I've Been A Third All My Life. Not Saying That To Fight, Just Saying That It's True. I Feel Like I Get

some cool stuff i saw in the forest last sunday!!

So I recently bought the RDR2 Original Score Soundtrack, and something that really stood out to me is the art inside of it;

The art for the original soundtrack and the original score are telling an interesting story: the original soundtrack shows us Arthur on the cover itself, and in the inside of the vinyl, are the gang in their prime riding together - all of the iconic imagery we're used to see during the game.

However, the art of the original score is almost exclusively Micah related: the cover is a clear contrast to the original soundtrack (black and white vs. colour, villain vs. hero), but what I personally find most interesting is the art inside of the vinyl:

From what I've seen, the internet seems to be in disagreement over who Micah might be shooting; while it makes sense it is Arthur given the story of the game, seeing him in a pitiful position feels out of character.

To me, this art looks like Arthur's portrayal from Micah's eyes; there are 6 graves, possibly to represent past gang members who died during the game? (aka Sean, Kieran Lenny, Hosea, Molly, and Grimshaw).

Micah was not responsible for all of them, but it was his mission to try and get cut as many gang members as he could "loose."

There's also 7th grave being dug (represented by the shovel), presumably prepared for Arthur, given their relationship and his ending.

After Guarma Micah sees Arthur as weak, he stops being scared of him and replaces him as Dutch's right-hand man, which is the reason why Arthur seems so weak in this art compared to Micah, he is reduced to a pitiful sick man who has to beg for mercy, nothing more than another link to cut loose so Micah can advance.

washing off the stench of death

Thinking about how, whether he is conscious of it or not, Armand has already partially broken the cycle of abuse he was subjected to, simply by not turning Daniel when he was young.

The precise nature of Armand's very existence is a permanent reminder of what he was forced to live through, regardless of if he even has the ability to process the trauma in the first place. If he so much as catches his reflection out of the corner of his eye, he is reminded of the coveting and commodification of his youth and how the most innocent time of his life was weaponised against him. He is frozen there. His face looks so innocent because it creates a satisfying contrast with his actions narratively, but its also because he was. He was innocent. And that was stolen from him by selfish, greedy people who pretended their actions were out of love.

By letting Daniel go (assuming Devil's Minion era happened in the seventies), Armand protected him from this. Daniel experienced his entire youth and what it was like to age out of it without the fear of no longer having value like Armand did, and then came adulthood. He has lived to an age that Arun never could have dreamt of, that Amadeo was forced to realise, at one point, he would never experience, not in the human sense at least. He'll never have lines on his face like Daniel does. His worry lines and smile lines will never deepen. He won't develop crow's feet from squinting in the sun, which turned its back on him long ago anyway. His hair will never grey. Marius made certain of that.

But Daniel got to have all of that. His beloved got to live his life, fuck it up over and over and make a million mistakes. He had the freedom and the agency to do it. Armand will not see it, but he gave Daniel exactly what was taken from him so long ago. He is not just evil. He does not destroy everything. He gave Daniel the real gift, and now they get to move onto the next stage of Daniel's life together (after a couple seasons of slow burn I would imagine).

Just as he sees the tragedy of his past on his own face, he sees the potential he has to be different on Daniel's. He has immortalised true beauty in Daniel. The beauty of having lived a long life.

kim kitsuragi revelations

Disheveled Kim

armand hyperfixation so bad it’s got me listening to random ass 80’s music on some random spotify character playlist made for him

Are we sure that eric bogosian isn't actually daniel "only went to gay bars for drugs totally not looking to get pounded in the ass" molloy?

(this is part of a larger more serious discussion about the AIDS crisis but the way he just?? casually mentions this?? in an interview??? is insane to me)

ARMAND IN EVERY EPISODE 1.05 A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart