the institution that he was seeking to strike down in order to free the People. After ascending Ghilan’nain was actively part of the problem, a false would-be god at the top of the power structure, in a system where said gods had come to rule over a stratified society and keep slaves. Her included, as there’s Ghilan’nain vallaslin. Part of it will then have been her part in the events that preceded the fall. When Solas talks about what the Evanuris did and why he created the Veil, he talks about them as a group. “They” killed Mythal, and he believes the Evanuris - as a faction, at least - were going to destroy the entire world. It’s interesting - did they all have a direct hand in Mythal’s death, or did only some of them and the rest were indirectly involved, say via conspiring? We only have his side of the story here, but that’s what he says. It’s totally possible he was speaking in generalities (sometimes we’re like “I’m out with my family / the lads / whatever” when not every single member of the mentioned group is actually present) and only some of them were directly and indirectly involved in the murder, but then we’re still left with the power structure problem and the slavery and the peer group destroying the world stuff. And I wonder about her maneuvering against Mythal - the sinner took the form of what’s implied to be a dragon (a creature heavily associated with Mythal) at her urging, and it was then Mythal that he begged protection from. Why did she urge him to do that I wonder? Was it a scheme? A slight, an insult to Mythal? Like ‘Look Mythal, one of the non-gods flies in a divine god-only shape, the one particularly associated with you btw, how disrespectful!,’ something ‘said’ while knowing that when caught it’s Mythal he’d go to to beg protection, kinda rubbing her nose in it? And then ‘oh look everyone, the All-Mother and adjudicator isn’t showing the sinner favor after all, so much for the great protector you think is so great. Maybe she isn’t so great after all’. That undermines and creates a situation where Mythal looks bad.

There’s also what she was doing on the side. Before, she created monsters and dangerous beasts and then slaughtered most of them en-masse in return for apotheosis and more power. If the Pride that stayed her hand when she was going to destroy the sea creatures was Solas, then he had knowledge of those events and knew what her inclinations were. That codex tells us a few things: that Ghilan’nain was just as.. well, Evanurissy, as the rest of the Evanuris in her own way, that she made monstrous terrible things that even the Evanuris considered dangerous and that she was ruthless enough to kill most of her creations in order to obtain godhood, even though she clearly loved some of them. And that was before being one of the Evanuris-proper. The Tevinter Nights prison-ship carvings imply that the things she was experimenting on weren’t simple animals. Livestock animals or lab rat-type animals aren’t transported or kept in “prisons”, people are. Pens or cages would be more animal-appropriate language. Then her research notes have her explaining her process to the “stock” as a courtesy (which is straight up telling a captured human-level-sentient being what you’re going to do to it, we don’t explain anything to our science fair volcanoes or to the lab rats being used in medical research, as they can’t and don’t understand). The “lesser animals” bit implies the things she was working on at the time were higher, complex beings. So from the fragments we have an unethical scientist archtype who performed twisted experiments and made monsters out of people who were prisoners or slaves. Did she stop doing those things after ascension? She could have continued her work in secret, and post-ascension she was in a position of great power and privilege and had a supply of slaves. Could she have been tempted to continue, in that position, with that access? Post-ascension she was also part of the Evanuris group, and whatever the Evanuris were doing, power corrupted and they had a lust for it.

I’m sure there’s a lot more to it as we only have fragments and Solas’ side of things (which has stuff omitted). It’s also hard to say because which parts of the Dalish beliefs nowadays about the gods are true and which parts were a bit misconstrued or evolved over time? They’re a mix. The story of Ghilan’nain and the hunter as we can read it is from the modern Dalish belief system. Parts of it definitely line up with other fragments - she had a connection to Andruil, halla are involved, in the short story focusing on her in TN there are striking similarities between Ghilan’nain being wounded and bound and Warden Friedl, someone affected by Ghilan’nain’s work, gouging out her own eyes and being bound by Ramesh and Lesha. Other parts don’t quite, and the truth is probably somewhere in-between the Dalish belief and the picture ‘painted’ in the Temple of Mythal inscription (whoever created those inscriptions had their own biases, and were likely in the service of Mythal. Mythal’s temple will naturally be full of pro-Mythal information and things reflecting Mythal’s views).

Anyway given her inclinations and Solas’ views on slavery and freedom I can see why. I do like the theory that maybe an encounter like that with a hunter (or was it a “hunter”? It could have been someone specific) influenced how she got started doing that stuff. Like maybe that encounter is why she began keeping herself apart from the People and where she got the idea from? Notes on Methods of Enchantment feel scientifically detached and coolly concerned with the technical aspects and the aim of the work though, so while obviously heinously cruel it feels more like she thought of it as a scientific endeavor done for that purpose (this is the danger of not seeing other people as people but instead seeing them as “stock”) rather than something done for the terrifying sake of it and out of “I specifically actively want to see people suffer”-cruelty. Who knows when they were written though (or even if she even wrote them), she could have come to be that detached over time.

This post is speculative not prescriptive. :)

#dragon age #bioware #mj replies #katie-my-lady #video games #solas #tevinter nights #tevinter nights spoilers #spoiler #spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler

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infinite-xerath · 3 years

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Runeterra Retcons 8: Kog’Maw

I’ll be honest: when people consider Champions that could use a lore rewrite or update, Kog’Maw is probably far from the top of the list. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Riot’s thought process as well. Kog’Maw is another case similar to Twitch where his current story isn’t bad per se, but more-so that there isn’t really much there. His bio on universe consists of only two paragraphs, which obviously leaves him feeling a bit neglected compared to other Champions post-reboot…

Except it kind of doesn’t? While significantly shorter than most Champions’ bios, Kog’Maw’s actually more-or-less does what it needs to. See, Kog’Maw is a Voidborn, a monster born from the eldritch realm of all-consuming cosmic horrors who want nothing more than to see Runeterra and all of reality assimilated and wiped out. While champions from the Void have been shown to have capacity for intelligence, they’re all really just monsters at the end of the day with their only driving force being to consume and grow. They enter Runeterra for that express purpose and that will continue to be their only driving motivation until they either die or until the world ends.

Now, every Voidborn is slightly unique in the ways they go about consuming things. Cho’Gath eats stuff just to grow larger, whereas Kha’Zix eats to evolve, adapting the most useful traits and abilities of his prey. Vel’Koz absorbs the knowledge and information from what he disintegrates, while Rek’Sai eats primarily so that she can continue to multiple and spread her brood across Shurima. It is interesting how Riot made a bunch of monsters whose primary goal is literally just eating and gives each of them a unique twist on the act, and though Kog’Maw is little underwhelming in that department. To get what I mean, let’s take a look at his bio.

So Kog’Maw, similar to Vel’Koz, eats primarily to learn and satisfy his endless curiosity about the world. Kog’Maw is a little unique among the Voidborn in that he’s not malicious or apathetic, but rather possesses an almost childlike innocence that drives him to simply learn all he can. Unlike the others, it’s not clear if Kog’Maw really even understands the Void’s mission or purpose to destroy everything, making him arguably the most sympathetic Voidborn by far.

As things stand, Kog’Maw’s current bio says all it really needs to about his character… Well, all but one thing. Since his inception, Kog’Maw has always been somewhat special among the Voidborn, having a direct link of sorts to Malzahar. The only real change from his original bio is removing any mention of the Fields of Justice or the League itself, but the fact remains that Kog’Maw has always been driven to find Malzahar for some unexplained reason. He wasn’t directly summoned by the prophet like his Voidlings are, but rather, it seems like the Watchers sent Kog’Maw to Runeterra to find the prophet...

But that’s all we know. Seriously, even Kog’Maw’s bio literally says that it’s “anyone’s guess” what will happen when the two finally meet, which, knowing how League storylines rarely get to see a conclusion of any kind, will probably be never. What makes Kog’Maw so special? Why does he need to meet up with Malzahar? How does this acid-spitting Void dog pose more of a threat than the likes of Cho’Gath or Baron Nashor?

Today, that’s what I wanted to explore. I suppose you could say that this episode is less of rewrite or retcon, and more an expansion. I want to give Kog’Maw a more significant role in the story, and while we’re at it, continue the trend of giving him a unique reason to consume things that makes him stand out from the others. So, without further ado, let’s build upon the Mouth of the Abyss and finally give an answer to these age-old questions.

For eons, the Void has gnawed at the barrier between itself and reality, aiming to break through it to usher in the end of all things. The unfathomable horrors that rule over the Void have sent countless of their malformed spawn through cracks in the barrier to further their ambitions, and on occasion have even contracted humans desperate enough to become their heralds. The most prevalent of these heralds are the traitorous ice witch Lissandra and the Shuriman seer Malzahar, but none would ever suspect that the true key to oblivion is a lone Voidling simply known as Kog’Maw.

When Malzahar swore himself to the Void in the remnants of Icathia, the broken seer proved oddly compatible with the otherworldly powers of the Watchers. Just as the Void had called to him, the seer unknowingly called out to something in the depths of the Void. As Malzahar left Icathia behind him, a writhing, twisted creature emerged from the cracks in the earth. A strange, caustic substance secreted from this larva as it slowly took shape. Eventually, the creature formed a mouth and eyes, and found itself intrigued and perplexed with the strange new world around it.

For months, the Voidling wandered the wastes of Shurima alone, driven by a deep-rooted desire to find the one that had summoned him to this world. The more he wandered, the more he began to develop a taste for the unusual, fascinating creatures of Runeterra. Even as he sampled everything he could, however, the Voidling continued to search for the one who called for him. It wasn’t long before he encountered other humans, but they were of little help, offering screams rather than any means of finding the one who summoned him. In response, the Voidling simply melted and devoured those who proved otherwise unhelpful. Those who survived such encounters named the beast Kog’Maw: Mouth of the Abyss.

Having no luck with the caravans, Kog’Maw turned his attention to one of the strange human cities to resume his search. As expected, the humans all screamed and ran, but some, to his surprise, lashed out. Sharp objects pierced Kog’Maw’s flesh, leading to him retaliating with globs of acid that burned through the armor of his attackers. Despite the potency of his bile, though, Kog’Maw was outnumbered, and soon found himself surrounded by soldiers who all drove their sharp sticks into the Voidling’s hide.

In that moment, a violent explosion of energy burst forth from Kog’Maw’s body, consuming the soldiers and their weapons and leaving nothing behind. After that, everything was darkness.

Kog’Maw awoke hours later, alone in the desert once again. Though confused and hungrier than ever, Kog’Maw resumed his search with renewed resolve to find the one called Malzahar. He believes that the Void seer is the only one who can satisfy his curiosity and help Kog’Maw to understand the nature of the mysterious power that dwells within him. The more he consumes, the more this power grows… And all-the-while, Malzahar waits for the destined time when Kog’Maw will arrive before him, ready to unleash that power and tear open the veil of reality once and for all.

So, ominous, right? I admit, it’s still a little vague, but I’d like to think that the implications are clear enough without me flat-out saying it. Basically, in my rendition of the lore, Kog’Maw is a bomb.

One of Kog’Maw’s most notable but also most out-of-place abilities in-game is Icathian Surprise. This passive ability basically makes it so that Kog’Maw explodes when he dies, allowing him to deal True Damage to members of the enemy team. This ability is never brought up or referenced at all in the lore, and it’s certainly a strange ability to have for a creature who’s all about melting things down with acid.

So, crazy thought: what if we actually gave Icathian Surprise lore relevance? What if Kog’Maw’s ability to self-destruct is actually his main ability? He melts things down to eat them, and the more he eats, the more the power inside him grows and swells. When he’s killed, Kog’Maw unleashes that power in a violent explosion powerful enough to obliterate everything around him… And if he eats enough, that power could even become so strong as to blow open reality itself.

Yes, Kog’Maw is more than just an acid-spitting Void dog. In my interpretation of the lore, Kog’Maw is a doomsday weapon. His purpose for eating is to build up power, and when he’s consumed enough, Malzahar will bring him to Icathia. where the Void already has a foothold. There, the prophet slays Kog’Maw so that the resulting blast will widen the gap enough for the Void to begin its assault on Shurima once again. This is the prophet’s grand plan, and for now, all he has to do is let Kog’Maw wander and feast…

The one silver lining is that if Kog’Maw dies prematurely, all the power he’s already built up is released and he has to start over from scratch. This, I think, is a much more interesting direction to take the character and gives him a much deeper significance in the Void plot overall. I also really like the idea that, despite seeming like the weakest Void Champion in the game, Kog’Maw is arguably the most dangerous because of his true purpose. I suppose I’m just a sucker for the trope of relatively harmless-looking characters possessing terrifying hidden powers deep down.

But, that’s my take on it. What do you guys think? Does Kog’Maw work as a secret doomsday weapon for the Void, or do you prefer to keep him vague and more comedic? Leave your thoughts below, and I’ll see you all next time.

#Kog'Maw #League of Legends #Runeterra Retcons

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virlath · 4 years

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The Dread Wolf

Some speculation on Solas’ dread wolf form (Tevinter Nights spoilers below)

All around us was light and color, a dizzying array of the magic that makes up the world of spirits, and it swirled around the Tevinter mage and his ritual knife as though he were the eye of a hurricane. Something huge trembled around us—a spirit so great that it shook parts of the Fade I had always considered to be neutral, devoid of life—and high overhead, where the Black City shadowed the sky, I heard a great booming roar.

But before the Tevinter mage could complete his ritual, the Dread Wolf arrived.

It was no elf, no mortal mage. It was a beast unlike any I had ever seen. Lupine in appearance, but the size of a high dragon, with shaggy spiked hide and six burning eyes like a pride demon, and it came to us on wings of fire that resolved themselves into a horde of lesser demons as the Dread Wolf landed before us.

-Dragon Age Tevinter Nights

So, I’ve been thinking about Solas’ dread wolf form, and what it it means /entails.

In Tevinter Nights, the Dread Wolf appears from the fade to stop the Mortalitasi’s blood magic ritual.

Based on the Mortalitasi’s story, I theorise the terrifying Dread Wolf form is Solas himself and not a separate entity like Nightmare serving Corypheus.

===

First, the backstory

Personally, I think there is a lot of strong evidence Solas was originally some kind of spirit before manifesting as a physical, mortal elf. He doesn’t identify strongly with people and elves, saying to the Inquisitor he only thinks of himself as “me”. His only friends are spirits, and he has spent a lot of time justifying to himself why spirits should be considered people. He gets very passionate about this topic if you walk into his rhetoric on the matter.

Solas understands spirits because I think he was one to begin with. There have been hints that the ancient elves used spirits and bound them to their will. It would explain why Solas is so against using spirits and twisting them against their nature.

While we might visit the Fade, it is his natural home, and the spirits there serve him gladly.

After the events of Trespasser, and the events in Tevinter Nights, I think Solas has taken the form of the six-eyed wolf to reside in the fade physically. I presume this is advantageous for him so he can ensure his ritual to tear down the veil completes successfully. Using the dread wolf form allows him to build up his terrifying image while also scaring away mages and spirits from disrupting his plans.

We already know with the anchor he would have been able to walk the fade physically. With Mythal’s power now within him, there is nothing stopping him from living there permanently. Instead of shape shifting into a dragon like the evanuris however, Solas shapeshifts into a massive reptilian wolf.

I don’t think the wolf form is a separate entity, nor do I think this wolf form is a spirit serving him like Nightmare was serving Corypheus.

Solas may have many parallels to Corypheus but using a spirit or even a person as one half of his persona is not his MO. Solas only relies on himself- he wants to be the one in control at all times. He may rely on spirits to help with whatever tasks he needs to carry out, but I don’t think he would ever rely on a spirit so much so it formed one half of his dread wolf image.

===

The Dread Wolf of the Fade

Now I think Solas’ origin/spirit self is important, because it will play a part in how we truly see him, and thus, form how we redeem or stop (”kill”) him.

Around the start of DA:I, he says:

The fade reflects the mind of the living. If you expect a spirit of wisdom to be a pride demon, it will adapt. And if your mind is free of corrupting influences? If you understand the nature of the spirit? They can be fast friends.

I don’t think his physical/fade form is like anything we have seen in any previous games or lore before. He says himself, the ancient elven gods weren’t truly gods but “mages”, or "something this age has not yet seen”. I don’t think he’s an abomination like Anders, but closer to a spirit that has manifested and evolved like Cole, over millenia. If so maybe the term demon is more appropriate to describe his form (and to be clear, I think Solas is definitely not a simple spirit but something much more - he says himself in dialogue with Cole “I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths).

What Solas has is the understanding and kinship of spirits coupled with the physicality of a mortal body. He can walk the fade and affect the minds of others through dreams. If you remember Feynriel in DA2, it was said a dreamer abomination would be extraordinarily powerful and they would be able to affect the dreams of others. Perhaps Solas is a bit like Feynriel except he *is* the only entity- rather than possessing someone, he is the sole physical manifestation of his demon self. When he is in the fade, he can shapeshift into his wolf form by using the fear inspired by his Dread Wolf persona, much like Nightmare can.

Whatever you know of this mage, put it aside. Whether he is truly the Dread Wolf of elven myth, I cannot say—it is not uncommon for powerful spirits to be worshipped as gods, as the Avvar do. But whatever fear the name of the Dread Wolf carries, he has earned. While we might visit the Fade, it is his natural home, and the spirits there serve him gladly. They whisper in my dreams now, accusing me of crimes I never committed and promising vengeance if my wards fail. A weaker mage would be dead already, or mad.

And as clear as the Dread Wolf’s anger at what we had done—the Mortalitasi binding spirits he considered his own, the Tevinter mage using forbidden blood magic—was the feeling that we had disrupted his own work.

He intends something for the Fade, and if he wants the idol, then whatever he intends will be terrible.

This is why Solas positions himself as this big scary wolf demon to begin with. He wants people to be afraid of him because he can use their fear against them.

If our protagonist gets the chance to see him as a person or even a friend, they will see him in the fade for who he truly is- someone who at the end of the day, is a morally grey person with "good” intentions. And if they see him as a big bad wolf who wants worldwide destruction, he can use that fear to feed his wolf form as well.

This is where it’s important to note the distinction between humans and spirits. In Cole’s personal quest, spirits forgive by simply “forgetting”. Contrast this to physical beings, who forgive by working through pain and accepting it. I think DA4 will feature a pretty big existential crisis for Solas - where (hopefully) we can steer him towards the path of being a morally grey physical being, or the one track minded spirit intent on fulfilling his personal destiny at all costs.

Solas vs. himself

If you look at the murals and tarot cards in DA:I, he and the wolf are in sync with each other. Benevelont, looming, scary, confident, prideful, terrifying. In all the Inquisition artworks, he is in a position of control, actively using the Dread Wolf persona to carry out his actions.

Contrast this to the teaser mural, where the wolf has literally turned it’s back on Solas. Meanwhile, Solas stands his ground with his hand outstretched against the evanuris (the semicircles), the idol, and the wolf all at once.

In Trespasser, if Cole is made more a spirit he says this:

“When this is done, I will slip back safely, a spirit. Someone is hurting. He needs me to remember who he is.”

I think he is most definitely referring to Solas in this case.

Cole knows way more about Solas than he lets on throughout the game, and in a way, he has access to the bigger picture which we can only speculate on. This is why, when you say you want to kill Solas at the end of Trespasser, Cole greatly disapproves. It’s also why so many spirits willingly serve the dread wolf in the fade. Solas’ actions are clearly beneficial for the spirits of the fade, but whether or not he accounts for people in reality will be up to our own personal choices in game.

The more Solas takes on the form of the Dread Wolf and the more he resides in the fade physically, the more of his mortal self he will forget. It’s just the nature of being “part spirit”. If spirits encounter information they don’t want to process or understand, they simply forget. His inner struggle is the part that wants to be a spirit vs. the part that has mortal ties and emotions based in reality. This is why when he says “I will never forget you” to a romanced Lavellan, it is so significant, and so tragic.

"Wisdom knows enduring is pain. He hurts for her, another of many he couldn't save. He carries necessary deaths." (this quote refers to his spirit of wisdom friend in his personal quest)

If Solas wanted to, he probably could simply forget. He did after all, make Cole forget “They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them... (Gasps.) Where did it go?”

Him choosing to remember the pain is what differentiates him from any conventional spirit.

This is ultimately how I think Solas’ arc will culminate in DA4.

Will Solas inevitably lose control of his Dread Wolf persona and take up the mantle of the uncontrollable, power mad villain he swore he never was?

Or can we get him to realise the more human side to him, the side that accepts and deals with pain and mistakes and regret- the side that believes in the right of “all free willed beings to exist”?

#dragon age #da4 #theory crafting #tevinter nights #dread wolf rises #solas #da theories #drabble

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vg-sanctuary · 3 years

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The World Ends with You

Jupiter - DS - 2008

[screenshots from Nintendo Life, jack-reviews.com, and LPArchive; please excuse the low res, I couldn’t find better ones]

TWEWY is an RPG with modern (circa 2008) style and character designs by Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Kingdom Hearts. I meant to write about it the day its sequel NEO: TWEWY came out but missed that by a few days. anyway, I think it's reasonable to call this game the epitome of the Nintendo DS. it has every feature to be expected of any game on the wildly unique handheld: a touch-based minigame with wireless multiplayer and little bearing on the main game, a sleep mode puzzle, touch controls, forced use of both screens, and gameplay and plot designed to be enjoyed in short bursts. it's loaded with cool ideas, some of which are more than questionable, even barring the crazy DS features, hence the remakes. (savvy readers will notice I left out the iOS and Switch platforms and, while there are remakes of the game for both platforms that have extra content and a more elegant combat system, they don't hit quite like the DS original.)

I don't fancy myself an RPG fan for the most part. the usual high fantasy themes and turn based combat are boring to me. usually, if an RPG has either one I'm not interested, and this has neither of those. I decided to try TWEWY while collecting DS games, and the plot and combat had grabbed me within two hours. I haven't mentioned the awesome music and visuals, both wonderfully stylish and unique in the same way Persona's UI is stylish and unique, only this game uses the style on its game world and characters instead of menus.

the premise is the antisocial protagonist, Neku, wakes up in a killing game wherein each day has a mission that he and his partner either complete or face erasure. after a week of these missions he'll be free. I can’t tell you the massive general plot spoiler that makes the whole thing so compelling as it goes on, so this section of the post is sadly pretty short. there is an anime that goes over the main events, but it's only four hours long compared to the game's 20, character development is sometimes lacking in detail or totally inaccurate, and it generally doesn't include the hardships you would go through as a player e.g. having to try a boss five times.

almost everything about TWEWY's gameplay is intriguing, so I'll try to be concise. combat is a strange beast that comes from developer Jupiter's need to use both screens to the fullest. by the way, don't let this wall of text scare you away from the game; it introduces these mechanics much slower and it's easier to understand and use. the bottom screen is gesture-based ARPG combat where, for example, short swipes over an enemy makes Neku use a sword attack or touching somewhere on the screen makes him fire a bullet. the exact gestures and attacks are determined by what pins he's wearing. the top screen asks you to use the d-pad to attack with Neku’s partner and navigate along a tree of cards where getting the right card grants a star; enough of those allows you to use a powerful and health-restoring fusion attack. there's this green light puck that passes between characters when the one holding it does a finisher and multiplies the finisher's damage with each successful pass up to five times, but disappears if held by one character for too long. fortunately the game has an auto mode for the top screen that's roughly equivalent to mashing left or right on the d-pad so you don't have to try to split your brain between both, but you get a little more experience if that's turned off. I love the bottom screen and the idea of the top screen but could never really get my head around doing both at once. maybe the intent was to focus on the character that has the puck and leave the other standing still or spamming defense? (in NEO: TWEWY, the light puck mechanic was changed to beat drop combos, where using a different character to attack shortly after a finisher gives you some charge for a super. no attention splitting, just fun ARPG combat with an interesting combo system that can inform what pins you use.)

turning up the game's difficulty makes enemies stronger and mostly drops different pins. there aren't random encounters: you have to scan for enemies and mostly get to choose which encounters to take. you can choose to fight multiple in a row without getting health back between them and multiply your drop rate multiplier, with enemies getting stronger the more encounters you take. you get your health back when you return to the overworld, which cuts out a lot of the obligatory spending for healing items and the trouble of running out for the player. there are still some pins that can heal you during a battle, though.

leveling up, instead of arbitrarily increasing every stat, only increases your HP, but you can turn your level down to lower your HP and multiply the drop rate of pins by one for each level. other stats can be increased with clothes or food, with different foods permanently increasing different stats and have different calories. each character can only eat so much in a single real time day, which is wack but still interesting. the food system in NEO is similar except without the per-day limit, and I think it's a great idea that gives the player agency in terms of what stats they want to increase and whether they want larger or smaller boosts.

pins can evolve when leveled up enough, but may only evolve if you give them the right kind of pin points, which is like experience for pins. there's PP from battles, from the game's proto-StreetPass mingle mode (that you could only get randomly roughly every hour, from other folks in TWEWY's mingle mode, or from other DSes running any wireless software; thankfully this is removed from the remakes but it's a neat idea), and from turning off the game for up to seven real time days. if a pin reaches max level with the wrong kind of PP, you have to go get another one to evolve it, but I don't think there are any super rare pins that evolve. the game doesn't show what kind of PP you need to evolve a pin, so while it's a cool idea, there's a fair chance that you'll miss lots of evolutions and not even notice.

there are lots of rare pins that can be worn as a set to do something ridiculously powerful, but you have to go out of your way to get them, like the Darklit Planets. it's a set of seven pins that are useful alone, but if worn all together they become three times more powerful. they all drop rarely from bosses on the highest difficulty. I love wacky, mystical, obscenely powerful postgame stuff like this but can't be bothered to actually go and get it. some games give you their best weapons last, which is always a shame because there's nothing to use it on, but in TWEWY, there's a boss rush that saves your best time and lots of bosses to re-fight for their rare pins, so you'll have a reason to fight bosses until you've got every one of those rare pins.

speaking of postgame, TWEWY's is rather extensive, with a bonus day focused on the Tin Pin Slammer minigame and goofy non-canon alternate personalities plus four sort of tedious missions for every ingame day that unlock secret reports for much more lore about the Reapers' Game. (one of the missions for every day is "find and destroy the pig Noise," which mostly have puzzle-ish fights; one is killed by closing the DS and opening it again, which is the sleep mode puzzle I mentioned.) if you get them all, it unlocks a special scene in the ending, but again, I can't be bothered to do that kind of postgame. not all of it, anyway, the bonus day's missions are too tedious for me.

in Tin Pin Slammer, the minigame with almost no bearing on the main game, you use your pins to play kinda-sorta Beyblade. every pin has different stats, many of which are hidden, and different amounts of the different weapons to stun your opponents' pins with. it's a rather extensive side mode and a totally unnecessary inclusion, but really fun anyway, and can be played wirelessly with others. there are some other mechanics that are also interesting but not quite worth adding any more words to this ridiculously long post, including a brand trends system and an interesting way to limit running from fights.

even with all of these words and some pictures, I seriously can't offer a glimpse of the vibes, the combat, the music, the story, the characters, the entire energy of The World Ends with You in a blog post, and in my opinion, it's not the same without the crispy DS sprites or peculiar dual screen combat. if you like the DS, 2000s energy, or action RPGs, this is an essential addition to your library if you don't want to track down a DS copy or you prefer more elegant combat, try one of the remakes instead. you're this far into the blog post, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed. (NEO: TWEWY is very good too and has a free demo on PS4 and Switch; while not the same, it's still worth trying. it carries a modernized audiovisual energy of its predecessor, more elegant combat improvements to other TWEWY systems.)

#twewy #the world ends with you #ds #nintendo ds #nds #retro gaming #my writing

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onefey · 4 years

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So a while back I made a vague post that I had a theory (it’s more of a headcanon with basis) that the Twilight Realm is Lorule’s Sacred Realm. It’s something I thought up on a whim while I was bedridden (the basis being they’re both realms lmao) but I’m actually rather invested in it now.

So here’s all the “evidence.” It’s below the cut because it’s like a thousand words long. Whoops.

Let’s start with the obvious; they’re very similar, physically.

Lorule in general is depicted with a near constant twilit skyline covered in dark clouds. At the end of ALBW, Hilda, Ravio, Zelda and Link enter the Lorulean Sacred Realm, and it becomes apparent that it’s suffered the same fate.

Now, look at it next to the Twilight Realm.

Now, obviously, they're not identical. But I think it's telling that they both have a constant twilit sky. I think, if you took the Twilight Realms colors and saturated them, or took this Sacred Realm's coloration and did the opposite, you'd end up with pretty close results

There’s similarities other than color, too, like the way the architecture is set up; built high up, on plain dirt, made of crumbling stone.

Overall it could be said based on appearance alone that they’re the same place, just in different timelines, with different artstyles and color saturation.

There’s also a few connections between the regular Sacred Realm and the Twilight Realm. In Ocarina of Time, Shiek calls the Sacred Realm a mirror of what’s in one’s heart. A... mirror. And Link turns into an animal when exposed to both places; a bunny in ALTTP, and a wolf in Twilight Princess.

But similarities/connections between the realms aren’t the only basis, because that would be boring. Let’s talk about the inhabitants of the Twilight Realm, the Twili.

In case you’re rusty on your Zelda lore, the Twili are the evolution of a tribe known as the Dark Interlopers (or simply Interlopers.) The Interlopers attempted to gain absolute control over Hyrule’s Sacred Realm, and were subsequently banished to the Twilight Realm by order of the three goddesses.

Take note; the Interlopers were banished after the Triforce was sealed in the Sacred Realm. Why is this important?

Well, the reason the Triforce was sealed in the Sacred Realm was because of a civil war that broke out in Hyrule between people who wanted its power. The royal family hid it away to usher in an age of peace.

This is important, because the Lorulean equivalent of that very same war led to their Triforce being destroyed.

…That was all a very long and convoluted way of saying the timeline adds up and that Lorule’s Sacred Realm would already be corrupt by the time the Interlopers were banished there. But I digress.

(With this in mind, the Interlopers technically got what they wanted in the end; control of the Sacred Realm. Just not the Sacred Realm they were hoping for; what they got was a broken, decrepit and dark one.)

Here’s another thing about the Twili. And you’re going to have to bear with me on this one. They physically resemble at least one godlike entity.

Let me… explain that.

The Twili, or at least Midna and Zant, have an odd brow. It looks like this;

At first I was just going to point out that Yuga, a Lorulean, paints in a way that is slightly reminiscent of the Twili, what with the brow connecting to the nose in such a way. But Yuga isn’t the first person to have painted like that; the paintings in Wind Waker, which predate Yuga, use that same style.

But then I realized there’s actually something else that looks similar to those paintings!!

Take a look at Hylia’s statues. Specifically, look at the one in Breath of the Wild.

You may notice the… familiar way the brow is set up.

So here’s my crackpot theory; if we consider that Hylia in at least one form looked like that statue, and that Lorule has an equivalent of Hylia, then that could imply that the Twili resemble Lorule’s goddess. And thus they resemble Hylia.

And considering the Sacred Realm is the realm of the gods… hm. That actually makes a lot of sense.

(This is probably the weakest point here, considering it’s a very distinct possibility that that’s just a popular art style in Hyrule/Lorule. Still, it’s an interesting point and I thought I’d point it out.)

Moving on to the final point; it’s now my belief that Twilight is the Lorulean equivalent of Malice.

Let’s look at the facts;

What we know about the Twilight (Twilight Princess): it spreads over large areas. It corrupts things like the field monsters and the Twili. Things that aren’t corrupted turn into spirits.

What we know about Malice (Breath of the Wild): it spreads over large areas. It corrupts things like the Guardians and Divine Beasts. The champions, (and the king,) when killed by blight infected things (Ganon blights and presumably Ganon himself,) lingered on as spirits.

…Hm.

Also. The blood moon. The blood moon turns the sky a red color, and black particles start to float in the air.

It’s kind of similar to what the Twilight areas in Twilight Princess are like.

So what I think is that Lorule is sort of in an eternal blood moon, and the twilit sky is just their equivalent of it. And the Twilight Realm, being heavily corrupted, is absolutely infested with the Lorulean equivalent of blight; aka, the Twilight itself.

So, tldr; after Lorule’s Triforce is destroyed, its Sacred Realm is consumed by Twilight (Lorulean Malice.) The three goddesses, whether you want to see them as a constant between the worlds or simply Aware of Lorule’s existence, turn that realm into a prison. The Interlopers evolve to both adapt to their surroundings (clinging to things like the Sols for a minor source of light) and to look somewhat like Hylia (or a Lorulean equivalent.)

That’s the end of the theory at large, but I wanna point out one more little thing.

Since the Interlopers were banished before Ocarina of Time, logically they exist in every timeline. And they probably wouldn’t change much, between timelines, considering they’re mostly (key word, mostly) unaffected by events in Hyrule. So;

That means that Zant most likely exists, or existed. And he most likely still holds the desire to conquer the Light World. And, even without Ganondorf’s intervention, perhaps he’d try to find a way to do so.

…It’s never explained where the rift in Lorule’s Sacred Realm that leads to Hyrule came from, is it?

#the legend of zelda #loz #a link between worlds #twilight princess #lorule #twilight realm #twili #headcanon #theory #zelda theory #i'm sorry if this seems rambly i'm not good at these types of things #but i HAD to get this done so *chucks it at u*#you know i'm invested when i start capitalizing things #lorule lives in my head rent free

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purgatoryapotheca · 4 years

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BEELZEBUB

BEELZEBUB is also known as BAALZEBUB, ENLIL, BEL, “PIR BUB”* BAAL ZEBUL and BEELZEBUTH

He is also known as the Goetic Demon “BAEL”

History of Beelzebub

Beelzebub was a prince of the Seraphim, just below Lucifer. Beelzebub, along with Lucifer and Leviathan, were the first three angels to fall. He tempts men with pride and is opposed by St. Francis of Assisi

Beelzebub was also known as Achor by the Cyreneans, which probably meant ‘Lord of the High House’, referring to the Canaanite chief god ‘Baal the prince’. This title could only properly apply to Solomon in his temple, so the Jews changed the name to Beelzebub which translates as ‘Lord of Flies’, possibly because of his supposedly role as creator and controller of the flies in the Philistine city of Ekron.

One of the oldest and most famous demonic figures, Beelzebub also had command over disease — flies congregate around the corpses of the dead, and spread disease from the dead to the living — and his role is to tempt men with pride. He was called the prince of devils by the Pharisees.

According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Jesus gave Beelzebub dominion over Hell in gratitude for helping remove Adam and other pre-Christian, unbaptized ‘saints in prison’ and bringing them to Heaven, over Satan’s objections. In those early days, Satan outranked Beelzebub. By the sixteenth century, however, demonologist Johann Wierus was listing Beelzebub as supreme chieftain of Hell, with Satan below him.

According to demonology’s lore, when Satan first rebelled, he recruited several very powerful seraphim, Beelzebub among them, to fight at his side. Once he took up his new residence in Hell, Beelzebub learned to tempt men with pride. When summoned by witches or sorcerers, he appeared in the form of a fly, because “Lord of the Flies” was his nom de guerre, as it were. He’d acquired it by visiting a plague of flies upon the harvest of Canaan, or, perhaps, simply because flies were once believed to be generated in the flesh of decaying corpses. Another tale suggests that God created every creature, except the fly — which was made by the Devil.

Those who are close to Beelzebub know he is Enlil. This is from him personally. Enlil was the original “Bel” which later evolved into “Baal.” “Baal” means “Lord,” “Master” “Baal the Prince.” Beelzebub/Enlil was a very popular and well-known God who had cities named after him with the prefix “Baal” all over the Middle East.

Most people who have studied the occult know he is very close to Satan and they both go back to the “beginning of time” here on earth; Enlil and Enki. He is Father Satan’s half-brother. Along with his brother Ea/Satan and Astaroth, he wound up in the grimoires as one of the Crowned princes of Hell and was labeled as “evil,” as were our other Pagan Gods.

“Baal Zebub, the Healing God of Ekron, later became one word–Beelzebub–which came to represent evil and idolatry in the New Testament of the Bible.”

-Excerpt taken from- “Syria” by Coleman South, 1995

Satan and Beelzebub

Beelzebub is best known as the God of the Philistines, He ruled over the city of Ekron. He is second in command to Satan. The Ancient Philistines worshiped Him under the name “Baalzebub.” Beelzebub is “Lord over all that Flies”. Wherever he was worshipped, he was known as God of the weather and meteorology. He also controlled the airways when the Nephilim came to Earth. His name was perverted by the Hebrews to mean “Lord of the Flies.”

Beelzebub takes care of in-fighting between dedicated Satanists. Satan wants unity and Beelzebub enforces this. He can be very strict as Satan does not approve of dedicated Satanists cursing each other.

APPEARANCE

He appears as a giant fly if you summon him.

NOTES

Beelzebub appears several times in the New Testament, but only once in the Old Testament, and never in apocalyptic literature.

Beelzebub is the Patron of all of the Orient, Martial Arts and Asian Culture. He was Prince of the Seraphim and He has a raspy voice

Beelzebub/Enlil is the God of storms, atmospheric conditions, the wind, the rain and the element of air. He is also the God of Entomancy. Entomancy is a method of divination by interpreting the behavior of insects. Beelzebub is also a Master of Astrology and the Zodiac.

The name Beelzebub is sometimes associated with the Canaanite god Baal.

His ziggurat of Nippur was called, “Fi-irn-bar-sag.” He is the God who hurls his thunderbolts and lightning against the enemies of Satan. [More than one Christian church has met with disaster on occasion]. He is considered to be a gracious life-giving and life-sustaining God, taking care of his people, the beasts of the field, the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea. “Enlil [Beelzebub] is both a God of war and God of peace; a destroyer and protector, defender, restorer, upbuilder; inimical, hostile and most gracious.” [6]

WARNINGS:

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE CONDUCT THIS EXPERIMENT.

IT MAY BRING GREAT PAIN AND SUFFERING. IF YOU CONDUCT THIS

EXPERIMENT, IT IS BY YOUR OWN WILL.

SUMMONING OF Beelzebub

Draw a pentagram.

Put the black candles around the points and the red candle in the middle.

Take a piece of string and tie all three together and say: I invite you, Oh prince.

When you feel his presence, throw the limestone at the red candle. [5]

Invocation of Beelzebub

This would be used when Opening the Nine Locks of the Abyss

Beelzebub, I invoke thee.

Beelzebub, I summon thee.

Beelzebub, I conjure thee.

Come forth, Beelzebub, and manifest thyself

Within this body, this temple which I have prepared.

Come forth, Beelzebub, and manifest thyself.

(Drink from chalice then say:)

The fourth lock is open. [1]

SPELLS/CONJURATIONS

First print out a copy of this magick square:

CASED

AZOTE

BOROS

ETOSA

DEBAC

Then get yourself rather drunk on alcohol, because evil spirits work better on people that are rather intoxicated. Then wait until midnight… during a full moon would be even better.

Play some Christian Death music in the background. Turn off the lights, light a candle and some incense. Get rid of any

crosses, bibles or other Christian symbols from the room.

Spend 5 minutes meditating on the square. Notice what the words say both backwards and forwards.

Then take the symbol, and draw some blood from your finger.

DON’T CUT A VEIN. DON”T WANT ANYONE TO KILL THEMSELVES.

Then place the droplet of blood on the square and while doing so repeat the following 6 times.

“Oh BEELZEBUB, LORD OF FLIES. ENTER MY SOUL. SHOW ME THE OTHER SIDE. OPEN MY EYES SO THAT I MAY SEE THE DARK RECESSES OF HELL.”

Do this ritual several times. Then give yourself some time. You probably won’t see an immediate change. It can happen immediately, or it might take up to a year.

Demonic Dark Lord … Lord (King) Beelzebub (Night Demon)

(This information comes from our Priestess’s seeking council with him)

Direction: North

Planet: Jupiter

Metal: Titanium

Element: Earth

Color: Muted Dark Red, Black, Grey, Silvers and Blues

Incense: Frankincense, Myrrh, Oud

Rank : King, Dark Lord, Imperial Royal Demon Commander

Species: Lowborn Demon

Realm: Noble and Lowborn Realms of the Outer Spiritual World

Attributes: Strong warrior and one who has a curious mind, one who is wise and brilliant he knows much and has much to reveal. He also has powerful casting abilities when it comes to death curses and death magicks.

Demonic Mantra:

Demonic Hymn:

Beelzebuth (Beelzebub) Demonic Enn – “Adey vocar avage Beelzebuth (Beelzebub)”

Adey vocar avage Beelzebuth

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Zodiac Position: 0-4 Degrees of Aries

March 21st-25th *[March 21-30]

Tarot Card: 2 of Rods [From Azazel]

Candle color: Black

Plant: Fern

Planet: Sun [From Azazel]

Metal: Iron *[Gold]

Element of Fire

Rank: King

Bael is a Day Demon and rules over 66 legions of spirits. [6]

By Black Witch Coven

#beelzebub #baal #bael #demons #demonolatry #satanism #rituals #witchcraft #demonic #lord of the flies

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regrettablewritings · 4 years

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Podcasts, Youtubes, and TV Shows to Distract Yourself With Because Why Not, and Also Because I Wanna Blab About Some of These

Since I can’t go to work and horrify my coworkers/make them realize I’m a mess and/or nerd by telling them about the type of media I’m into, I’m foisting my recommendations on all of y’all who choose to read this. I frankly do not care how many people have actually heard of these things because I’m also sure there’s plenty of people who, like me, are very slow and oblivious to entertainment, or who have heard of the property but were never that convinced.

Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts

Type: TV series

200 years after a mysterious yet earth-shattering event, much of humanity has taken to living beneath the surface in communities called burrows, wherein life goes on, if effected somewhat by the bizarre fauna that exists above them (referred to as “mutes”, short for “mutant”). One burrow girl, Kipo, founds her world turned almost literally inside-out when she finds herself not only separated from her father and the only world she’s ever known, but on the surface, no less. What ensues is her trying to find her way back home with the help of a stony-faced little girl with a massive chip on her shoulder; a music enthusiast and his literal gadfly friend; and some . . . unusual allies that only an oblivious optimist like Kipo could make. All to a kickass soundtrack, a beautiful backdrop of art, and a world where animals have basically evolved into gangs under a looming threat known as Scarlemagne. If you can’t already tell, I love this series to bits and now is the perfect time for people to get into it and encourage another season of it. Just . . . don’t think too hard that whatever happened to cause the Event in the show happened in October 2020 . . .

Available on: Netflix

My Dad Wrote a Porno

Type: Podcast

This should go without saying, but this podcast is definitely meant for more mature audiences. Or somebody with a strong stomach. Not that it’ll always be easy to tell with the type of content this series gives. When Jamie Morton’s father handed him his manuscripts for his self-published books, he had no idea he was being given a pinnacle of a polished turd: It was erotica. Really, really, really bad erotica. But the ear’s trash is the heart’s pleasure with this bad girl, as Jamie enlists the company of friends Alice and James to provide commentary on “Rocky Flintstone”’s series Belinda Blinked, a drama chronicling the sexcapades of Belinda Blumenthal as she climbs the ladders (and men and women) both in and out of the cut-throat world of pots and pans sales. What follows is a goldmine of awkward metaphors, strange bedmates, and just an overall stampede of whiplashing events that somehow exceed expectations. Listen in if you dare . . . And make sure you’re in good company for it. Fun Fact, though: Daisy Ridley, Ben Barnes, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Michael Sheen, Mara Wilson, Elijah Wood are but a few well-known fans of this series! Nobody is safe . . .

Available on: Wherever podcasts can be found

Lore

Type: Podcast

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. And what better way to be reminded of that, then to have the dulcet tones of Aaron Mahnke tell you about the lighthouse incident that the 2016 movie The Lighthouse was loosely inspired by? Suffice to say, this podcast could also be interpreted with some advised discretion, but definitely in a way that’s different from My Dad Wrote a Porno. In the centuries humankind has existed, we’ve managed to create a menagerie of beasts, both fictional and in ourselves. Lore explores all the many different kinds of events and persons and creatures we have to offer. In any given episode, we could be talking about anything from the bizarre story of a lady who convinced 18th century physicians that she was giving birth to rabbits, to something more disturbing like the life of H.H. Holmes. Or something as relatively innocuous as the relationship between gremlins and flight. Regardless of the subject, however, you’ll definitely walk away knowing something new, if bizarre. And perhaps slightly terrifying.

Available on: Wherever podcasts can be found

The Amelia Project

Type: Podcast

Congratulations: You have been made aware of The Amelia Project. If you’re not interested in this, exit the page. Now. If you continue, there’s no unhearing it. Good choice! A new interest awaits. If you don’t enjoy it, please consider the whole thing a hoax. Okay but in all seriousness, there’s no way to do The Amelia Project justice in just a simple description. The plot sounds quite simple, really: People want to disappear and start a new life, The Amelia Project is there to help – with a price. And that’s if you can actually get a hold of them! What really makes the show, however, are the people and the writing, and I’m not just talking about the almost childlike Interviewer with an obsession for hot cocoa. I’m talking about the clientele: I’m talking about the macabre-obsessed theme park owner who’s out for revenge; the cult leader who’s in way over his head; a Santa impersonator stuck in a miserable marriage with his own manager; an actual podcast character trying to outrun his creators. And obviously this would all be nowhere without the spectacular writing! I really can explain this series without blabbing on and potentially spoiling things; The Amelia Project is an experience!

Available on: Wherever podcasts can be found

LegalEagle

Type: Youtube channel

To be frank, I just like learning for the sake of learning, even if I may not always necessarily understand the topic or have any plans to use it in the foreseeable future. The big difference here being that at least this channel makes learning about the law fun and breaks it down. Headed by a certified lawyer (because what an age we live in, where professionals actually take time out of their lives to teach us common folk), there’s a multitude of series D.J. Stone uses to help break down the complex world of law, from reviewing the realism of procedural favorites (Law & Order, The Good Wife, HTGAWM, etc), to analyzing real-life situations, to even watching childhood media that has nothing to do with the law and determining how much money, say, Willy Wonka would owe in a lawsuit. In short, it is one of my worst subjects done in one of my favorite ways to learn! Plus, Stone hates business students and is perfectly willing to poke fun at law students so it’s all fun, frankly.

Available on: Youtube

Nando v Movies

Type: Youtube channel

Sometimes, movies are bad. Sometimes, they’re good. And sometimes, they could use a few adjustments in hindsight. Especially the nerdier movies where the directors may or may not have tried way too hard or way too little. And that’s where Nando comes in: Whether it’s explaining why a different villain might have worked better for a hero’s origin story movie, or analyzing how one seemingly small adjustment could’ve potentially made more sense in explaining characterization, this channel is always providing a new perspective on a movie or show you’ve probably seen and maybe weren’t necessarily too pleased with. (Or maybe you were – I enjoyed Justice League okay but I love the version he rewrote more.) Oh, yeah: Sometimes he does rewrites of movies or even series. So if you’re anything like me and you’re way into that, this is a channel you don’t want to miss out on.

Available on: Youtube

DEATH BATTLE!

Type: Youtube channel

Does anyone remember Deadliest Warrior? No? . . . How about that one time during lunch where you and your friend got into it over who would win in a death match between Superman and Goku? Good news: A buncha geeks did the math for you and have come out with the results! Specifically, hosts Wiz and Boomstick have analyzed the weapons, armor, and skills of each combatant in every episode, resulting in an ongoing series of absolute nonsense and satiation of bloodshed. The description is admittedly nothing crazy, but the amount of detail applied is honestly where it’s at: From calculating how loud Black Canary’s screams are to approximating Scrooge McDuck’s speed (I’m not kidding you), there’s actual thought put into the characters being assembled and how they might fair with their respective combatant. And it all comes together for an actual fight, often animated but always amazing. So if you’ve ever wondered if Thor could beat Wonder Woman, or if McGruff the Crime Dog stands a chance against Smokey the Bear (I’m…I’m being honest), then this is the show for you!

Available on: Youtube

Sideways

Type: Youtube channel

If there is music in that movie or show, it will be analyzed to a degree that, unless you’ve been trained in music, you would’ve probably never thought about. There isn’t necessarily much rhyme or reason to Sideways’ videos in terms of themes beyond music, but really, must they? Is it not enough that this man is screaming to the internet these wack and awesome trends he’s noticed in certain pieces associated with movies and musicals and the genius behind them? Could life not just be him explaining the symbolism of the instruments associated with the Crystal Gems of Steven Universe, or breaking down the cultures explored by way of the Black Panther soundtrack? Also, here’s a fun drinking game: Take a shot every time he mentions leitmotifs or the Dies Irae.

Available on: Youtube

Craig of the Creek

Type: TV show

In the woods of suburban Maryland, there exists a kid’s utopia: A place where horse girls are free to roam the fields, where a boy can be a king of garbage, and where children travel the sewers completely unsupervised. That is, until the dinner horn rings; then they have to go home until the next time they can return to The Creek. The show focuses on one specific trio (Craig, JP, and Kelsey) as every day, The Creek (and their own childish naivete) brings them new hijinks to experience. There’s a blissful lightheartedness to the show, in addition to a lot of creativity that feels like it was ripped straight out of your own imagination as a child (robots made from cardboard boxes, building portals using lights, etc). But beneath it all, there’s something just plain wild brewing. I don’t want to spoil anything, but CotC has some G-rated GOT shit going on the further along the series goes and I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds!

Available on: CN app, wcostream.com

And that’s probably enough for now, I think. Lemme know if you want any other suggestions, or how you’re findin’ ‘em if you take any of them up! Stay safe, stay healthy my dudes!

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hitodama89 · 4 years

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And done! I am highly amused by how fast I managed to finish this piece, as the one I previously already compared it to took me apparently 80 hours to finish. I didn’t time my process this time, but I’d guess this took something like 10-15 hours, max 15-20 hours. Considering this has 18 Pokémon in it and the bigger one has around 54 (18 is exactly 1/3 of 54) that’s not a bad time at all!

But enough about that - let’s talk about the Pokémon themselves.

So pictured here are all of the beta Pokémon that I wish were actually canon so, so much. Here are my reasonings for all of them, but beware - this is gonna get lenghty!

Legendary beasts. Currently I just wish it was considered canon that this is what the beasts looked like before they were resurrected by Ho-Oh, but funnily enough I am absolutely sure that as a kid I would’ve just all around preferred the beta versions above the final versions. I didn’t like how cluttered the designs of the legendary beasts were, so these much simpler versions would’ve really pleased me back then. Nowadays I do like the actual beasts, too, but I still wish these designs were used the way I descirbed in the beginning in order to both pay homage to the beta versions as well as finally give faces to the then-nameless Pokémon trio that died in the accident of Burned tower.

Blastoise. If I’m being honest here, I have never liked Blastoise that much. Didn’t like it as a kid and, unlike with the beasts, don’t really like it too much nowadays. Somehow just adding guns to Pokémon feels really wrong to me, even if I have of course grown accustomed to the design over the years. And then we found out that Wartortle was originally going to evolve something completely different than the Blastoise we know nowadays! Argh! We have very little footage of the actual evolution though (just a 1st gen back sprite), so what I drew is a little bit more speculative than most other Pokémon shown here.

Plesiosaurus-seal starter line. If I could choose only one beta Pokémon line to become canon, it would be this one. Why? Because it would literally be my favorite starter line ever. Also I have never actually liked Totodile line, so if it had been replaced with these guys 2nd gen starters as a whole would be easily my favorite of all time. I also don’t feel like the designs are TOO close to Lapras or Dragonair, especially if Dragonair was tweaked a tiny bit, which would’ve also been a good opportunity to make it a more believable middle form between Dratini and Dragonite.

Marowakhan. It pains me so god damn much that this isn’t a canon Pokémon. In fact I think it would’ve been a perfect chance to make Cubone line’s evolution very special: maybe the cub looks like the one pictured here in its mother’s pouch if it gets raised peacefully by its mom and then evolves into Marowakhan, but if it gets separated from its mother it grows into Cubone and then the Marowak we know today. Or Marowakhan could just be the second evolution of Cubone line, but I personally would love to get some explanation to the whole Cubone-is-always-mourning-its-lost-mother-and-wearing-the-mother’s-skull situation; not literally every Cubone ever could’ve lost their mothers, right?

Shellder’s cousing. Another one that in my opinion would just need to exist for the sake of lore. The whole “when Shellder grabs Slowpoke’s tail, Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro” just doesn’t make any bit of sense - the Pokémon attached to Slowbro (and Slowking) looks nothing like Shellder at all! And the whole thing isn’t ever being mentioned as an evolution of Shellder either, so it doesn’t really explain why it suddenly looks like the creature pictured here. Add this fellow to the dex and bada-boom, things are back in sensible order.

Baby Vulpix. This one looks stupidly cute, but it would also be a good way to make sense to the whole “Vulpix is born with one tail that later splits into several tails” issue. Maybe this fellow could’ve even be depicted with just one tail instead of the already splitting one to make it look even more distinct from Vulpix?

Baby Meowth. Okay, for this one I don’t have any other reason than the fact that it looks adorable. But now that I think about it, giving Meowth a baby form would’ve been a good way to also further draw parallel between it and Pikachu line, which also got a baby form in 2nd gen.

Baby Tangela. Another cutie I just want to exist! The second evolution of Tangela they were planning at this point was also muuuuch better than the Tangrowth we eventually got, but I didn’t draw it because I’m not that huge of a fan of it either. But the baby I would’ve definitely loved! (This is also the only Pokémon whose sprite colors I just used as they were instead of trying to speculate what they were intended to represent. The reason was that I just plain and simple really liked these colors!)

Wooper. Okay the final version of Wooper is already pretty nice, but the beta version is just squishably cute! I would literally want an army of these critters! Later they did reuse the idea in Mudkip, but still I think the beta Wooper was better than both Wooper and Mudkip combined.

Aipom. Oh my god, what happened to this guy?! I like this cat-monkey a million times more than the googly-eyed, noodly-armed monkey-caricature we eventually got. Just why must you hurt me like this, Game Freak?

Dark cats. I absolutely have no idea why these two didn’t become canon? Yeaaaah they are a little bit close to Umbreon, but, like, take that moon away and the problem is just about solved. The bells are so darn cute and would’ve been absolutely a neat idea! The 2nd gen could’ve also really used a few more Dark type Pokémon, so there’s that, too.

Flying blob. This guy was going to be cut from this list when I was drawing the line between what I was going to draw and what not, but it was saved mostly because of how well it filled that space up there. This design seems like it was reused in Mantine and maybe Togekiss, but that scary face on the backside didn’t make it into either of the designs, which I think is a shame.

#pokemon #beta pokemon #pokémon #sketch #even though this isn't actually a sketch

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