#jack=o'

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Mind explaining more about Sol and Jack-O's relationship?

In StrIVe, it appeared Sol wanted Aria back, but by the end, he reveals he values Jack-O' for who she is and not what she was intended for, essentially moving on from his pain of losing Aria and settling with Jack-O'.

It's a little confusing...

Pretty sure I explained it in the Jack=O tag.

The deeper essential takeaway from their relationship is... Jack-O' is not Aria, but at the same time, she still fell in love with Sol.

That doesn't mean she's "Aria", but that she is a woman who fell in love with Sol. And Sol acknowledged her for this.

As for Sol's past relationship with Aria: he states it in simple terms.

He's simply happy to have something that "reminds" him of his past, even if it's not the past itself. That was the symbolism of the "hat".

Frederick was just happy to hold on to her "hat" and be there to love her when it mattered, that's all there was to it.

Does love surpass a Hat? Sometimes it does, sometimes you fall in love with someone else... and that may have happened with Sol and Jack-O' in particular, it's hard to tell.

Sol's past is in the past, however... and their current relationship IS the relationship.

If Aria "does" come back somehow... they'll cross that bridge when it comes to them.

But given the "Inner Aria's" interactions with Jack-O'... there's likely no difference.

Even if she goes by a different name and a slightly different personality than before, Jack-O' is Aria all the same.

[gear-project]

How do Jack O and happy chaos' halos work? like are they solid or smtg? Can they be removed at will?

Jack O sometimes uses her halo as a hula hoop and uses it to attack, so that got me curious.

And then Happy Chaos' halo clips through the walls, but i assume that one's just 3d model bugs

I was just talking to @mr--link about this topic not too long ago.

Just what ARE Valentines… or are they related to Angelic beings? (Is what he asked me…)

To answer that question… well, it's not a complete answer, because Ishiwatari was hiding a few facts from us (and still is according to a recent interview).

If the Backyard is a Domain that governs the laws of the world (or rather the universe, like HEAVEN), does that mean Valentines who were born from the domain of the Backyard are Angels?

The Valentines were built using Justice as a Template… the Ultimate GEAR… they even used Aria as a template for being created.

Even I-No herself was technically a "template" for Happy Chaos Valentine (no relation to the "former" Original Sage).

BUT IN GENERAL, that only means they were "based" on Gears and Humans… not necessarily BASED on something like an Angel.

But here's the problem: Ishiwatari stated that the Halos DO have a connection between Happy Chaos and Jack-O' specifically…however he DID NOT tell us what that significance was!

In other words… during the Interview he was trying to keep a secret!

A Major Plot point that has yet to be revealed?

Originally, the reason that Jack-O' had a Halo in the first place was because she technically "wasn't born yet"… and the reason why Happy Chaos has a Halo still hasn't been explained, much less fully understood… ESPECIALLY SINCE HE HIMSELF IS TECHNICALLY NOT A VALENTINE.

The actual "backstory" of Angels is that they were meant to serve as Servants of God… servants of a Higher Being.

In fact, we still do NOT know WHY the Backyard exists… only that it DOES.

If Angels did exist (for example, the reason Dizzy looks the way she does…) it would suggest that there is a being out there that CREATED the Backyard and used Angels to make it (or expand it, or whatever tasks Angels were originally given).

Or, at the very least, Angels might have been used as a basis for all life as we currently know it.

Most of that is… you guessed it… SPECULATION.

Though, if there is a being that comes close to a an "Angel" by definition… it would be Justice.

Justice had a great amount of power, even an attack called "Michael Sword"… after Michael the Archangel.

So based on that supposition (via Justice), you could argue that Valentines are "descendants" of Angels… even if there's no immediate proof of such.

There is, however… one more clue to this puzzle: Heaven's Edge… the so-called Tomb of Possibility, the beach of Infinity…

If Jack-O' was born from the Backyard, she probably isn't the only being born from that place.

The Tomb of Possibility (Heaven's Edge) looks very much like the Red Ocean that appears when Sol fought the first Valentine as well (during GG2 Overture's events). One ocean linked to another ocean… you might say.

There's also another place that matches the same description as Heaven's Edge… but it's found in a completely DIFFERENT UNIVERSE…

The Gate of the Azure… in the world of BlazBlue.

The "Azure" itself embodies the concept of "Possibility"… so what could a Tomb of Possibility have to do with the POWER of Possibility itself?

Unlike BlazBlue… Guilty Gear "asserts reality" through Causality and Assertion, not leaving Possibility to chance.

The only person who might have a strong connection to other worlds besides that of Guilty Gear is Happy Chaos himself… most likely.

But only because he was tampering with something beyond his ken and power.

Anyway… the best answer right now is "maybe" there is a connection… we'll have to wait and find out what the full meaning behind that connection is.

An Angel's Halo is usually a symbol of "glory" or esteem, meaning the Angel is honored and respected and considered "holy" (set apart from common beings).

A broken or darkened halo would suggest a "fall from grace", or simply the idea that one has become "more human" or perhaps "less human"... depending on how you look at it.

If there are Angels… only Ishiwatari knows about this version of "Heaven".

[gear-project]

Science may help you find the 'correct' answer, but that won't get you any closer to the better answer.  Now... why can't we all get along?

Jack-O'Valentine (to Potemkin)

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: StrIVe Arcade Mode 1. If it's supposed to take place after Story Mode, does that mean Sol, Ky and Jack-O's Arcade Stories are What-If stories? 2. Why do you think Testament has Chipp as their Story Mode Rival/Companion instead of May?

First: Not necessarily. Sol hasn't officially stated his retirement as a Bounty Hunter, even if he lost the Flame of Corruption Seed (his body is still that of a Gear). True, he and Jack-O' are living quietly in Iseo, but they could also be searching for Nagoriyuki on the side… Sol is just "presumed dead" in America (because of the fake burial).

As for Ky, I'm sure he had his reasons for searching for Nagoriyuki as well (coupled with Leo's).

It's worth noting that Sol has had extensive history with Vampires (including Slayer, but also others)… so he probably has his own line of access to information regarding Nagoriyuki's whereabouts.

Second: Testament's story route is played strictly in good humor… so Chipp is the (unfortunate) straight man in Testament's "joke". I wouldn't say it's a gag reel entirely, but it's played similarly to one.

Chipp is just… freaked out by how NORMAL Testament is being. And he's the best reaction character, all told.

[gear-project]

How was Jack-O able to discern Bedman's activities, such as "erasing" himself from history?

It has a lot to do with Jack-O’s Scales of Juno… which has the ability to sense things in this world that normally wouldn’t be possible.

We don’t fully understand how it works, but it’s somehow related to Heaven’s Edge.

[gear-project]

(3) That Man didn't tell the truth to Sol or that he created Jack-O' to bring back Aria (which could've a great chance in Sol's first ending in Midnight Carnival or going to canon route, in Overture after defeating Valentine) because he's terrified of losing his connection to Sol, preferring to be hated instead? Which I found that he could've spared a lot of trouble if he just told Sol the truth instead of being hated. (4) I got confused that he removed the Flame of Corruption instead of doing

Aria Hale was frozen in Cryostasis from 2016 to 2073 or so… though the exact details of her Medical Condition or state are not entirely made clear until her full-body Gear conversion (which later became the basis for Justice).

Only Asuka was aware of this (though Sarge was also aware of Aria's Cryo-Tube he didn't know who Aria was, though that was the condition Asuka insisted on for collaborating with Sarge in exchange for the Gear Cell Research Data)…

But this too was a ruse from Asuka because he had already planted the data with Frederick who inadvertently forwarded it to the C.I.A. (it was originally meant to be sent to Vince MacDonell their Project Supervisor).

Part of the reason Asuka was unable to reveal the truth to Frederick (now Sol Badguy) all these years was because of the very nature of the Crusades itself…

Justice (via the Universal Will) was the main cause of the disasters that took place throughout that 100 years war… so even telling Sol that it was Aria's fault that the war started would only confuse and anger him further.

Not to mention, to say that Sol inadvertently killed the only woman he ever loved would devastate him.

Even mentioning Valentine's connection with Aria and the Universal Will would also be even more confusing to explain… Asuka just wasn't ready to reveal everything at that time.

Above all else, the threat of the Universal Will was too great, so Asuka had to keep his secret plans for Jack-O' tightly guarded.

Had he leaked that information to Sol too early, it's probably likely that the Conclave and Pope Ariels would have intercepted the information and created a countermeasure for Jack-O'.

Even just the idea that Asuka was still in contact with I-No and The "Original Sage" (who was really Happy Chaos posing as his former self at this time) meant that both were potential "leaks" of Asuka's information, and a great risk.

As for what happened to the Flame of Corruption seed that Asuka removed from Frederick... that is still unknown.

[gear-project]

I just wanted to make sure that I understood this properly: But during Jack-O's conversation with the memory fragment of Aria, didn't she imply that Justice's persona still existed within her? Do you think that Daisuke will use this to justify Justice's possible return in STRIVE as a DLC character?

Bringing Justice back through Aria probably wouldn't work because at the very moment when Jack-O' merged with Justice, Justice rejected the merge.

Justice literally REFUSED to accept that she was once "human". Her pride and guilt wouldn't allow it.

She fought a war for her own independence, what reasons would she have to become the very thing that persecuted her (humans)?

There might have been a time when "Aria" wished to be with Frederick, like Asuka promised, but instead of completely and earnestly fulfilling that promise, Asuka turned her in to a War Machine.

That was a betrayal. She could no longer trust Humans, especially Humans who would simply control her as a Weapon.

Least of which was a Human who forced "Aria" to kill an entire populace of innocent bystanders (the People of Japan).

What "exists" inside of Jack-O' is a broken and emotionless Aria that was stripped of her pride and will. She was "overwritten" by Jack-O's identity.

And while Jack-O' has "two personas" that comprise "Adult" and "Child" Jack-O'… they are both STILL Jack-O', the same Jack-O' that over-wrote this broken "Aria".

"Child" Jack-O' is simply the original form of Jack-O'…. the original salvage of Aria's Soul and Memory Core taken FROM Justice and re-appended.

"Adult" Jack-O' is Jack-O's current form having accepted its own Ego and what remains of Aria in to herself.

What's actually "left" of Justice is Jack-O' herself. Nothing left of Justice to really be salvaged.

....That being said, there have been many attempts to make a replica of Justice (Dizzy not the least of which), so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect "someone else" to make Justice from other Gear Cell parts.

But, let's not forget that the "real" Happy Chaos Valentine (I-No's "Jack-O'") still has yet to be completed as well!