OUGH THANK YOU SO MUCH for the paragraphs... the way I read them so incredibly slowly just so I could look at them a bit longer 😭 Now I have to re-read all of FYH to see the moment Mohg truly fell in love again.
I'm also very curious about how Mohg has managed to establish this cult from nothing and his belief system - whether he truly believes in this goddess or if he's only using a story to spread his message and keep this cult together. I was kinda stunned when I fully registered the fact that he wasn't even 30 in FYH. For some reason I pictured someone 35-40 for a while probably because he behaved more maturely than all the 60 yr olds i know combined (perhaps i just know the wrong 60 yr olds lmfao), especially with his control over anger. Especially as someone living with chronic pain & has so much to deal with.
Forgot to say yesterday the story time scene also felt like a callback to this bit in Love in Abundance where Miquella said 'when all is done we'll come home and the three of us will sit like this again'... i just. aaaaaaaaa feel insane thinking about how it Sorta happened for them in this completely different universe under a circumstance they would've never guessed in a million guesses as characters in Love in Abundance (and ER). I can't tell if it's by design but I'm Crying about it. It's all so beautifully written either way!!
Outside of #The Ship.. I think this is probably one of the most accurate depictions of the relationship between Mohg and Morgott. My personal take has always been that they may care about each other deep down but they wouldn't really get along. It's very refreshing to see a story where they've seriously hurt each other.
I very much look forward to seeing the even worse things you have planned for Miquella!!!! I have some guesses and I'm excited and scared 😭
djndndjdje breaking it up into sections again fhhdhdhd
Tbh I don't even know what the exact moment would be and it probably isn't actually in the fic because like. I don't think it would've been a big moment or even like. a Moment. It probably happened piece by piece until he realized it was happening, and then it was just a dam breaking.
Maybe it was after Miquella started living with him full time and he very suddenly realized that for the first time in his life he actually had someone who he could rely on to just. be there. With no judgment about his life and body or expectations of him to either be this perfect leader who was above everything and everyone else or a stupid monster.
Mohg had probably gotten home from a bad day and gone to smoke outside like he normally did when he needed to sulk, only for Miquella to come sit with him despite clearly hating the cigarette smell. They didn't talk. Miquella leaned against his side. And the burden suddenly got lighter and he realized this was the love he had been missing so long he didn't know he needed it and he wouldn't be happy without Miquella in his life.
How he started a cult + his religious beliefs:
So, if anyone asked, Mohg would absolutely say he built this on Nothing. That is not true. He put in a Lot of work and continues to work hard, but he had help.
One, he is not the only priest of the Formless Mother. He is a pretty high ranking one, especially for his age, and is probably going to be climbing the ranks right to the top the rest of his life. but the wider church was already a well established entity before he came into the picture... And it was already a cult.
He rocked up with a grand plan, a natural affinity for public speaking, and a face that would automatically filter out anyone who didn't Want to listen, and so got backing from them and has been able to tap them for resources and clout in the past. And this has been a very good asset for the church because people Look at him when he talks. He makes the front page because folk want to gawk and that means their messaging makes the headlines. He brings in more recruits than most others, even if it's not all to his own flock because he's getting eyes on them like no one else can. And he knows this.
Ok, and it's a cult. The people in his compound are paying to be there. They are also often working for and with the compound itself. He pays a decent portion back into the larger church and filters the rest into either the compound or his personal accounts. That lil 2 bedroom house is a very wealthy man trying to look like he's just like everyone else in the compound.
Two: A big reason he was able to get his foot in the door so young was because he's a trust fund kid from an Obscenely wealthy family. The moment he turned 18 he drained his trust fund into a private account and after meeting another priest and getting dragged into this whole situation he offered the money up to the church on the condition he got to be a priest and build the start of his compound. He's had a decade to get it to this point because of that.
He chooses to not think about why his trust fund wasn't closed Before he could access it. It was almost like there was someone who didn't want her son to be destitute even when he left the family and so chose to simply look the other way when the money disappeared.
Ok, but to be clear. Mohg Is a believer. He is one of the suckers who got pulled in by this cult and his belief has only grown since he joined. At the beginning he was very hand wavey about the whole thing but he's been Immersed for a decade and is fully down for the Mother.
Ok, and like. The Why on this all is that Mohg spent his childhood being hidden and humiliated because of his deformities. The church gave him the opportunity to be Loud and Visible and in a situation where he couldn't be swept under the rug and ignored. This all goes back to that anger he carries about how he was treated because he looks different.
Tbh Mohg being so young is in the same category of story details as Miquella's school having "early dismissal." Shit that kinda just had to happen to make the timeline I came up with while dying of covid work. Mohg had to be young enough to have still lived at home when Miquella was a toddler for them to have had any interactions that could be the base of their later relationship. I didn't even realize how young Mohg would have to be until like a dozen chapters in. whjsjsjsjejdj I absolutely write Mohg like he's middle aged and have decided to just stick with it. Man looks older than he is so it's Fine. He's Mature™.
It absolutely was not intentional I think I just, on a fundamental personal level, want them to all sleep in a big pile forever and be happy. Those are Miquella's Heart and Soul he isn't complete without them.
djjdjdjdjjdjd Yeah!! I've always saw Mohg and Morgott as like. Bitter exes in a way. Like they were never a thing but they both feel like the other Should have had their back through everything and agreed on their whole situation. They Should have been a pair instead of two individuals. But they weren't. and while they remember their youth together fondly it doesn't change the fact they have fundamentally different ideas about their worth as people and they both think the other is kinda pathetic for not accepting their own versions of the Truth.
and I am so curious to know what you think is coming.... I will say the car crash I mentioned in some of the chapter notes has been written out bc Ansbach exists now and I was able to write Varré out and so I no longer have a Varré to hit with a carré. Good for Varré, worse for everyone else.
