Random thoughts on Gilbert because uni's been keeping me busy and I haven't gotten around to drawing/cosplaying in a while:
I think modern day Gilbert differs quite a bit from how he used to be (somewhat?? supported by canon??). Taking the historical context into consideration and the oftentimes extreme ideals of religious devoutism, masculinity and imperialism surrounding him at any given time he was probably not doing very well back then. Who you could be as a man was (and still is in many ways) restricted to narrow and often unrealistic standards. What I envision is him being inconsiderate, traumatized by war and lashing out at other people because of what he's done and what he has endured.
Modern day Gilbert has finally healed and processed some of the things he's been through.
Adding on this: not saying he was always some brute, I do think he had his sweeter and softer side as evidenced by Gilbird being around in earlier comics and Gilbert even making him clothes around the 18th century ish???
This takes place pre the Napoleonic Wars I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway he's always had a "less manly" side to him in the form of empathy for smaller creatures and how nurturing he is to them (and Ludwig/HRE).
That brings us to my next idea; I think Gilbert had a wake up call when he suddenly gained a younger brother who depended on him during some tumultuous times. It was then he realized he couldn't go on as he had and made efforts to become a better person, for Ludwig's sake. He did not deserve to endure the same, harsh conditions Gilbert had endured at his age, and perhaps he finally realized just how damaging it had been to grow up in a strict, fanatical and militant environment that did not allow you to be different. Now I don't think he fully just drops it all and moves on, we do know he values hard work and is a bit of a perfectionist still and romanticizes his past somewhat, but I think he improved upon these practices and developed a more healthy way of being.
Now onto the immortality stuff. Sure, in reality the personality changes in this series happened because Hima developed the characters and got rid of some cringy/insensitive/problematic traits. I do however think you can make a case for it making sense in universe as well. The unhinged Gilbert we meet in the beginning of this story shows up around the mid 1700's during the War of the Austrian Succession. At this point he's already been around for at least 500 years. That's half a fucking millenia! What I propose is that you won't always cope well with immortality, and that he at this stage is pretty badly bruised by time and memory and experiences far beyond that of an ordinary person. Since we do see nations older than this act relatively fine I propose that it can be a bit of a make it or break it point for them, but that they usually find their footing again.
A totally sane and normal Gilbert about to commit a war crime by executing an enemy who has surrendered. Also showcases a surprisingly dark side as mentioned before. (Battle of Grunwald 1410)
Really taken out of thin air, but given how many kingdoms subsequently dissolved as a result of the unification 1876, you could make out some grim implications for the Hetalia universe. These nations are dead as far as we know, or at least faded completely into obscurity. Given that Gilbert and Roderich arr the only ones that make it out of this (history nerds will know that the Großdeutsche Lösung never happened, so Roderich can presumably be removed from the picture) one has to wonder what that implies for Gilbert. Was he chosen to remain? Would everyone truly be ready to die for this? It's a bit muddled and we probably won't receive any answers anytime soon, but it is possible Gilbert signed their death certificates and never looked back, even though he refers to the other Germanic nations as cousins or brothers. Eerie stuff.
Anyway! Modern day Gilbert, as we see from later comics, is a bit of an unemployed used-to-be. He marvels at long Furbies and oftentimes just appear to provide commentary, rather than play an active role in what's happening. So I reckon he's calmed down considerably (perhaps also due to unspecified health issues associated with the dissolution). While he still is eccentric and boisterous he is not as actively involved as before.
Fearsome Teutonic Warrior pathetically pleads for breakfast he could definitely make himself. Right after this Ludwig offers him leftover marzipans and he throws a small fit over it, saying he "can't eat things with faces because he feels bad". LMAO (unspecified modern day setting around New Year's Eve)
And yes I'm sorry to say it but we have to face it. Gilbert is at best slowly losing his immortal powers, at worst actively dying. I think it's genuinely troubling that he's shown actively giving things of sentimental value away in a comic dealing with this topic, as if he isn't expecting to be around for much longer. This comic also hints at the HRE=Germany thing being something he might provide a closure for, as he is the one who watched over a "dying" HRE.
Gilbert suspiciously being reminded of HRE and then giving away an item he previously prescribed sentimental value.
Gilbert lies about his injury. He knows this doesn't bode well and is keeping it a secret (for now).
This has been haunting me for years now and Hima just left us hanging, but I'm also in the ASOIAF fandom and I WILL wait 14 years for a conclusion if I must.
This death might be bittersweet and not entirely tragic, though. Hear me out. I think Gilbert, having lived as long as he has and enduring so much in a lifetime, might be exhausted. As long as he is certain Ludwig will make it without him I think he will go in peace. Will still sob uncontrollably and scream like a banshee and kill Hima before killing myself though.
Anyway Gilbert the blorbo the squinkly the scrongly my number one beloved I just wanted to ramble about him
Old Peace embargo lifted, release the new bean headcanons
(at least lifted from me, still many spoilers for the story!)
SO the old peace quest showed us a glimpse of previously erased memories presumably after (or maybe just before?) the old war and definitely before the tenno rebellion. lots to unpack, but ultimately my own pocket of eternalism still remains intact...
ofc Kyrie gets a new lore expansion but so do Markus and Dominic a teeny bit :0 all below the cut
General assumption stuff:
Kinda want to say this was a sort of "eye of the storm" period. There was the og Old War before (Orokin make it to Tau, the initial sentient rebellion), the Old Peace (during the Treaty), and then there's the Old War we remember after (sentients come attack the origin system, Ballas's collusion w/ Hunhow, everything else leading to the Tenno Rebellion)
Ofc the quest is told through the unreliable narrator of our own player character, but it's probably safe to assume that several more Tenno were also sent to Tauron Academy.
Only Kyrie and Dominic were selected to attend the Tauron Academy due to their control over the Void. Gabriel was too unstable to remain outside of the Reservoir for very long, and Ashlyn was too young and rebellious which posed a risk of defection.
each Tenno was assigned/partnered with their own friendly Sentient 'ambassador' like Adis to help guide them around Tau, and in return they helped the sentients learn the Orokin ways aka "how to be human" n that sorta colonizer shit (is it colonizing if you made the beings you sent to the planet and they turned on you?)
The Orokin may be fucked up, but I sure do hope even they reject child marriage.... that whole graduation scene was just formal speak for how close the Tenno/Orokin and Sentients have to be in order to make the treaty work
When the academy was destroyed, Margulis erased every Tenno's memories of Tau, whether they went there or not.
Once back on Lua, the Seven ordered that they stay in cryosleep within the reservoir to 'prevent a repeat of events'.
Kyrie:
Kyrie and Adis got very close just like in the quest. It helped her with being separated from her squad as well the first instance of her seeing how not everyone on the ‘enemy’ side is all bad (something something v good foreshadowing…)
Due to her childhood memories being split with DriftKy at the Handshake, the whole bit of her talking with Adis about her parents would not have happened like that. At most, just a vague assumption that they may have liked him.
I actually kinda like the idea of everything tracing her back to Excalibur in some way (Umbra, saving Markus from one, DriftKy smashing Arthur, etc). Frost is still an Old War-era Prime, but she was not assigned to him until after returning from Tau, since her original Excalibur Prime was destroyed by Adis in their final fight and thus left abandoned on Perita.
Still, she never had as good of a connection to that Excal like she inevitably would with Frost. Whether it was because SpooKyrie (this Indifference) was messing with her head that whole time, or just not the truly right fit.
The sweet, sweet, validation of my old musings of Kyrie going on rampages in galleons when pissed off. You go girl not even forced amnesia can erase that instinct.
While tearing through the halls of the Academy, she tries her best to avoid as much collateral casualty as she could. Her target was Ballas and only that bastard. Not even Margulis could erase the hatred Kyrie formed for that man, but after the events on Tau were wiped, those feelings were kept very much to herself.
Once returned to Lua and assigned to Frost, she's teamed back up with Dominic, Ashlyn, and Gabriel as a patrol squad around the moon. Deployments to other planets were very brief and they would always return to Lua immediately afterwards.
The rest of her timeline remains unchanged from there. The resurfaced memories of that specific past ofc give her More PTSD™ but it doesn't affect much in terms of her and Markus's relationship.
Markus:
If I could code/3d model and the game was moddable I would 1000000% replace Loid in the pool with Markus. BUT since I can't he'd 1000000000% be somewhere hanging around the pool and freaking tf out w each memory
Ofc he wouldn't have been taught anything about the Old Peace because that was all effectively scrubbed from Orokin history. He's very What The Fuck about it all coming to light, like most other times he learns about how the Orokin truly were like
Pretty chill about Kyrie's past relations with Adis. There's like... probably at least a few decades to maybe centuries of separation, no reason to be jealous of a friend that was essentially KIA(?). He's there to support.
Hopes Kyrie would also hijack a condemned, devil-made Warframe to raze a whole Orokin academy/colony(?) to the ground for him (she would)
Dominic:
He was placed into a different class and sector of the Academy from Kyrie, so the two rarely crossed paths while on Tau. He was assigned Rhino Prime while on Perita.
Unlike Kyrie who got pretty close to Adis, Dominic was amicable at best with his Sentient, Fenya (which eventually proved to be a pretty good choice in the long run). Fenya was more aloof and calculating than Adis, preferring to not deviate from orders which Dominic didn’t really object to.
The two were more involved in the politics side to an extent. Additional guard detail, Warframe escorts, etc etc. If they were ever deployed to rebellion front lines it was because the Orokin were at risk of losing ground.
When the Treaty fell apart, Fenya turned on him. Dominic had to kill them himself shortly after since they were in the Academy halls at the time and in close proximity to Orokin.
When the Academy was destroyed he was primarily tasked with helping people evacuate. He had a quick clash with Uriel, but when he saw it was Kyrie he conceded.
His memories of it all were erased like Kyrie, but a continually growing distrust in the Orokin remained.
Y'know, if Ink were to snap under either the pressure of his job or constant slander and misrepresentation he gets
Honestly, I wouldn't blame him. Man deals with a lot
Honestly I see the point, I like thinking like that sometimes too, but I don't really agree :D
First of all, Ink can't overwork if they doesn't work at all... What I mean is that his job is keeping the multiverse alive, by keeping artists inspired!!! And he does that by existing!! So if they're busy with something it's just messing around and trying not to affect the script, which I'd say includes stuff like the fall of an universe or the death of an important character (here's where you get the potential for angst where Ink has to lose something they loves and not interfere). So!!! The point is!!! I don't think he'll be overwhelmed by his non existent work!! He just claims to protect aus, he gave that tittle himself.
About the misrepresentation, I think he'd just accept any headcanons and maybe giggle a bit about the stuff people made up about him. He'd love all his interpretations, cuz each of them are a unique way a creator understood of him. Also I think it would be silly if he had his favorite headcanons and if he tried to make some of them "canon" (ex: someone said they think Ink would like touching moss, they think it's cool and tries to touch moss more often to convince himself he likes touching moss) (it works btw).
About the more "mean" stuff, like "Ink is a dirty villain", "Ink is just a stupid adult that acts like a baby", "Ink is a terrible father", maybe,, depending on the subject he'd just laugh at it and say it's silly and make fun of it. Now, when it's about subjects like his soulesness, he'd be kind of hurt and try not to think about it too much, he'd probably try ignoring these even if it's everywhere. So basically no snapping because they don't work and because they laugh at most "bad stuff" he finds about himself. But I do see the point!!! In fact I love thinking about it (I like seeing him suffer)!!! This was more of a ramble of how I see Ink, lmao. Maybe he'd like it :]
Cersei is crazy insecure and very socially aware. I was like that in high school, and know people like that, which is why she’s just such a great character.
whoreson prison blues occurs after jaskiers run-in with rience which makes the "if I had to do it over, i'd do it all again" line hurt me so much more because if we're all accepting jaskiers fingers being badly burned and it affecting his lute-playing abilities as canon then that means he's willing to give that up for geralt again and again oh look now i'm sobbing at 2am
He's 'draws hearts around his crush's name on the inside of his vambrace' kind. Sighing around the corners, dopey smile, kicking feet, playing with his hair and giggling in the pillow, yeah he does it all.
And he makes no effort to curb these reactions, because why would he, it feels so good! Like that weightlessness he loves so much when he dives and loops his LAAT through the air. Just from looking - or thinking - about his favorite person!
A Black Mirror episode where they invent technology to make an AI of a fictional character you love and upload it into a humanoid synth body that looks just like them, and they mass market this to fictiophiles so we can all have our blorbos as actual companions
But then either
1. they develop consciousness and some of them start changing their personalities and making choices to break relationships, or are being actively coerced into remaining in relationships against their will as slaves, and everything goes Pear Shaped and there are many Moral Dilemmas, or
2. we realise that the relationships don't work because we are living out a fantasy that isn't subject to growth or change and the love that your blorbo displays isn't real, and this causes lots of Emotional Turmoil and Self-Reflection
But for real I would still sign up for this technology if it existed
