edit: extra tangent- for my babykuna design, i have a headcanon that he used to scavenge throwaways materials (especially weapons) for blacksmith forge, since they are the only ones seeing use of his strength & at least paying him (however meager) for his labor. That’s how he learned a lot about weapons & how to use them.
The fire of the forge is similar to the one always burning within him, so he feels a certain sense of closeness to those places (Heian era is also when Japanese swords started having its current curved form, slashing attack is most associated with katana).
edit: extra tangent- for my babykuna design, i have a headcanon that he used to scavenge throwaways materials (especially weapons) for blacksmith forge, since they are the only ones seeing use of his strength & at least paying him (however meager) for his labor. That’s how he learned a lot about weapons & how to use them.
The fire of the forge is similar to the one always burning within him, so he feels a certain sense of closeness to those places (Heian era is also when Japanese swords started having its current curved form, slashing attack is most associated with katana).
if you squint enough that Oxford essay about Gojo's technique is also a beautiful sukugo analysis
Sukuna did not overpower Gojo’s technique. He asked a question that was never built to answer.
Yet, this does not diminish the brilliance of the technique. Gojo Satoru built his ultimate defence on what sounded like a simple division of space. It took four of the deepest ideas in modern mathematics, such as convergence, measure, metric geometry, and topology, to fully understand why it stood, and ultimately, why it could fall. That, in the end, is what mathematics does best. It does not just calculate, but it illuminates.
they are reinventing the "my yearning towards you alone cuts through space like a heartfelt wish" from the first principle ...
(side note: this is also why, when gege explained that gojo didn't see the slash coming because he was distracted after destroying mahoraga, thinking that sukuna no longer had any means to bypass Infinity, i believe it. it shows that gojo had truly given up on the idea that someone could have the patience and willpower to unravel the mystery of him, not knowing mr yearnatron3000 sukuna over there was built different and had been yapping about reaching him since chapter 116:
Chinese person here. If you use "white moonlight" with that sense, why is Gwynevere not qualified as a "white moonlight" because she's a brunette?
It’s a joke because Malenia/Gwynevere is actually able to be together and Gwynevere happens to be a brunette, as opposed to all other characters having fair hair (while fitting into the “white moonlight” trope).
I’m pointing out how Malenia is the only redhead fav I have that is actually able to be with the person she loves (within my delulu), coincidentally she’s the only one whose love interest doesn’t have fair hair.
Are Kenjaku and Suguru related? Like is Kenjaku, Suguru's older brother?
Btw amazing art and comic.
yeah they are related! but im not sure to make them brothers or cousins yet... i'll think of it later should i have any plot that demands a more throughout explanation.
i can say tengen is satoru's cousin in that AU tho.
is everyone going back to AC6 lately cuz yesterday i listened to Ayre, Rusty and Walter's boss themes again then cried............... what a game. thank you so much!!
I can get the self-sacrificial part but how is Marika a moonlight character....
akjdfdk "white moonlight" (白月光) is a Chinese slang term that refers to an ideal love that is unattainable and the source of one's yearning for the rest of their life.
it has nothing to do with moonlight *moonlight* 😭
i'd recommend listening to Jeff Chang's White Moonlight! it conveys the sentiment really well ("the white moonlight shines on both ends of the world. in my heart, but not by my side.")
Overseer viewing Coral as something that needs to be burned and destroyed, their symbol "prevention is better than the cure" shows them monitoring a divine tree, Walter calling Ayre "kindling for the fire", Coral explosion in C-weapon making tree-like imagery, the Branch group, the Nepenthes, Rubicon Liberation Font members have codename after each finger on a hand, O'Keeffe's emblem of Barren Flower having the same design as the Erdtree ceiling.
one thing that i find interesting is that even though we never get to interact with Marika directly, only knowing her via obscure cutscenes and other characters' dialogue... she actually displays a wide range of emotions as much as any other NPCs.
her statues depict her as having a warm, gentle smile:
the Mimic veil description points to her playful, mischievous side:
(it's a popular theory in the JP/Asian side of the fandom that it's sth from her childhood - hence the "Marika's Mischief", not "Queen Marika's", and she used it to escape the grisly fate befalling her family.
additionally, its equivalence in Dark Souls is also something described as "the mischief of a young girl who sought relief from the solitude of the woods at dusk", aka Princess Dusk who hails from "Oolacile, land of ancient golden sorceries", but i digress)
her portrait, the story trailer's "Queen Marika was driven to the brink" and Gideon's dialogue after the player defeated Malenia pointed out her sorrow:
(back when i first played the base game, this is the portrait that drove my eyes most in Roundtable Hold. i kept gazing at her - the Queen with permanently lowered eyes, and thought "there is a girl in there")
The bat lady's song, Messmer's entire Crusade, all those conflicts to establish the Erdtree, shows her anger, and the cruelty she's capable of:
Then there's Shaman's village, the clinic underneath Shadow Keep, the golden braid, the Minor Erdtree, the sealing of Death - that points to grief, trauma, survivor guilt, kindness, and the ruinous drive for revenge that results in the above path down hell:
(there's also a theory for the Crusade's headless statue being a reminder for the Hornsent of what they put Marika's mother through, but it's not concrete canon so here is the link if you want to check it out)
The fact that all of Erdtree's incantations are heal and protection spells (with only one exception of Wrath of Gold spell which was found after the Elden Ring was shattered), the Capitol's Perfumers originally being blessed healers, and that all Erdtree blessings come in the shape of tears give the picture of Marika's gentle wish at the beginning: to heal everything and everyone.
(and to me personally, there's a kind of vulnerability and honesty in showing your tears to the world and let it be your power to heal at the same time.)
the eye she blessed Messmer with (i do think the Eng translation at some part lost the sentiment of the JP text - that the eye is always referred to as a blessing)
the blessing flask that - unlike its Dark Souls equivalent (which ranges from 6-13 flasks), only have 4 available to us player, heal all ailments and status effect, and specified as sth made for Messmer.
the Marika's soreseal in the Haligtree + the waterfall near Godwyn's final resting place
the Regal Omen Bairn (that was fashioned after the Jizo statue - sth made by grieving parents wishing for protection for their deceased child in the afterlife)
the blessing, gifts, equipment that Messmer and Godwyn's personal knights all get
the fact that Marika's bedchamber and the Impaler's Catacomb (which is the only catacomb in the base game to have the spike trap mechanic used in catacombs in the DLC) remain the proof of Messmer's existence in the base game
how Godwyn's ending is the only ending where the mending rune is placed on the position of Marika's womb (the lower arc or the Elden Ring - also referred to as the basin in which its blessings pool)
that's a whole barrage of motherhood. the love, the fear, the postpartum depression, the guilt and anxiety, (the occasional scheming for revenge with her son). and despite how flawed and tragic that love ends up being for all of them, it is there.
(there's a whole subplot about how Messmer is the only demigod to be called ugly in-game (Hornsent npc dialogue) while Boc's questline is about how his mother being the only one to always assure him he's beautiful, despite everyone else calling him ugly. and how each NPCs questline does reflect a wider theme seen in Marika and her children. but again, i digress)
every time i think of her, Marika is a constantly shifting kaleidoscope, holding everything from within (the beauty and the malign, light and dark, birth and death, she's warm and gentle, she's cruel and unjust, she's strong and kind, she's weak and resentful, she's sweet and she's bitterness made flesh)... and i could only stand there and admire it all.
While I did follow you for the other ship (well, in general, I find your art very gorgeous and inspiring), your Sukugo art definitely drew me in even further into the ship. At the moment, I was already interested, but then I saw your art and it was like "yep, I like it here, I'm staying". Like, I'm staying for the Sukugo (and your Modulo art has me, too).
I've only written two Sukugo fics so far, just posted my second one back in April (their relationship is kind of the reason for another relationship which isn't romantic, but it's family, spawned from a silly observation I made watching the latest season) and for the Sukugo scenes I would get stuck since I'm still not used to writing them. But whenever I did get stuck, I just scrolled through and look at your art and the flow would return.
I rambled enough, sorry about that! I just wanted to thank you!! You really motivated me.
dw about rambling, i really appreciate it! always good to know my art could motivate others ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
and if it could help contributing to more sukugo fics, the better! im always grateful for all others contributing to the ship, we r not too big but i feel like it's pretty cozy and nice here !
I think it's really nice that you have such a keen eye on storytelling. I wish I too have the ability to look super deep into things, because sometimes the unspoken things and subtleties is what makes a story more... alive, you know?
thank you for such kind words!
i get what you mean, i always feel like my third eye got opened when i deep dive into a particular piece of lore. i love taking notes of small details and wondering about how they fit into grand scheme of things, it also helps with visualizing stuffs for my drawings and digging into fromsoft's (and i'd say gege's too) unique way of storytelling.
im really happy to be able to share what i learn and it makes sense to other ppl! i feel like i've become better at elaborating myself in recent years and it helps me reach a kind of clarity in my art too.
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