having thoughts about the dark knight questline in Final Fantasy 14 again.
The Darkness in your Heart comes to you and says
"You don't have to put up with this."
it says
"Life is hard and it hurts and the things you do to survive weigh on you. Good. They should. This is *hard* don't pretend like it isn't."
The Darkness in your Heart comes to you and says
"We give up so much to protect what we care about. Let us care about Ourselves. Let *me* care about *you*. Let me *protect* you."
it says
"I love you. I love you. I love you. I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you."
Some Dark Knight Headcanons (Because This Job Gives Me Brainworms)
Yes I know this isn't art related but where else will I put this. Headcanons are creativity related right?
It's established that the darkness that Dark Knights tap into to power their attacks and wards is emotional power, both positive and negative, but for most it's based on negative emotions. Rage, vengeance, despair...but also love, passion, and hope. It's why the oath to protect the weak and be a voice to the voiceless is so important; it reminds a DRK of why they're fighting, why they're filled with these emotions, and gives them direction. Makes the darkness a tool, not something that consumes. Otherwise they simply become puppets of their own hidden "darkness", the parts of themselves they hide away, the emotions they normally keep in check.
Darkness is a force that attracts a lot of downtrodden and traumatized people, because it promises an easy way out of their situations. It's easier to lash out or bottle up than face one's demons with maturity and heal.
Dipping into one's darkness is perfectly okay, natural even. It's what gives Dark Knights the grit (or the Grit) to defend their allies and their charges. When a Dark Knight dives too much into their darkness though, it can start to warp their aether and their mind, causing them to be wholly "aspected" towards the emotion they're drawing on to steel themselves. Dig further, and they become consumed by their darkness.
e.g A Dark Knight who draws upon rage and vengeance from his darkness, will get closer to losing control of his temper and logic in favour of pure brute force if he's starting to draw too deeply of his darkness, and once he's consumed, he becomes truly uncontrollable, seeing everyone around him as a foe. A DRK who's main drawing emotion is calm might end up becoming completely cold and remorseless towards any kind of mercy as they draw too much on their darkness, and once consumed, they end up as an emotionless force hellbent on exacting the precise amount of agony they see fit on their enemies, dehumanizing them.
If someone is so consumed by their darkness that they almost completely lose their sense of self, they may end up being warped into something akin to a Blasphemy (due to the similarities between darkness and dynamis). This is usually very rare, but it can happen to anyone, not just DRKs. Rumour has it that there's a certain minor noble family in Ishgard who documented cases of these benighted individuals.
Communions
Dark Knight communions are essentially like group therapy sessions (or pair therapy sessions, considering how few and far between actual DRKs are). DRKs dive into each others' darknesses, witnessing memories and traumas and analysing any triggers for certain emotions that would control the darkness, analysing why they feel those emotions and how to direct them productively, as well as affirming their oaths and vows to each other as brethren in the shadow. Among other things. It helps regulate the often turbulent emotions that come with consorting with darkness, and thus provide better control or even deeper access to its powers.
It's highly advised, especially at the start of your journey, to commune with another (or multiple) DRK so that they can serve as anchors and impartial third parties in your dive into your darkness. Unless you're a senior DRK who's got impeccable self awareness and understanding of your own self and emotions, it's highly not recommended to commune with yourself, as it risks damaging your mind even further, and you wouldn't be able to fully see your own emotions and memories objectively.
The other DRK can also share parts of their own wellspring of darkness with you, in order to strengthen your wellspring or remind you of their feelings and how you can feel them and utilize them too.
Yes, this means there's a lot of DRKs kneeling in a circle meditating and pondering their feelings. Not very edgy, but good for the soul. Most of the time.
A common config is Recipient (who initiates the communion and needs the support), Mentor (who is the one analyzing the Recipient's memories and emotions), and Anchor (a third party who ensures the other two remain stable while handling the darkness, and can terminate the communion if things go wrong)
Tools of the Trade
Living Dead works by gradually lowering and eventually shutting off the user's senses, as well as lowering their heart beat to the bare minimum needed to sustain life. Once the user takes lethal damage, their life signs completely shut off and their darkness/darkside completely takes over and runs the body for a few precious seconds. Since you're essentially pure consuming darkness wearing a meat costume at this point (the "Walking Dead" phase), pain no longer affects you and the darkness will go into overdrive absorbing aether from your foes to restore the lifeforce you lost (though a friendly healer with a fast spell-spitting tongue also helps). After the "Walking Dead" period, your darkness has to let go of control of the body so you don't suffer deleterious effects from being without vital signs. Here's the deciding point. If you managed to absorb enough aether to outpace the damage you took before your darkside lets go, you go into "Undead Rebirth", where your senses and vital signs return slowly and any residual darkness and aether shields you from harm while you come back to the living. If you didn't, the severity and pain of the injuries you sustained come back all at once, which is usually enough to knock out or outright kill a user from shock. And since at that point, you haven't consumed enough aether for your darkness to consider you safe, enjoy having your soul constantly in its grips!
If you die while in Living Dead, your soul sticks around for a while. You literally become the Living Dead. Thankfully the kind the WoL learns only incapacitates them if they fuck it up so someone can rez them.
If you die while consumed by your darkness, you can also stick around for a while! It's not good though, since your soul is now definitely warped from the emotions you were feeling when you were consumed, so often you end up as a vengeful spirit for a while before the Lifestream remembers you're supposed to be dead and claims you. This is essentially what happened to Fray in my continuity, with the darkness also helping the remains of his soul persist after the WoL rips away his persona/sense of self (along with his Soul Crystal and corpse) to form Esteem.
Souleater is a pretty standard tool in Dark Knight's arsenal (fittingly in-game it's part of your 1-2-3 combo and you learn it immediately upon picking up the job), being a powerful strike that absorbs the target's aether and converts it to lifeforce (heals!) and blackblood (in-game Blood Gauge currency, for administering big slaps, in-universe it empowers/feeds your darkness). This is vital to keeping DRKs sustained in battle, but also has other uses. Yes, if used purely in combat, it does what it was just mentioned. But if used directly on a manifestation of darkness or on soul-like beings (e.g manifestations of other DRKs' darksides, restless souls), it becomes more literal. You can loosen the grip darkness has on an ally using it, but since darkness is usually full of the buried emotions and traumas of its host, you'd best be prepared for the recoil lest you suffer from emotional indigestion.
For this reason, one of the more common requests for experienced Dark Knights (that isn't lopping the heads off the corrupt in society) is to assist in cleansing or alleviating the mental torment of civilians, making use of Souleater to take on the victim's emotions, process them, and release them into the aether safely.
Darkness and Other Jobs (and some OC lore)
Since darkness is linked to something universal unlike something like a Warrior's Inner Beast (which actively has to be called upon/induced) or a Scholar's Fairy or Reaper's Avatar, technically you could use your darkness while in any class/Job you like if you're especially careful about it (but in-game you cannot). It's what scion/non-WoL Lucient does, combining what he knows of manipulating his darkness without a soul crystal (which admittedly isn't a lot, but enough to survive, especially with Fray giving him a helping hand) with his Dragoon skill to compensate for him being unable/unwilling to use the draconic elements of Dragoon or dragonsblood infused armor, given his forced consumption of dragonsblood and the terrible side-effects of transforming back to an Elezen after that, one of which is an addiction to dragonsblood to try to transform again and make that permanent.
There's of course some jobs where using your darkness with it would not be recommended, such as the aforementioned Warrior; can you imagine a berserk axe-wielding maniac now extra empowered by their depression running around? You may as well summon a primal at that point. But Fell versions of most Jobs/classes can be done. You can certainly be a Fell Pugilist, a Fell Paladin, a Fell Dragoon, hell, even a Fell Conjurer/White Mage if you're feeling particularly ironic.
Your Darkside
A Dark Knight's "Darkside/Shade" is just a manifestation of their inner darkness, that gains a more "conscious" (?) form if a DRK buries too much of themselves in pursuit of their duties or other reasons. It can help to have an inner representation of your darkness that you can consult with, an inner voice that tells you what you truly want, but it's also a danger. If you repress too much of yourself, your darkside will become volatile and even hostile towards you, since you're essentially saddling them with the worst parts of yourself, or at least the parts of yourself you deny and feel uncomfortable with. Denying those parts further not only makes your Darkside stronger but also hurts them deeply. They're you after all, and only want the best for you, even if their methods are questionable at first. DRKs must not only show love to others, but to themselves.
Most heavily experienced DRKs have already integrated their darksides into themselves, and no longer need to have them separate from their light selves (or public selves) to cope with them. They accept that they have these dark parts of themselves, and find ways to make use of them in non-destructive ways. It's more a problem for inexperienced DRKs who may be caught off guard and fear the embodiment of everything they deny about themselves, and may either deny their shades further or give in to their shades' desires without boundaries (essentially hollowing themselves out spiritually so their "true self" can take the reins).
Some DRKs, after accepting and placating their darksides, choose to keep them as a separate being anyway. It's nice to have a friend always by your side, someone who knows you inside and out and can remind you of what you're fighting for and your own needs, even if they sometimes suggest that you punch that rude merchant that called you a slur.
I probably have more but this is all of the ones I've compiled so far.
the cast time for a phoenix down is so funny actually. the wol is frantically digging through their pack for that stupid feather they KNOW is at the bottom somewhere
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pt: the roaring knight themepack. contains: banner, icons, dividers, stamps, pinned post + replycons. more under cut. credits: ribs/sword emoji (link). req by anon: thank you for requesting! character(s): the roaring knight (deltarune). tagging: @/webmush. f2uwc & reblog. terms of service (link). req info (link). end pt.
What if when we were traveling through the lands between I saw how weary your step was and insisted we make camp and despite your protestations I took watch for the night and helped you climb out of your armor and took off your helmet so that you could sleep comfortably not on the hard ground but leaned against my shoulder and when your dreams turned to nightmares of what we have seen I tucked your head into the crook of my neck so you could know that you were not fighting an eternal battle but resting somewhere warm and safe.
What then, tarnished? Would you know that I keep the memory of you beside me closer than a blade?
I think we need way more knight mecha. Give me mechs covered in the heraldry of their pilot, wielding a giant sword and shield. Give me a pilot in lightweight armour to protect themself in case their mech goes down. I don't care if the knight is the mech or the pilot, we just need more of it
romaincrisis
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
