hhhhgh parallels between imperial agent and sith warrior thinking of aela and galen specifically but they also hold up generally as well
thinking about how they're both meant to be used, have their identity stripped away in favor of a title given to them by the state (wrath, cipher)
thinking about they're both stabbed in the back by the very thing that raised them up in the first place, that demands absolute loyalty and then disgards you anyway as soon as you aren't useful.
Thinking about how they both break free, in a way, on Quesh, but also about how neither of them are really free, they escape from one thing only to run headlong into another
About how nonhumans never quite get away from their race, no matter how powerful they are, no matter how useful they are, no matter how many alternate identities they take on and how much of their identity they let the Empire strip away. Somehow, even having lost everything else, their race still holds them back when it really matters
Thinking about how the Agent knew, as long as they were alive, that they were expendable, and all this above stuff was only confirming that. Thinking, also, about how the Sith is told over and over that they're special, they're above the others, and that still doesn't protect them from anything
Thinking about how, if the Warrior and the Agent met each other, each would see something completely foreign and messed up and almost unnatural. And it would be ironic, because they're really just mirrors of each other.
And. at the end of the day, the very same entity that mutilated them both also kept them apart. They've been taught not to trust the other, to see them as Different and suspect. They've been taught to mistrust and demean someone who is, in all practical terms, just like them. And that's just the icing on the cake, you know?
alright so for familiar reasons I was poking around looking at the meaning of animals -
so first it looks like Scout is def associated a bit with the Fool. Maybe you could say that Scout is actually the MC's familiar, or the closest thing to it?
But, more interesting -
the Ten of Pentacles has two dogs on it, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was meant to tie in with Mercedes and Melchior. hecking long analysis of this under the cut -
The REVERSED ten of pentacles means your long term stability is in danger. It means you're sacrificing the future for the short term - in particular, you're making risky investments and they're going to blow up in your face.
And - that's legit the MAIN thing that Lucio's route deals with. When you're rescuing the familiars, Lucio rushes straight in and nearly gets you killed. And sure, it worked, but at a cost. And if you think about it, that's what he's been doing all his life is making risky short term gambles, over and over and over, taking from his future to benefit the present until there wasn't anything left to take. And so you could say that the reversed ten of pentacles is a card that describes his arc pretty well..
The upright version seems basically the complete opposite of Lucio's entire character. It's tied up with long term satisfaction. Hard work and patience paying off with time, and in particular the whole card isn't just dogs, it's a guy surrounded by his wife, kids, estate. It's about getting older and having things you've built, a new generation you've raised. You've been productive and now you're reaping the rewards.
And... that's seems pretty dang far away from Lucio. By the beginning of his route, he's done the opposite of all of that. He's alone. He's done nothing but take and take and now he has nothing... but his dogs. Notice that M&M stay with him even at that absolute lowest point. And even when nobody else loves him, they're dogs! I'm pretty sure they would love him no matter what he did.
And... if you follow the Upright route? You kind of see that he IS making some little baby steps towards that. He's giving more than he's getting as a journeyman. He's helping people. It doesn't say much more than that, but it's not that far a stretch of the imagination to say that settling down with kids, or pets, or whatever - is something that is ABSOLUTELY within reach, if that's what he and MC want. And very very few people would look at ghost goatman and say that there's any hope for him, but...
so I guess you could say that in a way, Mercedes & Melchior kind of represent the hope that he can turn things around. Like... that card is reversed right now, but it doesn't HAVE to be. It can change. And M&M have total faith that he can do it...
@ebitenpura i'll do my best to explain it in a way that makes sense!
I guess I should start out with the fact that this is my opinion. I changed Senya because in my own opinion, and my opinion only, it improved the overall narrative. I'm not saying Senya was a bad character, or that the story was objectively bad the way it was! I just changed the story to be something I was more interested in.
putting the rest under a cut so it doesn't clog up the blog
I started out really liking Senya. I loved the idea that a Knight would have interests, and like to sing, and have her own opinions and such. I loved that she's an older woman, when we so rarely get older women in stories like this. It's usually super young hot romancable women which is fine? But I wish there was a bit more variety, so I loved that we kinda got two sides of the Zakuul equation. Koth, representing the people, and Senya, representing the Knights. AND they don't like each other. Excellent
It was really disappointing, in a way, to find out that it's actually just that she's a mom. She's older and she's gentler and she sings and she's also a mother, and those are all traits that people automatically give mothers. So now it doesn't feel like a subversion of anything at all, just playing into a different trope than expected... and that disappointed me.
Plus, it didn't make much sense at ALL to me how Senya could have possibly been involved with the literal Sith Emperor. What little we know about the early years of Arcann, Thexan, and Vaylin's life, I really find it difficult to understand how Senya fits into that.
I'm sure she could, and I'm sure it's possible to make sense of that, but honestly the backstories and arcs and things just make more sense to me if you don't involve a random Knight who also is their mother who also apparently loves Valkorian?? except we never see them together EVER
I especially find it hard to believe that the Sith Emperor, this being of ultimate evil and Dark Side power, also had a somewhat functional and occasionally loving relationship with a random woman. Why????
So. For me, personally, I liked Arcann and Vaylins' stories better when Senya wasn't involved at all, so I prefer to just stick with that rather than doing a huge amount of mental gymnastics trying to make Senya make sense with the larger story.
More importantly: from what I understand, Senya's whole thing was that more than anything, she just wants her children to be alright. So she'll say other things, she'll do what she needs to, but it's all with the end goal of saving her kids. For example, she promises she'll do what it takes when she gets to Arcann, but then. well. she straight up disobeys direct orders to save Arcann and escape with him. She fights Vaylin, and could have killed her, but doesn't.
And that's... all well and good. But I felt like it had a detrimental effect on Arcann's arc for a couple reasons.
First of all, Senya taking over and having the whole confrontation with Vaylin and Arcann... it was really good! But it also felt out of place. It felt like Senya was taking the spotlight away from the Outlander, and kind of taking the choice of it all into her own hands.
I thought it was really cool that Senya couldn't bring herself to kill Vaylin, but also... this isn't her story! That would have been amazing in a movie, but in a story where I want the main focus to be on my characters and how they are reacting/interacting with the characters and world, having decisions made by an NPC doesn't feel the best. It feels like agency over the narrative is being taken away.
I had all sorts of ideas for my own characters to interact with Arcann and Vaylin! And so when Senya had all the big emotional character moments, and the Outlander wasn't even there... it felt like they were kinda getting left out. Like this isn't their story. And YES I know that it kind of isn't. But that's why I am here, is to play a story that my character can engage in. And if my character can't engage, that's a problem.
More importantly (and I think this is actually the thing that irked me more than everything else above): Senya rescuing Arcann and taking him to a healing center and doing a ritual that makes him magically "good" again is really not something I like. The vibes are troublingly similar, in my mind, to a parent taking their grown child to conversion therapy, or a parent otherwise deciding for their grown child that they know best and taking away that child's ability to choose for themselves.
And... I dunno. I know a lot of parents who grieve over their child's decisions, and many parents who are right! Where the child does something and it really is bad for them, and the parents are right that it's bad for them! But that doesn't change the fact that it is wrong for the parents to step in and force their grown, adult child to do the right thing. I think to have someone step in and force you to do what they want, and tell you that your opinions and instincts are wrong... that makes you lose something very important.
So. It makes sense to me that Senya would want to depose Arcann, because he's hurting millions of people. But for her to save his life, when he seemed like he honestly was ready to die? For her to subject him without his consent to a ritual that fundementally changed his view/personality?? It feels, to me, like even if her methods were effective, it takes away something very important from Arcann's story, especially when he was so insistent that he wanted to choose his own destiny.
Arcann tried for years to escape his father's shadow, to establish his own path. For his mother to then do the same exact thing, and force him into this thing that she believes is good for him? How is that any different? Isn't that just the same exact thing? I think the message that it's okay to force someone to follow your vision of their life as long as you're on the "good side" is a really really problematic message. Even letting Arcann choose to go out fighting, and refuse to stand down... at least then, he died by his own choice.
SO! My version of events does not have a magical "cure" ritual that magically makes Arcann into a good person. It also does not put Senya in Arcann's story at all, because I believe they both have better arcs without that connection. Hopefully this post made it easier to understand why I did it, even if you don't agree with me. But I'd love to hear some discussion about this. I really haven't seen much about Senya on here at ALL. Folks who liked Senya's arc... why did you like it??
oh goshhhh there's a short story from Thexan's POV published on the SWTOR website!
Today, I watched my face burn.
fun stuff we learned from this:
Arcann's mask was made to his own specifications - he wanted it to be intimidating
Arcann and Thexan proposed the invasion of the Core Worlds, but it was primarily Arcann's vision. Thexan supported it because he supported his brother, not out of any particular love for conquering
Valkorian allowed only Thexan to go, and Arcann defied orders to come with him.
because it's interesting and also because the first time I did it, I was very confused -
I absolutely expected Lucio to have to decide. Specifically, for him to decide... and choose to save himself. As awful as that is for MC, I think it would really fit (even Upright leaning, with a Lucio who has improved/is getting bettter).
if he chooses himself: things haven't changed, or not much. He likes you but he also definitely sees you as primarily someone who is useful. this is not a two-way relationship, it's just an extension of what he has done with Morga and later Spada. He found a new powerful person to mooch off of, that's all and now you're going to serve the excellent purpose of keeping him alive.
Or... he's still stuck in old habits. Maybe he chooses that, and regrets it later. Or chooses it, and you confront him about it. Nobody changes overnight, so even if he's getting better I could absolutely see Lucio struggling/choosing selfishly a few times. Having it blow up in his face, or having genuine regret abt it, would make his eventual growth seem more real.
(putting the rest under a cut because it's QUITE LONG)
OR! Lucio's planning to come back and save you. When I first did this chapter, the idea that you might free yourself to try and SAVE the other person wasn't even on my radar. I was taking it as a straight choose-who-dies situation. But, Lucio likes to be the hero and he tends to be a bit hazy on what's he can and can't accomplish. If the idea occured to him, I think he really would believe he could do it. Cue regret and maybe even an apology when he ISN'T able to do it --
Just... this is around the midpoint of the story. In many character arcs, the middle bit is where the character relapses, or half-commits and it isn't enough. It's where they are maybe thinking about changing, but haven't fully managed it yet. So they make a bad decision, it blows up in their face, and either they learn from it (growth) or they don't, and blame others, or dig in their heels, or otherwise stay stuck with their old beliefs and actions.
And... Lucio has gone his whole life not being held responsible, or having others shore up his crap. So it kind of irks me that we're in this life-or-death situation - an excellent test of whether he actually HAS grown at all - and Lucio doesn't get any say. How is he meant to practice selflessness/taking responsibility or whatever if he isn't given the chance to do so???
oooh hollld up Lucio's route (and presumably others too) changes ever so slightly depending on whether you're tending towards "Upright" or "Reversed"??
For example: Upright Lucio agrees to help find the familiars and even seems a bit sorry for getting the parents locked up in the first place. Reversed Lucio tries to get MC to ditch them and they have to make him stay.
But the really interesting bit is the situation with Valdemar. I know I read recently a post by someone who noted that Lucio's reaction to your choice is different depending on Upright vs. Reversed, as is what he says later when you meet him in the magical realms. But Valdemar also says smth different in the previous chapter, when the two of you are first bound.
Need to go back and get the exact wording but Upright version they express a preference to study the Apprentice because of the nature of their body. Reversed they encourage MC to free themSELF because "he doesn't seem like the self-sacrificing type, if you take my meaning" or smth along those lines.
Makes me wonder - what was their reasoning either way? If they genuinely DID have a preference as to which one got studied, I don't think Lucio's emotional stability would affect that. So maybe there's some other motivation/goal in saying it? but I can't quite figure out what --
lucio, narcissism, and the subversion of villain tropes, Part 2
Alright so okay lucio is a really interesting character and he's got different motivations and methods and outcomes than what you'd expect from the usual BBEG (namely, he's got all the pieces he needs to be a really terrifying villain.. but he fails to execute. Frequently. in interesting ways)... but why? and if you wanted to build him an arc with some actual growth, that honors his character better than the existing route, what would be required to change his ways/mindset?
It's not conviction that's the problem. And it's not weakness - Lucio is actually fairly good with a sword as shown when he fights one for you in his own route. I think... it's his own perception of himself. He deals with insecurity and childhood neglect with self delusion and general narcissism - and it's pretty obvious that this makes him unlikable and damages relationships with those around him.
But consider: Lucio would not have made the deals in the first place if he didn't believe himself capable of following through with them. It's not that he made the deals intending to screw the demons over and not hold up his half. It's that over and over and over, he overestimates what he's able to do, and as a result he makes promises he's unable to back up... but it's not lying! He genuinely and falsely believes he can do it.
So the solution? A more realistic view of himself. Accepting that he's got issues, and that he's got weaknesses, and that those things are part of being human and having them does not make him weak or bad as a person...
and MC cannot do that for him. As much as I love the Lucio route and wholeheartedly ship Cass with him, I also recognize that it mischaracterizes him. One person loving him isn't going to fix his deep insecurities. In fact, that was precisely the thing that made him worse was that he just kinda bounced from enabler to enabler and never really had to do anything for himself. As much as I hate to say it, what the guy really needs here is therapy and a LOT of consistent effort to apologize and work at being better.
Which. is boring. But it's legit the only thing that really "fixes" a person. And since therapy doesn't really exist in Vesuvia and even if it did, Lucio would NOT go... IDK man. I'm not sure that there is any possible way for Lucio to get better/break the cycle without changing significant elements of the story or his character. The part of me that loves destructive cycles and tragic characters finds the whole situation incredibly interesting. But there's also a part of me that is incredibly sad for him, and I'm finding it hard to reconcile the two.
lucio, narcissism, and subverting villainous tropes - an essay
this guy has been spinning in my head for several days. Also, just read a couple of other excellent analysis essays recently and they got me thinking. so ihni if they are coherant but have some thoughts:
if lucio had made the deals with the devils and they had worked, people would likely see him significantly differently. That's the thing there are so many villains out there who work with evil forces, or gamble with risky ventures, and come out ahead. But Lucio didn't, and that's what makes him fascinating to me.
Like, Lucio had all the makings of an excellent villain. His idea to trade OTHER PEOPLE to demons to get power for himself? Genius. He just wasn't quite lucky or strong or savvy enough to follow through. But, like. It's not because he was lazy. That first deal? The deal with the pestilance? Lucio clearly did try. Fought his father, followed through with the heart, tried to fight his mother. It's not like he chickened out or anything. Lucio was more than willing to kill both his parents. He just miscalculated. Gambled that the sickness would be enough of an advantage for him to kill his mother, and lost.
And that's the thing that gets me about Lucio in general is that in an alternate universe he could have really been an awful tyrant. Iron fist, merciless conqueror, that sort of thing. But he just isn't quite smart enough to manage it. He's not clever. He's unsubtle and easy to predict but and he's also very unobservant.
Think about it. Even with breaking so many deals. even with everything going wrong. he could have gotten out of it with that final deal. If he had been more clever, read the terms better, handled the details himself. Instead he gets Asra to do it, and that was his mistake. And that's the THING if Lucio had just been a little bit more aware, or a little more careful, or a little bit smarter. But he wasn't.
