#00virtuezero

[enby-axels]

You know ? Naruto ( the character) is pretty much by action and blind support of Konoha, that the Ends Justify the Means. Protecting, covering up the corruption, and etc so he can ascend to Hokage where he says that is when he will change things ( yet that means supporting the system to acheive that postion) pretty is much is End Justify the Means. Of course he would never admit that.

100% agree, and this "goal-oriented" perspective of his, where konoha's false peace is idealized as the most sacred thing in the world, is often misunderstood as mature and wise, but it's in fact extremely nationalistic and violent. he just also happens to be the Narrative's favorite child, so all his obstacles get solved by systematized Deus Ex Machina (i.e. talk no jutsu) or someone else taking care of it for him (e.g. sasuke killing danzo). the blood on his hands, as soldier and later as hokage, is thoroughly invisibilized by distance and the institutions that quietly carry out violence on his behalf. how convenient, right?

[meteorstricken]

Curious what do you think of possibly 2 Sephiroth’s working against one another ? I honestly wondered if one fought at end of Remake is “Future” Sephiroth, then I started to think of “original”/past Sephiroth the one in Northern Carter frozen in Mako. At first I thought for longtime are they working together ? But then it occured to me, what if they will end against one another ?

I'm not thinking there's >1 Seph at all.

My current favorite theory casts the Lifestream as an omnitemporal entity with an active will for how things are "supposed to" play out for the planet, and Sephiroth as having access to all that information. Because he has access to that information, and is technically "dead" he's working from within to subvert it--to bring it under his control as we see in the OG, where his control over the Lifestream prevents Holy from moving until he's defeated.

I don't think there's more than one timeline or more than one Sephiroth. I think what we're seeing with the Whispers and his various appearances are how he's taken on the omnitemporal nature of the Lifestream itself, and is slowly gaining control over it. This is evident in how, toward the end of Remake, we hear the cries of the planet coming directly from the Whispers as they swarm Midgar. The Whispers are a manifestation of a Lifestream under assault.

It's all about Sephiroth's gaining control over the Lifestream, and the Lifestream's attempts to resist that effort, resulting in its erratic behavior... We're just getting to see how the sausage is made this time, so to speak--how it all leads up to Sephiroth being able to block Holy.

Here's the dude who concocted this theory, and the two parts he's released so far. He's a theologian and professor who teaches religion, myth, philosophy, and literature IRL. (He's also fairly humble, values curiosity over bitter cynicism, and is willing to be wrong, which is a rare gem for VII's broader fandom, lol.) There will be a final, third part dropping shortly if you happen to find his takes as compelling as I do.

Part 1

Part 2

[enby-axels]

I could be wrong with this comparison, but after looking at alot of anti and critcal posts about Bakugo from MHA, I couldn't help but think of how Naruto ( character) is akin to this in terms of getting away with awful treatment and never held accountable or suffering consequences for his actions and flaws. I have nominal knowledge of MHA, but I can't help but look at Bakugo and the favoritism he receives from narrative and praise being akin Naruto. Again would this be accourate ?

im gonna be honest, i have not been keeping up with mha for years now, so idk 😭 the two series have really similar politics though, concerning the military and police

[enby-axels]

Something I find ironic and fitting, Zabuza the cold blooded kil, Rogue Nin, and Demon of Mist shows far more humanity by actions ( started a coup to stop the Bloodline purges in Kiri, took in Haku while at first seeing him as tool, came care about him, and was planning on killing Gato as soon he got paid for the job) then Konoha Shinobi like Kakashi.

yeah zabuza, while not perfect, at least has some fucking dignity as a human being lol and acknowledges that haku deserved better. there's something tragic about the disconnect between his heart and actions, he's completely aware his relationship with haku is fucked up, but he has no idea how to be better, he was never taught how, and by the time he outwardly admits it, it's too late for them both. meanwhile kakashi is just like, the shinobi world sucks, that's not my problem tho :P anyways, sasuke be a perfect living weapon for konoha and put your government-assigned comrades above your need for justice, or else youre a bad person and falling into the darkness. kakashi is just so offensively dull and indoctrinated

[meteorstricken]

Glad that Mythos Risen will be doable post Rising Tide DLC. I felt it would given how I played DLC and such. Looking forward seeing how elements and etc of Rising Tide play out in Mythos Risen. Along with Echoes of Fallen revisions.

Me too!

Interestingly enough, the revisions will be exceedingly gentle--I'll have to stick in a sentence or two where the characters acknowledge when something reminds them of Sagespire or Leviathan because it would be almost awkward for them not to, but that's it. There's nothing that requires me to change anything that's happened within the existing plot.

The mental chess game I'm in now with Mythos Risen is figuring out a lot of Ultima character development, but that was always going to be the case.

(There's also the challenge of time constraints. Real life has gotten silly-busy, so I'm not going to be able to pick the fic back up at any appreciable speed for another month or two.)

[meteorstricken]

@00virtuezero Firstly, thank you very much. You're not the first person to tell me that Mythos Risen has believable FFXVI-2 vibes, but I'm truly flattered every time I hear or read it. I knew I'd hit upon an exciting or intriguing idea when I started, but...well, I'll put it this way: I've never gotten this much of a positive response to anything I've written before. I really was and am still just entertaining myself.

I also have to agree that the fact that the post-credits ending is set so, so far into the future is a little suspicious. I can't rule out the possibility that SE might not truly be done with it yet. The last FF that made a point of showing a post-credits "world recovery" end centuries into the future like that was OG FFVII, and we see what happened there--lots of wiggle room for a lot more story. And IMO, a story that makes such a huge point of framing its big bad as an *actual god* would not be ill-served by showing that saving the world isn't as simple as 'just kill him'. Religious traditions and mythologies the world over tend to indicate that deities aren't fans of staying dead. They regenerate or resurrect. They take on new forms. They're resourceful as hell, and sometimes 'death' is just a stepping stone to an even higher ascended state. (Just imagine...the glory. The horror. The sheer cosmic and existential fucked-upedness...I mean, how does Clive or humanity as a whole begin to negotiate or fight with an Ultima who it turns out was being quite sincere when he said, "I cannot end"?)

Buuut if nothing else beyond The Rising Tide materializes, XVI remains a great story that has inspired me and given me wonderful characters to play with nonetheless, and play I shall. 😈

[chaoticcoffeequeen]

Happy Birthday!

Thank you 00 🌻

[leportraitducadavre]

00Virtuezero : Wanted to say hope your doing alright here and in your personal life. Your analysis are inspiration.

Hi dear! Thank you so much for reaching out!! You're so sweet.