"WHO HURT MY BROTHER?"

"did- did anyone else hear that..?" "Please leave my brother alone, noblemen, he knows not how to act in proper company"

"You're scaring me brother– no, no, trust trust– okay, I trust. You have my trust"

"We're the ying and yang"

"Why are you throwing tomatoes to– hey! That's my boy! That's my boy! Y'all haters!

"You brought TNT and I brought food and– You brought carrots and I brought TNT this really shows our type–"

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE US HERE– QUEEN– YOU CAN'T LEAVE US" "It's okay, it's okay tubbo, it's okay, I have a plan for us it'll be okay."

"It's gonna be a long one thousand years..." "It'll be a long one thousand years... but hey! We've endured worse, it'll be okay, I'm sure!"

"It's getting dark... brother, I can't see anything– it's okay. What are you holding... what is this?! We have an out."

hey. hi. hello. this is his 3rd time getting imprisoned for a stupid amount of time

imprisoned by the Kingdom for experimenting with sculk for an undefined amount of time, likely at least a few decades

in a lab test tube for. likely hundreds of millions of years.

imprisoned with tubbo for 1000 years (light work lowkey)

so. of course he wanted to protect tubbo from that. they aren't brothers, not really, but tubbo is the one who got him out of the null. into cobblemon, for better or worse.

1000 years isn't that long, not really. he can give away his ticket out to tubbo, he owes him that much and more.

its not as dark in the dungeon, and people still remember he's there, at least for now.

HOT TAKE I think it's interesting to go in chronological order. also because as much as its possible its out of order, the way irl lukey tends to storytell doesn't line up with that imo– all the out-of-order stuff was from Hope, and cc!lukey is far more play-by-play. (not saying those interpretations are wrong, just imo)

the realm > I mean, we all agree on this. this is where !lukey was made. I like to think before everything, lukey wasn't really a player in the same way– more of an NPC, or a mob (think villager– his village got attacked by pillagers). but once the realm ends, tr!lukey suddenly becomes !lukey, and is forced to search for another home

house heir > arguably the hardest to place on the timeline, but I say arguably because I'd argue its pretty clearly right after the realm. reasoning? this is the only time we see !lukey clearly distressed about not being on the realm. I don't think its a stretch to say his character on house heir was all masking and repression– because hh!lukey was extremely unserious, in a way no other !lukey variant has been. and to see that, at the end, he breaks down, because he thinks its a simulation? if that doesn't read as coping, idk what does. like. this is the only time we see !lukey want to go back to the realm. so I'd argue its directly after (maybe followed Bad?). for stages of grief, I'd call this denial. 2.5. he leaves house heir pretty abruptly, but is given a wayfinder stone, and seems to imply he teleported away someplace– arguably, the null, after he seemed so nervous about getting there. this begins our short period of bargaining.

bannerfall > this is the shortest by far, but also the most arguable. here we know only a few things: !lukey is with tubbo, has a ticket to the null (possibly one regained), and isn't too fussed about getting home. this is interesting, and I interpert it as lukey having gone back to the null with the wayfinder stone from house heir, meeting tubbo in the null (since we knew he became a keeper), and following him to bannerfall (supported by the fact that this is the same irl time as lukey visiting the realm public, aka what the private realm turned into). its also semi-implied that where Freddy is is some corner of the null????? so. I think tubbo with his newfound keeper powers used it for that shit

cobblemon > ohhhh cobblemon cobblemon. in my timeline, this makes sense, since lukey got into cobblemon through tubbo– after bannerfall, where they were last seen together. here, we see a more settled version of !lukey, who seems to be coming to terms with the fact the realm is gone... except for all the bloodthirst. yeah, we've definitely gone to anger. cobblemon!lukey (wants to be) a contract killer, or bodyguard, or something strong. here we get the return of my all-time favorite !lukey character trait: self-worth issues! yeah, he does spend all of cobblemon searching for some sort of home and generally feeling alienated. this is a !lukey that both wants to move on from the realm and find a new place to be, and is also desperate for any sense of home. fitting he's the only one to try and stop the apocolypse– he thought he had more time here.

the flight > OHHH THE FLIGHT MY BELOVED. if you're thinking "wait what about such and such smp!?", dw, I'll get to that later. as for the flight... its the closest !lukey's gotten to a new home, ever since the realm ended. here we finally see him both accepting that the realm existed, and that it's gone... and finally allow himself to make new connections (LAVENDERLOSS LAVENDERLOSS LA-) psst– bonus SMPs and final thoughts under the cut!

what I mean is, !lukey (and cc!lukey, but this analysis aint about him) has a common thread of trying to prove himself in every server he joins.

and being on lifesteal? if thats not the place to prove he's grown past being a hamster– that he's strong now, he's been training, he can fend for himself! this is the lifesteal pangi was constantly hyping up on the realm, the thing that made him Better, no matter what. any of lukey's past accomplishments or prowess paled in the face of the mythical Lifesteal.

so to survive– nay, to thrive on lifesteal– now that would be the ultimate proof of skill. this was his chance.

...and then he misses the start, and joins less than 10 minutes before the grace period ends, and fuck he's already at a disadvantage. but he brushes it off, despite resentment growing in his gut, because he can make this work.

and he meets up with his team, and maybe they're bullying him a bit but it's fine because he's going to prove himself and then everything will be okay. and he will be respected.

and then they go to spawn and he lowers his guard because he's meeting new people! and he's excited and zam comes over and he's excited and then zam starts attacking pangi

and his blood is rushing and his heart is going so fast and he rushes in because this is his chance, this is his chance to be more than a hamster and if he pulls this off he proves to everyone–

And here's the thing, stepping back: this was a Bad decision. Lukey was in iron with a stone sword. Zam had diamond and cobwebs and is a better pvper by far and away. Pangi only survived because he ate an enchanted golden apple. There was no universe where Lukey won this fight. But I don't think that's what he was thinking. I think he was thinking:

I won't be a failure if I do this, I'll be able to hold it over Pangi's head forever, I've been training I know what to do, I won't be a failure, I won't be useless, I won't be weak–

And then he died,

and respawned,

in what way– and for how long? I guess you'll know when the service is needed, right sun guard? yeah, yeah yeah yeah, I- I y'know me and someone else will come fetch ya! yep! ...wait– okay bye! what woah woah woah no wait what is it this commu- what is it though? is it like– what am I farming, am I building, am I like... You're serving! I guess we'll find out! Wait NO I'm not agreeing to something I don't know the full terms of. That- that would be a really naïve thing to do, that'd be like– signing your life away

I like the implication that for 3 weeks, lukey has been in the void, not only alone, but pretending to have a home

occasionally he loses sight of it, and the absence feels suffocating

but he finds it again. and apologizes to the void for being late to dinner

despite the fact that if he looks up, there is only the sun

and it burns visions of friends into his eyes until he looks away

at the darkness

alone

//ls spoilers

honestly? the only part about it that bothers me is the fact it was off stream. but lowkey a) he's gonna get his gear back, b) may is crafting him 2 hearts (so he profits 1), and c) he can use this to guilt-trip everyone involved.

the stocks are up icl. I think (while understandable) him logging off right after wasn't because he was genuinely upset. it was the natural way for him to leave, it makes a statement, anddd he was probably avoiding grinding his gear back (since he didn't know they were giving it back)

he's gonna be on today (according to may's stream yesterday) to at the very least get his gear and heart(s) back, so generally this is a win imo

anyways I think despite all his yap lukey would kill/die for megii now. feed a stray dog and tell it you can be its home and it'll never leave or something