#semi analysis

[crystaljellie]

Kaeya who is the younger brother and acts like the younger brother but behind closed doors he's the only one willing to look after Diluc and has a kind and nurturing side, smart and calculating and not as immature as he looks Diluc who is the older brother, who acts like the older brother, and because of this, everyone thinks hes fine standing tall that he doesn't need anyone to lean on, that hes fine. he's better than fine. he has everything anyone could ever ask for, but behind closed doors, he's both too trusting and too suspicious, he's stuck with his torment and he twists and toils with it every night and behind closed doors Kaeya sees him as the child he still is, and holds his hand Kaeya never got the chance to be a child but he grew into it, he grew into freedom and had it ripped away from him again, and because of that glimpse he vows to shed that same light to others Diluc who was given a happy childhood, whose father fought for it, but forfeited it himself with his own crushing guilt, his own need for approval that his father could have never predicted his recklessness and need to show that he's noticed, who snatched his childhood away from himself growing into someone bitter and cold and out of reach of all the hands by his side

[cl-0v3r]

remember the days when you didn't like ambessa? what changed your mind about her?

HI ANONN , THATS A GOOD QUESTION!

Since the beginning I've always found it hard to trust Ambessa, it's not that I don't believe her experiences, she's one of the smartest characters in the whole show. But It's more about her relationship with Mel, I've always been so unsure about what her true feelings towards Mel are, she is a wolf, but undoubtedly a fox as well. Manipulation is like smooth sailing for her, and finding genuinity in her expressions always came with a little bit of doubt on the side, "Does she actually care? Is she manipulating the people around her -including Mel- JUST to get her way? Is she trustworthy with her intentions and feelings towards Mel?" And etc.

Only a little while ago did I realize that Ambessa is just extremely complex, she has so many layers, to the point where I didn't really have to time to clear my glasses about her character. I hated her for her morals, and i let that affect my interest towards this character as a whole, which is a huge mistake in my book. I also did take her a little personally sometimes, shes really realistic and it scared me a lot.

But ever since riot released the few beggining s2 trailers, I slowly started getting excited to see her. We did not get much screentime with Ambessa in s1, hence why I never felt a close attachment to her, and Mel was another reason on why I didn't like Ambessa because I'm attached to HER the most. Which reflects on my opinions on certain others, sort of like seeing things from her perspective. Mel is basically the base of my opinions on other characters if that makes sense?

Family, especially motherhood tropes are such a weakness for me, seeing her league voicelines and that music video they recently released (blood, sweat & tears) is what tipped the jar completely for me. We never got a clear indication on what Ambessas true perspective was, so finally seeing things from her eyes, hearing what she had to say, seeing how rough her past is made me understand why she became who she is in the current timeline.

And now I feel like I do not need to doubt everything she says, she does indeed love Mel as much as she does kino, she was not telling Mel in episode 9 all those things to weaken her for an open road, no. She'd went through hell and back just to keep her family safe despite how nuanced her actions are. seeing her lore simply made me do an entire 180⁰ turn.

She was going to accept her and her childs death and give in, but instead she chose to fight for her and their lives instead.

Kindred has the Lamb and the wolf. The lamb takes the lives of the dying peacefully, the wolf on the other hand, takes the lives of those who fight for their lives until they're dead.

And I find that interesting, gut wrenching and sickening mentally, thanks riot, good to know Ambessa is locked to the wolf in every single way <333

Thing is, what pains me is that she had no choice, she had to choose to die and leave everyone behind including the unborn child, or become the Medardas dictator, with the expense of her child's inevitable death. (Or perhaps I've taken this wrong)

From my understanding, the MV was more about Kino than it is about Mel, her letting go of the lamb was like handing the lamb for slaughter, a sacrifice, sort of like a "contract". Which lead to Kinos death despite how unrelated it was from kindred (like he didn't die by kindreds hands directly) . Hence why she was crying over the child figure/statue holding the lamb.

And later with the visual presentation of her pain too, someone please take the medardas pains and give it triple the amount to the actual worst fucking person to exist oh my god 😭 😭 😭

To summarize, I just never understood her character properly, I never got myself to do so. and that is a mistake from my side, I am a really visual person and the reason I really love arcane is because they don't really need words to express and show who their characters really are. Theres so many visual secrets and easterggs, expressionism, movements, colors, every single thing matters. And with Ambessa only appearing on the last 2 episodes?? Yeah I never felt like learning about her. But now im slowly starting to do that! She made it from my least character ever to like TOP 5 😭 😭

All of this will not change how horrible she is, she is a painted villain, ambiguous yes, but leaning on the darker sides. But that's what makes her Ambessa and no one else, I will forever hate her morals, I won't defend her actions. but her true intentions are meaningful nonetheless, with all the other characters too.

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

If you don't mind me asking, how do you interpret the doom aspect?

Oh I'm pretty basic, I go by what the Extended Zodiac website says for the most part X3 that the Doom-bound are indeed the universe's chosen sufferers, but that doesn't mean life is all bad for them. They can be very empathetic and wise people, but can also become hardened and bristly.

At worst, they can even pull the whole "yeah, YOU'RE hurting, but what about ME!?" and other similar attitudes, even if what's happened to them isn't "as bad" (quotations because that can be very subjective). At their best, though, they can be a really good friend to have when you need to just talk and rant without looking for a solution to the problem. Sometimes, though, they might get a little too eager or lost on what they're supposed to do, and may try to help and fix things regardless.

This rarely, if ever, goes well for anyone involved.

[arrogant-dreamer-34]

Belos.......alot of Evangelical vibes from him. Look honestly he has won the public over. Belos has almost everyone in his palm and to make matters worse, Luz is the target. I'm worried for everyone that isn't on Belos side, especially Luz. All she wants was to be accepted and the sad truth is, Belos has the key to everyone's destiny. We know of his tactics but we don't know his endgame. I'm scared.......also the owl crew did it again!!!!

[rouge-heichou]

Snk 115

Aight, now that I’m not beyond devasted anymore thanks to the full chapter I can totally focus on the other stuff too. 

Zeke; 

I’m not sure what to think of the whole “Zeke is actually just a bit delusional but has genuine motivations”. For some reason I was kind of wishing he was more “cruel” and deranged in all honesty. Or that he didn’t tell Eren the truth and what not. - But regarding Eren... I’ll get to that later. 

Anyways, so Zeke is now Plot Armoured Titan 2.0 huh? I mean it was pretty obvious he wouldn’t die considering it’d be very very inconvenient if the beast titan just went to some random Eldian New Born anywhere in the world but dang, that was one hell of an asspull on how to survive.  But given Zeke had basically the same thing going on as Ymir, I’m somewhat hoping Anime changes Reiners Asspull to the same thing so it’s at least consistent. 

Hanji and Levi; 

Okay hear me out, I was more than devasted after the ant leaks and I’m just as relieved as the next reader that Levi seems to be alive as of right now, though missing a few limbs here and there and being quite scarred. 

But, for some reason I have this lingering feeling this is a red herring. 

I mentioned it yesterday but I totally see how one can interpret Hanji’s expression in two ways.  First one being something like; “Floch you’re a little shit, don’t you dare touching this dead man who was genuinely important to me” Second one being something like: “Fuck, if he checks his pulse he knows I’m bullshitting and we’re two dead people because they will shoot Levi and me.” 

It just feels like this might be some Isayama typical red herring rather than going through the effort to raise Levi’s death flags but then not pulling through with it. 

Or maybe I’m just really scared to get my hopes up in case he still dies next chapter. Because unlike Mikasa who heals a broken rib like no big deal, Levi apparently takes quite some time to even heal a fucking sprained ankle. 

Eren:

I had to chuckle at the “yo” not gonna lie. 

Anyways, I’d love Eren to go back to his hot headed obsessively protective self right now. He starts to scare me quite a bit. - Like, not scare-scare but I don’t like where he is going at all. 

I’ve been waiting for the Eren and Zeke talk for so long and I finally got it but am slightly disappointed...? But only slightly because I might just be really bad at reading Eren by now. 

I genuinely thought Zeke didn’t tell Eren the whole thing OR Eren agreeing on it to play Zeke later on. 

But fuck, Eren never fails to surprise me. 

This nearly goes back to his crystal cave self-doubting moments and I really really dislike it. 

And I genuinely feel like, this puts the final nail in the coffin of completely fucking everything Eren has been fighting for all this time. 

I mentioned it when Chapter 114 came out. I do think getting rid of Eldians by euthanizing is the lesser of three evils. It’s still better than having Eldians be overrun by Marleyan soliders and it’s also better than trampling the rest of the world. But I really wished there was another solution to it.  At least for Eren. Just having his people die off slowly doesn’t look like the freedom he wanted. It just seems so off. It’s so out of his usual character is genuinely scares me. 

Though in the same time, it goes along with his original “I will kill all titans, every single one of them”, so I guess that’s something? 

On the other hand, the focus on Eren’s eye right after Zeke mentions the euthanizing thing makes me believe that Eren’s not fully into it. Just because I know Isayama said Eren and Levi speak more with their expressions than with words... And I’m not sure why but I feel like this shot right here, might be the “So, that really is your plan huh?!” keeping the composure and act kind of expression. 

It also just doesn’t add up if you ask me.. 

Whats the point of making Marley react if your plan is “simply” euthanizing Eldians, what do you need Marley for now?  Why invading Marley like that and show the world their fear of Titans and Eldians is justified by going fucking rampage like that?  Why cutting bonds with MIkasa if that’s what he agreed on? 

This too, sounds more like Eren’s just trying to keep Zeke on his toes? I don’t know man, Eren’s hard to read and I don’t know if I’m overestimating Eren’s intelligence.

It’s not like Zeke couldn’t have come over to Paradis without Eren going berserk on civilians? 

There’s also this line here, which I still need to see whether or not it’s properly translated but...

I’m not sure if this is relating to Pieck OR Eren. - Hoping it’s Eren. 

So yeah, I really really really hope Isayama isn’t just screwing everything Eren was fighting for the whole time and lets HIM have his own agenda now. This chapter confuses my emotions really really bad.

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

what would you say are the biggest challenges each class must face in order to grow? or at least princes bc i still don’t really know what their journey is supposed to be lol

Once again I would like to give congrats to you, Anon, for sparking something in my AuDHD brain wiring that has given me the motivation to actually answer this question of yours (yippeeeeee) (positive)

Given that you specify Princes, I'll say that after ruminating on the idea for a bit longer, I've realized that Princes largely struggle with fear. Specifically, they struggle with the fear of what destruction their Aspect is capable of doing to those who underestimate it or get too close.

Princes also struggle with the fear of losing control over themself and their life. Autonomy is a very important thing to a Prince, and they'll do whatever they can to exercise it. Even if it means destroying their Aspect from the inside out.

Their journey is about coming to realize that as scary as they may find their Aspect, they can't just destroy it. The universe that they are going to help build needs their Aspect to exist and thrive. Even if it is one of the "scary" Aspects like Rage or Doom, it's still a necessary ingredient.

People need to have fights with each other. People need to keep some level of deception with each other. People need to experience pain and loss, eventually. People and real life need all of these pieces in order to exist. It's all a messy and complicated kaleidoscope that would be incomplete if one piece was removed completely.

The Prince needs to learn to see the better parts of their Aspect, and how their destructive powers aren't inherently a bad thing. If they wish to destroy their Aspect, then they need to learn nuance and see when they should destroy it vs when they should let it be. If they wish to destroy through their Aspect, then they'll have to learn to at least tolerate their Aspect just enough to utilize its power.

TL;DR:

A Prince's journey is about overcoming a fear that has pushed them to survive, but may not be entirely necessary or helpful, now that they're older. They need to learn to accept themself and their Aspect, even if it seems to be a terrifying prospect. They can find that control they want in other ways, but destruction cannot always be one of them.

Hope this helps, Anon! :3