I gotta do this as a reblog because this will be Way too long for the AskBox lol (I'm sorry haha)
These murals? Neat. Any bit of lore, worldbuilding and speculations? Yes please. Just nerding out and having a grand old time? Spectacular. Absolutely marvelous. Headcanons galore!
Our recent motto in this household as of late has been 'go crazy go stupid' and I proudly live by that~ Which means we are free. Unapologetic literature teacher speculation mode is Go!
Here's my own personal random additional collective pile of speculations on things. Theories, potentials, headcanons, wild guesses, absolutely super overthinking everything (for sure), who knows buddy~
Ya'll like jazz essays?
Be prepared to be here for an hour
{{{ As a side note, I know that a handful of these are likely just coincidents or simply not something the developers planned out. Most likely case is they just did what they did it because it fit and looked nice, no deeper meanings or reasons what so ever. Heck, as a creator myself I can definitely say you don't always plan literally everything, a handful of things exist just because they 'looked/sounded nice', and I respect the creators for what they've made regardless.
But there's no sin in speculating and making up your own explanations either~ These are for fun anyway, we're just enjoying ourselves <3 }}}
Aight let's start with the hierarchic scale as well since that's at the top
It isn't something obvious on the first glance, and may be a bit of a stretch, but if you overthink it just enough, you can take note in the Thoha being just a tad bigger than the 'basic row soldier Mawkin' that are depicted in the mural. It's not by a lot, but the Thoha are indeed made taller (= it's not just the robes or accessories that make them taller; if you straighten one of the falling fellas just a bit and put them next to a soldier the Thoha is indeed taller (also it looks hilarious to my 3am self. It just looks like the Thoha is about to absolutely wreck house and raise hell on the soldier - who is terrified, too paralyzed by fear at the sight to even move)). It's not by a lot but it is there.
This can certainly bring up a few thoughts, especially considering the hierarchic scaling.
- Either the maker or commissioner of the mural holds the Thoha to a slightly higher decree than they do regular soldiers.
- The difference in height is very small though, so the reality could also be that the Thoha are referred to as being just about as good as standard row soldiers are.
*Which in return honestly downgrades them a bunch, the Thoha that is. Mawkin tribe for sure values their soldiers and there's no unworthy soldier - the ones that aren't worthy are Drogyga food afterall - but the bottom of the allowed bottom is still a bottom.
However, even with all this, there's still respect for the Thoha. Perhaps even a surprising amount depending on how bad you assume the relations between the two tribes are.
- If they saw the Thoha as being worth absolutely nothing, they'd be small, noticeably so. Certainly smaller than every depicted Mawkin at least for sure. Yet here they are, sculpted as near equals in scale.
- There's definitely respect there somewhere, be it for the reason that they're fellow Chozo and it'd be embarrassing to the whole Chozo race if even a single one of them was no-good.
- Or for the fact that the Thoha tribe did create the Metroids, and Raven Beak sees potential use in them. You gotta give the Thoha some credit over this achievement (along with their studies on Aeion energy of course). So at least their work is valued, meaning they are too. Credit where credit is due.
*And, well, if the Thoha had absolutely no value, why/how would anything they make have value either? You don't want to drag down your own name by using something made by someone with a bad name to themselves - especially if you like boasting about your achievements, like a lot, like enough to make murals depicting said achievements.
Honest or Forced respect, it does exist. And in either case, the most important fact of importance that remains on that front is the fact that Raven Beak boasts a much higher height to himself. He's in a league of his own, far greater than anyone else and no-one could ever even hope to stand up to him. An intimidating figure whose existence alone overshadows a whole separate tribe.
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Next up was the language, and I'll certainly toss a completely blind and half random idea here
But what if the completely separate looking symbols next to the box are a Signature of sorts? My memory doesn't carry that far, but I both have and don't have an idea on if we have seen any of the character's names ever written anywhere? Maybe? Or no? We've heard them spoken out, but I can't remember if we've ever seen a written one.
So... A possibility?
Perhaps if the names are written somewhere else with the more proper triangular alphabets - because those are official important files or then it's there just for clarity's sake - and then this one here that doesn't follow the alphabet that we're used to might just be a signature. Or if we haven't seen any names written anywhere, it could simply just be a name. OR, it is a name, but not like just any 'your everyday name' kinda thing, but a title, an honorific. Perhaps it's even just, like, a Very old means of writing. Like the letters we've gotten accustomed to and have deciphered so far are their modern writing, and that little bit on the side is a remnant of the olden days (and well, on that front, Raven Beak for sure is probably fairly old, so it'd make sense for him to use the older typography orrrrr what have you for his name)
Or it's about etiquette. Like, to honor something else. Quiet Robe does mention that Raven Beak { 'Worships at the Altar of Power' }, which seems like a thing that would be given special attention. Just like you treat a god or spirit you worship with a lot of respect and special attention and care & may ask for assistance, blessing or a request of other sorts from them, who is to say the Chozo wouldn't have a special or specific set of symbols/writing for these occasions. Special ways to write the names of their gods, spirits. If you pay respect to someone/something you'd probably want to add their name or symbol there too as a nod to said being, and these traditions are likely fairly old, and you may just prefer to keep the symbols used the same over time to not lessen their meaning.
So if it isn't a quotation from Raven Beak (like, the {Hadar sen Olmen} is written inside a rounded box afterall, which would potentially make it a speech bubble of sorts (Hah, this is assuming they'd have things like those in the first place) which would make sense as to why RB's name is scribbled next to it if he is the one speaking), then there's some other kind of highlighted attention brought to the {Hadar sen Olmen} for another reason. Perhaps it's just an important phrase to them, or the commissioner just wants to highlight it in specific. OR it's there to pay respect to the god/spirit/deity of worship that helped them achieve this or something. Like you devote things to specific people and all that, you could pay your respects here by including their mark
Also this pic here just happens to have similar writing/symbols in it. Related perhaps? It's very close but not the exact same, might still give an idea on its usage
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Ayyyy let's get to the artistic things next up then. Here's where I go full stoopid, 110% literature teacher
Just a lot of random things and thoughts, GO
The Mawkin logo placed above the (falling) Thoha could symbolize how the Mawkin are above them. They might have been equal in the past, but now they're truly above them
Also a bit of a thing too is how that big logo there is the only one with a 'cape' on it. There's two smaller ones that don't have it. Perhaps that's just a more casual way of having their tribe's name present, or something. It could also mean that the one next to the writing above the Thoha is actually meant to be read along with the rest of the text. OR then it's just meant to symbolize Raven Beak as a whole. A small logo for others, big fancy one for him when there's not enough space for his full glory (he has to always stand apart and above the rest, give him a logo made on one of those sparkly glitter gif sites, he deserves it)
As a separate new other thing, I'd personally call the depiction of the Thoha being cast into their doom as 'organized chaos'. The poses of them all are the same, likely for stylistic reasons (and to save the makers of it (and the game developers) from having to make several different ones to depict each Thoha, just that they're tilted a little differently with each, some face left, some right. But yeah it's not a complete utter chaos like it could be I feel. It's quite organized and orderly in execution in a way.
But overall they're all pretty much posed the same - save for the one at the very bottom being ever so slightly different with their mouth being closed where the others scream (could just be an accident too, by the artist who made the mural or game developers, but if we wanna be eeeextra, there's hidden meaning to be pulled from there too. 'The first of them went more peacefully, the rest not so much'). And hey, that's the only one who isn't upside down, so... Who knows? Significance? You make your own little headcanons~
There's also a thing about each and every Thoha wearing the same clothes and headdresses, etc. while we know there's at least some variety to them (we've seen different ones in the past and the flashback images). Could just be an overall way to depict all the Thoha, could be to keep the workload lesser, perhaps they just don't care about the individual things when it comes to the Thoha (I mean, it makes sense to just copypaste a bunch of soldiers to seem intimidating and boast with the size of your unified army - but those are more fitting words for the Mawkin than the Thoha, who probably have their own things and rank significance and potentially value individuality more, who knows)
Over-analyzing, fun~
Alright, next up, simply thinking about the palette too much
The most likely thing here is honestly that the palette in use is very limited (and it looks great, makes the whole piece look unified in a way and your eye isn't instantly drawn to 1 singular point in it)
But since we are going the extra mile, let's pay attention to the fact that Raven Beak's cape is the same color as the robes the Thoha wear. We're pretty used to seeing him with the red cape, but he's still recognizable even when the color is different. Although, what if we draw some symbolism out of this? What could it imply?
- That he took it from them or the other way around of them trying to take something from him - which then leads to them being cast into the pit.
- That their blood is on him? He carries the weight of this action on his back/shoulders?
Speaking of blood, the light side note is that it'd certainly give a different feeling if the blue was switched to a red. It's more a Thoha color to me honestly and it's been chosen here to represent the Thoha, whereas the red would be more symbolic to Raven Beak - and either giving that color to the Thoha is a no-go or it'd have the 'fun' side-effect of making the whole ordeal look a whole lot bloodier.
But we'll get back to colors and their meaning in a bit
Honestly though, I'd 110% buy it if they did give Raven Beak the red cape even in the mural. If he wants to be eye-catching and draw attention to his very being then boom, no better way in doing that than a spec of color not found anywhere else on the mural. But also honestly speaking, he's technically not the centerpiece of the mural, the act of Thoha genocide is.
Now, about those colors... Sure we don't have a complete understanding of the Chozo, their culture and what not + the different tribes view things differently
But we can still have a little fun here
Red = Quite likely the color that represents power. Just raw physical power, control, the mark of one who is capable. It makes sense that those who go up in rank get to wear Red as another sign of their promotion. It's also the color that is used a lot for decorating in Ferenia. Raven Beak also seems to like wearing this color, it's pretty obvious, what else do I need to say?
There's also probably some significance in all Mawkin having Red eyes (whereas for one Quiet Robe has Yellow eyes) (and they do have a bit of a glow to them, so who knows what's up. Is it natural or not, we have no way of knowing)
Gold = Well it's just a nice color, fancy, naturally shiny, makes for a neat accent and just looks nice. Humans do value gold and like seeking it out, but these are Chozo so they probably have a bit of a different view on it. Sure it could simply be fancy and flashy, intimidating others with the sheer amount of it and all that. Samus starts off with a Power Suit that's pretty close to Gold in most games. And the Thoha for sure like wearing Gold a lot. It might just have some old importance to it, something that lets it be valued to this day. Or then it just looks nice and the Chozo allow themselves a few nice things as a treat. There's gotta be something there with the main Elite Soldier wearing full on Gold armor (or simply gold-colored/-covered armor if the gold these fellas have is softer than a handful of other metals and materials). Things with gold in them could be important or valued - or simply look nice and shiny. I'll just leave it at it seemingly being a universally liked color/material by them. Ancient but still highly regarded.
Black = It's a bit of a headcanon, but I do like to imagine black color has a bit of a allusive nature in it symbolizing strength as a whole. Like overall kinda strength, Red is already there for power, so black is the one that comes after that and touches on other fields of strength. Perhaps independence, mental strength, one that supports and protects. Once Gold loses its shimmer and becomes black, it may be worthless to some, but underneath there's still gold, and if you keep polishing it'll eventually shine through.
This is also another color Raven Beak likes. His armor is rather dark here and there, and the Red tippet and cape he wears do have a gradient to Black (Red is still an overwhelming majority color though, so it's very much a 'power is everything, but other types of strength are also valued' kinda thing), so both are represented in a way, just that Red is vastly preferred. (Perhaps some other earlier ruler of the Mawkin Tribe preferred Black and would instead wear Black as their main highlight color along with it being the one to represent them. Who knows. Also fun side note, the Thoha Elder in my things and eyes do be wearing some darker colors on themselves. It'd make sense that the kind of strength more valued by the Thoha would be the mental kind (I didn't even plan on this, I settled on the darker color months prior based on the Quiet Robe storytime recreated pictures))
It also somewhat prominently features itself in Ferenia, and due to the fact there's plenty of Gold visible alongside it, I'd take that as a confirmation in it not being just stained gold, but deliberately dark in color instead. Some of the flags/banners do have a much darker color to them - if not outright being black. The decorations of shield + 2 spears combo are usually displayed with a black backing. It's also a somewhat common color to have in statues I'd say, that and the obvious Gold
The grand statues guarding Elun are Black too, unlike their counterparts in the tram area from Ferenia to Ghavoran (I can't confidently say which color those are, but gold is a guess although they seem a bit washed out in comparison to other golden statues we see - but these ones are outside so it'd say makes sense. But they could just be standard metallic silver and the warmer hues are reflections from their surroundings)
(In truth those 3 colors just go well together and look nice as a combo haha, can't blame them using them a lot in specific)
Blue = Perhaps the color of knowledge? It'd certainly explain why it's the one preferred and mostly associated with the Thoha. It might also just be a more peaceful color as a whole, perhaps too calm for the liking of Mawkins as a whole as they already have given the mental strength kinda role to Black. Could mean clarity of some sort too, but I do like the knowledge take on it.
As an additional thingy, if you look at the mural that's in the elevator room in Ferenia, you can see that the Space Pirates are mostly colored in grey/silver. I feel this color overall to the Mawkin just doesn't hold that high of a value. It can be everywhere in high amounts, so it'd certainly not scream rarity to them. There's also the feel of some of the Space Pirates that try to be on the attack, seem hostile and all that, but they're simply just fading into the background with their insignificance. They may try as hard as they want, they're still getting nowhere. (Also little bonus with this pic, you can see the hierarchic scale here too. Tiny puny Space Pirates)
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And now we go back to a whole different thing that I mentioned ways earlier
The things about the commissioner, maker and overall creation of the mural itself. The later one definitely has had plenty of thought put into it by several people already, but there's always room for more~
So, speaking of the first thing there, that being the commissioner. I do believe - or at least headcanon - that it was indeed commissioned (rather than being made just for the sake of it).
There's just so much to the mural even outside of what it's depicting. It being in Ferenia is obviously no strange thing, with it being their sanctuary and filled with all sorts of decorations and grand architecture as is. It is, however, placed in a quite the peculiar place. A nice big open room, a quaint set of grand fountains right nearby, the absolutely perfect place to relax and get a good clear view of it.
Oh right and Quiet Robe happens to work at just about the next room over. You know. Quiet Robe, a Thoha, the sole 'survivor' of the massacre. Wonderful.
So yeah. If by chance Quiet Robe has worked in that same room for the wholety of his duration in ZDR, you just know this was done on purpose. This room was chosen for a specific reason, and of course it's facing the person that enters the room through the door as the very first thing too pretty much. Why else would it be there other than to remind your 'surprise adopted' new resident of their place in the system? There's definitely a message being sent over here. Power is everything buddy, and you got none here, these are the facts.
I've also seen some theorizing over the missing words in the mural, with {“Ili muhar ninta ura”} being theorized as meaning {“the purity cleanses us”}. There's many ways you could take this as - especially with us lacking the other sentence's translation as well.
But a few takes on it are:
- With no Thoha tribe, the Chozo are 'back to being closer to their roots'
- With the elimination of the weaker members of Chozo, this has now strengthened their overall average capabilities
- The Thoha brought a 'bad name' to the Chozo by being unable to handle things on their own - or to fight to defend themselves - therefor getting rid of them was the rightful thing to do. Failure is not tolerated
- The less tribes there are to carry the name of the Chozo, the better. A potential goal of making the Mawkin tribe the only existing tribe of Chozo perhaps?
- It's an overall threat directed at Quiet Robe, reminding him of how capable and potentially willing they are to get rid of him if he doesn't comply or make himself useful. That or it's simply meant as an insult to show just how little they care about the stuff that happened. They'll make murals, yes, but only so you can feel like a loser.
Fun stuff, certainly. I'm sure he'll love this.
I certainly can't lie when I assume that the most likely candidate to who had the mural made in the first place is Raven Beak. He seems like just the type of guy to do it too. Just makes sense with how the mural is laid out. Hold him in high-regard, remember the downfall of his opposers, annoy RB and you end up like they did.
Sure the trip to SR388 didn't exactly go quite as planned. There are no Metroids and instead their gelatinous X Parasite snacks snuck onto their ships with them. Sounds like a failed operation to me - and RB I'd assume does not like this, so the focal point and 'what happened' weight is placed on something else, aka the 'cleansing'.
And yeah, I'm going to go with the fact that the mural was commissioned. RB would have been a bit too busy with all his things to make it himself (he might be all powerful, but come on, it's more likely that there's a Mawkin that was specifically trained to do these murals, or one who is skilled/very capable at making them)
I mean yeah sure, the idea of RB being the one to carve it and all that is pretty hilarious, I won't lie, but it just seems unlikely.
And QR making it seems equally unlikely, more so even. Sure he could be crafty and he'd probably have had time to make it during his - however long - stay on ZDR, but honestly, would he be so masochistic as to carve up a memorial of one of the most traumatizing events of his life? And to have it be situated so close to where he stays too? ...... I mean Maybe? Maybe he is just that destroyed and distraught (the poor man, seriously) but my main counterpoint to this is to bring up that stylistically this mural is very similar to the other murals we can see on ZDR, which leads me to think they were made by someone who has lived on the planet for longer than QR has. Mimicking a style is possible, but to do it so flawlessly and with no traceable failed training attempts anywhere? Yeah I'm just gonna say it was the handwork of a professional who has done it before.
Next up, we got the question on when was this mural created? Because of course making something like this is going to take time to get done. I got a few points of view for this one too, but I'll go over the one I see as the more likely one first.
- It was made after the massacre, during the X Parasite crisis.
* There would certainly be a lot of Mawkin around still, likely including some that are trained in making murals. Also it's just going to be one big petty move to make time to create something like this among all the chaos.
* everyone is busy trying to hold back the X Parasites, guarding Elun and working on stuff. It's a time of crisis, and assuming RB is the main fueling reason for the creation of this art piece, here he is, commissioning murals to intimidate a dude he doesn't like the attitude of. Sounds pretty dang petty to me.
- It was made before going to SR388, and was already planned.
* I dunno about this one chief, since if RB planned on just killing the Thoha, why not do it right away? Why wait until the creation of the seals to block anyone's access to the Metroids he so clearly seeks? I've written up my share on this whole thing, and am working on cleaning up the text and making it onto a proper story bit so I could post it - but in summary, I'm thinking RB was more looking to negotiate over the Metroids (instead of planning a genocide from the start). They're a grand (actually decent) invention made by the Thoha, he wants his share of it & the Aeoion energy/technology & his plan is to use the fact that he lent his soldiers to their aid as a way of getting a payment of sorts in return, like 'we did our part, now you do yours', and if the Thoha refuse they can always be overwhelmed (both with numbers and the fact they really ain't gonna fight back that much). But then they use the negotiation bait on him to try and get things to go their way. They do have things RB wants, and while he was ready to negotiate, he's not satisfied with how things have turned out, and he certainly isn't taking their plan of blowing up SR388 all that well = change of plans, screw this, screw you and screw your attempts at trying to best me. How dare you think you could order me around or place demands on Me. RIP all Thoha except for QR. I'm the one who makes the rules here. The one with the final say.
* RB might have been ready to take drastic measures, I mean, he did bring a huge army with him, big enough to deal with the thread of Metroids quite handily as there's still a grand mass of troops left even after the slaughter of the Thoha tribe. But the Thoha aren't exactly grand opponents, they don't really fight back (or they'd be fighting themselves through biology). But yeah. I don't think genocide was in the menu for him on that day, until he realized he did not like the other options on the list.
* If it really was being made earlier, there'd have to have been a lot of edits made + it would have simply been about the Mawkin helping the Thoha tribe. And while this could be possible, the mural plan would need to be heavily changed prior its finalization, so it'd lead to it being worked on and potentially finished during the X chaos regardless (there's no huge style changes to take note of, so we can assume the work was done by the same maker/s throughout)
- It was made after the X Parasites have been sealed away in Elun.
* Referring back to the idea from earlier. Yeah. This scenario would pretty much forcefully mean that the maker would have to be either RB or QR, and I just don't see either of these as likely as the professional mural maker so yeah. Of course, you're free to believe in what you want to, it's just not my personal pick out of the 3.
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But that's where I'm gonna leave and conclude it for now xD That's plenty of overthinking. A full essay/short-story's worth of it
