the thing i love most about the recent audio is that it absolutely refuses to shy away from Blake's heinous acts of violence and torment, but it also gives you the context of the emotional violence and torment that has been enacted upon him. he is still responsible for his decisions AND he is truly doing it out of a love for Bestie AND he is unambiguously a villain to Sunshine and Elliott AND even unambiguous villains have compelling motivations and complex backstories.
at every turn, it would be easy to make Blake into something simple, and at every turn, Erik just refuses to. He's not simple. He was hurt. He hurts people. Neither action excuses the other. His suffering is horrible, and so is the suffering he caused. Just because we know why it happened doesn't make it justified. and, even knowing that it isn't justified, we still are not led to believe that his suffering is justified either.
Due to spending so much time reslistening to Redacted over the past bit, I have begun to find strange nuggets and interesting connections.
The focus of today? Avior, Blake, Warden. Their similarities are at times uncanny and also deeply tragic, and it does Not bode well for Warden in particular.
Avior and Blake are kind of obvious parallels. More and Less, and Less and More as titles alone show as much. Both were used by Sovereignty, as vessels. Ways to bring themselves into the world in some way, at the cost of not just the life and comfort of their host, but the life of their loves as well.
Starlight was, as far as Avior knew, at risk of death from the Meridian, which he tried to prevent with everything he had. And though he should have died, the Sovereigns fueled him, and forced him to pull them back into his life, because they were needed. Meanwhile, with Blake, the order of events are different, but the fundamentals are the same. He foresaw Bestie dying, fueled by his own powers to pull them back into his life after a long absence, and driving him towards death, only prevented due to Sovereign interference, because he could be put to use.
That part is, I would think, a very obvious parallel element. There are others too, within this mass, particularly with this pair and Hush, but they are not who I want to focus on. No. I want to focus on how these two also align with Warden.
Warden and Avior are both Inchoate daemons, though of opposite sorts. Warden frightfully attached to the human world, whereas Avior wanted for Aria for so long. And as Avior grew to appreciate the physical world and the humans in it (Starlight in particular), Warden instead began embracing their demonic nature thanks to Vega. Then, both of them grew close to someone. Grew to trust them, grew curious and comfortable and active, striving towards a great goal... and the Meridian snatched that possibility away. Starlight was pulled in, Vega was ripped apart. And then, just as the Meridian took away, it gave back... with memories blank and broken, resetting the tale, and putting the onus on these demons to try and make the most of it. And they are very similar. Curious, stubborn, and creative, and trapped in hell that they simply had to escape. Though... while Avior and Starlight had all the time in the world, Warden and Vega are instead running out a clock that is already set to too late. Where Avior had as long as he needed to plan and test and think, Warden MUST act. Now. There is no time to yearn, nor grieve, nor consider themself. No. They must keep moving, and carry not just the weight of the world, but of the vision Vega had that they never quite got to understand, and all the pain that comes with not just someone losing memories of you... but of everything that you had yet to learn about them. Starlight and Avior did not have such a cruel fate.
But Blake and Bestie? They did. Like Warden, Blake was running out a timer. One he at least knew was running, meanwhile Warden is running blind, but that changes little about the actual peril of it. Blake lost so much of Bestie through admitting his truth, through trying to do things right by telling them about his powers and the suffering they brought, and so, to avoid it, he remained silent. Kept up a falsehood, a series of intricate dreams and lies, while he tried still to fix everything on his own. And while Warden has not begun to do so yet, I doubt it's something improbable. Warden had always been evasive, lying about their health and feelings and keeping their true self locked away (like Blake), and even now has to keep up a strong face because there is no time for comforting and softness, and no guarantee Vega, as he is now, will give it anyway (he would. Clearly. But that is another discussion.)
And, an interesting note about all three of them: Hush as a source of suffering. Not the only one. Not the biggest. But an ever-present horror to them all. A part of Avior violently ripped from him, a violent killer who stole everything Warden had ever truly had away and then came rushing back without a hint of remorse, and the likely end of Blake's story, if he makes it long enough to meet Hush at all. And he has a bunch of connections with the three as well but we are not getting into that.
And this is not all the similarities. I likely will make more ramble posts later about these 4 and others and the various interconnections they have it is just fascinating.
And all this does not bode well for Warden at all... Blake sacrificed greatly, and in the end, all that happened is it seems the fate he foresaw for Bestie is becoming his own, with them left in his shoes. And there is a great risk that Warden will do the same, to try and keep Vega safe, and keep what memories he has left. Especially given D'Deridahn is the one in the picture, and I have no doubt it will hurt Vega DEEPLY to confront him again. Also, Warden could likely deteriorate mentally. Again, they are put under a similarly infernal stress to Blake. Both their worlds feel like they are on the brink of ending, and they can't even truly express that. Blake had Sunshine to take it out on, but that didn't help anything. And Warden? Who does Warden have, really? Vega is, of course, the best choice, but he is struggling too, and holding up a lot of weight of his prior position. Hush is dense, and his allyship is too important to risk. Doc is in over their heads. Brachium, I think, will be a fickle ally, especially if he and Vega were at odds (chances are they will be, due to principles), and Avior... well... if he wss Warden's steward (a theory I see as more and more possible every day), maybe him? But only before he learned of the Hush connection. That would tear them apart. And the world needs Warden strong, and sensible, and curious, and not a grieving mess.
And likely following a sadistic diet on top of it all, for Vega's sake. Just as they did earlier on.
Oh Warden... will you get the kindness Avior did? Of some returned memory or function, and a moment of softness, and freedom, and autonomy? Or will you spiral down, down, down, into the same pit Blake fell into... will you accidentally discover D'Deridahn? Will he try to creep into your mind too? Break you and steal you as a final cruelty towards his first son? Will you fall for it because such sadism is something you have grown used to, or will the kindness and respect Vega gave maybe let you pull back before the black hole swallows you whole?
Oh Warden... you are standing on the edge of a cliff. Something terrible is about to happen to you. Something terrible has never stopped happening to you. You can only stay strong for so long but you need to hold on.
