There's something I like a lot about the same book getting different reactions from d3rlord3 and avery. Whilst one gets manipulated into an endless cycle of repeated actions, the other instantly calls it "gross". I know that it's probably implied that the blocked out text is most likely a passage of the books the series is based on—but I still like to wonder about the possibilities.
If we take into account that the previous pages would repeat that avery is safe, then my guess is that something incredibly manipulative was written there, something that (as the book mentions right before the text gets censored) can convince avery that he is nothing, and that the only way to be safe in this place is to be nothing. Because being someone hurts. Putting in the effort to be someone, hurts. Because being an individual will just get him in more danger, it will get him to think and reconsider all he knows and that hurts especially if he's wrong about everything.
In a way it's the same thing that caused d3rlord3's mind to be marred with all the eldritch knowledge and whatnot, being flooded with different types of information to the point you feel less like a person and more like an entity that simply holds a position in the universe.
Identity is a huge thing in both parts of this story, and I find it really cool that d3rlord3 calls out those censored pages as bs, ofc it could be the whole eldritch knowledge and broken mental state defending his mind, but I don't like to think that's all there is to it. Both characters are smart and self assured, just in different ways. Avery is able to be discouraged so easily because the KIY constantly attacks what makes him "him" in this adventure. My bet is he knew this sort of tactic wouldn't work on d3rlord3.
But yeah, it's one of my favourite moments in the whole two part series. A moment where a self assured character (d3rlord3) looks at a pile of empty affirmations of safety and bs excuses about being nothing so you can be safe, and he gives no other word for it other than "gross".
It's also partially why the signs he puts up make me feel rather emotional. He doesn't need a god to figure out that a good person (who he knows better than anyone, really) might be swayed from these words.
And it doesn't make avery any less human or important. D3rlord3 knows that. He just needs to remind him who, and what he is.
A detail I love in both sfawtde and dawtde is how the KIY "tests" his players and how its connected to minecraft itself as a game.
Long yapping session and spoilers below!
As much as I may have laughed at the "unfortunately for you, we are in minecraft!" Arguement, both videos take their plot seriously, thus I am inclined to take it seriously as well, mostly because the story itself respects the arguement by encompassing it in the KIY.
A being of infinite knowledge and no real form finding home in a sandbox game is so terribly fitting that you could argue there's no better place for it, especially with just how free yet controlled minecraft is as a media—I mean hell you can do just about anything in it, people have made movies with it, running caculators in it, they have hosted death games and more.
It works as a medium to transfer a message. And the KIY, a being of infinite knowledge would probably not be as restricted as he would be in a human mind (hence the emphasis on the vessel having a lack of identity, being mindless).
Minecraft at its core though is a sandbox game that allows its players to create almost anything. Thus, the game itself becomes an extension of the player's mind, the player's creativity, the player's heart.
The player shapes the world, the player decides if they'll blow up a village or befriend animals or write books or search or destroy a world that doesn't exist... because at its very core, minecraft is already a world that doesn't exist. It's not a world in the first place, minecraft IS the PLAYER.
So the KIY creating these elaborate yet empty dimensions, where not much can be created because hell, its all already been built and the blocks are oncredibly limited, can also be intepreted as him serving a mental block both to d3rlord3 and avery. He doesn't want them to create, thats why he's intrigued at first but then pissed whenever either of them break on through his puzzles instead of solving them. They are making their own way and establishing that this is the game where the player is the one in power and not the one who set it up.
D3rlord3 goes along with it. But he's already self assured. He doesn't stop to marvel at things the way Avery does even when he is intrigued. But in the first video, I believe that's what intrigues the KIY as well. This is a player that will bring Avery to him, but it's also someone that is entertaining his rules and playing by them (at least for a while) so, like the eldritch being of knowledge that he is, the KIY keeps testing him over and over. The puzzle works, d3rlord3 keeps solving them even if he breaks on through with a pickaxe, so the KIY keeps giving him things to solve, more difficult, less hints, pushing him further and further just to see where this little human will draw the line and say "I can't". But d3rlord3 DOESN'T draw a line. He searches and searches and searches for this world that doesn't exist until he finds something he shouldn't have. Far too interesting in KIY's eyes, but also too much trouble, so the test must end there.
Avery on the other hand, draws the line far too soon. The KIY, like a machine, (at least from my POV) started out by trying the same tests he did with d3rlord3. Difficult puzzles that need you to sit down in order to solve them. But Avery doesn't think the way d3rlord3 does. (I'm certain most people don't, after all, not many noticed the things he did, even before he got the infinite knowledge). Avery doesn't want to play the type of game the KIY has planned. He gives up almost immediately, and demands seriousness, that these games stop, that the world the KIY has created is just a joke, that he needs to reveal himself, that he just needs to look at him. But the KIY doesn't quite like that Avery is self assured in a way different than his previous subject. So he switches up the plan once again. He tries to force him through the same puzzles, but Avery gives up over and over. He says he can't do it. No matter what the KIY does, this vessel has decided that its hardly a player. So he once again, changes. He cannot appeal to the PLAYER so he appeals to the one behind the screen. Not the one who can shape this world nor the one who will play the game, but the fragile soul behind it, that he has discouraged time and time again. And he does it by creating a disgustingly comforting scenery to Avery's worn mind. A place of worship and repetitive tasks—exactly what a human might seek comfort in outside of this game after experiencing trauma. He breaks the one behind the screen, before building him up again.
And the reason the KIY loses?
Well, amongst all else, is because he was comfortably settled in a game meant for human creativity, and he could only run the same script until he met a dead end the same way a machine would.
And his players? THE players? A soul that sees through him, and a soul that refuses to play his game until the end.
Since I finished the main video series yesterday I have to say I really love Whitepine.
I appreciate the long pauses, the shots that last, the dialogue that feels natural but intentional, everything about it seems very genuine to me and has a sense of care towards its characters.
I know that the scenes with the detective were scary to some, but I couldn't help but relate to Ivory too much in order to be scared. Especially the scenes where she's being questioned and thought to be "rude" when all she's being doing is replying with short, precise answers, trying to make herself as small as possible.
But that's not how people work, those who are dead set on accusing someome won't care how the accused behaves, especially if they work differently and take most things literaly.
It's got the type of representation that feels natural and genuine. And I can appreciate that. Well, that and the wonderful music.
I don't think enough people talk about just how Ares as a character is incredibly complicated.
When he talks about "inheritance" to the children he just found the double meaning is the material inheritance humans are most used to (which also makes sense, since Ares was a human once too) and the inheritance in the sense of the power he got from Lessa.
The double meaning falls on him too. He can't comprehend that the power he got from Lessa was out of love (and selfishness on Lessa's part) because as someone who was born human, surely what matters most to him is what "remains", whilst Lessa doesn't comprehend that as well. As a god, to him, everything eventually returns to ashes.
Ares and Lessa as a duo (doomed family dynamics my beloved) are so complicated, I really would love to talk about them more as I reread. ^_^
Although from now on I'll keep the spoilery stuff under a read more line probably... in case you wanna read it though don't worry, this is early chapters still. And I highly recommend this webtoon!
Warning : Mc's real name, Enjel's areas, Enjel herself (she's quite the character), and the games endings
In an earlier post, I talked about how Enjel's area reflects her as a person.
By all accounts, she's a crude yet accurate imitation of Goldia—but, much to her displeasure (and anger), a copy is all she can ever hope to be. No matter the ending, she endlessly fights against Goldia because of it. Unlike Lisette and the others, all her agression doesn't come from being part of her more than she does by wanting to be her.
Well, not specificaly Goldia that is. She wants her place.
"Like petals from the same flower", is the phrase she uses. Which is strangely telling, since even though two petals that are grown from the same flower have a similae origin, that doesn't make them the same, only similar. In the og game, such a thing is even more obvious with how Enjel's portrait is essentially Goldia's, just with different colors and a cut off finger. Which is a strange detail at first...
But a perfect indicator of who she is.
If you're able to catch on quickly and connect the dots that the finger in the very start of the game belongs to her, then you can notice very quickly what she is like. (Although the remake makes this a lot more obvious with her more obvious smug expressions.)
Even her injury points the player to the solution of the puzzle. From the very beginning she has been "helping" us. But the cause of the injury was shattering a mirror.
An action that Goldia most DEFINITELY cannot do, since her pocket mirror getting shattered results in an immediate game over.
One of the biggest reasons Enjel cannot be Goldia is because she lacks such a promise to bind her to her true self... because she does not possess one. She is a copy.
And it drives her so mad to help the one she wants to replace until the end, that it results in her antagonizing Goldia in every ending, no matter how forgiving she may become.
(It's also partially why Platinum as an ending is kinda hilarious to me.)
It'd be more accurate to call her a distortion in Goldia's reflection than a petal from the same flower. Such a distortion that has all the knowledge she lacks... but none of the points that bind her to this world.
Instead of a reflection in the mirror, she is but standing in front of see through glass.
And the one looking back at her is Goldia.
Ironic, and strangely fitting, that in a game that is all about reflections, she's the only one who lacks one.
Warning : Mc's real name, Enjel's areas and endings in general
Dim Dream is weird for many reasons.
Not only because it's relatively trippy compared to other songs, with its rather airy and angelic vibe, (especially after Lisettes hostile area) but also because of its setting.
I'm not sure if anything has been confirmed, but the areas where this song plays almost reach the literal gate of Goldia's mind, so I always considered them to not be part it, at least not completely. The music and art already prepare us a lot for what is to come as well, backing up the theory.
Especially since, in my opinion, Enjel's areas have the least resemblance to the rest of Goldia's mind, and for a good reason too. The moon and stars are mostly suitable for a storybook one reads to their child before sleep. After all, Enjel is the only character that isn't part of Goldia—but that's for another post dedicated to Enjel specificaly.
Dim Dream is strange because of the character it encompasses. A strange, crudely yet scarily accurate made copy of someone real. A dream, one might say a promise, of a better life.
But the music is hazy—the lavish furniture that used to made up rooms before now float above an endless void, and that's because it can only mimic what is real, what came before this area. And yes although the previous ones were full of fairytale and wonderland-like situations as well, they still had some sort of base, that being a real person's experiences and psyche.
The only real resemblance to the earlier game areas are the pumpkins (that are a constant thanks to the strange boy's influence) but even those have changed into a less real form and more like something you'd see in a book.
But after leaving them and gathering the regalias (or not) once the player reaches this place they find themselves in an awfully... serene setting. One unlike the abyss of a sleep and more like someone who is waking up. Quite literaly a representation of Goldia leaving this subconscious space and moving closer to waking up from this now Dim Dream.
See what I did there?
The hostility from before is easily replaced by the neutral nature of this void holding up all else, (at least at first) and its that lack of hostility and the fact Goldia has her new friend Enjel by her side that urges her to carry on. I always thought it was a bit strange that she manages to stay positive in these areas after all she's been through but my personal headcanon is because she can sense how close she is to leaving this mindspace.
Goldia at that very moment is waking up, regardless of what ending you are getting.
And Enjel is damn aware of it, which is exactly why she gets so frustrated.
A dream can only last so long before the individual wakes up, and much like the angelic music, Enjel's welcoming behavior is also a dream waiting to be shattered.
Something I appreciate in Ares (as I reread The Abandoned City arc of Lessa) is that as an antagonist he's not particularly showy, at least in earlier chapters.
He is classy, yes, he always makes sure that appearance wise he is neat yet he doesn't stay humble both appearance and behavior wise (I always found it interesting that his hair is much longer compared to his old self, both signifying a change in status and perhaps it being a nod to Dark Lessa).
After all he is playing the role of a savior, a leader, and considering his backstory the closest model he has to that is those who abused him or... well... Lessa. A god. And for whatever its worth he's bassicaly convinved himself that he is just that, only better, smarter. Not like Lessa who was blind to what was happening around him, no. Yet he still adopts Lessa's manner of speaking calmly, never really addressing people as they are but rather as what they seem to him—inferior beings.
He doesn't threaten Raynold immediately with a speech full of vengeance, he sits down to explain to him what Lessa is to him, after all he is a higher being than Raynold even if he is seated below him. Because to Ares, Raynold is misguided, like all the other ants. He doesn't only treat power like something to be drunk of, he wields it the way he thinks a god would.
