#rc tm

Confession:

(Warning: spoilers)

Here it is. The end of The Missing. It’s been my favorite since its initial release. Here are some things I loved about it.

• Every decision mattered. Every choice had a slightly different piece of the puzzle. Every choice had a slightly (or really) different consequence. It made the playthrough more exciting, compelling, and repeat playthroughs on slots so much fun! You know I’m gonna come back to finish my Mads and Kuno slot! Now that I’ve finished the Integrity ending, I might just go for that Corruption route!

• If I want to romance a prince, a scientist, a vampire, or demon, I have plenty of options. But there’s only ONE book where I can romance a dog sled musher. 🐕

• The way it handled religion. We had Christianity, Danish folklore, Old Norse religion, indigenous Greenlandic beliefs, and Safaa’s Islamic faith. All done respectfully. I wish all writers would handle the different cultures and religions in their stories this way.

• Diverse LIs. The standard now seems to be 1 black LI, 1 Asian or Latino LI, and at least 1 white LI. This time, we also got Arab and Inuit. Very cool.

• The chemistry and build up. The flirting between Yasin and Ghita. I was really to pounce on him by Ep 4. Forcing us to wait until Ep. 10 of season 1 was torture, but it made that kiss oh so good! The tension between Ghita and Mads, the drama, the suspicions and doubt, his tastes in the bedroom… Then there’s sweet Safaa. I wonder if Ghita and her actually marry on her route? Since Safaa’s faith was important to her, she wanted to wait until marriage to get intimate… so did they actually get married?

• The juicy love scenes. I think the really hot scenes often go to red flags, which I think is partially why they’re popular. But all the love scenes in The Missing are spicy! Even the greenest flags are 🥵!

The final 3 episodes

I really didn’t expect the rest of the police team to join the investigation. It was a real surprise. Found families are one of my favorite tropes so I loved getting to know the rest of them. Jorgensen turned out to be the Dad of the group. Who knew?

Hjalmer…. *sigh* I know it’s over, but can we have more of this guy? Can he be a LI in a new story? Idc if it’s that superhero/alien/slasher story. I just love him!

I love the way this was worked into the plot. It’s not a supernatural story (thank God!), but the way it was subtly woven in is imo more exciting and interesting than an overtly supernatural tie in. I can see the Danish pride in it, in the way it’s explained that it’s taught in their schools, the way they all knew the legends like it was just common knowledge. I honestly loved getting to know Denmark a little bit. I knew nothing about it prior to this story. It’s been wonderful to learn about the different legends, landmarks, complex history with Greenland, and demographics like the Somali and Syrian refugee populations.

Hoyer

Turns out I was right after all. Hoyer was indeed a big bad guy pulling strings. The extent of his corruption was much darker than I expected. I knew he was connected to bad stuff, but him actually being a fixer? I hadn’t expected that.

The fact that he actually told his wife to seek out Dahl is something. Weird, loving but weird. I guess her banging Dahl was her way of grieving. 🤨

The big reveals

As soon as I saw young Hoyer, I knew. I saw it. The resemblance.

For a very brief second I worried that O and Ghita might be brother and sister. But the truth was just sadder.

So Hoyer’s whole relationship with Ghita was because he realized she was the daughter of that one kill that was a mistake. Her search, her thesis, her pain was a result of his actions. He took her under his wing. I suspect it was partially because of guilt, but mostly to steer her away from suspecting him. Then it turned into genuine affection.

It’s sad. I really feel sad for Ghita. Her father figure has been ripped from her and now it’s muddled by who he truly was. The silver lining is that Ghita’s actual dad admitted he was a shit father and apologized. And he shows up now.

Yasin

I knew it was coming… it was an easy yes. BUT! I wanted the actual wedding, or at least a congratulatory dinner with the rest of his family! A final CG that wasn’t sex. It would’ve been wonderful to see Ghita gain a new healthy, loving family after the devastation of Hoyer’s secret life. That hole in her since childhood finally gets filled. Not from discovering the truth, but from building her own life with Yasin (or your chosen LI).

Plus, I love the Davouds. They were so cute! I wanted to see them one last time! 😭😭

Overall

I’m sad it’s over. I wish the last episodes had been longer. I feel like there were some loose ends that didn’t quite get tied up. The wedding, seeing the police crew we just got to know… Odin briefly mentioned Jannie and Saga, but we never actually saw them.

There was an offer to join the French investigation/Interpol? I think this was tied to that choice of what she wanted to do after it was all over. I chose to never talk about it again. I didn’t want to leave Denmark for France. But it would’ve been an interesting continuation of Ghita’s career off page.

I have a feeling that I’ll have to do those other playthroughs to get the rest of the picture.

Overall, I loved this book. Yasin became my favorite LI. That’s really saying something! I thought no one could take Livius’s spot, but he did it.

I can’t wait for what Faye has planned next! 😍

We’re happy to share this interview with Faye, prepared for the TG channel @rc_themissing.

A huge thank you to @manicpixelwench for taking the time to answer our questions and share her thoughts. Enjoy reading! 🩵

1. How many endings can we expect approximately?

Hard to say. Endings won't be pre-defined boxes, but collections of outcomes. Some good, some bad.

2. Will the relationship with Ghita’s father affect the ending?

I can't really answer anything about the ending.

3. How old is O?

You'll find out.

4. Is there any difference (and if so, what is it) between creating the framework of a regular story and a detective story?

Depends on what constitutes a “regular” story. In my experience, good storytelling is about gradual reveals and discoveries, whether they are related to policing/detective work or not. I don't think there's really a difference. I could be wrong, but if there is, I've not experienced it yet 😄

5. How was the image of O created and described, and who came first — Odette or Odin? They both look like such sexy bastards, perfectly fitting their characters. What references or face models did you use for them?

First Odin and then Odette. A GoC is to me just that - choice of gender. Personality and characteristics are the same. Now, there are changes in certain gestures and physicality because of the gender, but I treat them as the same person just born into two different bodies.

I referenced Mads Mikkelsen and that young blonde dude from House of Dragons originally.

6. Is there a chance we might one day read another detective-genre story from you?

Maybe the universes of these two stories could overlap somehow, and we could get a little reference to Ghita… (sorry, I’m just not emotionally ready to say goodbye to this story yet)

Time will tell. If we're still here in two years, who knows.

7. Could we have some interesting fact about Odette as a character?

Not really 😂😂 I don't want to reveal too much, the character is supposed to be a mystery.

8. How long before the events of the story did the main character become friends with Steve, Janni, and Saga?

Jannie was an old primary school friend, they would've been hanging out since early teens and onwards. Saga she met at University, they were probably on the same introductory course and became instantly friends. Steen would've started dating Jannie around 19-20 years (they would've met at trade school mixers) and been a staple in the group ever since, sibling- energy with Saga, in particular.

9. If you were a character, which setting would you want to find yourself in?

Adventure!

10. Is a positive dark ending with O possible?

Again, can't talk about endings.

11. Will our relationship with Mads affect our position at work? (Many organizations are against workplace relationships, but how will this affect our main character?)

Do you feel it has affected our position at work so far? What you have now is what there is. Whether that means it has been affected or not - I will leave that for you to decide 😄

12. Is there any chance the season could be extended, even for just a couple of episodes?

No, the length is the final length.

13. Will there be more tension or jealousy later in the story, given that Ghita previously cheated on Yasin with Mads and stayed with Mads? There were hints about this in the update (and thank you for them!), but I’d love to see more… I can already imagine these two arguing over who cares more and who cares best about Ghita and her well-being.

I'm not sure I can answer this. Maybe?

14. Who would O be/work as if they weren’t criminals?

I don't think there were other options.

15. Will O ever truly love Ghita or will it always stay an unhealthy obsession?

What is true love? Healthy obsession? Some people love from afar but never act on it, some go through the motions of affection, but don't really feel anything towards their partner. I don't think I can define love in the terms you're proposing (but you're welcome to, of course).

16. I loved the references to God Odin and Vølven. And I did research. I guess our god really needs her/his vølven for her/his great ragnarok. This is really exciting. Since you explained everything in the story, I will definitely not ask some things with excitement and wait for the new update, but our God really has a strong bond with his/her vølven, doesn't he? Does God need an vølven?

I was at the National Museum of Denmark last summer and they had an exhibition on about Vølven. I was actually there to look at the extensive Greenland collection, but had to check out this special exhibition. The GhitaxO dynamic is not EXACTLY as Odin’s relationship with vølven, but inspired by it.

17. Could you please tell us which settings appeal to you? Do you have any ideas about what the next story might be?

I have many ideas! I love mystery, but I'm also interested in good Vs evil. Nothing has been planned yet.

18. In this update, there’s a question from Safaa about whether Ghita had doubts about her profession, and then there was a choice affecting stats. Will there be a possibility in the finale to change the career path (maybe like becoming a professor at a department — I have no idea how else police work could evolve, sorry)? After all, the job is dangerous when thinking about the future.

This is another ending question 😂 I will only say that Ghita has had a rough time, and it's not uncommon that a person would think to themselves “I'm done with this…..” but in truth, be very much not done with this.

19. As we know, Ghita’s mother isn’t Danish. Does Ghita know the traditions/languages from her mother’s side? If not, will she explore her mother’s culture in the future?

No, I think all the way back in S1, she tells Safaa that her dad didn't really maintain contact with her mom’s family, so she has no relationship with her mother’s culture.

At some point, I imagine she would be interested if she finds the time.

20. What do you think about your story? Is it hard to say goodbye to the characters, or did you finally breathe a sigh of relief?

I love my story. I wrote something I would be the audience of myself. I created characters that I thought needed to be included in narratives. I don't think it's hard to say goodbye, because I did everything I could to do it justice. I hope the book will continue to live on without me when it's over.

21. Is the Safaa route asexual, or is it all just related to religious beliefs? It seemed to me that it could be a mix of values and asexuality, or perhaps somewhere on the spectrum (for example, demisexuality).

No, she's not asexual, but she's Muslim and lesbian, and her story is more about how she deals with these two things than sex.

22. Hello, I wonder what kind of Saga's most and least favorite genre novel? Also is she also into game visual novels?

Saga likes booktok and the wilder, the better. I think she gets annoyed at the repetitiveness in some books (strong-willed teenager face adversity and gets to have wild sex with girthy men) and is therefore regularly seduced by stories that promise extremely unhinged behaviour. I guess she would be into VNs if she knew they existed.

23. Will we see Ghita and Safaa getting married (if yes, then when?) or will Safaa eventually change her mind and be alright with sex before marriage?

Mix of previous answers.

24. We really curious about the thought process behind Odette’s name, we all know about Odin, the big mighty god but Odette as in a name it’s not that popular and also it isn’t a god’s name so did you choose it just because it starts with an “O” or does it have a special meaning or a place for you? Why not another god’s name or a nordic mythological name?

Another god would've been another god, so that wouldn't work.

Odine sounds like a woman who's your grandmother’s grandmother.

I think Odette is pretty.

Faye also responded to some sweet messages from fans🤍: