I've noticed that both elves and ogres can have grey/obsidian skin (the elf queen and another character who I cannot remember the name of sorry and a few of the ogres in the race compilation drawings.)
Do you know if there are other human examples in the meshi-verse that have unnatural skin tones? I know that kobolds and orcs can have grey fur but since they're demi-humans I assume it's different for them.
It might be just them, and I'm not sure the ogres count assuming you mean these?
I think they're meant to be just dark skinned instead of grey. Here some grey orcs to compare
And yeah I assume the coloration for demi-humans comes from their monster (animal) side, I don't think there's examples for any of the others.
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Hi, I love a lot of your meta and analyses. Especially for Arcane. One thing that's bothering me is what exactly was Silco's reputation among the Lanes in act 1? It's odd how Vander seems to say he's worse than enforcers, and Benzo even calls him an animal and immediately tries to charge at Silco after Grayson's death. But we know that Silco only became this ruthless AFTER his attempted murder by Vander. So during the old times when Vander and Benzo knew him, Silco was apparently a "weak man" who wasn't nearly as violent as Vander. So what gives?
Sure, the "animal" line could just be because of the brutal way he killed Grayson and the enforcers, but idk, the way he immediately charges Silco no questions asked seems to indicate something deeper. It's funny too, because Silco murdered only the enforcers that were arresting Vander, and didn't even want to kill Vander until he rejected Silco's plan and refused to join him. So if Benzo just stayed calm and kept his hands to himself Silco would've probably kidnapped them both. Hell, without Benzo's murder hanging over Vander's head, maybe he could've even be persuaded to rejoin Silco for another try at revolution? But the story needs him to refuse, so ofc Benzo had to die.
I'm just wondering why exactly, if Silco was known as the less violent one before Vander tried to kill him, then why do Benzo and Vander in act 1 treat him like he's been a devil the whole time. Did they maybe catch wind of his unpleasant activities while he was underground and building his revolution plans?
Hi Anon! What a great ask! And thank you, you make me blush. It's nice that my horrendous Arcane brain rot actually serves some purpose somehow x'D
This is a very good question and a difficult one—because of the writers. I'm not sure if they really know or care to make sense of Silco and Vander's past. The timeline is shaky and vague. I think they were happy to leave things quite mysterious. Some of us desperately try to unravel it, but the bulk of viewers took it all at face value and concluded that Silco is a horrible man who did horrible things.
This is not me bashing other fans, all theories are valid, but I must admit sometimes I wonder if the Arcane writers managed to convey their point across. Because I've seen quite a few people theorise that Silco did something truly horrible and 'deserved' to be killed by Vander, despite the lack of evidence or accusation, or the show going to great length to harp about Vander's potential for change, of his "monster within" who caves in skulls with his fists.
(Not to mention the casual fans who thought the sun shone out of Vander's ass because they couldn't see past Vi's pov and didn't do dozens of obsessive rewatches like yours truly).
My point is that their relationship is pretty complicated and there are plenty of dissenting theories. And I think a lot of people go one way or the other precisely around those moments you mention. I'm going to give you my theory, but it's very fanon. I'm genuinely a lot less certain about this than some of my other meta. It's just what gels for me considering how I interpret the rest of the show.
I'm going to put this under a cut, because there's a lot!
What exactly was Silco's reputation among the Lanes in act 1?
I don't think Silco was weak. That's him reframing his trauma. Not just weak physically (like obviously he could never fight Vander off fairly), but for having trusted him. Weak for not seeing the betrayal coming, and not coming on top of that conflict. He calls his old self weak because he must believe in his own progress, his own resurrection into a being who can enact his plans at last.Â
I think Silco was a beacon of hope and zealotry. I think he was a propaganda machine. Young Silco united a lot of Zaun under the banner of his dream. He probably worked hard, and led the movement. From the way their dialogue goes, the accusation of betrayal, saying "I trusted you", and the manner of Silco's attitude around Vander, I'm of the (generally not that popular) sentiment that Silco was the leader of the early rebellion, and that Vander was his follower. Most likely his right hand man.
In fic I've theorised that Vander, who tells Vi he used to always be so angry and violent, didn't have a channel for said violence until Silco gave him structure and a purpose. Directed that violence at Piltover, at creating (read, carving out) the Lanes.
Which, FYI, are NEVER clarified. We don't know if it's a business model or a territory or both. Writers truly don't care to explain it.
Anyway, Silco speaks of "our dream" and then uses "brother" with a LOT of irony laced in, in reply to Vander's own use of the term. They used to be brothers in arms and Vander believed in that dream. We also know that Vander used to fight for the cause and claims he's "not that man anymore".
He basically was fighting for team Silco—team Zaun—right until the day of the betrayal.
Then we're told by Vander that Silco had his respect, the Lanes' respect, "but that... was never enough for you". We're also told by Sevika that Vander created the Lanes.
This suggests to me that Silco and Vander created the Lanes together.Â
I assume that over time Vander started seeing Silco's plans as too greedy, while leading the Lanes seemed ideal. 'Good enough', if you will. Vander is small minded where Silco is aiming for the sun. One wants too little and the other too much. Silco says they 'shared a vision, dreams of freedom, not just for the Lanes but for the whole of the Underground, united as One'. They used to dream of Zaun together... And then Vander realised Silco would tear the Lanes apart if it would serve his purpose (to attack Piltover).Â
I think he didn't believe it'd work (and given what we see of Piltover vs. Zaun before shimmer, it might not have), and realised he wanted to rule the Lanes. Vander would now see Silco's dreams as too dangerous.
I know some people in the Zaundads community who theorised that Vander was influenced in turning on Silco by Benzo or others. It's not my prefered theory.
I think Vander wanted the Lanes for himself, and knew that Silco was too zealous to ever stop. We don't know why he got so (intimately) violent. Why they were in the Pilt. We see Vander first very cold, slowly drowning Silco, then very hot and brutal, once he's been hurt. I think he was very different indeed from the genial Vander we know in arc 1. Young Vander is the guy who carved the Lanes with his fists. The guy who built the reputation old Vander still coasts on. A guy known by foreigners! In short, it doesn't really help to look at him through the old Vander lens. He did what he did..
And THEN, he hid the (most likely black and contaminated) wound from Silco's knife. While Silco wears his scar unashamed for what must be a decade or two, Vander has his arm constantly covered. This speaks of shame to me. We know he had regrets too :
Truly a young, impulsive, violent man, who rushed into a bad decision and has regretted it since. I can picture a young Vander missing his best friend, his guiding light, and yet finally becoming the leader he wanted to be. Curtailing Silco's uprising entirely and settling, at least until his own revolt.Â
We know there was only one time where the rebellion went ahead, and that was well after Silco left. Vander, to the assembled Lanes people, says "we crossed that bridge once before". It's the era where he still had Silco's respect, but was immediately followed by his pact with Grayson. Which Silco knew of.
Sorry... I'm rambling to try and get all the details in... Almost there.
Finally we come to Vander holding his (shamefully hidden) wound and saying "there's worse things than enforcers out there, we both know that."
And I'm not sure WHAT HE MEANS!! Like, this is not proof he knows Silco is alive. My personal feeling is that Vander believes there's a chance Silco might be alive, but he's not actively taking precautions like that's a possibility. Silco's attack wouldn't have come out of left field and taken them so completely by surprise otherwise.
There are plenty of things worse than enforcers. Including himself!! He could mean competing chembarons. He could mean someone wanting his seat. He could mean anything, it's infuriating.Â
Anyway, I think Vander came back from the Pilt with a bad stab wound and a story. I think he told everyone that Silco attacked him and died. That he turned traitor. Or any other bullshit story. But I believe he did what any new illegitimate ruler does, and shat all over Silco's reputation. Or else cried some crocodile tears over him and called him dead. But Silco never stepped back into the open, so Vander making him persona non grata is more likely.Â
Whatever the case, Vander had completely taken over the Lanes by the time Silco was in good enough health to show up.
Did they run into each other? Did Vander scare him off again? I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Vander looks way too shocked when he realises who's showing up at the murder party. This isn't the expression of someone who is used to thwarting schemes. This isn't the Batman's face when the Joker appears with mischief around a street corner.
Meanwhile, why would Benzo react so negatively to Silco? The well respected man who was betrayed (a fact Vander owns up to and APOLOGISES for), who was half drowned and mutilated by Vander's hand... Yet Benzo immediately calls him an animal (which, you're right, could be in reaction to stepping into a mass killing—which, fair), and tells him to "crawl back into whatever hole he came out of."
I feel like this is the reaction of someone who thinks "wow, it's the cunt who harmed my bestie 20 years ago and (insert Vander's lies about him). Who knew he was still alive?"
Meanwhile, Vander looks like it's judgement day. I think he has excellent reasons to be afraid. He stole the Lanes, destroyed Silco's dreams, ruined his rep, drove him out of the Underground... and somehow Silco stayed under the radar all this time? And now he's got killer monsters? Of course he'd be scared. Vander knows how intense Silco used to be, and knows how guilty he himself is. I think he believes all bets are off. Precisely because Silco never had a reputation as a weak man.Â
I mean, consider! If Vander was mega violent under Silco's guidance... If they built the Lanes together... If Silco was the leader who helped Vander redirect his rage... Then Silco clearly didn't mind being extremely violent. He didn't mind unleashing "the Hound" on the people who stood in the way of Zaun.Â
((I think Silco's "weak" narrative is a self soothing framing device. That he's recontextualising himself, making a philosophy of life. After all, he tries to use these same terms to speak to Jinx about her own trauma, while failing to grasp that while he was at his weakest, Powder was at her strongest. His personal motto of letting the weak die doesn't work for Jinx.))
It's very revealing that Vander says "Benzo stay back!" and Silco says "you never did know when to walk away." Like if he'd stayed back and then walked away, he'd have been fine. I fully agree that this tells us that Vander thinks Silco is only after him. That he wouldn't kill Benzo needlessly. Needless deaths were probably never Silco's style, as someone wanting to 'unite' the Underground. And after all, he's not even here to kill Vander, but to recruit him.
So, yeah... In conclusion (at last lol)Â
Silco was never weak, simply too big a dreamer, someone who wouldn't surrender his lofty ideals for the reality of being one of the most powerful men in the Undercity. Ultimately he got in young Vander's way. Vander impulsively sacrificed Silco for his own desire to rule the Lanes. Then he turned around, shameful and regretful, and lied to everyone about it as he usurped Silco's place and became the Lanes' sole leader.Â
(I personally theorised in several fics that the last Drop was actually Silco's, and that Vander took over it after the betrayal, partially explaining why Silco never leaves the place after his own takeover. Complicated feelings + it was his and fuck Vander lol)
I don't believe Benzo or Vander have any clue about Silco's plans, and simply react based on what they know and imagine (Benzo based on whatever Vander told him, and Vander based on how fucked he has to be and how insanely dedicated Silco must still be). I believe Vander has a lot of double agents in his midst (Sevika, Syd), and people who've been keeping tabs on him for years.Â
Counter-argument : Marcus says he spoke to one of Vander's "old friends" and that he "wasn't always so peaceful". You could think this may have tipped Vander off... But how many people did he leave behind or crush when creating the Lanes? How many people hate him for leading the failed uprising? I think it's still plausible that Vander doesn't suspect Silco's involvement.Â
Vander just lacks cunning. Another final argument for him being totally clueless is that he had a direct line to Grayson, and a quick, 'Hey, okay I'll tell you who stole your stuff' pointing fingers towards Silco would have entirely solved the situation for him.
Yet he never is shown to consider it.Â
PHEW. I think that covers it?? I think I covered every point? At least that's how I interpret this situation, even though it relies heavily on my own fanon readings of the timeline and a lot of other details.Â
If anyone disagrees with this, or wants to double down, as always go crazy. I love me a meta pile on.Â
If they could choose, what other species would your character LEAST like to be? What would they MOST like to be?
[META] Oh Hmm. I honestly think Teddy loves the idea of being any species. It might freak them out to be stuck as one though. The permanence of it is what would be bad. If we are talking playable species though maybeeeeee....
Least like to be a vampire because they love napping in warm sunlight and chillin' on beaches. And Most like to be..... probably something like a banshee just to see what it was like. But they only consider themself a girl some of the time so like, temporary Banshee. V n V
23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
For F1 it would be my behemoth of a flower shop/tattoo AU, the flower tattoo AU. I think I've been slowly working on it since late August/early September. I really want to write it but it slowly transformed into a monster for which I have already a precuel/sequel planned and at least one spin-off.
24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?
It has changed SO MUCH. I work so much more on character development and on how I want the reader to feel with the story, most of my stories have always had a horny tinge to it, more or less explicit, but I also know that has been refined with the years. Another thing that has changed is my ability to write longer works, and more complex stories/characters in general.
25. What part of writing is the most fun?
For me it's both the brainstorming phase, where I just let the ideas flow, and when you actually start to see the finished product, it might not be even halfway done but there's a point where u know exactly where the story is going like it's unfolding itself right before your eyes, at that point I start going "yes, this might actually be something" and it's so rewarding!
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These are good questions. 3,12, 22 for the meta asks?
:D thanks for asking!
3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)
The one that comes to mind at once was the ending of an android!Merlin fic i had actually started writing for the Kingsman fandom and never actually continued. I am keeping it vague because I still hold hope that one day I will sit down and finish it somehow. Which like would be surprising but at the same time not because I finished a lot of longer and/or older fic because I wanted to share one particular scene that is, of course, near the end of the fic.
I'm thinking the last 3 paragraphs of Of Flowers, Thunderstorm and Tranquility, the epilogue from There's Something About Us and the whole flash-backs scene from Messenger of War
12. Do you want your writing to be famous?
Not really. For the most part, I just wanna have fun while writing, make people/my friends happy and getting to read something I wouldn't be able to read otherwise.
And like I feel to be "famous", I'd have to write original stories but I much prefer writing for fandoms. Though I guess I could be a "famous" fic writer too, but that would happen completely unintentionnally on my part xD
22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
I do! A lot. Especially when I get a comment on an old fic or a fic I just don't remember what it is based on its title (i do have over 400 works on ao3 so like I don't feel bad about not remembering all my titles since some of them are kinda generic xD). Or sometimes I just go "oh yes, this story I wrote that was super self-indulgent, let's give it another read :3"
As for how I feel about them, well entertained that's for sure! I'm proud of all my fics, some more of others, but like I wouldn't have posted something I didn't like. Of course for some of the oldest ones I go "man, my writing *has* improved" because well, it has! I'm thinking fics like Only a fool would deny love that is one of my few multi-chaptered fics (i'm more of a "series" writer than a "multi-chapter" writer) and something like my second fic in Kingsman? And one of my longest one for a long time. But yeah when I reread such old world, I still love it to pieces but I can see where I could/would improve it if I were to write it now.
Will I ever rewrite any of my stuff tho? Hell nah. A bit of it is laziness, but mostly I like having these out there, see how even though this is very much a hobby for me and I don't consciously try to improve, I still did just because I kept writing over the years and sometimes I would/will challenge myself with shit like "let's write some descriptions for this fics!" or "let's start every scene in this fic with something other than a name"
meta ask; what do you think Azula does in the time between her last comic appearance and the LOK timeline (or her passing, whichever you think would happen first)?
Ahhh okay thank you for this!!! I’ve always wanted to talk about this!!
Okay, so... imo, I think Azula probably went underground with her supporters, where she could sort of wait and watch the political environment of the Fire Nation? During that time, she’d try to start contacting Zuko and trying to influence his rule. I do think, eventually, she would crop up irl with Zuko, and she would likely try to offer her services as an advisor again. The comics made it seem like she had given up trying to get the throne, so as she tries to help Zuko, I do think we could see a redemption arc here. (Personally, I actually hope this is where they take her arc in the comics.) Once her mental stability returns in full, which I imagine would be helped along by being home and in a far more stable situation, Azula would have a lot of things to unlearn, and then a lot to learn as well. All this done, I see her eventually becoming an advisor in the Fire Nation, a brilliant strategist, and someone who goes down in the history books as a very positive figure, and someone people began to look up to!
So, I do like to think she is still around for Legend of Korra. Azula would survive on pure spite, if only to outlive someone she really didn’t like, or out of some competition. Her personality wouldn’t change overly much, despite being good. She would still be the snarky, sometimes a bit mean princess she’s been from the start, just... on the right side of things. She would be a bit nicer than she used to be, less prone to cruelty. Overall, for those who have seen The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or either of the Mockingjay films, I think she would be much like Johanna Mason in personality once her switch to the good happened, and personally, I’d love to see it! Thanks for the ask, and sorry it took so long!!
