Episode 14 spoilers, but not the normal ones: What the *Sarkaz expletive* is a moth
W's reaction to the Sarkaz chimeras weirded me out when I first read it. Arknights isn't ENTIRELY consistent in its localization, but the game had been pretty clear up to this point that "Cat", "Dog", and "Bird" were names for Felines, Perro, and Liberi respectively. Terra doesn't have normal cats; it only has Felines and weird, ethereal creatures like Miss Christine and Mousse's "Kitties". Magallan and Emperor are both Penguins. Gladiia is a Swordfish. Etcetera, etcetera.
W has no idea what these entities are yet. She's calling them moths based on comparison to... well, moths. So what is a moth? Are there moth-people in Arknights?
Well, I'd have initially have said no. The only arthropod-person IN Arknights is Akafuyu, and we learn that these are made from the many Sarkaz bloodlines - the strength of the Goliaths, the flames of the Dialphablo, etcetera. But that's still weird, right? We've never seen any insectile Sarkaz.
Well, unless you count people's assertion that W is a cockroach. But that's super out of place, right? Cockroaches aren't a folkloric monster, like devils, vampires, banshees... but she mentioned moths.
So I look up the Wikipedia page on Mothman, because... a cryptid is LIKE a folkloric monster.
On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant—Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette—told police they had seen a large black creature whose eyes "glowed red", standing at the side of the road near "the TNT area", the site of a former World War II munitions plant.
And at that point... well, I was deep in confirmation bias lines. That'd do it, right? Mothman is associated with explosives. Her horns are shaped VAGUELY similarly to Mothman's wings. Wis'adel's files even confirm that she's a mathematical genius when it comes to explosives. Even Mothman's 'white wings' are replicated to some degree in Wis'adel's sprite thanks to the Ancestor Launcher and the energy around her. And not long after the chimera's first appearance, her subordinate jokes -
This is a joke, right? ... Right?
But there's also the comment that her squad member hasn't encountered any animals like that. But there ARE butterflies and (originium) beetles in the setting, so maybe I'm just jumping at shadows. Maybe there are normal moths around and she's comparing chimeras to the normal bugs she's encountered.
But then her Supernova skin comes out. And while some other people who I have corrupted with this conspiracy theory saw more white moth wings in the ornamentation around her and the maid outfit, I saw something else. Because when you tap on her, she turns into this.
And in that red-eyed sillhouette, I saw the header image on the Mothman article.
And THAT was the point where I became unhinged enough to write up a tumblr post to try to infect as many people as possible with this conspiracy theory.
Because now I die a little bit inside when someone calls her a cockroach, and I want to pass my suffering unto you. A problem shared is a problem halved, right?
please don't leave me alone i am tormented by moth thoughts
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