Imperial Nuisance

beware of spoilers.

[malibuklaus]

[jojo-the-dogg0]

i played 70h for this and for more i need to do it myself, are you kiddinnnnng

[medieval-bohemia-corner]

The Inquisition is looking for a sorcerer:

I think it's me.

But you don't have to be so mean about it Mr. Inquisitor. That's just rude. Maybe I just think the fine garments look nice, huh? Thought of that?

Actually, I was half sure the man was a bandit until I managed to convince him I'm not a sorcerer and he then left. Who the fuck is spreading rumors about Henry's sorcery round here?

"Closely resemble", Henry, I think he was talking about you my guy.

[medieval-bohemia-corner]

#the way multiple npcs mistake henry for the devil is fascinating#because one feels like a joke#but 3+ feels like it means something#and i wonder if this wears on henry's mind at all#that so many people see him and see darkness in him#much to consider via @apoptoses

Not just the devil or a demon, but the grim reaper as well, multiple times. And whenever he is, he has the option to play along or reject the idea, but it is interesting to consider how often this happens to him. Especially because he doesn't seem to think he'd end up in heaven after he dies, yk? He seems to feel a lot of guilt over not being a good enough person or son (as we see in his nightmares), while not really feeling bad about many of his actions that he sees as justified. How much being mistaken for the devil/a demon/a sorcerer/the grim reaper and a general force of evil and darkness and death play into how he sees himself and his actions.

Whenever considering this, I always go back to KCD1, to Henry throwing up in horror and disgust after bashing Runt's skull in and how, later, when praying for repentance, he says "he was a murderer and a thief, and he deserved it. But I shouldn't have killed him". The act was justified, he keeps justifying it to himself, I always read him as being not as disgusted with the act as with the fact he did it and didn't feel as bad about it as he thinks he should.

And as you go in KCD2, he does go further and further. Gets himself involved in more torture and death, all justified to him in the moment, all hard choices that need to be made, and he tries, but violence comes too easily to him. In a way it shouldn't. The way when Hans calls him out on taking it too far with the torture of the prisoner in Trosky and Henry's only option to agree with Hans it was bad and take responsibility is essentially: "Yeah, sorry. It got a little out of hand... I got out of hand"

I often wonder if Henry sees himself as a good person at all. He sees himself as better than many he knows of and encounters. But how much does it grate on him? Being referred to as the devil while Istvan's words that they aren't so different echo in his mind? When his memory of Martin is disappointed with every kill, even ones that I'd argue the real Martin would have understood? When he knows killing and stealing are sins but he can't bring himself to feel real guilt or remorse over them? That he seems convinced he'd end his life dead in a ditch or some unmarked grave somewhere? And is his option to play along a way to derive humor out of such an unflattering comparison?

[apoptoses]

This is all so good because I agree- Henry does not see himself as a a good person.

And I think with Henry, as the player we can get deep into 'he's my little guy who never did anything bad' because we can try to make good choices for him. But no matter how many times you have him settle an issue with talking, or you pick the 'good' choice, there rarely is a truly good choice: just the better of two bad options.

Markvart isn't wrong. Istvan Toth isn't wrong. Henry does kill people, just like them. He kills for the side he thinks is the good side, and he kills to protect what he considers good people. But at the end of the day he's killing people's husbands, their brothers, their fathers, their sons. For everyone he kills because he thinks he's doing good, someone on the other side sees him and sees a Toth of their own.

No matter how good the player makes him there is a darkness and a ruthlessness in him that cannot be ignored.

And I totally agree, Henry is constantly aware of it. This is why his parents (aka his conscience) is extremely difficult to please at the end. Even the 'good' endings will still see him weighed down by certain decisions. There is no version of himself that he sees as an angel.

So not to derail but, it makes it all the more striking to me that Hans refers to Henry as his guardian angel if you pick a certain dialogue option on the way to Nebakov. So many people, including Henry himself, compare Henry to death or the devil but Hans thinks of him as a holy savior figure regardless of his choices until that point.

[revoleotion]

it's always "the Emperor fumbled his dragon boyfriend" and never "Ansur fumbled the love of his life because he couldn't love him for who he had become and instead clung to an impossible version of him that only exists in his memory"

But whatever 🙄

[skulandcrossbones]

some people really do need to start reminding themselves that the answer to "why didn't the character just do [something entirely different]" is often simply "because then there wouldn't be a story"

[feyristvan]

[endiness]

[aramblingjay]

loustat + benches

[stelladonie]

Elderly Hansry Yaoi, lol

[feyristvan]

[1five1two]

[talyris]

⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️

[poisivey]

i’m sorry i suck at posting on here lol. another dump!

[bp-in45]

[shit-piddling-toerag]

I understand why Larian didn't do this, but oh my god it would have been so fucking cool if Isobel's continued state of reanimation was dependant on Ketheric keeping Myrkul's blessing.

Take her diary:

"Ever since I returned, there's been a filth in me. I feel it in my very lungs. I cannot get it out - it will never out, this death that reeks within me. There are some things even the Moonmaiden cannot heal. There are some things she would never accept in her devoted. I should never have come back."

Now of course you can interpret this as her simply having sense memories of being dead. The whole thing was traumatic! It makes sense she would feel some type of way about it.

The other way to read it, though, is that she wasn't properly resurrected. Gods in D&D certainly have the power to grant resurrections via their clerics, but I don't think that's what Myrkul did. I think he made a hostage instead.

Exhibit A: being Myrkul's chosen doesn't make Ketheric immortal. Siphoning off Dame Aylin's power does.

Exhibit B: if you've played an embrace dark urge, you might have been surprised to find Isobel up and about under Moonrise even if you've killed her at Last Light. As far as I know, no one comments on this spontaneous resurrection, which is odd, considering the first one was such a big deal. Sure, Myrkul could have raised her again, but it strikes me as odd that he wouldn't extract something out of Ketheric in the exchange. You'd think Ketheric would have some choice words for you in this case, but nah.

Which gets us to my working theory: true resurrection only works if the soul is willing. Isobel's wasn't (thinking her lover is dead, wanting to join her and her mom, whatever reason there might be), so the boon Myrkul granted his Chosen was to force her soul back into her body. Ketheric would have wanted insurance, though, and look: he already had a handy-dandy source of immortality on hand. How hard could it have been to alter Dame Aylin's soul cage enough to include Isobel in its protection? (And let's be real, Ketheric would be the kind of guy to take perverse pleasure from the fact that his daughter is unknowingly adding to the suffering of the paramour he disapproved of.)

So then what? You free Aylin. You kill Ketheric. Myrkul, either out of spite or simply lacking the tether of belief to sustain his magic, withdraw his blessing. You emerge from the mind flayer colony triumphant. Aylin runs off at the mention of an Isobel - her beloved, brought back to her!

And then there are only bones in Isobel's room at Last Light.

I dunno, I think there would have been something beautiful in this. You can meet both of them but never at the same time. Aylin quite literally sustaining her lover long enough for Isobel to be the lynchpin that will free her.

I'm very glad we got the Unbury Your Gays edition but mannnn I would be chewing on this storyline like a corgi with a bag of biscuits.

[targetedknowledge]

[uac-pacific-official]

Some of yall worry me. Someone was out in comments reading the dang language 😭

[azuras-catspaw]

Lys would thrive in the GTA verse, tbh