"I Would Kill For You. I Would Die For You" Would You Take A Break For Me? Would You Sit Down And Rest?

especially after the events of olympus it is paramount that fgo players understand that they are not above the narrative, and the story’s antagonists will never be as cartoonish and one-dimensional as they might think they are. their motivations, their thoughts, and their goals will always be more complex than the most surface level reading, and often you will not know what they are right away. passing judgment upon them is stupid, the decisions they’ve made come from far more gray and far less lenient circumstances. it’s always been that way. you are not immune to making those same choices. that’s the point. from the earliest days of the fate series, way back during the original vn era, one of the most compelling and prevalent ideas within the story was you might have something in common with your worst enemy. you might have also walked down their path had your roles been reversed. you cannot say you could have objectively done better or worse simply because you have the benefit of hindsight and because your experiences were different. shit, ubw smacks you on the head with this by making its main protagonist and main antagonist the same fucking person.

this is especially evident with the crypters. everyone wants to brand them as insecure, jealous, holier-than-thou mass murderers. this is disproven as early as lostbelt 1. kadoc didn’t take part in the bleaching of the earth’s surface. he says explicitly that when he woke up from cryostasis, the world had already been bleached. he wasn’t truly jealous of you, he was taking out the trauma of being denied a purpose and then dying out on someone like him. had guda been in his position, they would’ve reacted the same. he cools off in lostbelt 2, which is why he is kinder and happy to see your gaze has regained some measure of resolve.

ophelia, akuta, and pepe also reinforce this. none of them took part of the bleaching, and they killed no one. the bleaching was all the alien god. the lostbelts were all the work of the alien god. the only thing here that matters is that the alien god chose wodime as their emissary, and the other crypters were expendable. kirschtaria did not accept this. he would not abandon his friends, his comrades, his family. the choice was to cooperate with the alien god or die. could you have seriously, in all honesty, chosen differently? could you, knowing the entire earth was doomed by a product of its history, honestly have decided to keel over and taken your loved ones down with you? could you look me in the eye with zero bullshit and zero hesitation and tell me to my face you wouldn’t have chosen to cooperate if it meant you had an opportunity to turn things around so none of those billions of deaths were for nothing and the world wouldn’t belong to the being behind that destruction?

the lostbelt competition was a foregone conclusion. everyone knew kirschtaria was going to win, because the contest was designed that way. the alien god only intended for kirschtaria to win, and kirschtaria knew this. which is why he used his connection to the crypters as leverage. the other lostbelts were never meant to survive, they were kirschtaria’s way of keeping the crypters out of the alien god’s watch. that’s why kadoc, pepe, and beryl weren’t killed by kirschtaria when their lostbelts went SNAFU. it is an immensely cruel thing to do to all those worlds and all those lives, yet would you have done differently? if the lives of your loved ones were at stake, if you were being surveilled at all times with a gun to your head ready to pull the trigger at the slightest disobedience, would you have been so reckless as to put the people you cared about in harm’s way? because that’s what kirschtaria’s position was. the alien god was ready to crush kirschtaria’s heart if he broke their contract, and tipping off the crypters that he intended to do so would’ve gotten them all killed.

ultimately, that’s what drives the conflict between chaldea and the crypters. the shared need to survive pitting them against each other. there is no guarantee chaldea can restore proper human history, and wodime could not take that chance when he had a plan of his own and the clear methods with which to accomplish it. a new world, a new humanity, free to make new mistakes and reach new heights, free from the grip of the gods, free from the grip of the systemic forces that plagued not just the lostbelts but proper human history itself.

and i need to stress that the story isn’t trying to justify the deaths (if we can even call them that, in all likelihood) of 7 billion people by trying to say “maybe wodime was right!” what the story is saying is that, if there was a staggering loss of life, what alternative would humanity have to even have hope of moving forward? through lostbelts 1 - 4, you may be helping these worlds die peacefully, but you are still letting them die over the chance that you might restore proper human history. your success is an uncertain inkling, yet you have no choice but to move forward and accrue suffering to make sure NONE of those deaths are in vain. you are not judged for it, because the story knows there is no right or wrong answer to this kind of conflict, and the same principle applies to the crypters.

need i remind you that olympus ends with people being crushed by buildings, abandoning all hope, quivering and perishing in absolute terror as the only world they’ve ever known crumbles around them and the only beings that could save them were killed by your hand and by your order because there was no other way out. it is a gruesome death, an unsightly death. and it is brought about by your actions, and it is a terrible burden. and it is the exact same burden carried by kirschtaria, because he was a member of team A tasked with safeguarding humanity, and he failed. he does not claim that proper human history is full of too many mistakes to salvage because he is above them. he claims so because he also made mistakes in his own limited existence and doesn’t want that for whatever humanity can still exist in the world he means to make.

and you know what? kirschtaria even understands what you’re doing. he is the only one who can. he cannot agree but he understands. which is why he never denies you the opportunity to prove yourself. he opposes you, challenges you, dares you. but he never denies you. he says “you think you can bring back proper human history? prove it. prove you have the conviction necessary to bear it and beat me with it.” and then you do. because he wanted you to, because he believed in you from the very start that you could do it if you set your mind to it because kirschtaria wodime for better or worse believes in mankind, and you do too.

so, tl;dr you and the crypters are the same do not be so arrogant as to pretend you are better than the story and you are the perfect blameless unbiased judge of everything ever because you look really stupid doing that

I drew Melt and then I was like, “well, now I have to draw ALL of my faves…”

… I guess I didn’t have anything better to do anyway

Your headcanons are amazing! Could you please do some about fem!master bringing Enkidu, who's been with them since Orleans, to the Babylonia singularity and meeting CasGil? How would their relationship go? And how it would affect wise king's attitude towards the master? Maybe trio interactions (I'm sorry if it's too specific)

note: im so sorry for being late anon :< was preoccupied but i hope you like this one as well! it will turn angst though nyehehe. I deliberately left it to be read as platonic or romantic

Gilkidu and Fem!Master headcanons

♡ Once Enkidu receives the news of a Babylonia singularity, he would have mixed emotions as he would be going back to his homeland yet it isn't his own, although he wouldn't show it outwardly.

♡ His master, who has been close to Enkidu would notice it even at the start as she knows Enkidu, so she would ask him about it.

"It is nothing of concern, Master." Enkidu says with a smile, trying to reassure her, "I had simply had thoughts regarding my past, but I assure you, it would be fine."

♡ With that, his master turns back with a sigh, often trying to make Enkidu ease but until realizing she could trust him with his own feelings and lets it be until he wants to be open with her regarding the matter.

♡ On the day of the rayshift, the two bravely face it and sooner or later encounter Ishtar (and therefore bonking her abit) and Caster Gilgamesh yet Enkidu is quickly faced with a problem upon them entering the singularity.

"There is someone who is the same as me, Master."

♡ While neither of them had understood it at first, it was obvious when they had spotted a being using chains as a weapon as well as the general confusion of the citizens and Ishtar herself upon seeing Enkidu, mistaking him for Kingu, who was an enemy.

♡ The master and Enkidu himself tries to reassure everyone that they aren't enemies and demonstrate Enkidu's personality differences from the more battle-hungry Kingu.

♡ As for King Gil, his affections for his friend will not overrule the priorities he has which is - keeping Babylonia safe. However, he will entertain you more as a form of respect for his only friend.

♡ Because of this as well, Gilgamesh sticks by you and Enkidu's side, making excuses and bringing Siduri a headache. Whether if its pushing back monsters or helping the people do chores, Gilgamesh would use it.

♡ Battles would also be followed by a more grand victory celebrations as per Gilgamesh's orders. Wine and good food would be passed around alighting you and the others servants' will to fight - to help the people, with you, Gil and Enkidu always being the last ones left.

♡ It is likely that Gilgamesh would be more open to you as you bought his real bestfriend back. Kingu would be much more aggressive in killing, you, the female master as Enkidu's existence makes his life null.

♡ This results in much more harder fights, with the master being pushed to the brim as she seems people drop lifeless easily as if they never mattered. However with Enkidu and Gil supporting you, you gain your senses to be able to fight back and defeat tiamat.

literally though if you feel like your life is slipping through your fingers and every day goes too fast… try doing hard things, not just taking the easy route, like reading and making art and exercising and cooking a meal from scratch and journaling, doing these things without distraction, without being absorbed on a screen… the time will stretch and you’ll be reminded that life is long and beautiful if you make it so.

Something I don't think we talk enough about in discussions surrounding AI is the loss of perseverance.

I have a friend who works in education and he told me about how he was working with a small group of HS students to develop a new school sports chant. This was a very daunting task for the group, in large part because many had learning disabilities related to reading and writing, so coming up with a catchy, hard-hitting, probably rhyming, poetry-esque piece of collaborative writing felt like something outside of their skill range. But it wasn't! I knew that, he knew that, and he worked damn hard to convince the kids of that too. Even if the end result was terrible (by someone else's standards), we knew they had it in them to complete the piece and feel super proud of their creation.

Fast-forward a few days and he reports back that yes they have a chant now... but it's 99% AI. It was made by Chat-GPT. Once the kids realized they could just ask the bot to do the hard thing for them - and do it "better" than they (supposedly) ever could - that's the only route they were willing to take. It was either use Chat-GPT or don't do it at all. And I was just so devastated to hear this because Jesus Christ, struggling is important. Of course most 14-18 year olds aren't going to see the merit of that, let alone understand why that process (attempting something new and challenging) is more valuable than the end result (a "good" chant), but as adults we all have a responsibility to coach them through that messy process. Except that's become damn near impossible with an Instantly Do The Thing app in everyone's pocket. Yes, AI is fucking awful because of plagiarism and misinformation and the environmental impact, but it's also keeping people - particularly young people - from developing perseverance. It's not just important that you learn to write your own stuff because of intellectual agency, but because writing is hard and it's crucial that you learn how to persevere through doing hard things.

Write a shitty poem. Write an essay where half the textual 'evidence' doesn't track. Write an awkward as fuck email with an equally embarrassing typo. Every time you do you're not just developing that particular skill, you're also learning that you did something badly and the world didn't end. You can get through things! You can get through challenging things! Not everything in life has to be perfect but you know what? You'll only improve at the challenging stuff if you do a whole lot of it badly first. The ability to say, "I didn't think I could do that but I did it anyway. It's not great, but I did it," is SO IMPORTANT for developing confidence across the board, not just in these specific tasks.

Idk I'm just really worried about kids having to grow up in a world where (for a variety of reasons beyond just AI) they're not given the chance to struggle through new and challenging things like we used to.

Cons of having Fae Eyes: You'll never trust anyone. Pros of having Fae Eyes: Every word can be a love confession.

based on arlecchinos voiceline about her not being able to understand the hearth kids' slang, here are some scenarios me and my friend came up with:

hearth kids: "skibidi rizz, why are you watching cocomelon, thats not ratioed. you need to start mewing"

arle, sitting in the corner: "what the fuck are you saying"

lyney, trying to explain what camp means

arle: *head in hands, about to go up in flames because she feels old*

"why are you coming out of the closet? we're in a hallway, there is no closet?"

"What do you mean you think it's time to come out? We're already outside?"

"who did you slay? do i need to bury a body for you?"

arle, to lyney: "wait i thought you were going to be the next king of the hearth. why is everyone calling you a queen?"

"Lynnette why did you write 'slay pussy boss' on the report about Furina I had you make?"

Arle: you can't do that anymore freminet. That's against the rules

Freminet: okay miss girl

Arle: ???? I am a woman???

lyney: "youre gaslighting and gatekeeping, but youre not girlbossing"

arle: "i actually did gaslight last night. i burned that one rich guys house down. i thought i told you about that?"

"What do you mean you've been afflicted with 'brain rot' are you okay?!?!"

"drag queen? to where? are they angry at miss furina again?"

arle, to lyney: "why are they calling me and columbina fruity? my cologne smells nothing like fruit"

lyney: "father, why do you have that look on your face?"

arle: "WHY IS EVERYONE CALLING ME AN EGG"

arle: "top energy? bottom energy? if you want to succeed in the house of the hearth, then you must have top energy at all times and never fall behind"

lyney: "no thats- thats not what they meant"

"lynette, why are the kids calling neuvillette babygirl?"

"serving cunt? please dont do that, thats unsanitary"

can we take a moment to just think about how incredibly scary magical healing is in-context?

You get your insides ripped open but your friend waves his hands and your flesh just pulls back together, agony and evisceration pulling back to a ‘kinda hurts’ level of pain and you’re physically whole, with the 100% expectation that you’ll get back up and keep fighting whatever it was that struck you down the first time.

You break your arm after falling somewhere and after you’re healed instead of looking for ‘another way around’ everybody just looks at you and goes “okay try again”.

You’ve been fighting for hours, you’re hungry, thirsty, bleeding, crying from exhaustion, and a hand-wave happens and only two of those things go away. you’re still hungry, you’re still weak from thirst, but the handwave means you have ‘no excuse’ to stop.

You act out aggressively maybe punch a wall or gnash your teeth or hit your head on something and it’s hand-waved because it’s ‘such a small injury you probably can’t even feel it anymore’ but the point was that you felt it at all?

Your pain literally means nothing because as long as you’re not bleeding you’re not injured, right? Here drink this potion and who cares about the emotional exhaustion of that butchered village, why are you so reserved in camp don’t you think it’s fun retelling that time you fell through a burning building and with a hand-wave you got back up again and ran out with those two kids and their dog? 

Older warriors who get a shiver around magic-users not because of the whole ‘fireball’ thing but the ‘I don’t know what a normal pain tolerance is anymore’ effect of too much healing. Permanent paralysis and loss of sensation in limbs is pretty much a given in the later years of any fighter’s life. Did I have a stroke or did the mage just heal too hard and now this side of my face doesn’t work? No i’m not dead from the dragon’s claws but I can’t even bend my torso anymore because of how the scar tissue grew out of me like a vine.

Magical healing is great and keeps casualties down.

But man.

That stuff is scary.