do it for her

A compilation for my lore rants.

[littlesailorinthesun]

Everything about Nikki's Surname, "Su"

Hi all, this is a repost from reddit. As not everyone frequents r/NikkiUP2U and the subreddit is not currently accepting new posts, I wanted to bring it here.

I noticed not a lot of people know about Nikki's surname/family name, Su 苏, and even fewer know its origins and the full story behind it. I wanted to make a comment about it but quickly realized I had way too much to say about it so instead I'll post about it here. I learned a lot about this while studying "Nikki UP2U: A dressing story", the first game (aka "Nikki 1").

How do we know her name? The primary source used as proof of her full name is the default hair from the first game, in the Chinese language version only.

Thanks to the efforts of the Chinese players to preserve this information, I am happy that her name itself is still semi-common knowledge even among newcomers to the series.

How serious were they about her surname, or was this just a random easter egg? Actually, they were very serious and intentional about her name. This isn't the only time in the story it's used: in "Nikki in Wonderland", Momo jokingly refers to plays Nikki might act out, calling them "A Lazy Day by Nikki" and "Nikki Burning the Cake". In Chinese he uses her full name Su Nuannuan 苏暖暖. Given that you have to play over 50 stages of Nikki 1 to get to this point, it's no wonder nobody brings it up.

But more relevantly, Su Nuannuan is her internal name too. They didn't write Nuannuan, they used her full name every time she spoke. Since names aren't displayed while the characters speak in Nikki 1, this was also included in the internal files of the English version of the game.

Is Nikki really named after Suzhou? And speaking of which, how do we know her hometown is Suzhou? Guess what, it's also in the Chinese version of Nikki 1. The English script has her talking about and going to all sorts of random places, like Yokohama, Kyoto, and Chinatown. In the Chinese text, these are actually about Tongli, Suzhou, and Zhouzhuang respectively, all in or around Suzhou. So, it's pretty clear that she lives in Suzhou in Nikki 1. And yes, the Su 苏 in her name is the same Su in Suzhou 苏州 (more on that below).

To add additional context to this, though Paper Games was not founded in Suzhou until August 2013, after Nikki 1 had already been released for over 6 months, I believe Suzhou was chosen for Nikki's hometown because it is the hometown of Yao Runhao, the original creator of Nikki and current CEO. And in my opinion, Su was also a nod to this.

Has her surname ever been mentioned since? As far as I know, based on searching the Chinese wikis for the other games in the series (2, 3, 4, 5), her surname hasn't been mentioned in the game itself since (although some of the editors have made sure to mention it somewhere on her character page).

Some promotional graphics for Shining Nikki say "Nikki S" which is very interesting to me! It wouldn't surprise me if there exist other easter eggs to her full name that have been mentioned on social media across the years. If anyone knows of any, I would love to know about them too!

Below is the Nikki S x Urban Revivo graphic (source). Bunny Ace also has the "Nikki S" signature; I'd imagine it's not the only image with it lol. And even more interestingly, the official moderation of the official r/Shining_Nikki subreddit is literally u/Nikki_Su which I am very charmed by. Though I'm not sure exactly whose idea that was (like did Paper create this??), it definitely seems to be official on some level.

What does Su mean? Disclaimer: I am not Chinese, but I wanted to look this up because I thought it might be interesting. There are actually three traditional Chinese characters that have become the simplified character "苏". One of them, 蘇, is used for surnames and Suzhou. Another one, 甦, is used to mean "revive/rescuscitate/regain consciousness", which is a commonly listed meaning of her name. According to wiktionary, the second traditional character's origin is as a variant of the first. So, maybe it's not wrong to say her name has that meaning, but I believe this is somewhat of an oversimplification based on only the simplified character. After all, Su 蘇 has lots of meanings that have nothing to do with "revival", and probably it's mostly intended to be a reference to Suzhou. But I don't want to say either way, since I am not Chinese, just wanted to look up the character meanings.

Thanks for reading, and any additional info or corrections are greatly appreciated!

[littlesailorinthesun]

idk if anyone else in the wild actually likes reid mercury but he's one of the few LN characters I still like so I made this for my good friend baek's bday the other day, it can go here too I suppose

[littlesailorinthesun]

creating the nikki up2u wiki

Hello all! As I mentioned in my last post, I recently helped create the Nikki UP2U: A dressing story wiki. This is a wiki solely devoted to the first game in the Nikki series, aka "Nikki 1."

You may or may not know this, but I'm the loser who wrote a bunch of the timelines, character histories, and transcripts on the Love Nikki Wiki back in the day, and I'm still an admin there performing technical work and helping with updates. Wiki editing is one of my greatest passions. I have gotten to know the most amazing people and learned so many skills through my editing journey. If for some reason you're interested in reading about what it was like to create this wiki, well, you'll find it here...

My relationship with Nikki 1

I have always been obsessed with the games that came before LN. Nikki 1 is no exception. I first learned about it when my friend Kyara was originally researching the games in order to create pages on the LN wiki about them in early 2019. Like many people, I really didn't know that there were previous games in the series, and it was a very fresh and interesting journey to read his discoveries as he played through the game and typed up the transcript. Playing DOTA, cursing, spending time with her sister... it was like a different world.

Later, another friend and I attempted to catalogue all the item descriptions of Nikki 1 by playing through the game and unlocking each item, most of which were in the store for gold... however, this is a tedious process. You can't just grind stages for gold, you have to dress up again each time, and you get less gold after you've already S-ranked a stage, and we lost interest before completing it. I also noticed that the item descriptions were localized and translated far worse than the stages were, and that led to the decision to provide "revised" versions for "easy reading." Due to how incomprehensible some of them were, I felt at the time that this was the only way to share the lore.

For a long time, that was it. We knew most of the game's lore, and I was fine with that, especially because I took a long hiatus from anything Nikki-related. When I heard that they had taken the apk off the app stores, I felt a pang of sadness, though people stated that they were still able to play their downloaded versions - a privilege future Nikki games won't have. I focused most of my efforts into learning more about Nikki 2 instead, especially because the editors over at the Chinese Nikki 2 wiki did an amazing job at documenting the game in the past few years.

Around New Years, I was joking with my friend Valaerys, who edits the Infinity Nikki Wiki, about starting a Nikki 1 wiki. I was bored enough to start poking into the game and was fascinated by the data (this feels like a wiki editor thing to say). Although I did unironically have a desire to create a Nikki 1 wiki, there were some hurdles in my way. But before I talk about those, I have to make a detour.

I am so done with Fandom

I know, you know, we all know... but I do have a slightly different perspective than most people hear. It might surprise you, but Fandom can be a pretty decent place to edit. It's like working at a big company, you're going to have a way harder time raising issues, much less getting things changed at a higher level, but maybe you'll have way better perks, a bigger community, a help desk, whatever. If you're on your own, you're on your own, for better or for worse. 

However, what they have done from a higher up level is truly atrocious. The lies and lack of responsibility and communication about two things really irk me. One is the linking situation: you can no longer link to wiki.gg across the entire platform, which was done using a lie as a justification, and they said this was only a short-term solution. No surprise to hear that the short-term solution of preventing related wikis from linking to each other has been in place for over two years.

The other is the Generative AI Internationalization experiment, which I won't go into detail about here, as this is pretty well documented online. Obviously, using GenAI to write articles is completely antithetical to the point of wiki editing. Those two incidents are when I really lost all my patience for this platform and knew I would never make a new wiki there again.

My original hope was to self-host, but that costs a lot of money, and I knew I would not really be interested enough to devote that much money long term to keeping the archive up. Thus, I opted for a middle ground, which was to host the wiki on Miraheze but use a custom URL (which also costs money, just not as much). Miraheze isn't the most stable platform, although I think it's not too bad nowadays, and it's not that important to have a very stable host for a completely dead game (it would be different if I were choosing, for example, where to put the Nikki 6 wiki). By using a wiki farm like Miraheze, it takes a lot of technical work of keeping up with MediaWiki updates and security vulnerabilities out of your hands, and makes installing extensions quick and easy. Most importantly, by using my own URL (which Miraheze allows), I can change hosts and keep search rankings intact if something were to happen with the original host (along with keeping links to the site across the internet live and functional). 

Worth noting that shortly after I originally wrote this section, even more questionable stuff went down at Fandom, which maybe I'll go into more detail in another post about soon...

Technical Process

Val and I are both experienced editors, her on the Nikki 5 wiki and myself on the Nikki 3, along with experience on other gacha space wikis. Not only that, but ever since the Infinity Nikki patch 1.5 fiasco, we had gotten to talking a lot about the Nikkiverse and editing and learning from each other. So, it felt like we were pretty much on the same page when it came to the process of making the site. Although we don't have equal technical backgrounds (she knows Python better than me, and I know more CSS), it was a scenario where we could sort of cover each others' relative weaknesses naturally. I think we took a look at the data and thought "yeah, we could be done with this in a week" which granted sounds ambitious but we weren't really wrong, at least when it came to the core stuff in the game (stages and clothing).

The stumbling blocks often came from not being used to not being on Fandom. First, the program we were used to using for batch uploading files, Wiki-Up, didn't let us log into our Miraheze accounts. Second, our pywikibot family configuration settings kept throwing errors once I had the custom URL up and had our miraheze URL redirect to the custom one, and that was tricky to figure out. I will stop here to clarify that a bot typically refers to a secondary account used to make automated edits, rather than manual ones, and pywikibot (PWB) is specifically a Python-based program designed for use in MediaWiki. If you have a bit of experience with wikis/Wikipedia, you may have even heard of AutoWikiBrowser, the most popular bot software. However, AutoWikiBrowser really specializes in find-and-replace, while programs written in Python for PWB can really do anything python is capable of. 

Item Names

If you've ever played Nikki 1, you might have noticed the biggest issue with making a wiki for it, and possibly the reason nobody had already done it. That's right... none of the items actually have names. 

Though they do have clothing descriptions, and other parts of the game like achievements and stages have names, items don't have names. Knowing that they would take up the vast majority of the wiki's pages, we had to decide how to name them. Our options were:

Using internal IDs. While this is the easiest, most consistent, and most technically correct way to label items, it's not something that users can look up for themselves. You'd never see these IDs while playing the game. 

Making up our own names, clearly marking them as unofficial. While it could have practical benefits, this is a very unwikilike thing to do and goes even beyond our penchant for "making up" hidden suit names on the LN Wiki.

Shop order. What I did on my spreadsheet was to use a coordinate system based on the shop, and I would have a letter denoting the type of item, a number for the shop page, and a row and column coordinate to mark where it was on that shop page. For example, T2C1 could mean cell C1 on page 2 of the tops section of the store. We could also just assign our own ids based on the shop order. The drawback of this is that the shop is in different orders on different versions of the app (though we only used the English android app to create this wiki). This option was never in serious consideration because it would require a lot of renaming work and cross-checking. 

Ultimately, in order to have more descriptive URLs and to make our jobs easier, we decided to use the item type (for example, Hairstyles) along with the item ID (such as 1029). This was in part inspired by Nikki's Info's url layout. If we had had more information about items, maybe we could have included that in the URL too, but this game does not even have attributes.

Each item id is a 4-digit number with the first digit corresponding to the type. So 1000s is hair, 2000s is dresses, and 8000s is accessories. It's like the Dewey Decimal system for Nikki's closet. You may also notice it jump forward to the next hundred from time to time; I believe these jumps corresponded with game updates. 

Scoring

After we had the main pages and item images up, I attempted to understand the scoring. If you've played Infinity, Shining, or Love Nikki, you'll know that items have attributes, and a styling battle will call for you to find clothing matching its criteria. Nikki 1 is not like this. It has a hundred and one stages, and across those stages... the score for each item is hard-coded into the stage data. That's right. There's just a file specifying what every single item should score for each stage. Conveniently, they were divided into.... A, B, C, and F. It seems fine, until you remember that the scores available in Nikki 1 are S, A, B, and F. You can't earn a C in a stage.

Now you might be thinking, obviously, they just labeled it wrong in the file. Obviously, A is actually S, and C is actually B, and so on. That would be great except it's not really true. If you wear two items ranked A, you will get an A - not an S. If you wear three items ranked A, however, it's an S. Frustratingly, I didn't really have access to any scoring logic the game might use, so it was just figured out through manual testing. There was definitely some sort of logic, but it wasn't as simple as "give you the score of the best/worst item you used" - you could wear only an A-rank item and an F-rank item and get a B. The fact that the items' scoring data was assigned to letters, with no numbers in sight, meant I couldn't really develop some sort of threshold that must be passed, or averaging formula, or anything of the sort. 

After testing to make sure the data in the file was actually reflecting how the styling battles in game were judged, we decided we would refer to the internal groups A, B, C, and F as "Best", "Good", "Okay", and "Worst." It gives readers the correct impression without making any promises as to what they might score.

To my amusement, some items are actually really bad despite being paid content. Nikki's default hairstyle is one of the best items in the game despite being available by default, and you can wear it for top scores in most stages. Meanwhile, the reindeer antlers included in a $1.99 pack are actively bad in like 95% of the game. In a game with attributes, an item can never truly be "bad" in the way it is in Nikki 1. Every item would have attributes too, and you could just find a stage with attributes matching that "bad" item, and wear it there. It might not be the best thing to wear, but it probably wouldn't actively hurt your score. In Nikki 3, for example, even if you wear an item with mismatching attributes, it won't bring your score down - it's more about opportunity cost. But if an item in Nikki 1 is bad, it will actively hurt your score to wear it in almost every single stage, and you probably wouldn't even think to wear them when you got to the small number of stages where it's okay. I also found it funny that the Mickey Mouse ears that I doubt were part of any official collab are bad. Like why would you even include those and then not make it worth it to wear them?

Items you just can't get

The very last thing I had to do to consider the wiki "complete" was to finish playing through the game and completing all the achievements (diary) so that I could find the method of obtainment for all the items that weren't available for gold. Unfortunately, this ended up being harder than I hoped it'd be.

Confusingly, a lot of items had internal data saying stuff like "72A", "7S", etc. which to me implied that you would get it for 72 A-ranks and so on. What helped with this conclusion is the descriptions of some items with similar internal data like certain makeups saying that you'd get them for completing 20, 30, etc. tasks, the fact that completing a stage gave a pop-up that implied you could get up to three rewards, but I only ever got one (gold) while you could get up to two other rewards from these. This matched with how there were never any more than two items with sources like "72A".

Like I mentioned, I played this game when it was still online, and I had vague memories of getting clothes in those "slots" upon finishing stages. But I had no proof, so I went hunting for more YouTube and Bilibili videos of people wearing those items or having them in their inventory... and I couldn't find any. So, I had no evidence these items are actually available.

Even more interestingly, I also visited forums from circa 2014 of people playing this game. What a fun find... anyways, there were multiple posts of people trying to obtain the achievements "221 B Baker Street" and "King's favorite daughter" which require collecting certain CLOTHES, and people reported buying everything and still not being able to get them. Nobody could give a straight answer on what was needed, which is understandable. You have to check after every purchase to see whether it bumped up your counter for the achievements. 

Faced with no other choice, I finally began modifying my game data in order to add items to my inventory in order to see which ones would increase the counter. And indeed, it ended up being some of those items which I couldn't get. For 221 B Baker Street, it was the monocle, and for King's favorite daughter, it was the tiara. In turn these unlocked MORE items... also which I've never seen anyone wearing. So, that potential bug prevented anyone from getting these specific items and completing these specific achievements.

There's truly no way to replicate or test how the game would have acted when the servers were up. But this was my best guess... and how I had to start modifying my clothes data in order to actually figure this part out.

The little things

Though I'd already read the Nikki 1 script and most of the item descriptions, this was the first time I've looked at either the internal data or the Chinese text for either, or really looked at any promotional material surrounding the game. This is where I will provide a list of various translation oddities and other quirks I'm sure you probably never heard before. (Some are on the wiki now and some aren't)

In Stage 4 of the game, Nikki mentions a character called "Frosty" who she played Three Kingdoms (a Chinese strategy card game). Frosty's Chinese name is 冷冷 or "cold cold", the exact opposite of Nikki. I find it interesting that a character was conceived who was, I suppose, the polar opposite of Nikki in some way. If I had to guess, I would say probably this is Nikki's "best friend" who was also mentioned in a makeup item (not by name). I would love them to explore the concept of a character who is deliberately the opposite of Nikki in the future (sorry if they already did and I don't know about it).

Perhaps related to the above, the Google Play and Apple App Store descriptions of the game repeatedly refer to Nikki as "Toasty." You know, "warm warm"? Of course she should be called Toasty. What else would we call her? Thankfully this name did not make it into the game.

One achievement in English is called "Jackie's Nightmare" for earning a certain number of F-ranks. Who is Jackie? Momo. Jackie is 大喵. I should have guessed this since the same achievement is also called Momo's Nightmare in N3.

Nina is named in the English item descriptions, but not the Chinese ones. I would say perhaps this is related to the development timeline of the 2nd game interfering with the English translation of the 1st one in some way, but not sure. The only thing I can say definitively is that they decided to give her a name where it wasn't there before, and she continued to have that name in Hello Nikki (English). 

Nikki's maternal grandmother is mentioned in an item description (required the Chinese text to know). We already knew about her paternal grandmother in that duck Shining Nikki story but now we have another grandparent.

Nikki is internally named Su Nuannuan in all of the internal stage data. It's not just that one item description, they fully committed to the name.

Polo has a different sprite design displayed at the bottom of the screen in the Japanese iOS version of the game. In most versions he has dark hair and a mask, but in this one he looks much more like how he does in Nikki 2. I guess it's possible that this version is a redesign, but given that he has expression data in all versions of the game, I'm not sure. Maybe it's a placeholder design that was implemented by mistake? Anyways, when we were first playing and studying the game, we had no idea there was such a big difference between versions because the Japanese version is so poorly documented.

Similarly, Nikki's expression sprites are broken, in that she only has one expression showing despite having expression data internally. This was something I noticed while matching up other expression sprites with their data. However, she does have expressions from what I've seen on Japanese iOS version.

The Chinese version of the game actually has completely different prices, rounded to the nearest 100 coins, and they even have the ¥ symbol included... I have no idea why these would be changed between languages.

I also spent some time researching the development of the game since I felt it was significant. After all, this was the start of Paper/Infold and Nikki. I wanted to know exactly who invented Nikki and Momo for sure.

The game was created by a grad student (Infold's current CEO) who found three random people from some forum to help him, and they created the entire game without ever meeting in person.

Paper Games was founded afterwards and they almost ran out of money while creating Nikki 2 because they forgot to set aside budget for marketing the game.

They used some Nikki 2 assets to advertise Nikki 1 (at least in English) in the later years, such as Momo's Nikki 2 sprite.

Why did I do this? What's the point?

(Warning: this section will be pretty rambly)

I feel like I've done it. All I wanted to do was read all the hidden text and answer all my burning questions. But it just makes me even more frustrated about the states of the other games. 

Nikki 2 has a comprehensive wiki, but item descriptions remain embedded in individual images - not in plain text - so it can't be searched nor translated without significant effort. I'm also not sure if events have any sort of accompanying story, and if so, whether that was faithfully recorded or not. Nikki 4's own English wiki seems like an individual effort, and though it's still regularly edited, it's nowhere near to being comprehensive on the lore side of things, even just speaking about transcripts. Conquering Nikki 1 is one thing but why does it matter when there's so much more interesting stuff that's hidden?

When I left behind the bulk of my responsibilities at the Nikki 3 wiki over five years ago, I had to accept with it that it would mean some story content would no longer get transcribed, especially event-limited stuff. Transcribing meant hours squinting at a small screen as I replicated every line faithfully. For long events it would take days. I couldn't ask anyone in particular to take on this job I didn't have the mental strength to continue doing. There was even a part of me that wanted the story to die and go forgotten because of how angry I was at them for constantly messing up the translations and order. For killing our community's chance at engaging with the story without fifty layers of confusion and telephone lore. I don't really know how I feel now. Maybe just more self-serving? I don't do things primarily for "the community" or for "the game" anymore. I just edit wikis for my mental health because I find it soothing and stimulating (lore editing for LN is not soothing).

At the same time, I feel like this weird protectiveness over the concept of wikis. We are literally entering a horrifying stage of the internet where AI is increasingly used for summaries and research. The very power we have through our words will be drowned out by slop made by an unthinking, unfeeling program who can't truly understand what it's saying. The misinformation age is starting. Meanwhile, communities increasingly flock to private communities like discord servers and unindexable parts of the internet to document their fandoms' histories. How many times have I looked to see if a community has a wiki, only to eventually just find a spreadsheet pinned in a discord server and a staunch refusal to do anything with it? The end result of this is that the information will reach maybe 1% of the people who are looking for it and will be effectively wiped off the face of the internet once the server gets nuked, hacked, invites die, etc.

If we want to "combat" AI, we have to make finding human-created resources as easy as finding AI ones. On one hand, you could say that by locking down our resources in places where AI can't scrape them, you can effectively keep that information away from AI. But this is not a real solution. Let's take a hypothetical game where people talk about it on Reddit but most of the information about it is in a spreadsheet. The AI is still going to read what people say on Reddit and piece together some information, but not a comprehensive view. Your average person googling questions about the game might read the AI overview and say, "well this sucks, but I guess I kind of got my answer." They might scroll down and read the Reddit threads too but the AI will probably be better at giving them a summary. (I know AI has its issues now, but most likely it will get better, though it'll never be perfect.) And that might be the end of their search because that's "good enough."

But there are ways to deshittify the internet! Make your own websites! Collaborate with other people! Learn about SEO! You can do it! That's my spiel. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the wiki if that sort of thing interests you, and thanks for reading this far!

[littlesailorinthesun]

https://nikki1.wiki/

hi all! I wanted to announce that the first ever Nikki game now has a wiki, hosted on Miraheze! ever since it was taken off the app stores, it made me sad that most people will never be able to play this game. about a month ago, my friend valaerys (a moderator at the Infinity Nikki wiki) and I (an admin at the Love Nikki wiki) took a look at the game and decided it would be a fun side project. so, our archival project began and now you can learn all about the game even past its EOS, even the things you never knew you wanted to know.

featuring all item descriptions (both chinese and english, since the english translation is extremely questionable at times), all scoring info, and all stages! this wiki is not 100% complete, as I still have a few minor things to add and character details to flesh out, but I wanted to put it out in the world for any feedback. also, this wiki is 100% focused on the first game only, SO, don't expect to see any denial that Momo is a cat, stuff about Miraland, or any Giftys. okay, I lied, there's one Gifty.

you CAN still play this game, if you have the apk, or if you already have it installed. the wiki doesn't host the apk, but if you do want to play, I hope it can help you in your journey!

note that Google has not really done a good job at indexing our pages yet, but I am hoping that posting about it (and linking to it from other sites) will help :) also, if you happen to notice anything wrong or missing, feel free to edit or just let me know! most of the spelling/grammar mistakes are on the localizers end, but right now we're missing most info about the Japanese version and would always appreciate more info about the game's development.

[littlesailorinthesun]

Wanted to post more random stuff on my blog. I never posted these publicly back in the day because of the taboo around how the edits are created, but I no longer live in fear. Please enjoy my four Nikbo edits (because they are my favorite ship).

Wedding (2020/03/08)

Bicycle (2020/03/29)

Hairstyling (2020/04/02)

High school AU (2020/05/24)

[littlesailorinthesun]

nidhogg refantazio

I recently finished my playthrough of Metaphor: ReFantazio (with a friend) and though it's clear Metaphor has been inspired by a variety of other stories and media and tropes, my biggest takeaway was that Louis, as a villain, felt like Nidhogg if Nidhogg had been like, done right.

I know this is a Love Nikki blog, so I will do my best to explain requisite knowledge for Metaphor, but that also means I will touch on major spoilers for Metaphor. If you like Nidhogg and want to experience a story with a similarly compelling villain character, or you were already interested in playing, maybe you'd want to skip this post, give the game a try (or watch a walkthrough on YouTube), and come back later. If you still really want to read this post NOW but you also want to play Metaphor later, you can read a version with no major spoilers here (although it does touch on mid-game events which are unmarked). 

Also sorry if it's confusing, I know there is a character called Louie in Love Nikki, that's mostly not who this post is about though. 

Side note, I haven't really played Love Nikki in 4 years, so my in-depth knowledge of the story is mostly based on how it was 4 years ago. If that means I'm spreading outdated info, sorry about that. I know Nanari was possessed, I know that you-know-who died, I know a lot of the major developments, but I did not read through 4 years of lore to make this post, sorry.

who is louis guiabern?

He is the main, though not only, antagonist of Metaphor. After killing the current king, a man with no living heirs, a popularity contest breaks out among the people of Euchronia to see who is most worthy to become the next leader, spurred on by the late king's magic. As a man with a military background and a member of the most powerful race, the clemars, the charismatic Louis quickly became a frontrunner, positing himself as a populist who values strength and merit over tribal divisions and religion. It should be noted that although Euchronia is home to a number of different races and religions, it is a theocracy, and the state religion is Sanctism. The eldans and mustari do not ascribe to Sanctism and thus are the most looked-down upon tribes.

Opposing him is the protagonist, Will, an elda boy on a secret mission. His childhood friend is the "late" prince, who is secretly alive, but cursed. Will and his allies believe that Louis is the one who cursed the prince, and aim to kill Louis in order to lift the curse. However, once the competition to become Euchronia's leader begins, Louis is protected by the old king's magic, which prevents people from murdering the most popular candidates. Thus, Will becomes a candidate himself in the competition, and begins to seek alternative ways to lift the curse.

As the game progresses, Will and his friends discover that Louis was not the person who placed the curse after all, and that he was framed for it by the Sanctist church, the true masterminds behind the attempted assassination of the prince. After previously losing his military position due to this scheme, Louis had been investigating the curse independently in an effort to clear his own name, although unsuccessfully. 

Even further into the game, the player learns that Louis is actually an elda, not a clemar, and he is from the same village Will and the prince (who has an eldan mother) are from. He lost his family in a fire set to the village by the Sanctist church in an initial attempt to assassinate the prince, even longer ago than the one Louis was framed for. 

The game's other antagonist, Forden, is the leader of the Sanctist church (I guess, think the pope). Forden is also a very popular candidate in the tournament to become leader. As a proponent of Sanctism, he has a strong bias against the eldans and the eldan prince, hence the multiple assassination attempts. (I just feel as though I have to mention him so that the rest of the summary makes sense, as he is a major character.

their similarities

Military background, widespread popularity, and political savviness

Both Nidhogg and Louis were military prodigies, although in slightly different ways. Nidhogg's military background was not exactly what made him popular among the common folk in Love Nikki chapters 1 through 12, especially as it was in a completely different country from the one he currently lives in. However, I will still give Nidhogg was celebrated and remembered in the North for his protection. More straightforwardly, Louis built up the most strength during his time in the military, to the point where many people did not believe it when he was linked to the prince's assassination, identifying him as a scapegoat. 

Nidhogg's popularity in Lilith is still worth noting, even though it was for something that was not directly relevant to his ideals. However, it was not explored in the same way, as basically everybody from Lilith turned on Nidhogg after he revealed his true colors. On the other hand, some people in Euchronia continue to support Louis even into Metaphor's epilogue. 

Finally, both Nidhogg and Louis's political savviness allowed them to rise in strength despite being orphaned children from a completely different place. Although Nidhogg is not part of any oppressed group, there is a world of cultural difference between Lilith and North. He proved himself by designing cute, beautiful outfits in Lilith style, displaying that he could participate in a culture that he had no relation to, and earning the favor of Queen Nanari. As an elda pretending to be a clemar, who rose to power as a nobleman and was close to the most powerful people in Euchronia, this would have been a similar journey to what Louis would have gone through. 

Principles of power and fairness; magical weapons

Both Louis and Nidhogg want to earn everything - or at least, so they say. Nidhogg's entire mentality stems from the unfairness of his youth, the complete and overwhelming imbalance between the opposing troops taking a curse-suppressing drug and his own side, forced to reckon with the pain. The death of the man he considered a father figure was enough to cement his hatred of the blood curse and the tools that only the powerful can obtain to strengthen their success. He condemns the "falsehood" of the fashion-based society, even though he was willing to play at it to gain success.

Louis, on the other hand, shares the same belief in several principles: A society based on falsehoods is unfit to exist, and it is power that matters in the end. He is willing to lie, kill, and exploit others to see his vision through, but he prefers not to play dirty when it counts. 

Both men come into possession of some sort of magical weapon: Nidhogg, the Dark Verdict, and Louis, the Drakodios. Interestingly, both are relics associated with another group victimized by the systems set up. The Dark Verdict is a Kindred weapon, and the Kindred are, for whatever reason, all permanently affected by the Blood Curse, and considered to have been "born with sin." Nidhogg took the Dark Verdict from the bottom of Lake Bovaly, and it encouraged him to pursue power. The Drakodios is a divine relic from the Mustari tribe. It shares no direct connection with Louis, but he does use it to kill Sanctifex Forden (the pope), as it is able to bypass the protection of the old king placed on candidates for the throne. There is more to say about Drakodios, but it doesn't tie in right here so I'll come back to it later.

Now, onto "fairness." Though Louis does not hesitate to use this unique magical weapon to take out Forden, and initially intends to use it to take out Will, he later professes his true desire to the public: He sees his possession of the Drakodios, a weapon uniquely capable of killing the unkillable, as unfair, and calls upon the old king's magic to lift the protections on all candidates for the throne. Essentially, he throws away his certain victory in the competition for the throne because he wants to earn it fairly. You may notice a similar scene take place with Nidhogg. Although he is offered the No. 7 Reagent, which would ease his pain of the blood curse, he refuses to take it, as it too is a symbol of the "unfairness" that he aims to eliminate. Nidhogg is content to use violence on anybody he wants to, but only if he plays by the world's rules and does not give himself an unfair advantage. I don't believe the Dark Verdict gives Nidhogg any extra killing powers; its utility is in styling battles (because reasons) and it does kind of make him more powerhungry, but it doesn't change him fundamentally as a character.

It must be brought up that these principles do not prevent either character from doing ANYTHING unfair. I've already mentioned that Louis has killed, or considered killing, people who were unable to fight back due to the old king's magic several times - even if they were willing to - so I won't linger on that and will go back to Nidhogg. Nidhogg is explicitly allied with the creator of No. 7 Reagent (Morrison) and the dealer of No. 7 Reagent (Reid), and he had the assassin that is resistant to the blood curse under his command (Shade), who he calls a "masterpiece". These tools are available to him even if he does not personally use them on his own body. 

During Dawn Front Season 3, should you choose to ally with Nidhogg, you're tasked with protecting the reagent and killing anyone who is meant to get close. Nidhogg acknowledges that this is not a "true cure" and that he seeks something more permanent. In Season 8, upon finding out that some of his soldiers have been resisting the effects of the reagent, he advises that these people should be put through the "Shade experiment." Thus, his hypocrisy has led him to become the people he so hated as a younger man - someone who wages war but has all the tools at his disposal to win. 

Desire to violently cast aside falsehoods

Although the Sanctist Church is a clear-cut case of leaders lying to their people, Miraland is ironically much less black-and-white than that. There is not a grand conspiracy propagated by leaders. Miraland really is a fashion-based society and fashion does serve as the main social currency in the world. I suppose you could say that the hidden secret is that violence happens at all, or is at all common. 

It's hard to say how common violence is in Miraland. Yes, war occurs with actual violence and actual blood curse and all that, and that is not a secret. When it comes to civilian violence, an interesting example that comes to mind is the case of Neva's parents. As a child, she attempted to report their murder to the police; however, the police found the concept of random nobodies being murdered so absurd that they did not bother to investigate the case. However, as we know, they actually were murdered. It is implied that this may have been done by the same person who later exploited Neva and turned her into the Kindred-esque person she became. If this is the case, the murder of her parents was truly an unusual event, and perhaps statistically, random people being killed just didn't happen. At the same time, another explanation is that violence is common, but the people who get caught up in it know that the police are useless, and only a very young girl like Neva would have gone to them.

Overall, there is a selection bias where we see violence happen in the backstories of characters that are being uniquely targeted and serve special roles in the story (Bobo), or are already linked to rich and/or powerful people (Reid). Thus, most personal anecdotes are unreliable for judging the prevalence of violence and you can judge it yourself based on existing worldbuilding. This tangent has gone on long enough.

Anyways, for the purpose of this, it doesn't matter what the average person's experience is. Nidhogg's experience is of having his family targeted, of going to war, and of violence in spite of the blood curse. Thus, he believes that the blood curse provides a false peace and that the world would be better with it gone. Even if this means the world will become "soaked with blood," he's willing to accept that because that's already what his reality is. Even after living in Lilith for so many years, this is still his reality that can't be shaken. Ultimately, his goal is some sort of peace, but he is willing to see a period of "flesh, blood, and sacrifice" in order to find this world (DF 10).

This is markedly similar to Louis's violent goal: he believes only the strong should live on, as he aims for a "utopia" where people have overcome their fear and anxiety. His secret goal is not simply to become king, but to turn everybody into a monster (called "human" in Metaphor), which is triggered in part by the combination of ambient magic and anxiety. Only the strong-minded are able to overcome this transformation and turn back into themselves. To him, these people are the only ones worth keeping around. It should be noted that the specifics of this transformation are far from common knowledge, and Louis only knows about this because of his eldan background. Anyone with a Sanctist upbringing would never get to know that the monsters they fear are other people. 

This leads into the fact that both Nidhogg and Louis specifically wield violence and exploit people's fears in order to propagate their own agenda. It's definitely deliberate with Louis, whose behavior can be more closely described as terrorism, although it is conducted in secret. He previously turned people into monsters ("humans") in order to destroy various villages, just to make a point and create a common enemy. While Nidhogg's goals are not directly stated to be this, I think you could make an argument for it. Nidhogg never revealed his motivation for killing Lunar to the public, although it was uncovered later via internal investigation. Either way, every time he commits an act of violence, it's typically accompanied with some sort of "this is just the way of the world"-type quip. He is the one who is going out of his way to make the world the terrible place he wants to prove it is. Yes, there is violence outside of Nidhogg's efforts, and yes, Louis did not start the "human" phenomenon. But they are the major instigators, which is why they are antagonists.

Personality, steadfastness, and vision

Both Louis and Nidhogg, once they rise to power, are clear about the type of world they want. They are completely unwavering in their vision, and they do not have a "villain breakdown" at any point where they lose their cool. I feel this matters more in the player's perception of them, and how they come across as a villain, than their in-universe perception. Pure and utter confidence, willpower, and devotion at any cost to carrying out this vision are often necessary for a villain like this to work. 

I felt it was necessary to do a bit of internet browsing for this post, as I wanted to know why other people liked Louis so much, not just me. This was the most common thing people brought up by far: He doesn't "hide" his vision - he's not a twist villain, he's honest from the start of the game and remained steadfast to the end. It is the case that he hides his methodology to an extent, but the core point feels true to me. His honesty and devotion to hold himself to his own principles play into this as well. In my opinion, this reasoning carries itself over to Nidhogg perfectly. Only a truly self-assured protagonist can oppose them, and that means overcoming all your own doubts first. 

"He did nothing wrong"

So, I originally went in wanting to address this because I wanted to understand it. I got it with Louis because he's explicitly written to share some values with our protagonist Will (although I'll talk about it more in the next section). This is not the case with Nikki at all; yet, we've all heard it. I sort of understood it as "he said nothing wrong" or "he has a point" but I wanted to understand the arguments of his fiercest defenders.

Surprisingly, it can be kind of difficult to find long essays about Nidhogg that actually talk about stuff from The Great Unknown (also known as The Story Other than V1: 15-9). Most of the time I would find people say they liked him because he made them more interested in the story or was a breath of fresh air. 

So, here's what I can piece together of Nidhogg: He needs enough military power to be able to overcome the Nameless Knights and Knights of (North) Kingdom, so he needs to violently take over other countries and/or seize their power (maybe weapons, etc.). He needs to be able to steal this mysterious key back in order to lift the world's curse. Because of that, he's willing to do pretty much anything, even things he might find morally reprehensible and "part of the problem" (the reagent, Shade), although using the reagent himself is a step too far. Maybe he doesn't consider the existence of Shade morally reprehensible, though, it's kind of hard to say. It may be the case that he considers Shade like an ideal person (speculating). He is also looking into other ways to lift the curse (as noted in DF).

The thing about the blood curse and fashion battles is that Nikki is a complete outlier. Someone isn't supposed to be good at every style like that, everyone else has their own strengths (although Nikki canonically does have strengths in pure, elegant, gorgeous, and cute, and is weakest in mature, it's clearly not an issue for her). 

Now, whether it's considered good form or bad form to deliberately pick an attribute that their opponent is weak in, and whether they can refuse to compete based on that, it's hard to say. The only example I could find was in V1: 7-7, where Nikki disguised as Bai Jinjin is challenged to compete in Pigeon style, which is notably Bai Jinjin's weakness. Nikki had no reason to refuse, and when the situation repeats again in Zhong Lizi's dreamweaver, Bai Jinjin chooses to compete, so we don't get to see how this would play out if either had refused. However, we can make some inferences about what this means. Firstly, this move didn't come from someone who was expected to play fair, considering they were trying to kidnap her and they threatened to use force. This is not a typical styling battle situation and can't be expected to follow normal etiquette. It seemed Qiong agreed to a styling battle in the first place just to humor Nikki.

As tumblr user maplesweater once posted in 2019, a major issue of using styling battles in a fashion-based world means that the strong get stronger. The example pointed out is V1: Chapter 1, where Lunar had her design stolen by Mela and needed Nikki to win it back for her via styling battle. Obviously this is an issue, but let's read into it closer. Lunar had her personal property stolen by Mela (not via styling battle, just via normal stealing), and instead of going to the police, she sees recovering the design via styling battle to be the more effective choice. This could lead to three conclusions: a) theft is not illegal in Apple/Miraland (not true, because in Chapter 18, the police show up to investigate the theft of White Blossom, along with other examples), b) the police are ineffective (possible, but I don't think we have any evidence for them being unable to solve petty crimes), c) styling battles are just the easiest/quickest way to resolve conflict. I think Lunar had multiple options to resolve this and the styling battle option was just the one they went with because Nikki offered to help. Compare this to real life, where I guess option c) would be replaced with beating someone up, but that is assault (illegal) and styling battles are styling battles (legal). The other main example we have of the Iron Rose stealing things is in V1: Chapter 8, but that is directly handled by the town's Mayor. 

So this has been my look into the fairness of the system of styling battles. They provide an additional, legal way of solving conflicts and do not replace laws. Nobody is compelled to participate in them, but they can prevent violent outcomes (V1: 7-7, V1: 19-9). There is likely a culture encouraging people to initiate and accept styling battles, and there may also be a culture preventing people from choosing unfair themes, but these are not directly elaborated on and are left up to interpretation. At the same time, might doesn't make right - styling battles can result in unfair outcomes, but they do not inherently result in people being physically harmed. 

Now we have arrived at a major criticism of the blood curse: the way it affects free will. Opponents of the blood curse believe that it prevents people of Miraland from exercising free will. I am not a philosopher, but I'm inclined to disagree with this. I believe it's more like a disincentive from committing violence, in addition to the law. Think of it this way: a little bit of violence = a little bit of suffering, and prolonged violence may result in death, as we saw with Louie's father. The consequences are not the same as what the legal system would inflict on you, and would probably be considered torture if they were, but I'm not sure if that changes the argument about free will. But again, I'm not a philosopher, so if you disagree with me on that, that's fine. (It's not okay if you disagree with me on anything else... I will find you.)

This is kind of "out there," but I think another concept that could be compared to the blood curse is... guilt, spurred by morality in general? Now I know that is far from a perfect analogy too, but it's an element found within people, completely independent of any sort of legal system, that will negatively affect you even after the fact, and is typically proportional with the severity of the offense. Guilt will eat you up inside and tank your mental health if you let it.

But like we all know, not everyone feels guilty when they do bad things - and that's the equivalent of the baddies who suppress the backlash using Reagent No. 7 and its variants. Each time it's brought up, the Dawn Wings are always insisting that it should never be used, because it's poison, it has terrible side effects. Shade's story, too, is about rediscovering his humanity after being denied it for so long and treated as a weapon. Thus, I feel there is a case that the blood curse, as it's presented in the story, could be interpreted as this kind of metaphor. But I don't feel very strongly about it and just wanted to include it because I found it interesting.

I would say the biggest issue with the blood curse is that it punishes all intentional violence, even when it is generally considered morally permissible. This would extend to self-defense (explored, most notably in Nidhogg's backstory) and justified rebellion against corrupt governments and organizations (largely unexplored). Although I love the idea of exploring these further, and can understand why people would side with Nidhogg solely based on these principles, it's regrettable that the story did not go there (see "if Nidhogg had been done right" below).

Anyways, sorry for this tangent. This was the last part of this post I wrote, even though it has nothing to do with Metaphor, because I kind of wanted to get out all my Nidhogg-related thoughts right here. I hope it was at least interesting.

their foils & opponents

This is where things may get tricky, as Nidhogg's primary foil is Louie (Love Nikki), a distinct character from Louis (Metaphor: ReFantazio). But if you've already made it this far, I trust that you can stick with me.

I use Louie here because he shares ideals with Nikki, but his upbringing is more similar to Nidhogg and he performs a more active role in fighting against him. Louie and Nidhogg both faced the exact same instigating event in their youth: the death of Louie's father due to the Blood Curse. Despite this, they fight on opposite sides of the war: Louie guards the key that protects the Blood Curse, and Nidhogg wants to steal it. Louie's motivations are not swayed by the knowledge that the curse he wants to uphold is the same one that killed his father. Unlike Nidhogg, his perspective is that he has seen enough violence that he will do anything to prevent more of it, as most of the scenes that fly through his mind when he makes the decision to join the Nameless Knights have to do with this past. 

When discussing the reagent with the player in Dawn Front Season 3, Louie says, "Destroying this shipment will even the playing field. Nidhogg may be able to withstand the curse's pain, but his troops can't." Again, not trying to harp on it over and over, but Louie found himself in the exact same scenario as he was all those years ago - trying to prevent his opponents from having access to the reagent because it's an unfair fight. 

Now, let's go to Will, the protagonist from Metaphor. Will and Louis also have the same instigating incidents. Both were targeted by the Sanctists and had their lives destroyed due to being elda, and more importantly, they actually share the same general vision/principle. A key plot point is a "fantasy novel" that Will carries around, describing a time where all people were equal, there were no different races, and the situation of your birth didn't matter. It's implied that this world is basically like the modern world of today, but depicted as though it were a utopia, and meant as a plot device to show how grim things really are in Euchronia. It describes violence and conflict as taboos that have been basically eradicated from life. (Note that the book describing our world as a utopia ≠ the game saying we live in a utopia, but that's too much to get into.) We later see Louis reading from this book on multiple occasions, and indeed, his ideals are quite similar to the book's: He professes to want no discrimination and for everyone to live as one, no matter how they were born. This showcases a completely different mentality from Sanctifex Forden's and many of the other candidates, and in theory Will and his comrades would have no issue with the message. Their issue is in execution. 

Will's initial reason to oppose Louis, that he has cursed the prince, ends up being completely false. However, Louis is not an innocent man. One of Will's first allies, Strohl, is the noble son from a village that was destroyed years ago by a monster Louis set upon them. Thus, Louis did exactly to Strohl what was once done to him: he destroyed his home and orphaned him. Just like Nidhogg, he became the type of person who once wronged him and created his own set of enemies.

Regarding Drakodius, the legendary mustari weapon: Initially, every candidate for the throne in the church-sponsored competition was required to take a divine relic from the mustari tribe by force. Will and his friends were extremely uncomfortable with this prospect, but as they were working with Louis at the time in order to infiltrate his airship, he ordered them to specifically retrieve this lance. Through a series of events, they saved and befriended the tribe's priestess, so they did not end up having to take the lance by force, as she brought it with her. Louis commends them for managing to retrieve the lance in this manner, but doesn't forget to mention that he would have destroyed the tribe had they not succeeded.

Louis's total lack of regard for the mustari tribe, even though they too were actively targeted by the Sanctist church, is actually in complete alignment with his principles. Standing up for the downtrodden has nothing to do with what he wants, and the fact that he is an elda doesn't make him necessarily sympathetic towards other oppressed groups. His eldan heritage/background is relevant to him in the ways that bring him power (powerful magic, a deeper understanding of history/the truth of the world than others), but he avoids the social backlash, and claims to hold no fondness for his homeland. He disliked that they hoarded so much knowledge to themselves, and perhaps this influenced his opinion towards the mustari tribe's relics as well. 

Thus, the choice our heroes have to make: do you choose to join with the guy who makes a few good points and is promising peace at the end of his bloody plan, or do you stand up for the weak, even if it means fighting against this really powerful guy, and even if it means a hard, long journey to improve society as it exists rather than burning it down. 

if Nidhogg had been done right.

So, we come back to where we started. Even though they are characterized similarly, I just think Nidhogg is severely lacking in comparison for several reasons:

Barely gets to do anything: We see a lot of his backstory but we are unable to see him make grand moves like Louis because the story has to build on and on and on and never lead to a conclusion in any sort of structured way. Dawn Front might be the perfect example of this because it's just meant to set up more random skirmishes in a few months so the stakes just have to mildly change a bit each time it comes back.

Not the main villain: Nikki's story pivots and deals with other existential threats once Dawn Front-esque shenanigans get boring, even though the themes explored via Nidhogg's story are the one the fandom at large is the most interested in (it's okay if it's not for you)

Mechanisms of obtaining victory are intentionally nebulous: If his true goal were as simple as getting the key from the Nameless Knights, there's no reason for him to be constantly mucking around anywhere else without a clear purpose. Setting him up as a generic baddie that pops up all around Miraland is not compelling. 

Isn't allowed to be right: Nikki never agrees with Nidhogg about anything because he's never given much of a point besides "violence happens" rather than getting into the specifics. In theory this point could be expanded to discuss and explore other topics where violence may be justified, but the story does not take the conversation surrounding Nidhogg in this direction.

A lot of players really like Nidhogg as a villain and I can understand why. If you read this far there's probably a 50% chance you're a Nidhogg stan and honestly, live your best life, idgaf. I thought Louis was a really well done villain and comparing his main traits with Nidhogg was honestly a really fun way to show how much potential Niddy had and explore why he became so popular. If this post happens to convince anyone to play Metaphor, that would be wild. Even if it doesn't, I truly hope you enjoyed reading.

If I missed some crucial recent Nidhogg lore you'd like me to know about, please share in the notes or my askbox! Specific references are appreciated so I can go back in and use full context if needed. 

The poll below is simply to satisfy my own curiosity. (It's hard to imagine anyone actually made it to the end of this post...)

what is your relation to this post?

I played Metaphor: ReFantazio, and I followed LN's story (I love you!)

I played Metaphor: ReFantazio, and I have some knowledge of the Nikki series

I played Metaphor: ReFantazio, but I don't know what Nikki is

I didn't play Metaphor: ReFantazio, but I followed LN's story

I didn't play Metaphor: ReFantazio, but I have knowledge of the Nikki series

I didn't play Metaphor: ReFantazio, and I don't know what Nikki is (???)

Voting ended onFeb 10, 2025

[littlesailorinthesun]

is love nikki osha compliant?

Inspired by Brian David Gilbert's legendary Unraveled video "Smash Bros. owes millions of dollars in OSHA violations", I became curious how this would apply to Love Nikki suits. I looked through a few suits of choice to determine how OSHA-compliant they are.

First of all, I would like to say that while I have previously worked in a Health and Safety department, I apologize for any mistakes I make. This is not work (even if real Nikkis' lives are at stake here!)

For the Smash Bros. video, BDG looked primarily at the safety of various fighting arenas. Given that Love Nikki is a dress up game, I will of course be primarily looking at PPE (personal protective equipment) which falls under 1910 Subpart I; however, there are some instances where it is clear the environment is also unsafe.

The issue with determining what is proper PPE is mostly that it varies depends based on the environment you find yourself in. Given that *most* suits don't come with huge background props or backgrounds, I will just be extrapolating based on the item descriptions and the little context we have.

Heavy Machinery

One of my favorite suits, yet one of the worst offenders, Heavy Machinery actually calls out its own violation in the suit itself. If Miraland had OSHA, Heavy Machinery would unfortunately be breaking the rules.

According to OSHA's Nail Gun Safety Guide, people using nail guns should have the following PPE (in addition to the safety goggles): safety shoes (steel toed boots), hard hats, and hearing protection. Unfortunately, while maybe the shoes might have steel toes (though they don't look like they do), Heavy Machinery does not have a hard hat nor any hearing protection that I can see. This puts her in general violation of 1910.132(a).

One of the more frustrating parts is that she has eye protection, but she isn't actually using it! The item description for the goggles even says, "A mechanic can easily hurt his eyes, so it's good to wear goggles. Don't act cool and put them on your head!" Yet, she is doing just that, which causes her to violate 1910.133(a)(1). Please, don't follow her example and make sure to wear your goggles.

I will give her kudos for having the knee pad(?) but the rest of her clothing could probably do a better job. Unfortunately, Heavy Machinery is not OSHA-compliant.

The final comment I'd like to make on her is that if she is really wearing a battery on her back, I will have to give her kudos because those motherfuckers are heavy.

Adventurous Journey

A new environment! Actually, Adventurous Journey is adventuring throughout all of Miraland, and her item descriptions make mention of her visiting many several different places: an abandoned base, an old ruin, even a cave? 

Adventurous Journey is wearing some pretty practical clothing, and her hand and foot protection look more than adequate. Her hammer looks like it's in great shape and, like Heavy Machinery, she even has her hair tied back. Her headlight is also a great choice.

While entering unknown spaces like caves can be dangerous, they typically aren't considered confined spaces. Besides that, it sounds like Adventurous Journey only went inside the cave to take shelter from the sandstorm instead of to explore.

Overall, I believe Adventurous Journey is OSHA-compliant. Have fun on your adventures!

Glacier Treader

Ada just wanted to learn something about penguins, but unfortunately she may end up learning something about ice water if she keeps up these unsafe practices.

According to 1910.28(b)(3)(i), employees should be protected from falling in holes by guardrails, covers, or something similar. Unfortunately, there is a giant hole in front of Ada and she has nothing keeping her from falling inside. The straps on her coat aren't attached to anything and that thing looks like it's about to fly off anyways. There may be a penguin in the hole, but such matters do not excuse Ada's research group's lack of fall protection. 

On the bright side, the band-aids on Ada's face means that she has access to first aid and medical care!

Horn of Surprise

As fun as it would be to ride a giant candy train, it is unfortunately not OSHA-compliant.

As per 1910.21(b), a walking-working surface is any surface where an employee walks, works, or gains access to another work area. As the train conductor, Shebel is working on the top of the train, and thus it is subject to OSHA guidelines.

Unfortunately, the train is quite high off the ground - definitely more than 4 feet. Because of this, under 1910.28(b)(15), Shebel should have some sort of protection from falling to the ground below her, whether it be a guardrail, safety net, or another personal fall protection system.

She should probably also be wearing better PPE, too.

Ocean Lullaby

According to this suit's lore, Relly swims all the way to the deepest part of the ocean with only a narwhal. From the depiction of her and the fact that she apparently lost consciousness while at the bottom of the ocean, it seems pretty clear that Relly wasn't using proper PPE while swimming.

The most frustrating part about this suit is probably the fact that even the fish have PPE while Relly has nothing (though the efficacy of the snorkels is questionable). She should definitely have some air, and following the proper SCUBA diving procedures (1910.424) would be a great start.

Toy Carnival

What looks like an innocent, fun carnival game is actually an example of a potentially dangerous situation which requires a lot of work and planning. The crane machine is an example of a confined space, which is defined as a space that is large enough to do work, but has limited means for entry and exit, and isn't designed for continuous occupancy. Toy Carnival's crane machine appears to be a small space which doesn't have any immediately apparent way to get out.

There are no hazardous chemicals which would be present inside a claw machine. However, there is a physical hazard, which is the claw crane. Because of this, it is a permit-required confined space.

Toy Carnival is doing a lot of things right. She has an attendant outside (Momo), meaning she is compliant with 1910.146(d)(6). As long as Toy Carnival has a permit and followed all of the necessary procedures, she would be OSHA compliant if not for one thing: There is no visible sign designating the claw machine as a confined space. (1910.146(c)(2))

I will hold out hope that there is a sign on the back, because she was so close.

Explosion

We're going to ignore for the time being that Explosion takes place entirely inside a video game because well, it's all inside a video game one way or another, right? Anyways, you can tell a lot about Explosion just from the name.

Patrice is evidently in some kind of war-like environment. Not only are there guns and cannons going off everywhere, the "explosion" her suit is named for is the explosions of smoke grenades. She uses these to take cover and disguise herself.

While the gas mask is an excellent choice, unfortunately it's not enough. Due to the flying hazards (and probably the smoke too), Patrice needs to be wearing eye protection in order to be in compliance with 1910.133(a)(1), and head protection in order to be in compliance with 1910.135(a)(1).

Now onto another concern, no less pressing than the last: She's also apparently killing people. 1926.900 deals with explosives, and many of the standards mention avoiding the harm of other employees, which gives the impression that it generally isn't allowed. Not warning the others using warning signs, flags, or barricades before killing them with explosives is in direct violation of 1926.900(i).

I will commend Patrice on one thing, which is proper use of the buddy system as defined in 1910.120(a)(3) in the presence of unknown hazards. It sounds like she and Kuma work well together.

Honorable Mentions

Apocalyptic Angel, for her clothes and hair literally being on fire. I don’t know which OSHA violation that is, but it’s definitely something.

Crime Buster, for firing guns any which way without even looking. I don’t even want to touch that can of worms.

Space Fantasy, for not wearing gloves. In outer space.

Ingenious Trend, for allowing bats to carry needles. Again, not sure how that’s illegal, but it must be one way or another.

Appendix

1910.28(b)(3)(i) Each employee is protected from falling through any hole (including skylights) that is 4 feet (1.2 m) or more above a lower level by one or more of the following: 1910.28(b)(3)(i)(A) Covers; 1910.28(b)(3)(i)(B) Guardrail systems; 1910.28(b)(3)(i)(C) Travel restraint systems; or 1910.28(b)(3)(i)(D) Personal fall arrest systems.

(Glacier Treader)

1910.28(b)(15) Walking-working surfaces not otherwise addressed. Except as provided elsewhere in this section or by other subparts of this part, the employer must ensure each employee on a walkingworking surface 4 feet (1.2 m) or more above a lower level is protected from falling by: 1910.28(b)(15)(i) Guardrail systems; 1910.28(b)(15)(ii) Safety net systems; or 1910.28(b)(15)(iii) Personal fall protection systems, such as personal fall arrest, travel restraint, or positioning systems.

(Horn of Surprise)

1910.132(a) Protective equipment, including personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head, and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, and protective shields and barriers, shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary by reason of hazards of processes or environment, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact.

(Heavy Machinery)

1910.133(a)(1) The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.

(Heavy Machinery, Explosion)

1910.135(a)(1) The employer shall ensure that each affected employee wears a protective helmet when working in areas where there is a potential for injury to the head from falling objects.

(Explosion)

1910.146(c)(2) If the workplace contains permit spaces, the employer shall inform exposed employees, by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces. NOTE: A sign reading DANGER -- PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE, DO NOT ENTER or using other similar language would satisfy the requirement for a sign.

(Toy Carnival)

1910.146(d)(6) Provide at least one attendant outside the permit space into which entry is authorized for the duration of entry operations;

(Toy Carnival - compliant)

1926.900(i) Employees authorized to prepare explosive charges or conduct blasting operations shall use every reasonable precaution including, but not limited to, visual and audible warning signals, flags, or barricades, to ensure employee safety.

(Explosion)

[littlesailorinthesun]

hello!! a common complaint about love nikki's lore is that it's hard to follow and often arrives to our server out of order, so @generalyue and I decided to make a lore reading guide that puts all of the stories in a recommended reading order. you can find it here!

it's a spreadsheet that includes:

links to translations of some events and dreamweavers not yet on our server

brief summaries for each story

a spoiler-free and spoiler version that you can check off depending on how you want to experience the story (default spoiler-free)

checkboxes to mark off when you've read a certain part of the story

(you should make a copy to use the last two features because the sheet isn't editable to the public)

we really hope it can be a useful resource!

2025 disclaimer: this sheet will not be updated going forward, we recommend seeking out official translations as they are released and keeping up with new lore if it interests you!

[littlesailorinthesun]

elf primer

As part of a larger joint project (a lore reading order timeline), I wanted to write a post documenting all of the elf and kindred-related weirdness in the story. Once you start diving really, really deep into trying to piece elfkindred information together, you'll find that lots of things contradict each other or become jumbled. This is in part due to our server's translation and in part just because the story legitimately retcons itself. There were also a lot of theories and misconceptions which I wanted to spend some time discussing. So here is some information that will help those who are interested in reading.

By the way, huge spoilers ahead for the newest CN hell event, which has been given the fan nickname “Moonless Voyage”. The translations I used are linked at the end!

Main Cast

Chloris: The duty-bound Prince of Forest Elves. He participated in the war between kindred and elves a thousand years ago. He has very few desires as he's very focused on the well-being of the forest. He's also very powerful. Has been kept in the dark about his family history.

Cesare: The brother of Chloris and the current Lord of Kindred. He was exiled to Shadow City, the world within Lake Bovaly, a thousand years ago. Strongly wishes for Kindred to be simply allowed to live in the forest again, after that right was stolen from him when he was young, and secretly wishes he and Chloris could be normal brothers. Now, he also wants to break the Blood Curse because it affects all Kindred even if they just have the desire to hurt others (not for the same reasoning as Nidhogg). 

Lakris: The second Prince of Forest Elves. Stated by Cesare to simply be "a part of him" that was taken. Looked just like Cesare. 

Elven Queen: The mother of Chloris and Cesare. Anti-war and fiercely protective of the elves even at the cost of her own Kindred loved ones. 

Helsin (Blood Lust): The Lord of Kindred who served as the leader of Shadow City while Cesare was missing. Her primary goal is to break the seal of Shadow City once more.

Evelyn (Flickering Pistill): An elf who was invited to Shadow City by Helsin and subsequently tortured. She became the final seal for Shadow City, never truly dying. Her story is well-known among those in the Pigeon Forest and Shadow City.

Timeline

(Note: Next to the occurrence, I wrote where you can find the source/a more detailed description of the lore.)

Many years ago: Forest Elves (Chloris' kind) guarded the Pigeon Forest since it came into existence.  (Chloris 1)

Elves who sought to cleanse the world were corrupted by the miasma they encountered, and became the Kindred.  (Moonless Voyage)

>1000 years before Year 680, New Era: Chloris and Cesare were born to the Elven Queen and the Lord of Kindred, who were lovers but could not be together. The two twins did not meet.  (Jealous Phantom)

~1000 years before Year 680, New Era: Tensions broke out between Kindred and Elves. The Elven Queen persuaded the Lord of Kindred to take all of the Kindred out of Pamir Forest (north of main Pigeon Forest) and bring them to Shadow City so there would be no more war. Lord of Kindred obliged, and opened up Shadow City, an action that took most of his strength and ultimately killed him. Every Kindred in Pamir Forest went to Shadow City.  (Jealous Phantom)

Cesare's father died, Cesare became the new Lord of Kindred, and the Elven Queen made one last visit to him to say her final goodbye. Cesare pleaded with her to change her mind, but she turned her back on him and left.  (Jealous Phantom)

The Elven Queen died (as was told to Cesare) or went missing.  (Jealous Phantom/Wake Up from Dream)

Cesare would occasionally watch Chloris play the harp from the other side of the lake, aware that Chloris was his brother.  (Jealous Phantom/Flower Feather)

Cesare continued to fight the elves. During a fight, the Elven King (Cesare's uncle on his mother's side) told him that his mother had left some words for him before she died. This was a ploy to distract him and disarm him. Elven King then picked up Cesare's sword, Dark Verdict, and stabbed him with it. Cesare sank to the bottom of the lake.  (Moonless Voyage)

Lakris appeared under the Tree of Life for the first time. However, he was asleep during the war.  (Wake Up from Dream/Chloris 4)

At some point, the King also died in battle.  (V2: 4-2)

[Assumption] Any remaining Kindred that were in Shadow City left, and so did Elaine, leaving the elves and her sister Rachel behind in the forest. The seal between Shadow City and Pigeon Forest formed.  (Minstrel of Time)

Helsin became the Kindred Lord and the most powerful person in Shadow City and amassed many followers that feared her but respected her.  (Moonless Voyage)

Helsin, who wants to break the seal between Shadow City and Pigeon Forest, invited Evelyn to Shadow City to torture her. Evelyn doesn't die; instead, she ends up becoming the final seal, believing it to be atonement for everybody who participated in the war.  (Blood Moon)

Year 670, New Era: Cesare stayed at the bottom of Lake Bovaly for nearly a thousand years until Nidhogg one day swam down and retrieved the Dark Verdict sword, stabbing him and releasing him from the seal that the Elven King had placed on him that trapped him there. (Mentioned in Ice Abyss Echo, Dark Verdict suit, and V2: 4-SS2. The year and more clarification on what happened is given in the Miraland Civilization Files book.)

Cesare returned to Shadow City, to the surprise of Kindred there, who worshipped Helsin and viewed Cesare as only a legend considering how long he had been in the lake.  (Moonless Voyage)

Infighting began between Kindred who were loyal to Helsin and Kindred who were loyal to Cesare, but Helsin declared her loyalty to Cesare, who went forth and did his best to improve the quality of life in Shadow City.  (Moonless Voyage)

Year 680: Cesare and Kindred spirits gather power in Pamir Forest again, using Noah as an agent to stir up chaos and attract the attention of Chloris. Chloris and Lakris go to investigate, and Lakris disappears into a heavy fog as they walk. Chloris goes to the Kindred castle alone and meets Cesare for the first time. It's implied that Lakris was the elven part of Cesare all along, and Cesare reclaims Lakris. Cesare disappears in the light of the Dawnblade.  (Chloris 4)

Nikki, Mela, and Momo accidentally get hoodwinked and sent into Shadow City where they nearly get eaten alive by some hungry Kindred. Chloris finds this out and makes the decision to remove the seal between Shadow City and Pigeon Forest to save them.  (V2: Chapter 3)

Most of Chloris's strength is used in removing the seal. Cesare escapes Shadow City and bites Chloris, transferring his memories and weakening him further.  (V2: 3-SS2)

Elaine and Rachel (boat lifetime sisters) along with Nikki and co attempt to find a way to heal Chloris but he falls unconscious.  (V2: Chapter 4)

When the seal is removed, Evelyn (Helsin's prisoner) disappears. Helsin goes mad with desire and experiences severe backlash from the Blood Curse, so she asks to be restrained.  (Moonless Voyage)

At some point, Chloris wakes back up.  (That one Pigeon welfare suit)

Cesare decides to break the Blood Curse. He recruits Helsin for help and they leave Shadow City and go back to Pigeon Forest. Helsin fights off Elven soldiers with her whip while Cesare tries to remove a giant crystal within the Tree of Life that binds Kindred under the Blood Curse.  Chloris approaches and Cesare explains his reasoning for trying to remove the crystal, also dropping the bomb about the secrets behind their parentage.  (Moonless Voyage)

Chloris conducts some elfin glowing crystal magic that renders the Kindreds immobile. Peace falls over the entire forest. The backlash of the Blood Curse that the Kindred constantly experienced disappears.  (Moonless Voyage)

Cesare orders all the other Kindred to return to Shadow City. He does another bonding ritual with Chloris which seems to transfer energy to Chloris. Though it's not over between them, Cesare returns to Shadow City once more.  (Moonless Voyage)

NOTE: Some assumptions had to be made for this timeline. The biggest one is that even after Shadow City had been opened, the war between Kindred and Elves continued until the seal was formed at a later date. Without this assumption, multiple events described in the story do not make sense.

FAQ

How much time passed between the war and the year 680?

Certain parts of our translation refer to it as "thousands of years", but truthfully, it was actually just a thousand years that passed. (Thank you Athena for clearing this up!)

This is almost definitely not an exact number, especially given everything else that was happening with the timeline across Miraland, as well as how many different events were written as occurring a thousand years ago.

Are Chloris and Cesare half brothers?

For a long time, this is what most people (including myself) believed. This is at least in part because of a few lines within the story suit Jealous Phantom which stated:

"Cesare often think[s] about his mother while sitting on bough in the forest, imagining how his brother, who has the blood of the Elven Guardian, spends days with mother under the bright sunlight."

This seemed to indicate that Chloris had some elven parentage that Cesare did not, which both made him a "full" elf and afforded him privileges Cesare couldn't have.

However, we learned recently that this is not true. With the release of the most recent hell event, both Chloris and the fandom was confronted with the truth, which is that Chloris is also born of Kindred and they are full brothers.

Cesare: “and you, the great Elven King, my fated twin, are also born of kindred blood.”

[...]

(a truth he has tried to ignore revealed, Chloris felt dizzy. He closes his eyes tightly.)

(Translation: RavenBlue)

We also learn that the old Elven King was actually Chloris' (and Cesare's) uncle, not his father.

What if Cesare was lying? To tell you the truth, it is highly unlikely that that's the case. Firstly, even Chloris himself recognizes the truth that he was born from a kindred. Secondly, it's very uncommon for half-sibling twins of different parentage to occur, to the point where even fans were second guessing and wondering if this was really what the writers meant to imply. Thirdly, we now don't even have another candidate for Chloris' dad now that we know the king was his uncle and not his father. 

Does this make Chloris kindred, per se? Not really. He doesn't display any of the symptoms of being a kindred. The most likely explanation is that he just "didn't get the Kindred gene" while his fraternal twin Cesare did. 

How did Cesare fall to the bottom of the lake?

There are now three different versions of this, only one (the most recent one) which actually seems canon-compliant:

First Wind: The Elven King stabs Cesare with the Dawnblade; his body is later dropped in the bottom of the lake.

Jealous Phantom: Cesare was watching Chloris play the harp when his sadness and the light overwhelmed him and he toppled into the lake. (This one could be metaphorical, even though the metaphor doesn't match the other explanations.)

Moonless Voyage: The Elven King stabs Cesare with his own Dark Verdict; his body falls to the bottom of the lake. 

The most canon-compliant one is the Moonless Voyage one, which matches the other bits of interconnecting lore about how Nidhogg acquired the Dark Verdict.

Is Evelyn the mother of Chloris and Cesare/the Elven Queen?

This is a long one so buckle in. (Yes, I touched on this briefly in my last post.)

First of all, I want to reiterate that this was never explicitly stated anywhere. Evelyn was never called the queen and was never described as having children, and the Queen's name was never given. I still believe this is up to interpretation. So here, I'll just lay out all the evidence for both sides. Right now, I don't think it's possible to say one way or another.

Some of the evidence for this theory includes the following:

In Chloris' fourth Dreamweaver, Moon Night Poem, Chloris' mother is mentioned by Cesare. 

Duke Cesare: "He was so brave and fearless... even when all hope was lost, he refused to surrender, going so far as to put his life on the line. I simply obliged him... nothing more. That's typical of the forest elf, just like your mother."

This indicates that Chloris' mother had sacrificed her life or was self-sacrificing in some way. Of course, Evelyn is also well-known for her sacrifice, as she became the final seal of Shadow City, and her sacrifice is discussed throughout volume 2, chapter 4: 

Nikki: "Those Kindred and elven specters in the Shadow City... They longed for sunlight even they knew it would burn them. Evelyn wanted no bloodshed and she sacrificed herself for peace."

Does Cesare and Chloris' mother make a sacrifice? Well, it's said in Jealous Phantom that it's a very difficult decision for her to banish the Kindred, including her lover and Cesare, to Shadow City for the sake of the elves. That's the only thing I can think of that would qualify as a sacrifice. 

One potential hint that Evelyn could have been the queen is from this line from Flickering Pistill:

Evelyn guards the quiet Pigeon Forest. When she bleeds, the reflection of stars will turn to white flowers.

However, in my opinion this is pretty weak evidence because pretty much every forest elf is said to guard the forest (as stated in basically any Chloris dreamweaver you look at).

As well, their circumstances also seemed to line up. In the spirit items from Chloris' fourth dreamweaver, Destined Twins and Wake Up from Dream, it's stated: 

Every generation, elves will have 2 guardians who protect the Pigeon Forest in turn, a Sword and a Moon.

Chloris is the first guardian and Lakris didn't appear under the Life Tree till Elf Queen went missing.

We also know that Evelyn herself leaves Pigeon Forest to go to Shadow City forever and act as the seal. However, this is largely viewed as a choice (a "sacrifice") and Evelyn herself was willing to take this on. Again, it's really up to how you read it.

Here's the evidence against Evelyn being their mother:

In the most recent CN hell event (Moonless Voyage), we get confirmation that Helsin was the Lord of Kindred while Cesare was in the bottom of Lake Bovaly for nearly a thousand years. Now that Cesare has been woken up, Helsin is subservient to him. The story of Evelyn is mentioned to him, and he knows about it, but he simply does not care. It's explicitly stated that he has no interest and only cares about Helsin for her power.

Cesare’s Underling: “Ever since the seal of Shadow City was broken, Evelyn, who was previously imprisoned, disappeared. Since then, master Helsin’s desires became more and more cruel, and the backlash on her body became stronger and stronger…..”

(Cesare has heard of the struggle between Helsin and the elf she imprisoned. But he holds no interest in this. All he needs is Helsin’s power.)

(Translation: RavenBlue)

Cesare was told that his mother was dead (mentioned in both Jealous Phantom and Moonless Voyage). In the year 680, he also still seems to believe his mother sacrificed her life for something (see the quote from Chloris 4 I posted above). It's incredibly weird that he would show no interest in this development if she was his mother; it's displayed elsewhere in Moonless Voyage that he still showed interest in his mother even after she abandoned him. But it makes perfect sense narratively if Evelyn is not actually his mother and is just the self sacrificing elf of legends.

The next part is that the timeline does not line up. 

It makes much more sense if everything regarding Evelyn, and all of Blood Moon, happened after Cesare fell to the bottom of the lake.

The war between Kindred and Elves already seems to be over as described in Flickering Pistill, as Evelyn is "atoning" in part for the winners of the war.

Helsin is described as the Kindred Lord in Blood Lust, but we know from Jealous Phantom that Cesare inherited the position from his father. Considering we know Helsin was the one in power while Cesare was at the bottom of the lake, it only seems logically consistent that she would only obtain that title after he disappeared.

Lastly, there is simply no reason to not say so if Evelyn is Chloris and Cesare's mother. The story of Evelyn is well known in both Shadow City and Pigeon Forest, and even Cesare who has been asleep for a thousand years knows it. If Cesare knows they are the same, and a great deal of Kindred lore is told from Cesare's perspective and centered around his character development, I literally see no point in continuing to talk about both Evelyn and their mother and not just say they are the same. The same is also true for Chloris, who would also have heard of Evelyn. There is nobody left who cares about Chloris and Cesare's mother to reveal the plot point to. But LN definitely seems to be fond of pulling stunts like this, so it's still hard to say.

What about Wind's Whisper?

There is another character called Evelyn in Wind's Whisper. Evelyn is described as a tree spirit in this, and it distinguishes her from "Pigeon Elves" because she hibernates. However, after asking about the original Chinese text, I have learned that there was a word left out in our translation; Evelyn is a tree elf/spirit, but she hibernates unlike other Pigeon elves. 

The words for spirit and elf in Chinese are related, and it's possible that Evelyn is the same type of elf as Chloris even though it's written differently in Chinese. 

While I'm not really sure if the Evelyn from Wind's Whisper has anything to do with the rest of the story, it's a moot point to me because whether it does or doesn't, it doesn't add any additional understanding or insight.

Thank you to Athena, RavenBlue, and bamboo snek for clearing this up!

Translation Credits

RavenBlue#2752

for their wonderful and speedy translations of the new hell event stages

for their official Miraland timeline translation

As well to athena#2202 and bamboo snek#3897 for sharing and explaining the original Chinese meaning for parts where our translation got butchered! (Noted above)

[littlesailorinthesun]

fact or fiction #1

hello! I have seen a lot of discussion on various love nikki theories recently and I decided to rate them based on how plausible I personally think they are, as well as evaluating the evidence we currently have for them.

however keep in mind that I’m sort of the type of person who likes to get a feel for author’s intention (it helps when trying to read these botched translations). I still try to be as unbiased as possible though. still, the information below is my personal opinions!

Queen Nanari is the Lord / Shadow

★★★★☆ - easiest explanation

This was already commonly believed before Black White Puzzle ("tree of life lore") arrived on the English server, but when I read it through properly for the first time, my only thought was "wow, this is very blatant" - especially in the last few stages. I felt pretty confident that that was what the writers intended to get across. However, I was surprised to find that that was not a universal takeaway. 

For me, the crucial piece of evidence is that Neva has the same relationship with Nanari and with the Lord. She is blindingly loyal to them. She serves them both at the same time. She has sworn her life to both of them. How can she swear her life to both of them and serve them both at the same time with apparently no conflicting loyalties from either? Worth also mentioning the framing: Neva does not think of Nanari specifically during the whole event. "Nanari" is only mentioned during the event when you see the part from Royce's own memories.

Essentially this is something where I believe nearly every piece matches up, even beyond this. Weird foreshadowing about Nanari, dates and times and knowledge... the Kindred blood is basically the only thing about the Lord that does not link them to Nanari. I also need more explanation on the motivation here, but considering how many characters don't even canonically have motivations for things they do (Reid, I'm looking at you) this also isn't make or break. 

The Ancient Pavilion Designer is Xiao Zong

★★★★☆ +0.5 - easiest explanation

Like the one with Nanari, the evidence for this one lies largely in the relationship with another person: King Sayet. For a very long time in the story, it was indicated that the Ancient Pavilion Designer (APD) studied together with Sayet. Volume 2 Chapter 4, which came right before Nine-Night Tales chronologically, was later released, which named APD as Sayet's senior and described him as being cold and aloof. Then, Nine-Night Tales lore was released and - Xiao Zong is described as Sayet's senior, and the fandom collectively looked back and realized that XZ and APD stories lined up in more ways than one. 

Except the big thing: The Ancient Pavilion Designer died years ago.

Or did he?

Well, according to the Miraland Civilization Files book timeline (lore book), he did. But the book was apparently written by the curators of the Ark (time-and-dimension-traveling Shining Nikki construct thing), meaning even they may not have known (or bothered to investigate) the truth. (Meta reason: to keep us guessing). I actually consider the book to be more conclusive evidence, because it reveals something that wasn't stated in the main story - something they went out of their way to change:

In Fu Su's dreamweaver, Sayet dies and APD dies shortly after. You would normally assume this to happen in 672, since it doesn't mention how much time has passed. But the book went out of its way to name the year as 673 instead, which lines up exactly with when Xiao Zong decided to leave the Flower Field (that place where the Ancient Pavilion is) and run off with Mr. Interesting Zhu Yuxian.

So, the situations line up, but the reason I take half a point off this one are because of the huge leaps in logic you have to make to take these pieces and figure that Fu Su’s wise old mentor faked his death and is actually this pretty ruthless guy who literally murders people in cold blood. Still, this gets many points because it seems obvious this is what the writers are trying to say. 

Evelyn (Flickering Pistill) is the Elf Queen (Chloris & Cesare's Mother)

★★★☆☆ - could go either way

Truly one of the few theories where I genuinely have no idea what the writers are intending.

A little bit of background: Due to the prevalent lore chart that spread around many eons ago, it was stated that Evelyn (Flickering Pistill) = Evelyn (Wind's Whisper) = Chloris's Mother. Well... much time has passed and though whether FP and WW are the same character seems to just be up to interpretation (and translation) as it's doubtful that they will release anything else that references Wind's Whisper, new lore about both the Elf Queen and Evelyn is still being released, which carefully does not refer to them as the same person.

Most people don't really think there is a difference, but I encourage you to read lore without conflating the two if you're interested in the theory. Hahaha, just kidding I wouldn't wish reading elfkindred lore on anyone. I may make a post later about how much of it retcons itself, both in terms of events and in characters, because it’s been kicking my ass recently.

Noah is the Fantasy Envoy

★★☆☆☆ - it's not impossible but doubtful

I really used to think this one at a point in time. The points in favor of this one include: Concern over Fantasy Envoy's identity (Nikki and Momo seem to recognize him), Noah being a trickster/master of illusions, similar personalities, and sprites drawn using a similar looking face. They also both spent some time in Pigeon Forest, as well as in Lilith (Envoy because he's a traveller, Noah because I guess he was doing things for Cesare). 

However, the fact that Nikki and Momo seem to recognize him isn't actually evidence he is Noah (Bobo would recognize him, which she doesn't). It's actually an easter egg to Nikki 2 - where incidentally one of their friends Polo the detective dressed up as the a mysterious guy called the Fantasy Envoy, who is a guy on Earth too I suppose? 

Anyways, even though this one isn't total nonsense, I don't think this is the route they're going. Noah is an actual character and Envoy is... more and more just an eccentric weirdo. 

===

This is all I have energy to write tonight but I definitely intend to do more in the future. Other ones I have planned include Nikki as Hostess L, Fu Su’s bloodline, and some stuff that’s debunked that I just wanted to mention. If you want me to do any others, send me an ask and I will do my best!

[littlesailorinthesun]

Please bear with me while I work on other essays that are not meta-focused. I have like three in the works but they need more refinement :) Thanks to those who showed an interest in my posts!

Also, that new hell PV 👀

[littlesailorinthesun]

debunking

hi all. I would normally never make a post like this; however, as time has passed, I wanted to at least write it out for posterity. There is a blog/Facebook group/user that posts information about future and current events of the game, but also posts summaries of the story. It’s become apparent as information comes to our server that a lot of it is quite simply incorrect. As well, this user reposts a lot of fanart to their followers without any credit given whatsoever; these two issues are related. 

I realize this is pretty obvious to most of my readers, but again, this is for posterity, and for more casual lore readers. 

yes, this is about lovenikkispoilers / Love Nikki Spoilers & Lore / the user that goes by Scarlet.

I am not referring to information that was once thought to be true but was later proven false (however, the blog’s unwillingness to change or elaborate on these story summaries as we learn more information is a part of their spreading of misinformation). I am referring to information that was literally never true in the first place. 

why is there misinformation?

Though clearing up the misinformation is of course my priority here, while I sifted through it I identified several possible root causes:

Use of fancomics as official lore. This ties into the reposting art without permission or credit issue. They repost fancomics by popular Chinese fanartists and use these comics as part of their lore guides multiple times. Some of these comics were shared by the official Chinese weibo and/or qq site; however, the sharing of fanart does not make the events depicted in the fanart canon.

Adherence to popular fan theories. 

Mistranslations. I don’t know how else to explain the rest. I was not there when the guides were made. It is the only other thing I can think of.

what did they get wrong?

Here, I would like to break it down by guide. I’ll link to the relevant guides where applicable, but for the FB links, you will have to already be within the group to view them. 

FB S refers to the group Love Nikki Spoilers (4.6k members)

FB S&L refers to the group Love Nikki Dress-Up Queen Spoiler & Lore! (2k members)

T refers to Tumblr 

In refers to Instagram

4 Gods

FB S | FB S&L | T

The post begins with the text, “There are four people from the Cloud Kingdom all from different clans. Phoenix, Tiger, Turtle & Dragon.”

The post misunderstands the “battle” that the clan heads have every year. Rather than a battle in which they must fight each other, they have a friendly annual design competition. There is no position of high minister which they are competing for; Bai Yongxi is already the regent of Cloud. 

As well, they are not the chosen servants of any King. Some versions of the post (FB S | FB S&L) imply that this king is King Sayet; this is also not correct. Perhaps this misunderstands their origins: some of the clans helped one of the emperors come to power and were given their positions, but this occurred far before any of the current clan heads were born. The Ming clan was also not involved in this, and they have only been around for a hundred years due to their innovation. 

The second linked version of the post also claims that Ming Shuiyuan (the lady in green) is the King’s advisor; this is also not correct, as she is not either Bai Yongxi or Zhu Yuxian’s advisor (both of these men are referred to as King), nor the advisor of any other King.

This post also has a fancomic in it, which can be found here. The next section talks about it more in depth.

Sources: 4 Gods

Blood Curse

FB S&L | T

The post begins with the text, “Everyone in Miraland [is] under a curse.”

I believe a lot of the inaccuracies in this may be caused by one particular fancomic. It is called 奇迹暖暖NPC的奇妙日常 (Wonderful Daily Life of Miracle Nikki NPCs) and it is a fancomic posted on a fancomic website, including such scenes as Flynn/Shade turning into a cat. The chapter that is used in this particular guide is called 我爱你，再见 or “I love you, goodbye”, which depicts a meeting between a Louie and a deceased Lunar in the Flower Field. The guidemaker themself has posted an excerpt from the comic on Instagram and Facebook S&L (uncredited).

There is very little of this post that is true, and I don’t know where the other information comes from.

It indicates that people are naturally bound to participate in styling battles. This has never been stated in the story; instead, it’s stated in 15-9 that they set up the system of solving disputes via styling battles because of the blood curse. There’s also evidence for styling battles existing before the Blood Curse, and it was never even once stated that the blood curse compels people to have styling battles. (If you don’t know what the Blood Curse actually does, it causes pain for those that use force.)

It also states that Lunar knew how to stop the curse because she is the heir to a particular sword (likely referring to the Dual Nebula Swords in her first dreamweaver route), but she doesn’t stop the curse because she doesn’t want her family’s Silk Shop to lose its status. Because of this, according to the post, Lunar is targeted by Nidhogg and co, and Nidhogg kills her himself so that she doesn’t suffer too much. This is blatantly untrue and there is absolutely no evidence for this. It is a fan theory. We do not know why Lunar in particular was killed, and none of these motivations were ever stated in the story.

The next part is the information from the fancomic, which describes Louie going back and meeting up with Lunar in the Flower Field thanks to a “tip” from Nidhogg. A user asked about this tip on the Instagram post and never received a response.

The part about Louie’s side keeping him alive as long as he hates Nidhogg is also completely untrue and there is nothing at all in the story that indicates that.

Sources: 15-9, Millennium Dream (Lunar 1), Lotus and Begonia (Lunar 4)

Flynn & Orlando

FB S | FB S&L | T 

The post begins with the text, “Flynn & Orlando have known each other since they were young, they were close friends.”

We learn in Orlando’s fourth Dreamweaver that Shade’s sense of pain was most likely suppressed. Though it was only recently that this was released on our server, this Dreamweaver (like most of them) is actually years old and predates this guide. This is also alluded to in Louie’s first Dreamweaver, which claims that Morrison was the one to make it so that Shade transcends the Blood Curse.

However, the guide claims that Flynn cannot feel pain, while describing Flynn and Orlando’s school days. This isn’t true at all. It was only as Shade that he cannot feel pain. Orlando didn’t know about this before Shade told him in the year 680, which happens in Orlando’s fourth Dreamweaver. 

Secondly, though it’s less consequential, the guide misunderstands the storyline with Mr. Lancelot. Mr. Lancelot was Nina’s cat at first, and Orlando (and Flynn) looked after it for her. Orlando continued to look after Mr. Lancelot when he graduated and Nina left to become a designer. However, the guide claims the opposite, that Nina instead took care of Mr. Lancelot after the boys graduated the academy. 

The guide also misunderstands the White Blossom arc.

It claims that Reid and Kimi are “investigating” the banquet/auction showcasing White Blossom; this isn’t correct, because Kimi is investigating Reid, who is holding the auction himself. 

It claims that Kimi and Orlando tried to escape the auction together; this is untrue because there’s no indication Orlando was ever there in the first place (only Sofia, who he was working with).

It claims that Shade broke into the White Blossom Banquet, when he actually broke into the Apple Apparel Group’s headquarter office later that night (a whole chapter after they left the banquet).

Finally, the guide also states that “it’s strongly thought” that Flynn became a sniper to save his mother, even though there’s no canon evidence for this at all. Given everything else stated in the post (the memory loss, the ties to Morrison/Gray Raven) and other lore (such as Flynn’s death), it’s honestly pretty difficult to figure out how this conclusion was formed.

The guide also calls the Nameless Knights an “unknown Knight army” which seem to indicate that the lore was poorly translated or machine translated.

Sources: Lost Stars (Orlando 4), Nameless Knight (Louie 1), Cat and Yard (Orlando 3), Chapter 17, Chapter 18

Royce and Neva

FB S | FB S&L 

The post begins with the text, “At 6 years old, Hika was made bodyguard to Royce who was only 12 at the time.”

This post indicates in the guide itself that Royce’s true nature is evil, without explaining that it is only a theory, even though there is no concrete evidence that he is. The guidemaker never once goes back to say that Royce is not actually evil. Even though the context behind the picture was explained, they continue to post this guide through Sea of Trees’ arrival to the English server.

The post also indicates that, verbatim, “It is rumoured that Queen Nanari’s disappearance is due to Prince Royce poisoning her.” The phrasing makes it sound like this is rumored in universe, not by fans. In reality, there is no mention of poison, ever, anywhere and there is absolutely no evidence for this. Thankfully the fact that it’s just a fan theory was clarified in the comments.

Sources: Rose Kiss, Sea of Trees Black White Puzzle

Zhong Lizi being Gay

FB S 2019 | FB S 2020 | FB S&L | T

This isn’t from an official guide, but it was posted several times and it’s so blatantly false I couldn’t not address it. There is simply nothing to say about it except that it is not true, it has never happened, and if you look at the way he and Bai Jinjin interact, it is obvious. 

According to the guidemaker, Bai Yongxi and Zhong Lizi (you know, Bai Jinjin’s boyfriend) are secretly in love with each other and are having an affair. Also, according to this, Bai Jinjin and Zhong Lizi are cousins (???).

The source given (in the 2020 link) was that it was from an old event on the Chinese server that somehow slipped the gay stuff past the censors. It’s also old so nobody brings it up much. However, the name of this event was not given, nor pictures of the suits. Given that nobody I’ve talked to has ever heard of this event or read anything like this, I really think this one’s not true.

Additional Guides

I don’t have the time to hyperanalyze every single part of these guides, but here are some other issues:

Nidhogg & Yvette (FB S | FB S&L | T) - Uses uncredited fanart and passes it off as real lore. (Sources: carrying to bed, fireworks)

Mr. Lancelot (FB S&L) - Uses uncredited fanart.

Peachy & Gray Raven (FB S&L | T | In) - Uses uncredited fanart.

Eternal Firefly & Porch of Misty (FB S&L) - Uses uncredited fan(?)art (it was posted on the official Weibo); it’s also blatantly made up.

reposted fanart

I already explained why the fanart is an issue, but another issue is that it is completely uncredited (writing “Fanart” is NOT credit, though it’s better than trying to pass it off as canon lore). There are many good explanations of why artists do not like other people reposting their fanart, but all I’ll say is that the guidemaker knows that stealing is wrong - just look at any post they’ve made, which asks others not to repost/screenshot their guides.

Anyways, besides the stuff from above, here’s some fanart that was posted alone. For the sake of keeping this section (and the post overall) short, I made an imgur album, and instead of posting the images here I will simply write a short description of the art in order. 

Bai Yongxi and Yue Qianshuang under moon Artist: 八里个两 Source: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4130299903982007

Ming Shuiyuan and Zhu Yuxian under moon Artist: 八里个两 Source: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4128109814801213

Zhu Yuxian and Ming Shuiyuan Artist: 司徒溟泠_花姨 Source: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4065374758688196

Louie and Lunar’s spirit Artist: 司徒溟泠_花姨 Source: https://m.weibo.cn/status/Fxt2qpBU4

Lunar and Louie in the rain Artist: 司徒溟泠_花姨 Source: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4014632966928413

I tried to source everything but unfortunately some I could not. However, hopefully this and the sources in the above section show the overall trend well enough.

can this change?

Yes. If the owner of these guides is reading this, please know I understand you are just trying to spread the story to others, and the guides that are accurate are a great way of doing that. Additionally, it is not a crime to be wrong. We have all been wrong before, and there is a lot of story to read, and even more to keep caught up on.

However, it’s irresponsible to type “boost” under your guides every so often without fixing the errors, responding to questions, or clarifying anything that has changed. You are spreading blatant headcanons and fanfiction and people believe you. At the very least, please issue corrections for your content that is untrue. 

It’s also incredibly disrespectful to the original artists, who created art themselves, to repost their art without crediting them. If you can’t find the source, then you shouldn’t post it. 

credits

Thank you to all my friends who helped me fact check this and compare it with information from the Chinese server. We genuinely have a love for this story and the lore, and seeing misinformation spread to so many thousands of people can be quite frustrating. 

For casual or new lore readers, it's hard to disprove something like this without reading the entire story. I decided to do this because I realized that casual lore readers (the target audience of the guides) can’t be expected to figure out everything that’s wrong by themselves. I hope the fancomics I linked and the specific stages that disagree with the lore guides can help anyone reading this verify the truth for themselves. 

[littlesailorinthesun]

Sorry if this is sudden but I've just found this blog and I love it. In your latest post, you've said that you received the lore file book and I wonder if you could share the ages of the characters who doesn't have a confirmed age yet. I'm curious about them.

Hi there! Thank you so much! Sorry for the late reply (actually I don’t check tumblr often so I don’t know if it’s late or not haha). While there are short “profiles” for most of the characters, they don’t all have ages given; most of them just have a little summary. The only characters that have new information regarding their ages are:

Ace: age 22, born 3/28

Nidhogg: age 28, born 12/22

Xiao Zong: age unknown, born 2/28

Cesare: age unknown, born 8/24 [just like Chloris]

Momo: age secret, born 7/25

Sayet: born year 583 [listed in timeline, not in his profile]

So characters like Neva, Mayor, Starlet, Noah, Zhu Ruosheng etc do not have any age information written next to them~

Of course some of this “new information” that I just listed is just that ages are “confirmed to be unconfirmed” ok writers lolol

[littlesailorinthesun]

retcons, the timeline, and shining nikki

I recently received the Lore Files book, and though it’s in Chinese, a few friends of mine have helped me dig through it. If you aren’t aware, the book is a 2020 release: an official compendium of lore as well as an artbook. It’s only available in Chinese, but it is what it is; at least I don’t have to concern myself with bad translation this way. 

This post is less of an essay and more of a rant, for what it’s worth. But to those who like the story as much as I do, perhaps you’ll find it interesting as well. 

The lore book is... comprehensive.

It’s interesting what it decided to go into detail on, and what it decided not to. Many characters had about as much information as you could glean from their first story appearance and did not go into further detail, such as the Mayor and Starlet. Some were surprisingly more elaborate.

It answered some questions, though not as many as I would have wanted. As was implied before but never directly stated (my nemesis), Bobo is the descendant of the True King, aka the “Lightbringer” - an unofficial translation, but apparently pretty true to the literal meaning. What’s more, even more information was given about this mysterious figure, such as his real name, exactly when he lived and died, and a few more specifics about his life. 

However, it didn’t confirm many popular implied-but-never-directly-stated fan theories (a topic I hope to elaborate on later on this blog). It did give a couple of shreds of evidence that supported them. But I’m sort of a person that likes solid proof, if you understand what I mean? That’s why I take so much care to write when something is unconfirmed.

New information

Some more information it gave contradicted some older information. One of which I’m a little sensitive to is regarding Ace. She was previously listed as a Sagittarius on a Weibo post, and a little-known (I think?) fact is that this information was reflected in-game during the Brave New World event! In the pavilion screen, each character (Bobo, Lunar, Kimi, and Ace) had a constellation next to them that corresponded with their canonical zodiac, so there were multiple pieces of evidence indicating Ace’s zodiac. However, her new zodiac is Aries with a birthday of March 28. It also contradicted her height and made her seven (!!!) centimeters shorter than her previously-stated height (167cm -> 160cm). 

Other characters with new birthday information given were Xiao Zong, Nidhogg, and (I guess) Cesare. (We could have assumed Cesare’s birthday was the same as Chloris’ before, but it’s nice to have confirmation.) While the book gave us Nidhogg’s age (28), it did not directly state Xiao Zong’s in his profile. However, a glimpse into the timeline at the back of the book showed us Sayet’s year of birth, and Sayet is canonically older than Xiao Zong. The only thing is, Sayet would be ninety-seven were he still alive today. Xiao Zong being younger than 97 feels, frankly, absurd to me, considering this is a man who apparently lived so long he got bored with life. It’s also possible that he lied to Sayet about his age. But this is all we have to go on!

What about Shining Nikki?

At first glance, this book seems to be a shockingly unifying force that marries Love Nikki lore and Shining Nikki lore. Spoilers for the ending of Love Nikki, but we learn in the very first chapter of Shining Nikki that Nikki saw Lierlide, a god-like edgy handsome white-haired boye (let me thirst okay), destroy all of Miraland and that’s basically why she’s not in 680 anymore. 

Well, the book has several pages with pictures of Lierlide and the Ark, and even an explanation of what the Ark is. That’s pretty cool. 

But then you flip to the timeline at the end of the book, and you’re left scratching your head. 

Shining Nikki has a detailed account of the Apple independence war, set years before the main story, but the timeline writes that Apple gained independence in 147 New Era after an uprising against colonial rule - two very different dates given. 

It also writes that the Mercury Bank was established in 478 New Era, which is even more absurd. Even just a glimpse into SN lore will show you that Mercury is already a major financial presence. (You can even see one of their buildings in this recently-released PV!)

Finally, the last thing that was not in the lore book (from what I’ve seen), but was released at the same time as the book was released, is a post that claims, among other things, that the first computer in Miraland was created in year 556. Given that we see actual computers in Shining Nikki as well as a host of other technology, even social media, I don’t think these two facts are reconcilable.  

So are they trying to be compliant with Shining Nikki or???

Resolving the gaps

How does one resolve these inconsistencies in the timeline? It seems that they’re trying to do just that by claiming that, around the time of Shining Nikki, everyone entered an extended shared dream. This shared dream also included advanced technology and, to an extent, influenced the world afterwards. Information about the dream was written both in the post linked above as well as in the book. It feels like what they are trying to insinuate is that that shared dream is Shining Nikki.

However, this was never stated! The only things we know is that the dream and Shining Nikki were said to happen at the same year. The shared dream occurrence is meant to be an explanation for why they started their calendar over, NOT an explanation for Shining Nikki. As I understand it, they don’t actually have an explanation in Shining Nikki, and from what I’ve seen, only Nikki has called it “year 0″ there. I don’t know what calendar system they currently think they’re using. Please feel free to correct me if you know more, though.

Even this feels shaky, though, when you try to think about how long this dream would have lasted if every piece of information given in Shining Nikki that contradicts this timeline was included. Mercury (the man) is over a hundred years old, and he’s not the only ridiculously old person who has memories stretching back years. Would people have been born inside the dream, like the eighteen-year-old Haizhe who is strongly implied to be an ancestor of Kimi’s? 

It feels like they could have easily just not included these contradictory things in the timeline. It is not like the writers of this book didn’t know about Shining Nikki’s existence, as the entire book opens with it. So it seems likely that they are doing it on purpose to fuel the theory that Shining Nikki happened, but it happened in a dream-world, and the progress they made was lost when everyone woke up. If this is true, I’m guessing the meta-reason for doing this would be so that SN could do whatever it wanted with the plot and still have it be an enjoyable experience.

But remember, it's all just a theory, a game theory

I’d like to stress again that this is still only a theory and that not every piece of evidence holds up. However, it’s something I’ve been throwing around in my head, and receiving my copy of the book and going through it brought it back to the forefront of my mind.

It’s also pretty clear that considering the book retconned other previously-stated facts, perhaps this is just yet another mistake, and they aren’t that familiar with Shining Nikki after all beyond how LN is meant to end. Or perhaps they decided on purpose to only join the two stories with LN at the end and SN at the beginning, and beyond that each story was free to include its own lore without having to confirm each individual detail with the other, which sounds like it might make logistical sense. I don’t know the full story regarding who writes what, to be honest, so this is just me throwing things at the wall and hoping they stick. 

Finally, as pretty much all of this information I just wrote about was never officially translated to English, I’d like to thank the amazing translators of this fandom who have provided us with so much valuable information from both Love Nikki and Shining Nikki. Being able to read the text as translated by someone who understands the story is incredibly valuable. The things I wrote about are not based on Google Translate in case that is a concern. But I’m liable to mistakes like any other human, so let me know if I misspoke.

[littlesailorinthesun]

plot twists: why the main chapters of love nikki suffer

When content is released one bit at a time, sacrifices must be made to keep the reader interested. Sadly, this interferes with the overall plot arc of the story, and the main chapters - one of the most accessible ways to experience the lore - fall victim to that with every chapter. While writing some of my other essays, I realized a lot of failings in the story can be traced back to this phenomenon.

Think about your favorite stage of the main chapters. Not your favorite chapter, but - which stage is the most exciting? Which stage tells you the most about your favorite character? Chances are, you probably chose one at the end of a chapter.

AKA: A stage where all the plot happens. 

But I’m actually here to point out that these concentrated stages where a ton of shit goes down are not good for the story. When you stick a scene packed with excitement at the end of every chapter, things move and change far too quickly, and you’re stuck reeling at the end, wondering what the hell just happened?

If you’re a little rusty on the main story, here’s a recap:

Chapter 3: Oh my god! Lisa was the phantom thief all along! (except she wasn’t)

Chapter 5: Oh no! Something bad just happened for literally no reason and the Iron Rose might be up to something! (except maybe it wasn’t them)

Chapter 6: Oh my god! Fu Su was the Ancient Pavilion Designer’s disciple and the Designer himself is dead! (except maybe he’s actually not)

Chapter 7: Oh no! We just recycled the entire plot from the first half of Chapter 5 and decided to just reuse it without really developing the characters but basically Bai Jinjin is still in trouble! (except it doesn’t matter because she goes back to return to her father later of her own volition)

Chapter 8: Oh my god! The Mayor isn’t evil after all and actually she was working with Lunar and Lunar’s mom and Lunar wasn’t actually kidnapped!

Chapter 11: Oh no! There’s a rebellion going on and something might have happened to Nanari! (except actually if theories are correct, she was probably fine the whole time since she continued to act as the Lord and idk what even happened here)

Chapter 12: Oh my god! Nikki is the chosen one and she needs to find this thing called the Miracle Scroll! (except she doesn’t really because they just fucking ditched the whole plot)

Chapter 13: Oh my god! Ransa, who did a bunch of evil things, is part of the Iron Rose, the organization that does all these evil things! (except Ransa is wiped clear of all these sins later and made into an ally with no apologies or excuses)

Chapter 14: Oh no! Lunar is in trouble!

Chapter 15: Oh no! Nidhogg killed Lunar! Oh my god! There’s a Blood Curse!?!?

Chapter 16: Oh no! Kimi’s father is in trouble and things are dangerous! (except he wasn’t in trouble)

Chapter 17: Oh my god! Reid kissed Kimi to hide her face! (except actually he’s evil and was probably doing it to distract her) Oh no! The White Blossom was stolen by Sofia! (except it’s okay because she’s on our side)

Chapter 18: Oh my god! Shade is Flynn! Oh no! Reid is evil! Oh no! Charles died! (except it doesn’t matter because nobody really cares after this)

Chapter 19: Oh no! Nidhogg just tried to kill Nikki!

V2 Chapter 1: Oh no! Queen Elle caught Nikki!

V2 Chapter 2: Oh my god! Ace is Elle’s sister and Nikki is gonna reform the Iron Rose!

V2 Chapter 3: Oh no! Cesare just bit Chloris and sent him into a coma!

Okay, not passing judgement, good or bad, on these as a whole. Some of them I really like and I think the moments are good! I also think they’ve gotten a lot better at spacing out the action and building up to it in the newer chapters.

But look. Not only did they put in all these plot twists and exciting moments, they essentially went back on a ton of them, retconning the meaning and some of the emotional impact of the twists, often off-screen from the main chapters. It’s like they put things in just to shock the readers, and change it later when it’s convenient. I think some of them are still good, sometimes because they deliver the wrong message at the time you read it.

However, when you put it all together, the story becomes really, really messy.

It helps that they divide things up into arcs, but sometimes it’s still not enough. The White Blossom arc is the worst about this because trying to keep track of each character’s motivation and knowledge at every given point in time is really difficult. Everyone is just running around double-crossing each other and lying and disguising and - 

a lot of it ends up just being infodumped at the end of the chapter, with a nice serving of plot twists just to confuse you even more. 

My second point, beyond this entire concept of the awkward, forced pacing being difficult to take in, is that the progression and development of the characters is directly affected. There’s this thing called the Sliding Scale of Plot vs Characters. It’s a lot harder to put subtle character development into a part of the story that is forced to stuff a lot of plot into one short set of scenes to keep the reader interested before the next chapter comes out. 

In a way, Nikki’s dreamweaver compensates for that! I think many of us were probably disappointed when we first read it, because it’s a plot recap. But it’s actually the exact opposite of that: It’s the character side of the sliding scale rather than the plot. It’s looking through this messy-ass plot with a fresh lens, to see exactly how Nikki changed and developed through it. So if you haven’t thought of it like that, I do suggest you go read it with that in mind.

Anyways, this is why I’m actually glad they have started to put a lot of story progression into hell events.

The event lore is much easier to take in, and they can literally present it in any way they want. A narrative, written story that’s not interspersed with pointless dialogue and Momo begging for grilled fish? Done. A Dreamweaver-like set of stages? Sure. A weird ass puzzle game? Why not. The suits themselves? Nothing wrong with that!

What’s more: it doesn’t always have to have a plot twist. The stories of the story suits, while being really good reads, don’t necessarily have an action-packed scene at the end unless it’s actually important. And when there is a scene like that, such as in Brave New World, they can actually take their sweet time building up to it while developing the characters. 

Love Nikki is a character-driven story, but the main chapters are basically forced to be a plot-driven story. They have to tell the majority of those chapters through Nikki’s perspective, so the focus on individual characters goes away, and that’s why they move to Dreamweaver and suit narratives to give the really interesting stuff.

[littlesailorinthesun]

improving chapter 8: a meta look at lunar’s character

An older post, originally written in October 2019, that I think still holds water. Forgive the more informal writing style!

I have been somewhat critical of Chapter 8 Mysterious Moonlit City before, with my primary concern being that, in my opinion, it "doesn't advance the plot". Why is this? Well, here is a brief summary of why Chapter 8 exists.

In Chapter 7, Lunar finds out that something is "up" with the Silk Shop. She rushes off to Moonlit City, and at the end of 7, Nikki and her friends decide to follow her to find out what is going on. Once they reach Moonlit City, they discover that Lunar has been KIDNAPPED (!!!), her family's store ROBBED (!!!), and the Mayor is acting weird. Well, actually, it was all a ruse the whole time and the Mayor and Lunar were just PRETENDING that all of those things happened to deceive Mela. In reality, all the good stuff was hidden.

Why do I hate this? Because honestly, Nikki has no part in any of it. She affects nothing and by the end of the chapter, everything is as it is, with nothing lost, nothing gained. We don't even get to see Mela's reaction by the end, it is all essentially forgotten in the story after this.

However, some good things happen in this chapter. We meet Orlando for the first time! And he also gives us some insight into the Phantom Thief family, Lisa, and even the Lilith government. Also, we actually run into Lisa as well. And finally, the plot left from Chapter 3 is resolved.

However, I have my own issues with Chapter 2-3's plot: it concludes while giving the reader the wrong impression about what happened. For so many readers that stopped reading early, they never realize what actually happened at the Cicia Theater. I would definitely somehow move this section of Chapter 8 to Chapter 3. In fact, here is one possibility showing how those two chapters could go.

Chapter 2: Nikki and co go to attend the play in Cicia, Candy Witch and Star Sea. However, they are being plagued by the looming threat of the PT family. During the live performance, the dress is stolen, but Nikki and co apprehend the "thief" Lisa and retrieve the dress. (basically current Chapters 2 and 3 smushed into one)

Chapter 3: For the remaining performances, Orlando is sent by Nidhogg to be the backup theater manager, and he meets Nikki and co. Dress up shenanigans ensue. At the end of the chapter, they have an encounter with Lisa where they find out the truth behind the cover up (which currently takes place in 8-S2).

Okay, so now that that Lisa part out of Chapter 8, what about the rest?

I understand why they included this chapter, actually. They need to show some of Lunar's life in order to make us care about her before she's killed. So I fully support going to Moonlit City, meeting the Mayor and seeing the Silk Shop. However, I don't understand the need to have the action begin before Nikki gets there. Bobo is not even the one who suggests they follow Lunar to Moonlit City - it's Lu Yinian! (So it is not actually because of Bobo's mission to involve Nikki in Miraland's conflict.)

So here is just one way this chapter could have been structured:

Lunar stays with Nikki and her friends during Chapter 7. In my head, I also have this ideal Chapter 7, in which Bai Yongxi comes after Bai Jinjin instead of another boring assassin everyone’s already forgotten about. (I may make another post about this.)

At the end, Lunar invites them to Moonlit City with her to show them her home, the silk shop, and of course the famous Cloud Calico.

They get there and oh no! They've just received word that Mela is going to ransack the city for their goods!

Lunar comes up with the idea of cooperating with the Mayor, and Nikki actually helps them carry out this plan, preferably by coming with them to help convince the Mayor.

They talk to Mela briefly, who is convinced she's bringing back the most high quality spices and silk to Elle. Potentially, add in an "oh no, we need to get to the Fantasy Styling Contest because Elle might strike back when she finds out what we've done!" prompting them to leave Moonlit City.

This fixes the "Nikki does nothing" dilemma, and even though on the surface everything did end up mostly the same as in the first scenario, you can see the story progression better. What’s more, it has much better character building moments for Lunar since she's actually there.

It's nice and all that they are worried about Lunar in the current Chapter 8, but it feels like sometimes all they do is worry about her, when in fact she was a very capable designer and strategist, and has been since her adolescence. Lunar’s actions weren't changed - we just get to see them better instead of another crappy infodump at the end of the chapter.

Incidentally, this is another weakness with the story writing I absolutely loathe. Can you even count how many chapters have the plot of "you think it's like this, but in the end you find out it's like this, and they dump all the information to you in the last stage!" Even one of my favorite chapters, Chapter 6, is basically this - though in my opinion it is a lot better foreshadowed, as Nikki and co suspected "The Truth" several stages before "The Truth".

I may make more posts about chapter structure later. I know, riveting topic. I hope you enjoyed this one!

[littlesailorinthesun]

manifesto no. 790: why nikki/bobo is the best ship

(Author’s note: The title is in jest. It’s just for fun!)

In this essay I will explore the appeal of why Nikki/Bobo is actually the most narratively interesting ship you could choose for Nikki and for Bobo. Note that I don't intend to bash other ships or cause ship wars, because if you know me, you know that I am a multishipper and I support and enjoy ships like Nikkimi. I just want to explain why I personally like Nikbo and why it is the most interesting one to me as it exists in canon. Also note that because of the way I experience "ships", romantic ships and platonic ships have a very blurred and sometimes nonexistent line for me. 

Shared Experiences

Not only do Nikki and Bobo first meet at the very beginning of the story, they spend nearly 100% of Volume 1 together, and all of Nikki's moments in Miraland as she learns about the world and forms impressions are spent with Bobo. Because of this shared time together at the beginning of the game, a lot of base game items and early events also have interaction between them, outside of what you see in the main story. By and large, they spend their happiest moments together. (There are way too many of these moments to list! Thank you, writers, for all the wonderful interactions.)

Of course, they also go through low points together. The rebellion in Chapter 12 was one of the few times they were separated before Bobo's eventual departure, and Nikki refused to leave Royal City with Ace until both Bobo and Momo were back with her. Bobo went from uncontrollable crying in V1:12-2 to feeling entirely certain that Nikki would be able to get them out of the mess by V1:12-7. (After all, she's Nikki's biggest fangirl!) The opposite happens in V1:15-9, when it's Nikki who's crying and Bobo giving her the strength to get up and fight. Despite that this was likely part of Bobo's mission, she makes sure to ask if Nikki's okay after Nidhogg defeats her for the first time. Neither situation actually involves much comforting, but they are both there for each other during those moments. 

Relationship Arc

To me this is what makes the ship very interesting. Nikki and Bobo do not have a static relationship. It's something that morphs and changes and develops as the story goes on. We all know the feeling of discovering that Bobo and Nikki's meeting was not a coincidence at all and that she was actually ordered to befriend Nikki! But beyond this we also know that Bobo realized quickly into her mission that she actually really did like Nikki, which is a driving force in Bobo's storyline. Without her genuine affection for Nikki, I think her story would have actually been very different.

On Nikki's side of things, she had her faith in Bobo tested in V1:19-5 when it was suggested that Bobo might have been putting Nikki in danger on purpose. Of course, this wasn't far from the truth given Bobo's mission, though we don't know if every instance brought up (like Bobo tripping in the League Till outpost) was on purpose. But Nikki is so loyal to Bobo that she refuses to believe that she could have done anything like that. Reflecting on the matter in her dreamweaver The Girl's Decision, she says to herself, "Maybe you have your own difficulties, but I have always believed in you. You are my best friend on the Miraland. Your sincere wishes and dear heart, I have never doubted them." She also realizes then that she did not know how much she would miss Bobo until she was gone, which I think is important for contextualizing some of the earlier chapters.

We see their "low point" in the relationship at the end of Sunflower in Long Night, when the True King, who has been successfully manipulating Bobo for what seems like a while, forbids her from reuniting with Nikki who is actively searching her out. Paralyzed, she listens as Nikki leaves, and wonders to herself if that was the last chance she'd get, to which the True King responds, in the most ominous and chilling line to end a Dreamweaver ever, "You're right. There's no turning back." 

Nikki does eventually find out the truth in Brave New World, but by then she's seen the turmoil Bobo's been going through, and assures her that even if her goals were false, their time together was not, and that her memories were proof of their true and real connection. Their bond of shared experiences was so true that even the lies could not break it - even if it could shake it.

Personally, I just find it more interesting when the ships have, like, literally anything that might stand between them. The deception in this - even if it's a double layered deception where Bobo was only deceiving Nikki because she herself was being deceived - is a fun dynamic to me. They formed their relationship despite the factors that worked against them, Bobo's conflicting motivations and Nikki's being kept in the dark. In a story where many of Nikki's relationships just happen because she ran into them on the street, this is a really refreshing relationship: a dynamic story underlied by a beautifully simple bond.

Mutual Desire to Protect

Both characters are marked by their overwhelming desire to protect each other. It is natural that Nikki wants to protect Bobo. Nikki sees her at her absolute weakest, disappearing right before her eyes in the Cloud Realm due to her uncertain status in the real world. Of course, that's what prompts Nikki to make that promise that the writers will totally make her follow through on, because they would never ignore a plot detail involving a major character: "Bobo... I will find you... I won't leave you anymore, I will face everything with you. Wait for me."

But it's also very important that Bobo wants to protect Nikki just as much. Immediately after leaving Nikki, she's already worried about her, thinking: "Nikki, how are you doing? Are you safe now? Have you found any new clues? I'm sorry I didn't protect you." (This actually reminds me a lot of how Orlando will address Flynn while talking to himself.) She's put in an even more precarious situation because she was meant to involve Nikki in the disputes of the world, which inevitably meant that Nikki was put into danger, over and over.

In my point of view, I think this is why Bobo left. It's canon, as stated in Daymare Fairy Tale, that the gun was what caused her to leave, because it caused her to "wake from her dream" (presumably referring to the good times with Nikki). However, the specifics of this are where I lean into theoryville. I think Bobo did mean to trip in V1:19-4 and that's what caused her to realize her actions crossed a line. A gun was pointed at her - and, presumably, at the nearby Nikki - and she realized she could not protect Nikki and involve her in disputes at the same time. She could not complete her mission. There's another more personal reason she could have decided to leave, and that would be that the sight of a gun pointed at her brought up the trauma from the events surrounding the death of her father. Regardless, I don't think either interpretation - that it was related to endangering Nikki or that it was related to her personal trauma - is wrong, but rather, it is easy to read more into it than what's stated so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Their desire to protect each other continues into Brave New World, both the day and the night sections. Really, these two are basically in an endless "no let me protect u" battle. Bobo breaks through the possession of the True King twice, once in Day and once in Night. Both times, she tells Nikki to run, to leave Miraland and herself, so that at least she can be safe. Both times, Nikki responds by telling her she isn't going anywhere: "No matter what you want to do, I will be with you. [...] I choose to stay here to protect the Miraland and keep everyone's dreams and future, to also keep our precious memories. I will not let you face this all alone. Trust me!" Eventually Bobo does accept this and tells Nikki that she trusts her to protect her. I can't wait for Nikki to make good on that promise and find her!

Personalities, Compatibility, and Character Analysis

I realize I have not touched on why their personalities work together, so here are some thoughts on them as individuals. (I will lean into hypotheticals and headcanons here.)

I see Bobo as someone who indulges too much in escapism. She likes to pretend things are okay when they really, really aren't. We see a bit of this when she refuses to believe Nidhogg could have betrayed Lilith in Chapter 12, and of course it's sort of... the entire thing about why she spends so much time gallivanting around with Nikki. After this she's pretty much forced to understand and accept the realities of the world all at once, and I think this is a major component of her character development. Nikki is both a source of her escapism and the entire reason why it comes crashing down. I think, in a hypothetical post-canon context, Nikki could still be that type of person who could help distract Bobo from things for a while (because god knows that girl needs some comfort).

At the same time, just due to Nikki's nature, she wouldn't let Bobo wallow too much in the past. Nikki believes strongly in moving on and becoming the best version of herself. This is a theme mentioned in her most recent birthday suit, Sparkling Cupcake. More personally, she reflects on it in her dreamweaver. She recognizes that she used to be a passive person and vows to change that in order to better protect the people she loves. So I know she would also do her best to help Bobo, because that's just who Nikki is.

As I think about Nikki's main goals and motivations beyond this, I keep seeing one theme pop up over and over: she places a strong value on happy memories. (Really, I cannot overstate this - she talks about it all the time.) She treasures her memories of Miraland more than anything, so much that she is willing to face its impending destruction, because they mean so much to her. These memories are something crucial she and Bobo already share. It's why I think she would find true happiness with Bobo.

(I will also touch on the obvious things here, albeit briefly: they have shared interests, like cuteness, the color pink, and romance, and they... uh... quite obviously get along.)

Comparison to Nikkimi

Really, like I said, this is not an attempt to bash or put down any ship. Nikkimi is great (and canon), but there are a few things that frustrate me:

Their relationship is largely focused on Kimi, not Nikki. Nikki is the one who comforts and supports Kimi on her journey, and Kimi is not there for most of Nikki's moments of weakness, nor does she accompany her on her journey. Kimi doesn't even know Nikki isn't from Miraland until... the very last stage of Volume 1, 19-SS3.

They get together quickly and stay together with no major interpersonal challenges. While yes, this is definitely ideal in real life, it's just not that narratively interesting.

Concluding Thoughts

If there is anything that marks the earlier chapters, it's Bobo's sadness over still being single. Yet, I love the trope of when someone didn't realize the person they were looking for... was with them the whole time!

Bobo has so many countless lines where she is fangirling over Nikki that it is very easy to read more into that. I think people ship her and Kaja for this reason but oh my god there are just as many if not more where she is Nikki's cheerleader, constantly complimenting her and hyping her up to the people she meets (just open Dreamweaver for this).

And even if you still prefer Nikkimi, Bobo having unrequited feelings for Nikki is also pretty fun.