#nikkiwrites

[nikkiwriteswords]

Hi! I would love to hear your thoughts/predictions/hopes for s3, now that we got the episode titles :D

Hey Nora!! Let me go grab my tua theory hat real quick. Spoiler alert, it looks exactly like the umbrella hat on the 3 right here:

Full disclosure, I've only got like a pinky toe in the tua fandom right now, but I'm still going to see what BS I can spin from these titles.

1. MEET THE FAMILY. The description on imdb is "The siblings get to know some more of the 43 children in an alternate timeline." So, I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Netflix likes to start things off with a bang, so s3 of TUA will probably be no different: we'll probably get a vague flashforward/flash-sideways to a "what if" scenario that will make sense by the last few episodes, and the rest of the episode will be sowing seeds for the s3 plot. The big question is, what family are we meeting? I think this episode will revolve around themes of family (no-brainer) and redefining the relationships between our Umbrella siblings in light of the season 2 finale, as well as their new Sparrow 'replacements'. To that end, initial Sparrow sibling parallels will be presented and subsequently complicated in this first episode. I also predict we'll see varying reactions to this alternate Reginald, as the Umbrella siblings are thrust into an outsider perspective that follows on from season 2.

2. WORLD'S BIGGEST BALL OF TWINE. This is going to be a multi-layered metaphor. I can feel it. It will no doubt refer to the plot that's about to unfold (is it an outside threat to both parties - the Umbrellas and Sparrows - from, say, the Commission, or is it more to do with the two rival Academies?), but I wonder if it also refers to the Wizard of Oz type scenario the Umbrella siblings find themselves in: they aren’t in Kansas anymore. (But you know what is in Kansas? The world's current biggest ball of twine.) Also kind of want to see Klaus knitting again in this ep - perhaps as a way to subtly re-address his ongoing addiction issues, especially now Ben is gone.

3. POCKET FULL OF LIGHTNING. This probably has to do with powers. Sparrow powers, Umbrella powers. There'll be a lot of new flexes in this season, so who this refers to is anyone's guess.

4. KUGELBLITZ. Here's where it starts to get interesting, because this title carries forward the subject of lightning from the last one. According to a very quick internet search, kugelblitz literally means "ball lightning" in German, and refers to both a) a glorified WW2 tank designed to take out aircraft (a certified Big Boi), and b) a theoretical black hole made from light/radiation rather than matter. So this is absolutely going to be a new, unseen power - probably from the Sparrows. Hopefully from Christopher because a cube executing a move named after a sphere just makes me chuckle. Ah, fun with shapes... But in addition, this power is probably going to pack a huge, debilitating punch to whatever narrative is underway at this point in the plot. I'll bet money that whoever wields this power is the tank character in their party or they are after this at least.

5. KINDEST CUT. This throws me back to the barber shop meta, I'm not gunna lie. Someone's going to get hurt, either physically or emotionally, and it's going to be the lesser of two evils. If it's a follow through on the barber metaphor, then Reggie will be the one to orchestrate it. Or, in a surprise twist, will he be the one gTetting hurt or being silenced? (Remember that cutthroat allegory that chases the siblings through the first season, particularly Allison and Klaus. It was about becoming voiceless.) 6.MARIGOLD. Big shout out to this post for spreading the word on the marigold symbolism. I'm pretty sure this will be Reginald backstory, which ties in with the creation of the Umbrella Academy. Also, because I'm a sucker for flower symbolism and reading into things, consider that marigolds:

a) fall into two families, the calendula which means "little clock" and the tagetes, which is named after the Etruscan prophet Tages. The Etruscans believed heavily in predestination - some events are set in stone, and cannot be changed. (Consider the way the apocalypse seems to always come for one set of siblings...) b) are named as such colloquially because they were offered in place of money to the Virgin Mary. (More divine imagery, and reference to a pure mother figure...) They are Mary’s gold. So maybe it’s a reference to Reginald’s wife, which would fit with the flashback scene we see in 1x10.  c) are a flower of duality. They have strong connections with the sun and resurrection, yet the marigold is thought to be a flower of grief because it blooms in autumn. Again, think about that flashback in the first season. At the end of the world and a wife dying, there was the promise of rebirth. d) It's also a very common flower. Remember, there's actually 43 siblings out there. We've only met 14.

Also Netflix loves to do this thing around the halfway point (usually episode 5/6) in a season they're producing. They'll switch up the narrative with a twist or turn that provides a new perspective. 7.AUF WEIDERSEHEN. Once again, a German connection. And, obviously, a goodbye. Considering the last season focused on Kennedy, are we going to get some earlier Cold War time-travel shenanigans? Or maybe WW2? I think Blackman has said something about the Berlin Wall, which is interesting. A country divided... Umbrellas and Sparrows allegory? But as an aside, I'm also kinda lowkey hoping it's a nod to Auf Weidersehen, Pet. If you don't know the show, here's the wiki summary for the first season:

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. They find work on a German building site in Düsseldorf but despite promises of hostel accommodation, are forced to live in a small hut that reminds them of a World War II POW camp. The rest of the series is driven by the interactions and growing friendships between the various characters.

In episode seven, three of the “Magnificent Seven” visit an intercontinental hotel. Just saying. If s3 was to go this route, my money would be on Luther, Diego and Five getting up to shenanigans in this one. I miss 125 shenanigans.😢

8.WEDDING AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Honestly, I’m holding out hope that one of our fave siblings gets married. I feel like that’s a trap though... Actually I feel like it might actually be a trap. As in, this is when the rising action really kicks it up a notch. But also remember the title of 1x01: We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals. Maybe the siblings get split up, possibly in episode 3/4, and they’re trying to reunite through episodes 5-7. Also thinking about hotels and apocalypses...  There’s something very fatalistic about these titles so far. I have a feeling that the B-plot or the subtext is going to reveal a lot more about Reginald’s history and the destruction of his world.

9. SIX BELLS. This makes me think of church bells, which is some nice continuity with the wedding of the last title. But church bells are rung for all sorts of reasons - as a call to worship, or in celebration or mourning, or to tell the time. (Thinking back to those marigolds suddenly.) But why six? Now I’m thinking of bell ringing (change ringing), and the way different bells have different cord lengths to control the time of their chimes. It’s a highly mathematical process. Will this episode be Five’s time to shine? Will he coordinate his siblings through a large attack? 10. OBLIVION. Does anything even need to be said about this one? Hotel Oblivion baby ✌✌ Any further theorising would require more knowledge of the coming plot tbh.

Edit: I wrote most of this at 2am, so I’ve just tidied it up a little. Thank you for the ask, Nora! This was fun to think about. 

[nikkistrations]

Merchant of Death

More original fantasy story concepts from yours truly written with the help of a prompt.

THE MERCHANT OF DEATH

Write about a character who happens to run a weapon-shop in the biggest city of the kingdom.  The catch?  This character’s wares were ‘harvested’ from the fallen bodies of heroes.  Double catch?  Suddenly, a young ‘hero’ steps into their shop looking to purchase a new weapon.

Peregrine Remus was well known for his weapons shop, the most popular in all of the small town of Veritas, the largest town in the Blue Country.  He was known for the great quality of his weaponry, no customer was ever disappointed.  He’d been in the business for many years, finding and restoring weapons, sometimes even making them from scratch.  Though, few actually knew how he got his weapons, most didn’t care.

Near Veritas was an abandoned field.  Long ago, a large battle was held there, what it was over no one knew, but everyone stayed away from it.  Everyone, but Peregrine.  This was the field from which he got his weapons which needed so much work, and the pieces he would melt down to make the weapons from scratch.  Few knew about his nightly trips to the thousands of years old battlefield, but, again, most did not care.  As long at the heroes of the world were getting the weapons they needed to become heroes and fight for Xinovia, nobody wanted to know where they came from.  Not even the aspiring heroes.

It was on that day, though, that one fateful day, that would change.  The day a young man entered the shop in a hurry, calling out that he was in need of a weapon.

Peregrine, who had been asleep behind a counter, jolted awake.  Standing before him, his hands placed firmly on the counter, was a young man.  He was obviously of Blue decent; his eyes were a dark blue and his hair as black as a raven’s wings.  He was clad in the silvery blue armor of the Blue Country’s Knights Order, though he tried to cover it with a blue cloak.  The crests of his rank were covered by dark smudges, painted over, and even ripped out of the cloth parts of the suit of armor.

“What kind of weapon did you have in mind?” Peregrine asked, standing from his previously slouched position in the chair.  He scratched his stubbly face, listening intently as the warrior describes his weapon of choice.

He wants a sword.  Preferably not blue, or having anything to do with the Blue Country at all.  Nothing knightly, he seemed to want to get away from that aspect.  It was a bit difficult, but Peregrine was not known to give up, especially on well-paying customers.  Sadly, though, he did not have what the warrior was looking for.

“You have to have something.” The blue clad man exclaimed, his eyes shifted around uneasily.

“I tell you what,” Peregrine started, “I’ll take you out to where I gather my materials, and you can show me what you want.  I’ll fix it up for you, good as new.  You can pay for it and be on your way.”  The warrior agreed, and they set off for the abandoned fields of battle.

The field was overgrown, with grass well past their waists.  Skeletons and empty armor suits lay around, weapons sticking out of them at awkward angles.  Some weapons were missing.  There was little sign of blood, most of it had been covered or dried up completely.  Trees grew out of some bodies which left some pieces of skeletons hanging out of tree trunks.  It sent shivers down most people’s spines when the public finally ventured to it.  For a man who’s seen it throughout his entire career and a hardened warrior, though, this was nothing more than an everyday obstacle.

“Take your pick.”  The weapons master said, motioning to the large field.

Not even flinching at the request, the blue-clad warrior walked amongst the bodies, searching for his ideal weapon.  Many different types of swords lain around, few were what he wanted.  There were red blades, but they held the knightly crests of the Red Armies, and were, therefore, looked over.  Bows from the green country littered the ground, most of them broken and useless.  Daggers were, surprisingly, still in the scabbards attached to the belts of the fallen warriors.  It wasn’t until he reached the far edge of the battlefield that he found the weapon he was looking for.

A tall blade, black as the distant tower of the secluded country.  It was decorated with silvery blue runes, and had a decomposing leather-bound hilt.  It had many engraving, none of which made much sense to the young man, though he was from the Blue Country, the smartest country in all of Xinovia.  Without any thought, he grasped the hilt, and pulled it from the dirt between the ribs of a long dead soldier.  He walked back to the man.

“I have found my weapon of choice.” He said, and handed the blade over.  Peregrine froze.  He would not touch the blade.  “It seems to be in rather good condition.  I only request that the leather hilt be replaced.”

“That is a black blade.”  Peregrine said.  “I cannot help you with that.  I refuse!”  The young man’s eyes narrowed. “The black blades’ metal is rare and only comes from the wood of the Black Country, a country no man dares travel to.  You can keep the weapon, I won’t charge you for it, but I cannot help you fix it.”

“I understand…” The young hero said, lowering the blade back to his side.  It fit his sheath perfectly; perhaps he could alter it to fit the sword.  He did not actually understand why the man could not simply replace the leather wrap, but he got out of it without paying anything at all.  Perhaps that was an upside.  “Thank you for your help.”  He bowed, and turned to continue across the plains.

“Be careful, young hero.” Peregrine warned. “I don’t deal with black weapons for a reason.  I once sold a black dagger to a young man much like yourself, and the whole world witnessed it drive him mad.  He committed many crimes before he eventually died.  I heard he killed himself with that very dagger, and someone else came by and picked it up.  The same fate probably awaits them.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I believe I will be fine.  I’ve dealt with much darkness in my times.”

“The darkness is growing more powerful as we speak, I still advise you to be careful.” Peregrine said, and watched as the ex-knight of the Blue Armies continued across the field.

I don’t know the original writer of the prompt, if you know please message me and I will give credit where credit is due.

[nikkiwriteswords]

Hi! I love your metas and thoughts about tua and if you are still doing that I just wanted to ask what your thoughts about this is (if you have any and want to share):

https://i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky.tumblr.com/post/645716695650107392/this-dead-girl-statue-is-following-him

I think it’s very interesting that the statue in the crypt that reggie put baby Klaus in s1 is the same as the one at the mansion in s2 when Klaus is giving Dave the dog tags.

Hi @softforklave 🥰 Thank you for the ask! I’m always up for sharing thoughts about TUA.  This is such an interesting detail! A great catch by @i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky. I hadn’t noticed this at all (I was too busy staring at Klaus, probably). 

Logically, it could just be the set  designers repurposing an old prop. But let’s assume the use of this statue is intentional. I find it incredibly interesting that a sleeping child, as depicted in the screenshots in op’s post, was used as a headstone marker in the Victorian era to denote the death of a young child. They often appear with very few clothes, symbolizing that young, innocent children had nothing to cover up or hide. 

The fact that Klaus grips tightly to this headstone as Reginald tells him “Four more hours” - slamming the mausoleum gate shut on him again and taking away his last vestige of hope that his father will show him mercy - highlights the death of Klaus’s innocence in this scene: trapped in the dark closet, it is this moment that haunts Klaus the most; it is this betrayal that cuts him the deepest. 

And then this statue reappears in season 2, at this crucial moment when Klaus bears his soul to a young Dave. He comes clean about his reasons for his pursuit of Dave, his desperation for him not to enlist. He has nothing to hide. However, in bitter irony, this is perhaps the moment Dave loses his own innocence. It is this moment, after all, that spurs him to enlist months before he was meant to do so in the original timeline. 

Does this, in some way, conflate father and son? Although they are so different at their core, perhaps there is a parallel to be drawn in this moment between Klaus and Reginald as they lift the veil of childish hope from a young man’s eyes and say: this is the way of the world. This is what it expects from you. 

I do wonder about the parallels between Reginald and Klaus during the second season. Klaus, as the (albeit unwitting and unwilling) head of a cult has a similar power and authority to Reginald. They wield it differently, of course, but the fact that they have superior knowledge and foresight that drives their actions and influences those they have power over - that is the same. Ahh, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention @softforklave. There was a lot more character analysis here than I originally thought. I should know better than to doubt TUA’s set designers by now. I hope this meets your expectations.

Also, as an aside, wouldn’t it be interesting if - as I’ve seen in some fics - the ghosts from Klaus’s time in the mausoleum followed him around and stuck with him throughout his life? And the ghost of this (presumably) Victorian child is one such “guardian angel”.

[nikkiwriteswords]

Hi there, I just discovered your amazing metas! I’m curious now, since you mentioned previously that you think Klaus will eventually have to let Dave go, do you still think that after what we saw in season 2? And do you have any thoughts about Klaus and Dave’s possible story in season 3? (Since your season 2 prediction was scary accurate!!!)

Hi! It’s so nice of you to drop by 🥰 Thank you for the kind words! For reference, I think you’re mainly referring to this post  [x], is that right? Rereading it now, it does seem uncannily accurate, even to me 😂 The benefits of being vague.  I have to admit, I wasn’t as into season 2 of TUA as I was season 1. So that, combined perhaps with pandemic fatigue (for which this blog has been suffering greatly, I admit), means I haven’t got nearly as many headcanons or metas as I did for our favourite disaster fam the first time around.  Reflecting on my own words in the linked post, though, I can say this:

Whilst I would love to see Dave fleshed out more as a character, I don’t know what merit that would have for Klaus’s own development as things stand at the end of season 1.  

I was really pleased with the turn of events in Klaus and Dave’s storyline. I had not considered the age difference between Klaus and Dave, should the fam land - as they did - in the 1960s. That age difference, however, forced a new dynamic to emerge between Klaus and young Dave. It was not one of romance and shared experience, but almost one of mentor and mentee. This is actually something your comment made me realise! 

Klaus is very much the older, queer mentor in this dynamic. We could speculate that he awakened in Dave this hope that his own queer identity could be seen and validated. In turn, Klaus himself unwittingly takes on this mentor role that 1) parallels and highlights the satire of his messiah image throughout the season, and 2) places him in a position of authority akin to the one Reginald held over him as a child - he can make or break Dave in this moment, as I try to explain in the post you reblogged. 

However, to return to your question, I still think that Klaus will have to let Dave go. Crucially, though, that’s not to say that we won’t see Dave again in season 3. We might see an older Dave - perhaps the Dave of the season 2 timeline, who never meets Klaus and who perhaps lives through the Vietnam war; perhaps a Dave that remembers Klaus as just ‘that crazy hippie who gave me a gay awakening in 1963′; perhaps a Dave who meets Klaus in Vietnam anyway, and they fall in love a million new little ways - or we might see Klaus’s Dave again. But this young Dave was here, I think, precisely to teach Klaus how to let him go.  Klaus avoided trying to find Dave until he absolutely had to return to Texas. (A bit like avoiding an addiction maybe...? Yes, turns out I’m still on this parallel.) The, when he did return, Klaus tried real hard to convince young Dave not to enlist. Even if it meant they would never meet. But Dave went anyway. And Klaus has to live with that. He has to live with the fact that Dave walked away, and he has to live with the fact that he will always play a part in Dave’s death. He lost Dave, again. (Klaus and death walk hand in hand, after all.) Perhaps some things in life are just set in stone. (What was it Five said in season 1? He just had to find the constant version of himself to return to? A fixed point in time?) I think for Klaus, this season was very much about coming to terms with moving forward - the anxiety just before the first step; the pain of leaving the safety net you wrapped yourself in. Now, we might see him start to move on from the people who have propped him up for so long: Dave, and Ben.  So I think in season 3, we will see Klaus grapple more with this dissonance - that his version of Dave and Ben aren’t who Dave and Ben were/are as independent people. Sparrow Academy!Ben may in fact turn out to be all the dark parts of Umbrella!Ben that Klaus and the others refused to see, and for Klaus this may mean grappling with the two opposing images of Ben whilst also finally grieving for the loss of his brother. Alternatively, he may deal with this dissonance better than the other siblings, because this is similar to what he went through with young Dave in this second season.   As for Klaus and Dave’s story in season 3, I’m honestly not sure where we go from here. I don’t think we’ll get anything from Dave’s point of view. We still have yet to really get into his head, and he remains a character whose main purpose is to fuel Klaus’s character development. Therefore, as Klaus moves on from Dave and comes to accept his death, we may not see much more of Dave at all - flashback or otherwise. He will still be very much in Klaus’s mind, though. We may also need to learn to move on from Dave. That said, I would still love to see him again, and for their story to develop further. Until we know more plot details for season 3, however, the possibilities are simply too vast to start speculating with any accuracy. 

[nikkiwriteswords]

Confession time. Since I first watched this episode, I’ve been assuming that Klaus learnt to drive in Vietnam. (In the top scene, I thought he was just trying to score a ride off Diego here for the hell of it. I mean, Diego doesn’t know about Vietnam at that point. How’s he to know that Klaus can miraculously drive? And why would Klaus pass up the opportunity to score a lift?)

But guys. Guys. Look at that face.

That is the face I make behind the wheel, and I barely drive. 

So new headcanon that Diego thought it was high time Klaus learnt to drive like right. Now. Get behind the wheel Klaus. Hands at ten and two and just fucking sTEP on IT.  

It’s okay, it’s a straight road, and the only people they could run over are the people they want to run over. Also maybe their brothers, but they know how to dodge. Nevermind that Klaus has been chugging on a bottle of vodka for the last two hours or whatever. Not even Ben has the braincell in this scene. 

In all seriousness, I now headcanon that Diego wanted to cheer Klaus up after the absolute Day they have both been having, and hey he was kinda shot in the arm, so he let (made) Klaus drive the ice cream truck. 

(And I mean, he did also make Klaus lick a battery when they were eight. Same dick energy.)

[nikkiwriteswords]

I always see headcanons about Diego listening to his (Patch’s) police scanner, always listening for descriptions of Klaus. But think about it from Klaus’s point of view: big brother Diego always turning up to haul him out of trouble, usually in handcuffs. His friends might ask him if Diego became a cop to bully him back to sobriety. His rehab counselor might say Diego is trying to protect him from himself. But Klaus laughs and tell them, no, it’s nothing like that. Diego’s just chasing his own kind of high.

(If Klaus is honest with himself, though - Ben reminds him - it’s actually a little of all three.)

[nikkiwriteswords]

Um, guys. Klaus wasn’t meant to be in 1968, right? He wasn’t part of the original timeline. He stayed for Dave.  

And I mean, Five outright says that the Commission makes sure the timeline reverts to normal by any means necessary... 

What if Dave was killed so Klaus would return to 2019?

[nikkiwriteswords]

What if old Five had found Lila? I think Five says that (at the time) he hadn’t thought much about the Handler personally overseeing a job, but... what if he had?

What if he had questioned the order? 

What if he had discovered Lila was one of them? 

What if he had taken her in instead, hiding her from the Handler, or tried to gain her trust as she got older? 

(How much of Reginald would Five have seen in the way the Handler treated her, trained her, for her own ends?)