a scielune side blog

anything related to Lune, Sciel and their pairing from the game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[blue-and-amber]

Hi! I'm @violet-reiter

I created this side blog because I wanted to dump all of my scielune related posts in one place. And that's about it by now :D I'll probably write a better presentation as the blog grows.

This blog is not spoiler free!!

[the-ashen-hunter]

"friends are not distractions"

so excited to do my first LuneSciel art 😭 they're so precious ☀️🌙

[blue-and-amber]

French-lesbian-core

[late-fragments]

Sciel, a herald of hope (and what she taught me about fortune)

When I first saw Sciel in e33, I immediately fell in love. She may be my favourite video game character ever. There's something about her that just piqued my interest instantly. Each sentence was full of grieving, bleeding words, but there was more to it. Hope was gleaming, breaking through the pain of it all. I wish to try and give people a better understanding of why I like Sciel, and what I have learned from her.

A living contradiction, a dreamer, a worker of the land, a lover, a fighter. She is fortune, she is hope. This is (some of) the story of Sciel.

In literature, every character has a purpose. Each and every character teaches you, along with the main character, something that you were missing, or to remind you what you lost in the way. Sciel, at first glance, embodies grief. She bears scars that gives us a hint about a bigger story. Before I was born, my mother has gone through a stillbirth. The scars on Sciel's body, with the big one on her belly instantly clicked, and it occurred to me, Sciel has been through the same.

Later, another part of her story is revealed. Sciel is extremely thalassophobic. Before we continue to the story we are told in the game, I would like to talk about the meaning of this phobia.

The fear of oceans, the sea, deep or vast bodies of water here is a metaphor for something greater. Yes, this is a way for the creators to tease and foreshadow her origins. But there's more to it, in the literary mean.

From the beginning of mankind, an enemy we could not conquer completely is the sea, or rather, the uncertainty of life. Jonah and the Whale, The Iliad and Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea, Moby Dick, even 'Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen speaks about this fear.

Before we are born, all we know is the womb. Its waters caress us, nurture us, and all of a sudden in a bang we are born in a world that separates us from the comfort of our mother. The same uncertainty, of life, death, and all that comes between, is often represented by the sea. The dangers of water, which nurtures us and brings us life, is also the power of destruction. There is something very absolute about death, the comfort that it brings. Some even prefer to achieve death and not to be shaken, sinking and floating and sinking and floating just to sink once again.

Sciel's story is revealed to be this exactly, one of uncertainty, and a change of faith. She starts as a friend of Gustave and Sophie; they all worked together on a big farming project. She becomes familiar with the scythe, a tool that becomes her weapon of choice, the same one the grim reaper carries - but also the farmers who harvest wheat and grains, presenting some duality. A tool of both making and taking, the Scielson is indeed a great weapon.

At some other point we learn about Pierre, a member of the Outdome teams, when she was asked to plant samples that they have taken from surrounding islands. Pierre is told to be teaching the kids at school to sail and survive in the wild. And I am going to repeat one word. Sail.

Pierre was a sturdy rock of certainty, a man who could conquer Sciel's only fear: uncertainty. Sciel, working on the farm, only dealt with life and death. She sows - she reaps. Both giving and taking life. Nurturing it, and with the same hands uprooting every remain.

Pierre was a sailor, a brave and wild explorer. Furthermore, he was a teacher! He was the only person who could ever give Sciel certainty.

And when he died in an accident, all hell went loose.

Sciel was never worried about being gommaged. A farmer knows that a flower that does not get picked will eventually rot. But an accident, not certainty, took her husband. Her anchor. And without an anchor, all you can do is pray that the sea will guide you to where you want.

Sciel, drowning on the inside, could not stand life anymore. She jumped to the ocean, to end her suffering. To let the water wash away her soul, wash away the pain, to succumb to the uncertainty of life and maybe stick a finger in its eyes too.

Sciel swims and swims until she gets tired. The sea grows on her, maybe it was an attempt to conquer it? To take revenge, to feel closer to Pierre? Maybe just to die? After she fails at her attempt and finds herself back at Lumiere, she gets checked up and finds out she was pregnant. The baby was killed. Not only she has failed to conquer uncertainty, but she has also lost an unborn baby, a remainder of her love to Pierre. And so, Sciel decides to step in Pierre's shoes. She starts teaching the kids, bonding with them and becoming a motherly figure. Taking care of someone makes you forget about yourself, to become the anchor you so needed once.

When she leaves for the journey, she wears bracelets from the children she was teaching. A physical trinket, but with a deep meaning. Through the children, she was able to find Pierre again. She was able to be anchored. Taking that with her, Sciel is able to keep her calm, to remain anchored, even when exploring uncharted lands. Pierre was the explorer, and now is her turn.

Sciel's combat is a unique take on a classic JRPG rogue/thief, with hints of a support. She gets stacks that can turn into a big damage or a big overall buff, but she still hits these big numbers.

But this is not a tactics guide. I would like to focus on her Twilight mechanic, and it's deeper meaning.

Merriam-Webster, my favourite dictionary, gives these two definitions for fortune:

prosperity attained partly through luck/the turns and courses of luck accompanying one's progress (as through life)

a hypothetical force or personified power that unpredictably determines events and issues favourably or unfavourably.

I would like to attend to the second definition first, then move forward to the first one.

Twilight, by definition, is the light of day diffusing into full night. It is a synonymous with times of decline. To enter her twilight stage, Sciel must stack both sun and moon charges. I would like to talk about these two symbols.

The sun - the sun is life itself. It provides warmth, life. It melts snow into water; it gives every living creature vital nutrients. It's rather easy to see the sun is a blessing, or rather a favour or a good fortune. It's a part of Sciel's personality, to stay positive, to stand tall and proud and dare to say: "Tomorrow comes!" - but we do not reach twilight until the sun is declining and the skies start to turn black. So why a moon charge to complement it? Why not a "darkness" charge instead?

The moon - the moon is an echo of the sun. A guide to the lost, a promise that life will bloom again. In Egyptian mythology, there is a moon god named "Khonshu". He is the god of travellers, thieves, and all those who use the roads at night. He is a healer, a caretaker.

But what is to heal, exactly? To be healed, means you have to be wounded. Without wounds, there is no reason to be mended.

I think this quite sums up well another aspect of Sciel, to draw her strengths for being broken. She has overcome hardships - physical and mental. Life happens, and it's not always in your favour. But to know a better day may dawn, to keep on living and fighting for something, that is... rad.

In the first chapter, we learn Sciel giving some advice to Sophie, that she should live the life SHE wants, and not whatever is expected from her, even if death comes. There is so much to explore, to see, but one should ask themselves: what do they want? What is there, that I haven't done yet? What do I WANT to do?

It is a great lesson to all of us, Sciel, at the end, is still a teacher. Sophie's choice was not to leave a big legacy, not to be remembered, but to live happily and truly.

With all that said, by now I have only addressed the first definition. But there is more to what fortune is.

"Prosperity attained PARTLY through luck."

Sciel realises her still living, still breathing, still carrying on was all an event of luck. Something has turned the tides in her favour.

But what is the other part someone needs to do to become prosperous? To bask in twilight, knowing they are a victor, and not declining?

The other part, my friends, is her power to see both sides. It is to wander in the light of the sun, letting your scars and wounds show. It is to sing after dark and imagine every beautiful colour that will be seen tomorrow.

It is the freedom of choice, of perspective - day or night, accidents or incidents, favours, disfavours - you write your own destiny. Your own fortune.

This is the true power of Sciel, to rewrite the twilight, a time of in-between, a time that all is happening and nothing is moving at the same time, from a time of decline to a pivot point. I encourage you to ask, how many times in your life are dark? How many times are gleeful? How many wounds do you hide? Sciel has taught me life is short. We should not fear of change, but to shape it. Make a better future, create our own fortune. Maybe for us, maybe for those who come after.

Thank you for reading all that :) I have no idea what to put in tags, shoutout to @stomiidaeart on giving me the courage to post anything like that, and for reading my infinite blabbers on Discord.

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 4.

Hello new readers and HELLO REGULAR READERS!! This analysis is finally back! If you've been so patiently waiting (and hoping) for the next update, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'm planning to finish it this month, so the following updates won't take long.

This is the last part of the analysis that I'll post on this blog. Part 5 and 6 will be posted on @blue-and-amber. That will be the side blog where I'll start posting all my scielune related musings. (The idea for the user name comes from this analysis. Can you guess the reference?)

The juiciest parts of the scene are coming from now on so buckle up and enjoy the ride!

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

The music box. That’s where we left it in the last post. There are quite a few tracks in the game that have a music box version. This specific instrument is used in different contexts and it adds different layers of meaning to each one of them. However, its distinctive sound always seems to convey a sense of tenderness, nostalgia, intimacy... 

Music stored in a box. Like a memory chest. Open the box and all the memories pour out. If I’m not mistaken, you get Lune and Sciel’s music box themes after you maximize your relationship level with them. After they open their chests to you so you can learn the most intimate things about them.

When the music box starts playing in the stargazing scene, Sciel and Lune are about to take out a shared memory from their chests. But why does the music box play Lune’s theme? I believe that the main reason why they chose it is simply because it fits the scene’s mood better. It’s calmer and steadier than Sciel’s, more laid-back and contemplative. However, there might be other possible reasons we’ll see later.  

After a little moment of silence, in which only the music box can be heard, Lune speaks. “I like that”. She sounds like she’s moved by Sciel’s habit of talking to the stars. Like she thinks it’s a great idea. Like she could try it herself. 

Finally, Lune closes the journal and stands up to fully face Sciel. Now she has her whole attention. As Lune stands, Sciel’s face appears in the frame too. I feel like this shot mirrors the one we saw in the last post, the one where Sciel seems to be looking at the moon. She shares the frame with a different moon now. 

“I talked to the stars a lot after he was gone”. This makes me wonder something: did Sciel have no one else to talk to? What about her mother? Did she gommage the same year as her father? Sciel never mentions her. Maybe after she lost her family it was too hard to talk to anyone else, so she chose to talk to the stars instead.

“I remember”, says Lune as she looks at Sciel and starts slowly approaching her. She remembers? 

“The night we first met”, she smiles as she says this. It seems to be a fond memory from her chest. “At the Crooked Tower”. Was Sciel talking to the stars when Lune found her there? Maybe when Lune got there, she stumbled upon a stranger who was voicing out her pain. A girl her age, who had just lost her parents, like her. Maybe Sciel didn’t tell Lune what she was doing back then, so Lune just found out now. Now she understands. Now she can make sense of what she witnessed that night. 

“Right” Sciel answers with the slightest of smiles on her face and voice. “After the Gommage”, her tone grows somber with this, and so does her expression. The duality of that moment is painted on her face. The dark part seems to weight more on her in this moment. 

The monolith appears in the frame after a long while. The Paintress’s presence can be felt again. This wider frame breaks their intimate bubble, reminding us where Sciel and Lune are and what their lives are defined by.  

“I was surprised to find you there”. Lune redirects their conversation. She chooses to focus on the good parts of that day. As she kneels next to Sciel, the monolith leaves the frame. “I thought I was the only one who knew about that room”. Was the Crooked Tower Lune’s secret hideout? Maybe that’s where she went when she needed to be alone with her thoughts, where she could put her walls down and be vulnerable. But that night, as she climbed towards the sky, instead of silence and privacy, she found Sciel. 

“I had to get away from the harbor. And those damn petals everywhere”, Sciel keeps her eyes fixed on the stars as she says this. The petals are beautifully twisted remains of those who gommage. Remains you can step on, remains that could land on your hair or your clothes. Remains that mingle with each other on the floor, dissolving those who once where people into a red mantle.

“So I climbed up”. As high and away as she could. The Crooked Tower looks like the tallest architectural structure of Lumière. It’s a place where Sciel could feel closer to the stars and her father. 

Silence. Only the music box can be heard. Lune presses her lips together, looks towards the ground and, finally, she lies down next to Sciel. It took her a while to get there. She approached Sciel slowly, carefully, step by step: first getting up and standing still for a bit, then moving towards her, after that kneeling in front of her and, at last, lying down by her side. Could it be that Lune is a bit shy about it? This is the first time we see her approaching Sciel first.  

However, it could actually be the second time. What if this is exactly what she did that night at the Crooked Tower? Approach a hurt stranger shyly, wanting to comfort her, but not really knowing how?  

Sciel’s reaction to Lune's closeness is very subtle: her eyes slightly move to the side, away from Lune. This is probably me overanalyzing every single tiny gesture as usual, but what if Sciel is a bit shy about it too? Maybe she’s surprised that Lune is giving her this much attention.

Sciel probably didn’t expect that she would stop working to listen to her and much less that she would even come to lie down next to her. That’s a lot coming from Lune. (Also, it’s Lune, I would get nervous too if she came to lie down next to me. We got you Sciel, you are a strong warrior, but not THAT strong).  

As Lune lies down, the monolith slowly exits the frame once again. The closeness they share makes the burden of the monolith lessen. They create their own bubble again. 

Now we see Lune in the same frame as Sciel. She is no longer above her. The moon came to lie down next to her. 

The following wider frame shows us how Lune fills the empty spot left by Sciel’s father. Just like the night they met: she was there to fill the void left by him. Her company made his loss more bearable for Sciel. 

Lune barely lands on the floor when Sciel takes a step further: she places her hand next to Lune’s. Close, but not touching. Not like at the campfire, when they held hands and embraced as they grieved Gustave.

The stargazing scene takes place the night after they burry Gustave (I didn’t remember that when I started this analysis and it’s pretty important). They are still grieving, but the shock’s worn off a bit. They still try to comfort each other, but their affection is not that open and direct here. Could it be that the context doesn’t justify their affection that much in this moment? Maybe they're not sure how to interact outside of those hopeless contexts that seem to reunite them every time.

With her hand, Sciel silently tells Lune “I’m here” without overstepping. Or, actually, she replies to Lune: she also said “I’m here” when she landed by her side. They found each other again, after so long. At the edge of the cliff, in the last chapter of their lives, but still. 

The music box stops right as Sciel places her hand next to Lune’s. We hear what they hear: a gentle breeze, crickets, the flow of water. Then, we see what they see: the night sky, once again. 

This night under the open starry sky feels a lot like the night at the Crooked Tower. Same same, but different. Sciel and Lune reunite, reconnect and remember. But they also have the chance to talk about things they didn’t voice out at the Crooked Tower.

Sciel explained why she talked to the stars and what it had to do with her father. And Lune will look towards the sky, as if talking to the stars, as she opens up about her parents too. As she speaks, her theme starts playing again, this time with vocals in it.  

Tandis que la lune se fond dans l'aube / Ton cœur se pose /Dans l'obscurité dessinée / Vers l'éternité

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 3.

“What are the stars whispering to you?”. That’s where we left it in the last post. Like I already said, I believe this question is Lune’s first step towards reconnecting with Sciel and she succeeds, because Sciel’s answer is a confession: “Actually, I’m the one whispering to them”. We can hear the vulnerability in her voice. She’s sharing something very intimate with Lune here. As such, we see her face from a frontal view, clearly lit for the first time in the scene. We fully see her now and so does Lune. Until this moment, we’ve been seeing Sciel lying down on the ground, gazing at the night sky, but, just like Lune, we didn’t really know what was going on in her head.

With her question, Lune tries to understand that. What is it about the stars that has Sciel so captivated? What secrets could they be revealing to her? Is she seeking answers in the starts? Lune’s question speaks of the way she understands the world: as a source of information and meaning, waiting to be unraveled. Lune aims for the bigger questions, like the inquisitive academic she is. 

However, Sciel reveals that, actually, she is the one who's whispering her secrets to the stars. As she says this, the camera slowly zooms out of her face and then, we finally see the starry sky she’s been whispering to. A beautiful night sky, where the moon’s closeness stands out in front of the tiny stars, which are barely the size of the fireflies that mingle with them as they fly around.  

From this point on, with Sciel’s revelation, something very beautiful starts happening in this scene: the sky and the moon begin to reconnect with the actual sky and moon as witnesses. The same as the time they first met. The shot of the starry sky is a bridge between Sciel’s confession and Lune’s reaction to it. “Oh?”, Lune says, intrigued, encouraging Sciel to go on. Right after that, the shot of the starry sky changes and the camera focuses on Lune again. She gives Sciel a wide smile as she turns even further towards her. She doesn’t close the journal, but at least Sciel has all of her attention now. 

As Sciel begins explaining the origin of her intimate approach at stargazing, we see her in a wider shot than before. “It’s something my dad and I used to do”. There’s a wide space beside her, an empty spot left by the absence of her father. It’s just her talking to the stars now.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the only time in the game that Sciel mentions her dad and I think it’s no coincidence that she decides to tell Lune about him, of all people. Lune was there when Sciel was grieving him, so Lune must be somehow connected to the memory of her long-lost father. It’s easier for Sciel to talk to Lune about him, because Lune already knows about him. 

Lune’s reaction is to remain quiet and listen carefully, aware of the very personal territory this is heading into. In their world, talking about their parents can be a very delicate topic and, additionally, she witnessed firsthand how hurt Sciel was after the loss of her father. So, yes, she does know, and she’s probably getting a déjà vu feeling. 

As Sciel keeps opening up, recalling what her dad taught her, the camera, once again, brings us close to her face. “When I was scared…”, she glances at Lune, before rising her eyes towards the sky, where they will remain as she keeps talking. “…or anxious…”, she has a reminiscing look. She probably remembers moments with her dad as she looks at the stars, moments that warm her heart in the dark of the night. Light and darkness are, once again, a duality painted across her face.  

“…or even when I was happy…”, as Sciel says this, we see her distorted by the light of Lune’s journal. I like to believe that this could be a representation of how Lune sees what Sciel is saying. She can’t fully listen to her talking about her dad without thinking of her own parents. She probably never shared many carefree and heartfelt moments with them. Her relationship with her parents was distorted by their mission and so are her memories of them. Just like Sciel is in this shot. 

“He’d say…”. Lune’s still intently looking at Sciel, contemplating and understanding the beautiful nature of Sciel’s bond with her father. 

“…share it with the stars…”.  We see Sciel and the sky. The moon at the center, aligned with Sciel’s face. 

“When it’s hard to talk about things…”. Could she be looking at the moon as she says this? 

“The stars’ll understand”. The stars… Or the moon. A girl named after the moon, the one who is now listening to her as a fully grown woman, understood her that night, when it hurt so much to talk about things. The camera lands on the night sky once again as Sciel finishes speaking and it lingers there for a bit, in silence. The moon’s presence is hard to miss in the night sky. That’s probably what imprints Lune into Sciel’s habit, somehow: every time she talks to the stars and sees the moon, she remembers that night with Lune. 

Next time we see Lune, she is looking towards the sky too. Now she understands what Sciel was searching for in the stars. 

What Sciel seeks in the stars are answers about herself, about her own life. By encouraging this habit of talking to the stars, her father taught Sciel the importance of expressing and externalizing her feelings. Whatever she might be going through, even if it’s hard to voice, she can tell the stars about it. The stars are eternal, unlike the people she might lose, and they will listen silently and attentively, allowing her to figure herself out with no judgement. This habit could possibly be the foundation of Sciel’s emotional intelligence. That is the legacy her dad left her: work on yourself, grow fond of the beautiful world that surrounds you, build intimate bonds with it and let it help you build intimate bonds with those around you. 

What a beautifully tragic coincidence it is that, exactly the day she lost her father, Sciel met Lune under the starry sky. They might be different people from that day, fully grown now, at the edge of their lives, but the stars are the same that witnessed the moment they shared that night. This fact could be visually conveyed by the overhead shot in which we see them from the star’s perspective. They are at the edge of the cliff, each of them next to a different source of light, doing something that connects them with their long-lost parents.

As we see this image, a music box replaces the bawu and the piano in Lune’s campfire theme. The tender and youthful sound of this music could represent the memories of their childhood that might be silently flooding their minds but, in this context, it could also speak of the loss of innocence and the violent introduction into adult life that came with the loss of their parents. A loss of innocence that Lune and Sciel witnessed of each other, a loss that made them find each other under the night sky.

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

This analysis is fINALLY back!!! Sorry I took soOoOoOo long to post this new part, I actually struggled a lot with it. I have so many messy notes about this part of the scene so it was a bit hard for me to turn them into an organized and digestible text, especially as I was going through a writer’s block hwhdgfhwq I hope I did this part of the scene at least a bit of justice because it is so beautiful. 

If you’re still reading this despite the extremely uneven update schedule (if you can even call it that), thank you so much!! <333 I will absolutely finish writing this analysis, don't worry about that, but it will take some time. However, in the meantime, if you're interested in what my thoughts are about a specific part of the scene I haven't discussed yet, and you don't want to wait for the updates, or if you just want to talk about Scielune, I'm more than happy to chat! :D

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 2. 

This analysis contains spoilers!!

This analysis is now being posted on ao3 too, so here’s the link if you prefer to read all the different parts together in one place: 

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

In the previous post I mainly focused on the possible symbology of the location the stargazing scene takes place in, as well as the possible interpretation of a specific shot that already tells us a lot about Lune and Sciel only through visual elements. In this post, I will jump into action. I will be reflecting about why does this scene take place. How did Sciel and Lune end up together in that shot I spent so long dissecting? Who starts this scene and why? What do they want? And what do they get? 

So, for this moment to happen, one of the women needs to approach the other. When the scene starts, we already see them together, so we don’t know who approached whom first. But seeing how they are sitting, I imagine Sciel was the one who approached Lune and sat down behind her. Quietly, in order not to bother her, but probably also hopeful Lune would eventually notice her. Why? The previous scene these two shared, the one by the campfire, gives us the answers. 

In the campfire scene, Sciel is the one who sat down next to Lune. She did so because she wanted to check on her, following her endearing instinct to make sure all her teammates are fine. However, she also used the opportunity to bring up the day her and Lune met. Actually, that’s the first thing she did as soon as she sat down next to Lune and, additionally, she even voiced a feeling that’s probably been living inside of her ever since they met: she said that she wished they could’ve spent more time together. That’s probably what she’s trying to do in the stargazing scene, in a way. 

I’m sure Sciel is the one who approaches Lune because, once again, she wants to check on her. She probably saw Lune sitting on her own, working incessantly on the journal and remembered how she panicked when they talked by the campfire, saying how she should update the journals because the following expedition would need them if they failed. So Sciel probably wants to make sure Lune is fine, because she witnessed how the notion of failure is a whip that pushes Lune to overwork. However, I think Sciel also just genuinely wants to spend more time with Lune, following what she told her by the campfire. Despite their context still not being exactly hopeful, because each day could be their last day, the quiet of the night at the end of a day filled with dangers is the best chance they have to reconnect. And that could be what Sciel wants to do. Reconnect. 

But, how long do you think she spent lying down behind Lune before the scene starts? Do you think Lune noticed her and greeted her only to go back to work immediately after? Work is what seems to be separating them at the beginning of the scene. Lune isn’t facing Sciel, she is facing her duty. Sciel is the one who seeks connection first, reaching out for Lune, first with her eyes and then with her words. How could she get the moon to face her? Showing her the light she needs to shine, asking her about her work. 

It does the trick, partially. Lune answers, but she keeps giving her back to Sciel, barely moving her head so Sciel can hear her.  

She tells Sciel she’s working on contingency plans. Contingency plans that aren’t even meant for their expedition. “If we fail, Expedition 32 will need every bit of information we have”. She’s carefully documenting all the risks they encounter in order to prepare Expedition 32 for as many adversities as possible. By doing this, she finds purpose even in their mistakes. She might have failed to predict them for her own team, but she can warn future expeditioners and ensure they don’t make the same mistakes. Even if they fail, if their expedition is carefully documented, at least those who come after will be more prepared, so their sacrifice wouldn’t be worthless. 

In the previous chapter I talked about how the journal kind of colors Lune’s shape. We can see that again in the close-up shot where Lune says the line I just dissected. But this time, her whole face seems to be distorted by the journal’s blueish steam. So, in this case, the visual metaphor could be: sometimes Lune loses herself in the mission because it paints over her, in a way. The face is the main source of our identity, so when the face is obstructed, so is our identity. Lune believes the future of Lumière is more important than any individual life, and that includes her own life. She can abandon herself, her people and her time for the sake of the mission. 

When Sciel answers, her words convey that she understands but she’s maybe a bit doubtful about Lune’s attitude. Right, that is commendable, but how could she possibly ensure that Expedition 32 will find her journals? Sciel is a realist. The continent is massive, they might end up dying anywhere and maybe the next expedition will follow a different route that would never lead them to finding Lune’s meticulous reports. So, is all that work really worth it? 

Lune, ever the perfectionist planner, has everything thought out. She’s asked the gestrals for help, of course. I don’t know what you guys think, but I hear two things in her voice as she answers to Sciel’s question. Content, because the gestrals are real and (kind of) intelligent so they can be their allies, which is an advantage. But also confusion, because isn’t that advantage obvious? Why does Sciel sound so doubtful? 

Sciel’s next words, or better said, word, and the way she says it, kind of brings to surface how she feels about this attempt to reconnect with Lune. “Smart”, she says, trying to genuinely compliment her, because that is smart. As far as we know, no other expeditioner came up with that idea before. But a tiny silver of something else slips in her voice. Maybe it’s just me, but I hear a bit of… annoyance? Disappointment, maybe?

The “camera” focuses on Sciel’s face very closely as she says this, as if it wanted us to look for something on her face, in her voice, something that is beneath the surface. The angle we see Sciel from doesn’t allow us to see her whole face: we only see about half of it, and the darkened half at that, because the lantern lays on the other side of her face. So, I believe visually they also try to tell us that there’s something going on with Sciel here. 

She looks and sounds less cheerful than usual and that could be due to two things. First, like I said in the previous post, she’s no stranger to darkness. She’s surely still battling her own darkness and sorrow, so she must have her low moments sometimes despite being the most joyful member of the team. It looks like this is one of those low moments. Second, according to what I said earlier, Sciel wants to spend more time with Lune, reconnect with her and get to know her better, but it’s been more than a decade since they had shared that special moment and they are fully grown women now, and each of them had a separate life the other probably knows little or nothing about, and Lune just won’t stop working…

So, I think Sciel is kind of struggling with both things here: she’s struggling with her own feelings and thoughts and she’s struggling with figuring out how to reconnect with Lune. Do you think that she kind of reached out for Lune in the hopes that she might find comfort in her the same way she did at the Crooked Tower? And the same way she did by the campfire, leaning her head on her shoulder in a gesture that spoke of how she both gave and sought comfort in Lune. I personally like to believe that Sciel, who always comforts every team member, kind of naturally gravitates towards Lune when she herself needs to be comforted, because she needs it too sometimes. But maybe she feels a bit bad about seeking comfort in this scene, because Lune’s surely moved on and she’s always so focused on her work, there must be no room left for Sciel in her life or the little life she probably has left… 

But if Lune had moved on, she wouldn’t have noticed how Sciel sounded a bit off. She wouldn’t have stopped her work to contemplate something, sighing. And she definitely wouldn’t have turned around, to finally look at Sciel, as she asked her that beautiful question: “What are the stars whispering to you?”.  

That question tells us that Lune did notice Sciel (how wouldn’t she) and that she was aware of what she was doing, even if she wasn’t facing her. So just like Sciel did, Lune asks her too about what she’s doing, which I think sends her the message that: “yes, I did notice you and I do care about you, tell me what’s going on”. Lune probably realized that she was ignoring poor Sciel and that probably stirred something inside of her. I’ll talk about this in more detail later on, but by now I will only say that I believe Lune regrets the treatment she’s given Sciel in the past and she wants to fix it. And this desire to fix things is what pushes her to reconnect with Sciel.

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

Shout-out to the mocap and voice actors and to the animators for their fantastic work in this scene. Thanks to them I could spend centuries admiring and theorizing about every single detail depicted in it.

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 1. 

This analysis contains spoilers!!

Hello people who are new to this analysis series and hello again people who have read the first post of the series! In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, even if the title says Part 1, there’s actually a Part 0 which is the starting point of this analysis. I recommend you go and read it before this post if you haven’t already. Part 0 is actually pretty important because it: a) serves as an introduction to this analysis and its intentions; b) delves a bit into some general themes that Sciel and Lune’s bond represents and c) establishes a connection between the stargazing scene and the previous moments Lune and Sciel shared with each other.  

That being said, let’s begin.

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚ 

Set sometime in Act II, the stargazing scene is an optional cutscene we can witness one night at camp. As a starting point, I think it’s interesting to dwell on what is the purpose and possible meaning of the camp in Expedition 33. 

The camp works as a safe resting place for the expedition. It is quiet and separated from the danger and horrors the expeditioners come across as they travel through the lands of the canvas. However, the imposing monolith can still be seen, right in front of the camp. The yellowish hue of its countdown acts as a distressing beacon: remember your mission, the clock is ticking, tomorrow comes. 

I could write about the possible symbology of the camp for a reaaally long while but that’s not the purpose of this analysis. So, in order to be brief, I’ll only focus on two very interesting visual elements. The first one is how the camp seems to be set near the edge of a cliff. I think that is a perfect visual metaphor of the expeditions and their situation. Where the cliff ends, an abyss begins and that abyss is what separates them from the Paintress. Their mission of reaching the monolith and defeating her looks impossible, absurd even. Sending expeditions to do that feels like throwing them into the abyss. So why do it? Why keep trying despite the miserable odds?

The answer to those questions can be found in another visual element: the campfire. The campfire is a symbol of community and home. It’s a place where warmth and company are shared, a place where you can settle and gather strength so you can keep going. There are many cutscenes that happen around the campfire, some of them involving only a few of the group members (Lune and Gustave in that legendary argument, or Lune and Sciel sharing comfort after Gustave’s death) and some including all of them (the “Esquie, the wine dispenser” cutscene). These type of cutscenes, as well as any other cutscenes or optional character dialogs that happen at camp, serve one purpose: get to know your team and strengthen your bond with them. Remember why you keep fighting: for them, for your people. 

Even in the dark of the night, at the cliff’s edge, humanity can still light a beautiful fire that rivals the torch of the countdown that announces their extinction: the fire of affection, intimacy and care shared between people, the fire of community, the fire that brings light and meaning into darkness and void. And even if all those things might be nothing but fleeting for those who are now, they can be lasting for those who come after. 

In this context it is that our scene takes place. In one of those nights at camp, at the edge of the cliff, Sciel and Lune get to share a heartwarming moment. 

The scene opens with the wide night sky and the sound of the bawu. The character this instrument represents takes little time to appear: as the camera starts going down towards the ground, we see Lune, focused on an expedition journal, the monolith looming close behind her back. I believe this picture already sends us a clear message: Lune always carries the weight of the expedition on her shoulders. She’s especially committed to the success of the expedition, so much so that she doesn’t stop working on plans, theories and updates, not even at night. She can get so absorbed by her work that she can disregard those around her. Could that be the case here? As the camera keeps going down, we eventually notice that someone else is there, lying on the ground close to Lune. 

When the shot changes, we see who that person is: Sciel. Lune is sitting with her back to her, completely focused on the journal. It’s not clear whether she even notices that Sciel is sitting behind her. Visually, this shot is vEry interesting to dissect, especially because of the contrast it sets between both women. Lune’s position is sort of closed on herself, while Sciel’s is way more open. Additionally, and here’s the particularly fascinating part, each one of them are close to sources of light of different kinds, temperatures and colors. Beware of what’s to come, maybe I’m just overanalyzing things, but I believe these little light sources could symbolically (and beautifully) convey a lot about who these characters are. 

The journal Lune is working on is some sort of magical academic device of a clear blue color. Its light is white and cold. This makes me think of the most suitable kind of light you need if you want to stay up at night studying or working on anything that involves reading or writing. It’s a type of light that helps you stay awake and concentrate on your task because it imitates daylight. So, this could translate to: day and night, Lune keeps focus on her work. 

Her work, her duty, is beautifully represented by the journal’s shape and color. Its shape is polygonal and sharp, composed of regular geometrical patterns that make it look like it takes training and knowledge to decipher and create messages with it. Lune knows how to because she’s been training her whole life. As for its color, it is blue, a color that suggests space and distance, like the sky or the ocean. It’s a very wide color that makes you want to reach for it, dive into it. Lune pushes forward, despite how beyond her grasp things seem to be, because she truly believes that the future of Lumière is more important than any individual life. If she herself can’t reach the sky, she can at least set the next step for those who come after to climb towards it. 

In the shot I'm discussing, you can see how the blueish hue of the journal dyes Lune’s shape. That’s pretty telling because her mission shapes her, paints her, in a way. She can become cold and unreachable at times, a bit oblivious to the feelings and needs of those around her, but she also has this gravity that pulls everyone forward with her. She’s so unwavering, confident and bright that she inspires the rest of the expeditioners and reminds them why their mission matters. 

Just like the moon, Lune shines bright reflecting the light of a distant yet blazing source: unravel the mysteries of their world and free their people and their future of the Paintress and her curse. Like her song states, “Muse des âmes nocturnes” (muse of nocturnal souls), “Ta sagesse éclaire nos esprits” (your wisdom enlightens our spirits). 

Behind Lune, Sciel is laying down, staring at the stars next to a lantern, a more mundane and common artifact which emits a yellowish-orange cozy light. This lantern is a source of warm light, one whose purpose is to clear a piece of the night without denying its darkness: it makes the night more habitable, it opens a small comfort place in the darkness. However, warm light also lulls you into sleep because it can, ironically, extinguish you, even if it does so very softly. 

I think of Sciel as someone who tries to be that warm light in the darkness, comforting and yet aware and accepting of how both herself and those she loves will soon fade into the night. Warmth, after all, is what keeps us alive. Warmth runs in our veins. Sciel is fervently alive and present for those who need her, but she’s no stranger to the cold emptiness of death and darkness that will inevitably come.

The yellowish orange color of the lantern could be symbolic of how Sciel fights against the night. This sort of color is concentrated and intense, it indicates presence, like the sun or the fire. It feels close to you, as if it were reaching for you and touching you in a way, bathing you with warmth. I believe that by being so joyful and kind, Sciel honors and remembers those she lost. She keeps them alive, because she pours the love she received and learned from them into the world. 

Her love for those she lost still warms and enlightens her, motivating her actions, but sometimes their absence weighs too much. I believe that’s especially true at night. After all, the sky can bear both darkness and light. In the shot I've been discussing, this is something we can see painted all over her face: half lit by the lantern, half darkened by the night. Like the twilight sky. 

Sciel reaching the top of her power when entering twilight is definitely not a coincidence. Her strength stems from her capacity to balance light and darkness, life and death. She is full of love and care, because she once received it. “Ardent, regard vigilant” (intense glance, attentive). But, at the same time, there is void in her, because she lost many people she loved. “Heurt du néant” (shock of naught). 

All that being said, I think now you can see how the differences between Lune and Sciel are beautifully conveyed through one simple picture. However, they are actually doing the same thing in this shot: they are doing what their parents taught them to do. Lune works on the future of Lumière, Sciel works on her feelings. This is something we will find out later on throughout the scene, along with other details about both women and their backstories and also about the bond they share.  

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

There are two things I'd like to say before ending this post, in a sort of author ending note.

First, don’t worry, I won’t be talking sO extensively about EVEry SINgle SHOt. I’ll only do it when I think the shot actually has a lot to offer in terms of symbology and possible meaning. I mean, the world depicted in this game is literally a freaking painting and paintings can be like visual poetry. There are so many pictorial metaphors and allegories scattered all over the canvas, trying to give them a possible interpretation is so much fun (or not, because this game is pretty depressing :,).

Second, I'll probably start posting this analysis on Ao3 as well, because that way: a) It will be easier to read because all the posts/chapters will be together in one place, b) It can reach more people who might find this analysis interesting and useful for their own works, c) There, you can leave comments with your own ideas and interpretations, if you want. I'd really love to hear your thoughts! I'll share the Ao3 link in the next post.

Thank you so much for reading! <3

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 0.

This analysis contains spoilers!!

In this series of posts, I will be analyzing the scene that probably founded the Scielune nation: the stargazing scene. I’m not sure how many posts this will take because I’m planning to share with you what I gathered in a pretty long Word document. This little scene is sO RICH in narrative, visual, musical and emotional meaning. 

My analysis can be read from both a platonic and a sapphic point of view. I think that’s because probably the most interesting underlying theme to Lune and Sciel’s bond is the notion of “what could have been”. The tragic beauty of their connection is that they shared a very intimate and emotional moment together, but they never had the chance to see their connection bloom. They are practically strangers to each other and yet they were a source of comfort in one of the hardest moments of their lives. 

Regardless of how you choose to read the nature of their bond, I believe one thing is clear: it’s a very moving one and the stargazing scene discloses it in such a smart and beautiful way. Writing this analysis helped me deepen my understanding of both this scene and Lune and Sciel’s bond so, hopefully, it might be interesting for you as well. (Also, I apologize if my writing sounds odd at times, English is not my first language).

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚☾ ⭒.˚⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ 

The first thing I’d like to point out is that the stargazing moment seems to be connected to the previous and, as far as we know, only other two moments Lune and Sciel had spent together on their own: the night they meet at Lumière after the Gommage and the night they sit together by the campfire after Gustave’s death. I believe the stargazing scene derives a lot of its meaning from its connection to those other two moments, so that’s why I wanted to dedicate this first post to explaining this connection. 

The night Lune and Sciel meet is pretty much the root of their bond. As such, it supports their bond, it feeds it, but it cannot be seen. We don’t get to witness this moment, it is only mentioned. It’s buried deep within their past, but both of them remember. 

Sciel is the one who brings it up first, in the campfire scene, a moment we do see, one that seems to recall the past, a bittersweet déjà vu. 

And Lune remembers too. Last time they sat together like that, they were also mourning. 

Looks like the campfire scene is a clear parallel to the day they’ve met. And just like Sciel points out, it seems like grief is what brings them together every time. 

But despite grief flooding the memory, there must be some beauty to it as well, because Sciel expresses how she wishes they could have spent more time together.

Time that wasn’t stained by the anguish of their world. 

I believe that the things Sciel says in this scene turn it into some sort of bridge between the meeting scene and the stargazing one. Thanks to the campfire cinematic we find out that these women already knew each other and that they were together in a deeply painful moment of their lives. But, for some reason unknown, it doesn’t look like they got to be together anymore after that. It leaves us wondering why. Because they clearly have a lot of chemistry. 

I’ll definitely write an individual analysis for this scene too, because there’s a lot to unfold here, but for now what concerns us about it are the questions it lays out: how come they were grieving together? Were they friends? And what happened after that moment they shared, more than a decade ago? Why didn’t they get the chance to share happier experiences together?  

The stargazing scene answers all these questions. And I think it also establishes a new stage in their bond, a more hopeful one, despite their still hopeless context. 

The sky meets the moon at night. That’s the title I chose to give this analysis because I think it’s a pretty descriptive and symbolic way of capturing Sciel and Lune’s connection. It feels like destiny, like it’s natural. All three scenes I mentioned happen at night and, on top of that, at dark times in the women’s lives. Seems like only darkness can bring them together. 

But doesn’t the moon look beautiful in the night sky? Isn’t there something deeply intimate about sharing closeness, light and warmth in the darkness of the night? When do we get to see the starts if not in the dark? I’ll keep coming back to this analogy because I think there’s a lot to get out of it (and also because I lOVE poetic and evocative analogies, I’m just intense like that hsggdcx). 

All this being said and settled in this “Part  0”, I’ll properly start with the actual stargazing scene in Part 1. But I’ll definitely bring back these other two moments again because, like I said before, I believe the stargazing scene becomes truly meaningful thanks to them. If you’re up for the (probably pretty long) ride that this analysis will be, I hope you enjoy it and discover new details to feed your love for Expedition 33, Scielune or both ;3