To think that, to the veteran Sky theorist, we find a lore moth's question so preposterous. It's a simple question, an innocent, mildly curious inquiry. But upon hearing it, all of Lorechat and Skyblr collectively feel the imminent, eruptive, and possibly volatile pressure immediately swelling within their throats (on their keyboards). We start investing in an aggressive, passionate plan. We fill our notepads and documents and blogs and create visual graphs and boards and attempts at encyclopedias. And in the end we can't find the words, stuttering and drooling in our dumbfoundedness of the gap between us and the innocent newcomer. And the gap between us and the Answer.
All of this over just one question.
"Can you explain Sky to me?"
~~~~~Old Articles~~~~~
Longform reading isn't everyone's thing, and that's okay, but if you want to practice some reading while also hopefully making some connections about the world of Sky, I recommend checking out the articles posted on the Blog to see if you'd like to send a Follow to keep up with new updates!
}}} Defining the Lore (Bible)
}}} Defining Megabird #1
}}} Defining Megabird #2
}}} Defining Beings
}}} Defining Light (Biomatter substance)
}}} Defining Darkness
}}} Defining Diamonds
}}} Defining Descendants
}}} Defining Ancestors
Random Lore panic attacks and zealousy
}}} Defining Spirits
Overly dramatic philosophical posts now and then
This blog is undergoing constant transformation, as a reflection of discovering who I am and feeling who I am becoming. If you are a fan of philosophy, psychology, and intensive literative analysis, you've come to the right place. And even if you're unsure, thank you for checking it out anyways. What I am doing here will not be a one-size-fits-all, and that's okay. Nobody is any more or any less for being in any given place, and it's best that we be where we want to. 🌊
I could just tell you what I think the Answer (to each topic) is, and what led me to that. But instead, I want to ask as many questions as possible. If I'm alone in my echo chamber, I need to be my own worst enemy, the most thorough critic possible. I want to make this fun (for me).
So let's strip this down to the most barebones it can be, and dive into the wonderful world of Lexicology: the study of words.
Darkness.
Darkness, according to Wikipedia, is defined as:
A lack of illumination
An absence of visible light, or
or a surface that absorbs light.
Darkness is a concrete, normal concept about real life, but it has transcended beyond its immediate definition to become a steeple of powerful metaphors expressing endless bounds of human emotion.
Darkness is used to paint a picture of evils, unknowns, dangers beyond the warmth of the sun. Darkness eats the sun, holds it hostage and drains hope, love, and joy. Darkness wants, it hungers, and it schemes. It has a plan. And worst of all, it's very patient.
...at least in writing.
Darkness can mean anything a writer wants it to mean, so it can mean all of those, and it could mean none of those!
Our job as Lore theorists, is to observe what this word means to Sky, and what picture should be painted in our head when we try to understand exactly, just what 'darkness' is.
{{{Continue Reading}}}
Because to the unaware, when they first hear of a "Darkness" in Sky, their minds go to every far corner possible that I had just poetized above.
There is an inescapable tendency among fanfic writers and OC designers to relish and drool over the idea of 'the bad guy'. We are craving an antagonist, and we paint them in our thoughts the moment a crumb of content leans in that direction.
And even better than an antagonist; we are itching for an antihero. For some kind of 'opposite' side against the light. Something to represent our rebellions and battles in real life as we rage against the machine, for whatever our machines are.
"Dark" creatures, "dark" skykids, "dark" elders; a world of possibility opens up and we just can't help ourselves, not even the devs!
[Official Sky concept art by Tom Zhao]
What did you first think Darkness was?
An evil force
The opposite of Light
"I think it's... A metaphor" 🤷♀️
Voting ended onFeb 29, 2024
But enough about Lexicology (the study of words (if you forgot)).
What about what we can actually see in person? (In game)
As we begin to observe the world around us, we have an immediate official Rule that every theorist seems to agree on:
If it hurts your Light, it's Darkness.
[By the way, damage to your Flame is not damage to your Light. This will someday make sense later.]
The game warns us early on to 'protect your Light', and as we travel through the realms we find creatures that attack us; creatures that the game warns in loading screens are 'dark' entities, "hungry for your light". The rainfall and sludge in wasteland are also harmful to your Light, showing that Darkness may be carried in water.
Within this rule we now have a small list of Things-That-Hurt-Us:
Forest rain
Wasteland water
Darkness crabs
Dark Dragons (Krill)
Shardfall, and Dark Shards
And for the loremoffy, that leaves them with a bunch of questions and dots to connect. Starting with the creatures on the list, we're instantly alarmed, especially as moths entering the false temple for the first time. These two 'enemies' are canonically named by quests and loading screens as 'dark' creatures. "Are they dark evil minions of the bad guy??" gasps the moth, audibly. They certainly seem evil, attacking you with no [some] hesitation. If they are 'a part of' the Darkness, then that seems to guarantee the Darkness wants/exists to attack Light.
And what of signs of 'evil' darkness that don't appear to hurt you?
Darkness plants, also canonically named so, don't hurt you, but, foreign and invasive in appearance and nature, they do seem to be uninvited guests in a land that didn't really expect them. They appear in places that are wet and dimly lit, and have been seen to trap exposed light, be that smaller creatures of Light, memories of Light (released by Shardfall or memory/spirit quests), and lastly, the spirits of Ancestors, who's shells have been cracked and exposed to the Darkness.
The plants appear to keep and store Light, mostly inside small orb-like sacs. This along with the fact that it traps Beings of Light and memories of Light, seems to show that whatever this 'Darkness' is, it doesn't 'get rid' of Light, but rather bury it, keeping it perpetually contained, encased within a strange tomb indefinitely.
More official concept art by Tom Zhao
These things are slowly and painfully choking the land, killing whatever still dares to perch on the ground. They may or may not be 'evil', but whatever they are, they're a plague, a disease. Are they what make the Dark creatures the way they are, or do Dark creatures and Dark plants all appear because of something deeper down the rabbithole?
We follow the trail of Darkness, worse and worse as we grow near its source, and find that the worst of the Darkness comes from the ruined kingdom's heart of society. Whatever Darkness is, the Ancestors obviously seem to have something to do with it. From here the lore moth can trail down a few paths. The Ancestors were either the direct cause of this Darkness, or created it by accident. It was either directly connected to whatever they were doing, or they didn't expect Darkness to be a factor at all. Regardless, we'll look at why Darkness is on another day.
But What is it?
The goal of an Answer is to be able to summarize everything you know about a subject, into a bitesize, consumable, tolerable answer. And to answer what Darkness is, after all of this blog-long research and meditation; one specific word is the Answer.
noun
noun: pollution
the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.
Pollution is the word that matches everything we know about the way this Darkness spreads. It has been introduced into the environment by the Ancestors, and is affecting the world. Pollution contaminates and poisons, killing the world with no intent of its own, but destroying everything nonetheless. This is the perfect word for what we've seen in our journey so far.
But how does this tie back in to the beginning of this post?
We had determined that the possible definitions of Darkness ellicit:
Lack of Light
Opposite of Light
An Evil
Absorption/Burying of Light
We are beginning to find that Darkness in the world of Sky does not 'lack' Light, as it instead traps and stores Light in a perpetual sleep.
🚫 [Darkness]: a lack of Light
We have also found that, being released by the Ancestors of the ancient kingdom, Darkness is not seemingly malicious, but instead a force, a storm, almost 'natural' in its ways, with no conscious mind of its own. We cannot create a face of pollution in real life enough to visualize an antagonist we can 'defeat', unless you generalize a concept of rich old fat men. It is the same way with Darkness in Sky. It's probably not 'evil', but it's not okay.
🚫 [Darkness]: an ancient evil
But we have confirmed that it does absorb Light, which is a concrete definition of 'darkness' in the dictionary.
[Darkness]: content that absorbs Light ✅✅✅
And because of that, we've come full circle! 🎊🎉🎇
Wait, we didn't address if our Darkness is or is not synonymous with the definition "opposite of Light"...
Well, maybe it's better we hold off on that thought for now. Because in order to say it's the opposite of Light, first we have to Define what Light is. And I think its safe to say we won't get there for a while. 😅
You're crazy if you actually read all of this, but thank you so much.
I think I'm really going to enjoy making these, so long as I can make them s l i g h t l y coherent. Have a good day/night yall!
