#ichablogging 10thanni

It's grief that pushes Raziel to try to find any alternative to bring Lucifer back, grief who makes her think killing the singularity is worth it if it can keep the Phoenix alive. Without knowing the Phoenix was manipulating her, it was her selfish wish of holding on to Lucifer, someone who was long gone, that risked going against what she thought was Phoenix's wishes, and after MC's life.

It's also grief that pushes Sandalphon to stop her, for he has been coping with his own grief for years. Just like the Diviners, he mourns. Lucifer was all his life once. He had to learn to let him go in order to experience more to life. Yet still he yearns for him, but he can't let it move him on a path he doesn't want to walk. It's because he is honoring Lucifer's wishes that he restrains himself from his selfish desire, but also the life he found in this world worth loving.

And it's also grief that pushes Magus to look for any way to bring Astaroth back. She clung to his remains in the Pandemonium trying to bring him back to life, she took his identity for a while as well, she clung to his remains even while dying at the bottom of the skies. And still she thought of going with the Phoenix's plan if only it meant she could find a way to bring Astaroth back.

It's grief that motivated all of Abramelin's arc. It's grieving the loss of his wife and his child that made him make a pact with Phoenix against God. He didn't even care for the cause. He just was grieving. Phoenix manipulated Farhana into accepting death so Abramelin would be driven by grief. And in succumbing to this anger that followed her death, Abramelin was stuck in an eternity of torment. He kept forgetting her, and dooming himself for forgetting his precious family. All he had was Fenie coming back once in a while telling him to hang on on life, but all he wanted was death.

In a sense Abramelin is stuck in the anger phase of grief. He only has rage keeping him forward. Rage against the Phoenix that gave him this cursed life, rage for the God who killed his wife, rage for all of those who can't give him peace. Something also i think is important on that reading is that his memory loss means he can never actually process what he's done, how he coped. Every day he forgets what are the reasons he still keeps going. He's a man walking longing for death, forgetting the people he once loved, and therefore unable to properly process the grief he lived and instead dooming himself for forgetting what was important to him, leading him once again to want to end his life.

Fenie meanwhile was grieving both of her parents, and she turned it into a flame of hope in the darkness. She clung to the promise Phoenix made her and her mother. But everything was shortlived in the end.

Farhana knew the power of grief and let the Phoenix use her for it. And as Sabrina, the past came crashing down and while learning about Abramelin fucked her up, it's losing Fenie that eventually broke her and had her accept her past. Where Abramelin lost his mind, Sabrina found hers eventually. But it still was taken away.

Abramelin accepted death for his child to live. He had accepted death a long time ago and now at leas he knew he was dying for the people he loved, rather than just dying because he couldn't stand it anymore. Sabrina and Fenie will have to move forward from that.

And the Diviners mourn him because he was a companion for hundred of years. The Diviners are people who keep fighting to keep their purpose alive, because it's the only way for them to be alive. Yet being alive comes with the fact that you will experience loss. Abramelin was a constant in their lives, without being one of theirs. They spent the event with the fear of dying, only to mourn once the person they tried to kill all those hundred years ended up finally kicking the bucket -- because you can't help but create bonds, for to live is to love.

Everyone else in that event were dealing with a type of grief, of mourning, they coped in any way they thought possible. They have Eternity to remember, some are doomed to forget, yet you live on with the pain of people you lost.

Every single one of the people focused on in term of grief were immortals, or in Sabrina's case, a reincarnation. They're people who have all the time in the world behind them, and accumulated loss they still have to process into that day.

Which bring me to Ceodric, ultimately the secondary antagonist of the story. Ceodric grieved his mother. We know the Phoenix came to find him while he was still crying her on her death bed. We also know that no matter the reasons Phoenix gave him, whatever the reasons Ceodric fought for, what he hoped in the end was to have the tear of the Phoenix to bring her back. Everything he did, was out of grief. And grief makes you vulnerable. Phoenix took advantage of that, the way she took advantage of Farhana and Abramelin in the past. She never intended for Ceodric to have a happy ending, neither would Farhana and Abramelin once they met again. Phoenix doesn't care about love expect in the way it can help her manipulate others.

Ceodric was consumed by his grief so much he couldn't take it. He tried to find any reason outside of his control to justify the death, because just accepting it as a tragedy wouldn't just work.

Phoenix meanwhile is a creature who cannot comprehend grief. She says she doesn't understand love, she says that for her a thousand years mean nothing, so the reincarnation cycle of a few thousand years means nothing to her either. She's a creature who is so used to living and dying and living again that dying doesn't mean a thing to her.

Honestly i would wonder if it's why the Phoenix seeks the Omnipotent so much. The Omnipotent is Rebirth and Destruction, and the only thing that can kill immortal people. She clung to a piece of him for all that time. I think maybe, it's the only way to actually test her own existence, because life means nothing to her, as it always restarts either way.

but Phoenix uses people. She does so the whole event. She uses the fear the Diviners have to die to infiltrate them and create conflict. She uses the fact Raziel cares for her and is grieving for Lucifer to use her. She tries to use the fact Magus wants Astaroth back to manipulate her, to no aim. She manipulated Farhana into accepting death to manipulate Abramelin later. She manipulated Fenie in accepting her deal despite knowing Fenie will barely survive with her parents. And she manipulated Ceodric who wanted his mother back. And while Ceodric was manipulated because of the love he had for his mother, it's a mother grieving her child who ended up striking him down.

Ceodric was a piece of shit and the way he just accepted how to hurt Sabrina fucking sucked and everything. But i don't want to give in completely to the hatred because ultimately he's just one more person who's grief was used against him by the Phoenix. It's just that every single other players of this mascarade had either purer motives or a stronger heart to move ahead. Ceodric is the cautionary tale of mismanaged grief turning you into a weapon. None of the stories about grief would have hit the same if not for the one person who couldn't stand grieving.

I would also mention that some of the supporting cast also, are interesting choices on that matter. Ladiva is defined by her grieving her parents so much she wants to give the world the love her parents gave her tenthfold. She is so loving because she misses her parents dearly and will do anything so that people don't feel the pain that she's carrying. That's something she also expresses in No Rain No Rainbow, which was among the events being pictured during MC's power surge. Cagliostro, also, has a lot to do with grieving. She grieves her older sister who took care of her when she was so sick everyone else had abandonned her. The sister she loved so much she took inspiration from when she created the appearance she now lives by. And so she brings her own collection of bodies into the battle in order to help MC carry the power of the Omnipotents: representations of the person Cagliostro is missing the most. Not to mention Shalem, even if the event didn't focus on her as much, who is someone defined by how she's grieving people she doesn't even remember.

(Anon who wants Seofon to be a big brother to dead siblings, this is your cue to start crying).

and it's not to count the metaphorical aspect of grief, such as grieving a life you couldn't have had. I would argue MC is grieving their father, in that sense, and isn't abandoning hope to see them again. Because like... this is someone who abandoned them decades ago to go to a mystical land. Abandon mixes together with grief when thinking about why the people you love couldn't have stayed with you. in No Rain No Rainbow, Ladiva actually compares MC missing their father to how she's missing her parents, but how she cannot comprehend our Father's decisions because her parents loved her so much she can't process a parent willing to do that. And to her who misses her parents, she can't fathom how MC must be processing this specific type of grief.

I think grief is the natural thing that comes up if you're talking about the very core of what makes the Skyrealm: it's a place of mortality, one where we die, one where we grief. One where we have to move on, in some way. The primal beasts we meet all get closer to the humanity of the skyrealm as they discover people they care about, and that they care about enough that it would hurt to lose them.

in 000, when Belial spites that loving skydwellers is a pointless thing to do because they'll die one day and everyone else will forget your name, it's ultimately a call of refusing to experience grief in some way or another, made even more tangible by the fact we know Belial grieved Lucilius for so many thousand of years. He exprienced loss and he can't experience it again, and the skyrealm which is a place where loss have to be accepted to move on is something he doesn't want to partake in.

So, yes, actually, i do think this event is a lot about grief. but also it's about hope. It's about moving forward. Raising from one's ashes, literally. It's accepting death, but it's also challenging it. It's living on.

but what i believe is that with Ceodric, there's this type of cautionary tale about denial, about trying to find any explanation, any scapegoat, to refuse to acknowledge your own pain.

There's also some commentary with Ceodric about radicalization, for instance. His belief on power falls a lot into the mindset a lot of fascist fall into when figuring out what they have to consider as scapegoat even if they have to be hypocritical about it, and the way it's usually by preying on vulnerable people that people fall into this type of cult.

There's still commentary about the primals about free will, and about their lack of with the Diviners as well. Whenever they can continue forward or not.

There's obviously a discussion about Power, which, while driven by an unreliable Ceodric, raises questions for Seofon in particular, because while Ceodric is an hypocrite, the fact people who hold powers are the one deciding of the fate of the world is something Seofon has to consider both as the leader of the most powerful crew in the sky, and as someone who currently has a parasite at the back of his head who is waiting for the time he can take over and use the very same power Seofon is wielding to protect the skies in order to do God knows what. Just because Ceodric is wrong on his reasoning doesn't mean there isn't some forshadowing there, is all i mean.

And of course in Granblue's fashion, it's still about love. It's about companionship. It's about how you need everyone to work together to achieve a power that is just the same as Godhood. The dragons taking on the Phoenix individually knocked them out, but working together with the Skyrealms meant they could actually even the odds. Always something our cosmical besties have to learn.

And honestly i think it's a perfect way to celebrate the 10th anni. They talked about how the 10th year will be a marking point for Granblue because many things are ending and many others will be begining. I think the tease about the Moon, about reaching Estalucia, are all about that. We're closing the book on the stories that we followed for 10 years, we're reaching an end there -- but there are now new things to explore. We'll move on, but we're looking back on what we have had so far with fondness.

We're human so we grieve, and so we move on.

but what do i know. I'm just obsessed with grief as it is. maybe i'm just projecting a lot on everything.

So yeah that's kinda my take for now on the event, all fresh from it. Maybe it'll change when i spend more time thinking about it and when my brain will be less fried from a long day.

But what can i say. love me some story about grief.