C🌀DE

GREETING

"You know what they say, a soda a day keeps the doctor away. Specifically me, the doctor, because I'll be drinking it."

PARTING

"With your luck, I'll be seeing you pretty soon. Come by any time, injury or no injury."

"💉,,

design/lore talk

• he's from lushaka hence the several fish/aquatic motifs, his tail is mechanical and meant to resemble a grapnel

• name is pronounced "kehr-is", which means 'to love'

• medium male model lelelel i did think it would be funny to make him a short male model because everyone in the space station is short (at least in the beginning)

0:07 SECONDS

the giant scrolls definitely has to do with blade's sins, especially with the imagery of the giant statue of him overlooking himself,,, almost like he's judging himself. it's like that weight he's taken upon himself to pay the price

the flower is growing and flowers also symbolize new life (haha rebirth) i find it really interesting that it's the focal point and the only splash of color in the frame

the next few seconds it appears he's in some sort of coffin or something that traditionally looks sacrificial if you catch my drift ough this is so delicious sorry i love the visuals so much

the roots are growing over him which is VERY reminiscent of mara but he strangely doesn't look all that bothered by it

0:17 SECONDS

a drop of blood drips from the blade statue's hands which then transitions to blade sinking into the ocean - it quite literally symbolizes the lives blade has taken, a physical representation of the negative karma and burden he bears, the sinking metaphor could allude to the fact that he's drowning in the sins he's accumulated

he does find his footing and transition to a lycoris-infested field, the transition is definitely a callback to his og ultimate and could be the 'final farewell' to his previous identity as a blade/as yingxing ... thinking that the spark in the distance and the noise accompanying it is yingxing's forge

0:30 SECONDS

HE RUSHES ACROSS THE FIELD OF SPIDER LILYS, interrupted by himself. OG BLADE!!!, he's quite literally battling his own identity

the recurrent looping i think might be his cycle of life and death, also of his self torment and punishment. the burden he carries and believes he's responsible for ("to pay the price") manifested in the identity of blade, the identity he's reduced himself to as an object rather than a person

0:45 SECONDS

"a sharp blade must first be broken" < referring to the struggles he's had to overcome to thus be reforged for a new 'purpose'

the character trailer osts a far cry from the original trailer 3 years ago where it sounded somewhat violent (the suona, which is typically performed at funerals) but now here there seems to be a somewhat ritualistic chanting and a calmer theme

0:50 SECONDS

EVERYONE CALM DOWN THEYRE STRIPPPING HIM NAKED

his blade quite literally fusing into him feels like he's bearing the weight

"escape is no longer possible" 1:14 MIN -- he's accepted that he has to carry this sin, all the bloodshed and brokenness of the sword he's absorbed fusing back into him as if he's welcoming shard sword's burden

1:27 MIN

he slices himself, as if he's burning his past self away

the atmosphere is clear now, blade sighs and rain falls. he seems to go on with a melancholic grace as he walks towards silver wolf and kafka, where he is now rather than dwelling in the past like he's done before

he's reforged himself for the sake of the present instead of clinging to the past. it could be why he's instead absorbing shard sword rather than using it directly in his attacks UHGHHH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS MAN IM SUCH A CHUD

SIDE NOTES

opens big fat book

i wanna say he's nihility now in the sense that his sin no longer matters since that he's accepted it, or perhaps he doesn't make the sin/mara his entire identity anymore

destruction before in his previous form symbolized his turmoil, the tumultuous nature of wind reflecting his attitude and shifts between mara yet the transition to fire is a nice perspective considering how fire can be seen as both dangerous and (historically) safe. it provides warmth, used in agriculture, but also could very easily burn down the home it keeps alight