I was thinking again how weird it is that no one in the group recognizes the princes.
Obviously it's not like they would have seen them on tv or something, but still! They're wearing crowns! Most of the party are either from Whitetower or very politically significant!
The funniest to me is Tyril. He takes his role as heir of House Starfury soooo seriously. He considers the political implications of every interaction in Undermount. So him not recognizing the human princes (and immediately antagonizing them by refusing to bow) implies that Undermount thinks so little of human politics that they literally do not care about the next king of Morella. And that kind of cracks me up.
I will never be over this. This moment makes me feral.
Because it only happens once. Every other time he addresses her, it's 'Mother.' But in this first moment, Aerin is so overwhelmed by seeing the one family member who was decent to him, the only person from his life before whom he loves, he calls her 'Mommy.' No formality, no distancing himself from his emotions, no trying to play it cool. Just Aerin's lonely child self who misses his mommy taking over for a moment. One of the most raw, emotional moments we ever get from Aerin (certainly outside of romance scenes).
And then, if you're romancing him, Aerin immediately smiles and introduces MC as the love of his life. MC has brought so much to Aerin's life, including surrounding him with MC's family. But Aerin has no home, no family to offer in return. He must be so excited that he gets a chance to introduce MC to someone in his family worth knowing. Someone cool and kind and brilliant who can help them. Maybe someone Aerin can live up to someday.
(Until it all falls apart, of course. But even without the brutal rugpull later on, this is such a character moment.)
It's truly one of the few moments that just makes me head empty go
I know this is the angst in me, but the Blades spin-off/ extra story I want is the group in their crisis year while MC is missing. My vision is you play as a different character each chapter. I want to see the breakdowns happen!
Kade talking his way into working in the royal archives (or being offered the position because he's always there anyway), slowly working through the shock of just coming back and having his sibling ripped away
Mal setting up the orphanage, torn between wanting to spend all his time searching for MC and how much he just wants to be a good dad
Imtura working on her request to her mother for ships to help the search, being as compelling as she can, and dealing with still hearing the loss of her friend/lover is 'land problems'
Aerin being interrogated by a parade of people about losing his corruption, fighting flashbacks and being so intentionally annoying/unhelpful. Or with the goblins, slowly going, 'Why the fuck are you people being nice to me?'
Valax going about her Ash Empire business, so excited and hopeful for the first time that she finally has the key to helping her people
Tyril alone in the catacombs under Undermount, fighting monster, mapping tunnels, and definitely not barely holding it together with an iron grip
Nia taking care of the Temple, and the children, and the team, then having to rush away and cope with the shame and fear of her Shadow before coming back with a smile
Threep ANYTHING. We don't even know how he reacted. Did he help look? Did he quickly accept and start grieving? How much did he advise the king to help?
I sat on this for so long and must finally unleash my annoyance:
Why are Adrina and Valir fine when Tyril just died?!
Nia says the Temple is making a big deal of her death, so we know the wider world is aware.
Imtura's crew probably had a big funeral party and kept on going in her honor, like we saw when Ventra died.
Valax is focused on her people being cared for, not whether they're sad or not.
The goblins see death as a neutral fact of life- they wouldn't feel the need to mourn Aerin.
But Tyril's family, who already thought they lost him once?! I do not believe they were 'well.' And I don't think Tyril is someone who could watch him family grieving his death and go, "They're both crying, but they're safe, so it's all good. We'll be back soon anyway."
Tyril isn't the most in-tune with people's emotions. Maybe he saw them passionately advocating at some public event and took that as 'all good'? He didn't see the slightly puffy eyes and hidden pain that someone like MC might have seen?
That's my headcanon, because I can't accept that Tyril's loving family just moved right on from his death.
Once again, I have a new combat moment I would like to propose.
When the group is in the Third Hell being swarmed by suspiciously bat-like mutants, Nia struggles because Light doesn't really work there.
This would have been a perfect time for Nia to switch to using Shadow! We know that works extra well there, while Light barely does anything. It's not like Nia isn't smart or adaptable enough to realize when something isn't working and taking another approach.
What a great moment for Nia to show off how she really has learned to accept that part of herself and use both Light and Shadow for good! She could have switched to Shadow (Shadow!Nia, I miss you), helped fight off the creatures, then flipped right back to her usual self. There could be some interesting nervousness from the group when they see that Nia looks corrupted, followed by relief when she's very much her usual self and in control. I want to see that Nia really has incorporated both parts of magic (and herself).
Writing-wise, I think Aerin is the main reason this doesn't happen. The game really wants to give him more utility, while almost never allowing him to using the unique skillset he does have (deep knowledge of alchemy, understanding of the Shadow Court, extremely good at reading people, generally smart and well read), so he has to learn to use Shadow to save the day. I have no objections to giving him Shadow abilities, letting him get a more balanced view that it isn't an inherently shameful part of himself he has to bury. But it shouldn't be at the expense of moments for other characters.
While we're at it, I wouldn't say no to Nia taking on a more direct teaching role with Aerin. They grew up extremely similar societies that shamed them for anything Shadow related. Aerin was never directly taught, and it comes so naturally to Valax that she may struggle to explain herself to a novice. But I think Nia and Aerin might both benefit from having her teach him about how to use Shadow.
It breaks my heart in the best way how differently this line reads before and after the reveal of what Tyril's really doing.
Because at first, it sound like Tyril is sacrificing his friends (and possibly his love) for the larger elven civilization. Like he was always taught to do growing up.
But really, Tyril is the 'few' whose needs are being ignored. He is offering himself as the sacrifice to protect the others. Risking his safety by separating from the group and then by fighting Gods to save them. Even though it means the people he loves will look at him with anger and betrayal. And staying close to Nifara, which I'm sure makes his skin crawl.
Tyril is still acting in the cultural tradition of sacrifice. But in a way that doesn't prioritizes ideal or Gods; it prioritizes loving relationships with one of the most diverse families their world has ever seen.
I've been thinking about the Blade of Light/Blade of Shadow lately. Specifically, the effect it has on the wielder.
We know that in Blade of Shadow form, it corrupts the wielder. It's all chaos and self-interest, impulses and intrusive thoughts, rage and pleasure in things you find sickening later. It doesn't eliminate the person you under underneath, Aerin is still conflicted about hurting Nia and he can still have a soft spot for MC if they shared a moment, but it pushes the wielder to act differently than they usually would.
So what if the Blade of Light did the opposite? Made the wielder disciplined, logical and controlled, filled with a gentle and subdued kind of tenderness. Pushed them to act in a way that prioritized their idea of the 'greater good' over the people in front of them.
What if that were the only reason MC was able to kill Nia? The overwhelming Light made it seem like a good idea. And it was, it was necessary to save everyone, but MC would rather watch the world burn than hurt the people they love. What if they needed that change in reasoning, brought on them by magic, out of their control, to look Nia in the eye and kill her?
Then the magic leaves them and MC is left looking at the body of their friend or lover with horror, thinking, "How could I have done this?"
King Arlan Suppressed the Information that MC Disappeared
I realized while writing a fic that I feel strongly about this. Walk with me here:
At the end of Book 1, things are abruptly weird and bad in Whitetower. The Temple of Light, religious center of the capital, is suddenly a flurry of activity and whispers. Could they really have planned to sacrifice people? Or should you not even be considering a rumor coming out of the Nooks & Crannies? Can you believe someone attacked a bunch of the priests? What else could have gotten the king, prince, and a bunch of guards to rush to the Temple unannounced?
And the palace! In complete lockdown, no word except maybe the terrible announcement that the popular future king, Prince Baldur, is dead. But any mention of his younger brother now being heir is conspicuously absent. Is he ill, maybe suffering from whatever killed his brother? Or is he so unsuited for the position that King Arlan is hesitant to give him the responsibility?
Then, two weeks later, all the answers come at once. Prince Baldur was killed by Prince Aerin, helped by the Dreadlord. Thankfully, the Dreadlord is dead, slain by a group of heroes. Their leader is from some middle of nowhere town, but now they're all anyone can talk about. Not only did they defeat the Dreadlord and Shadow Court, they exposed horrible abuses at the Temple. Morella hasn't seen heroes like this in decades.
The new Heroes of Morella are given medals in front of the whole court. There is a huge, all-day festival in Whitetower. Every member of that group, especially MC, is an overnight celebrity.
But days later, MC falls off the map... and no one knows why? No one even thinks it's strange?
Everyone we meet, other than the party, severely underreacts to MC appearing in Book 2. They're excited to see them, MC is clearly still a famous figure. But they all respond like they had no idea MC was gone.
Sure, Aerin is probably very out of touch with the rest of the world. But no one even thought to question him to see if he was somehow responsible, or knew who was?
And a noble with a large collection of artifacts? A guard in the palace?? Neither of them had any idea MC was missing?
The party, desperate to find any way to reach MC, didn't publicly put out a call for information? Kade didn't confide in any of his new friends in the city (all the people who adore him in the tavern) that his sibling was missing? He never wrote to Riverbend to let the people who raised them know that MC was gone? No one excitedly asked Nia where MC was, if they could meet them, to be sadly told that they're gone?
I find that so odd.
Maybe the party didn't think they would get any help, maybe they didn't trust anyone else with what was happening. But that doesn't feel right to me, especially knowing how frenzied they were to find MC.
My theory is that, understandably, King Arlan thought people would be very unsettled to learn that the new Hero of Morella disappeared. Let alone that they were kidnapped through a portal by an unidentified woman of incredible magic. And King Arlan was already in a precarious position with one heir dead and the other out of succession for a very impressive list of crimes. It would be very dangerous for his rule if people found out what happened.
So I think he straight up tells the others, or heavily implies, that they can't spread the information that MC is gone. Just don't talk about it. Write about fighting the Dreadlord if you want, but don't acknowledge that MC is suddenly gone from public life with no explanation.
Or else.
Screenshots taken from Neckrone Shen's playthroughs on YouTube.
