i think there is a difference between a knowingly flawed character and a thematically uncomfortable character and knowing the difference is half the battle
knowingly flawed character: this character has traits that the author deliberately put in to show they have nuance and aren't perfect as a person. this will put them at odds with some readers and endear them to others, depending on them as people, and that's good!
thematically uncomfortable character: oh boy the author has some Beliefs
We as artists and writers like having sources for stuff, right? And we like giving credit to other artists for their work, right? Well, I've compiled a collection of resources I've personally used and thoroughly believe would benefit others.
[NOTE: THIS LIST IS UNDERSTANDABLY GOING TO BE INCOMPLETE. IF YOU HAVE OTHER RESOURCES TO ADD, PREFERABLY BY A PRIMARY SOURCE, PLEASE ADD IT IN REBLOGS]
Alchemivich's collection:
Ripped Assets
Backgrounds
SD Sprites (navigate via Excel Sheet)
Login Font (free download site)
Robo-Milky: (Info Pulled from TWST Discord server)
I am aware by the time this letter reaches you, I will no longer be in this world. Crowley intends to send me back, while it is true that I made it clear I missed my world, I've come to a bitter realization that there has never been a time that I've considered it home. Not like here, with you
I must apologize, if anything, for not letting you know before. I afraid I am and have always been a coward. Too much of coward to tell you, too much a of a coward to not admit I don't want to leave you twisted wonderland anymore. I can only hope you wouldn't hate me for this, would it be selfish for me to hope you would keep me in mind? To hope that I could come back?
If so, may the black carriage find me again, so it can bring me back to you.
Yours,
Yuu
Hi :3
I was bored and this is not the best but I hope anyone reading this likes it ahahahahahahaha. MalleYuu angst heals me guys.
(This AU was written a long time ago before I ever stepped onto the Tumblr platform. So I will simply be copy-pasting it from my saved file to here after a bit of editing. I hope you enjoy it.)
Okay, hear me out. We all know the "magicless Yuu" trope. But what if the Dark Mirror didn’t say "no magic"... what if it violently shattered the moment Yuu stepped through?
Welcome to The Origin AU.
The Premise:
Yuu isn't magicless. In fact, their blood does something to the magic in Twisted Wonderland that shouldn't be possible. It unmade it. And the Blot Phantoms roaming the campus at night? They aren't just drawn to negative emotions anymore. They are starving for Yuu.
Night Raven College goes from a prestigious academy to a lockdown facility overnight. The dorm leaders go from bullies to desperate observers, trying to figure out if this human is a victim, a weapon, or the catalyst that's going to tear their world apart. And Crowley? He’s not just neglectful. He’s terrified.
The Vibe:
This isn't a cute school adventure. This is survival horror.
The Overblots aren't just mental breakdowns; they're visceral, terrifying transformations fueled by something much darker than stress. The boys are forced to realize that their magic has a cost, their idols have a secret, and the "magicless" human they are supposed to protect might be the most dangerous thing on the planet
I think Malleus's beauty should be some kind of uncanny valley beauty. Yes, he's attractive, but he's too attractive for a human. Too symmetrical. Too smooth. Too polished. The kind of beauty if ancient marble statue stepped down from its pedestal and mingled among common people. Standing out in any kind of crowd like a sore thumb kind of beauty. Not belonging to this world kind of beauty.
And that makes his relationship with Yuu, who's (arguably, depending on personal headcanons) the epitome of being human, even more visually interesting. Not only do they have no magic—they're not the only one in the world without it, it's not that uncommon. They literally fell into this Twisted Wonderland from a 'real' world. No one can be any more human than them. With flaws and imperfections typical for humans to have, with limited life span, with little signs of life and aging Malleus would not have for many long centuries.
And still they find each other, and find each other beautiful in their own way.
That's the kind of MalleYuu I want to see more of.
MalleYuu has to be like pretty significant for me to get into and I think this vibe sums it up perfectly. I like how Yuu just treats him like any regular person and how Malleus loves being treated that way. Even after Yuu finds out he’s the ‘fearsome prince of briar valley’ they still just vibe with him. I like the pair when there’s an air of innocence of their interaction and their friendship grows into something more without them realizing it. Because they both gotta be clueless as all hell about it. They like being around each other. Yuu likes listening to Malleus’ excitement over gargoyles. Malleus likes listening to Yuu talk about their favorite shows and movies from back home. And over time, Yuu likes when Malleus holds their hand to wisk them away…Malleus likes when Yuu shares drinks and foods they’re actively eating with him.
My specific MalleYuu type is fluffy dumbasses basically.
Reblogging again cause I tried this site last night and if you need background noise to focus this is perfect for that, I was locked the fuck in on a task. And it’s also just gorgeous to listen to
I really hope the “Twst Timeloop theory but also Leona is aware of the timeloop and that’s why he’s so lazy theory” isn’t true because I don’t want to live in a world where the twunk version of Scar and Sans Undertale have the same backstory
Twisted Wonderland Theory: Crowley, Grim, the MC, and the Great 7
This is my crazy jumbled thoughts about Crowley since the Chapter 8 trailer dropped, this includes some theories I've had for awhile but my main theory for this is:
Crowely is a person (Malleus's father) possessed by the phantom blot, and his goal for the past centuries has been to revive the great 7 whose bodies are on Sage Island at Night Raven Collage in plain sight.
LONG POST BELOW READ MORE
Main Questions
Why are we (the MC) here?
Why/What is Grim here?
Who summoned us?
Who is involved or responsible for the Overblots?
What is Crowley’s end goal?
Why Are We Here? Who Summoned Us?
Crowley summoned the MC and Grim.
It is pretty clear based on the beginning of the game that Crowley is the one who summoned us. The whole speech is given, and we transition to the opening where the MC is brought into NRC by the coffin gate. In the anime it looks even more sinister as several animals in the real world have yellow eyes like Crowley, stalking the MC before the black carriage comes for them.
It has also always bugged me that he really doesn’t seem to care about getting the MC back, though it’s mostly played off for laughs. It really sticks out in Chapter 7 when Ortho and your first-year friends are able to make much more headway than the headmage of the academy.
Now for the more puzzling question:
Why did Crowley summon us and Grim?
I believe we are crucial to the plan Crowley has, his end goal. However, I do believe he did not expect the person/beast he summoned through the Dark Mirror would be a magicless person from another world. He seems genuinely shocked to hear we can’t use magic and baffled at Grim’s intrusion (although he could be faking it).
What Is Crowley’s Goal?
This is where my crazy conspiracy theory comes in.
I think Crowley’s overall goal is to revive the Great 7, who I believe have been frozen/cursed in time to be statues. The very statues that reside in the center of NRC campus.
Why I think this:
Refuses to help us get home. (Pretty self explanatory if he summoned us, why would he let us go back?)
He gave us the ghost camera. A camera which captures a portion of a person's soul in the image.
This wouldn’t be a big deal if it wasn’t established BY THE CANON:
Crowley also mentions that it has to be used by someone with no magic, although that may just be a translation choice.
Thinking back, Crowley has distinct portraits in his office, huh?
THE GREAT 7 PORTRAITS.
I believe he can secretly speak because they each contain a memory fragment of the Great 7’s souls AFTER BEING TAKEN BY THE GHOST CAMERA.
But how would Crowley do that if the Great 7 are ancient history?
WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CROWLEY, WE DON’T KNOW HOW OLD HE IS! HE COULD HAVE BEEN THERE IN PERSON.
Not to mention in the Chapter 8 trailer he repeats these words spoken at the very beginning of the game:
“Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor...
My proud, beautiful flower of evil.
You are truly the fairest one of all.
O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat...
Reveal unto me the visage I seek...
You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth...
If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.
To me. To them. To yourself.
The hour grows long, and time is scarce.
Keep your grip steady no matter what may come…”
Images of the Great 7 appear on the screen while he says this IMPLYING that he was talking to images of the Great 7 THE WHOLE TIME.
Time is growing scarce for them. Crowley is running out of time to bring them back. The “hand reflected” is their dorm leader counterpart.
The Blot Stones and Grim
Each Overblot drops Blot stones, which Grim eats. We have seen this time and time again, and he’s getting more aggressive and feral each time it happens, leading up to his inevitable transformation into the tutorial monster.
If Grim was summoned here by Crowley like we were, then this has to be a part of Crowley’s plan — a way to collect, merge, and store all the leftover blot.
Why Would Crowley Want to Bring Them Back / Who Is He?
Two working theories:
Crowley is The Phantom Blot (or its vessel).
2. Crowley is Malleus’s father, Raverne, who may have been possessed by or merged with the Phantom Blot. This makes the most sense to me since it would give Diasomnia, particularly Malleus and Lilia, a reason to be invested and involved in Chapter 8.
The Goal:
To revive the Great 7, who may be the actual Disney Villains turned to stone on the school grounds in plain sight AT THE VERY STATUES WE SEE AT THE START OF THE GAME.
To use the Blot essence (stones) that Grim consumes are the key — they come from the Overblotted dorm leaders, who embody and may be reincarnations of the Great 7.
The Great 7 and NRC’s True Purpose:
Crowley’s entire school system: the dorms, the tests, the selection of dorm leaders, revolves around finding impressionably powerful magic children (Dorm Leaders) who mirror/embody the Great 7’s ideals.
Below is an image from the end of the anime opening, with cut in’s of the great 7 portraits. As expected the frames are the same, but when you combine it with the theory of their bodies being a replacement for the Great 7 it becomes less of a cute nod to the inspiration and more sinister.
Anyway that's all, please feel free to talk to me about this. I feel insane.
tldr: Crowley is Malleus father taken over by or worshiping the orginal phantom blot, his goal being to revive the Great 7, whose souls/bodies are frozen in time on campus as the statues with the help of the ghost camera. The entire establishment of the school has been to find young powerful mages who embody the Great 7's ideas through the dorms, to transfer their souls into a new vessals body. Ushering in another age of villians and chaos that the phantom blot thrives on.
He needs the MC, a non-magical person, to take pictures with the ghost camera to capture fragments of the students souls, while Grim collects concentrated blot to help give the phantom blot strength.
It's strange that only Malleus has two beams of light compared to the others in the OP anime. And in the "Characters song," there's a very strange hand that appears at the end of the video (the others don't have it).
The hand seems very different from the characters already in the game, so I think the game developer's implication here is that it's the MC's hand?
Oh right, regarding loops and multiverses, if they actually exist in the game... it's a bit crazy, but I think there might be another Malleus. I remember Yana once said Malleus was "the first student you meet."
Clearly, in the game, we don't meet Malleus first.
Ok who is going to place bets with me that Crowley summoning Yuu from another world or even another UNIVERSE is a result from a Wish Piece. If he’s really been in a time loop or something, and is looking for someone to change the fate of the entire world, wouldn’t that wish, that turning point, be strong enough for a Wish Piece to appear…?
Anyway I suddenly remembered his literal vignette saying near the very end that he believes that Grim and Yuu will “change the very future” I’m going to be sick
(If his Wish Piece is his key staff or the Dark Mirror I’m going to scream)
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