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[czarnykotnamurze]

To celabrate the lil lucifer au discord coming to life, a revised headcanon timeline of archangels

Over time I fleshed out an older headcanon about the order of archangel creation and figured I might as well make a fan timeline laced some other headcanons, old and new. Seriously, like 35% of this is me making educated guesses and 65% is my imagination. Enjoy!

So the first archangels to be created post rebellion are still Selaphiel, Jehudiel and Chamuel. They were always going to have six wings. I imagine they were created after everything had settled, around the time the garden of Eden project was going into motion. The other archangels were still kids at the time, maybe 14 or something. Selaphiel is responsible for humanities faith, he was the one managing the introduction of God and his rules to mortals. Chamuel's job is pretty diverse, he had to make sure mortals were multiplying as intended and keep track of how their societal structures were forming. Jehudiel was made the ease the transition from heaven being mostly idle to working at full speed, but he also overlooks humanities labour, which they do a lot of. These three got to be kids a while, had a proper childhood and everything. I imagine they were pretty close, actually. Their dynamic of serious, calm and whiny would be pretty entertaining to watch. They were introduced early so that they could witness humanity from it's beginning and understand it fully, God didn't want there to be any hiccups when it cape to his main project.

Mulciber, Jeremiel and a bit later Metatron were created when the pre rebellion angels were around 19-22 in their mental age and were starting to earn their third pairs of wings. Eden was wrapped up and humanity was picking up speed. These guys were the firs permanent four wingers (canonically Jerry has six, but I treat him as if he has four cause there's so few of those and we could use more). Mulciber was made in order to expand heaven while God was preoccupied with more important things, designing all the architecture to accommodate souls being taken to God, heavens army growing and becoming more structured, the paperwork that had to be stored etc. Jeremiel's purpose was mostly to take care of all the new soul bubble and purgatory systems, later he got involved in sending visions to living mortals (If the not canon wing number bothers somebody, he could alternatively earn a third pair then). Then, a bit later, Samael "died" and so Metatron got created a to fill the gap he left in heaven's paperwork systems. Raz did not appreciate it and so Meta was relegated to writing down the typical going-ons of heaven while Raz retained all the secretive stuff. These guys didn't get to be kids long, heaven needed them to work lest it collapsed under it's own weight.

There was a bigger stretch of time before Jophiel, Zadkiel and Azazel were created, all the other archangels were well into adulthood. They were meant to be another batch of minor archangels. Mortals were spreading and multiplying rapidly as well as starting to form civilizations at that age. Hell was really starting to gain some strength too, it's inner structure solidifying. Jophiel was, of course, Mulciber's assistant as he needed some help keeping up with how fast heaven was growing. She was also trained as a warrior angel to help lead heaven's armies against the growing force of demons, with a bit more focus on defending and guarding heaven (cause she was said to guard Eden plus it makes more sense with her theming). When Mulci fell she earned a third pair of wings and took on more duties, and began focusing a bit more on the combat side. Zadkiel's focus was fully on leading armies and slaying demons, probably slays demons or mortals on earth sometimes as well, heaven needed more hands on deck to manage those vermin. Azazel was meant to lead angels whose job was to overlook mortals and alert heaven if there was a need for guardian angels to come down and correct the mortals' path or for warrior angels to smite some demons. However, at first Azazel would slack off and make weapons instead, and when he at last started doing his job and heaven went 'good lord, FINALLY' it turned out he was actually breaking every rule in existence and caused the great floods. Related headcanon, Azazel's angels, like the angels that were supposed to work for him, not the ones from his blasphemous group, those we see were from different legions, got roped into slaying the watchers and nephilim to prove their loyalty and atone for not reporting their archangel's weir behaviour. When Azazel fell (read: got dragged away to a desert) Zadkiel got promoted to compensate for hell becoming stronger and got a third pair of wings. They weren't young kids for long, but got to stay as teenagers for a while, since they could take on some duties at that age.

Lailah, Spugliguel and Cassiel were created as a result of the great flood. Four wings, all of them. Lailah had a duty to assist in the repopulating of earth, both by humans and animals. She took care of nature during the night when Ariel was busy. Tried to comfort her since she was kinda heartbroken about all the environmental devastation of the floods. Worked with humans a bit more though, helping with births, keeping children safe, guarding settlements at night, all that stuff. Neither mortals nor Ariel ever stopped needing that kind of help, so she her duties hardly changed, aside from chasing off Lilith. Spugliguel had a very similar purpose, to the point he temporarily took over Lailah's legion when she got kidnapped by Lilith, but he took care of nature more, specifically the cyclic things: getting plants to grow back, animals to regain their migratory routs, flowers blooming and getting pollinated, seasons and the like. As things calmed down and nature returned to normal he didn't have to guide it so much, so he also started assisting mortals with crops, natural disasters and seasonal affective disorder. But his schedule is more relaxed than that of most and his choir reflects that, they're pretty chill and like to decorate their friends' hair/wings with flowers. Cassiel was there to deal with the sheer amount of human suffering that came with humanity getting reduced to a bunch of small survivor groups (tiny headcanon that every flood myth is a different "arc"), the grief, the hardship. He tackles a lot of the demons on earth. Demanded to go on the mission to rescue Lailah. I also headcanon that entrances to hell show up in places where a lot of evil, darkness and misery lingers, otherwise heaven would have just tracked and barricaded them all, so Cass's job is also to find those entrances and close them with magic, hence the spear. It also became a way to get rid of possibly dissenting angels that technically hadn't done anything yet heaven yet, get them to Cass's legion so that they'll either die usefully fighting demons or get stuck on the other side and spare heaven the trouble of a trial. Heaven wasn't taking any chances anymore. Oh, and this three speedran through childhood and were put to work pretty much since creation, heaven was in crisis mode, no time for them to be children.

Haniel and Phanuel were created way after the others, as a result of the objectfolk coming into existence. It shook up a lot of stuff and God figured that was as good a chance as they'd get to add to the archangel roster. Haniel was there to get the guardian angels running smoothly again and overall keep the morale up after such a drastic change. She didn't do a god job at first, but thankfully Raziel fixed that, as we all know. Phanuel was all over the place, making sure everything was running smoothly while the older, more important archangels figured out how to deal with the new normal. And then he never stopped hopping from department to department, wherever he was needed to assist in something. But, hey, he got a cool trumpet. Also, they may be backups in case Barachiel or Raziel snap and fall. But for now, four wings, permanently teenagers, so eternal childhood, in a sense? Not like they get any benefits from it.

And that's it! I hope the server stays alive for a good while!

[czarnykotnamurze]

In case somebody not familiar with "My world AU" stumbles upon this, all characters belong to @brightgoat

Alright, there's something going on with Eve and possibly Cap in the backstory department, and I'm not seeing anyone else talk about it. So put your tinfoil hats on because I'm kinda grasping at straws here, but I just can't help but feel it's building up to something.

So, let's start with Eve. With her, the most obvious thing is that she knew Polly and Vinny when they were kids. We learn this in the post about magic, when the picture of the lapis lazuli test performed on the illager kids shows her sitting with the aforementioned two.

Bright has also said this about their relationship:

Now, a thing that's easy to overlook in this picture is that Eve is missing her bracelet. Without context this part of Eve's design seems entirely unimportant. Even I dismissed it at first, assuming it was made of emerald and was just a piece of fancy Evoker jewelry. Fortunately, people more observant than me have noticed it's in fact braided from green wool, and Bright had this to answer them:

This could technically be nothing, but like, come on, if it was completely irrelevant then Bright would just say it's a reference to Minecraft mini-series. If Eve's had it since childhood then that's a hint we're gonna learn how she got it. So, if she got it while training to be an evoker, we might learn a bit more about how that looks like and maybe get some more clarification on another interesting aspect of Eve's backstory: her personality change.

You see, before finishing her evoker training and moving to a different mansion, probably as a teenager, Eve was kind of a silly goober.

And sure, some of Eve's current attitude could be written off as an emo phase, but for such a dramatic shift to happen? Combining that with some other details like the fact they fidget with their bracelet and her somewhat sentimental attitude towards Polly, it forms a picture of a lot of Eve's personality is a mask that was taught to them.

Of course, not all of it, she's still arrogant, malicious and classist, and that mask is probably so ingrained that it's substantially leaking into her real self by now, but she's still young, maybe she could still change. If she survives the nether, I hope that mask starts slipping under the weight of her terrible decisions and Eve realises that low and behold, people like you more when you're not being a prick 24/7.

Of course, there's also a chance that the lack of the bracelet in the magic test drawing is simply an oversight, and Eve did get it while at the boot camp. There are some hints to this, specifically Bright saying that Eve had "other stuff" going on. Of course, there is a chance that the bracelet was from Polly or Vinny, or hell, even Johnny, but since she wasn't that close with them, I think there's another good candidate for who it's tied to or at least who is that "other stuff" Bright mentioned.

Yes, we're finally getting to Cap. So, it doesn't exactly seem like Cap has any more lore or backstory other than what we've already been shown (savanna raid and giving Polly the nose scar), that is, until you remember that we still don't know her name. Cap is just a shortening of the Captain, a nickname of convenience. And why would a character's name be a mystery unless there's some meaningful reveal later on?

On a side note, I'm really curious what Cap's real name is. It'l probably start with either C for captain or P for pillager, maybe I for illager or R for raid captain... Probably something with the same vibes as Igor or Ridge (yes that's a name that has existed at least since 1950's).

There's also the fact that Cap is the only other person we know of that Eve would have known as a kid, at least in passing. Honestly, if you think about it, they might have even been in the same class.

You see, we know that Cap and Polly (and by extension Eve) were in the same bootcamp and were somewhat similar in age:

The most logical assumption would be that Cap was in the same class as Polly. However, when I asked bright if the illager kid on the right of Johnny in the picture in the bootcamp post was Cap, I recieved the answer:

This means that 1) The illager kid left of Vinny that looks like Eve probably isn't her either since she was older and it would be weird for her to be in the same class as our childhood friends trio, and 2) Cap probably wasn't in the same class as them either, otherwise why would it make no sense for them to be there?

Cap definitely doesn't seem younger than Polly, and the whole nose scar incident has a feel of Polly mouthing off to someone older who unfortunately has anger issues, so the rational conclusion is that Cap is a year or two older that Polly, with just a big enough age difference that they got put in a different age group, likely the same as Eve.

And let's be honest, if Eve's gonna have some kind of backstory reveal, it's gonna be with Cap. He's the one she has the most developed dynamic with. The only other possibility is Polly and she already has a lot going on with trying to find Nil and escape, I'm no sure if she has enough time for that.

Also, when I say backstory reveal, I don't mean anything big and dramatic, these guys are minor characters after all. The most I expect is a drawing with three lines of text under it or a panel with a flash of realisation from one of them before they both die horribly or something. There's even a chance that Cap already knows and just doesn't care beyond "Ender, were they always this annoying?".

Like you can see, I wasn't kidding when I said I'm grasping at straws here, especially in the latter part. But I've just couldn't get this out of my head so I figured, I might as well write this all down, see how this ages in a few weeks.

[flowbound]

someone PLEASE PLEASE break my heart

if yall have any, please send me the most heartbreaking most angst-iest things ever about lil lucifer au

headcanons, fanfics, art, ANYTHING AT THIS POINT

I NEED THIS 🥲

[czarnykotnamurze]

Phanuel's situation is pretty angsty when you think about it.

I headcanon that every batch of angels was created for some reason and that Phan and Han were created to help deal with the chaos object folk becoming a thing, so a long time after the previous batch, meaning they were kinda isolated from others and close as a result. He was always quiet and shy while she was loud and assertive, so she probably took the lead most of the time.

But as they grew up, their jobs took them in very different directions. Haniel was given a specific archangel to assist, clear cut duties and a place strictly amongst the guardian angels. Phanuel on the other hand has no clear place, he watches over mortals like a guardian angel, he fights demons like a warrior angel and he judges souls/angels like an administration angel. He doesn't really belong anywhere and the older archangels he works closely with are Michael and Uriel who are mostly serious and professional, so no deep friendships there either. 

And then on top of that his closest sister whom he was probably worried about already gets called in for a discussion, disappears and nobody will tell him anything, because he's not important enough or working close enough to Haniel to be informed of what's going on, he's just expected to go about his life as usual because inquiring further would be disobedience. As we all know, when Haniel returns, she's a completely different person. Just like that, his most important bond is snapped, irrevocably twisted, and he can't even act like anything has happened. He's supposed to think that she just got over her rebel phase and has learned to find joy in her duties, he's supposed to be happy for her, he's supposed to be oblivious to what happened.

But here's the thing about Phanuel, the eye motif isn't just for show, he's observant, likely far more than others realise. He knows that Haniel was brainwashed by Raziel. And with that traumatic experience urging him to be more aware of the hidden inner workings of heaven lest he be next, what else was he able to figure out? That Haniel is secretly spying for Raziel? Barachiel’s darker side? Michael's denial of his conflicted feelings? Gabriel's frustration with work and jealousy of mortals? 

Phanuel is a lonely teen surrounded by emotionally repressed adults with no bond to stabilise him and no purpose in life other than to take care of the busywork people more important than him have no time for. He likely intimately knows the inner workings of pretty much all parts of heaven, can understand and relate to what the angels there are going through. He probably knows the mannerisms, reactions and psychology of most other archangels without them suspecting anything.

Connected to this, I also headcanon that Phanuel is meant to be a contingency replacement for Raziel just like Haniel is canonically to Barachiel. I mean their stories even kinda parallel each other. Socially awkward angel with their only real connection being to a dominating sibling who is problematic in some way that grows worse until they're suddenly gone.

[czarnykotnamurze]

I have some ideas on what one of the main themes in Steve's story is, because Brightgoat keeps making AU's that I get invested in. Let's just hope this one won't be haunting my brain on and off for the next five or six years (or more, lil lucifer AU still hasn't stopped).

So, to get straight to the point, I'm going to be talking about the theme of love in Steve's story. In particular how I think it might be a part of a bookending (when a story begins and ends with the same/similar themes, situations or words).

Now, this all came from Bright's reposts of "My World" AU onto fanon.co, that come more chronologically and with text for added context and info. You wanna know what the first sentence in that added written text is?

"The first thing Steve remembers is opening their eyes to an unfamiliar world, and instantly falling in love."

Steve's story, their life begins with love. A love for their entire world, a love that extends to everything. And he wants the world to know she loves it, wants to experience all it has to offer. He wonders if the world loves him back. It's pure and innocent and as we later see, it doesn't last.

Don't get me wrong, for a long time since his first spawn, Steve is still full of love for most things - his pets, the villagers, the piglins, his builds, the structures, music discs, his tools and armour... Just not for everything.

He grows annoyed with the creepers, he's scared of the endermen for a while, he practically grows to despise Jean by the time he kills her. The illagers are an interesting example, because in their case, the love doesn't exactly disappear, in a sense he loves the challenge they give him and how killing them makes him feel like a hero, but it coexists with a deep resentment and hate for what they do and are trying to achieve.

There is also a deep sadness in them, for what their world cannot give them - company. Steve is lonely, there is no one who they can have a full, rich conversation with, no one who understands the grief and trauma of respawning when everyone else dies, not a soul that is on the same level and wavelength as them.

They study structures, items and relics found around the world. They're convinced there must be someone out there like them, or at least there was. But their search turns out fruitless and instead everything leads them to the end.

Jean is the closest thing she has to an equal, an entity that talks the same language, that can speak her name. But, alas, these two are fated to fight each other over and over until Steve gives Jean an end, something he cannot have. And the hero will miss her, for she is once again alone.

And with that Steve hyper-focuses on the egg. There's his chance to finally have a friend who will understand him! So he pours all his effort and energy and love into the egg, building structures for it, learning to fly better, all to make the world as fit as it can be for when the egg will hatch. But it never will.

Now we arrive at the framing device of the story, Steve telling the egg the stories about his world. He talks about the people he loved - Nil and Polly and Glen, even if he has to call them by their species because the language barrier doesn't allow him to know their names. They, like him, were Others in their societies and it helped him grow closer to them.

Those are the people Steve was influenced by. He built glass domes with overworld biomes in them in the nether, because he thinks it's what Glen would have wanted. We have seen hints that they have rebuilt Nil's village, probably healed the few zombie villagers that remained and repopulated the rest with villagers from different biomes. To be loved is to be changed and all that.

But the last we've seen of Steve so far, which I believe is in the netherite part of the "armour fashion show" he seems to have completely lost that love. He looks exhausted, sad, like he's completely given up. There is no more hope that we see when he's with the egg. One way or another, he must have realised that the egg will never hatch and now he's just spent, he has nothing left to give. At best he's grown apathetic to everything, at worst he might resent his world. For not giving him an equal. For not letting him go.

We know however, that this won't last. Not only because there have been clues that other players might eventually join Steve's world (the 'Trail Ruins' and 'FQA' posts) but also because we know that eventually, Steve writes the End Poem.

That's what the Fanon.co reposts reminded me of and what started this whole... analysis? I guess? At no point have we yet seen Steve with enough wisdom, knowledge and peace to write the end poem, meaning it's the furthest point in the future we have. This implies that Steve has finally gotten a greater understanding of their situation. But it also means that Steve finally knows that the world loves them back.

The world has always loved her back. We have a drawing of Wulf with added text "Don't be lonely, I love you". Maybe the world never wanted her to hurt or maybe to experience everything the world has to offer means suffering and loneliness and apathy and depression too.

And I think, if Steve has written the poem, then that means she has found her love for the universe again. And I mean, isn't that what always lingers throughout the story? It may focus on Polly, Nil and Glen, but we have Liv and Klavs, the loving but slightly disappointed parents with their respective traumas. Thord, the grouchy evoker with an interest in villagers. That wandering trader, who knows everyone and is as helpful as he is annoying or malicious. Grand Brute, focused on the past and prideful, but caring about her family. Iggy, who is mischievous and loves overworld warts. The witch who helps both illagers and our misfit duo, and remembers her apprentice fondly. The stern Captain who is starting to realise she isn't paid enough for this. Wirt who wants to go back to his cat, Paige who would like to be a hero, Vidi who never loses...

The list goes on. And weren't they all crafted with care by Bright, and aren't they all loved by us? Aren't they also made from milk and love?

And love also changes. I don't think Steve will ever return to that sweet, blissful love from the beginning of his existence. He's matured and lived and grieved far too much for that. But it doesn't mean he can't love all of universe again, just differently.

This is like four times longer than I though it would be. Is this far fetched? Yes. Anyway, fun fact I learned while looking through Bright's blog for this, "My World" AU technically has it's roots in 2020, check #steve on Bright's blog if you don't believe me. Hope everyone enjoyed reading this!

[czarnykotnamurze]

I'm really curious about the lighthouse keeper from Kaikuu, Kaikuu. It's said to be the most hated cat in Ruotola, probably due to it's clumsiness. It's job also points to it being isolated and ostracised, since lighthouse keepers typically work alone and sometimes even live in/around their lighthouses, so it's possible it was even pushed out of the main island. It would match with everyone calling it by it's job title instead of a name, suggesting that it isn't really close to the cats in town, and no one respects it enough to remember it's name.

Then there's also it's bell, which seems more important than the accessories of most other characters due to it's implications. Is the bell meant to be a warning to others, that the Lighthouse keeper is approaching and they should anticipate one disaster or another? In that case it could have been pushed upon it, or a choice it made itself due to feeling like a burden. Maybe they chose to wear it so they wouldn't feel so alone and trapped in the lighthouse, with only the waves and birds as company? Or could it possibly be some sort of keepsake from someone who cared about it, like something they were given as a child so it would be easier to find them when they got lost, and now that said person is gone or doesn't like it anymore, it reminds it of nicer times? I really hope one of the time echoes will show how it got it because it's so interesting to me.

[czarnykotnamurze]

This is just some analysis and thoughts on the arcs of the main four in casino cups and how I think the theme of self destruction which we can see in all their characters will play into the story. Plus overall where I think their arcs are headed.

I'll start with Mugman, because he's the most obvious and the one who's been analysed the most already. So, at the beginning of the story, he's the more level headed of the brothers. He's the rational and responsible sibling, polite but still sassy and mischievous on occasion, maybe a little insecure about stuff like his art and crush. He's not above doing stupid things, especially when Mugman is involved, but usually he's the one getting his brother out of trouble. But it is here that we first see that yearning for knowledge and curiosity, that slowly starts to spiral out of control the deeper he gets involved with the research on the Calix animi. He says himself that he's sacrificed huge amounts of time studying books, staring at the inkwell for hours, that it has been keeping him up at nights. And the thing is, we know that the brothers have been doing that research for a while, so this obsession must have been growing for pretty much the entirety of the comic, we just didn't get to see it because we'd only get to see the brothers at the casino, where Mugs is hiding his emotions. And here's the thing, we only ever see Mugman admit to his trauma and talk about his feelings while he's heavily intoxicated and alone (Cuphead is too drunk to notice anything and then passes out). Mugman seems like the one who has moved on, but in reality he has pushed all this trauma down and is now trying to bury it underneath his research. And at first, the potion seems like the perfect solution, something that would protect him and his brother, make sure he wouldn't have to fear death again. But as he's encountered more and more roadblocks on his path to knowledge, all of which seemingly caused by being a mortal, that stops being enough. Mugman doesn't just want to avoid death, he wants to become immortal. And that obsession is causing him to lose track of what previously mattered to him, he used to be the responsible one but now he's skipping work, he's too engrossed in his research to talk about his childhood. His spiral of self destruction to me represents a big part of what led to the downfall of the Calix animi. They were getting themselves involved with things higher than them, fighting demons, seemingly knowing the correct appearance of the archangels. It's implied by the pond guy that messing with death too much, trying to become more than mortals, was what led to their downfall. Another facet of Mugman's arc that I believe will play a key role in the end is his relationships with others. Like I said before, Mugman is hiding his feelings, even from Cuphead, but lately he seems to be isolating himself even more. And this is a problem, because I believe that a big part of Mugman's issues comes from the fact that since he's the responsible sibling, he doesn't feel like he has anyone to fall back on now that Elder Kettle is gone, and wants to learn more about his parents and ancestors to somehow fill that void. But it is now turning into him chasing immortality, because he thinks it will fix his problems. That's where I think Gabriel comes in. Sure he's probably there to sabotage Mugman's research, but I think that for now, his primary plan is to fix the problem at its root and stop Mugman from rejecting his mortality by subtly teaching him to look for a support network in people around him instead. The people at the casino are pretty much all a found family, and if Mugman would learn to open up about his feelings to them, or at least to Cuphead, he could finally heal and would see how immortality isn't actually what he needs. However, I do believe that Gabriel is going to mess up big time, probably around when Mugs is really trusting him and feels ready to open up. It has been hinted that Mugman will find out that Gabe is an archangel and I feel like that kind of betrayal is going to send him into a horrible spiral and all the other important characters are going to have to pull him out of it before it's too late. Spades use experience to move past hardship, so I think Mugs will pull though.

Now, where Mugman is rejecting mortality, to me Cuphead is embracing it. He can be impulsive and overconfident, even more mischievous than his brother. At the beginning he represents the hubris that was also a big part of why the Calix animi fell, feelings themselves above death itself, treating it like it was no big issue, just how we see Cuphead acted when they were gathering contracts from the debtors. But he's much more open about his feelings, even if he can get defensive sometimes, and overall seems more in tune with his emotions. It took him longer to process his grief, it seems it's still ongoing, but he's going through it in a more healthy way. I feel like diamonds fit Cuphead because he doesn't really care about the unknown, like his parents or the nature of fate. What matters to him is what he has - his brother, his friends (at the casino and the former debtors), the trinkets from his childhood that carry memories. He's still invested in finding out about his ancestors and the potion, but in a healthy way, and it seems to be more about getting to do cool stuff as well as the legendary chalice. To me, he embodies the reckless freedom of mortality, I mean, we know he literally got arrested for doing parkour, the emotional bonds and attachments, just living life to the fullest. Of course, he still indulges in self destructive and risky behavior, but we also see him grow and mature. He's not jumping in to save Cagney, but himself proposes to be careful and do some stake out first, he's growing more independent from Mugman while also reinforcing his support network. We also see that, unlike what a certain rose lady may believe, he's not stupid. He's just more street-smart than book smart. He's the one who makes the connection between the inkwell and Dice's, well, die, and while his observations on the Calix animi may seem obvious, he is pointing out some very practical things about how the potion worked and was made. To me, he's the representation of what mortals can achieve, the strength and beauty of mortality. And we see that it's a genuine factor, for example the Devil had always wanted to create life, but at most he was only ever capable of giving life to a dead body (Asmodeus) or creating some weak immortal creatures (the imps). It was a mortal that he gave some of his magic to that caused the object folk to happen. Anyways, we're kinda seeing an opposite arc from Mugman's in Cuphead, where he's growing and maturing, strengthening his community, and all that jazz. I do think he might be a bit preoccupied with saving Cagney to pay close attention to Mugs, but I also think that his friends will give him enough confidence to talk about his dream visions, as well as investigate the die and possibly solve the mystery of the inkwell. I also think he'll pay attention to what the demons are talking about at the party and learn more about the angels, which will be useful for later, as well as maybe come to understand the Devil better in some ways, or find out about his surprising not so evil plan, or talk him into helping save Mugs. In the end I feel like we'll get a role reversal, where Cuphead is the one preventing Mugman from self destructing.

The Devil's arc, I think, is about him inching away from becoming the worst version of himself and getting out of God's control. It's just that his character development is a crawl that has been taking place over millennia at this point. Going chronologically, Lucifer was pushed by his father into rebelling, even though God didn't expect a full blown war to happen, got brutally banished and had to lead a group of traumatised children while as a traumatised child himself. He basically made his entire life about opposing God, seemingly focusing more of his efforts on messing with heaven and waging war with it than leading his people, which lead to his bond with Abaddon breaking down, but he did gain a friend in Lilith. Over time however, he was able to reach some basic diplomacy with heaven, rekindle his relationship with Raphael and find family in Azazel. We also know he made many friends over the course of his life, but most of them were killed, likely stunting his progress. He still focused on antagonising his father, like how he started making soul deals because he wanted to take something away from God for once, but that only made him both more alike to his father and do stuff God actually wanted. He seemingly starts to overcome his hatred of mortals around ancient times, like how he'd get along with Job even when he thought mortals were all stupid, and when he let a mortal play with his powers leading to the creation of the object folk, which apparently brought him out of depression. It's also in the time of the Calix animi that we first see him have a scheme that, while selfish, isn't centered around revenge - getting the potion to heal his wings. We don't really know what he was up to between then and the 1930's besides hunting the legendary Chalice, but a few centuries before casino cups he started caring about mortals enough that in a scenario where God is gone, he'd be very much concerned about Earth and mortals, maybe even as invested in that as he would be with fighting heaven. And during casino cups we can really see that development: he's fallen in love for the first time and with a mortal at that, he gets over his anger at the cup bros and befriends them, his main plan is pretty harmless overall and he doesn't collect souls just to spite God anymore. True, his current motivation for that last one isn't any better, but he does seem slightly less evil than he used to be, no longer targeting people and letting them seek him out instead, plus treating the souls under his contract well. Still, his character development is very, very slow, so we can't really expect him to have a traditional character arc, that's just not how it works for him, and besides, Bright had said that he'll never be completely free. There things I think will be addressed are how he's paralleling what God did to him with Mugman, and his self destructive defiance of God. For the first one, Satan has teased Mugman about his mortality and how that makes him incapable of comprehending the knowledge Devil has, which has had a big impact on Mugs and is pushing him further in his downward spiral. And this is very similar to what God would do to Lucifer, showing him how to create souls but forbidding him from trying and treating him as something lesser. It's unclear if Satan was trying to push Mugs towards seeking the potion or was doing it unintentionally, but either way, I kinda want him to realise he made Mugman feel the same thing he did all those millennia ago, and just sit down to have a talk with him, explain why immortality for mortals is typically bad and that mortals do have the perspective and life the immortals don't. Another thing tying into this, is that by helping Mugman away from his spiral, the Devil would be fulfilling God's plan, something that he has been trying his darnedest not to do his entire life. So placing someone he cares about above beef with his father for the first time would be a big step in breaking out of God's grasp, while still being a small enough development to fit the pattern.

For Dice I think I have the least to say, because he's the character who's arc is actually mostly done. All his major lore is about how he got to the point in life where he is. We see that through most of his life he'd been very self destructive, involved with crime from a young age due to his family but never really made an effort to get out. The whole "suicidal king" thing definitely matched, since he only got himself involved deeper, selling out his family, selling his soul, cheating people out of money until it nearly got him killed. Landing at the casino is actually what stopped that cycle of self destruction, and I think it's because it gave him a family. We see that it has always mattered to him with how he tried to save his cousin, but loosing her appeared to be what cemented his dark path. At the casino however, he couldn't just leave, and as much as he'd fight with Wheezy, he did have to grow to care about him and Pirouletta, plus with how much effort he invested in the casino, he did appear to start considering it home. And as the number of employed souls grew, so did Dice's new found family. He himself says he considers them as such. And he did find love in the Devil, so as it is now, he's found stability and happiness. His main role in the story seems to be stopping others from self-destructing. It's most prominent with the Devil, where Dice is straight up said to be his voice of reason, stopping him from impulsively self sabotaging. He's also trying to convince Satan to be more open to the cup bros and will probably play a big role in preventing Devil from regressing again. With Mugman, I think he's helping him stay connected to his mortality through the card tricks. It's something Mugs is still doing, one of his interests he's still indulging in other than his research. And there's something about card tricks that is just so innately mortal. They're something simple that you have to spend time and effort perfecting, something meaningless and insignificant that somehow still brings amazement and wonder, something that relies on a viewer's lack of knowledge and understanding. With Cuphead it's simpler but still effective, he gives him consequences for his actions and structure. There's also something to be said about how Dice is walking the line between mortality and immortality - a soulless mortal with eyes of a demon, who by all logic should have turned into a demon by now but is somehow resisting it. Kinda shows how Dice is truly happy with where he is in life and doesn't want to chase anything more.

This turned out longer than expected. Also as I was writing Cuphead's part I got a mental image of Gabriel getting dragged by the collar to the final confrontation against the garden gang + Forkington because they seem to be messing with ancient magic and the bros might need metaphysical assistance, but the Devil said he might get thrown back into the 9th layer of hell if he interferes with something big like that. Oh and Cuphead's part was also majorly inspired by the song "the suture" by Chase Petra, go check it out, the whole album is awesome.

[czarnykotnamurze]

Chess symbolism in casino cups

So, of course, playing cards and tarot cards are the main form of symbolism in casino cups. We've got a lot of exposition about the first and the ancient object folk civilizations are vaguely based on the latter. But as I was looking through some of the comics, I noticed that there are chess appearing as well, albeit only a few times. Interestingly enough, they appear to be used in the context of the demonic princes + Lucifer (though I may have simply not noticed some, I wasn't scouring everything to find them or anything).

These are the two times I found them (circled the one in the second picture because it's so in the background). Anyways, let's actually get to the analyzing part.

The queen / Lilith - This one seems pretty obvious. Lilith is often portrayed as a queen or mother of demons in media. The queen and the king are closely related chess pieces, and Satan did say Lilith is his favorite amongst the princes. You could also connect the history of the relatively weak ferz being replaced with the powerful queen with how the insignificant Eve #666 turned into a demon and became Lilith the demon prince.

The bishop / Asmodeus - Now this is a bit more interesting, because Asmodeus is one of the princes we know the least about. We never really learn what kind of business he owns or what his standing with the Devil is. The bishop often symbolises indirect influence or foresight, which could imply he's more focused on politics and schemes in hell, or that he often meddles in the lives of mortals like in the book of Tobit. However, it is possible that he's represented by the bishop due to how Asmodeus is a mix of a bunch of animal parts and the bishop's identity often wildly changes depending on the language, becoming a runner, elephant or fool/jester.

The knight / Azazel - One link I could find is that the knight can symbolise unconventional thinking, and Azazel had always disagreed with what heaven was saying, idolising Satan even when he was an angel. There's also the fact that Azazel is seemingly one of the princes more involved with conflict and war, because he produces and sells weapons, and the word "knight" is intrinsically tied to conflict.

The rook / Abbadon - The rook often symbolises stability and strong foundations, which does fit the person who was there since the beginning and helped the Devil build his kingdom, even if Abbadon is far from loyal. I also feel like the castling move kinda represents that one time Abba impersonated the Devil (the king moves away - the Devil is in prison, the rook moves next to where the king used to be - Abba takes Satan's place but isn't really him). The rook is also the furthest away from the king in the back line and Abbadon dislikes Satan.

The pawn - I think that instead of their traditional symbolism, the pawns here instead mean being a pawn, loyalty, working for someone and being controlled:

Lilith's pawn stands out the most, as she herself admits that she and the other princes still work for the Devil, and she seems to be the most loyal one of them.

With Asmodeus the pawn is less stark, as we see him getting reminded of his place by Satan once, and he seems the type to be more in denial about serving Satan, but he's probably still pretty loyal.

Azazel's pawn is even more vivid than Lilith's at the tip, but then abruptly cuts off, which could represent how he really wants Devil's approval and is close to him, but if he were to learn of the meetings between Satan and Raphael, or worse, if the AU where the Devil protects Raph after his fall happens and he found out about that, he would be really betrayed and that loyalty would be severed.

With Abbadon we barely see a pawn, it's more like a space where it used to be. This of course, shows how he's no longer loyal to Satan, and though he still technically works for him, it's much more for his own agenda. (On a side note, Abba is the only one on that drawing without a sigil, so given how he wants to be an angel again, maybe he doesn't deal with mortals?)

As for the Devil, you could argue a traditional meaning of ambition for that pawn, since he's talking about wanting to create souls like God. But even if that's partially the case, I'd say it's more about how the Devil was being manipulated by God into rebelling as an angel, how showing him this power and forbidding any attempts at replicating it was part of that manipulation. And that pawn is hidden in the background, showing how Satan has no idea.

[czarnykotnamurze]

Even more lil lucifer AU headcanons

Brightgoat once stated that the entirety of hell refers to Micheal as "Bitch". In casino cups we see that even the mention of the name Michael causes all demons to panic, convinced he's there. We also know that hell has a bunch of it's own languages. This all points to Michael being such a threat, that over time in hell's languages his name started meaning "Micheal is here! Beware!", and to refer to him as a person they have a curse word, probably just adding 'the' before it for clarification. Unfortunately, we will never know if the demons started using a preexisting hellish curse word to refer to him, or if they started calling him something as a necessary substitute and then that word became a swear.

Abaddon and Mulciber are each others favorite sibling. Abaddon has beef with Satan so probably isn't that close to Azazel who likes him, so that leaven Mulciber. And the two of them would probably get along, Mulciber's whole deal is being bossy, and critical and thinking he's the smartest in the room, while Abaddon is very angry all the time and doesn't like how Devil runs things. So I imagine they could be rant buddies, or just hang out and talk without being as annoyed as with the others. Of course, they probably still end up on opposite sides of conflict, betray each other and I wouldn't put it past Mulciber to go "You were just a minor angel, you wouldn't know". They won't go to each other with their deeps feelings and vulnerabilities, because that would very much be used as blackmail and they have enough on each other as it is. But it's hell, so they probably have an unspoken agreement that that's allowed, and when the war/intrigue is done they're back to usual like nothing happened. They know each other the best out everyone, but they're not really showy about their bond, so few demons realize.

Also, Abaddon was absolutely the one to spill how the Devil was defeated by the Cup bros and Mulciber was probably the one he went to first. You can see him in the background of the tipsy troop fight, appearing and disappearing, meaning he was in the casino when it happened. He probably went to check if Satan was alive, let Dice deal with him, and went wheezing to his gossip buddy to tell him all about it.

Oh, and I also headcanon that Abaddon can't cry ever since he got his face burned off by the Devil. At least not from the eye that has all that pink tissue under it. So they can both bond over having their eyes messed up by fire.

Sorry for this much Abaddon, but I've just been thinking about him lately. We know his hatred of the Devil stems from what happened to the rebellion, and when you think about it, it really makes sense. Lucifer promised them a better world with less restrictions. The war wasn't really planned, it wasn't what they wanted, but they followed him anyway, had faith in him, as the second in command Abaddon (or Muriel) had probably lead a bunch of soldiers as well. And for what? Defeat, banishment and pain. And it also seems that Lucifer didn't really care about the rebellion, these days most of them are dead, which can be excused by heavens attacks, but those alive don't remember heaven anymore, something that wouldn't happen if they were amongst the royalty, since they would have constant reminders. So I believe that when there were enough demons and Luci could have a proper kingdom, he kinda left the rebellion behind and Abbadon, as the second in command, had to pick up the pieces. But it clearly wasn't enough, because whether it be because of heaven, Abaddon focusing more on overthrowing the Devil than helping out the rebels or the rebels supporting Abbadon through his coup and then having to scatter to evade consequences, the rebellion is essentially gone now, which only angers Abaddon more. But he can't keep directing that anger at the Devil due to consequences, and refuses to do so at God, so he blows up on everyone. He probably blames hellborn demons for replacing the rebellion and forgetting who their forefathers were. And the souls in hell for wasting their chance while they could have redeemed themselves on Earth. He's also probably jealous of mortals for having a chance to rectify their mistake, atone and still go to heaven. And that's also the thing, with Lucifer failing to deliver on his promises and the sudden nature of the war, he probably felt tricked and betrayed, and like it wasn't fair for him and the others to be banished. He wants to ascend, even though that's pretty much impossible, and still idolises God, still clings to heavens ideals despite what they do to his kind, what they would do to him without a second thought. He refuses to hate them, so he despises everything else, excusing the pain he causes as heavens work. But one can't live like that all the time, so he can be civil and grow to care about new people, even if rarely. At least that's how I interpret his character.

Azrael's colours got duller as he grew up, but he also likes to use some minor shape-shifting to adjust them. Oh, and once fashion like goth and grunge came around, he started too be really enthusiastic about undercover missions, like visibly. It kinda freaked everyone out, but I guess they're happy for him as long as he only wears those clothes while undercover.

Samael "leads" a group of hybrids and stray demons in Limbo. Lucifer's legion who works there knows about them, but they're pretty chill about it. The locals often show them the way when they get lost. Nobody knows what Samael is, because the perception of angels and demons is pretty strictly binary in this world. It's often a source of wild theories in both groups. The most popular one is that he was an archangel prototype that was discarded into limbo at the very beginning of creation. The gist is that God tested a bunch of things on him, but many didn't quite work as intended and that's why he looks so weird. He has multiple wings, which is why Samael has a pair instead of ears and why he has two wings on one side melded together. He has a deactivated halo embedded in his scull, because God used him to fine tune it's use for torture and a cyanide pill. He looks half fallen because God put him through the process, but it didn't work fully. And he either was also given a prototype consciousness and free will, or he was an empty husk that was possessed by an ancient soul.

Heaven has a lot of euphemisms used by minor angels, since they gotta tell each other information somehow, but they can't often speak directly for fear of being judged as treasonous. So for example, no one would say "Haniel is bad at her job", but instead "Haniel is still figuring out how to best do her duties". There's probably also a lot of idioms and set phrases, like "why are you staring like Jehudiel is right behind me?" and stuff. Raziel is doing an impressive job of keeping track of all that, with how wide and diverse heaven is.

An archangel showing off all their pairs of wings is often a display of power and authority, so I find it interesting that Uriel didn't only had one out when confronting Mulciber. It makes me thing that he really just wanted for his friend to stop being an idiot, take it all back, and he was coming to him from a genuine place, even when he brought soldiers with him. It was probably also why Jophiel seemingly went to him with this. But of course, when Mulciber doubled down, he had no choice. He might still blame himself though, for not noticing sooner and nipping that treachery in the bud, for engaging in those debates, even if Mulciber was careful not to mention his beliefs there. He's probably secretly grateful that Mulciber stuck to being an architect and doesn't appear on the battlefield, because facing him would be painful.

After Mulciber's fall Uriel tried to be something of a support to Jophiel, even if it was mostly Raguel who trained her Zadkiel and Azazel. They didn't exactly grow close, but he taught her how to use her flaming sword, and Jophiel appreciated his effort and kindness.

Raziel is the king of unhealthy coping mechanisms. He had trouble making connections with others, so he convinced himself that he didn't need them and closed himself off from almost everyone. He wasn’t aware of the extent of the brewing rebellion, so after the dust settled he started spying on everyone so that he can know everything around and nothing will shock him like that anymore. He was being put down by his twin, so he started to blackmail everyone to make them terrified of him and the torture he can put them through, so that he won’t ever feel powerless again. After he snitched on Samael he “killed himself”, so now Raziel is very manipulative and waits for the most strategic time to reveal information (like with Raph’s visits to the Devil), as well as utilizing the very thing his twin used during his presumed suicide to hurt others, kinda claiming power and control over it. In the scenario where he falls, he buries himself in insanity to not have to face the reality of the situation and the consequences of his actions. He’s a very reactive character that makes it everyone else’s problem.

[czarnykotnamurze]

More lil lucifer au headcanons/thoughts

Barachiel was friends with Samael back when he was an angel. Not as closely as with Lucifer, but they both had a darkness inside of them they couldn't really talk about to anyone else. I's part of the reason why Raziel targets Barachiel so much.

Metatron was created to be Raziel's assistant at some point after Samael's "death" to help him with writing down all the divine information and the goings-on of heaven. However, Raziel doesn't want any reminders of his twin and prefers to work alone, so he just relegated all the less important and secretive stuff to him and barely interacted with him. Over time, Metatron transitioned to working under Gabriel and Uriel, with Raziel just checking his work from time to time.

The archangels, outside of special occurrences (so the minor guys who don't cleanly fit anywhere) are created in batches. The first is the pre-fall one of Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Barachiel, Samael +Raziel, Azrael and Ariel. Then we have Jehudiel, Selaphiel and Chamuel, since they were created after the rebellion and were presumably intended to have six wings since creation. After that there's Azazel, Zadkiel and Jophiel, who were confirmed to be children at the same time and to be younger than Chamuel by the archery drawings. And lastly, Haniel and Phanuel who were also confirmed to have been kids at the same time.

*There's also the possibility of another batch between the second and third ones. You see, Mulciber was a minor archangel, we never see him with more than four wings. Which means that angels like Lailah, Spugliguel and Metatron could have been created around the same time as him. It would be very funny, because that would mean there's a generation of angels that was meant to be above Zadkiel and Jophiel in the pecking order, but ended up below them instead despite of age due to them getting promotions.

*I also have a headcanon that Jeremiel is a minor archangel and only has four wings despite being drawn with six that one time, which would place him in that batch as well. It technically contradicts canon, but firstly, we see the quiet Lailah talk back to him, which I doubt she would do if he was her superior, and secondly, there's way too little minor archangels compared to the major ones, so the one where it doesn't matter might as well even the scales a little bit.

Jeremiel and his angels are the ones who craft visions for souls in purgatory, and then the dream bubbles for the souls that got to heaven and are being transported to God. They're probably the ones doing the transporting, too, maybe with some help from Gabriel's angels. Jeremiel likes to annoy Gabe, who is kinda his boss, but plays it up whenever Raziel asks him to, as a "test" to see if Gabe isn't giving into sloth or sympathy for mortals. His other side gigs include giving important mortals prophetic dreams, plaguing wayward ones with nightmares and helping Azrael with stubborn souls, singing them lullabies so they go in peace.

Interactions between Haniel and Jehudiel have to be comedy gold. Part of Haniel's job is to keep everyone up to speed, and Jehudiel to keep everyone on task, and those things heavily overlap, which means they work together at least sometimes. Jehudiel was probably annoyed by how incompetent she was and the dislike was mutual. But now that she's all happy and giddy, he's probably even more frustrated. How is he supposed to intimidate the lower angels when Haniel is being so cheery? And Haniel doesn't even dislike him anymore, so he can't even successfully avoid her.

Azazel is very suspicious of King Dice, because back when he and his angel buddies were dating people, his friend's girlfriend ratted them out to heaven. He's convinced Dice just wants to use Devil for his own gain, no matter what Satan tells him. I'm pretty sure Lilith knows their relationship is genuine because she was a mortal herself once and can tell, so Azazel is growing increasingly frustrated about nobody listening to him. Truly though, he's just worried for his big brother and still has trauma from back then.

Lower angels have better memory than humans, but it inevitably fails them when it comes to stuff that happened thousands of years ago, if there aren't any reminders. That's why Samael is all but forgotten and the remaining fallen from Lucifer's rebellion don't really remember they were ever angels. However, Abbadon was a lower angel back in heaven, so this has to include him as well. So while it's not really possible for him to forget the fact he was an angel because his position and plans always remind him, he does loose memories of his life in heaven and his friends who died. And he can't write that stuff down, someone could get their hands on it and use those deepest vulnerabilities against him. So he can't do anything but suck it up, tell the stuff he really doesn't want to forget to the Devil, and then go ask him about it when he starts forgetting. He hates it, but Satan is the only one who knows the details from heaven, won't be killed, and cares about family enough not to publicly use that knowledge against him. It's probably one of the few things that still keeps them as brothers, despite how antagonistic they are to each other.

[czarnykotnamurze]

Ichor headcanons

We know the ichors of Michael (lightning), Gabriel (water) , Raphael (wind), Uriel (fire) and the Devil (light), but there’s no info on what ichors the other Archangels have, so here’s my headcanons! 

Azrael - Cold, since it’s one of the only universal symbols of death. All bodies lose their warmth, after all.

Raziel - Mist, it’s symbolic of mysteries and hidden things, fitting for the Archangel of secrets.

Samael - Smoke, because I wanted twins to match, but it also really fits if you think about it. Smoke is similar to mist, but it’s poisonous, just like Samael was the more cruel twin when he was younger. It’s also symbolic of two relevant things: self-destruction/addiction, just how Samael was obsessed with obtaining knowledge and experimenting, he hurt those around him and eventually almost killed himself by his halo. (Also there’s that one drawing of him smoking a hookah, so…)

Barachiel - His signature white roses of course, would change to red if they fell.

Raguel - Sparks, the ones that fly when metal clashes and so on. This one isn’t that deep, just something that would be intimidating and reflects his focus on combat.

Ariel - Resin, I mean, she’s the archangel of nature, she has to have something associated with that, and it signifies her resilience well.

Selaphiel - An incense-like smell, relating to rituals and spirituality, it’s good for the guy in charge of prayers.

Jehudiel - Tar, since when it’s molten it sticks to you easily, burning you in the process, and then almost immediately stiffens back up so that you can’t get it off, so you end up in horrible pain and can barely move. The guy is responsible for keeping the angels in line and punishing those that aren’t so I thought something horrific would be best.

Mulciber - Sand. He’s an architect, so it makes sense to give him the material tied to the iconic structures like the pyramids and the art of sand sculpture. Sand is also almost fluid and his issue with heaven was that its rules were too rigid and constricting, so that’s a nice contrast. Besides, sand gets in your eyes, so that could explain why his sight was damaged during his fall, when his ichor would have been all over the place.

Chamuel - Honey. It’s all sweet and romantic, just like Chamuel portrays herself, but hey, did you know honey can be poisonous? Remember, Chamuel is responsible for all relationships, good and bad.

Azazel - Molten metal, because he’s a weapon maker. That’s it, that’s the reason. You gotta admit though, the potential of creating a weapon out of your own blood/soul is sick.

Zadkiel - Lava, because once again, it would make sense for twins to match. It’s destructive and can be associated with strong emotions (because volcanos), so it kind of fits.

Jophiel - Acid. Since she’s a combat angel, she needs something suited for that. It would also be ironic, that the artist, who by nature creates things and makes them beautiful, would have one so purely destructive and ugly.

Metatron - Ink, because he’s the scribe. A fancy one probably.

Lailah - Space dust, she’s the angel of the night, that’s all there’s to it. I guess alternatively it could be milk, since she’s the patron of infants?

Haniel - Mercury. This one’s fun. It’s symbolic of change, just how she was brainwashed to have a complete personality flip. It’s also poisonous, alluding to how she’s a spy under Raziel. Plus, it’s associated with femininity, movement and communication, which fits her role as the one keeping everyone up to speed and going around heaven doing errands for Barachiel.

Phanuel - Liquid glass, since as the one associated with sight, he shouldn’t have anything obstructing his vision. I know that for glass to be molten, it needs to be heated up so much it’s not see-through anymore, but they’re angels, so let’s ignore that.

Spugliguel - Pollen, because I’m like 60% sure their ears are constantly shedding with the loose fur turning into it.

Jeremiel - Music, choir like, emotions it conveys depend on his mood. He’s the one associated with sleep, so something lullaby-like should work as his ichor.

Cassiel - Is this guy even confirmed to be an Archangel? He’s got the halo but is never called one… Anyway, the obvious answer would be tears, but that really overlaps with Gabriel’s water, so salt? I guess?

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Some lil lucifer au headcanons

If Raziel or pre-fall Samael hugged someone they’d also use their long ears, to like, wrap them around the other person’s neck or something.

Phanuel and Haniel were created at the time of ancient Greece. Brightgoat said on Deviantart that Haniel’s clothes were somewhat inspired by it. It’s a very long time window, so they both probably grew up while it was still going.

Demons seem to be quite animalistic, whether it be physical (goat Azazel, bull Abbadon, snake Lilith and Zadkiel, a bunch of animals stitched together Asmodeus and Ariel) or psychological/behavioral (Satan liking ear scratches and the imps he creates loafing, Arach being somehow associated with corroaches) besides, just looking at the background demons, most of them have more or less obvious animal traits. So I headcanon that this also carries over into stuff like night vision, stronger senses, more prominent use of body language for communication or some general instinctual stuff, though there is no indication of this being the case. It would make sense though, Hell is a very hostile place to live in.

Jophiel, Zadkiel and Azazel were originally created to be minor Archangels (four wings). When Mulciber fell Jophiel was determined to be his replacement and thus to have six wings, but since she was a child she only earned her second pair at the time and was granted her third when she fully grew up. Zadkiel got his third pair when Azazel was imprisoned, maybe even at the same time when his wings were being cut off for extra emotional damage.

When Devil speaks the capital letters of his dialogue are often ornate because he used to be into calligraphy and he still likes to make them fancy, maybe makes the paperwork less boring if he gets to do something even a bit creative almost all the time. Gabriel found out when he went to the inkwell isles which is why his present dialogue has them inconsistently while his old lacked it. He's not gonna let the Devil have neater handwriting that him, but it's new so he still forgets half the time. It started to catch on in heaven, and that's why in the past no Archangels had them in their dialogue, but when we saw Jeremiel and Lailath talk recently, they were present. Heaven will never admit that the Devil essentially started a trend among them, so they will try to gaslight him that they were actually the ones who wrote that way all along.

Lucifer likes jewelry, but typically avoids wearing it on his neck, wrists and ankles because that's where he had to wear it in Heaven, and it's where his chains always are. That's why we only really see him with earrings, horn jewelry and tail jewelry.

Devil's affinity for shape-shifting is because he was made to be the one the closest resembling God, who is an ever changing glowing thing. That's also why his ichor is light.

Ichor of the lower angels is that of their Archangel. If their original Archangel falls their ichor doesn't change. Angels that serve under multiple archangels have either the ichor of the one they work for the most, or some sort of mix of the two.

I got into lil lucifer all the way back in 2020, but I never posted about it. I do have some more headcanons written about stuff like what the ichor of each Archangel is, or what some background archangels are like, so I might post it someday.

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I'm really excited for the setup of The Morningstar family and Alastor for season 3.

We see Alastor take a bigger interest in Lucifer at the end of season 2, so there's bound to be more conflict between these two. And Viv said that we will get more Lucifer angst next season. So many people though that Lilith owned Alastor's soul and that those two would hate each other, but now there's a real possibility that they will team up to bully Lucifer. Honestly, it might depend on who it was that agreed to the exterminations, because we still don't know, and I feel like the answer will define the entirety of the season.

If it was Lucifer who did it to appease heaven, then Lilith who cared about sinners probably felt incredibly betrayed and might have even made the deal with Adam to minimize the damage at the cost of being completely cut off from her family. That kind of reveal would probably turn a lot of people both at the hotel and in hell in general against Lucifer, forcing him both into character development and angst, especially since Alastor would certainly use that against him.

Actually, if Lucifer turns out to be one of the villains because his desperation to win back Charlie, instead of them both working on how they hurt each other and building a healthy bond, makes him do some messed up stuff, then that would be a real plot twist. We could actually get the "evil pilot Lucifer" so many people were wanting.

Admittedly, Lilith wouldn't be perfect in this scenario either, but it would make her someone who prioritized her kingdom over her family. Her still ignoring Charlie even after the deal has been off (at least according to Lute, Sera did say she had no authority on that stuff so maybe that wasn't the truth) is definitely bad, but there could be the emotional turmoil of not knowing what to say after those 7 years involved.

If it was Lilith, then that would make her a two faced manipulator, something that a lot of people have been theorizing about. If that's the case, she and Alastor could either team up to manipulate Charlie and Lucifer together, or be rivals who try to push those two towards different things.

There may be a variant of this where Lilith pushed Lucifer to agree to the exterminations and then put all the blame on him, because her hands were technically clean.

The theory that Lilith has been pushing the separation between Charlie and Lucifer for her personal gain may also be true in this scenario. It was kinda hinted at in "More than anything", but that scene can also be interpreted as Lilith being the realist, who takes Charlie who's already in her pajamas to bed, instead of staying up late to do pretty but unimportant things with Lucifer, so we can't be fully sure.

There's a loth of theories about what the purple and green will mean in regards to season 3, and the most popular theory is of course that it's Lilith for Purple and Alastor for green, but will they clash or work together? I do hope it will also have an additional meaning of purple for Valentino and green for Angel's family.

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Hazbin hotel season 2 thoughts

Charlie has grown a bit this season, learning to listen to others, but she's got to start caring more about the powerful people in her life she seems to believe can handle themselves despite witnessing them being hurt. I'm of course talking about Alastor and Lucifer. Their situations are a bit different but end kinda the same:

Alastor crawling away while Charlie is too busy attending to Emily to even spare a look at him and realise that he's not just bleeding from the arm that was bit, but also his chest, so his angelic wound must have reopened (not that it ever properly closed)

Lucifer, barely conscious, getting out of the weapon that could have killed him, with Charlie happily celebrating instead of checking if he's ok.

With Alastor, he is largely reaping what he's sown - portraying himself as untouchable, going against Adam with no angelic steel, fighting Vox alone while weakened and not telling anyone about his angelic wound that still isn't healed by the end of the season. Still I think that people dismissing Charlie's lack of worry for him, by saying that he never technically helped her fully altruistically (either for his own benefit or forced through his deal) and all the times he was hurt he was paying the price of his scheming, is overlooking just how willfully blind she's being. And Lucifer is an even better example, because he did almost nothing wrong and while Charlie was actually worried and went to rescue him, the moment the immediate danger was gone and Lucifer needed someone to tend to him, she wasn't there. She didn't even apologize to him for kicking him out!

Hopefully, since the next season will be about family, her relationship with her dad will improve. But with Lilith becoming active, things will probably get more complicated before they get better. There's also the question of whether he and Sera will get to interact, since there's a lot of angst potential there. As for Alastor, I'm really curious as to how his relationship with Charlie will develop, because finally he has no strings attached to him and even though he gains nothing from staying at the hotel, he continues to do so. We know that he's starting to care for the hotel residents and is desperately trying not to, but it's hard to tell if he'll become a villain or stick with the heroes. I also wonder if he'll get some interactions with Emily, because she's the only one besides Niffty who has helped him and expected nothing in return, and he likely owns Niffty's soul, so this might shake his worldview a bit.

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This is just a small theory based on the hazbin hotel sneak peaks. So we see Vox at the hotel, which means that at the very least both Angel and Alastor can't be present. Alastor for obvious reasons, and Angel would probably also cause problems, since Vox is the enabler to his abuser, he wouldn't trust that guy. While Lucifer might be naive enough to let Vox in, maybe even just to spite Alastor, pulling off the whole cancelling/artificial blackmailing thing with the king of hell around probably wouldn't work out. My best guess is that Alastor just happened to leave, maybe cause he's angry at Lucifer, Angel got called into the studio, and Lucifer went outside of pride ring, either due to actual reasons or Vox just falsified a phone call or email and Lucifer fell for it (which, he would, he spent the last 7 years making rubber ducks).

Now, Vox could be just trashing Charlie's reputation and lording it over her, but I think it's also possible that he's threatening to release that stuff unless she makes a deal with him or something. So this could go one of two ways: A. Vox manages to badly impact Charlie's reputation and the Hotel has to then work to prove themselves more and possibly make a dent in Vox's near monopoly on news. This would mean Vox get's more competition and it starts a whole cold war between the Vee's and the Hotel. B. Vox gets overconfident and plans to release the whole dictator article from the airship, which causes him to be interrupted by Alastor who came back. Remember, Vox may be the overlord of technology and electricity, but radio waves are still Alastor's domain, so he wouldn't be able to transmit the information. The plan probably isn't completely foiled since some stuff for the cancelling must be in other servers, but I imagine most if not all of the "evidence" he's gathered at the hotel is gone, making the thing less believable and catchy. It's a stalemate that is doomed to break soon

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So, I know that Idwtbamg only has it's first episode and some behind the scenes stuff out, but I have a theory about Aika an Eclipse already. Basically, the relationships charts say that these two go further back than they both realize. Now, I know I'm stating the obvious, but both Aika and Eclipse are very clearly either orphans or ran away from home. The only family Aika has is Hoshi and there's no way Eclipse has a family with both how he follows her and his evil shenanigans. Even if his parents were absent enough not to notice him disappearing to who knows where and coming back severely injured, we now know he and the girls go to the same school and it's far more likely he came there because of Aika than her happening to choose the very town he lives in. As such, he probably doesn't have a home or has only now gotten one with DeVoid. So my best guess is that they used to know each other in childhood, either as friends or rivals, but then they got separated for a long while when Hoshi took Aika away and when they met again later, they didn't recognize each other. Especially since Eclipse doesn't tell anyone his real name is Elio. As to what separated them, their families could have died at the same time in some big accident, Hoshi took Aika away in the aftermath and Eclipse assumed she died as well. It could also be a case of either one of them having an abusive family they ran away from, though. Or they were in the same orphanage and got separated either due to Hoshi or the foster system, then Eclipse ran away some time later. Maybe they were even in the same foster home. Either way they probably had some sort of impact on each other, or at least some one impacted the other in some meaningful way but they never realized or cared. It will probably come up at some point in the series if it's teased so early, though it would likely be later, after the characters and their relationships are better established, for better impact. Still it would be fun if at least one of them had some street smarts and survival skills.

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Some headcanons for Heartless by ABD Illustrates:

Moira, Krome and Alastor are all related. The latter two are only ever civil with each other when around her. The rest of their family is horrible and they all cut contact with them as much as possible.

Murphy was originally Alastor's cat, but the jury has a no pets policy, so he gave him to Moira. He's also a certified therapy cat and has helped young Alchemy and now the whole MOJO crew cope with stress and/or trauma. He'll just somehow find anyone who's having a bad time and purr, cuddle, provide a presence you can talk to and soft fur to cry on. Nobody's sure how old he is since he got adopted by Alastor as a stray.

The black dragon armor is the crown jewel of Lance's hoard not only because it's well crafted or useful or he only dawns it when the fight is really serious, but because it's one item in there that's truly his. His hoard is mostly composed of stolen things, which don't necessarily fully suit him and that most people argue don't even rightfully belong to him. The armor on the other hand is way too customized with dragons and most importantly his curse mark, to not have been made specifically for him. Maybe he even helped forge it for maximum emotional attachment. He's very protective of it, to the point that someone could take a piece of it hostage to negotiate stuff with him.

The wonders all have different relationships with their curses and monstrous forms. Alastor's is making his body weak and doesn't want to show his monster arm to people, but despite the toll it takes he rationalizes it as the only way to eradicate magic. He's definitely the one with the most martyr mentality. Lorelei is very good at keeping her monstrous form under wraps despite how much she uses her curse and she's probably very passive-aggressive-smug about it. She secretly hates when she goes all siren though, since she struggles to revert back and overall hates her feathery appearance. Diana views hers as just another tool in her arsenal and knows her limits well. Lance is pretty in touch with his, since he uses it a lot and doesn't really mind the changes it causes to his body that much. There was probably an incident when he was forced to fight too intensively for too long, due to his whole 'wants to fight strong opponents' thing, which caused him to really overuse his curse and almost go full dragon. They started pairing him up with Bandy to pull him out of battle after that and it's also why he has permanently sharp teeth. Speaking of Bandy, he really likes his curse and has lots of fun with it. He's also the one most comfortable with his monster form, since he just thinks he absolutely slays the look, which he does. Dock is very thankful for his curse and thinks of it as a gift to help him cure the world of witchcraft (and maybe his friends too sometimes).

Bandy can easily learn anyone's address, bank account data and social security number, but he only ever uses it to mess with people and won't tell the rest of the jury no matter how hard Creed tries to convince him. He also has a habit of placing 'fantasy Legos' on the floor of the dorms of the Jury's HQ, though no one has been able to prove it's him.

Arthyr and Moira would get along really well and probably write letters to each after they came in contact thanks to Eira. Arthyr wants to know if his best friend is okay and Moira is the reliable source that will tell him what's going on when Eira doesn't write back for a long time because he's a mess and realized he's gay and has actually had a crush on Arthyr this whole time or something.

When River joins the gang I imagine that her interactions with the Wonders would be really interesting. Like, we know she would hate Dock because medical malpractice but the rest can be fun too. I imagine Lance not really acknowledging her at first since she can't give him a fight, but when she stars her lessons with Flint he promptly starts giving her tips, because he wants a strong opponent. Bandy would be amused and eat popcorn from a distance. River would probably give Creed like 20 tips on how to improve his health because she's just so appalled by him. Lorelei would use all her insecurities against her only to get punched in the face when River learns not to listen to her (Flint would cheer her on). Diana would be very frustrated since River's magic is messing with her bullets and aim, but also begrudgingly respectful towards her.

I feel like Lance could have issues regarding dehumanization. He'd probably often be called 'the weapon' or 'the attack dog' and his obsession with fighting could lead to him being treated as such by the high ranking Jury members, who might view the Wonders as tools in general. He probably tries not to think about any of his issues much and just focus on the thrill of the fights, but it can get to him sometimes.

Alchemy and Lorelei have a performance battle at some point. Maybe it's a competition, maybe they need to sway the crowd in their favor, maybe they need to distract her.

Coffee actually makes heartless sleepy instead of active, so he sometimes drinks it before bed. Everyone who hasn't been warned beforehand is terrified by it. Except for Alastor, he does that too.

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After seeing the chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime as well as the notes from the ARG, I want to talk about one thing I haven't really seen be talked about much: Harley Sawyer is a cautionary tale about not leaving troubled children behind. When Harley was accepted into the Young Geniuses Program, he was described as very driven and having an outstanding intellect. It's clear that science and experiments are his greatest passion, the main thing that brings him joy, and that he values progress above all else. However, he also displays some concerning qualities, mainly: - a lack of interest in forming friendships - not missing home - being serious all the time, to the point of rarely ever smiling and not caring about fun activities - being very prideful - not caring if the progress he achieves will be for the betterment of humanity

When Elliot tries to convince him, that all progress should be for the sake of helping others, Harley gets angry, stating that progress doesn't care how people feel about it. Despite this, Harley still looks up to Ludwig and seemingly views him as the only one that understands and cares about him. So what does Elliot do as the main role model to a brilliant child who shows potentially antisocial qualities and feels alone in the world?(Although we don't know how much he knew about the last part.) He evicts him from the program, telling him to make some friends and get a new perspective. Here we see, that for a person who cares so deeply about children, Ludwig sure as hell doesn't understand child psychology. Everybody knows, that when you anger a child and then tell them to do something, they aren't going to listen unless you make sure of they do. Additionally, Elliot talks about how "bouncing back from rejection and hardship through connection" was what helped him, but he totally ignores the fact that Harley doesn't understand the point of making friends and likely doesn't have any back home (or ones that he would miss anyway), and kicking him out of a prestigious program for bad behavior is sure to make it harder for him to form connections. Children can be cruel and Harley was almost bound to have been unpopular before due to his attitude, so this definitely wouldn't help. Besides, Harley's smart and was sure to have known that the program would have made it easier for him to get both a good education and a good job, being evicted however was sure to raise some eyebrows on interviews. All Ludwig did, was take Harley's dream situation away from him and crush all respect the boy had for him, leaving him bitter and resentful. My best guess for why he did this, is that he mistook Harley's intelligence and seriousness as emotional maturity, when in reality he was quite prone to anger and outbursts, leading him to completely miscalculate how he would react to his letter. It's rather obvious, that instead of giving up on Harley after he refused to change his motivation, Elliot should have stayed and guided him in a positive direction. Progress for the sake of progress isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody and that strong motivation of his could have been easily used to push him to be better. Ludwig could've taught him the value of respecting others and teamwork during scientific studies, with best results achieved thanks to different specialties, points of view and ideas cooperating. That proving that something can help humanity helps with garnering support and funding for research. That connections with others can help you during burnout, bad mental health, bad financial situations and even with becoming a better, more capable person. The Doctor we met in the fourth chapter likely could've been prevented, if Ludwig was willing to put in the effort to help Harley, when he was still young and impressionable. Of course I'm not saying that he's to blame for all the horrendous things Harley did later in life, by then he was an adult who knew better, but that this was one of his many failures which unintentionally led to a creation of a horrible cycle of violence we see all over Playtime Co. The lesson here, is that as a caretaker you can't just get rid of a child when they show signs of trouble and hope that they will magically turn out fine as an adult with just a few vague instructions. It's important to step up and be the positive influence they need in life, because it might just save others so much pain in the future.