Info:
I’ve forgotten all about myself now but I’ve been drawing for Large Amount of Years lol. If anyone’s wondering, I almost exclusively use Clip Studio Paint.
Non-creative, uninteresting fact: I’m trilingual
Hobbies: Video making! (All OC; Adobe After Effects my beloved), Writing sometimes (fanfiction,,, OC or, self indulgent madness) and some gaming here and there, mainly Honkai Star Rail (Europe server, feel free to ask for my UID!), Dragon Age and bg3!
I’ve been working for 5 years (and counting!) in a team of 10 as the lead artist of a Pokémon fan-game called ‘Desolation’. It releases episodically and we’re currently working on episode 7!
Currently I’m into HSR~ I’ll also forever and ever be into Pokémon <3
This is the anon from earlier, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for replying 😭❤️ the fact that you analysed his Theoros side and his Zandar side, coupled with screenshots of his in-game dialogue plus your own delicious interpretations just has me smiling like crazy IWEIHRIURAEUIREIU you made me feel so much more confident in writing him for my stories 🥹
Though, I can't help but ask... do you think that his curiosity could override his desires to remain in absolute control? (small yapfest incoming ahaha) I won't go too overboard, but I've just been stewing over what he'd think about a being who is an extremely ancient relic of the past... a 'wayward' creation of the Order which disguises itself as an innocent, frail maiden, but so mysterious and dangerous that none know how truly powerful she is. She holds an abundance of knowledge about the past before the first prosperity, about aeons who were still around before their fall, about a lot of the deepest, darkest secrets of the cosmos... and she knows everything about Lygus/Zandar too, before he's even met her (lore reasons haha). However, despite knowing all that he's done and such, she ultimately doesn't... feel or think much about it? She simply views him as another mortal soul, albeit one she finds fascinating but in a very detached way (like the way you find a mouse in a cage cute). ANYWAYSSS I guess I'm just struggling with the question on how he'd react to this being, because I feel like on one hand he wouldn't want to interact with her much due to being unable to be 'in control' because she knows all about him... but on the other hand I feel like he would be quite curious about her and about the rare, precious knowledge that she holds... I'd be quite curious to know your thoughts (if that's alright! no pressure, you've given me a lot of help already ❤️)
And YESSSS Lygustelle is slowly becoming my favourite ship in hsr ARGHHH their dynamic is just so delicious and I love their dialogue too!! I also love how doomed they are, angsty couples with a relationship that can be quite deep and complex are my soft spots in fiction jrjrfeifuejjfhe
Take care, Callisto! 💮 don't forget to get enough rests and stay hydrated 🩵
-🪽 anon
Hello again! 🥺
Since Lygus is ultimately made out of Zandar's paranoia, I feel like his need for control probably outweighs curiosity, but I also think his need for control is specifically tied to the simulation/Nous. I believe he wouldn't do anything if he could guess that the person wasn't a threat to his project. Maybe a bit like how he was around TB, casual with them while knowing they have a Stellaron, until they actually became a threat. If the character views him with just curiosity I think he'd mirror that!
Also you hit the nail on the head with that Lygustelle paragraph. To think that he was making those scapegoat puzzles for TB and even thought of them enough to leave them a sorta sweet message if you get all the nymphs... uugvhghh. All of 3.5 lives in my head rent free like he called her his Deliverer. He waited 1000y for her 😭 He kept trying to convince her to join him until the end 💀 The mutual destruction that was their eventual battle... fhghdfhg
I just wanted to ask, would you have any tips or personal thoughts on how to write Lygus/keep him in character? I love how well written he is and I do plan on including him in some of my stories, but I always seem to struggle with writing his dialogue. I stumbled across your blog a while back and you seem to know Lygus’ character quite well so I thought I might ask you for your thoughts haha (no pressure whatsoever though!! I like hearing others talk about how they view his character)
You also got me interested in the Lygustelle ship haha, your art is just amazing ✨🔥 have a great day/night Callisto! ❤️
Hihi!!
I haven't written any fanfics about him (yet...?), apart from dialogue on some pics if they're not shitposts, but I'll do my best 😭 It's been a bit since Amphoreus so my memory is a tad bit foggy, so it's best to take my read on him with a tiny grain of salt.
It's also sorta all over the place since I tried to jot down anything I thought was noteworthy for his characterization, so... this got stupid long and rambly, sorry 😭
Well firstly, parts of his demeanor are very dependent on what part of the story we're in. Pre/Post reveal (3.4) Lygus is very different.
Lygus in general is very polite and punctual. He often refers to people with titles like Sir/Madam/Lord/Lady etc. He's respected by the people around him and is even mentioned to be a teacher in a world quest (Gold Specimen Goat). From what I've gathered, the people around him aren't intimidated by him being an Antikytheran. They are used to him and he's quite known.
Lygus canonically enjoys teaching others, and he enjoys when others are curious as well. Fits his teacher role, and is a subtle nod to his past before Nous.
Depending on the context of certain situations, he may simply be an un-interfering observer at times (Theoros = observer). That scene where he doesn't help when Dan Heng is attacked, not picking a side. I believe this is mainly due to the politics of it all, as the attacker was on Caenis' side, and Lygus is a council member. As the Theoros, he would be a witness to that altercation instead of a participant. He shows himself as a neutral party.
Despite being the "observer" we do see him meddling with harmless stuff at times (Gold Specimen Goat quest), so he isn't content to just sit by and watch events play out, he seems to have scholarly projects that he works on or is at least interested in.
Lygus is sentimental, and gives anecdotes at times. He's surprisingly interactive with the simulation despite his role as administrator.
(From: One Day Talanton & Gold Specimen Goat respectively)
His dialogue in the first screenshot reads to me very melancholic, and funny how it both relates to him with Nous and the reality of the simulation. "I just prefer tales where creators and creations live in harmony." As much as that string of dialogue serves as a hint towards Amphoreus' truth, this also proves how sentimental he can be, and creates a divide between the Theoros Lycurgus and the Genius Zandar. The Theoros is a romantic, and dare I say similar to how Cyrene is a romantic.
In my huge Lygustelle post I mentioned how there's a chance he treats TB differently due to them not being lines of code, besides the Chrysos Heirs themselves. Mainly due to the fact that TB is real and engaging in the simulation, whilst the Geniuses were meddling in the background. This my Lygustelle brain seeping through for a moment, but if you collect all the nymphs and solve their riddles, there's a special encounter with Lygus in the exomyth who admits he knew TB would find him and he leaves some words for them (yearnmaster 9000). Despite their opposing sides, Lygus respects TB.
Lygus was also the creator of the Golden Scapegoat puzzles, and I feel the final Scapegoat encounter solidifies him as a romantic:
Lygus also has a small humorous side to him as well, and isn't immune to dishing out teasing one-liners at times. This is mostly seen after the reveal but I believe that side existed even before the reveal as well.
So for the Zandar side of Lygus...
Even though he was the enemy of many after the reveal, he still spoke to them in that polite manner of speaking. His voice tone can vary since he has sounded a bit more angry at times, but he doesn't lose his composure.
Lygus is confident, and somewhat smug-seeming at times too when it comes to the simulation. Despite his confidence he doesn't think of himself as above the other geniuses, seeing himself as equal to them even in smartness, despite being the first (he admits this in dialogue but I can't find a screenshot 😔). I also think it's important to mention that he does not fear death, nor does he fear Polka, despite Zandar being killed by her. And, for lack of a better term I also think it's very, very hard for him to be ragebaited.
However, he did think of himself above the Chrysos heirs, not on the basis of them as people but as lines of code. What we saw in game as people with lives were nothing but code to him from the beginning. Near the end it seemed like he grew fond of them, though... but that to me, was his Theoros side shining through.
Lygus is also a control freak. The one situation where his control shifted (Anaxa in his mind), Lygus managed to detach from him, causing him to lose his ability to fight. It fits with him being Zandar's paranoia that he would go to such lengths to regain control. Lygus is also experimentative. Though we don't see much of him experimenting, he admits to wanting to experiment on TB, and details of the past cycles in the admin logs show that he was experimenting with the cycles themselves.
Almost the entirety of 3.5, Lygus was trying to win TB over, so he's very persuasive/stubborn as well. I don't think this persuasiveness applies to anything else but the simulation and TB tho so it's very conditional.
Zandar thought he doomed humanity. In a weird way, I believe his hatred for Nous was born out of love for the universe, so his segments were born out of these two extremes. I don't think saying Lygus can encapsulate both is farfetched. Theoros Lycurgus witnessing millions of cycles and eventually growing fond of the Chrysos Heirs to the point where he was interested if they could break out of their fate, vs Genius Zandar who wanted to destroy Nous to save humanity from having their fates written and pushed by Nous. These two sides of Lygus struggled to coexist when the truth was revealed, and in the end we see Lygus cut off the Zandar side of him despite everything.
I feel like I just wrote a bunch of bullshit LMAO but I hope this helps, anon!! 😭😭
Lygus merch updates~
Everything's been ordered! It took a second since I was waiting for the deposit, but now it's just the waiting game and hoping they don't take forever to arrive😭
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