I Tried Making Dramtic Lighting For The First Time It Worked Out Fine I Think

Finally done i spent on this to much time

mathias bad decision roulette landed on "make my ex immortal"

I wonder, is there any castlevania discord? (For a fans of games and animated series obviously)

Nocturne is getting closer so i wanted to do a little something to celebrate

I don’t usually write rants like this, but I need to get this off my chest.

With Cyrene who is clearly an Elysia expy coming to Honkai Star Rail, I sincerely hope she won’t be too much like Elysia. I wouldn’t mind if she shared some conceptual similarities, as long as it’s done right this time. But honestly, my hopes aren’t high.

I have a lot of thoughts about Elysia, and none of them are positive. At best, I see Elysia as the biggest disappointment in the entire series at worst, I outright despise her.

The thing is, I love “perfect savior” characters. They usually come with deep emotional arcs, internal conflict, and explorations of both the good and bad sides of humanity. That’s why Elysia frustrates me so deeply.

She’s portrayed as this flawless, idealized being loved by all of the characters, and even the writers. The narrative constantly screams at you: “She sacrificed everything for humanity! She is perfect! She loves humanity! She married humanity! She’s your wife too! - Don’t you love her already?”

But it all feels empty and shallow. Her so determination rings hollow because she never actually struggles. She doesn’t make mistakes. The story tells us she’s witnessed humanity at its best and worst but we never see this. Everyone worships her, and the moment there’s even a slight hint that she might doubt herself as a Herrscher, the writing bends over backward to reassure her that none of it matters because she’s just that perfect.

She doesn’t fight her nature. She doesn’t question her convictions. And because she never experiences genuine negative emotion, her “goodness” has no weight. She’s like a cardboard cutout that is sweet to the point of blandness.

What makes it worse is that there was potential. There were hints she could have been more than just a flawless goddess — maybe even morally ambiguous. But those hints go nowhere. It’s a waste of setup and a complete letdown.

Perfect characters can work, when their perfection is shown to be inhuman, and even evil and dangerous in its incompatibility with humanity.

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Fate a series full of complex savior figures like Morgan, Castoria, Kiara, Jeanne d’Arc, and all of the Beasts. Each of them is unique, carefully written, sometimes heroic, sometimes terrifying. They struggle. They question themselves. They feel. The writing doesn’t beg us to love them it just shows us who they are and lets us come to that conclusion on our own.

I still cling to a sliver of hope. The Amphoreus arc is written by a different team than the Elysian Realm, and they gave us Phainon a brilliant example of a savior archetype done right. He’s full of doubt, hiding his negative emotions behind a mask of perfect deliverer. He’s broken, lost, and empty yet he still fights to find his convictions and protect the world.

So I beg let Cyrene, who seems to be another “savior” type have real flaws. Let her feel, struggle, and have a opinions on the world around her. That’s all I ask.

VIKTOR | JERICHO | ARCANE

Please enjoy this edit here on Tumblr in full. ❤️ Focusing on the GLORIOUS EVOLUTION of Viktor (with lots of Jayce too, because you can't have one without the other). HOW are these lyrics so perfect?

Update: We have a link to a NEW extended version on Youtube (the only way we could make the audio work there was to add 12 seconds to the middle of our edit at 0:51) under the cut:

Update: We FINALLY found a solution to YouTube blocking/muting our audio. 🥳 Apparently cutting 12 seconds from the second verse was enough of an edit that the filters were rejecting it. We have an EXTENDED edition going live on Dec 27 with those 12 seconds added back in (new content begins at 0:51 secs).

Other places to watch (original version)

Patreon (public, no login needed): https://www.patreon.com/posts/viktor-jericho-118392578

Tiktok Part 1: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8NbxnBt/

Tiktok Part 2: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8NbnQQd/

Twitter: https://x.com/VidDuality/status/1871194052923670966

There's a theory from Ashikai that Aeons come in contrasting pairs that oppose and fight each other. Ashikai pairs Nanook with Qlipoth, but I don’t fully see that connection, Preservation already stands as the natural enemy of Voracity. That makes me wonder that there isn’t really any Aeon of Creation who directly opposes Destruction. Lygus mentioning that we don’t fully understand Destruction only reinforces some of my thoughts.

What if Nanook is both the Aeon of Creation and Destruction? Nanook desires to destroy the current universe so that a better one can be created, creation through destruction like how you can’t make a chair without first cutting down a tree (he too has strong jesus references in his design). This could explain the Stellarons who hold destructive power of creation. There's a strong theme here, the destructive power of creation and creation of destruction.

This also sheds some light on Phainon and his dual themes of destruction and creation. Let’s be honest he’s likely the Lord Ravager trapped in Amphoreus, yet he’s also strongly tied to memories and creation. If he represents creation through destruction it would make a lot of sense

Another Castlevania padoru this time Juste

no looking back, orpheus. you promised ▋

Before the release of the second season, there was a popular theory that the Hexcore had a missing element—a type of rune that wasn’t present, specifically the Inspiration rune from League of Legends.

According to this theory, it was Sky who „solved” the Hexcore, and when she was killed by the Hexcore, she somehow became the Inspiration rune in it. However, this theory was somewhat debunked because, although the writers have differing opinions about what Sky was in the second season, they agree that it wasn’t truly the real Sky.

This led me to think of a slightly different theory: that it wasn’t Sky who was the Inspiration rune, but Viktor himself.

First of all, the scene where Sky was killed by the Hexcore always seemed to me less like the Hexcore absorbed her and more like it simply disintegrated her.

Take the Sky line before she died:

"I was inspired by your... Everything you do inspires me." It’s very easy to interpret this line differently, as "You are the Inspiration."

And the Hexcore reached its peak power and functioned at its best when Viktor became one with it in the second season.

What could this mean? I have no idea. I truly wish the creators would explain what the Arcane is and how it works in details.