#althena

[crystalplumage]

Left: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (1996)

Right: Sailor Moon R - Ep. 42: The Final Battle Between Light and Dark: Pledge of Love to the Future (1994)

[kimeepki]

White Knight Leo from one of my favorite games of all time, Lunar Eternal Blue! I absolutely LOVE this classic JRPG series and I was so happy that they decided to remaster it. I’m enjoying playing through it again, so I decided to draw some fanart of one of my favorite characters from the game. There’s more fanart coming too!

[myrpgisbetterthanyourscosplay]

Now for my Luna cosplay from Lunar! Aka the human version of Goddess Althena. Dress made by me from stretch knits/faux fur at the top, and matte fabric, seatbelt fabric, and faux fur in the bottom, cotton/ribbon/nylon for the back apron/cap/ponytail wrap, felt/matte fabric and white ribbon for the corset. Photos: Jason Harris Promotions. I made this cosplay after my Dark Goddess which I'll post later. One of my most elaborate cosplays to date! She's a fun character to act out, in both happy and Tsundere modes. This photoshoot was supposed to imitate the Saith docks.

[inkwellgalleon]

Statue of the Goddess. Watercolor, colored pencil, and pen on water color paper. May 2026 b.b.spade

[zombiemollusk]

was thinking about luna's boat song and i think i had a huge epiphany about her.

one of the big themes in the psx/remastered version of the lunar games (haven't played the others but to my knowledge it doesn't seem to apply to the original sega cd version) is that overreliance on gods causes a lot of problems and is ultimately borne of lack of faith in ourselves and each other - and unlike a lot of rpgs of the time that tend to use evil or nonexistent gods to make this point, the goddess in lunar is a genuinely benevolent one, establishing that the message still stands regardless of those gods' existences or alignments.

luna's song not only foreshadows this entire theme (replace "shooting star" with "althena"), but it being sung in first-person suggests that she herself struggles with this sense of dependence despite recognizing the problems thereof.

a bit before that, she has a conversation with alex where she apologizes for nagging him about his desire for adventure so much, realizing that her fears stem partially from lack of faith in him. then she has the boat song, suggesting a lack of faith in herself and a need for a "shooting star" to guide her future.

and then she gets kidnapped, then learns she is the goddess.

you wanted a shooting star to grant your wishes, luna? well guess what: you are the shooting star. and you became a human so you wouldn't have to be.

imagine what that's like though. many know what it's like to be god-fearing as a child, then grow out of it as a result of disillusionment with a god who seemingly ignores prayers. imagine what it's like to believe in god, wonder why god won't hear you, then learning it's because you are god and were too busy not remembering shit about it to grant anyone's wishes, and then realizing you still don't have that capability. you're just some kid and you've found out an entire moon full of people - including you - has been putting all their expectations on you your whole life and are mad you didn't answer because you weren't there, because of a choice you don't remember making. for someone as motherly and compassionate as luna, that has to be devastating.

silver star story complete and remastered imply this is the only time althena ever became a human, but lunar 2 and dragon song (for those who consider it canon) contradict this, revealing she'd been human many times before. so if we take this as canon, why did she keep going back to being a goddess? this goes into headcanon territory, but it's possible that even as althena she struggled with having faith in the humans, similarly to her faith in alex as luna. her previous attempts at humanity may have been intended to be permanent only to fall to self-sabotage. her desire for the humans to grow strong and work together for themselves kept conflicting with her desire to protect them from harm. the lack of knowledge about all this on lunar may also have been a well-intentioned mistake, thinking everyone would panic if they knew. or people just didn't want to believe their beloved goddess would abandon them, so they didn't, and her repeatedly returning to godhood served only to solidify that.

so what changed this time? two people: ghaleon and alex.

ghaleon so depended on the existence of a goddess that he, upon witnessing her latest attempt at humanity, tried to take her power for himself, and kidnapped and brainwashed her so she wouldn't fight back, proving the biggest drawback in putting all your faith in one person and no one else, not even yourself - when that person is forced into a position where they're the one who needs your help.

but then someone did help her - alex, and some friends they both made who were willing to put in the effort because they knew they could, or at least that it was worth trying. even nash, the one who struggled the most with faith in himself and his friends, came around in the end.

althena discovered the hard way the sheer lengths some people will go to keep you around when they think you're both necessary and useless to their happiness regardless of your own feelings, and also the lengths people will go to help you when they recognize you can't fix everything wrong in their lives and can't be around forever but want to be around you anyway because they care about you.

having seen the full extent of the damage her smothering did, and how well people can cope on their own - or learn to, if they can't at first - she could finally live fully as a human and not panic her way back into godhood.

(aaaand then it took a thousand years and the arrival of a backup goddess who also struggles with her faith in humanity for everyone to finally figure out she was gone for good, but hey, they got there eventually.)

[geekysteven]

JRPGs aren't just about defeating God, some of them explore deep philosophical questions. Like Lunar, which asks, "What if your girlfriend was goth? Huh, what then. Like so dang goth"

[doesjingorolikeit]

Something I made for Lunar turning 30 this year, back in the summer. I stopped posting Lunar stuff here for reasons, but I like this one a lot and I’m proud of it. I will always care Luna (and Althena by extension) 💙

[defunct-notfun]

althena for jemli! reading, w her fav ball, as one does

Posted using PostyBirb