#ochlanque

Here's the final, really final, post before I go hiatus. Like literally final. I swear this is the last time.

Chopped sketch of Lanque design and a lil thought of mine abt OchLanque?

[Have you guys considered pre-godhood short-haired Lanque?]

Maybe Lanque did truly love Och-Kan, but in the "God loves you, but not enough to save you" manner.

He loved him enough to save him from his father's neglect and experimental abuse.

Loved him enough to lift his spirit and gave him a family/friend group in the form of the gang.

And whatever else he did, it was enough for Och-Kan to feel extremely grateful to him and dedicated his entire life for Lanque's dream.

But his love wasn't enough for him to :

• Not making him a pawn of his gamble with his father. (Xbalanque mayhaps chose Och-Kan as his successor to fulfill the end of his bargain with Kukulkan; keeping the Golden Entreaties separated to keep the Huitzilopochtli from getting activated.)

Kukulkan: Whatever the case, he knew what Huitzilopochtli was, and naturally, my alliance with him through Och-Kan was meant to prevent its activation. - An Omen of Annihilation and the Final Entreaty

• Not helping him overcome his hatred towards dragons... like, wanting to make peace with the dragons but picking the most racist man alive as your successor? I get that that kind of self-hatred could only be erased if the person willed it so, but... putting that person straight to the top... what do you think gonna happen vro😭 like I think what Och-Kan needed was therapy, not absolute authority.

• Still related to the point above... unless, he did know the consequences of it.

Because he did.

Xbalanque knew what would happen if Och-Kan reigned. Because he knew the future.

Before the fire-stealing sage could speak, the god who pronounced death came forth without warning and showed the human Archon the arc of fate.It was a terrifying vision beyond human ken, a future with even less hope than draconic tyranny... He saw the tainted one [Och-Kan], defiled and devoured by the black abyss, yet nonetheless fighting to the last for humanity's sake. He saw the artisan whose eyes were dyed with golden tears [Manqu], who, alongside the crimson-eyed youth [Scarlet-Eyed Hero], ensured that the Sacred Flame would endure. He saw the lost tribe wandering the land, their warriors still fighting for freedom. He saw the warm blood, offered unto the burning sparks of stars that lit up the long night, until a thousand suns had risen... - A Thousand Blazing Suns. Mavuika's sign.

He knew Och-Kan would suffer. He would Och-Kan would transform painfully into the draconic form he hated. He knew that Och-Kan would doom the city. He knew that Och-Kan would suffer for countless millenia in the form he hated, getting used as a tool by his father to snatch human souls.

He knew. He knew.

But he let it.

Why?

Because through Och-Kan's misery, and Ochkanatlan's misery as a whole, came the Scarlet-Eyed Youth, his successor, the 2nd Pyro Archon. Came the lineages of Pyro Archons who would protect Natlan for posterity. Came the time when Natlan perhaps would finally prevail against the Abyss.

His hope for a better, distant future came was built from Och-Kan's misery.

He used Och-Kan for that hope.

He loved Och-Kan, but if he were to pick between him and Natlan, he'd pick Natlan in a heartbeat.

Well, he already did that.