#caprinaetext

So, I finished playing the game today and I left it thinking the themes and implied messages were pretty clear and well placed on the narrative without bringing too much attention but also being very important for the unfolding of the story.

Both Lee and Angel are queer and neurodivergent people; Lee being a gay guy plug being a undiagnosed autistic person was the fuel to his family apathy/disdain for him, since they valued perfection over everything; Angel being transmasc/transman that most probably got kicked out of their mother's house, being trans and a undiagnosed ADHD person, being percived as a burden, a failure that not only was able to complet their studies, but also was percivied as a shame of the family for being queer. (too close to home ouch.)

But since I went to stalk the tags, the engagements, the comments, it seems like so many people view Angel as actually a girl. Which I guess it's predictable since the game makes the point to never directly mention Angel's gender, until that is, when that walking feces shapeshifter appears in the story. Angel being (possibly?) being trans is meant to be a hidden inplace part of the story, and TBH I loved this so much about the story, how much it tells us about the characters and their struggles without being unatural, just a subtle hinch here and there to make you immerse deep within the game.

Adri's dialouge about Lee giving both "closet case" and "basket case"(lmao she pick a struggled him ✌😭), Lee's dialogue about what Walking feces shapeshifter told him didn't matter and nothing he said changed his mind at all, right after the flashback of him realizing why Angel's ID was fucked up, and the most important part, Lee saying explicitly that Angel didn't tell their coworkers about their Social name (and transition, implying it's something pretty recent, hence why they were kicked out of the house), because correcting people that already knew them from before leads to hurtful interactions. All of this (and maybe more that I didn't noticed) tell a very especific narrative.

YET, it's not just the amount of people calling Angel a girl and using she/her, but also the lack of people correcting this? And that made me feel like if I actually got everything wrong?! I'm currently stalking the official twt account of the game, searching for the confirmation on Angel being trans, but I'm not finding anything but people refering to them as a girl, and questions about them being a guy not adressed.

I was mid way on the process of writing a hole ass rant essay about my feelings on this finale, but uhhh i'm not ready to go there yet.

So short answer, yeah I saw it. No I didn't like it. Mix of sadness and disappointment.

And when I first saw that tweet I thought it was really odd because they literally went out of their way to say that Aaravos never lies, not only in that one line in the show, but also in interviews, and Justin even said that if you know where his coming from, he's not lying. So why would they contradict themselves?? Just for one weak plot twist? No, they wouldn't.

Aaravos said with all the words, Viren will die when the sun rises, he said it MULTIPLE times in that episode, so what I'm trying to say here is that the catch is probably not about the fact that HE'LL DIE, but probably about what he have to do to NOT DIE.

What does that mean? Well, it could mean anything, really, just by myself I thought about that one theory that Viren will unlock the Star arcanum and achieve imortality (unlikely), there's the fact that we know the current spell is temporary, but they never said Claudia couldn't just... re do the spell???? (very unlikely), but if the answer lies in Aaravos' lines in the last episode, to me, there's just one thing that makes sense:

Infantis sanguine is not a spell that requires the death of a child, it's a spell that requires the BLOOD of a child.

There's not a moment where Aaravos say with ALL THE WORDS that DEATH is required for the spell. He LITERALLY says the spell is named for the ONE necessary ingredient, the BLOOD of a child.

When questioned by Viren he says

Yes, I'm aware, sacrifices are often associeted with the killing of something, but sacrifices can come in many forms. And if the twist really is embendded into the double meaning of what Aaravos is telling Viren, "Sacrifice" would suffice as a "generalist" enough term to fulfill the role. But I'm not done talking.

Soon after, Viren says he's not a monster, and he would sacrifice his own children. Aaravos proceeds to calm him down and says:

Curious how he chooses his words really careful, "harm", instead of "kill". Not convinced yet? Sure

"I will show you how to use every DROP of his living essence, to restore you OWN LIFE and you FUTURE." "every drop" "EVERY DROP" and more than one final gain. Doesn't it seems to imply that the main ingredient isn't the soul nor the life of something? but rather the actual blood, something that can be counted in drops?? If the main ingredient was the LIFE, then it would be gone the moment Viren kills it, then what the hell is that talk about the future???? Yo I'm not CRAZY.

The last thing Aaravos says about the topic is just this. Make the sacrifice. Not "Kill the creature", he never says anything clearly about death.

He never taunts Viren about killing the being, never tells him not to worry about killing something that doesn't actually has a soul, that would fit him perfect, he went out of his way to tell Viren that the being is their ACTUAL child, and for what reason you might be asking yourself? I don't know either, but I saw one theory that this was a test on Aaravos part. Maybe the reason why he stood there, quietly, while Viren stormed off and cut ties with him wasn't just because he doesn't need him anymore (?? He doesn't need Viren for a long time now, come on, why's he clinging to him is a mistery to me, but I won't let the viravos in me talk louder haha), but maybe, just MAYBE he was testing his morals (?), what he truly stands for, if he already knows that Viren wouldn't sacrifice his children, but to what extent does this goes? can it include anything that falls under the label of "his children"? Can he really sit back and wait for the inevitable death and do nothing?

I have no idea why exactly would Aaravos play these mind games with him, it's not just a wild guess tho, I'm coming from the perspective that it might be related to his own motifs, the things we don't know about him yet and the special person from that past once mentioned in an interview. But here's some food for thought:

Once in season 2, Viren asked Aaravos why should he trust him, and Aaravos said he shouldn't... yet. Aaravos told Viren that he would like to gain his trust, there's even one of my favorite lines in the show (if not, MY FAVORITE)

To me, that scene is just too personal, he could have just listened to Viren's wishes and shared with him how to solve the problem, but he pours his own perspective in the matter, and I do in fact think that this is his actual principles. I think Aaravos does care about loyalty and kindness. Pherhaps it has come to the point where Aaravos will test if he can trust Viren, maybe he'll wait until the final moment to reveal the truth. And to be honest, Viren doesn't even need to harm anyone, because Claudia is already bleeding (she lost her foot!!!).

Personally, I can see that being the case, I might be wrong about how and why it will be revealed in canon, but that does seem to be the only thing off in the story.

Okay HEAR ME OUT