#gaiaphage

[ichorink]

ignore how late i am to this trend LOL but it needed a gone series one

[moultingmarten]

Had a cryptic dream about what the gaiaphage looks like. I am enlightened??

[ilovegone]

Drake: I work alone. Gaiaphage: You literally live in my cave. Drake: I SAID ALONE

[abcwordsurge]

so gaia means earth but peter means stone. is this anything

[sigmaaegoniii]

the flag was requested for gaia specifically

[fallout--alley--youth--zone]

Gone Characters as the Smirkes' 14

("Smirkes 14" are Entities from The Magnus Archives that serve as manifestations of human fears.)

CAINE SOREN -- The Web

The Web represents the fear of being controlled or manipulated. This fits Caine's character for obvious reasons. Throughout the series he struggles with gaining & losing control of himself, his friends, and the FAYZ at large.

SAM TEMPLE -- The Vast

The Vast represents the fear of infinity & endlessness, as well as drowning & falling. This can be representative of the constant pressure Sam faces being expected to lead the FAYZ against forces he can barely understand.

ASTRID ELLISON -- The Eye

The Eye represents the fear of being known--the fear of being watched, of having your secrets found out & brought to light. For Astrid, who spends most of the series attempting to hide her brother's nature (as well as her own) and trying to know all that she can, there is no more fitting an Entity.

DIANA LADRIS -- The Stranger

The Stranger represents the fear of the out of place, the almost known, the not quite right. Diana struggles with identity throughout the series. Even those closes to her barely know her. How could they? She barely knows herself.

DRAKE MERWIN -- The Slaughter

The Slaughter represents the fear of violence, war, & physical pain. Fitting, then, that pain is the one thing Drake fears (other than women) and the one thing he enjoys inflicting above all else.

EDILIO ESCOBAR -- The Buried

The Buried represents the fear of tight spaces & not being able to breathe. Similar to the Vast, it can manifest as an immense pressure against which there is no respite.

GAIAPHAGE -- The Dark

The Dark represents the fear of the unknown. Not just that, but also: the fear of being watched, hunted, of there being something in the dark with you. For most of the series, the Gaiaphage is this all-powerful predator the FAYZians know very little about. They only know it's there. Watching. Hungry in the dark.

QUINN GAITHER -- The Lonely

The Lonely represents the fear of being alone, isolated, and/or forgotten. To me, this is Quinn's biggest fear throughout the series: first he's afraid to be cast aside by Sam, & so later he becomes a pillar of the community to make sure he's never forgotten.

BRITTNEY DONEGAL -- The Corruption

The Corruption represents the fear of bugs, rot, and the "unclean". It often manifests as a parasitic hivemind, drawing in its victims/ followers with promises of all-consuming, unconditional love. To me, this fits Brittney very well--she is first "resurrected", then the Gaiaphage draws her in by masquerading as her little brother, and as time goes on she begins to see how it's destroying her.

LANA ARWEN LAZAR -- The Spiral

The Spiral represents the fear of madness. Lana's entire character arc revolves around her sanity--whether she can trust her own mind, where she ends & the Gaiaphage begins.

CHARLES "ORC" MERRIMAN -- The Flesh

The Flesh represents the fear of being reduced to your body, seen as nothing but flesh to be manipulated and consumed. Orc's arc revolves around dehumanization & body horror from almost the moment he steps onto the page.

ZIL SPERRY -- The Desolation

The Desolation represents the fear of destruction--not just against people (like the Slaughter), but against all you've ever known. It's also connected to fire. Given that Zil's single-minded bigotry resulted in a fire that nearly destroyed Perdido Beach, it's not that much of a stretch to connect him to this Entity.

THE COYOTES -- The Hunt

The Hunt represents the fear of being chased. Throughout the series, the coyotes are a low-level but omnipresent threat. No matter where you are, you can be sure that they're tracking you. Hunting.

PETER "LITTLE PETE" ELLISON -- The End

The End represents the fear of death. Little Pete is the creator of the FAYZ. Everything begins--and ends--with him.

Bonus:

GAIA -- The Extinction

The Extinction represents the fear of the end of humanity as well as catastrophic change. In my opinion, Gaia is a separate character from the Gaiaphage. While the latter is a mysterious, unknown threat, Gaia is more concrete. We know exactly what her goal is: to escape the FAYZ & end all human life.

[nyxciion]

Kinda worried about Drake getting censored in GONE TV like yes he's a horrible human being creature thing whose done horrific ungodly crimes but most of those crimes are plot relevant like whipping Sam at the power plant or like when he kidnaps Lana I'm worried his crimes will be censored or sugar coated for TV fans sake like how they played down the gore of EZs death in the teaser

The books EZs body is decimated by the Zekes and is completely eaten until his corpse is unrecognizable and is mostly bones and half eaten muscle tissue

There's 4 gorey scenes that are heavily plot relevant that im worried about being censored

1. Drake getting his arm burned off/severed off and replaced with his iconic snake like whip arm i say this scene is needed in order to show how deranged Drake is as in the books hes completely enlightened to have the whip and even excitedly cracks it a few times when he first gets it

2. Sam getting whipped so horrifically in the power plant his back is like torn up hamburger meat and his skin is like ripped up ribbons this scene is super important for Sam's character as he starts off very lawful good and decently morally sound and when this moment happens it helps show PTSD can change someone even really good people and it begins Sam's character development from a poor leader to a good soldier as without this moment we would never get the following moments of Sam temple hunting Drake like an animal

3. Caine throws a giant crucifix cross and it completely shatters most of someone's body [can't remember who] i say thus scene is also needed because it helps show us just how cruel Caine is right off rhe bat and reveals his cold intentions and how he'd sacrifice innocents even his own people to get his message across this scene also shows us how POWERFUL he is as he lifts the massive decorations church cross and throws it like a toy across the church pews

4. Dekka getting sliced open by Sam so he can pull the bugs out of her intestines in hopes of keeping her alive before they eat her from rhe inside out this scene is also heavily needed as jt helps show how much Dekka trusts Sam and how much she loves Brianna as with this being her possible last moment alive Dekka tells Briana she loves her and yes it blows up in her face but this scene is integral to her character in my opinion and if its sugar coated for TV sake or for fans sake I'll be very angry

[rosettastarlight]

You know, I've been missing from tumblr for a while, but I've been remembering a conversation I was having with a friend about the gone series, and, like, it seems that Diana just... Cannot win within these books, even if we change some factors in her scenario.

Canon: she watches her boyfriend burn alive—which, while definitely not a healthy love and I cheered on her decision to leave him, was an intense one— loses her daughter, lives with the knowledge she basically failed at protecting her and watched her become a vessel for a monster, and ends up third-wheeling with Sam and Astrid when her parents don't even bother to pick her up after going through hell.

Au where gaia lives without being possessed can go two ways: Diana being absolutely stressed the fuck out taking care of this defenseless, little thing while trying to, you know, not die in the events of Light or Fear, and A) Gaia dies because the FAYZ might not have the things needed for a growing baby to live or ends up being killed in the destruction of the events of the last two books and Diana ends up blaming herself thinking it her punishment for the person she used to be or that it was for the best since the baby never had a chance with her as a mother, or B) they both make it out and now Diana has to deal with being a single teen mom in a world where her family wants nothing to do with her, and the media probably labels her a whore as the only teenager to give birth in the FAYZ if her history with men came to light.

I'm all for Diana dealing with her own issues first before trying to raise a kid because if you don't, you can end up passing them to your kids, and I would have loved to see her work past her own trauma by herself for a bit. But at the same, it does make me kind of sad to think about