... Making an Iron Lung edit and remembering what @neptiann pointed out about the terminal showing "I'm sorry brother" when Simon first finds the SM-8 and crosses the wires and how The Eel says "His ship is alive" and how Simon remember/delirates about "I'm just the guy that told you to cross the wires" and I propose:
The SM has always been alive, not by the actions of the Red Eyed God, but because whatever THE FUCK is going down in the Blood made the previous Eden brother that was in the SM and left the pendant and the message is still haunting it, living in the wires, trying to keep Simon alive as much as it can in this state. Also absolutely a different entity to the Shadowman, that I'm like 99% sure is just Simon seeing himself when time shenanigans happen.
2: Eden and The COI are at odds (the fathers speech at the beginning mentions the COI not sharing their findings and Simon mentions the COI making him burn off his eden tattoo, not in reference to his conviction, Eden obviously doesn't believe there's anything to find to save humanity)
3: He has a length of string around his wrist with a broken loop attached, and the scene where he finds his pendant alludes to it previously being attached to that loop
4: He's rational in most situations and can take a lot before he begins to crumble. He gets angry but most often for good reason. (Though, he's less rational if it means survival, for example the water and the isopropyl. ) Even when in need of some sort of comfort and offered a voice to keep him company, he acknowledges that he's likely concussed or experiencing a more logical phenomenon. Even when reality begins to crumble, he asks questions to parse through what's reality and what's not.
5: He self-soothes often, whether with the knife sheath or the pendant or breathing routines. It makes sense considering he seems to resent his own anger.
6: He's resourceful, likely stemming from a childhood and adulthood having to care for and fend for himself, whether through the rapture or after being imprisoned. Either way, he makes do with whatever he can get.
7: It may be a coincidence, but at full speed, the ships throttle looks like the Eden symbol.
8: He tries both "password" and "password1" on the sm8 blackbox programme, before trying "fuck you" when it doesn't work. When he gets angry, it says "I'm sorry butcher".
9: He ultimately cares a lot, maybe too much given his reality. He apologises even in situations where he's justified, and he apologises to inanimate objects. Either he's deeply remorseful, or offers everything else what he needs.
10: "I see you." "I see you." "Agreed." Three different voices. The first seems to be the eel, the second is Simon, who is the third?
11: The figure Simon sees after the interaction with the light is himself, after his mutations take full effect. The teeth on the side of the face, the missing left arm, and the shape of the nose give it away.
12: His hair is either braided or twisted into the half ponytail he wears it in
13: His mothers voice is a part of the cacophony when he's navigating back to the sm8. Her lines include "they have a tree" "it'll feel just like home" "you'll love it there". As well, another voice (likely Ava) says someone confiscate something and that "they hope to make a garden of their own someday". She likely is referencing the seedlings like Simon carries, which likely implies they're a symbol many or all members of Eden carry.
14: When heading down to get Simon, Ava tells David to ready the 14, meaning there's another and possibly more subs ready and waiting every time one is sent down.
15: The blood gets progressively more corrosive as time goes on, as seen by how his arms slowly become more damaged but one drip almost immediately burns into his forehead. This could help explain how he rips his own arm off to save himself.
16: At the end, the seedling in Simon's pendant grows due to the blood and sprouts into a tree, through the sub and the eel, effectively exploding both. This as well proves the accelerating strength of the blood. (I also believe the blood is the antagonist in the movie, not the eel. The eel is a byproduct of it.)
If you want to, send me asks about any of these and I'll yap lol
2: Eden and The COI are at odds (the fathers speech at the beginning mentions the COI not sharing their findings and Simon mentions the COI making him burn off his eden tattoo, not in reference to his conviction, Eden obviously doesn't believe there's anything to find to save humanity)
3: He has a length of string around his wrist with a broken loop attached, and the scene where he finds his pendant alludes to it previously being attached to that loop
4: He's rational in most situations and can take a lot before he begins to crumble. He gets angry but most often for good reason. (Though, he's less rational if it means survival, for example the water and the isopropyl. ) Even when in need of some sort of comfort and offered a voice to keep him company, he acknowledges that he's likely concussed or experiencing a more logical phenomenon. Even when reality begins to crumble, he asks questions to parse through what's reality and what's not.
5: He self-soothes often, whether with the knife sheath or the pendant or breathing routines. It makes sense considering he seems to resent his own anger.
6: He's resourceful, likely stemming from a childhood and adulthood having to care for and fend for himself, whether through the rapture or after being imprisoned. Either way, he makes do with whatever he can get.
7: It may be a coincidence, but at full speed, the ships throttle looks like the Eden symbol.
8: He tries both "password" and "password1" on the sm8 blackbox programme, before trying "fuck you" when it doesn't work. When he gets angry, it says "I'm sorry butcher".
9: He ultimately cares a lot, maybe too much given his reality. He apologises even in situations where he's justified, and he apologises to inanimate objects. Either he's deeply remorseful, or offers everything else what he needs.
10: "I see you." "I see you." "Agreed." Three different voices. The first seems to be the eel, the second is Simon, who is the third?
11: The figure Simon sees after the interaction with the light is himself, after his mutations take full effect. The teeth on the side of the face, the missing left arm, and the shape of the nose give it away.
12: His hair is either braided or twisted into the half ponytail he wears it in
13: His mothers voice is a part of the cacophony when he's navigating back to the sm8. Her lines include "they have a tree" "it'll feel just like home" "you'll love it there". As well, another voice (likely Ava) says someone confiscate something and that "they hope to make a garden of their own someday". She likely is referencing the seedlings like Simon carries, which likely implies they're a symbol many or all members of Eden carry.
14: When heading down to get Simon, Ava tells David to ready the 14, meaning there's another and possibly more subs ready and waiting every time one is sent down.
15: The blood gets progressively more corrosive as time goes on, as seen by how his arms slowly become more damaged but one drip almost immediately burns into his forehead. This could help explain how he rips his own arm off to save himself.
16: At the end, the seedling in Simon's pendant grows due to the blood and sprouts into a tree, through the sub and the eel, effectively exploding both. This as well proves the accelerating strength of the blood. (I also believe the blood is the antagonist in the movie, not the eel. The eel is a byproduct of it.)
If you want to, send me asks about any of these and I'll yap lol
Simon’s characterization and the fandom biases towards it
So, I love bloodymary and absolutely adore the fanfictions, however, some of Simon's characterization is… lacking, and exaggerated, and sometimes downright wrong.
Sometimes i see him depicted as being so clueless about everything and people justify it by saying its because of the Quiet Rapture, just so Grace can teach/explain things to him.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they just haven't seen Iron Lung yet.
BUT, fanfiction is fanfiction and we are all free to write whatever we want.
I just feel like he is such an interesting character and has so much potential, and sometimes he is unfortunately reduced to Grace's pet project to fix.
If you are like me and would like to keep this character as close to canon as possible, I am gonna share my own notes about Simon that I am using for my own fanfic. Notes that I took while watching iron lung, containing some of the lines and how he behaves.
It's messy af keep that in mind, sorry.
...
Simon is a smart motherfucker, navigating with the sm-13, he is nervous but reactive under pressure, and able to adapt when needed.
Curses only when frustrated and stressed, not all the time
“Stupit piece of shit you just had to chug the whole thing?” At himself
“Fuck that” at the eel.
He cares about others. Cares for the things around him, pats the chair and holds everything carefully, knows how precious things are.
“I didn't mean for that to happen, I was just scared” After harming people with the radiation. “How bad was it?”
“THAT-that wasn't supposed to happen” filament station.
Has lost hope for humanity (not really), but has hope to live. He seeks comfort and talks about what he is feeling. Has abandonment issues.
“can you just, keep talking to me?”
“I just want to live, is that so wrong?”
“I thought i died, i might have died...”
“I really don't want to be down here anymore please”
Despite not believing in Eden he cared about his brothers. (Again, abandonment issues)
Wanted to be part of the coi, not because he believed in it ,but because it's the option where he lives. Didn't choose Eden, didn't choose the coi.
Doesn't actually believe in the quiet rapture, thinks that the space stations were taken somewhere else, not that the stars disappeared.
“It doesn’t matter” repeats a lot.
“I traded one fancy metal box of dying for another!”
He is reasonable, explains things and asks questions, but aggressive when scared and threatened. Gets frustrated when things are kept from him.
“Sure, just give me a second”
“Can I not ask a question?”
“I know what a skeleton is, i am not a idiot”
“What is the POINT OF ALL OF THIS?”
“And then I am free?” “And then we bring you back up”
“I do what you asked and you let me free” at Ava “That is fair!”
“Just RAM IT?”... “alright, just ram it”
“I think i got it, one second” is polite.
“Alrighty” (absolutely loved him saying that)
Tries something, tilts head to the side “yeah that works”
“Dont mind me, pretend i am not here” to the blood eel.
“If you see anyone looking for Simon tells them i am still alive”
“Fucking aliens”
Talks to objects, and himself. Holds things in his mouth.
Simon’s characterization and the fandom biases towards it
So, I love bloodymary and absolutely adore the fanfictions, however, some of Simon's characterization is… lacking, and exaggerated, and sometimes downright wrong.
Sometimes i see him depicted as being so clueless about everything and people justify it by saying its because of the Quiet Rapture, just so Grace can teach/explain things to him.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they just haven't seen Iron Lung yet.
BUT, fanfiction is fanfiction and we are all free to write whatever we want.
I just feel like he is such an interesting character and has so much potential, and sometimes he is unfortunately reduced to Grace's pet project to fix.
If you are like me and would like to keep this character as close to canon as possible, I am gonna share my own notes about Simon that I am using for my own fanfic. Notes that I took while watching iron lung, containing some of the lines and how he behaves.
It's messy af keep that in mind, sorry.
...
Simon is a smart motherfucker, navigating with the sm-13, he is nervous but reactive under pressure, and able to adapt when needed.
Curses only when frustrated and stressed, not all the time
“Stupit piece of shit you just had to chug the whole thing?” At himself
“Fuck that” at the eel.
He cares about others. Cares for the things around him, pats the chair and holds everything carefully, knows how precious things are.
“I didn't mean for that to happen, I was just scared” After harming people with the radiation. “How bad was it?”
“THAT-that wasn't supposed to happen” filament station.
Has lost hope for humanity (not really), but has hope to live. He seeks comfort and talks about what he is feeling. Has abandonment issues.
“can you just, keep talking to me?”
“I just want to live, is that so wrong?”
“I thought i died, i might have died...”
“I really don't want to be down here anymore please”
Despite not believing in Eden he cared about his brothers. (Again, abandonment issues)
Wanted to be part of the coi, not because he believed in it ,but because it's the option where he lives. Didn't choose Eden, didn't choose the coi.
Doesn't actually believe in the quiet rapture, thinks that the space stations were taken somewhere else, not that the stars disappeared.
“It doesn’t matter” repeats a lot.
“I traded one fancy metal box of dying for another!”
He is reasonable, explains things and asks questions, but aggressive when scared and threatened. Gets frustrated when things are kept from him.
“Sure, just give me a second”
“Can I not ask a question?”
“I know what a skeleton is, i am not a idiot”
“What is the POINT OF ALL OF THIS?”
“And then I am free?” “And then we bring you back up”
“I do what you asked and you let me free” at Ava “That is fair!”
“Just RAM IT?”... “alright, just ram it”
“I think i got it, one second” is polite.
“Alrighty” (absolutely loved him saying that)
Tries something, tilts head to the side “yeah that works”
“Dont mind me, pretend i am not here” to the blood eel.
“If you see anyone looking for Simon tells them i am still alive”
“Fucking aliens”
Talks to objects, and himself. Holds things in his mouth.
If, when my toddler is, you know, toddling around saying “mama? Big ball?”
If I were lean down and say “unfortunately the big beach ball for some reason fills you with such an unadulterated rage that is beyond human comprehension that you scream until you pass out, so mama had to remove the beach ball from the premises until you can better regulate your emotions” she would simply stare at me like I had 3 heads full of equal betrayal.
(Commented this under this post talking about people mischaracterizing Simon in bloodymary aus, but I thought it deserved its own post)
Simon can be gentle. Hell, that's how he'd probably be 95% of the time in ideal conditions. It's not even that he's angry or violent in stressful situations. He's angry and violent when *pushed* in those situations. Let him be gentle. Let him be kind. Let him be calm. He's not an angry or violent man by default. If you're putting him in a far calmer and less stressful situation, let him be calm and gentle.
We need to not be assigning how normal Simon without his cortisol levels exploding acts based on how he acts when placed in the fucking most stressful and scary situation ever. It's so easy to figure out that how he acts in the SM-13 is very likely not his standard, and even his standard is how he is in the stress of prison, everyone blaming him for Filament Station, the aftermath of the Quiet Rapture. If you put him with Grace, especially if you put him on Erid? That low stress of an environment? He's going to be so fucking calm and gentle
so i already figured that the calm voice that tells simon when he's at the sm-8 to watch out was his mother, but what i didn't catch was the "you'll love it there dialogue" as pointed out by this tweet:
i initially heard it as "here" as i thought simon and his mother moved to eden for whatever reason and she died of unspecified/unimportant causes, maybe illness or smth. but this is so much worse. and brings up so many questions? why was simon sent away? was eden already worshipping the tree or did they start worshipping it after the rapture? if they were already worshipping the tree, did she send him there with the goal of getting him indoctrinated into the cult? was it the only way for survival? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
the whole transcript of the voice, at least what i can make out currently:
they have a tree up there,
it'll feel just like home,
*sigh* simon don't be like that.
you'll love it there
and then comes the warning
simon...
its a trap
its right behind you
its still there
on your left
they're watching you
in general this whole scene has so much to unpack because of the MANY many voices going on and sound effects, trying to decipher whats a flashback and whats a hallucination, but keeping focus on his mother's dialogue
this stood out to me because i think if simon was the only one that was sent to eden, and if we are to believe the theory that the blood of at-5 is specifically the blood of the humans that got raptured.... then that means his mother has been right there with him that whole time. and maybe that's why he stays alive so much longer than he was supposed to.
also. can you imagine the survivor's guilt? of watching your mother die so far away on another planet. getting to see her final moments yet also not? only knowing that she's gone and not even knowing why or how.. and you, the butcher, survived.
and maybe that's why the creature also brought up simon's mother to him. do you think it knew she was there?
how many more bodies would you climb over to save yourself?
always thinking of the life you'll never get back,
thinking of a mother, who wouldn't even recognise the killer she spawned
or maybe she'd be proud.
is death, the only thing she taught you?
half-measures. half-committed. NEVER enough
there is nothing else for us now.
it seems to know of her existence, yet nothing about her. WOULD she be proud of the killer he'd become? she gave him the knife holster afterall. was this blood on his hands before or after moving to eden? was the holster before or after the blood on his hands? was it a means to survival which led to all this bloodshed, or was it a reward for all the killings?
also, i think it's clear that whatever she did, for whatever reason, must have been done with love in her heart, because otherwise i don't think simon woul have been that attached to her. he is a man riddled with guilt over all the lives hes taken(?), yet his biggest comfort is a weapon holster given to him by his dead mother.
this movie is driving me insane i need to gnaw on something with my bare teeth
everyone yelling "hide the yaoi" about fictional character shipping as if mark hasn't been put through the youtuber rpf trenches for years. he didn't survive septiplier only to be shocked by bloodymary
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