Ok so Trog has a bit where they’re not sleeping until “all the villagers can sleep.” This came from a clump contract where they had to do a villager census from all kingdoms, and in the process found out that these guys are often kept in neglectful and/or inhumane conditions: such as not having space to move or owning a bed, in worse cases being put through physical trial and work as soon as they exist. Acacia and Spruce shared a villager area where a bunch were crammed into one corner
It hasn’t made it to their pov yet, but apparently this sight unsettled them so much, they had a nightmare of a giant monster with lots of conjoined villager heads. And they fight this thing. Whether it’s to put it out of its misery or in self defence, if they’re successful or not, we don’t know yet. It’s planned to be an animated scene later on (it’ll be done in its own time at their own pace, since ccTrog is irl busy atm)
But this nightmare was so bad, Trog refuses to sleep again. Presumably, it keeps appearing whenever they try sleeping, so they keep staying awake. And since phantoms are known to bother players who don’t sleep, they’ve taken on an alter ego called the Phantom Menace who kills those mobs on sight (the bit existed before, but now it’s a thing)
So
Some thoughts based off of this
[I will be including some info from their dnd series, which isn’t required reading btw. CcTrog has stated that the only thing we need to know about dnd Trog is that they’re dnd Trog. However comma. I love character analysis and couldn’t help but reflect on certain details I’ve seen there
The sbk-only info that I’m basing this off of comes from a Milkman episode called “Industrializing Minecraft Skyblock’s worst new island” from July, and a Trog animation stream from August. Deep cut theory here we go]
Why does it scare them so much??
This is not the first time they’ve encountered a monster, but in this case, it’s in their dreams and it doesn’t exist. It’s not a real threat
However. Their fear is very real, and what a character fears can reveal deeper things about them. We’re looking at a different Trog after all. One that, for reasons still unknown, took the place of god Trog and is living the skyblock life and has everyone fooled. Nobody else has caught on. It was actually really smart timing on the dnd variant to appear within minutes of the world starting. Nothing to question if you have nothing to compare to
In the early days of season 2, a clump contract became a little side quest, and they got way more invested than Milkman was anticipating. They tracked down profession details and living conditions, noticed the lack of fair treatment, and now won’t sleep. No one else seems to have a problem with the way villagers are set up, but Trog’s perspective may be entwined with culture shock
From world building alone, Caverns and Creepers (their dnd series) is structured to give players an RPG/DND feel to its gameplay. There’s powers and abilities one can obtain, you can level up with them, you can switch them around, there’s custom crafting systems for modded tools/armor/farms, structures like dungeons to explore and loot, and powerful mobs known as bosses that can be fought for the thrill or item they drop
There’s all kinds of creatures and spells and sacrifice rituals and dwarven technology that can provide a good challenge for progress
Skyblock is already massively empty compared to regular worlds, even more so to a world full of unique experiences. Dnd Trog knew they would arrive somewhere very different, so maybe it wasn’t too surprising to learn that significant items, weapons, and armor get obtained through limited means: like villager interactions
Except, for some godforsaken reason, the people of this sky world don’t have the common courtesy to show these beings respect? Not even allowing them to rest?
On the dnd world, they used sacrifice rituals to summon spirits that would give them certain abilities or work for them. They viewed these otherworldly entities as friends and willing participants in dark magic. They captured one in the minecraft equivalent of a pokeball to let it rest from its work. They were saddened over an accidental ‘death’ of one, before gathering the right materials to pull the same spirit back into the proper dimension. There’s a level of respect and attachment towards these spirits
Trog rarely sees thoughtfulness towards entities (villagers) that help out on the sky dimension. The bare minimum of letting them take a break isn’t checked off on a lot of kingdoms. Instead, they see the atrocities these guys are put through
The mess of pixels and faces was enough to seep into their subconscious, and hold on with a terrifying grip. The monster is more than just a distorted reflection of what they witnessed; it represents unnecessary, man-made cruelty
In their sleep, they’re faced against it, and so a familiar routine from encountering monsters kicks in. They fight it. In self defence? To put it out of its misery? Who knows
Trog also used to have their player friends at their side to help take down powerful bosses. I’m pretty sure they’re alone in the nightmare, which could be extra daunting for them. This isn’t me saying that they aren’t capable of defeating big bad enemies, but the challenge and mental weight becomes a lot heavier when it’s a solo battle
They’ve been scared of monsters before. Now it’s a little different. Is it really the visual body horror that gets to them? Or is it deeper, and maybe there’s a core fear reflected in the nightmare?
Man-made cruelty…….that shit is scary
Maybe, looking to a broader sense of ‘self vs. opponent’, as to why they can’t fully relax until the problem goes away:
They’re scared of what they can’t defeat
As the Phantom Menace, they can take down less powerful creatures while acting as a hero of sorts. It’s a retreat into a different battle that they know they can handle
And while I’m here, I headcanon that dnd Trog uses sacrifice rituals every once in a while to ward off the effects of sleep deprivation
Somewhat related, and again not in any videos yet, but Ruby has mentioned that xyr character has something to do with nightmares. It’s got me wondering if their lore would cross paths at some point
In the InuYasha animated series every character has a precise colour scheme for the hair, especially the female characters. All the ladies have unique colour palettes (they all have black hair, but Kagome has blue highlights, Kikyo’s are purple and Sango’s are brown).
So I decided to compare them to the kids.
Kagome and moroha are basically identical, although Moroha’s hair is a tone lighter (understandable considering InuYasha)
The same happens with Sango and the twins and Hisui (whose hair takes more a... greenish hue), but still similar.
(So, here we go again with crazy theorizing)
I took the same approach with Setsuna (Towa takes obiviously from Sesshomaru so I won’t cover her) and this happened:
Their hair colour maches up pretty well (adding more to the Kagura theory).
To be fair I compared her to the other character speculated and...
they are completely different and don’t follow the pattern seen in previous examples (lighter tone but still in the same range colour). I don’t think it’s her (hopefully).
[Side note: using a picture of 8 year old Rin for this post made me slightly uncomfortable, but we don’t have a grown version with clear colours, so... I worked with what I have]
In conclusion, the devil is in the details and the animators said that they matter for the “Who’s the mom” enigma. We’ll see.
Which do you think would happen (or you want to happen) first: Nick confessing his feelings or Ellie confesseing hers?
OH this is good T. Ok realistically I think one of two things will happen, so stick with me.
1. Nick will finally have a come to Jesus moment when Ellie is in serious serious trouble. Like injured, narrowly escaped death and is so damn lucky to be alive moment. He’ll have gotten some sly comments from Kasie & Ziva prior to her getting hurt but it’s that “fuck she could have really been gone in a heartbeat and I would have never told her how I feel because I’m too fucking prideful” moment that hits him like a semi & he’s done for. He wastes not a single second longer to tell Ellie his feelings.
2. Ellie after continued training with Odette and general development (she has slowly broken down walls, become more in touch with her heart), can’t take it the next time Nick is a piss-off and “dates” another woman. She doesn’t buy the “you’re like a sister to me” bullshit he tries to sell her and finally calls him on it. It’s a big, snowballing tirade like when she went off on Gibbs about Ziva. She’s got the confidence not only in herself but in her feelings. It’s her “fuck off you know I love you like you love me so just man the fuck up and say it” moment & it knocks Nick’s socks off but she doesn’t care because she finally said her feelings.
I’m truly not sure which I would prefer, but I think at this point in their development on the show, that’s what it’ll take 🤦🏻♀️
If you aren't reading Conversations with a Cryptid then you are MISSING OUT. It's 10:10 and I just finished chapter 10 and I'm screaming??? It's so good! I could care less about canon right now I just want this story to be real.
I love how I’m the time to person to force people to go to bed only to be caught up at 1 writing or some shit, is not my fault School gives me no creative outlet
