#dofusposting

[bitter-panacea]

Arty Outfits Redesigns Masterpost

PART 1

Let's fucking gooooo

First one was the easiest and most straightforward. Not much more to say.

Second one was MUCH harder for me and seriously made me consider giving up on the whole project. But I managed to figure out something I didn't hate eventually.

On to the third one !

That's the end of Part 1

Part 2

[bitter-panacea]

Arty Outfits Redesigns Masterpost

PART 2

Part 1

[bitter-panacea]

Dofus Manga Characters Classpect - PART I

Using 0pacifica 's classpecting model because it's the one I find the most interesting/that I like the most/that I'm the most familiar with.

I strongly recommend checking out 0pacifica's work on classpects before reading this post as it is, to my understanding, not the most classic nor commonly agreed upon interpretation of classpects (which let's be honest, don't have one canon/correct way to be interpreted) also cause this food is so fucking good, Lois.

Also disclaimer as always that my analysis is mine and everyone is free to have their own blablabla

(I gave them chumhandles/trolltags as well just for fun, and their lunar sway that I frankly did not put a lot of thought into)

Arty, gobballTemperament / enlightenedBerserker

Arty's most important/defining aspect in the story/his arc is that he is looking for/wants Answers, to understand/figure out who he is, where he stands , what his place is in the world, he's looking for the Truth. (Is he good? Is he evil? Is he human? is he a dragon? Is he Arty? Is he Ignemikhal? Is he something else, something entirely new? Is he strong enough to succeed? Can he really make up for his crimes and be redeemed?)

Crail's legacy and Arty's quest to make him proud/follow in his footstep is extremely important as well but his quest for understanding himself and the word around him, to me, still prevails over it.

In the end and with the help of his friends he finds this answer in himself. He becomes his own answer. Arty is Arty is Ignemikhal is Arty is him is Arty... As well as his friends' answer! Their Light guiding/leading them in the dark. Taking them to their own truth.

I generally associate Arty with fire for reasons i imagine i dont have to explain. And fire is strongly associated to light. Arty embodies fire both in its positive (warmth, light, life) and negative (destructive, all consuming, hard to control).

Unrelated but did you know earth is the only planet with fire? That it needed life in order to exist? Look it up it's fascinating. Fire and life are just as intrinsically linked as water and life are :D

His relationship with the narrative is pretty straightforward, definitely mutualist. He is wielded by his Aspect, it's an integral part of who he is.

HEIR OF LIGHT, PROSPIT

One who is wielded by answers, truth, cognizance-of-story for their own advancement and the other's/the narrative's.

Goultard, catacombTheophany

I love the image of him fighting with his chains (his own chains, his deceased loved ones's chains) because I think it describes him so perfectly. To me, his most defining aspect is those chains, familial bonds, friendships, heredity, pure ancestral connection. They're his trauma, they keep him chained but he uses them to fight, never seeking to be freed from them, because he finds meaning and strength in them. He wields his Aspect like a weapon / a tool.

I find his relationship with the narrative to be very parasitic. It persists in ridiculing him, torturing him, he's key to advancing the story but it's rarely, if ever, to his own benefit. He doesn't get to have a real fair battle with Katar or the Symbiote. He loses Arty, who gave him his purpose back, and it's barely even mentioned. He's just expected to accept it, how Goultard feels about the situation isn't even a subject, like it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Goultard gets no true catharsis and ends up in a nightmarish situation at the end (forced to raise the infant reincarnation of his dead-beat piece of shit father) that ressembles more of a punishment/one more burden for him to bear, than a reward.

PRINCE OF BLOOD, DERSE

One who wields the force of familial bonds, ancestral meaning-making, connection to tradition and legacy to advance the narrative at his own expense.

I imagined Goultard could be a troll from an older null/doomed session that he's the sole survivor of ? Somehow he'd manage to get in Arty's session via Vald or smth like that idk?? I don't want to start thinking too much and too deeply about it lest it takes a life of its own and turns into a fully fledged AU that shall plague my mind for years to come.

Yes, I gave Vald and Vlad their own classpects, next part of this post is about them lol...

Part II

[bitter-panacea]

DOFUS MAG : Sur les traces de Goultard

My thoughts on the article about Goultard in the 20th anniversary Dofus Mag

FIRST OF ALL!!

We were given multiple dates. Some new, and some changed?

DATE OF BIRTH: 26th of Descendre -1121

This was sort of a surprise to the Goultard lore aficionados. As the birth certificate in Goultard Bazar states he was born on the 3rd day of the 7th moon. So, Goultard's date of birth was previously thought by many to be on the 3rd of the 7th month, Jullier. Though this date seemed odd, as this story takes place when Iop visits Cabotine, only three days after Goultard's birth, and it's snowing heavily outside. I don't know much about Gisgoul's weather but I doubt there'd be snow in Jullier.

As for the year... I'm honestly not sure where this information was from (please inform me if you know!!!) but it was commonly agreed upon that Goultard was born in -1111...

Another important date! Goultard first proves himself by beating a Taur in -1113, at 8 years old! So young... Little baby....

And another one! Goultard meets and fights Katar for the first time, and is possesseed by the symbiote, in -1091.

Making him 30 years old at that time. That's about how old I imagined him to be. If at the time, his oldest child was 8 years old, it would have meant Goultard got married and became a father at 22 years old. Which seems pretty reasonable for him.

That makes him 2102 years old in season 1 (981), 2103 years old in season 2 (982), 2109 years old in the 3 OVAs (988) and, as stated above, 2111 years old in Wakfu season 3 and 4 (990).

The symbiote is COMFIRMED to be Medoroziam, Mongrelamus in English. For anybody confused about that name, Medor is an extremely common, even stereotypical, dog name, and mongrel means a dog of no discernable breed, a mutt.

Medoroziam in the mmorpg. He was one of the ten Primordial Demons and one of Rushu's siblings. Unlike most of the others, he managed to escape Rushu's attempted fratricide but lost his body in doing so.

I very much enjoy having some info about the symbiote's backstory, and the symbiote originally being dog-like is.... yes 👁️👁️

He's 1471 years old when he meets Arty, in 350, and when Arty frees him from the demon after being possessed by the symbiote for 1441 years.

"The adventures he lived alongside Arty as Vald, as well as his fight against his friend when the latter took the form of a raging dragon, reignited the flame of his humanity."

REIGNITED THE FLAME OF HIS HUMANITY!

The time Goultard spent possessed by the symbiote, before being freed by Arty, represents about 68% of his entire lifetime (by season 4). (yes, I'm the only person who cares enough to calculate this)

They mention the story of Les Shushus de Rushu, that starts when Algate, a sorceress, frees Goultard from imprisonment in exchange for his help in defeating four of Rushu's most powerful shushus.

They don't tell us precisely when Goultard was imprisoned, or how long exactly he spent chained in that cave. All we know is it was at least a few centuries.

But they do confirm one thing that I simply refuse to accept.

That the Dofus Goultard obtained in this story, the same Dofus that resulted in the birth of Dark Vlad, was the Emerald Dofus... And not the Crimson Dofus.

I know Dark Vlad famously has the Emerald Dofus in the mmorpg, but this story happens in 24 while the mmorpg happens in 644!!!

Dark Vlad is very strongly associated with anger, flames and fire, just like the Crimson Dofus. We also know for a fact that Dark Vlad had the crimson Dofus within him for years before the events of the Dofus manga, because we see Crail the Guardian take it from him. And much later in the manga, when Goultard has the Crimson Dofus back, he still struggles not to turn into Vlad again.

Saying this Dofus was the Emerald one, takes away from Vlad's story and creates two plot holes : how did Vlad get the Crimson Dofus, and how did he lose the Emerald Dofus?

I hate this, sincerely.

And here comes another stupid ass decision from the council! This time it's about Tristepin and Iop's reincarnations.

"After so many adventures, Goultard inherits the powers of the lop god for a time and takes responsibility for raising the reincarnation of his father in the body of a simple Twelvian…"

"In 975, Goultard meets Tristepin, a young lop who wants to take the demigod as a model. He agrees to become his master when the time comes and to teach him the basics of combat."

GOU: WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU! PINPIN: I WILL BE TRISTEPIN DE PERCEDAL THE BARBARIAN… GOU: I WOULDN'T WISH IT ON YOU, KID… GOU: YOU SHOULD GO HOME! PINPIN: WILL YOU TEACH ME? A meeting visible in the manga DOFUS Hors-série: Goultard Bazar (2010).

"Some time later, he understands that Tristepin is none other than the new reincarnation of the Iop god."

This whole parts seems to confirm the growing suspicion i had that Tristepin is NOT the first human incarnation of the Iop god (like some details from season 3 also pointed to).

Confirming that the baby Goultard is seen holding (as if he had just given birth to it like the virgin mary all surrounded by farm animals and shit) in the epilogue of the Dofus manga is indeed not Tristepin.

AS FOR GOULTARD, HE BECAME A FATHER! HIS OWN FATHER'S FATHER. YES, IT'S A BIT COMPLEX… RATHER THAN RETURNING TO THE INGLORIUM TO BE WITH THE OTHER GODS, IOP DECIDED TO BE REINCARNATED AS A HUMAN BEING.

Personally, I believe this to be a huge mistake.

First of all, how many human reincarnations of Iop has there been before Pinpin? in the 614 years between the events of the Dofus manga and Tristepin's birth? That seems quite a short time for an immortal. And these incarnations wouldn't have died of old age, meaning something must have killed them, but what? And was Goultard responsible for raising and training every single one of them? Or only the first and Tristepin? Wouldn't any of them have found out about their divine origins and wanted to take back their rightful role and power as Iop god???

This all seems a little convoluted.

But also simply because in my opinion, Goultard having already raised/trained one or more other human incarnations of his father, before Pinpin, greatly takes away from how unique and complex his relationship with Tristepin feels....

Very disapointing but not surprising. I might simply pretend it's not true.

But besides all that, this article also gave us some great high defintion pictures of Goultard!!

Baby baby baby baby baby baby <3

Evil very bad very blood-thirsty Gou <3 <3

Dofus: Aux Tresors de Kerubim Goultard cameo!!!! <3 <3 <3

and now that I'm looking at it I'm pretty sure they used AI to make it higher quality sdfhdfhfgdhh

Adding this just to note that in game his hairstyle (with the headband and accessories) was more traditionally feminine for a Iop.

( until he started boymoding and grew a beard 😔 smfh )

He's so fucking ugly what the fuck happened literally nothing is right seriously wtf 🤢

[bitter-panacea]

Goultard's accidental queer coding

(And, incidentally, why I headcanon Goultard as transfem/not cis)

Disclaimer : i say goultard's queer coding is accidental because i really dont believe that gou was intended to be read as queer when tot wrote him. Nonetheless, the subtext is still present and i believe any queer person would assume goultard to be somewhat queer while reading the manga. Interpretation can be different from intention. Also, and this applies to most of what i post, i share my personal analysis and interpretation and everyone is free to have their own.

(I got lazy and don't want to format this post properly, so this mess is what you get lol)

Pariah to hero.

Goultard was an outcast since he was born. A very common trope in queer coding.

After he proves himself worthy by showing he can be of use to the village. He's respected, adored, almost worshipped. But only as long as he fulfills the narrow role people want and expect from him. He's rejected and insulted as soon as he doesn't fit into this role.

Strict traditional masculine gender roles are forced on him. The protector. Stronger than any opponent, stronger than himself and his emotions...

I also think of his condition of being a son of iop, this sword of damocles hanging over his head, as a nature that is imposed onto him over and over again when he didnt choose it and doesnt want it. Being a warrior is supposedly in his blood its what hes good at and therefore should do, settling down and having a family is supposedly contrary to this nature. Even though its what makes him the happiest.

I wonder if traditional gender roles vary from one class to another. Is there any specificity between iop men and iop women. If iop men are by default considered more iop than iop women. Is feminity synonym with weakness for iops. Must a iop woman choose to never settle down and stay a real iop or abandon her warrior status/her iopness to raise offspring at home while the iop men can keep fighting. Maybe class affects the form sexism takes.

Ive joked about gou being in a polycule with three outcast witches being proof he isnt cishet and that the three of them were waiting for gou to figure his shit out... kinda real

After being possessed by the symbiote,

(Which can also be seen as him failing at his role of protector, failing to protect his family. He blames himself for it) the way he's rejected, dehumanized, called a monster, a creature, specifically not a man, and at the same time mocked, can be very reminiscent of queer phobia.

His relationship with the symbiote is reffered as them being a couple and compared to a romantic/sexual relationship.

It feels to me like, while gou was possessed, and shortly after, he could allow himself to step out of that preconceived idea of masculinity that comes with being a "hero", and indulge in the gray areas. Not a human or a demon, not a god or a mortal, not a man or a woman. While still having deeply internalized cisheteronormativity, grasping for some "normality" whenever he's faced with someone else's opinion of him. Needing to justify and prove he is not queer, prove he's man enough, prove he isnt weak, like he needs to convince himself as well as everyone else. Hating the subject but bringing it up unprompted. Always overcompensating.

There is something reminiscent of being in a queer relationship for the first time and it happens to be incredibly abusive. You might feel like the abuse is worth it if it means being allowed to be more authentically yourself, you tell yourself your abuser understands you and loves you for who you really are even if they hurt you, and the queerness of the relationship isolates you, making it impossible for you to get help to leave said relationship.

But much later, when his reputation got better (how much did he have to do with it, how much of his reputation is what he carefuly built it to be) and he had to take his father's power and become the new iop god, the pressure to act a specific way, to fit into this box, would have come back. The whole "iops dont cry" thing with gou denying and hiding his emotions in wakfu.

He's often reduced to that image of the unbeatable warrior, the ideal masculinity, the very definition of what a iop should be... what he thinks he should be.

He gets enraged at his fans for essentially worshipping a fake idealized and shallow version of him, making money off of his image and reputation, but rejecting him as a person, his humanity. They dont want to know who he truly is. He wants to be respected for his heroic actions, not because of this fake idealized vision people have of him.

(isnt it fucking hilarious that this is exactly what wakfu and a lot of the fandom does to him too sorry I'll stop being a hater).

Goultard's reputation and how he feels about it is a fascinating subject. Very confusing but thats because he is himself confused about what he wants it to be, but it sure is extremely important to him.

In the end, goultard recognizes the only people who knew and understood him are dead.

His emotions are seen as unmasculine and ridiculous because theyre too intense (seen as hysteric, too sensitive) Vil smisse says he's "worse than a chick". They say he has his mother's character whos literally named cabotine (hysteric).

He sees himself as a poet, someone sentimental, complains that people don't see it, don't recognize it, can't/don't understand this part of him. Kills an entire village because they didnt appreciate this part of him (a little excessive maybe lmao)

The way he presents, wears dresses as a child, skirts later in life, long hair with accessories... not necessarily effeminate but kinda androgynous hes gnc af or whatever. (I dont know what other people think but he always looks super androgynous to me, except in wakfu) Hes very goth looking in the manga which is also queercoded in itself.

His entire relationship with arty like come on.

People call him a homo and assume hes a homo thats pretty queer coded to me lol

Even the text makes fun of him for being the way he is. Hes often shown to be sort of a ridiculous person. Its not just the other characters who think that. They dont really expect you as a reader to sympathize with gou for being ridiculed. There are a few moments that feel gratuitously sadistic towards gou.

Arty also gets disrespected/has homophobia directed at him but always in relation to gou

(People assume arty's queer BECAUSE he's with gou), gou is disrespected/has homophobia directed at him way more and not always because of his relationship with arty (people assume gou's queer because he looks and acts in ways that make people think hes queer)

The whole thing with arty being a dragon is pretty queer coded too, discovering his true nature and being rejected for it, learning to accept himself etc...

But its such a classic trope it also fits other interpretations. Im thinking notably about growing up mixed, hes rejected for not being "human" enough but also not "dragon" enough, too much like a "human" or too much like a "dragon" having trouble figuring out his identity and accepting it, he inherits a long, complex and painful history from one side of his origins, fights to be seen as legitimate by the other dragons, very steven universe-esque.

And it's just very much coming-of-agey in general. His body changing and having new confusing emotions that he struggles to control. Facing new responsibilities. Kind of spiderman like. They do make a little joke about artys adoptive grandpa crail being like his version of uncle ben. So its also a metaphor for growing up in general.

[bitter-panacea]

Goultard's "reincarnations"

In the World of Twelve, we know of many different characters who have reincarnations. Whether they have 9 lives and keep their memories with every reincarnation like ecaflip's sons, or whether they are immortal but lose their memories at every rebirth like most eliatropes and dragons of the council.

Goultard is sort of an anomaly. Although he calls this process "reincarnation", there is no rebirth involved.

Goultard : We were friends in one of my reincarnations, and i remember i had a lot of fun with you.

We know Goultard has died before. Probably many times. But (as far as i'm aware) we only know of two specific times. One in the Dofus manga and one in Wakfu.

When goultard dies, his body simply... stays dead, until it has the time to regenerate. Goultard uses a specific word to speak of this regeneration : "recompose" himself. As in the opposite of "decompose", "putting himself back together". And he can apparently also absorb things inside him during this process???

Goultard : I must have accidentally absorbed you when I recomposed myself

In volume 5, we see Goultard die, or more accurately, we see Vald die, since at this time Vald is the one controlling the body that they share.

Vald was at the wrong place at the wrong time, got caught in a scheme that didn't concern him, and paid the price anyway. He was drugged, and his body cut in two at the waist.

Vald : No... Not... like this... I can't die... like... this...

Shortly after, the body has come back together, and Goultard makes his first appearance.

Goultard : Unfortunately for you, the plan wasn't perfect! / Homar's minion : What? Who the hell are you? / Goultard : My name is Goultard, little maggot, behold my darkness...

Goultard : ... For it is the last thing you will ever see.

I have SO MUCH to say about the way Gou's introduced in the manga but that's for another post.

Note : Goultard later "survives" similar or worse injuries. Since Vlad and Vald are said to be less powerful than Gou, i think we can imagine they're also less resistent to injuries than he is. He gets brutally impaled on the Cornu's fist in volume 17, but stays conscious and keeps trying to fight even with a giant hole in his abdomen.

Cornu Mollu : I have to admit you're taking a long time to die, it commands respect.

Just look at him teehee :)

Not dying means his body has a harder time regenerating by itself, and he requires medical attention to recover. (Arty needs it too they both got demolished in that fight)

Eni : Don't act like a child, the eniripsa suppository is the best way for you to get your strength back!

Eni : Didn't need to make a big deal out of it (slaps his ass)

Didn't need to include that, i just wanted to.

In Wakfu s01e22 Rubilax, we learn that Goultard is dead when Tristepin visits his tomb and starts to talk about what his life has been like since they parted ways.

I assume Goultard dying was the very reason they parted ways and Tristepin started adventuring on hiw own.

We have no clue what killed Goultard or for how much time he's been dead. But Tristepin is still young, and i dont think he's been on his own (with Rubi) for very long. I'd say two years at MOST.

But Goultard wakes up and says, although he was dead, he's not anymore, so really, there's no reason to worry or even ask. And they never mention it again after that.

I've seen multiple people say Goultard faked his death. I would tell them to rewatch the episode because this really does not look fake to me.

Goultard coming back from the dead exactly at the moment tristepin needed him is not a coincidence, to me it shows that goultard's "reincarnation" is at least partly a conscious decision. He could have simply stayed dead but decided otherwise.

In the Dofus manga special-issue Les Shushus de Rushu, while he is enchained and imprisoned, we can see that Goultard can sleep for years on end, entering a sort of hibernation/meditation.

Kiki : When are you going to wake up and take care of your wives? / Azra : You've been sleeping for years, it's time to get up! Wake up Goultard!

I think him dying is similar to this. To him, choosing to stay dead instead of regenerating and waking up is like staying in bed and oversleeping.

In volume 27, Goultard himself implies he doesn't know if he can die permanently.

Goultard : First of all, nobody knocked me out.... We don't even know if that's possible.

When he's dead, does his spirit go where all other spirits go when they die? No way to know. But my guess would be to say no. Since he laughed hearing Tristepin's stories, it means even dead he's somewhat conscious of what's going on around him. Maybe like a ghost?

Is he, in a way, like a walking corpse, already dead but kept alive by magic? This feels kind of puella magi madoka magica to me, but I obviously can't explain what i mean without majorly spoiling puella magi madoka magica.

[bitter-panacea]

Dofus Manga Characters Classpect - PART III

Pls read part 1 and 2

Lily, TimorousTherapeutics

Lily keeps the story on track how it's "supposed" to go. She has very little personal identity, she becomes the space between. The narrative forgets about her then clumsily tries to make her fit back into the space of her absence after she'd been left unmentioned for several volumes. She is what she needs to be whenever there's a hole that needs a girl character to fit in, the voice of reason, the damsel in distress, the one who gets assaulted, the one who causes conflict between the protagonist and deuteragonist. She's given the role of Arty's love interest simply because the role is supposedly left vacant. And she couldn't be given her own role, even her teacher gets a backstory, when shes not allowed one.

She's then allowed a nice ending by Arty's side, even though it's only as '"the hero's girlfriend". And it's implied she would have stayed miserable, alone, and unable to ever move on if Arty hadn't come back from the dead to be with her.

MAID OF SPACE, PROSPIT

One who is wielded by the means of planned growth, development and reproduction to advance others in the narrative.

Lily being in charge of the genesis frog also seems perfectly logical. It also makes a great deal of sense to me that she'd be an early prospit waker just like Jade and Kanaya. I think she'd also have a special connection to their session's first guardian but I haven't thought much about who or what it could be. Maybe a dragon ? Though it does make me wonder about prototyping, if Cornu Molu or Rushu is their version or Lord English, it'd make sense he'd be an amalgation of some of the players and possibly magical artifacts too. Like a dofus could be the equivalent of the magic cue ball or smth like that...

Noir Jack, grandioseTeratologist

Noir jack could literally just be their session's version of Jack Noir lmao. I still wanted to classpect him but I didn't put that much thought into it... or Vil Smisse could be their session's Jack Noir ? Maybe Noir Jack has first guardian vibes... Or Brumaire? he's sort of Doc Scratch coded...

What about the Black queen, the other exiles...

SEER OF DOOM, DERSE

Part I Part II

[bitter-panacea]

Dofus Manga Characters Classpect - PART IV

Please read part 1, 2 and 3

Dodge, TantalizedGambler

He's obviously associated to luck so you'd assume he'd be Light like Vriska but fuck no, I see it as quite the opposite. Dodge is all about uncertainty, doubt, making the best with whatever you have. Dodge puts his trust in people like he's gambling, all in.

He bet everything he had on homar being the source of all his problems, he was right and still lost it all.

He's so often at the mercy of things he has no control over, all he can do is hope to get lucky, and he still plays the game again and again.

MAGE OF VOID, PROSPIT

One who changes the means of the ambiguous, ill-defined, and the unknown to advance others within the narrative

Ejipe, GhastlyToxicity

Ejipe's arc is a pretty standard tale of breaking free from the old ways of his father. He redefines his values, his vision of what a Sram "should behave like". But the narrative bends (total retcon of Ejipe's father's entire personality and character) to recontextualize his relationship with Dodge, who he wants to be with but is too self important to admit. Accepting Dodge's trust and love is now a brave, heroic and empowering act instead of what his father literally adviced him to do at the beginning. Because Ejipe's a little shit who has a problem with authority.

THIEF OF BREATH, DERSE

One who is changed by the forces of novel meaning-making, and disconnect from tradition for their own advancement and the other's/the narrative's.

I like Ejipe being a carapacian from Derse, I think it's cute and funny.

Part I Part II Part III