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hey there, here's a list of Louis canon fun facts/character traits other than 'pills' or 'optimism':

was planning on quitting his job before the apocalypse hit...

...but went into work two days after first infection despite the risk because he thought it might get him promoted (I wonder if the two are related)

used to go to the rifle range at lunch (possibly why his bot weapons preference is the submachine gun and the assault rifle)

knows how to make pipe bombs and taught Bill how to make them

already familiar with Riverside to the point where he has hyper-specific knowledge about its sewer system (a cut line states that his family used to go camping there)

he's a big fan of video games, especially Valve ones

Nick is the only Savannah Survivor he doesn't seem to like

he can speak Japanese and did an internship in Tokyo

interestingly, when he gets angry at the Church Guy and threatens his life, it's on the condition that one of the others dies

when Francis comments on Zoey being pissed in the Sacrifice, Louis says he's pissed too, implying that he's on Zoey's side when it comes to the island plan and Millhaven...

...but ultimately he goes along with the island plan because, after learning about Carriers, he's realised that even if civilisation is rebuilt none of them can have a place there

this is especially tragic because all through the game he's insistent that the world is going to bounce back

to end on a lighter note: went to Cub Scouts. apparently it doesn't prepare you for the apocalypse very well

(all of these facts are either explicitly or implicitly stated in his lines, which you can find here - if you wanna know the source for a specific fact, ask me and I'll let you know!)

I hope you came away from this post havin learnt somethin new about this character :) a lot of people miss out on the depth hidden behind the fandom's (usually pretty basic) perception of him. some of these facts are more well-known but a lot I've never seen mentioned, so I wanted to compile a list here. have fun and make more Louis content please :)

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #louis l4d #if i stop talking about this character assume im dead /j #jrrrambles

I've just realised something kinda interesting.

so y'know how people talk about the differing tones between the first game and the second one? there's a lot that contributes to that, but I want to focus in on one comparison in particular.

in both games, there are six canon campaigns in the storyline.

in Left 4 Dead, you are rescued from 4, and rescue yourself in 2.

in Left 4 Dead 2, you are rescued from 4, and rescue yourself in 2.

at first, it seems exactly the same, right? well...no.

the No Mercy chopper pilot is shot by Zoey after turning (an event which becomes even more tragic if you've read her backstory in the comic, which I've talked about before). the Slaters who own the rescue vehicle in Death Toll throw them off the boat presumably unfairly and "leave them to die". the plane pilot from Dead Air was probably either infected (causing the crash) or killed (in said crash). the rescue unit who save them in Blood Harvest are all killed in the fall of Millhaven. as well as that, the survivors never even reach their goal of Echo Safe Zone. even when they're supposed to be safe, they're confronted with death, cruelty, and ever-present reminders of the Infection. they are never successfully rescued by others.

in Left 4 Dead 2, the only rescuer who is killed is the chopper pilot from Dark Carnival. Virgil gets to live (and is likely a carrier too, considering his close proximity with the survivors) and we can safely assume Papa Gator and Rescue 7 end up okay, especially since they were prepped to evac carriers. the killing of the chopper pilot isn't nearly as personal to Nick as it would be to Zoey, and their time spent on Virgil's boat is entirely safe (zombies can't swim and they have their guns). the survivors reach their goal of New Orleans and all four are successfully evacuated to a safe zone (as far as we know).

so the difference is pretty stark already. but we haven't even gone over the times the survivors rescue themselves.

sure, Crash Course is probably the most pleasant evac the Fairfield Survivors experience - they hijack an armoured truck and experience a pretty short, pretty safe drive to just outside Riverside. but the other time they have to save themselves? The Sacrifice. the end of the story. a last-ditch plan after the military fails them, in which they achieve their goal but one of them dies. their most successful evacs are conducted by themselves, and even then one ends with Bill's death.

compare that to the second game. Ellis comes up with a wacky plan to steal his favourite celebrity's stock car from a mall, which works, and the Savannah Survivors use it to escape from two campaigns in a row before it has to be abandoned. this is entirely successful, happens right at the start of the game, and with the immediate exception of the Dark Carnival chopper pilot all other evacs successfully take them (closer) to where they need to be.

the contrast is incredibly interesting, and perhaps also paints an even better picture as to why the Fairfield Survivors were unwilling to join the others and head to New Orleans in The Passing. they don't just distrust the military - they can't trust any rescuer who isn't them. they have to look after their own because everyone else has failed them. The Keys is the ending they chose and they're not willing to put their lives in others' hands again, not after they've already lost one.

a quick note: I'm not at all saying that one game's tone is superior to the other, only that they're different, and that this difference permeates a lot of the games' respective stories. I'm sure this isn't the only area where a direct comparison demonstrates such a contrast.

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #jrrrambles #been a while since i did one like this

What are your favorite voice lines for each survivor and why? (for example, I die when Nick says "you are the first three people in the world I have ever trusted")

I think I have one for everyone (or at least, one picked outta a few favourites) but I really struggled for a coupla them lol

I know and love a lot of these lines because I play on a lovely modded server where a lot of people use voice mods, and I've heard a lot of these lines from the players there, so if they seem random or you've never heard them before that's why! a lot of em are one-off saferoom lines, or dialogue dependent on doing something specific with a certain character. that's also why I seem to gravitate towards the funny one-liners, but there's some more serious/story-related ones here too

also this post ended up being so fucking long! sorry about that! I put a cut in the middle so it's easier to scroll past

Louis:

Louis: "But you know, as long as I have a Molotov I can make a firewall! Get it Francis? A firewall?"

Louis is my favourite and he's got so many banging lines so you'd think this one would be hard for me to choose, but I had to go with this one! the line's originally from The Sacrifice but it's a favourite for Louis players with voice mods. thanks to that, I've got a lotta good memories associated with it from that modded server I talked about. first time I heard it I genuinely laughed because the punchline being that funny caught me off guard. the joke is adorable, very fitting for his character, and the reactions are priceless:

Zoey: "Oh, boooo." Francis: "You're such a nerd."

honourable mention to any conversation about Bill being old because that shit's funny every time

Francis:

Francis: "Groovy." Louis/Zoey: [Short laugh] Francis: "What's so funny? It is groovy."

alternatively:

Francis: "Groovy." Zoey: "[Imitating] Groovy." Francis: "A-FRICKIN'-men."

honestly could have picked any line for Francis because he's so funny but this one is the one that makes me laugh most consistently. that's. that's it really. I just think it's funny. he says this when he picks up an auto shotgun

honourable mention to when he thinks Riverside is in Canada, and any line where he calls Louis 'Louie' because I'm a Frouis shipper and I read into that as a cute endearing nickname :)

Zoey:

Zoey: "Sorry. I can't lower the bridge." Nick: "That's terrific, cupcake. Look, is there a man up there we can talk to?" Zoey: "Oh, boo-hoo, I don't know what to do. Go to hell, Colonel Sanders!"

most of Zoey's funny lines are parts of other running jokes, references that I don't get or very tied to the context of the campaign, so it was actually kinda hard to pick one. I love all of her lines as well which didn't make it easier. but this one has stuck out to me since I first played The Passing because it's brilliant. Nick deserves every scathing insult he gets in that campaign <3

honourable mention to basically all her other lines. especially the ones in The Sacrifice because they cut DEEP her voice actress really went for it christ it hurts

DIShonourable mention to her death scream it's so goddamn LONG and the many hours I've sunk into Tank Challenge have left me hating it with a passion, stop screaming at me I'm doing my best

Bill:

Zoey: "You think one day it's all just gonna go back to normal?" Bill: "I'll see peace back on earth if I gotta murder every one of these bastards with my bare goddamn hands."

I think this line is just a great example of Bill's character really, and actually prompts an interesting train of thought as to how his hopes for the future shifted from No Mercy to The Sacrifice; originally, they seemed much more aligned with Zoey's, possibly part of the reason she felt so betrayed later. also it just sounds cool. it's from the hospital elevator in No Mercy.

honourable mention to this cut line of Bill pickin up an incapped survivor because I think it's really sweet:

Bill: "Bein' brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you're scared as hell, and then you pick up the shotgun anyway."

Left 4 Dead 2 survivors under the cut:

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #time to tag every character!#louis l4d #francis l4d #zoey l4d #bill l4d #ellis l4d2 #nick l4d2 #rochelle l4d2 #coach l4d2 #i think this is my first post with all of them in #blimey #jrrrambles

is chucking a molotov at a witch a good idea cause i keep doing it

hey there! well, it really depends. first and foremost - do you absolutely need to kill the Witch? is it avoidable in any way? better safe than sorry as the Church Guy says, so if you're not sure, it's better to kill it, especially on higher difficulties. but avoiding the Witch is always better if it's off your path.

so, your Witch is unavoidable. well, a Molotov is actually a pretty easy way to kill her! but for it to work properly, I recommend two things. first, for you to have either an open space or a clear path BACKWARDS to run away from her. NEVER run forwards away from a Witch in a linear campaign, you don't know what you could run into and your team may be hesitant to follow. second, you obviously need to have a Molotov, and the ability to throw it at her from a reasonable distance away. the Witch does run slower when she's on fire but she can still outrun you, so you need to have a head start.

always let your team know that this is how you're planning to kill the Witch. especially if someone else might be intending to cr0wn her - you don't want to set a teammate on fire. you also don't want them to get stuck behind the fire, unable to help you. it takes 15 seconds for a Witch to die once she's on fire, but with the help of your team she can be killed even quicker.

a few more important things to note:

do not set fire to a Witch if she's in/has access to water. of course, there's a few exceptions - in Chapter 1 of Swamp Fever I've molo'ed her and managed to keep her on the walkways. in a lot of cases, a Witch in the water can be walked around anyway, since there aren't many truly enclosed spaces in the water levels that don't also have alternate paths.

do not set fire to a Witch if someone's already startled her, UNLESS you're both a good distance away and she hasn't incapped/killed them yet. the Witch will instantly switch her aggression to someone who sets her on fire (including with incendiary ammo!), even if she's already claimed a victim. if someone's already startled her and died, let her run, or you could well end up with two bodies instead of one - and some peeved-off teammates.

speaking of incendiary ammo, I personally wouldn't recommend it when fighting a Witch. the best practice when you've set the Witch on fire is to run the hell away, but the temporary nature of incendiary ammo means you have to keep turning around and shooting her to keep the fire going, and nobody else can set her on fire or she'll go after them instead. with smart team coordination and everyone wielding incendiary I'm sure you could figure something out, but that's not gonna happen with bots or in public games, and it's more trouble than it's worth unless it's your only option. gas cans are fine though, and can save you a molly; the player who set off the gas can that set her on fire will be the one to startle the Witch.

the Wandering Witch and her sitting counterpart are functionally identical once set on fire, except I believe the Wandering Witch keeps her one-second pause between startling and attacking, giving you more time to run. don't take my word for it though, because I'm not sure if the pause applies to fire, and just treat them the same regardless.

for more on the Witch, especially more ways to kill her, check out the Wiki. a Molotov isn't your only option, but it's definitely a good one, and the one I've had the most success with in higher difficulties. plus the startle music is pretty cool when she's on fire.

(by the way this post is assuming that you're playing L4D2, so if you're playing the first game be aware that there may be some slight gameplay differences)

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #witch l4d #thank you gameplay anon for the ask :)#good luck and merry Witch hunting #jrrrambles

thinking about how Bill jokes to Zoey that he wants to leave Francis behind in Daughtery Farm (Blood Harvest) in Part 1 of the comic, but even by then the audience knows he considers Francis part of his family as he's dying - and all through the comic we see little hints that he cares as much about Francis as he does about the other two. an easy example is when he says he's "almost happy to hear [Francis's] horseshit again" when they meet back up in Millhaven in Part 3. and we see Francis caring about Bill too. there's his small speech to Zoey in Part 4 when he explains his understanding of Bill's motivations, and his underlying gratefulness that they all met (because if he was with his old friends he'd be dead by now). most notably, when Bill takes the fatal Tank punch and is thrown into the room where he dies, Francis is the one in denial who tries to go after Bill and has to be stopped, after all his big talk about not liking taking Bill's orders and wanting a desert island to himself. and that's just the comic - their unique incap revival lines, and their other interaction lines to be honest, are also a good read if you're ever on their Quotes wiki pages.

I think their friendship has a lot less obvious affection or caring than we see in other examples, because that's just who they are. but every link in this found family is a strong friendship and this one is no different.

#l4d #l4d2 #left 4 dead #left 4 dead 2 #francis l4d #bill l4d #yeah that's right im on about friendship again #this post is strictly based on canon but i got some real interesting headcanons for this friendship in particular #so maybe I'll do a post about them soon #as usual all my evidence is either in the comic or in their in-game lines #sorry if this post makes no sense i wrote it kinda late #jrrrambles #forgot the tag again whoops lol

hey, here's a fun question: what's y'all's favourite survivor friendship(s)?

I think we should talk about them more, and there's so many different combinations. I imagine when it comes to platonic relationships, there's gonna be a lot more variation in our favourites than shipping, and I'm excited to hear about them!

as for me, it's a solid tie between Zoey & Francis and Nick & Rochelle. I could talk about both of these for ages but I'll spare y'all most of the details (for now lmao).

Zoey & Francis have such a funny back-and-forth - just say some of Francis's 'Hurrah' lines and listen to Zoey's responses, not to mention her contributions to the running 'I hate _' joke. Zoey's been dealt a really tough hand, and the way Francis keeps her spirits up is very sweet. he very clearly cares about her, especially when she's pissed at Bill in The Sacrifice, which results in a moment of surprising emotional maturity in the comic as he tries to comfort her. I definitely see them as siblings, their banter gives off sibling energy. I'm so glad Valve scrapped their potential romance because what we got is so much better.

as for Nick & Rochelle, Nick needs someone sensible and blunt to bring him back down to earth when he's being an unreasonable dickhead, and Ro is great at that. I like to think her getting angry with him in The Passing made him realise he needed to be better, which resulted in some of his attempts at being nicer to the team in Dark Carnival onwards. she's clearly his favourite from the start, and he definitely respects her above everyone else; their personalities work well together (sarcasm, realistic outlook) but also contrast in places (being nice to the others lol). she's also incredibly perceptive versus his skill at lying and impulsive need to hide things about himself. I like the idea of a strong, mutual friendship between them that never really had romantic chemistry.

whoops. ended up rambling. anyway what's your favourite friendship and why

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #francis l4d #zoey l4d #nick l4d2 #rochelle l4d2 #friendship :)#jrrrambles #cause this kinda turned into one

I don't think I've ever made a post about my headcanons about Nick n Francis specifically, partially cause for a while the details changed every five seconds, but I've pinned down a lot of it now.

I headcanon that they knew each other before the apocalypse (about ten years prior actually), but they don't recognise each other in The Passing til it's too late. hey, it's been a while, and also the plot of Left 4 Dead is already kinda contrived what with all the lucky rescue vehicles n stuff let me have this.

I won't say much about their past because I'm still hammering out the details, except that it was messy and kinda fucked up - it can sorta be boiled down to 'hurt people, hurt people', and it involves Nick's ex-wife. but as for when they're forced to co-exist in the Keys?

I think it's way more interesting if Nick doesn't get to leave his entire past behind. he doesn't get an ideal clean slate. he doesn't get to brush everything under the rug and leave it ambiguous because that's most convenient to him. because let's face it, that's what he'd do; I reckon he'd want the rewards without realising the hard work required of him. plus his selfishness is heavily implied to be a defence mechanism - it'd be difficult for him to let go.

Nick is trying to be a better person, he wants to be a better friend and contribute to their small community, but that change doesn't happen overnight. it doesn't fully erase his past wrongdoings either, as much as he wants it to. and there's Francis, the living embodiment of that, living in the Keys. Francis, who knows more about Nick and his past than anyone else there, who could spill a boatload of his secrets if he wanted to, who Nick wronged about ten years ago. a chunk of Nick's character development is navigating this awkward and difficult situation, learning how to rely on his new support system for help, and realising he can't force Francis to forgive him just so he can have a smoother road to redemption.

like I've said before, my post-game isn't necessarily happy - it's just optimistic. our protagonists still have to fight for their happiness, just in a different way. and 'being a better person' sounds wayyy easier on paper.

I have a lot of thoughts about what happens in the Keys, and this stuff with Nick n Francis is only one plot point amongst a bunch of others, so I'll probably end up talking about it some more. I'm a sucker for this kind of character stuff.

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #francis l4d #nick l4d2 #jrrrambles #too many thoughts...#phew it's been a while since i made a substantial post #headcanon

above all else, above any skill or experience or clever plans or immunity, what keeps the survivors alive is luck.

being approached by the chopper pilot in No Mercy. finding the armoured truck completely abandoned and in mint condition in Crash Course. a boat waiting to evac survivors at the river even after the fall of Riverside in Death Toll. getting to the abandoned, bombed airport in time to fuel and board the plane in Dead Air. crashing in/near Allegheny National Forest that still has a military evac spot nearby in Blood Harvest. escaping Millhaven in a series of incredibly lucky events. finding a well-stocked sailboat in The Sacrifice.

it's when their luck finally runs out that gets someone killed. when, unluckily, the bridge starts off lowered; when, unluckily, one of the bridge generators fails.

the same applies to the second game as well.

Whitaker still being in his gun shop and finding Jimmy Gibbs Jr's car in the mall in Dead Center. the Fairfield Survivors still being at the bridge in The Passing. the Midnight Riders leaving a fully-prepped concert behind in Dark Carnival. Virgil still evacuating survivors from the Plantation House in Swamp Fever. Virgil spotting the Burger Tank sign in time in Hard Rain. getting to the bridge just before it's fucking blown up in The Parish.

and this is why I'm so pessimistic about the general fate of the population. you need to have weaponry and know how to use it, to be fit and healthy enough to endure extended strenuous activity, to be a Carrier which we know is rare, AND to have at least one teammate who also possesses all of these aspects, to survive. missing even one of these aspects will almost definitely get you killed unless you can fix it quick. but even if you get astronomically lucky enough to have all of them...and get even slightly unlucky once along the way?

well, just look at what happened to Bill.

in this zombie apocalypse, survival is luck-based, and, well...seven is a lucky number. looks like most of our protagonists hit the lottery, eh?

#l4d #left 4 dead #l4d2 #left 4 dead 2 #jrrrambles #this started out a short post...#ah well