Op You Are So Right - Tumblr Posts

I won’t even lie: Chris is so out of Knox’s league, but, pop off I guess. 

same energy 😔✋

House md really does make things Homosexual™️ and then pass it off as “oh they’re just friends”

What is this. What the absolute fuckery is this. Did House really have to come that close to him? No. Did Wilson have to stand there without moving back a single inch? No. Did Wilson have to sound jealous as hell when he said, “what’s with you and her?” Also no!

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FUCKING ASSUME

I know we’re all talking about this clip BUT I NEED TO FUCKING TALK ABOUT THIS CLIP

ITS SOOOOO FUCKING GOOD I LOVE JON MATTESON SO MUCH AND WILL BRANNER EATS THOSE NOTES UP

The fucking switch from the super loud and emotionally intense I’M NOT A LOSER to the fucking tiny don’t kill me is so fucked up i love it

I’ve not shut the fuck up about this specific scene for like two other posts but I felt the need to actually post the clip

Also it is hot that he immediately starts repeating it just because he’s told to by a dominant force, let alone the person who’s about to murder him and I’m tired of pretending it’s not- sue me I don’t make the rules I just love pathetic men

I will be the homestuck muppet guy whether fandom likes it or not

#Steve’s new job is VERY useful (insp)

i think a part of the reason why the doctor losing donna feels so tragic and it affects the doctor so severely is because i think the doctor never expected to lose her. like naturally he doesn’t expect to lose anyone, but it just feels like some part of him thought she was It. the way your hand is always a part of your body and you never expect to lose it, that doesn’t make any sense. it’s a part of you.

i was wondering how gl!ranboo got caught up in the whole showfall media junk in the first place and.

what if they just fucking prank called the missing persons line like a teenage scoundrel

extinct animals (especially ones that went extinct during human history) make me so sad for what could’ve been. We live in a world where we’ll NEVER have dodo memes. can you IMAGINE what dodo memes would have been like. they’d be the avian equivalent of capybaras or manuls I think. just one of nature’s most perfectly memeable animals.

everything you’ve said is so right!! seriosuly, i feel like there was so much potential to be had in HoO that just… never came to fruition. it was good, don’t get me wrong, i loved it on my first read through(especially since it was my introduction to the wider pjo franchise) (so i’m biased) (i started this journey with jason mcfreaking grace and cried when he died) (anyway)

i jsut wanted to add that rick had a real opportunity to play jason and percy as character foils for each other instead of rivals, and building them both up to reflect each other and develop them both- and it’s a real shame that he didn’t.

Rick did Jason Grace so dirty in HoO

Before I explain, I think I should establish that I really like Jason as a character. While he isn’t one of my favourites, he has really grown on me over the last couple of years. But he never really had a shot with the fandom, after his introduction in The Lost Hero, and after Son of Neptune and a lot of that has to do with the way Rick set him up for failure from the very beginning with a variety of writing decisions. The odds were really stacked against him.

Let’s first recap the very base of who Jason Grace is. He had an unstable mother, who gave him up to Juno when he was two years old, so that she could claim him as her champion. He is the only demigod child of Jupiter, and grew up raised by wolves, then later raised in a relatively strict military hierarchy since a very early age without any knowledge of his mortal family. He had to deal with all the pressure and expectations that came with who his father is. Over time he managed to become one of the two leaders of said hierarchy and has been committed to change its society for the better ever since. He led Camp Jupiter in the titan war and managed to defeat the titan Krios with his bare hands,  He is the long-lost brother of Thalia Grace, one of the more popular characters from the PJO book. He is extremely kind, protective, and loyal, and one of the most powerful demigods in the Riordan verse.

This should have easily made him into a fan favourite character. But what happened instead was for him to become the least favorite member of the seven, to be considered boring and skippable by a lot of fans, and to even get a lot of haters. (I know especially here on tumblr a lot of people really love Jason, but I’m talking about the more general part of the fandom, and I don’t think anyone can deny that Jason gets quite a lot of hate there.)

So, what went wrong?

I think there are three main reasons for the dislike he receives.

Telling, and not showing on part of Rick’s writing

A constant forced comparison with Percy

A lacking character arc in the hoo books

Let’s start with the first one.

Telling, and not showing

Piper’s and Leo’s POVs did him a huge disservice in that regard in the lost hero. During the entirety of the book, Piper wore rose-tinted glasses when it came to him. There is barely a chapter without her glazing Jason, or commenting on his looks or generally how perfect he is. Leo deals with a lot of insecurities and, while not as extreme as Piper, puts Jason also on a pedestal in his chapters. This was, for one, quickly becoming repetitive, but also put a lot of expectations on Jason, which are impossible to meet for any character.

It doesn’t help that Jason didn’t achieve all that many impressive feats in The Lost Hero. He didn’t do nothing, but in comparison to Leo and Piper, he gets a bit overshadowed.

Leo pretty early on established himself as a mathematic genius. He repairs Festus, saves Piper and Jason from the cyclops, and fights against Khione at the Wolf’s house.

Piper uses her charm speak to convince Boreas and his sons to let them go, frees Leo and Jason from Medea’s control, breaks Hera’s cage together with Leo, and is able to revive Jason after he accidentally looked at Juno in her divine form.

Jason, meanwhile, defeats a venti at the Grand Canyon and saves Piper’s life, defeats Lityerses and Midas, and defeats Encaladeus with the help of Zeus.

Don’t get me wrong. Those are great accomplishments and put Jason at the very top of the demigod power hierarchy, but with the way everyone talks about him, and with the standards we already have for children of the big three as readers of PJO, he just falls a bit short. Especially when you focus on top of that on other moments in that book where he gets knocked out by the cyclops or looks unprompted at Juno in her divine form, to list a few examples.

Despite this, his actions and abilities would have probably still made him into a fan-favourite character, if there wouldn’t have been this constant comparison with Percy.

A forced Comparison

Jason and Percy are getting compared in the hoo books in a very obvious way. They are set up as equals by Rick with its entire premise in the first two books and the weird rivalry thing he wrote in Mark of Athena, which is, I think, the main reason why Jason is so disliked.

Percy Jackson is probably the most popular character within the Riordan verse. The only characters who even come close are Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez, and maybe Annabeth Chase. He is the main character for the entire prequel series, and had much more time to develop and for the readers to get attached to than any other character.

This was a lost battle, even before the first chapter of the lost hero was written. By the time, Percy and Jason meet, Percy was the main character, or at least one of the main characters, in 11 adventures, if you include the short stories, while Jason was one of three POV characters in a single book. A book, where he had amnesia for the entirety of it. People are protective of their favourite characters, and if you make a direct comparison between the most popular character in your franchise and some new guy, even (try to) establish them as equals and force them to have a rivalry, people are naturally going to develop a dislike for the new guy.

And Rick certainly didn’t help matters with the way he wrote them.

At the end of the lost hero, Hera tells Jason, that he is going to be the leader of the seven, but we know he isn’t. We, as readers, who have followed Annabeth and Percy since they were 12 years old, know that he doesn’t deserve this role, judging by what we have seen of him.

Even if he were to be portrayed as strong as Percy in the following books, it would feel undeserved. While we have seen Percy fight the many monsters and titan’s he did in the PJO books, and seen his growth in both power and character, we only get told that Jason defeated Krios with his bare hands. There isn’t even a flashback in either his or Reyna’s POV chapters of the incident, which could have at least elevated this accomplishment.

And then, Rick publishes Son of Neptune and every possibility of Jason being on the same level as Percy gets instantly flung out of the window.

Percy is the MVP of that book. Frank and especially Hazel are awesome, absolutely no discussion there, but for me at least, Son of Neptune was really Percy’s time to shine.  (Though I have to admit, I’m pretty biased towards Percy, so that statement is probably really subjective.)

Even before he leaves for the quest, Percy already killed one gorgon, demolished the romans in the war games, sees through Octavius’ performance, figures out what happened with the golden eagle and proves his selflessness by choosing not to take the gorgon blood to recover his memories. Then later he tricks Phineas in what is for me one of the coolest moments in the entirety of hoo, fights an entire army, destroys a glazier, defeats Polybotes basically by himself and, again, makes a fool out of Octavius in front of the senate, and all that after Rick already nerved him by removing the curse of Achilles.

Comparing especially the fights against Polybotes, and Enceladus respectively does Jason absolutely no favors.

Jason fought good, he fought greatl even, he had this very cool moment with his speech explaining who he was and boasting of his accomplishments, but in the end, his weapon got destroyed and he had to pray to his father to kill Enceladeus with a lighting bolt. That was an amazing feat for a demigod, absolutely no discussion, but really pales in comparison to Percy’s fight at the end of Son of Neptune.  

Percy absolutely bodied Polybotes. I don’t even know if he received a single injury in this fight. The “help” he received from a god was him smashing the decapitated head of Terminus into Polybotes. Like, Terminus didn’t do shit in that fight.

You can’t describe two characters as being equals and then portray so huge differences in their accomplishments.

Yes, Hazel and Frank also often say that Percy is powerful, or a good leader, or handsome, or smart, in a similar way to how Piper and Leo describe Jason, but with Percy it feels more like a reward as a reader. Because we have already seen him be all of that in the original books. It’s just acknowledgement and no new information.

Also, the absolute dissonance between Jason’s disappearance and camp Jupiter’s reaction also doesn’t help him. How can we believe that he is a leader of the same calibre as Percy, when most of the people in the camp he has lived in since he was four years old, don’t even care that much about his disappearance and are so quick to replace him? (Even worse, they replaced him with Percy) I know that this is just the way, Camp Jupiter works, but simply as a narrative choice, it’s very questionable.  

A lacking Character Arc & Amnesia

Coming to the last point. Jason’s character arc in the entirety of Hoo fell flat to me (Though, to be fair, most character arcs, if they even existed, fell flat to me in Hoo.)

His predominant character arc is him struggling with his identity, between being a roman or a greek. Now, this would be a very compelling arc, if we’d know who Jason Grace was as a roman. But we don’t. We know close to nothing about Jason’s life in New Rome. The only meaningful relationship he apperantly had was with Reyna, and he barely thinks about her in his povs, and even in Reyna’s chapters in boo we barely find out about their friendship. The entire camp turns against him in Mark of Athena. By the end of Boo, he still has not regained his entire memory, and never really confronted his past as a praetor. This is not a full, or satiscfactory character arc.

There are many other points I could name, like his relationship with Piper, or how him being Thalia's brother came completely out of the blue, or how he didn't built any meaningful relationship with characters who weren't Piper or Leo in the four books he's been in, but, to be honest, this post is already getting too long.

I'm just frustrated because he could have been one of the coolest characters in the Riordan verse, but he was really sat up to fail.  

Some opinions on PJO/HOO!

. First and foremost, The Lost Hero is a great fucking book! Y'all just don't like it cause Percy's not in it.

. Also Percy shouldn't have been one of the main characters, neither should Annabeth! The other two should've been Nico and Reyna! Who should've gone down to Tartarus? Leo and Piper! There could've been a lot more depth to Leo's powers and Leo's and Pipers relationship could've been a hell of a lot more expanded on! Platonically, of course.

. I hate people who say "Piper was so useless!" None of it could've happened without her bitch! Leo and Jason would've killed each other at Medeas place! This woman put Gaea back to fucking sleep I don't wanna hear it!

. Hazel isn't 'uwu' 'couldn't hurt a fly' SHE KILLED A GIANT BY HERSELF AT 13 AND CURSED OUT NUNS!! SHUT UP!!!

. SAME WITH FRANK!!! HE'S NOT ALL INNOCENT EITHER!! HE'S A DAM PRAETER FOR A FUCKING REASON!!! Also so many people are like "Leo insults him so much!!" Honey they insult each other! They argued!! Arguing goes BOTH WAYS!! Also character development happens people!! They got better!! Stop it!!

. I've only seen like 1 or 2 people say this but Lester is NOT a P3do! "He's 4000+ years old-" yeah in a 17 year olds body. He has actual hormones and Mortal shit now, having a small crush on Reyna does not make him a fucking p3do!! You wanna talk about a real p3do let's talk about Luke!! Or how Poseidon got Sally pregnant at 19???

. Adding to that yes Calyso is a p3do!! It's not the same as Lester!! Lester was thrown right into this teenage body, as a Mortal, he didn't have any experience with knowing how to do ANYTHING Mortal!! Calypso had thousands of years of maturing!! She's physically 15 but mentally she's like 10,000+!! Even if you skip that part, Caleo is still toxic! They fight all the fucking time!! If you think that's healthy, you've been brainwashed by the herteronormative agenda!!

. All the Gods are shit except Hestia, Apollo, Artemis and Hades!

. Leo is the main main character period!! Gaea went after him at 8 because he was destined to destroy her and she knew that!! Hera herself babysat him to train him for it!! If that's not main character energy, idk what is!!

. Jason isn't boring!! There are many times he made snarky comments or jokes that were actually funny!! And even if he didn't how would you feel if you forgot everything from the start?! I would be boring too!! (Also he's autistic.)

-----

I'll add more later if I think of any but here.

I may have realized this crazy late, but Steve's dream of having 6 kids and traveling during the summer in an motorhome is a stark contrast to how he lived his childhood, which is probably the reason he has this dream in the first place.

Steve is likely an only child, which would make him probably feel lonely, as he never had anyone to play with or even talk to, especially during his childhood. He had Tommy and Carol, sure, but they couldn't stay at his house all of the time. They couldn't play games or talk until past their bedtimes, they couldn't be there when he was having a rough time at home, they often couldn't walk with him to school.

Steve would always be jealous of people with siblings, because, even though he was always told that it sucked to have a brother or sister, he could see how much they all cared for each other, how they were always there. He could see how they would keep an eye out for one another, always bickering fondly, all bark no bite. How they were always around, a lingering presence that would be annoying but oddly comforting. Mike and Nancy still took care of each other, even though they tried to show that they hated each other (Steve could still see that they were close, though), and Jonathan would never hurt Will. He was always there, always grounding Will when life became too much. They were all as close as can be. Bonded by blood and family.

Steve wanted that, and, as much as Dustin was like a younger brother to him, he couldn't help but feel like he was still missing something, missing the connection to someone else that Will and Jonathan had, or even Mike or Nancy. A connection only those connected by blood had.

He promised himself that, if he had a kid, he would have another, because he never wanted his child to feel lonely. To miss that sibling playfulness and affection that Steve never experienced himself. To be lonely, to lack a presence that many others had. To never have someone who knew them more than even parents did.

His summers were filled with parties full of people but empty of meaning. He was always stuck in Hawkins, chained to his house and his pool , while his parents went everywhere. Paris. Italy. Greece. Egypt. New York. Canada. Everywhere. But he never went with them, he never went anywhere. He got used to seeing the same trees, the same roads, the same buildings, and his heart yearned for something more. There was a whole world out there that he wanted to see, one that he desperately reached for, a world that refused to let him in. He got used to the sick feeling in the stomach knowing that he would see the same sights every year, that he would be stuck. He never wanted anyone else to feel this way, especially his children.

Steve figured that summer trips in a motorhome would be perfect. As much as it would be a lot of driving, he and his family could go anywhere they wanted to, stop at ever sight and take photos by as much nature and life as they wanted. They could play silly games in the car, laugh over stories, and bicker like families do. Long gone would be the parties filled with fake smiles, a fake happiness that would fade by morning. Everything would change, there would be genuine happiness, and no one would feel alone or trapped.

This was Steve Harrington's dream. He wanted a life for his kids that he never had himself, a life that he yearned for, a life full of relationships and experiences and love. A life that his kids would be thankful for, and one that he would be thankful for, too.

The princesses are such a compelling study in trauma. After you’ve been traumatized it does feel like everything you do is in reaction to that trauma. You can never go back and undo it. Nothing will ever be the same after it. And they’re right to be angry at the authors for putting them through it. They didn’t deserve that.

But the part they haven’t figured out yet is learning how to live with that changed version of yourself. They can still mourn who they used to be, or who they hoped they’d become in a trauma-free life. They can still be angry that was taken from them. But they can’t let that mourning and anger consume them, or they’ll never become a version of themselves that they can live with. They can’t throw away everything because they lost something.

And that’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s easy to convince yourself that the people telling you that are full of shit and don’t understand how deeply you were damaged and you shouldn’t have to fix the damage that you didn’t cause. But you gotta swallow it, with whatever spoonful of sugar it takes to get it down.

I'm thinking about how Discord would translate into Equestria Girls again, but like as a human(?? this will always be questionable) this time. I see him as a drama/back up teacher just because making him a student A) just feels weird to me and B) goes against the pre-established rules set up with making Celestia and Luna (and Cadence? i don't remember her too well) adults. (so no shipping him with the main girls, as Sonic the hedgehog would say," Pedophilia is no good!")

•He's the weird eccentric teacher that the school makes do a talk on drugs or PTSD or something that always gets sidetracked but ramped up to 1000.

•He's "bffs with Ms. Frizzel and his uncle works at Nintendo , this is 100% true horse god themself told me so"

•He's on the FBI and Interpol's most wanted list.

•He is genuinely a great teacher but is also the worst. Every school year he gets voted as the most loved/hated teacher.

• He's banned from helping out with the yearbook but somehow finds a way to fiddle with it in the end.

•Twilight (sci twi) both dreads and is infinitely facinated by him (as is natural)

•He is completely in the know about the magic and is probably a big source of it (what with being discord) but acts like he's completely ignorant because it makes the mane 7 confused and upset.

•He has 17 PhDs but never graduated highschool. Occasionally he'll steal Celestia's for funsies.

•He does not legally exist, instead he "illegally exists, except for on Thursdays and every Flag Day that lands on a odd number" as he is so proud of proclaiming.

•He has a stomach of steel and once ate rocks in front of Luna just to prove a point, his teeth were completely ruined but claims they would grow back tomorrow (they did not, seeing as it wasn't a business day).

•There would be a EQG movie about someone trying to steal his magic and the way the villain is beaten is Discord pulling out a taser.

I think it's fair to say this season finale felt like The Sting but from Fry's perspective

Can we please stop the alpha male-ification of Harvey because he’s not some strong and buff manly man, he’s a dorky uncooked chicken who can’t swim please understand this

I do take constructive criticism

One thing I wish I'd see more of among Ratio fans is some thought about how he views himself as a teacher.

Like yes, of course he refuses to compromise on the quality and rigor of the education he imparts, and he would find it unforgivably unethical to lower his standards in order to pass more students who had not genuinely learned the material. This is core to his character.

However, as someone who is a teacher IRL, I know the absolutely miserable feeling setting that kind of standard can cause. There's the obvious disheartening sense of disappointment ("Are students these days really not capable of doing the work correctly? Is our future in danger, if this is the highest level of understanding our current generation of students can achieve?"), but even worse than that is the self-doubt.

"Is this somehow my fault? Am I not teaching this material in the right ways for the students to learn? Is there something I could have done differently to get through to these students? Would a better teacher have a higher passing rate?"

We know that Ratio does (or at least did) struggle with feeling inferior to the Genius Society, so I think it is also likely, as much as he absolutely will not budge on his academic standards, that he has doubts about his teaching ability as well.

This is the man who wants to educate the entire world to cure the disease of ignorance, and yet only 3% of his actual students are able to get there. How can someone who gets so few of his direct students to a state of enlightenment hope to enlighten the whole universe? If so few students are successfully learning the material of a given class, doesn't that mean the teacher is doing something wrong?Would a better teacher--would a genius, maybe--not be able to impart their knowledge more efficiently and educate even the most challenging of students?

As someone constantly struggling with that balance between keeping academic standards high while also meeting the needs of today's students, I think the passing rates of his courses must affect Dr. Ratio much more deeply than I've seen fans discuss. I think he would question himself harshly over his class success rates, and I think he must be constantly trying to push himself to become the best teacher he possibly can be.

tl;dr: I hope one day the HSR fandom will stop sleeping on the fact that Ratio is an actual practicing professor who probably has astronomical levels of teacher angst. 😂

Did Edolon become Seinru? Well, yes. But actually no. (Edolon Character Analysis)

Content warning: Discussion of abuse, manipulation, cults, mentions of gore, and a panel of drawn grotesque injury near the end

Spoiler warning: Snowbound Blood Volume 12.

Full analysis under the cut

In discussions of Edolon, something that people have found confusing is his seemingly drastic change from what we’ve seen of him pre sacrifice of Seinru and post sacrifice of Seinru. Before Snowbound Blood Vol. 12 came out, this was especially the case.

From what we’ve seen of Edolon pre-ritual is a much more dependent and less confident person in comparison to those traits basically inverting post ritual. This paired with some concerning dialogue and actions pertaining to “becoming Seinru” has led to some… worrying conclusions.

First, let's quickly go over some observations that have caused confusion or concern in some readers. Some of these will be elaborated on later.

Seinru saying to Edolon before their death, “As long as you're still here, I'll never truly be gone.” 

After Seinrus death, Edolons had a drastic change in character that involved picking up many of Seinrus traits.

Edolons severed hand was replaced with Seinrus hand.

So, did Edolon become Seinru? What does that even mean? Did Seinru really possess him?

Well, I find the theory that Seinru possessed Edolon after the ritual interesting because while it wouldn't make much sense character writing wise, it gives a good introspective into people's perception of Edolon. Rather than analyzing why Edolon changed so drastically, many people opt for a more ''easy to understand'' theory. Along with this, the theory basically dissolves Edolon of any blame and just goes for the belief that “Seinru possessed him because they’re evil and Edolon has done nothing wrong” which is just a total butchering of both of their characters.

In order to understand why Edolon changed so drastically, we have to analyze the way he was pre-ritual, leading up to the ritual, post-ritual and factors that would impact why he changed in the way he did.

As said before, prior to the ritual, Edolon showed less confidence and a dependency on Seinru. In many moments both his reliance on Seinru and his nervousness is shown,

A gaunt man steps from the shadows and slides up next to Seinru. They give his hand a gentle squeeze before disappearing behind the altar. As he nervously leans forwards(...)

Described as nervous, as well as going straight to Seinrus side.

SEINRU: Dolo.  Out of the corner of your eye, Seinru steps forward, taking Edolon's hand in hers. She squeezes it, gently.

Seinru senses his nervousness and reassures him, giving him courage.

Edolon approaches you, taking Seinru's place as they retreat into the sacrificial slab's gloom. Where Seinru knelt beside you, Edolon tries to loom. It only emphasizes his stoop. You laugh. To your displeasure, so does Pozzol. (...) Edolon glances in Pozzol's direction. His eyes drift instinctively to the altar, to the rim of darkness in the vague outline of Seinru. SEINRU: This is your moment. SEINRU: Everything, from here to obliteration, belongs to you..

Upon being laughed at by Pozzol for being unable to replicate Seinru, he looks at Seinru for reassurance, once again showing his dependency on him.

Along with this, Edolon isn’t confident that he’ll be capable of taking her place as the highest ranking member of the cult,

EDOLON: i'm just not convinced i have what it takes. EDOLON: i'm not like you. EDOLON: i'm still afraid. i'll still feel the pain, even when you don't. EDOLON: what if i can't do any of it? EDOLON: then all i'll have accomplished is adding more misery to my life. SEINRU: That's not going to happen. EDOLON: and this is not a role i was meant to play.

While I absolutely do not doubt that Edolon was able to take action without Seinrus guidance pre-ritual (as shown in his pestering of Serpaz being something that has been going on for sweeps before the sacrifice), these quotes show that he wasn’t as confident as in the present. 

Though post-ritual - without Seinru there to guide him - Edolon is much more confident and capable of his role in the cult. This confidence only ramps up to extremes as he both unlocks his alchemic potential and ESPECIALLY as the events of Incursion take place. I don’t think analyzing quotes would do this change justice. Just look at any of his actions he takes to progress the game, crash an inauguration and speak without faltering while the entire world watches. 

So what does this mean for Edolon? How did he become so much more confident after the death of Seinru? 

In order to understand why Edolon responded this way to the death of someone he loves, you have to remember that this is Edolon. There are many factors of his life and upbringing that change the way that he responds to trauma. Due to the severe brainwashing from both Seinru and the cult, as well as the severe abuse he faced in his childhood, the way he reacts to the traumatic event of losing his partner is much different than a majority of the people faced with this kind of loss.

Rather than reacting with anger, fear, depression, numbness, or many of the other common reactions to the death of a loved one, he reacted in the way that Seinru manipulated him into reacting. Before their death, Seinru told Edolon what they wanted from him after death, and Edolon in turn became what they wanted him to become. He wanted to accept the gift and chance to grow that Seinru had told him she was dying for so that he wouldn't let her down.

Along with this, Edolon is driven by his need for revenge against Corporate. After being abused by The Executive for not being able to live up to his expectations and later abandoned by Corporate because of this, his goal became to take down Corporate as a whole. In order to enact his plan, he needs to go through with the events of Incursion without faltering because of Seinrus death.

From these factors, we can see that Seinrus words have a very strong impact on Edolon. This comes from both Edolons love for her, as well as the fact she’s manipulating him into going through with the ritual by saying exactly what he needs to hear.

With this context, the way that Seinrus words impact Edolon after her death becomes more clear. 

The most important scene that shows Seinrus impact on Edolon and Edolons fear of disappointing Seinru is their conversation before her sacrifice.

EDOLON: and i wouldn't ever wish to disappoint you, either. EDOLON: but there's still a part of me that feels like i can't do it on my own. EDOLON: i need you, sen.

We can see Edolon admit directly that he doesn’t want to disappoint Seinru, something that shows the importance of their words on him. 

SEINRU: You're not as powerless as you were before. And you'll certainly be even less so, once you realize all of that wonderful potential you have tucked away. SEINRU: You're capable of achieving great things on your own, despite how you've been made to feel in the past.

In this, Seinru reminds Edolon that despite the abuse he faced, he’s capable of achieving great things without the harsh guidance of The Executive telling him everything he’s doing is wrong and fixing it for him. Along with this, Seinru reminds Edolon that his upcoming unlocking of his alchemy will give him the strength to be a huge threat against Corporate. These statements reassure his fears about not being strong enough without him. 

SEINRU: I want you to be the one to grow from this. SEINRU: I want you to be rewarded for everything you've been forced through in your life. SEINRU: You've come so far, Dolo. SEINRU: And you've helped me tremendously in our time together, don't you forget that. SEINRU: I only want to help you see in yourself what everyone else couldn't. SEINRU: I just knew you'd do great things the very moment I met you, you know. SEINRU: All of this is for you. SEINRU: So please, don't reject this gift. Don't let me down, now of all times.

Most, if not all, the words Seinru says during this conversation is manipulation, but this is one of the many passages where it's the most glaring. In this, Seinru guilt trips Edolon into going through with the ritual so that they get what they want. 

(There’s a lot more to be said about their relationship and this conversation, but it gets so convoluted so quickly so I’m sticking to very surface level analysis for this last passage. Seinru and Edolons relationship is a HUGE analysis for another day that might not even be finished until we have more information on the two.)

So, in a way, Edolon did become Seinru. Not because of possession, but because of a variety of factors that impacted and influenced the way that he reacted to the trauma of sacrificing and losing Seinru. 

The more the story progresses, the more glaring the changes to his character will become. Incursion was a huge turning point for Edolon as a character as it showed drastic changes to his character and solidified him as an actual threat against the world. 

We can already see these changes in the comic. For example, his reaction to seeing Seinrus corpse before and after Incursion.

The timid and insecure person he was before was a version of him that existed. It’s shown in the comic that when alone it is a part of himself that slips out (see: him putting this “mask” on after he runs into someone on page 1107). But after Incursion, it is now erased as he goes beyond filling in for the role of Seinru. He is no longer playing the part, he has become the part. 

A lot of what this analysis boils down to is what Edolon becoming Seinru represents: the cycle of abuse. The cycle of abuse in this case specifically is in reference to victims of abuse becoming their abusers due to not healing from the trauma of their abuse. Many victims of abuse who have not healed will subconsciously inherit the traits of their abuser and continue to perpetuate them through relationships of any kind, thus creating new victims. If this cycle is not broken, it will never stop. 

Because of this, Seinru will always be a part of Edolon; mentally and physically. 

On Edolons Incursion outfit, we can even see her blood color and center of her sigil - a diamond - pressed close to Edolons heart and placed throughout the outfit. 

The fact that Edolon and Seinru were bonded before Seinrus death also represents this. Edolon will never not feel the pain of losing Seinru as the withdrawals continue for the rest of his life. On top of this, Edolon literally replaced his own hand with her own. She quite literally ingrained herself to his core. 

Even Edolons witty one liners and :) emoticons come from Seinru.

And while Edolon has been manipulating people for a long time, this manipulation has only become more like Seinrus as he subconsciously replicates the manipulation he went through. 

In one scene, we can literally see him manipulating Calder while typing with Seinrus hand.

Not to mention, “Let's get you the respect you rightfully deserve.” sounds awfully a lot like something Seinru would say to manipulate Edolon. Maybe something like, “I want you to be rewarded for everything you've been forced through in your life.”?

I think to wrap this up, I’ll end this with the quote that started it all:

“As long as you're still here, I'll never truly be gone.”