hi visitor reader anon back again. i've been chewing on what you said about death since you answered my last ask and i honestly have so many thoughts about her but i will spare you from an endless text wall and try to be succinct (not in my nature haha.)
i agree on liking the idea of her not being evil because i find it refreshing. i get why "death being evil" is a trope, death is the ultimate unknown and people fear the unknown, death is often sad and painful etc, but i'm fascinated by depictions of death like in ninah where it's not portrayed as necessarily malevolent. it explores death as a comforting end and metaphysical necessity rather than just a thing to be feared. so much of her dialogue is her trying to soothe the protagonist and i find that sweet. as someone with severe thanatophobia/health anxiety/etc i really enjoy it. my sona/oc/whathaveyou who's a visitor sees her as like a spiritual/cosmic mother of sorts, totally not me exploring my deepest fears through fiction here or anything (sarcasm, lol)
i do like the idea of her intentions being good (at least in her own mind) even if they are unfathomable to humans. like she is so beyond anything mortal in scope. maybe to her, the pain visitors are causing isn't much in comparison to the peace death brings— like, "ends justify the means" kinda energy. she literally IS death, so maybe she can't help her nature, in a sense. it'd be like asking the rain not to fall or something, that's just what it does.
this is the most i can trim down my thoughts before it goes into overkill territory i will put a pin in this here. all of my other thoughts veer into baseless speculation territory and that is a whole can of worms for me ahaha.
My dear and beloved anon, never worry about the length of your thoughts, I am elated to be able to discuss the lore and our theories!
I 100% agree with everything you said.
I really like other interpretations of her character because most of the time they do make sense in-game speaking and they also add a good twist to a fic or the game's story in itself, but yes, I do think that she probably has good intentions or at the very least doesn't necessarily want to hurt us.
I think that she probably wants us to love her, to compensate for the lack of affection and love she always received (at least, as stated in her dialogue) and perhaps the cataclysm is a ploy to change our mind.
Wouldn't Death, after a normal but tiring life and then a cataclysm, after the rot, the hunger, the violence and the fear be a welcome relief? Especially when she's so kind and soothing and generous in her handling of our souls?
We'd be happy, she'd be happy and not alone anymore, because then we wouldn't just accept that we're dead and try to deal with it, but be happy to come to her domain.
At least, that's what I think after my various playthroughs, but then again mine is just a theory.
This game is very dear to me also because it helped strengthen my belief that Death isn't the End, and most importantly isn't a sad one, because it's just the beginning of something else and better, whether it might be absolute nothingness (so eternal peace!!), heaven or whatever else there might be!!
