Death Stranding characters solve the trolley problem
Bridget Strand. Pragmatically sacrifices the minority to save the majority. Then claims that the trolley’s lever was switched by terrorists, and she didn’t even know about it.
Die-hardman. Acts like Bridget, unless Clifford Unger is among the possible victims. In the second case, he’ll throw everyone under the trolley just to save his former captain.
Sam. Just rams the trolley. Somehow, it works out.
Clifford Unger. Physically unable to decide who to save and who to kill. If he can’t save everyone, he’d rather jump under the trolley himself. Quite possible this will only make things worse.
Amelie. Tries for a long time to stop the trolley, comes to the conclusion that it’s impossible, and decides to speed it up so that the people on the tracks stop suffering in anxious anticipation.
Fragile. Stops the trolley but doesn’t dare to remove it from the rails. In the end, the trolley still runs over the people. Fragile blames herself for this.
Higgs. Tries to stop the trolley after listening to Fragile, and then tries to speed up the trolley after listening to Amelie. In the end, the trolley runs over him.
Mama and Lockne. They loop the rails before the junction. The trolley runs in a circle and doesn’t hurt anyone, but scares everyone.
Heartman. Studies the nature and cause of the trolley’s appearance, sincerely believing that this will help stop it.
Deadman. Treats the trolley as a tool. Digs through the archives to figure out who started the trolley, and ultimately uncovers an old Bridges conspiracy.
BONUS LEVEL with Death Stranding 2: On the beach
Tarman. Doesn’t know about the trolley. Posts photos of his cat.
Lucy. Tells the trolley that it’s the father of her child.
Neil Vana. Goes to the therapy because he couldn’t stop the trolley.
Rainy. Causes a temporal rain and slows down the trolley by making the tracks grow with huge grass.
TAG YOUR MOOTS AND MAKE THEM EXPLAIN THEIR USERNAMES LORE
Starting with me:
Hyyl18 because when i was youngest i had a group in a random app with some friends and i didnt knew qhat username to use so i decided to create one with things i used to read since we were talking abt fanfic in this group so: Hot Yaoi Yuri Lemon +18 stuff (i was in my dirty era dont dare to judge me). Hyyl18 thats it. Now i use it everywhere yay
@patroclus-is-the-bigger-person @b4rty-r0s13r-w1ll-fck-y0ur-m0m @cuntyteardrop @glassesgirlies @leninthestarlight @bardorsomethinglikethat anyone else who wanna join tbh yay
verystupidandgay was something I came up with on a whim, and it’s pretty self explanatory. I’m horrible at coming up with usernames so I’m not really attached to this one
Neurodivergent frog is a much more interesting story. At one point, I think I was in seventh grade, I was trying to explain an aspect of our schools system for choosing electives to my friends. I said “advanced frog cosplay” as an example for a class. @anti-joesystem fucking lost it and it ended up becoming an inside joke. There was a small group of people including them and I who would go to hang out in a specific teacher’s classroom before school started, which we named advanced frog cosplay. So when it came time to make a discord profile, rust was helping me and I made my user allude to advanced frog cosplay (not gonna give the exact one). I made my display name the first half-decent shortening I thought of, aka NeurodivergentFrog. So yeah. That’s that.
@seaturtlemer @red-act @inkfromaghost @spinedotlazuli1120 @zelovinit and anyone else who wants to join!!
SpinedotLazuli was the name of a fusion I came up with when I was younger, and i ended up sticking with the name! Then I ended up needing to make a new account cuz I can't access my old one now (my dumbass forgot the email address AND the password for that account) so I added the 1120 which is actually my birthday!
@randomreader92 @kaleidoesstuff @diamondkat @timidrainycat @oceanamethyst and everyone else who wants to join!
Originally my username was supposed to be bigboss1fan because I’m a huge fan of the character from Metal Gear Solid series and he is one of my special interests. My sister was helping me create the account. Since the name was already taken we chose one of the suggestions Tumblr made since I couldn’t think of another username.
Avocado is my favourite fruit. I used to not understand how people eat it, but I fell in love with it when I tried guacamole for the first time. Now I like to eat it as it as well. I also like dragon fruit tho...
And I like different cute and cheerful characters, like Mabel from Gravity Falls or Unikitty from The Lego Movie. They like unicorns so it's kinda their symbol.
So... Avocado Unicorn. Then I decided to draw a profile pic in Paint 😁
I proposed a hypothesis about the possible functional purpose of Higgs' formulas.
Both of Sam's Q-pids have scientific formulas engraved on them. When the chiral network connects, it triggers a calculation that reveals several additional equations. This happens in both games, and each Q-pid has its own unique set of formulas that do not repeat. Because of that, we end up with two different sets of equations: Bridges and APAC.
Higgs has the APAC equations written all over his body. Since these formulas come from the newer version of the Q-pid and not from his old "god particle" ideology, that means they appeared after Higgs encountered APAC. Before that, he did not have them. The tattoo on his forehead represents one idea, while the tattoos on his body represent another. We will talk about the reason behind the forehead tattoo a bit later, but for now we are focusing on the body.
My theory is that Higgs wrote these formulas on his body in order to become part of the chiral network and gain the ability to use it from the Beach.
APAC likely explained which equations needed to be written for this idea to work and for him to maintain control over his new mech body. This connection to the network allowed him to inhabit any available mech body. That is why he was able to take control of the Red Samurai when Deadman's soul was not inside it.
Because of these new tattoos, Higgs can become part of any network object. He can hack a shelter, enter the Drawbridge system, or interact with almost anything connected to the network.
At one point he even admits that he hacked Sam's shelter. At another moment he inserts himself into a Drawbridge quiz, appearing as a selectable option.
The important detail is that the formulas on Higgs' body specifically match the equations from the APAC Q-pid, not the Bridges version. This is what supports my theory. Simply put, if the APAC equations exist inside the Q-pid that transmits the chiral network's data, then having those same formulas on Higgs' body creates a similar connection to the network. It effectively turns him into a new network object, making him part of the system itself.
The chiral network uses people's Beaches, remember? Higgs became the first living node. Normally these nodes are buildings or other non living structures.
Now lets talk about the tattoo on his forehead.
Higgs created these tattoos at the moment he chose his new name, rejecting the name "Peter". An excerpt from the novel:
«Then I will turn myself into a living casket. I’ll offer my soul to this world while I live. I’ll adorn my own face with the mask of a pharaoh. Maybe that will transform this measly power of mine into that of a king. Starting today, I abandon my bare face.
That’s when the porter threw away the name Peter and became the man known as Higgs»
For him, the tattoos became a symbol of his new identity, a new self, created in order to become stronger. A kind of line he drew, separating "Peter" from "Higgs". And here is the reason why Higgs chose this particular name:
«Talked to me about why he took on the name Higgs as an homage to the Higgs Field, that which gives mass to all particles within the universe. He said that the Higgs Field connected all particles, gave them substance and brought this world into existence»
For him, the name "Higgs" originally symbolized connection with people, the expansion of his porter organization, and the idea of linking everything together just like that particle.
But everything changed when he met Amelie.
"Higgs" began to represent the "god particle" for him, meaning the Goddess - Amelie's particle. She shared a part of her powers with him, and the equations on his forehead gained a new meaning. However, those equations themselves do not grant him any power. They do not give him anything on their own. Only the new formulas that appeared on his body through APAC give him access to the chiral network.
At first I thought that Higgs somehow transferred his soul into a mech body, because the game strongly plays with that idea, Dollman is an obvious example. But after studying more closely how Higgs actually uses the chiral network and how he moves between different bodies, I realized that this interpretation was probably incorrect.
Higgs' connection with mech bodies seems more like a parody of Dollman's connection with his doll. Just like his new face in mech body is only a parody of the real emotions he still keeps hidden inside.
I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.
Oh geez you crazy people really did it. You've made my notes unusable for a full year and made it so i have a widely circulated post. I will be turning off notes for this, but before then, have some seconds!
DesignDoll, I can't believe I forgot to put this in the original post. This is how i make 3d bases. Has both free and paid versions.
Bodies In Motion, great resource for animating and seeing how bodies look throughout different parts of movement
Pixabay: Free stock images + sounds and videos and such
Museum websites with CC0 (public domain) images, big list of places to get copyright free works
MapCrunch, kinda like google roads, great for background references
ANY BOOK BY CHRIS HART
And for the writers who loved this, I made a post specifically for y'all
the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing
Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)
Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.
Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)
Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.
Handspeak, an ASL dictionary
Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere
The best fantasy map maker i have ever used
Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text
Totally not bootleg microsoft office
Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language
Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing
A decent article talking about what to think about when creating a language
Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.
FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work
Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats
Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.
honestly this is long overdue, i really should have written this months ago.
disclaimer: i am by no means a linguist or anyone with any real experience in speech analysis. i am, however, both southern as well as a writer/role player who has portrayed numerous canon characters and focused intensely on ensuring that i understand the way that said characters talk. i may not be able to explain the exact terminology of some of the things i recognize here but i hope that i can help anyone interested in writing our beloved particle of god write his speech better. a lot of this, honestly, is pattern recognition, which is something my little 'tistic brain loves. there will also be some body language analysis here as well because i don't really think that you can have voice without body. just not how humans work!
i am using a youtube video of higgs's cutscenes from the first game for this meta and will break it up by scene. i am just gonna focus on the first game for this meta; if it does well or if people want it, i'll write another for the second game.
so, without further ado, let's go.
scene 1: higgs's introduction to sam
the first thing that caught my attention in this initial scene is not the words that higgs's says but how he says them. not only that, but higgs is a very theatrical character. he moves with swagger and confidence. there's a dramatis to him, a flair, and yet there is also the feeling to me that every move is very deliberate. i have always thought that higgs was a character who acted with extreme deliberation, especially in DS1.
"the name's higgs. the particle of god that permeates all existence."
each word that has been italicized has emphasis on it. higgs draws out the word name, he emphasizes parts of the next sentence, he purrs words out. that's not just me using the word purr as something fancy, he quite literally purrs it out. as i mentioned above, higgs is very deliberate. i don't think that we hear him say anything that he has not given consideration to speaking.
something else that higgs does, especially in this first scene, is use "ah" and "oh" a lot. and i mean, a lot. i did not quite literally count them but he essentially says "oh" every other sentence, basically. further, he tends to draw the "oh" out a little: oooh instead of just a flat oh. it's a very interesting little speech tic that he has. we'll see if it continues through the rest of his cutscenes. (spoiler alert: yes it does)
"heh. bloodied but unbowed."
his little heh is spelled that way but it's more like an exhaled-breath of a laugh, not really an actually spoken "heh". that is something i have noticed that higgs will do a lot. his laughter is rarely loud or exuberant, except when he is being deliberately mocking to someone (usually sam). most often, he chuckles low and dark and when he does laugh aloud, there's a noted edge to it. it is a mocking laugh.
the whole "bridget strand is dead" bit is full of interesting tidbits of his speech as well. higgs has a tendency, it seems, to drag his sentences into a downward inflection and in doing this, is draws out the syllables of a lot of the words he says. this is a VERY southern trait. like, this is something that people born in the south do. it's why people say we have a "southern drawl" to our words.
"oh but don't worry. i'll find her. and i'll keep her real safe."
so the captions don't catch this.
as seen in the screenshot above, the captions leave out the fact that he said "and", most likely i would assume because it probably was not directly in the script. furthermore, the way he says "and" is very interesting and southern too. to me, at least, it sounds like he drops the a and the d from it, thus leaving it to sound like "'n I'll keep her real safe."
troy baker is texan and i have always headcanoned that higgs is from what used to be texas. he sounds texan to me. i think the way that troy said those two sentences was essentially stringing them together as a single sentence, separated by a slurred "and".
"oh, but don't worry. i'll find her 'n' i'll keep her real safe."
now, there are, in this first scene, two instances that i hear where higgs drops the g in a word ending in -ing. he drops it in the "gettin' tired of the grind" and in "isn't this what you've been waitin' for" as well. also, though the captions say "you've been" i hear "you been" which is honestly more accurate if we continue under the headcanon that higgs is actually from the southern usa - or united cities, i suppose. we do generally tend to drop contractions if we feel they don't need to be said or if we feel they are already naturally implied.
all that being said, here's a thing to remember: no southerner drops every g from every word ending in -ing. higgs does not say "death strandin'", he says "death stranding" and there's actually a touch of emphasis that i hear in him saying it. that may be purposeful, it may not, i'm not sure.
scene 2: bridges employee disguise
so i knew from the start that the bridges employee in this scene was higgs, i'd had that spoiled in a gifset that was actually one of the gifsets that made me want to watch DS to begin with, so not upset. however, rewatching it again and really listening to the dialogue, it is actually hilarious how obvious it is that it is higgs. we know that sam dreams about it to realize that it is higgs eventually but the fact that he didn't yank off the hat and call higgs by his name is funny.
there is actually a very key point i want to go into here before we even get to going through the dialogue and that is: higgs talks much more rapidly when he is excited or nervous. basically, whenever he is in a heightened state of arousal (not that kind of arousal, get your minds out of the gutter and stick with me here), his voice alters. it raises ever so slightly in pitch and in turn his speech becomes much quicker, too. it is obvious in this scene but there's a couple others later on where i will point it out as well.
the slow pan back to sam as higgs walks away with his gay little sashay and his "yes, okay" will never fail to make me smile even on a bad day, i just love it.
most notable here for me is the lessening of any accent. it is there, but it is faint. higgs's voice is higher pitched, sounds more youthful, and his overall speech is quick and eager. he sounds like a fanboy meeting an idol of his, rather than a serious professional.
all of that being said, however, you can still hear higgs in the voice of the disguise he wears. he drags out the word "someone" to the point of it being absolutely comical and there's a couple other tics as well, including the usage of oh. i love the anyhoo as well, lol. it's a very southern phrase.
honestly, there's not much to go through on this one. i really think anyone paying even a modicum of attention to the way higgs spoke in his initial intro could have seen through the disguise and i'm sure that the audience was intended to realize that this was higgs, not some random bridges employee who was geeking out about getting to see sam porter bridges in the flesh.
scene 3: torturing fragile
this is another interesting scene for both vocal language as well as body language with higgs. when he is first making it rain and giving fragile his "proposition", his motions are very refined, very predatorial, bestial in a way. i mentioned earlier that he is a very deliberate character and we see that here too.
"i got a proposition for ya."
the part of that which i find to be quite interesting is the "got a". you can actually hear the deliberate separation between the two words, preventing it from becoming "gotta" instead. the usage of "ya" is southern af as well, i often let my "you" turn into "ya" instead.
back a bit to the body language, the way he prowls side to side pacing is something i've always found interesting. there's a restlessness to it. it is as predatory or refined as his previous motions, nor is it showy or flashy either. pacing can sometimes signal nervousness and i think, honestly, that is what we are seeing here.
remember how i said that when higgs is excited or nervous, his voice speeds up some? we hear that in this scene as well. when he tells fragile he won't mess her face up, that he wants it to be a testament, it is not as rapidly spoken as other parts but it is faster than his much slower, more deliberately chosen words of only seconds earlier. even his motions are somewhat more erratic as he grabs the mask and puts it on her head.
i think that this, the putting the mask over her head, was not planned. being honest, i think that higgs looked in her eyes and saw coffin's eyes looking back at him and realized that if he went through with soaking her face in timefall, she'd look too similar to the woman who helped turn him into what he is. just my speculation, of course.
the way he says "completes" makes me giggle a little. you can hear the excitement and the pleasure he feels in working with amelie.
this is another scene where higgs uses oh a lot. some of it is not in the captions, again making me think that it was likely unscripted and thus just something troy baker put in there as vocal tics for the character.
honestly, i think this is probably the single most important cutscene we get of higgs. it is the only one where he is not directly interacting with sam and/or amelie. so i think here we get to see higgs stripped down, in a way, free to act as he wants to rather than dancing on amelie's puppet strings. i think there is a part of him that enjoys the fact that fragile seems scared - or, if not scared, then at least intimidated by him. he certainly takes great pleasure in her torment.
that smile as he watches her run off is just chef's kiss.
scene 4: higgsy and his kitty!
something i've noticed, at least in game 1, is higgs very rarely raises his voice. he does so in this scene but i think it is less to yell at sam and more just to make sure that sam (and mama) hear him and know the stakes. there's an instance in a later scene where he does actually yell at sam but we'll get there in time.
another short bit, really. "it's no biggie" is another one of those little southernisms that i hear people around me say often.
oh, the way he says "shit" is funny to me as well. there's a strange inflection to it that i dunno how to fully describe but it just reminds me of how i say it as well. i think it really is just a southern thing.
for a body language side note, higgs does this thing where instead of turning away and walking away, he backs up, usually with a notable swagger to his movements. he does it here shortly before jumping away and he does it again in the next scene that we'll be discussing. there's an arrogance to it, i think, as well as perhaps a healthy dose of mistrust? not entirely sure.
scene 5: outside west knot
poor sam really cannot catch a break from this asshole, can he?
higgs shushing sam is just so funny to me and i genuinely don't even know why.
there's two things here that REALLY caught my attention and is partly what solidified my belief that higgs is canonically from whatever is left of the american south.
the first one is his usage of "bless your heart." not only is it his usage of it but it is mainly the way he says it. in the south, we have a way of saying bless your heart that makes it sound like we're sorry for your struggles but in truth, we think you're a goddamned idiot who ain't worth the feed you need. that's what higgs sounds like when he says it to sam.
sam played right into amelie's hands - remember, at this point, higgs is just pretending to pull the strings when in fact it is amelie who has been the true puppet master all along.
his low chuckle just before he says bless your heart is just so good. i've said it elsewhere and i know most everyone agrees but troy baker is truly an incredible actor.
the other sentence that caught my attention is the "and thank you kindly." now i am sure that we are not the only people who say that but, like...that's a VERY southern thing. like that is something i've said to my dad when he brings me a water or something my mom has said to me when i give her a gift or help her clean up. maybe its just my family but i don't think so.
god the way he says "that woman." he's referring, of course, to amelie. higgs knew from the word go what she was, after all, that she was the extinction entity. it may even be that higgs was aware that bridget and amelie were the same person, ha and ka separated. that is just speculation on my end, though.
either way, he says "that woman" and makes woman a swear. it's the same way someone else might say "that bitch." there is something derogatory to it. i have my theories as to why that is but i'll leave that out of this meta.
higgs does this thing that i think is VERY interesting: he has a way of dropping his voice slightly and edging a croon into it that somehow sounds both incredibly mocking and incredibly soothing at the same time. he did it with fragile as well, just before he grabs her hair and pulls her close to lick her face, saying "oh! no, no, no." then he does it with sam multiple times.
first while he has the mask on sam's face and has sam lifted up, he says "it's okay, it's okay" in this tone of voice that i swear to god i have used to calm down a nervous horse. in addition to this, he says "hey" several times to sam in a very soft tone to get his attention.
as i've said throughout this, higgs is incredibly deliberate and methodical in what he does, says, and how he says it. the control he has over himself to go from overtly threatening someone (sam and fragile in this instance) to speaking gently to them is truly incredible to me. i think it speaks to how well he is able to compartmentalize things within his mind.
he does that thing where he swaggers backwards a few steps, grinning, before jumping away. here, it is a challenge. it is a threat. it is a goad, a race you to the finish line type look.
scene 6: happy fuckin' doomsday
i love this entire scene, i love this fight, i love the dialogue, i love the character actions, i love all of it. best scene in the entire game as far as i am concerned.
we get the tiniest little hint of higgs singing in the beginning of this scene. he sort of half-says, half-sings "i got the whole world" before fully saying "in the palm of my hand." and he sounds so fucking delightfully menacing! i just love it so much! technically the captions have it as "i've got" but i don't honestly hear that? to me, i hear "i got", without the contraction, fitting what i wrote above about us sometimes dropping contractions.
hang on, i'm phoning two friends to see what they hear of this line too.
finn says she also hears "i got". and kadi says the same.
a lot of the rest of this scene deals with higgs's voice speeding up from excitement, which i've touched on earlier. it is especially obvious as he is talking about this extinction being the granddaddy of 'em all. that's another thing i've been picking up on as well, that he often uses 'em for them or 'er for her. it is not as often as some other vocal tics but it is there if you listen.
his stupid wheezy giggle laugh after the "make us whole again" WHICH NOW THAT I AM THINKING ABOUT IT, MAGA REFERENCE? dunno how i didn't catch that previously but here we are.
this whole part, honestly, is higgs at his most animated. he's incredibly excited, he's bouncing all over the place and i don't just mean jumping, either. for him, this is nearing the culmination of his plans - and amelie's plans, too. higgs thinks he is about to be free, free to rest, free to escape from a world that he never asked to be born into. he also probably is thinking that he is doing humanity a true service here by taking them all with him, ending all woe, all strife, all wars - ending, in fact, the death stranding itself. and why shouldn't he think that? he is the harbinger of the extinction entity, charged with keeping her safe so that she can bring about the end of all things.
despite having watched this several times, the giant BT in the back, i just noticed, is mimicking amelie's movements. dunno how i missed that.
the whole "surely you get it by now" speech is also higgs at his most vocally animated. his voice is heavy with emphasis on pretty much every word - he is hammering the truth of who and what amelie is into sam, trying to get sam to listen and pay attention.
"the nightmares that haunt us. the visions of an inescapable future."
he puts a lot of emphasis on future. it's very audible. i rolled it back twice and heard it very clearly.
"happy fuckin' DOOMS-day, sam!"
rewatching his scenes, i realize that higgs doesn't actually swear anywhere NEAR as much in ds1 as he does in ds2. granted, he is honestly a lot angrier and wilder in ds2 than in 1 but it is interesting. he audibly drops the g in fucking though, although interesting i'm not sure he does when he says it in the next scene. i'll have to listen closely.
i'm still not sure how the switch with amelie happened or what it means, honestly, when she moved forward to hug sam and then as the camera panned around, it was higgs who was embracing sam instead. but his voice turning low and soft there is interesting to hear as well, given how he was very nearly shouting at sam only seconds earlier in that same bit.
that lower tone, which is more in line with his natural speaking voice, stays as he embraces amelie and speaks to sam. the "extinction's on hold for now" is another one of those moments where he drawls that entire sentence out.
and you may be wondering, well, how to write that? i would go about it like this, personally:
"extinction's on hold," higgs states in a languid tone that draws the syllables out, "for now."
something to show in text that he is speaking slowly, deliberately. sidestepping briefly into another fandom of mine, grrm does this with roose bolton with incredible expertise, describing his voice as whispery and soft to the point that people have to deliberately be quiet to hear him properly. it truly is amazing what you can do with the right words in the right order.
it ABSOLUTELY sounds like he says "welp" instead of "well" in the "we'll pick this up when you're done dying." which i find SO funny bc i say welp a lot. like...a lot. it is also a word i've heard various and sundry of my southern family members say too.
also, higgs does pat amelie's ass but he does it when sam is turned away, back to higgs, dying. do with that info as you will.
scene 7: a good, old-fashioned boss fight
and so we are back to theatrics! big flashy movements combined with a low, dark, dangerous tone of his voice. i actually think some of this showiness is higgs trying to distract from the fact that he was caught by sam kneeling in front of amelie. remember, even now, sam thinks that higgs is the big bad of death stranding; he still does not find out that amelie engineered almost everything for a bit yet. higgs is, i think, a bit in panic mode; sam can't be allowed to think anything about what he saw.
"what i'm supposed to do."
let's talk about this line.
i swear i hear his voice tremble. i swear, higgs, the particle of god that permeates all existence, sounds slightly afraid in this line. "what i'm supposed to do" here doesn't sound like some big, bad, scary villain. he sounds like a scared little boy, trying to talk himself up to doing something that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't actually want to do.
the mask is cracking a little.
we get more of the emphasis on some words throughout his monologue in this part.
he is so disdainful of humanity. just the way he says the "humanity has a few hundred thousand years left, tops." his disdain is incredibly obvious, he practically sneers it. and honestly, i don't think higgs can be entirely faulted for that disdain for humanity. after all, he has seen the worst of it in many different ways - between the abuse from daddy to the fact that bridges is sacrificing unborn babies.
the way higgs draws out the word "bullshit" makes me smile, honestly. i've got to where i can't hardly hear that word without silently hearing higgs say it. also he does not drop the g when he says "this fucking beach". honestly, he doesn't seem to drop it too often when monologuing, though it may be that i just haven't picked it up.
also: higgs is a repatriate and i shall die upon this hill.
his repetition of "i can beat you" makes me incredibly sad, honestly. you can hear that he is attempting to audibly psyche himself up, to prove that he can defeat sam and usher in the end days.
"so come on!"
that is the only time, in game 1 at least, that higgs yells, actually yells, at sam. it is pretty obvious at this point that higgs is exhausted and struggling, too; he's limping pretty badly as he walks towards sam. but the fact that he keeps his composure well enough to only truly yell once at sam is honestly impressive.
he curses some in the fight with sam but that's just idle dialogue or...whatever that is actually called? i don't actually know what that sort of dialogue in a game is called.
"fuckin' die already!"
well just hit me in the feels, why don't you. also the music during the fight is just...big ouchie :(
higgs seems to curse more when he's tired or stressed, too, if the fight is anything to go by.
the joke he makes about sam being touchy-feely after their fight is just so good. there's a dryness to his humor and wit that i love and i love too that sam laughs at it. when i was writing higgs, i always kept his humor as being very dark and dry and i think it really works with him.
"i'm higgs. i'm the particle of god that permeates all existence."
his desperation to fall back upon his self-styled status as the particle of god in the face of defeat is sad. he snarls it up at fragile as she looms over him, like a specter of the uncle he killed to escape. i think something that needs to be kept in mind when writing higgs is that when he is down and on the out, he defaults to cruelty to others, snarling insults and making himself out to be a big bad.
anyway, i hope this helps any other writers out there who are wanting to write or role play higgs! i love this character, i love his voice, for me it is so strong and so clear and he truly is one of the most interesting characters i've ever had the pleasure of writing.
if you have read all of this, PLEASE consider both liking AND reblogging it! tumblr cannot live on likes alone and creators like myself want to see our works reblogged! i put a ton of effort into this (and drove myself insane cause i honestly hate listening to the same sentences over and over lmao) and would like to see it gain some traction.
as always, please let me know what you think or if this is helpful to you via comment, dm, or sending an ask! i'd love to hear from you!
Now that I can finally get down the fluffy kintsugi ideas that rattle around in my head at work. I don't draw Fragile as much as I would want, haven't trained as much on Lea's face as on Troy's
Higgs is about to say something sufficiently sarcastic, but he doesn't have time for that, because he's being knocked down by what feels like a truck. He's been knocked down by a real truck a couple of times before, and he didn't care, because it wasn't his body, but now it's painful. It's also scary, because there's obviously no trucks in the middle of a fucking field.
The ground hits his back, and he's propelled forward by an incredible force, sliding for another ten or twenty meters, relentlessly driving himself into the ground as if he were a plow. When he finally comes to a halt, coughing up dirt and clearing his eyes, he realizes that the sun is no longer visible. Instead, he is surrounded by massive wings, not blinding white, but a light, warm shade, like crème brûlée. Instead of the sun, he is confronted by two fiery eyes filled with rage. Literally, they are burning with anger, these light brown eyes.
Unholy shit! An angel! Even worse than a common angel — seraph, damn it!
Higgs lets out a non-demonic screech and hastily tries to retreat from this body, but he's immediately grabbed by the throat, cutting off his escape. The screech turns into a gurgle. In the feathered bastard’s other hand, something flashes, transforming into a short spear. The light glints brightly on the sharp tip.
That's it. That's how the demon Higgs will die, in a fucking inglorious way.
— Wait!
It's Fragile. The spear freezes in the air, and Higgs can only stare at it and continue to wheeze, clinging to the hand on his throat. If you kill the receptacle, demons don't die. If you banish them, they don’t die as well, just go back to Hell, wich is not pleasant, but at least not mortal. And this hellish (well, heavenly) crap is capable of sending Higgs not to Hell, but to oblivion. Complete oblivion. This thought makes him feel worse than the most powerful exorcism.
Fragile runs up to them, falls to her knees next to this beast of Heaven, and grabs his shoulder desperately.
“Don't kill him," she says, her voice pitiful and trembling. "Cliff, please. He can be useful, he knows a lot... I swear!”
Great, the girl's taken the bait. And it should be a relief, but what Higgs really wants to do right now is bury himself as deep as possible and tell them all to fuck off, including Bridget and Lucifer himself.
