Regrets made with love

Near-eternal lurker

[regretsmadewithlove]

Moments of quiet among 33 million loops

[regretsmadewithlove]

Sword of Damocles

[regretsmadewithlove]

Uhhh rambles on all of the pre 3.4 update trailers, and my own predictions



Phainon’s future & his support system

I may be coping, but honestly? I would be surprised if Phainon turns out to become a lord ravager by the end of his story.

Lygus is trying to get Phainon to turn to destruction, but Phainon’s entire support system is kind of antithetical to that.

Like, it’s actually really cool to me. Look at the people closest to him! (and the journeys they’ve gone on and lessons imparted on Phainon.)

Mydei’s story is about refusing to perpetuate a bloody legacy further. It’s about having strength, but also having care for your people and knowing when to use either. It’s about knowing that continued violence won’t be a better future for them, no matter their beliefs.

Castorice is all about her kindness. She’s about having the power to kill people with *ease*, but she prioritizes her kindness and pacifistic nature. When given the opportunity to save a life, she did anything to take it.

Hyacine saw humans be vile. She saw humans ruin each other and said; I’ll put myself beyond that and save them regardless. There’s hope for humanity beyond their ugly parts and I’ll keep up the sky for them no matter what they do.

Phainon was witness to all of these stories. They may not have been the lessons/conclusions he drew himself (they weren’t his stories after all) but I can’t imagine seeing the values of his closest on display doesn’t impact him.

Then, his teachers, and what they encourage in him most;

Aglaea saw the charisma that came with Phainon’s good-hearted nature, and exemplified his humanity in contrast to her own to inspire people to follow him.

I think Aglaea is in large part the queen of encouraging self sacrifice, too. Tribbie emphasizes that by her own experiences as well (insofar the prophecy doesn’t already put that duty on people).

And the best example, I think, is Anaxa. Anaxa teaches him: defy the gods, defy fate. Always argue against what’s imposed on you and self-realize what you want to happen. (I think I saw someone on twitter talk abt it being Anaxa showing up in his little wheat field to ask ‘what is your dream?’. I can’t imagine the answer is ‘destruction for the universe’)

After all of them, Lygus expects Phainon to turn him into being (at the very least) ok w destroying countless worlds—- after millions of lives living among these people imparting these values on him.

If the flamechase is about collecting all of the efforts of Amphoreus of stopping their own demise and channeling it into the one person left remaining… I can’t see a way that Phainon, *the* worldbearing guy, refuses to live up on all their efforts and values no matter how many tries it takes.

Like, Congrats Lygus! You sent the most good hearted person on a time loop which keeps reinforcing his ideals by virtue of the people close to him. But uhhhhhh… yeah maybe 33550336 cycles is enough to beat that hope out of him. (and I would NOT blame him. Poor man.)

Either the end of the story is a victory for Amphoreus for all their efforts in their own time and that which they’ve imparted to the worldbearer over all the loops. Or it’s a tragedy, in which, despite everything, it simply wasn’t enough to stand against such a harsh fate and the workings of the destruction.

But then there’s still the matter of the astral express.

I can’t help but think that the relation between Phainon and the TB enforces this idea of refusing to embrace destruction. He’s surrounded by people who do what they think is best regardless of what others may believe, he heard abt an immovable fate (also is trapped in plans for him he doesn’t know about), turned to the outsider coming in and asked “hey, I know you’re good at breaking rules. Can you break fate for us?”

In which case, I think it’s really really cute if the end logo for his trailer is kind of a reflection for that? Probably grasping, but a cute coincidence if anything. (Im assigning it meaning. Take it from my cold dead hands.)

Anyhow, if the arrival of the TBer is the 33550336th loop, and he’s destroyed every version of Amphoreus before arriving to the next, maybe it’s about time he takes a page from Mydei’s book and stops that cycle of violence?

(Also I’d be sad if all of the stories of the other Amphoreans get a little trivialized by “oh but they die, and their efforts were for nothing. No matter what they did, the effort that mattered the most was that of Phainon, and they couldn’t convince the worldbearer to keep bearing it for them.” Like.. yeah. Kind of the point of a tragedy, but a girl can dream for the opposite to come true)

(Also, also, HSR seems to have a propensity for happy endings in their main storylines so far. Let’s hope the plan for Amphoreus isn’t a grand tragedy.)

I’m sure I had more arguments, but I can’t think of them now. What do you guys think will happen w all the Lygus, Phainon, destruction, erudition, ravagers stuff? I would love to chat abt all things HSR