#mega meta

It's an interesting choice! Because Eddie has a very specific kind of music he loves above all others, heavy metal, but rather than introduce him with some Metallica or even some Motorhead, they pick this campy-ass rock band, instead. BUT, I think there's multiple reasons for that. So, in Eddie's introductory scene - before we even SEE him, we hear his music and hear his voice. But even before that, we hear all about Eddie via Mike and Dustin and scene after scene of them agonizing over asking him to maybe consider moving Hellfire to another night. The way that they talk about Eddie, they sound terrified, but also in awe. This is someone they don't want to upset or lose as a friend, because they love him that much. But there's definitely still an element of intimidation there, too, because Eddie is older. I think this is probably where a lot of the original Eddie's characterization came in that the Duffels had in mind, where Eddie was a meaner and more intimidating character. Of course, Joe came in like Mr. Brightside and helped make Eddie the lovable nerd we would ultimately see in the series, but the ghost of Mean Eddie is still very much a presence in this scene. Rather than some hectic, intense, super butch metalhead track (which we probably would have gotten if it were literally anyone else playing Eddie), we get this slinky, lo-fi sounding joint that sounds more like something you'd hear playing in a titty bar in the 60s or a burlesque club nowadays (lol). It's a bump-and-grind song. It's SEXY. The guitar is raspy and aggressive and Lux's vocals are verrrrry emotive - one might say almost campy/melodramatic or pantomime-like in presentation! Which, again - remind you of anybody we know? haha

In addition, though, there IS a hint of danger to the song - the lyrics themselves are inspired by a 1960s film by the same title (starring Michael Landon - another early-days hottie with crazy big hair, he was lovely, but he babey in this movie), where an average teenage boy gets experimented on and turned into a werewolf. Now, the thing about Universal horror movie monsters, for the uninitiated - they've pretty much always been popular, in some form or fashion. Basically since somebody figured out how to put moving images on film, there's been people wanting to put spooky shit there. For OUR purposes, though - the werewolf, or Wolf Man, as he would have been known in most movies, was cursed to turn into a wolf during the full moon as a result of something he'd done. Generally speaking, though - in the old days, if you wanted something to seem more dangerous or fun, you shoehorned "Teenage" into the title somewhere. For some reason, the marketing guys back then really were convinced that was the answer. Not much has changed, tbh - they still think like this today and they're still wrong lol ANYway. Back to the song. Lux's delivery of the lyrics is quirky and sort of undercuts the sexiness of the music, which is what gives it this campy tang that's weirdly charming and off-putting all at the same time, which - again - is so very Eddie. It's a perfect echo of his actual dialogue that this introductory scene opens with, where he's sitting at the head of the Hellfire table, reading an article about the supposed 'dangers' of D&D out of Newsweek. He reads it with a deeper voice (which, funny - Joe said he took vocal lessons so he could speak in a higher register as Eddie and his first scene, he does that lol) and with much severe news anchor concern, right up until the point where he drops the news anchor bit completely and slams the magazine down on the table to finally reveal his face to us, so we can get a good look at this guy who plays this 'dangerous' game. We don't actually even SEE Eddie until almost bang-on halfway into the episode, but we've heard all about him, already. The Duffels make sure that his reputation (at least, as a DM) proceeds him as much as possible before we ever even lay eyes on the guy.

[Interesting little sidebar about the Newsweek (welcome to my brain, this is the short-short version) what fucking 20-year-old metalhead reads NEWSWEEK!? Where did he even get this or hear about it? Because he would've had to have heard about the article from somewhere. This was back in the stone age times before internets was widely available, or cellphones, or like, some people didn't even have TVs in their homes, y'all. It was rough. Anyway - my point is, the article about D&D is NOT the cover story of this issue. So Eddie would have had to have either been told it was in there by one of his guys in Hellfire (who has a particularly disapproving parental) OR he just reads Newsweek for fun.]

The camera cruises around Eddie very slowly as he's reading, letting us take a good, long look at all the trappings of his metalheadness - chonky metal rings, scribbles on the back of his hand (bored?), his leather jacket/vest combo and that mop of curly hair (Joe calls it a mullet, but I heartily object - this is just straight up baby Eddie Van Halen's hair lol - which, little sidequest on Eddie VH - did you know he was an outcast in his actual life, too? He was bi-racial and dealt with a lot of bullshit in his pre-fame life because of it).

Also - I really love how Eddie's reading the article about the supposed 'evils' of D&D and there's literally a fucking Marlboro ad on the back of the magazine. OOF.

The camera lingers on Eddie's eyes as he reads - they really take their time and push in as slowly as possible, just letting us look at him for a moment this way. He has really pretty eyes.

But I think there's also a narrative reason for this, too - because we're going to be seeing much of the first half of this story through Eddie's perspective, as a newbie to all of this Vecna-y, hellmouth-y shit that goes on in Hawkins. His eyes, reading this article about one of his most beloved pastimes and how it's so very dangerous, when he would literally never wear another outfit again in his life. The clothes he's wearing in this scene are the ones he dies in. He's forced to go on the run and this is his core wardrobe for the ENTIRE SEASON. Annnnnnd I just made myself sad. *sigh* Anyway! Back to the scene. So we have Eddie slam the magazine down on the table, finally revealing his mugging face to us, and making his friends laugh. Just like the tongue-in-cheek vibes from the song playing in the background, Eddie doesn't take himself too seriously. He leans his chair back on two legs and accidentally bumps into a random track student wandering past at the same time. So - doesn't take himself too seriously, also ever so slightly an oblivious klutz, check. Dustin and Mike have a back and forth about how Eddie is revved up, with Mike sardonically remarking "he's always revved up." Like, I know Mike is pressed here, but this just makes me laugh so much. Because it's kinda so true. But especially on campaign days, I'm sure.

Turns out, Eddie's even more revved up than THAT, since he decides to hop up onto the Hellfire table and proceeds to rant: "We're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game, but as long as you're into band, or science... or partiiieeesss..."

[Seriously the dude in sunglasses is everything to me lmfao] Eddie looks at each of the groups as he names them, accusing almost. Resentful definitely. I will forgive him about the band crack, seeing as how he hasn't really met Robin yet. Eddie's eyes skim over the kids assembled for lunch, and he spies Jason with his own little posse, chatting with them and not paying the slightest bit of attention to Eddie. Which annoys the hell out of Eddie, because he's talking about Jason and his little gaggle of future young Republicans, too, and he wants him to know that. "OR A GAME where you toss BALLS into LAUNDRY BASKETS!" He literally cups his hands around his mouth and yells at the top of his lungs, because he wants Jason's attention on him that much in that moment. Because he's trying to make a point - it started out a point just for the Hellfire table, but now he's on a roll and he's feeling spicy so he's gonna poke the wasp nest while he's at it, I guess. Which, you have to hand it to Eddie - he knows exactly how to push people's buttons. Especially Jason. Jason hops up from his own table and takes a few threatening steps towards Eddie, bristling like a doberman - "You want somethin', freak?" He's defensive. This is performative chest-puffery from Jason. Which I find very interesting. Mason's line read for this is so good, omg. The thing I get from this scene is - well, have you ever seen Iron Man 2? That one with Justin Hammer and Mickey Rourke? Yeah, that one. There's a sequence where Tony and Pepper and Happy go to this speedy car race thing and Ivan shows up with his new laser whips. After he's captured, Tony snarks at him about how he failed - Ivan laughs at him, saying that he drew god's blood and that's all that it would take. That he'd already won, because he'd cast the shadow of doubt on his strength. Yeah. Those are the vibes I get in this little moment between Jason and Eddie - Eddie's flicking a rock at Jason to let him know 'hey, I know you're here' and let everyone else in the school know that he's not afraid to take a crack at a god. Eddie says later on that he's a coward, but this moment proves that he's not. He's not afraid of Jason, or the looming demagoguery of Satanic panic, NOR the overwhelming stink of hypocrisy within the school's social biomes. He will stand up and thumb his nose at the king's box and laugh at Jason when he gets huffy-puffy at him about it. This is Eddie at his bravest.

In the hierarchy of cliques back in the day, Metalheads and D&D nerds would have usually been towards the bottom of the pecking order in most high schools, but were generally considered social pariahs to everyone except their own group and/or those with no affiliation/x-affiliation which is even lower on the ladder than the metalheads. So for Eddie to do something like this, I think, is a perfect introduction for the audience to his non-conformist nature. Eddie likes grabbing the box full of of everybody else's little boxes and giving it a good, hard shake just to see what will happen. But this moment is also indicative of Eddie's age, too. Even though Jason is technically superior socially, Eddie is older and, as a result of this, has just had a chance to live more and do more things than Jason has, so he's not exactly cynical, as he would say - but he's not Jason, either. Jason who gives me big future-megachurch pastor vibes. Or maybe future cop vibes? Yeah. T-2000 cop vibes, maybe. (Also, incidentally? Eddie's buddy that sits on his left hand side in the studded leather jacket? He's credited as Freak in the IMDB listings. So literally, there's Eddie "The Freak" Munson, and just-Freak too? Duffers. DUFFERS. TRY HARDER PLS OH MY ACTUAL JEEZIS.) "NO ONE CAN MAKE ME STOP!" Lux Interior screams in the background as Eddie curls his fingers into horns on top of his head, tongue dangling out as he leers at the puffed up jock. The rest of the cafeteria ignores him for the most part (does he do this a lot, I wonder? lol), except for Jason, but - I think that's just it. That's the whole point. Is these two are gunning for each other specifically. They have been, are, and will be for the rest of the season. That's definitely the vibe this gives. Like, this is far from the first time Eddie's gone off like this and definitely not the first time he's had a go at Jason in front of people, either lol It's a game for Eddie, a way to amuse himself more than anything else ("me? I am army-crawling my way toward a D," he says - he's not here for the joy of learning, this is a slog for him, it's these interactions where he gets a true thrill -- Eddie's a high-sensation-seeking empath basically.) High school is a joke to Eddie, but it isn't to Jason, which is why he's so defensive - they couldn't be more opposite from each other in terms of socioeconomic status or hierarchical status within the school community itself. The structure of the thing MATTERS to Jason. The hierarchy MATTERS. It doesn't matter to Eddie. Eddie laughs at it, he spits on it, he mocks its mothers army boots. Not because he doesn't get it - he gets it. He also sees it for the bullshit that it is. [I've actually seen some folks try to defend Jason and his little greencoat buddies in their pursuit of Eddie, saying that Jason was right to do so, because he cared so much about Chrissy. Which -- no. He really didn't. And I'mma break it down for you as to why. In the sequence between Jason and Lucas in episode 9, we see Jason snap at Lucas that Chrissy would NOT have gone to Eddie for help. That if she truly needed help, she would have come to Jason, and not Eddie 'the freak'.

But I figured out the truth and Eddie did, too - the second he saw the state that Chrissy was in. Meanwhile, earlier, Chrissy and Jason had interacted during the pep rally and Jason had no idea what Chrissy was going through. Not a CLUE. She didn't tell him. He did not know. The reason Jason didn't know, is because she didn't trust him enough to tell him. But she trusted Eddie. This boy she knows, but sorta doesn't know too, because she can't really rememeber him - because that's just how things go, in school when you're that age. Friends get shuffled about between groups, some people stick, some people never do, some bounce around or disappear entirely. That's just how it goes. But she still trusts Eddie more with her emotional safety than this guy she's been dating for who knows how long. And THAT? Has got to sting like a motherfucker, if you're Jason. Right? So yeah, I get why Jason's pissed, but at the same time - fuck him, he's garbage and he doesn't care enough about his girlfriend to notice that she's obviously having a really hard time. Like - just think. All the symptoms that the Vecna cursed folks have to deal with: headaches, nosebleeds, violently vivid hallucinations, insomnia, bad nightmares when they do finally get to sleep. Chrissy had all of those symptoms going on for a week, by that point, and Jason did NOT notice. Or, if he did notice, he didn't say anything to her about it. She talked to her counselor at school, but she didn't breathe a word about her hallucinations to anyone else. Except Eddie.

But yeah - that's what gets Jason's goat the most about Eddie, I think - is the fact that Chrissy went to him, instead. Because, to Jason's mind, Eddie's a freak, he's weak, he's a loser, he's a vessel for the fucking DEVIL - why on earth would Chrissy feel the need to go to him? Because she was scared of Jason a little, I think. And it would make sense. Chrissy had an ED and that often stems from feeling like you have no sense of agency and control over your life (among other things, of course) and I could definitely see her relationship with Jason being a part of that. As a cheerleader, it's basically a foregone conclusion for most people that she'd date somebody on one of the sportball teams - whichever one is doing best at the school, I guess? idk lol Point is, Jason and Chrissy's relationship is perfunctory. Performative. Expected. Conformist. Just like his determination to chase after the outcast from the trailer park and make him pay for what he thinks he did to Chrissy. When, in fact, it was Chrissy's own lack of trust in Jason that resulted in her not going to him with these fears of hers. And I can't imagine that's a good feeling to have about your girlfriend.

That, yes. He is, indeed, possessed. Now I want to stress that this type of possession is NOT as severe as the likes of Lyon, because the object of his possession is just a stupid Lance and NOT the Demon King. But the Lance in question is indeed alive, and very much in control of Valter’s actions.

So what is the Lance? Simply put, it’s a demon in lance shape. It can’t move and can’t do things that are beyond the limits of a normal lance. It can’t walk or shapeshift. It’s basically just a really sharp, pointy parasite. All it can do is sucker patsies into feeding its desire for chaos and destruction -- and yes, it most certainly CAN do this regardless of physical distance between it and its host.

The way the thing works is that, while it’s in its “dormant” state, it lures prospective hosts in using weak, subtle telepathic abilities. Lots of people give Duessel (the original, non-crazy owner of the lance) shit because of the obvious question of WHY WOULD HE BRING THE THING AROUND WITH HIM? He knew that it was only one dummy who grabbed it on accident away from being a huge pile of bullshit he’d have to clean up. Why not just leave it back at the crib until you needed it?

That will probably never get answered in canon, but my theory was that he couldn’t. The Lance is still alive whether it’s got an active host or not. It sends out a seductive lure out for people who might be good hosts almost constantly, and if Duessel simply left it at home, he’d have to deal with near constant break-ins of two-bit thieves trying to get inside and pilfer it without really knowing why they’re drawn to it (if asked, they’d either come up with a lame excuse of “I thought it would be worth a lot of money” or just frankly admit that they have no idea). Duessel, though, was used to its seductive siren song. He figured it was safer to keep it close by where he can keep an eye on it and prevent anyone from touching it. But even someone like him can occasionally have slip-ups.

That same luring action is what prompted Valter to grab it in the heat of battle. All it took was one thrust, and he was snared. The beast inside the Lance was awoken, and from then on, he was forever linked to it telepathically. The Lance was now in its active, feeding state.

While in the active state, the Lance acts as a parasite that feeds off of the rush of endorphins Valter gets when he either kills or hurts someone (including himself, to a degree). It released Valter from his inhibitions, and for most of the time they were linked, only used a very rudimentary punishment / reward based system. When it was “pleased” with his level of violence, it was quiet. When it thirsted for blood, it tormented him. For YEARS, that was the only thing it was required to do -- most of the deranged shit Valter did while he was possessed, he did because he had secretly always WANTED to do it. He was always a sick puppy, in other words. The Lance basically just took away his ability to feel shame about it.

That’s not to say that its hold on him isn’t extremely potent, though. In recent months, things have taken a bit of a turn. After his crushing defeat in the Spring Tournament, something happened that almost never does while the Lance is in direct control of a host. It very nearly lost control over him. Temporarily, of course, but even that was enough to leave the Lance feeling a bit shook.

While its control of Valter had been pretty hands-off until that point, it does have a secret weapon. I can and HAS in the past completely taken over someone’s mind. The problem is that it doesn’t WANT to. It’s a fucking Lance. It doesn’t know shit about how to achieve homeostasis. Bullshit like sleep? Eating??? Using the bathroom??????? It’s a fucking LANCE -- it doesn’t want to have to control all of that trifling “staying alive” hogwash humans have to go through. It just wants to get its chow on. 

Not only that, but there are very physical harmful effects to it having to get its hands dirty like that. The Lance is basically an infection of the mind, and the more it gets involved controlling its host, the more the body tries to fight against it. Anyone in direct control would probably have high fevers, stiff, zombie-like movements, and would experience accelerated aging, dying of “natural causes” due to the stress put on their bodies within 10 years, max. 

That’s why Valter was such a uniquely excellent host for it. It didn’t HAVE to take a huge sum of control to get him to do what it ultimately wanted. All he needed was the slightest of nudges, and he’d be racing off to accomplish it all on his own. But the realization that Valter was fast on the track to dying alone without anyone who cared about him or who could take over his vast estate threatened that stability. He wanted to be admired again.

To preserve its hold on him, the Lance directly spoke to Valter, promising that it could solve all his problems if he ceded control once more. Because not only did the match succeed in absolutely humiliating Valter, it also exposed a flaw in the Lance’s plans. Valter wasn’t going to live forever, and once he died, it would be back at square one. Perhaps they would even find out the truth about its true nature and have it destroyed! It was a scary concept.

So it sought to solve both of their problems by securing Valter an heir. Someone who would honor his memory, inherit and care for his estate once he was gone... And a fresh new host the Lance could reliably feed on, should Valter fall in battle. That’s why he’s been a bit... freakishly anxious for children lately.

I should once again iterate that this Lance is NOT Fomortiis #2 or something like that. It is not the Demon KING -- it’s just a regular (if not slightly lower tier) demon. It does not have the capability to destroy the world. It is at BEST a Euclid level SCP. It can’t even make Valter stronger without directly harming the dude. You do NOT need the Fire Emblem to defeat it -- though you can’t really take a random weapon out of the trash, and do it in, either. Any legendary weapon (even swords, including Falchion, though it would probably take longer to work) will do. “Killing” the Lance would completely break its hold on him.

And, interestingly enough, Valter can also be exorcised of it its influence, though it’s just a temporary solution -- destroying the Lance is the only way to get him to snap out of it for good. It’s basically like cutting down a weed verses getting rid of it at the root. Anything from Azura’s song to the Galdr of Rebirth would do the trick. 

JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE HIM RESTRAINED WHILE ATTEMPTING IT -- he will likely thrash about and scream as if you’re killing him and try to attack whoever is doing it, because the Lance would REALLY not be pleased. (Also applicable if you’re trying to destroy the lance -- he’ll likely react the same way.) Afterwards, though, you’d have a sane, weary man for 7-10 days. 

Dean has a very complex inner existence that we’ve only had glimpses of so far, but thanks to all of the stuff that Dean’s been through, there’s mostly a lot of furniture piled up in hallways, like in Resident Evil - woop, can’t go here.  Not allowed.  

That’s basically most of Dean and who he is - all that, all of his true self, is hidden behind that random blockade of crap. It’s a very exceptional thing, to be granted a shortcut around the blockade so we can get a peek at what’s beyond the walls. Now, don’t mistake me - when I say ‘crap’, I don’t mean crap the way DEAN means crap (ie. “I’m 90% crap”) - when I say ‘crap’ I mean the walls he’s put up around himself, his defenses - emotional, mental and otherwise.  Some for good reason, some because of trauma, others because of toxic Winchester crap.

With Cassie’s introduction, we finally got to see Dean in a context we had no frame of reference for, just yet - Dean In Love. 

The episode opens with Sam and Dean getting ready to set off on a trip, but Dean gets a call and it’s enough that he basically tells Sam they’re dropping the hunt they were prepping for - they’re going to help an “old friend” of his. He does mention the old friend is a she, though, so Sam has that much to go on.  It doesn’t take him long, once he adds the information Dean’s giving him with the cagey way Dean’s acting, before he guesses that he and Cassie were a thing once. Dean tells Sam that they went out for a couple weeks and it wasn’t a big deal.  

Cassie’s bright, blunt, and beautiful and really cares about her hometown and its history (hmm -  sounds familiar), so when fucked up stuff starts happening, Dean’s the only one she trusts to reach out to and she’s one of the few people he trusts for the no-bullshit deets regarding the town’s checkered history.

Thanks to Cassie’s reaching out and Sam’s being a nosy bitch-ass little brother, we learn that Dean and Cassie were okay maybe going out for longer than a couple weeks and it was a deal.  Okay, it was a big deal.  Like, okay, all right, so it was so much of a big deal that Dean told her the big family secret.  

Cassie mistakes it as Dean trying to ditch her, so she dumps him pre-emptively and he leaves town, broken-hearted. But, of course, the second she needs him, literal YEARS after the fact, he drops everything to go and help her (there is no softer boy than Dean Winchester - fite meh!).  Turns out, they were both scared and did a dumb.  Best solution for this is to sex about it.  Obviously.  I snark but it’s sooo hawwwwtttttt. As we find out later, thanks to some pillow talk, the fighting and the make-up sex after were always more Dean and Cassie’s forte - talking and working things out, not so much.  But there’s tons of back and forth and “maybe I was looking for an excuse, but maybe not” and round and round and it’s annoying (that’s mostly from her end - Dean is mostly rightfully ‘wtf I was telling you the truth!’, so he’s fine here).

But basically, Cassie is sooo done.  She’s a damn smart lady - she’s had to deal with this racist ghost truck bullshit and she’s good forEVER.  She knows that the ghost hunting and all that nonsense is just not for her, even if it still sounds like nonsense to her.  Dean loves her, but small-town girl Cassie wants normal.  Someone to stick around, someone who doesn’t hunt monsters. (Though, even at this point, Dean calls it ‘my father’s work’ - which, at this point, was entirely true - John’s revenge quest was all consuming.)  Someone who will let her get close. (Though, tbh - in this moment, she is being kinda weird -- she asks Dean where Sam is and when he asks her why, she says it’s not important -- because seriously, what other reason would there be for her not to want to be alone with Dean? UMM?  geeidunno. Be honest with him maybe?!)

So yeah, Dean is actually the one that makes the gesture of “maybe this time [our goodbye] will be a little less permanent,” to Cassie as they’re getting ready to leave town and she’s the one to say she’s a realist and that she doesn’t see a future between them.  Like - wow.  Dumps him and then turns him down COLD. Damn, okay, Cassie!  Fatality, already! That’s basically the first, last and only we see of her, but I do love Cassie - she very much has her own life and existence entirely separate from Dean and his crazy monster-hunting life with his brother, so it’s basically naught for her to go back to what she was doing before all this mess started.  She got a peek at the underside of the darkside and that was plenty for her.  Cassie has a life and deep connections to her hometown that Dean doesn’t share and can’t relate to, since he’s lived most of his life on the road. 

They’re just very different people, they want very different things, fundamentally.  The only times they really work are when they’re fighting or fucking each other, and they are the first to admit it, to each other, so you know it’s true. lol  Which - I mean, the fucking is hot, but fighting isn’t good or healthy.  TL;DR: Cassie was kind, but literally had no clue how to handle Dean emotionally - even after he was vulnerable with her on a couple different occasions - and accused him of putting up walls when she was basically doing much the same thing, herself.  Yet again.  Cassie’s basically there to give us a signpost to show how emotionally closed off Dean was before the series began (” I forgot you do that,” she tells him during their fight - which immediately turns into a pretty tense love scene) and how far he’s come even in just the little while he’s been working with Sam again. 

So yeah, probably better that they didn’t try again, tbh. 

But that brings us to our second revelation - which only took uhhh *checks watch* fourteen fucking seasons to finally get here: we finally get to meet Lee Webb, the transitional fossil that represents Dean’s time after Cassie but before Castiel came into his life.   Everything with Cassie, Lee and Lisa has already occurred, long before they ever appear in the story as we see it - so it’s hard to say for sure which of them came first in Dean’s life (my guess is maybe Lee followed by Cassie, then Lisa later), but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was being left extremely vague on purpose. 

Much like with Cassie, Lee has roots in his Texhoma in the form of his bar - as best I can tell, he either moves locations or completely revamps the same location to throw cops/hunters off of his scent.  Either way, he’s got the Marid in the basement and there’s no way to move that thing safely by himself (something tells me Lorna has no fucking clue about the thing in the basement - also explains that extra-Texan ‘we don’t call 911′ sign on the door leading down to the basement), so he stays put where he found the thing.

Again, just like with Cassie, Lee makes overtures to Dean - even more overt than Cassie’s were! - about his intentions.  “This is nothing you can’t have, man,” he tells Dean as he pours him another drink, and if that isn’t the come-on of a lifetime, I haven’t heard it, yet. 

“Who’s gonna kill the bad guys?” Dean sputters out in disbelief, sounding all of 5 years old.  “Somebody else,” Lee tells him matter-of-fact and utterly unrepentant. And Dean actually looks down, just patently shy at Lee’s response and everything it implies - which means that Lee’s invitation has hit its mark - message received and Dean really likes the sound of it, if that sweet smile is anything to go by.

Which - Lee’s absolutely right. Even with as good as the Winchesters are, they aren’t the only hunters out there - they just happen to be Chuck’s #1 favorite objects of torment show.  It’s fatalistic of him to say, but wtf, Lee’s retired for a reason, y’all.  Just like Cassie, he eventually reached his limit.  His level of tolerance for the life hit its maximum after Arizona and he peaces and winds up going down the darkest path imaginable for a hunter like him (who is Dean in this lifelike scene recreation). Lee basically does his best to keep Dean distracted, tries to lead him away from the case he knows is there, because his instincts are telling him it’s there. Because he’s Mr. Righter-of-Wrongs and that’s his job, so he’s gonna chase those leads down like a dog with a bone - Lee’s hunted with Dean so much, you know he knows everything there is to know about his process, to the point where he KNOWS he’s fucked the second he sees Dean standing in front of him. 

If Dean is here, Lee knows - even if he might try to pretend otherwise - he is almost certainly gonna die. So maybe it’s to distract Dean but also it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other (at least a decade, by Dean’s calculations) and sat across from each other, drinking beer and talking about nothing.

So I think Lee absolutely intends for his words to be considered an invitation - maybe even something of a trade: you join up with me, leave the hunting life behind, and we can have everything here, together. Buut, the trade-off is that Dean would also have to set his morals aside -- drop the investigation but probably also help Lee make sure no one else could ever discover them and their green friend again -- small-town life at big city blood prices.   That’s no kinda choice at all, if you’re Dean, so he has to kill the monster wearing his friend’s face and it’s him saying goodbye to ever doubting his true calling.  Because, at his core, Dean is a good human being - he’s fucked up and made mistakes and stupid choices, but the kernel of his soul is pure, despite everything he’s been through.  

So this is two instances of people who are wrong for Dean, in entirely different ways from each other.  Cassie, Lee and Lisa are all small-town types who are very much a part of their home towns, almost pillars, but they’re too low-key to really fit that title. They just have their lives they want to carry on with, though Cassie’s disinterest is immediately communicated and understood, Lee’s is primarily rooted in subterfuge - he says he’s stopped hunting, but still keeps a live thingy in his basement which is, in itself, pretty damn huntery.  

Which, that whole concept is a STRONG call-back to Dean at the start of season 6, who was living with Ben and Lisa in the ‘burbs and put on a good show of being a “normal” guy with a day job and hobbies, while simultaneously keeping holy water and other hunter implements under the bed he shared with his girlfriend.  

Lisa and Ben were mostly ignorant of the bad things, which left Dean on perpetual alert and exhausted him completely. They couldn’t protect or defend themselves to any significant degree.   Lisa and Ben basically felt like the case that overstayed its welcome by a mile. 

Sure, Dean got his safe and comfy life, but only Lisa and Ben got to truly enjoy that life. He was there because he promised Sam and he was miserable and every bit still as much in the life as he had been. Lisa loved him, but she and Ben really were just little better than a job (if they hadn’t been, they would have gotten more/better characterization, Sera - I said what I said! xp).

Between these three characters/arcs lies the perfect combination of apple pie and hunter life that Dean needs to thrive - not just to feel happy/contented as a person and feel satisfied and like he can help, but also he’ll be able to FUCKING RELAX once in a while and take a break when he’s tired, because he’s not the only hunter in the world!  There are others who can fight too, and he can let himself take it easy.

But that’s the other part of the equation - is that whoever this apple pie hunter is, they have to be a part of the life already (no more pre-emptive break-ups from people who only have time to fight or fuck you but literally no time for anything else - or clueless but well-meaning civilians), but they also have to be trustworthy and uphold what passes for a moral code for the Winchesters, tattered-ass thing as it is. Also - fourth time’s the charm.  I’m just saying.

So while I was at work today, I found myself wondering: okay, so Dean and Cas have a communication problem. Sam was able to learn how to communicate with Eileen - not just practically vis a vis her deafness (and Sam bridging that gap by learning ASL), but also emotionally via their ‘agreement’ - “if she needs something, she’ll tell me.” 

It’s pretty clear that the thing that led to them making that decision is Sam turning up in the middle of a hunt and nearly getting himself stabbinated because he was worried about Eileen. They talked it over off-screen and worked out this agreement together. 

As other people have noted, though, this wasn’t the first time that two people making an agreement is mentioned/referenced in this episode, because we also have Adam talking about the agreement he and Michael have as archangel and vessel. They had only each other for at least a thousand years or more (if not longer), so they had nothing to do but work out all of their issues together as a tag-team. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing those two haven’t talked about, by now. (Also it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they were a couple, legit.)

When Dean heard about each of these agreements, he had interesting reactions - with Saileen, he said it was 'adorable’ and said he was happy Sam was happy. 

With Adam talking about Michael, though, Dean (the poor, traumatized boy) genuinely has such a hard time comprehending that any version of Michael could ever be merciful. Especially not after he made that deal with AU!Michael and he took off with the keys like “LATER DAYS HATERS!” all the way.  His reaction to this revelation about Michael is stricken astonishment.  

Of course, there was no way Dean could possibly know or have ever guessed what our version of Michael would truly be like to be a vessel for and it’s not like Dean had much in the way of frames of reference. Beyond seeing one of Raphael’s vessels in Free to Be You & Me and how that guy was a catatonic mess, that is.  Cas said that it would be much worse for Dean, seeing as how Michael was so powerful, which probably didn’t exactly reassure Dean. Still, it wasn’t so much a comment about Michael as an archangel so much as the mechanics of an archangel taking a vessel and what that might do to him. 

(I find this comment from Cas a bit weird, because wouldn’t he have known that Dean was the Michael Sword all along, thus better suited to being Michael’s vessel?  Everything about the whole concept insinuates legacy and passing down through generations, as part of the Winchester gospels, maybe even - but maybe once Cas got his own upgrade to seraphim they gave him more insight into what was going on with Dean for real? ANYWAY!)

In both cases in 15x08, Dean saw two people who had obstacles to communicating most effectively with each other - whether that was practically, emotionally, psychologically or otherwise - obstacles that they combatted as a team in their own ways, the solutions unique to their own obstacles.  Sam is learning ASL and using it as much as he can, and the same goes for magic and Enochian - these are basically valuable skills that Sam has added to his toolkit. 

In chewing on this notion, my brain spit out the fact that hey, Dean learned how to communicate in a way that’s unique to just him and Cas: he prays to him.

While, yes, Cas can hear Sam’s prayers, too, Cas did also tell them both that he shares a more profound bond with the righteous man he hauled out of Hell. In general, though, the one who’s shown as praying to Cas the most is, of course, Dean. 

As we know, Dean has said that he’s not a man who turns to prayer during times of hardship, but after meeting Cas, he changed his tune pretty quick.  Dean has also said that he felt like prayer was essentially begging.  

What that means, then, is that Dean’s spent a lot of time on this show begging Cas to come back to him.  Or begging/threatening Chuck to bring Cas back, or else. Or hearing from people about how oh, we know you want Cas to come back to you, but darn, if only he felt the same way you do!  Or - sorry, but it’s no good, Lucifer’s kid can’t bring your angel back to you - he’s dead for real and it’s all your fault.  

But at the end of 15x08, Dean finally got the light at the end of the endless, hopeless tunnel - literally a light, an open portal to Purgatory.  Just waiting for the two of them to step through. 

Dean already knows how to talk to Cas, in both the practical sense as well as the emotional sense.  He’s never had a problem telling Cas deeply personal stuff about himself - things he would never dream of burdening his brother with. Fears, doubts, his lack of faith in himself and his capabilities, the clawing terror he feels at the thought of what could happen to the world if he fails.   It hasn’t been all doom and gloom, though - in point of fact, it was a private conversation between Dean and Cas that really set Cas off on his free will rollercoaster.

There’ve been a couple of those, in the course of their early friendship, that really helped to shape Cas’s understanding of free will and what it could mean, for an angel.  

“It's all a bunch of lies, you poor, stupid son of a bitch! It's just a way for your bosses to keep me and keep you in line! You know what's real? People, families -- that's real. And you're gonna watch them all burn?“

“But we were a family, and I didn't want to lose that...”

The thing is - they both know how to talk to each other.  Even if they don’t speak the same primary language, they do have a means to do so, and the groundwork in place for raw, honest communication between each other. 

But as Dean asks Adam, where do you even start -- (the insinuation being: where do you start, when there’s just so much history and damage?)  And Adam says ‘maybe try I’m sorry?’.  

This was part of the equation that Dean was having trouble grokking, lately - HOW to start mending this thing, between himself and Cas, when there was so much pain and history wedged between them?  They lost Jack, Mary, Ketch, Rowena (psych!), Crowley, Charlie and so many others - but what happened with Cas, what he felt Cas was responsible for - Dean could just never seem to shake it.  Any of it.  

Just like when Cas broke Sam’s wall in season 6 (will never not be salty, will never not hate Sera Gamble with every molecule of my being tum te tum!), Dean couldn’t just shrug it off, couldn’t shake how unsettled he was by Cas’s betrayals. 

Why?  Because Dean trusted Cas more than anyone else.  Trusted him with his fragility and his fears and his deepest hopes and dreams.  With Cas, Dean allowed himself to want things, hope for things, and for a guy like Dean - who was basically trained by John from the time he was 4 to ignore all of his basic emotional and physical needs in order to look after his younger brother - that’s just so huge.   At the tail end of season 3, we saw Dean push back against John’s toxic parenting - screaming that he didn’t deserve the weight that John put on him, nor the guilt about not being there for Sam, and that he didn’t deserve to die. In season 12, we watched as Dean get the opportunity to confront Mary about much the same things - that he loved her, but that her love caused him tremendous pain and emotional dissonance and trauma, because she was also the person that ruined his life before it even got started.  With Mary, he pushed back against the unfairness of having to be a mother and a father to Sam, laying the reality of her own selfishness and cowardice at her feet: her son had lost his soul, seen his true love murdered before his eyes, etc.

One thing that Dean has always had a problem with is when Cas leaves - whether it’s by his own choice or not, whenever Cas isn’t around, Dean is miserable.  Granted, that hasn’t always been the case (compare his more nonplussed reaction to Cas getting exploded by Samifer at Stull Cemetery during 4x22 to his scream of horror at the end of 12x23.). 

In recent seasons, though, there has been a noticeable pattern: Cas goes away, Dean is in mourning until such time as plot can bring Cas back to him somehow. Cas comes back and Dean is immediately 1000% better!

Only, this time around, things aren’t shaping up that way.  In 15x03, it was Dean’s own fault that Cas left.  It wasn’t circumstance, it wasn’t a plan he did or didn’t follow, it was his own words that pierced Cas’s heart as deadly sure as Lucifer’s blade did.

But maybe that’s just it.  This isn’t a cruel thing Dean did, so much as just a catastrophic, cascading failure of communication.  Sam did mention once to Jack that Dean gets angry when he’s scared. (”He’s messed up because of you,” Sam tells Dean in 13x03. “It wasn’t exactly like that,” Dean hedges.  It wouldn’t surprise me at ALL if we hear an echo of this conversation at some point between Dean and Sam later this season re: Cas.)  

As Dean says himself at the start of 15x03, he’s pissed at God for this ‘sloppy-ass ghost apocalypse’ and, looking back on it now, and considering Chuck’s ever darkening demeanor, it feels almost like Dean’s waving a red flag at a bull. Because literally at the end of this very episode comes the most devastating loss of all: Cas.  And in this case, it is absolutely, undeniably his fault - let’s just say that Dean decided to actually say this to Cas and there was no outside meddling from Chuck. Sure, he wants to throw the blame on Cas, but everything about that scene is essentially framed to make Dean look like the bad guy.   In this scene, Dean’s hostile, stubborn, can’t be reasoned with, even though he literally just left Sam’s room after telling him that he made the right call about Rowena. Which is essentially the exact same identical situation - each of them made a call on their own, separate from Dean, feeling it was the right course at the time - but Dean censures Cas and pushes him away while he consoles Sam. Continues to blame Cas for Mary’s death, in fact, even though Sam and Dean both admitted to moments of uncertainty about Jack’s powers. Where am I going with all this?  Man, I dunno.  All I know is that whatever Dean says during this prayer, he is going to have to open an emotional vein for his angel.  Blood for blood is only fair in Purgatory.  Last time, Cas shook Dean’s entire world when he admitted that he’d disappeared and hadn’t answered Dean’s prayers because he was trying to keep Dean safe.  In a good way!

But the whole mess in 15x03 is basically the dark mirror version of the Purgatory reveal (and, really, the deal with the Shadow as well): Cas was trying to keep the monsters away from Dean, and so he’s been keeping secrets from him again.  Any time they do this, it’s a bad time.  

Given all the talk about agreements, I would love to see Dean and Cas reach one at some point.  I’m not sure exactly how everything will pan out in 15x09, but whatever happens, I know Dean is going to have to be more honest with Cas than he has ever been.  

About the most important stuff of all: all the stuff he doesn’t say, all the times he’s felt lost without him, how he’s actually killed himself on two separate occasions after Cas has disappeared/died (11x17, after Dean learns Lucifer has been in Cas’s body for several months, by that point - and also after Cas’s death, in 13x05). He needs to reveal those wounds that he’s inflicted on himself, just the same way he revealed Sam losing his soul to Mary, because the best disinfectant is sunlight.  

Cas needs to know what Dean has been through - not just as a result of losing Cas to circumstance, but losing him as a result of pushing him away.  Because I think that Cas honestly believes that Dean doesn’t care - and after Dean lashed out at him that way in 15x03, I can’t blame him for wondering.  But Cas wasn’t around at those times, and Sam’s been too busy, so Cas has no idea - never has had any idea - what Dean’s been like without him. And they never talk about it.

I honestly hope that Rowena’s words resonated with Dean and he does have the chance to say something, to open his heart and be merciful.  To listen earnestly and share in kind.  

My brain just keeps going back to John’s journals and him mentioning that Dean went mute after Mary’s death (something Dean mentions obliquely in 1x03: “You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something.”)

I honestly do think that a part of Dean’s trouble with this is the trauma that came from seeing Cas die - he’s basically gone on emotional mute because of it and can’t communicate with Cas like he used to.  He’s lost Cas many times before, but this last time was the worst - because he knew what those burned wings meant.  Cas was gone for good.  There’d be no coming back from it, this time.

13x01: 

Sam: Hold on a second. Can we just talk about what happened back there? Dean: Sure. Which part? Let’s see. Crowley’s dead, Kelly’s dead, Cas is... Mom’s gone, and apparently, the Devil’s kid hit puberty in thirty seconds flat.  […] Sam: What about Cas? Is he - is he really dead?  Dean: You know he is.

Miriam: Because Bieber in there? He can do almost anything. Dean: ... anything? Miriam: Oh, sweetie! Almost anything. Castiel, he's dead. All the way dead, because of you.

13x03: “[Jack] manipulated him. He made him promises. Said 'Paradise on Earth,' and Cas bought it. And you know what it got him? It got him dead! Now you may be able to forget about that, but I can't!” 13x05: “No. Sam, I’m not okay. I’m pretty far from okay. You know, my whole life, I always believed that what we do was important. No matter what the cost, no matter who we lost, whether it was Dad or – or Bobby or –. And I would take the hit. But I kept on fighting because I believed that we were making the world a better place. And now Mom and Cas… And I – I don’t know. I don’t know.”

It’s only after Dean has this realization and shares it with Sam that he receives a phone call from a freshly Empty-sprung Cas. 

And when they meet him face to face?  What do they talk about? About what to talk about (OF COURSE - UGH BOYS!): 

Sam: I don't even know what to say. Dean: I do. Welcome home, pal. Cas: How long was I gone? Dean: Too damn long.

Again - Dean being honest but not completely.  The truth, but not entirely every last bit of the truth. Selective truth.  Sheltering truth.  

Although Cas does establish that Chuck has no power in the Empty, that leads them to question who does have power there - and that’s easy: Dean, via their boy, Jack. It is Dean’s grief that reaches through into that impenetrable place that even GOD can’t touch and wakes up the one person who always hears him. Who always comes when Dean calls.

So yeah, like I said - I’m not 100% how everything will go, word for word or anything, but these definitely do feel like the resonating themes for these two this season.  The key is TRUTH.  Dean has to show Cas what losing him does to him.  How hopeless he gets.  How scared.  But, the ideal situation I’d like to see is Dean showing Cas that he does believe in them, that he believes that what they have is real and is in fact the truest thing he has.  

Does loving Cas make Dean more vulnerable?  Yes.  In a billion different ways, absolutely fucking yes.  

But Dean’s gonna have to get over it, if he wants Cas to not only forgive him, but start fresh with him in something outside of/completely separate from hunting. (Whatever form that might take - anything from the Roadhouse Funko future in Becky’s living room to the two of them as angels up in Heaven, with Dean as Michael’s vessel or any other conceivable combination of possibilities).

Contrary to what Bucklemming think, Dean is not a stupid guy.  Nor is he incapable of feelings, even deep and nuanced and hella convoluted ones.  He’s also capable of understanding and learning.  

Before Cas, Dean eschewed prayer as begging.  

After Cas, it was a way for Dean make himself available and vulnerable to the one person he trusted most.  And in Purgatory, it will be a way for him to do that again, to even greater impact.   After 15x08, Dean realizes a couple different things: 1.) it’s possible to come to some kind of an emotional accord with someone to make communication easier 2.) a hunter is a preferable partner to a civilian - someone who knows the life and can hold their own.  

Now it’s just a matter of him putting what he’s learned into practice.  

First off, it’s important to keep in mind that Walter counts as an Armored Red Mage in this version, too. I have even less justification for this than I do OG Walter because he doesn’t have the leg brace thing going on, but considering the Ylissean Christmas and Love Abounds events, I feel confident that no one’s going to complain that he doesn’t somehow LOOK “armored” enough for it to count. 

Let’s take look at his stat spread. Just as a reminder, here are Valter’s base stats:

Hp: 42 Atk: 32 (50 with Cursed Lance equipped) Spd: 31 (33 with Cursed Lance equipped) Def: 34 Res: 19

BST: 158 (Without weapon)

And here are normal Walter’s:

Hp: 33 Atk: 17 Spd: 22 Def: 7 Res: 45

BST: 124

Opalite Walter’s stats are as follows:

Hp: 45 Atk: 34 Spd: 20 Def: 28 Res: 34

BST: 161

At 161 BST, Imperial Walter does slightly lag behind other ranged attacking armor units (all with a total of 165), but it seems fair because his legendary tome is better than all of the zany holiday-themed weapons they all have. He would definitely carve out a name for himself in the meta game, I think, due to his weapon effects. (He’d be a TT exclusive unit, though, so forget about tailoring his IVs perfectly or creating an ultra super merge of him. He can’t be TOO strong--)

His stats are much more rounded compared to his normal iteration -- though his speed went down slightly and res went down quite a bit, he massively makes up for it in HUGE gains in his attack, def, and HP. He is no longer a wimpy glass cannon (without any fucking ammo) -- this Walter can take quite a beating and still hit back HARD.

Opalite Walter is a Druid, which means he would have access to dark magic (which is default red, just like light is default blue) as opposed to just anima magic like a sage. To emphasize that, I wanted to give him a legendary tome named “Keen Fenrir”. Since Fenrir is both an actual dark magic spell used in Fire Emblem, but also a reference to the Norse god who’s usually portrayed as a monstrous wolf, I wanted to follow in Heroes Lyon’s footsteps and make his weapon sort of an even stronger Keen Wolf tome. This tome would not be able to be inherited.

On its face, it’d seem like pretty standard stuff. 14 Mt, and the description reads: “Effective against cavalry foes.” The animation would probably be something like the normal Wolf Tome, but mostly black with some purple around the edges. Which is, of course, aesthetic af.

The coolest part is the fact that it can be refined! (Which has basis in the game, as no Raven tomes can be upgraded, including Lyon’s tome, but even Keen Wolf tomes CAN be.) Aside from the usual +Mt, +Spd, and whatever else upgrade, upgrading its effectiveness would transform it into “Binding Fenrir” and grant it: “Effective against cavalry and flying foes and neutralizes their bonuses (From skills like Rally, Fortify, etc.) during combat restricts movement to one space through their next action.” (Weapon effect changed for balance reasons.) So yeah. Get fucked, Valter.

The skills he’d be able to learn right off the bat would be:

Special: Glacies

A: Mirror Stance

B: Wary Fighter

Compared with OG Walter, Opalite Walter is obviously a much more aggressive, yet tanky unit. You’d be able to do tons of damage with him, and even blue units (especially mages) would probably struggle against him with just his base kit. 

Give him Warding Breath, and he’d probably even be able to annihilate Reinhardt, especially with his tome’s effects. With Close Counter, he’d basically function like a poor man’s Winter Tharja. And, of course, with 34 base res, this guy would run ploy skills incredibly well, too. 

Of course, like any good unit, he still has his weaknesses. Micaih would probably have his ass for lunch, as would any unit with an armor slaying weapon (possibly with the exception of green foes, but his def isn’t THAT grand, all things considered). Also, sneaky ways of chipping down his Wary Fighter using the likes of Brave Weapons would also probably hurt. Other armored foes, especially the likes of Hardin and others with brave / vengeful fighter, would be terrible -- I feel like he’d even struggle to dispose of a Winter Tharja due to his slightly lowered stats. Lastly, dragons, especially blue ones, would be forces to be feared, as he doesn’t really have the tools to deal with them properly (unless their movement is flying).

The beginning of Walter’s life during his Imperial timeline is pretty similar, if not exactly the same. The twins actually got along swimmingly during their early childhood, with Valter stepping up and becoming the bold and outgoing one, while still being quite sensitive to Walter's needs and almost serving as a mediator between him and other people when he got anxious. It wasn’t until the twins were in their early adolescents that Valter suddenly had a change of heart and began acting like a total dick to Walter for... reasons I won’t get into right now. 

But before the twins drift apart, there’s a terrifying incident where Walter suffered a traumatic wolf attack that threatened to kill him if Valter hadn't stepped in -- something that he's eternally grateful for. In the “canon” timeline, they both lived, with only minor injuries (if any) due to Valter being able to take it by surprise from behind and clock it on the head with a large rock. In this AU, the poor boys aren’t so lucky. The attack misses its mark, and the wolf turns the brunt of its ire onto Valter instead. Walter’s arm was so badly mangled, he nearly lost it, and Valter died from the severity of his wounds and shock before anyone could really help him. 

The death of his beloved twin took a severe toll on Walter. He was haunted by guilt, feeling that the entire situation was his fault. But the love and support of his parents helped him push past it, and he dedicated himself to growing as much as he could in his brother's honor, since he knew that if Valter were still alive, he'd want to see him doing well. (That’s what we in the business call irony.)

But anyway, through a lot of hard work and study, he became every bit as successful as Valter would have in his stead. Well educated, well liked, skilled in several recreational activities like cooking and art, and although he's still quite introverted and a bit... Awkward(tm), he knew how to get past that and still have people like him for who he was, and grew to be quite formidable in terms of magical prowess.

But it wasn't enough for him. Driven by his brother's selfless sacrifice he decided to enlist in the Grado military when he was a teen so that he could help protect others just like his brother had done for him. His parents were quite Nervous(tm) about that, as would anyone who had lost one of their kids in a tragic accident. They didn’t want to see their last remaining son sign up for a dangerous profession, but he was super insistent, so they eventually gave him their full support.

Basic training was hard on him, but over time, his leadership and prowess on the battlefield would earn him the title of an Imperial General -- something that he was quite proud of. He didn't just consider it an achievement he got on his own. He would be very quick to thank all the multitudes of people that helped him get so far with their undying support and loyalty. Under Emperor Vigarde, he would eventually come to be known as the Opal.

For a few years, life seemed perfect. But then, his parents got sick. Same disease that got them in the canon verse (whatever it is). Unlike Valter, who ignored their progressing sickness for months (if not years) as he chased his lofty dreams ascending the ranks, Walter immediately resigned from his position upon first hearing about it. He placed a vast importance on his family, especially after his brother's death, so the thought of losing them was unbearable. Selena was brought on board in his stead during that time.

He fought as hard as he could to keep them alive, but ultimately, none of it paid off. He lost them both, and fell into a deep depression that lasted years. He hit the bottle pretty hard and was barely seen venturing out of his mansion, preferring to have servants run errands for him instead. While he never did anything as sick and degenerate as Valter during that time, having a lonely 40 year old bachelor living by himself in a large spoopy mansion would certainly get the locals talking among themselves and coming up with all kinds of weird rumors and speculation as to what he’s up to in there.

Eventually, the in-game events happen, and Lyon needs generals to fill out his ranks again. I plan on elaborating on their relationship a little bit more in the future, but Lyon would know that the man is skilled mage and loyal soldier, so he’d ask him to join the cause again. Walter would be quite hesitant to join the force again, but after some pleading, he’d acquiesce. He originally joined to protect the people of Grado, and even though his parents wouldn’t be coming back, he could still protect the young soldiers under his care.

And so General Walter would be welcomed back with open arms, though he’d make a small change to his title, preferring the name “Opalite” over “Opal.” Opalite is basically fool’s Opal -- a name given either to a synthetic creation made from glass, or naturally occurring opal so rife with inclusions and flaws that it’s practically worthless. It would perfectly describe how he feels like an empty husk of a man, simply going through the motions so that he can die in peace with no regrets.

Not to say he’s cold or distant or unpleasant to be around in the slightest. It’s just that for all of his warm words of encouragement and highly supportive chats with his subordinates, there’s no getting rid of that constant, nagging cloud of sadness that seems to weigh him down, no matter what he does. He struggles to pretend that everything is normal with him, but everyone can tell that there’s something. Off about him. He drinks a bit too much, he has moments where he wordlessly stares out into the void, has crying spells -- all of it. He’s barely holding it together, and he knows that. But he’s still trying his best.

If I had to pin down his character, I’d say he’s somewhere between Duessel and Selena in terms of his goodness and loyalty to the empire. He’ll give everything he can to stop the Renais twins from advancing, but like hell he’s laying down his life for bullshit reasons when everyone is telling him they don’t want any more bloodshed. He’d probably be taken a prisoner, then would join forces with the twins after they find Knoll and it hits him just how deeply wrong things are.

Jesus fuck this got long. I’ll have to do a Part 2 sometime about his relationships with other characters, especially with Lyon, as that’s a highly important one. But for now, to wrap this up, here’s a few assorted details about Imperial Walter.

Canon Walter is a Sage, whereas Imperial Walter is a Druid. This is because Canon Walt promoted from the Priest line and had little to no practical knowledge of offensive magic. Imperial Walter was pretty much the opposite.

Imperial Walter still has a stutter, though he’s trained himself to make it a lot less noticeable for most people in casual conversation. If I had to compare his speaking style, it would be a lot like Rowan Atkinson.

When he’s having a bit of a breakdown, though, it can get quite bad.

Walter may still be a sweetheart unlike what his brother ultimately became, but he’s no pushover. He’s a goddamn general with nearly 20 years of military experience, and he carries himself like one. Don’t fuck with him.

Dadly advice dispenser. 

Walter is listed as a Demiboy on my About page, and that’s still true for Imperial Walter. He’s a lot more confident in his gender identity, though, and can sometimes be seen making his rounds in “women’s clothing”.

Some people got freaked out by that and claims that he goes mad and puts on his dead mother’s clothing to grieve from time to time, but... No. He bought them himself, thanks.