Ephemer's and Brain's scenes where they get appointed as a Union Leader - a comparison (and some other stuff relating to that)
Hi I'm Psi and I've been rotating these scenes in my mind for so long I just need to put down some words about this. Idk how long this is going to be, but I hope you will enjoy this. (Also screw the 10 picture limit of tumblr.)
There is quite the difference between those two scenes and it reflects a lot about their relationship with Ava, how they treat the title as a Union Leader, and are just ... generally interesting to look at, now that we kinda know everything.
The first frame each scene.
We know all of them got appointed at this same hill (except Strelitzia and, well, Ventus). Yet right from the start - even though the positioning are the same between them, Brain is seen lying down on the hill as Ava talks to him, while Ephemer seems to have been called to the hill to meet Ava there. Ava might have joined Brain on the hill instead of the other way around.
Brain is seen with the Rule Book in his hands already. The conversion starts for us right in the middle - he already got that book, and Ava told him to become a Union Leader.
The scene with Ephemer also starts right in the middle for us. Yet he doesn't have the rule book yet, but also asks Ava the same question as Brain.
Let's continue with Ephemer's scene for now. He questions everything Ava tells him, can't quite understand this end of the world, how he can't wrap his head around this while Ava already tells him what he has to do. It is very overwhelming for him (understandable), but he tries to listen to Ava's talk.
Ava assures him he isn't alone in this, that they can work together.
Ephemer just takes it all in, without questioning this loud on screen. I'm certain his mind is running miles right now. A silent thinker.
Brain, however, reacts quite differently. While we don't see the conversation they had before, the talk about the end, the war, doesn't happen here (which I definitely get from a narration point, and assume happened as he got the Rule Book before this scene started).
Instead he questions the choice of him taking on such an important role, immediately asking whose idea this was. Ava tells him the truth, that it was the Master of Masters, and assures him he'll be fine. And again Brain isn't quite happy about the work he just got appointed to do, and questions her about the four others - Ava must have told him about how they will take over the roles of the foretellers, to lead the Unions, how they can work together etc.
While he doesn't get an answer to his question, Ava's answer is still enough for him to draw an answer for himself - looking right through everything, how they aren't supposed to meet up before the war to do something unexpected.
"Clever as always" says to me that Ava knew Brain before all this. They definitely have met before, Ava knows how Brain thinks, how he's like and what he's capable of. Her short answers of "you'll be fine" over and over imply to me that.
The two scenes now drift apart in terms of the topic, yet they still kind of follow the same path.
Ava asks Ephemer to prepare for the other world - the world she intends to send the Dandelions to - while she starts a conversation about fate and destiny about Brain.
Again, let's start with Ephemer's scene first. Ava has given Ephemer the Rule Book now, and while Ephemer is still hung up about everything Ava just told him, Ava tells him how this other world won't have the Dandelions remember the war. Ephemer counters with how he isn't sure if this is a good idea, how the past is what makes the future after all. Ava notes how she thought he might say that and wonders if he still thought the same if he was there to witness the end.
Ephemer doesn't answer and the scene ends.
Throughout the entire scene Ava stays serious, going through this calm and collected without showing much emotion. The only time she does crack a small smile is at the very end.
Ava, now having joined Brain's side on the ground, starts dropping think-pieces towards Brain about the future, about predetermined fate, and if you knew what would happen, would you be able to change it.
Brain always answers her curious questions with curious questions of his own, furthering the discussion with her. He brings up the Book of Prophecies and knows how it holds the future in text form, wonders if you were to change the future if the text were to change as well.
Ava's expressions during that scene stays smiling, she chuckles at some answers from Brain, ... it comes off as appreciation that Brain just gets her, understands what she is about and her thought process.
A wavelength they share. Ava trusts him and you can see it in that conversation alone.
It is interesting, because with Ephemer - as he states the past is what makes the future - she simply comes off as "don't think about that. Follow the rules set in stone". Ephemer tries to challenge the thought, but Ava shuts him down. Even that far that, when he later meets Brain for the first time and Brain asks about the rules, Ephemer remembers Ava's words and follows what he had been told to.
Sure, these two topics - between Ava and Ephemer, and Ava and Brain - are different, yet it is still a conversation only the two individually got. And I can't help but compare these two, because the intentions of these scenes are the same, yet so vastly different excecuted.
And to bring everything to a peak, Brain's scene continues with him getting the Book of Prophecies, together with the list of the names of the five new Union Leaders.
Again, Ava trusts Brain in this, how he uses it, what he's supposed to do with it. And he assures her that he understood her message loud and clear. The scene ends with Brain saying he won't open it if he can avoid it and Ava, again, assuring him that he will know best.
Ava was intrusted to give the Book of Prophecies to one of the new Union Leaders in secret, noted that no one else from the other four should ever get their hands on it. Now that we know it wasn't Brain who was supposed to get it, the look at this and some other scenes get quite ... interesting.
There are some leftover things I want to cover.
- Ava and Brain have a much more comfortable conversation than Ava and Ephemer. I conclude from that that they knew each other before all this, as I mentioned before. Ephemer states that Ava is easy to talk to, so maybe that is also a factor. I also conclude from this that she specifically chose Brain for the Book because she already knew him. If she knew him before or after she got the list with the names would really be interesting to know, but sadly we don't know that. (But could you imagine if she knew him before she got her role?)
- Maybe Ephemer just needed this serious talk. We do know him as his bright, laughing boy, able to make friends quickly. He has troubles making important serious decisions alone (Shift Pride for example). Brain on the other hand is the more serious one, and Ava was more smiley in his scene - he can make decisions on his own if he wants to, maybe coming from a background where he was alone pre keyblade war times. Hm, just wondering here how this might be relevant to Missing Link one day ...
- Which scene happens first? Ephemer's or Brain's? I can only speculate, but let's put some things in order. We see one other scene between Ephemer and Ava, and it is when they meet at the fountain on the day Ephemer first met Player. There the conversation starts with "oh your name is Ephemer, right?" as if they ... have maybe met once before. Ava would definitely know Ephemer more here already if they had the talk about the Union Leader thing already. It must have been later than this then, though not much all too later, because Ephemer vanishes shortly after, to carry out what Ava asked him to do.
- So, Brain's scene before or after this point? We don't have a clear indication. I want to bring in the lines during the Ephemer - Ava fountain scene "Hey, maybe talking about the Book will cheer you up!" "Not a chance." here, simply because I feel this is important to Ava's decision of giving Brain the Book. Ephemer is so curious about the Book of Prophecies, he doesn't hide it. There is another line I want to bring in now, from the KHUx Finale.
"Master Ava told me you've been wanting to read the Book for a long time." This very line could reference this very fountain scene, implying that Brain and Ava met again at some later point to let him know just about that. Which is interesting, because it means that Brain knew that Ephemer was a Union Leader even before the war, or maybe Ava told him in a way without mentioning he's a new leader - paraphrasing here - "there is a boy called Ephemer who wants to read the Book so badly". Either way, it makes me think Brain's scene happened before Ephemer's just because of this line.
- following up on my previous point, Brain knowing that Ephemer wants to read the Book so badly from the very beginning makes the keyblade graveyard scene of them meeting for the first time interesting to look at. Other theories aside here, Brain asking him if he's the leader and if they should follow the rules, knowing this one thing about Ephemer - challenging him like Ava did in his scene, but this time in reversed roles. Kind of to see where he stands.
- knowing all that, seeing their relationship flourish through the game is so ... good. From Brain questioning if he's the leader to downright trusting him by showing him the list of the names of the Union Leaders, being the first person Brain seeks out to talk about this issue they face. I will not go into details about that, I just want to conclude it with my final image.
The keyblade, the Book, it was meant for Ephemer all this time - implying that Ephemer was the one who was circled in red by the Master of Masters in the first place.
I could go into another deep dive here, about how this was meant to happen in the first place, how even if Ava wanted to challenge fate and destiny by switching around the owners, this timeline was written down in the first place like that - but maybe that's for another day.
So ..... yeah.
Two scenes, so different, yet so similar to the core. Ephemer, who took his role as a Union Leader serious right away. Brain, who calls him a leader right away, calling himself lazy and not fit for the job in the first place.
Yet in the end they worked together blindly, understood and trusted each other.
Anyways uhhh, that's all, thanks for reading and I hope my jumbled thoughts make somewhat sense, lmao.
