man i love eldritch, incomprehensible elation!sampo.
like what if Something became Someone. what if Laughter made for Themself a form, sheared of blunt edges and sanded down palatably, burnt out and flickering after millennia of restless existence; what if shedding mortal form was a distortion, an expansion, a kind of death. what if sampo is scared of changing back. what if Aha doesn’t care. what would it feel like to have a You within you that wasn’t you; a Something that was part of you, constantly lurking beneath the surface like a mind-warping kaleidoscopic drug.
do you think he has nightmares about What he is? do you think he has nightmares about losing the restraint on his body, even by one bit, and having Elation flood his veins so horribly it destroys everything he loves? do you think it reminds him of Akivili? does he blame himself, does he blame Aha? does the past haunt him like it’s his own, or does he view it from beyond a funhouse mirror, the Form stretched in some cruel imitation of himself, a Self he never wants to be again? do you think he has gotten too used to being “human,” that he lives in constant fear of the bright, raucous side of his brain? of returning, inevitably, to a different Self?
do you think, sometimes, a Laugh comes out a little too loud, or he Smiles a little too wide, and the mask cracks just enough he can see the fear and confusion in other people’s faces? do you think he knows that, if Aha can’t even understand Themself, if he can’t even understand what They have become, then how could anyone else? why would anyone not look at him in fear? where does one stop; where does the Other begin? sampo as a dead god, Aha as an absent Aeon, the divine throne of Elation a vacant Joke while a Something-Someone wanders the universe, condensed, tired, grieving. if the Laughter ceased to Laugh, would They cease to exist? or would They simply fold into Themself, into a human-sized blip on the cosmic radar, and try to live Their dwindling days in peace? food for thought :)
alternatively, i also love a good, grounded, painfully human elation!sampo.
like, the idea of a humble God, a vast Aeon condensing Their form into love for humanity, into a plea for human dignity. what if an all-powerful Being was not enough to change Fate, Their Laughter not enough to ease suffering, and so They descended like jesus on high, a patron of the weak, the poor, the unremarkable. what if an Aeon was painfully human? what if an Aeon so loved Their people They could not bear to part from them, not bear to exist wildly in the ether, and so mingled with the populace, told Jokes to dying soldiers, found somewhere remote to flourish.
what if an Aeon, at Their core, was naïve and trusting and grieving, and filled with so much heartbreak that They cast Their higher self aside to pursue a smaller, humbler existence. what if the high of Elation grew stale, dull, decomposing in infinity? what if humanity was alluring, fresh, new? what if the meaning of Laughter was not just personal, but a Person?
not that many other Aeons would understand, i’m sure. Aha was always the strange one, the overbearing one, the annoying one. always so concerned with ants in a row, giving them names, listening to their jokes. not something the far-reaching Destruction of Nanook would consider, not something the dissociation of Nihility would care for. but Laughter? Elation? They always cared for the unremarkable, the shining diamonds hidden beneath soil, those glimmers of humor bathed in sorrow. the granular specificity of the universe; the businessman telling a joke at a meeting, the two strangers wooing each other at a bus station, the express crew members complaining about missing leftovers. it was inevitable, really. Akivili tethered Them to humanity, taught Them to enjoy the mortality of it all, but Akivili is gone. all that is left is grief, and wandering, and somehow, inconceivably, the last remnant of love. the trailblazer, and the future, and some crackpot shot at Fate.
and so, sampo is. he watches natasha scold hook for blowing up a dumpster, watches serval light up after completing a project, watches gepard’s frustration as he runs and runs and never catches up, and somewhere, deep, deep within himself, he begins to feel a spark. he feels his old Self, himself, and realizes it was always this: tired eyes crinkling into a smile, watching two guards haggle over a patrol schedule.
You understand Aha and that they’re not just a silly little guy! They painted the whole of Planarcadia and everything in it, they are the Aeon quoted to be “the closest to humanity”!!!
They love people, they how messy people are, how chaotic they are, how they laugh, cry, destroy and create!
So something struck me on my replay of HSR, the dream bubble. Now I’ve always thought the dream about Sampo being the Garbage King meant something and that we just didn’t get to see the end of it before we were cut off
As to me this dream bubble does belong to the real Sampo
Now originally I thought the reason why everyone in the dream were replaced with trash cans was because of Sparkles interference, that her entering the dream while pretending to be Sampo messed up the dream because she doesn’t know the people or what they look like so they were replaced with trash cans
HOWEVER
I no longer think this is the case, now think back to the memory bubble between Sampo and Giovanni. How the Trailblazer commented that it felt like it had been left on purpose, I personally believe Sampo left it behind for us as he wanted to tell us his identity as a Masked Fool as well as warn us about Sparkle without directly telling us. Because I believe he CANT
He can’t tell us anything about himself DIRECTLY so Sampo manipulated the memoria to make a memory bubble to inform us on things he cannot say
This ties back to the dream bubble because I think Sampo purposely encrypted the dream. We know he doesn’t like Sparkle and definitely doesn’t want her involved with Belobog in any way so it would make sense that he would hide the names and faces of those he cares for so that she can’t mimic them or mimic him better
Now the question is, why leave the dream bubble behind at all? Why go through the trouble of encrypting it?
Because he wanted US the Trailblazer to find it
What did Sampo replace everyone in the dream with?
Garbage cans!
What was Sampo’s title in the dream?
The Garbage King!
What is the Trailblazer obsessed with?
GARBAGE!
Sampo encrypted the dream with the one thing the Trailblazer cares about… to make sure we would pay attention. Because he wanted us to know something and not have it intercepted by Sparkle… which sadly happened anyways but we still got to see the dream
So what does the dream mean???
I don’t know
But we can theorise, my theory is that Sampo was trying to warn us of what’s to come on Belobog and…. What might happen to him
The disaster that is encroaching on Belobog and Sampo’s starring role in it, it’s all a warning
Playing HSR on my second account and getting all Sampo’s messages again is very interesting especially these ones (apologies for the quality)
They’re kinda concerning and we’re not able to comfort him but even if we did he would’ve laughed it off like he does anyways no matter what option you choose
I do wonder what is truth and what is lies when it comes to Sampo, like is this how he really feels? Or is he just trying to get our attention even if all he gets is negative attention?
I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is actually just Sampo, due to the playing card motif and the earrings having hearts on them. Since those are specific to Sampo’s design and motifs unlike Sparkle
Gestures at Sampo and his obsession with the Trailblazer, his romance and death motifs and him doing silly things to get their attention just like Aha blowing up the Express….
I think there’s something here, I just can’t prove it yet
Is it bad I want Sampo’s 5 star to be Jester theamed?
Like all the fanart has him dressed all classy and formal but like thats not Sampo
Sampo is the guy who likes to “make a fool out of himself”, that treats the customer as “king”
He’s got a lot of motifs going on but his jester side is what’s drawing me right now
He’s got:
- Snake theme (untrustworthy, lies)
- Bone theme (Nihility, death)
- Ringmaster theme (his coat tails and the chibi figure of him)
Then we have this Jester theme from his dialogue and behaviour, I know people would want Sampo’s 5 star to look “cool” or “edgy” but it being kinda goofy would fit him so much more
All the 4 star to 5 star characters have kept their colour scheme and some of the motifs of their design, so we at least have an idea from Sampo’s base design what his new look will be like
I think he will keep all the themes I pointed out BUT will have a jester/clown styled outfit, one with a bit of class but at the end of the day…. Sampo is a fool
Love your L so much. He is such a good character to load up on despair. His nihilism spiral is something to witness. Loved the comic with Corbeau. And well, all of them. Keep up the good work.
I'm glad he asked for help though, he's got 3000 years to go and shouldn't go it alone.
However, I wondered since Zygrade is basically his guiding light/ saviour/ path to atone, and as the player is given it at the end of the game, how would your L react to no longer having it by his side?
guide dog
haha this wasn't a very good response to your ask, about his reaction (not quite shown, but he's so SAD about it). Instead this comic covers the sheer aftermath of LLysandre figuring out what to do with his life. I like the thought of Zygarde being returned.. and the new task given by a new friend of his. Or something like that lol.
romaincrisis
gummygunk
andulkaphoto
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
