what the stars reveal: theory-focused, elation!sampo, emanator!sampo, aha!sampo, a single 🔞 paragraph, 4.0 (planarcadia), light spoilers for tavern-related things
length: short-ish
overview: my favorite theories surrounding sampo koski! pretty straightforward and incredibly self-indulgent!
these are the specific Sampo Situations™ that have stayed in my brain throughout all the analysis i’ve done and continue to deeply inspire me for fic i will probably not get around to writing!
sampo as a reduced shade, form, or afterimage of aha (similar to the spirithief-zagreus situation); aha as a past or higher self.
any kind of severance between the masks/objects & silhouette in aha’s splash art, with sampo being represented somewhere in there, and likely having a complicated relationship with the other “pieces,” whether any of them are a part of aha’s aeonic consciousness or not.
enmeshment — sampo becoming so entangled with aha as a consciousness or entity that it has bled into his mannerisms and mind; likely on an emanator level. he is not aha in a normal or understandable sense, but rather “afflicted” by their elation (infectious enthusiasm) to the point it’s pulled him into their orbit. this is where his visual language, mannerisms, foreshadowing (spirithief), and other easter eggs align with aha. (this could be something still actively occurring, or a remnant of past experiences that refuses to fade.)
former elation!sampo who was dethroned and/or usurped by a trap set by a close confidant, subordinate, or follower.
any kind of sampo being in some way punished by divine forces for tampering with, stealing, or discovering something a little too important.
emanator!sampo who was lured in by promises of never-ending freedom and intrigue by aha, only to be discarded and/or abandoned once he was no longer of use.
additionally: a discarded sampo that looks after the tavern because he relates to their feelings of being abandoned by aha. “he’s not the stepfather, he’s the father who stepped up” vibes.
aha!sampo attempting to cheat their own fate or death by becoming mortal (even if only for a short time), including evading nanook/the destruction.
doll!sampo who was created to be “one of many” but gained his own consciousness after being discarded, drawing aha’s attention and causing him to be promoted to an elite employee.
sampo as the silhouette in aha’s splash art, being cut off or cast away by his other half (the masks) in a sort of self-betrayal that results in a lucifer-like fall from divinity. and vice versa!
aha!sampo playing a fun silly little game with made-up rules because apparently stripping away their own consciousness, shoving themself into a mortal shell, and following the trailblazer around is the only way they can feel alive anymore.
washed up Powerful Guy sampo who spends his time being cringe and goofy and frequenting bars to get buzzed, and everyone has NO idea who he is they just think he’s the weird guy who always orders obscure shit, complains about his work life, then tries to sell essential oils to anyone who passes by (works better the higher up the path ladder we go).
aha temporarily leaving their authority in sampo’s care (for undercover ragebait purposes) and sampo just looking at it and going… yeah… listen i’m gonna hide it i don’t have the bandwidth for this.
alternatively: aha falling off the face of the earth after akivili’s death (or for other reasons) and basically just handing the keys to sampo like yeah yeah. whatever. go do all the stuff i need to do i don’t care. and now sampo has to run around doing self-aware script stuff or bumping into the trailblazer because that’s what aha is supposed to do but isn’t. while i’m partial to the idea of sampo being aha’s reduced consciousness in mortal form (juicy!), i also like the idea of sampo’s “work” being having to fill in for aha while they’re gone so everything doesn’t fall apart. my man would literally be doing the work of an aeon while not being one, somehow, and probably not even get a raise.
sampo getting his aeonic authority or emanatorhood stolen, usurped, or sabotaged, and falling down the ladder in a spectacular fashion, hitting everything as he fell, and eventually faceplanting on belobog as the sampo we know today. (bonus points if a “new” aha or emanator took his place, especially going down the power-stealing or usurpment route, and now he’s salty about it.)
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ aha being so grief-stricken over the loss of akivili that they abandoned their divine position and authority to live as a mortal (sampo), desperately hoping to help the trailblazer avoid akivili’s fate. may involve “finding his spark” and ascending to aeonhood once again.
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ aha!sampo who, still grieving akivili, has no choice but to intervene once the trailblazer gets involved in planarcadia’s game — however, this is a trap set by the destruction to lure the real aha out because asat pramad knows how much aha cares for akivili, and wants to exploit their attachment. sampo knows this, but has no choice, otherwise the trailblazer might die or become seriously injured. we may, in fact, get to watch aha’s ousting / loss of power happen in real time. could also work on an emanator level if sampo knew akivili / the express for a while beforehand and still has that attachment.
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ sampo having a bone to pick with aha for a variety of potential reasons and trying to scheme in the background by enacting a plan that will allow him to take advantage of the one-minute transferral of aeonic authority in aha’s game (regardless of who wins) to steal it from aha.
mr. sampo “i can’t put down the cup” koski who got a little too elation-drunk off his mask and is now attempting to quit cold turkey (and failing, if getting his mask back has anything to say about it).
for reference:
other ideas i like:
sampo using nihility as a way to offset the likely overpowering effects of elated divinity.
sampo laughing every time he feels strong or overwhelming emotion, in the way that elation short-circuits his emotional center, with varying levels of intention and expression (i.e. uncontrollably laughing through tears to express sadness or grief, laughing in short dark bursts to express anger, etc.).
sampo being discarded on belobog, a perceived cosmic dump, as a way of essentially “getting thrown in the trash.”
the idea that aha was with us from the beginning (very like them, in my opinion).
Very Powerful Elation Man attempting to act as inconspicuously as possible while still getting his daily fix (“what? me? no, i’m just a silly little con man guy. i live on snow planet and steal boxes!”).
sparkle being the more obviously powered character to draw attention away from sampo’s truths and/or secrets (red herring sparkle).
[🔞] sampo having an absolutely insane sexual track record due to being in elation spaces, with even crazier stuff going on the higher up the path ladder we go — he has kinks thought to be physically impossible for most people, knowledge of long-dead practices that veer on eldritch, and party stories that absolutely no one believes, including several iterations of a “mind orgy” that bring his body count into the thousands as well as something known only as The Incident. your dead dove is his vanilla, and so on and so forth.
sampo being the elation emanator boothill spoke to, and only divulging his status accidentally because he was too burnt out and drunk to care — especially boothill commiserating with him or being like “oh shit. did he uh. did he mean to say that” while sampo’s huddled over a half-drunk bottle of straight vodka (honestly i would pay to be a fly in the wall during that conversation i NEED to know what happened in detail).
alternatively, sampo leading boothill to believe he is aha’s emanator to cover up the real aeonic truth of it all. (similarly to how the spirithief always talked about their proximity to zagreus — “zagreus did this” “zagreus said that” — and trying to convince everyone that no guys, they really aren’t zagreus, they were just besties so naturally they overheard things! it’s just a coincidence!)
literally everything having to do with the potential division between masks & their silhouette.
aha!sampo frequenting the tavern despite all the “aha is banned” posters because he thinks it’s funny. bonus points if, for whatever reason, he literally cannot go in through the front door and has to sneak in another way
sampo, somehow, as a projection or data-centered entity, which would explain his lack of footprints on snow.
the “lines” sampo won’t cross being related to rules in his own game, details of a master plan, restrictions of higher elated consciousness, knowledge of the “script,” or the result of extremely traumatic events that viscerally shaped his emotional landscape and values for the rest of his life.
sampo, similar to zagreus, as a god of the poor and unremarkable, bringing unprecedented change to barren places while also causing his own share of mischief.
similar to zagreus, no one believing in, loving, or trusting sampo, and him attempting to do one, just one, thing that people would deem worth their affection.
dual-sided elation, aha as a coin with two sides, and sampo as one of those sides. (especially if he’s gotten shafted or left behind by the other side)
sampo only conceptualizing himself based on how much he’s “worth” to people and how much he can do for them, and hates owing people things because it was used against him in the past. (bonus points if this is related to being abandoned by aha.)
a disillusioned aha who’s form as sampo is a reflection of being burnt out or tired of aeonic duty, reflecting their age and want to shirk their divine duties. this could be combined with grief over akivili’s death, and part of sampo/aha’s return to the aeonic stage could include an arc where they find a reason or motivation to keep going. alternatively, he’s just on vacation and apparently belobog is a premier spot.
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ aha!sampo only revealing themself to the trailblazer during the one minute of aeonhood after trailblazer wins the game, perhaps because, for whatever plot or “script” reason, there was no other way to do the reveal without messing everything up or ruining an undercover operation. sampo passes off aeonic authority to the trailblazer with the vibe of “no one will ever believe you :3”
also: sampo entering the game with his own mask as a contestant only to be revealed as an emanator or aha themself, for funsies or endgame purposes.
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ sampo taking a page out of the spirithief’s book and referring to aha in increasingly personal and suspicious ways. “aha wouldn’t do that” “but does anyone care to ask aha how they feel?” “if you ask me, i don’t think they’ve abandoned anyone, they’re just laying low” “these games are boring anyways, aha only created them on a whim after a three year drunk-orgy bender that wasn’t even that good. or so i’ve heard”
alternatively, sampo referring to aha in such disparaging and oppositional terms that you know they have history, and that sampo is at his wits end due to whatever they did. bonus points if he’s the one that put up those “aha is banned from the tavern” signs as a reaction to not just the abandonment of the tavern, but of him as well.
˗ˏˋ NEW! ˎˊ˗ the tavern as an extension of sampo’s consciousness, where he’s aware of its goings-on and knows the entire layout, including secret areas and entrances/exits. the space functions like an extra part of his body — 10/10 very eldritch
if dsmp was a tv show i'd force them to release pin-up standees and the fans would rip me apart like a pack of ants but idgaf i'd survive just to post more pin-up standesa
currently doing Sampo x your character comms . I basically add your oc/any canon character/ literally anyone as long as its appropriate into an already made template! Check out all available ones!♥️
