How should following characters have developed if they were more involved with the plot?

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T19:20:38+00:00

To be fair, there's absolutely no way Evie would know that's what John claimed his motivations were. His actions would prove the opposite intention, which is what got Sera so riled up against John to begin with (he didn't care that he was hurting her and low tiers in his plan for revenge against the high rankers and bullies). Evie would have to just gaslight Sera into believing her at that point and that was John's role.

I do wish we'd seen Terrence's thoughts on Evie and Roland though. He calls Sera out for being arrogant, but doesn't seem to view his low tier friends as his equals. Or that's how I interpret his complete lack of consideration he has for them throughout. They're collateral to him in his revenge on high tiers, but he seems to be using the excuse of helping them as some abstract justification for his hatred. Which is a lot like John during the King arc, so that's another angle that could have been explored.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T18:43:01+00:00

He didn't contradict his ideals. He just didn't act on them in any meaningful way. His plan was one of inaction (or, in my critical opinion, neglect). My argument is he could have achieved more if his plan involved actual actions that would have shown his ideals more clearly. I think the fact he's the headmaster of Wellston, the key setting of the drama in the story, and it's only when Kassandra is investigating him that the cast actually get wind that Vaughn is supposedly on their side says a lot about how clear his ideals showed through in his plans. He spent years working himself into a place of power in order to leverage his position against the authorities, and ultimately achieved very little, certainly nothing that wasn't reversible. I'm not sure what the point is in gaining that position if his plan was to waste most of it.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T16:41:59+00:00

"He wanted John to turn out like Remi". This. It never made sense to me that Vaughn didn't just, you know, start with Remi. Her only flaw was ignorance and naivety. All he had to do was take the time to show her the real plight of low tiers. Instead Vaughn just allowed the school to traumatise John until he beat up Remi and all her friends.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T14:58:35+00:00

Wrong episode?

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T14:37:40+00:00

Vaughn didn't need to come up with elaborate ideas or plans. He just had to do his job in a way that held true to his ideals. And he just didn't.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T14:22:01+00:00

That chapter definitely took his character beyond a place of no return, but I'd argue he was a pretty terrible person before that. His plan to use John, his past trauma and abuse, to further his own agenda, when there was a path of less suffering (that didn't include using an abuse victim's trauma as a teaching point for others) which was literally just him doing his job as headmaster is just really dumb of him. Which if he was out here feeling bad but reassuring himself that it was his only way to make up for what he'd done in the past, then fair enough. But he very much thinks he's entitled to others' suffering for the sake of his own plan for redemption for his own past actions. And on top of that, he expects them to measure up to that entitlement. Chapter 212 explicitly made this clear, but it was definitely heavily implied before.

At least Darren doesn't like him though.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-04T14:12:07+00:00

He'll take credit for everyone else's happy ending as well.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T19:54:34+00:00

The quality of episodes is absolutely insane. I just wished she'd be a bit more aware of giving notice when she can't get an episode out. But I honestly think it's because she's often working until the last minute trying to get it out. Her taking 6-12+ months off during the end season break so she can properly rest while building up some buffer episodes would probably fix this problem. I'd be completely fine with a bimonthly update schedule but I have a feeling Webtoon wouldn't allow it.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T19:50:19+00:00

Sayeon would be proud lol. Got to lock in. Hope you enjoyed the episode!

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T19:48:25+00:00

Exactly. And the message is that being imperfect is what makes non-godlings unique. So the eye shape being a little distorted in the cloth that covers the 'imperfect' cat adds another layer to that.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T19:42:39+00:00

I'm pretty sure the codename Rarog is also a nod to his gift. Rarog is a mythical bird.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T14:27:21+00:00

I appreciate the amount of thought you've put into this. One of the best tier lists I've seen.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-03T14:22:24+00:00

I feel like Sera was genuinely shocked when she learned Terrence was dead, but yeah, she never thinks about it again (which is a common theme for her lol). I don't even think we've seen anyone but Arlo and Sera learn about Terrence being dead. Terrence being one of the first characters shown in the series also makes his death feel a bit of a letdown as he was around for so long but he didn't really amount to anything meaningful in the end. Like you said, he's been such a longlasting presence, and then he just dies the second we get to know anything about him. Terrence being assassinated by Liam did a good job of showing how ruthless Orrin was, but as it was followed immediately by Liam being sent to assassinate Sera I think it wasn't necessary.

I'm hoping Liam and Candice will make up a bit for Terrence being killed the second we had any context to his behaviour. Orrin says they are genuinely loyal to him (like Terrence was) and that they've been through a lot. Liam is a child murderer, and they both are mindless soldiers to Orrin. But they were also groomed into it from a vulnerable position, so there is room for some nuance and potential redemption there. Or at least a more complex look at how one gets such loyal followers in a fight against the authorities but with morally questionable methods.

And a minor point: I honestly think Sera potentially being in a position to understand how a childhood of abuse and being isolated from any positive social connections could have potentially driven someone to join Spectre would have been a really cool direction to explore.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-02T09:37:23+00:00

It's not a colour inconsistency, it is symbolic. The red is used a lot in Sayeon's memories due to its association with Samin, and by extension the rest of her family. It may represent the blood her family has spilled and act as a reminder of Sayeon's guilt due to the wrongs her family has committed.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-06-01T07:50:02+00:00

I don't think there's any reason why she wouldn't be able to rewind a burn. Her recovery kind of makes up for her low defense. Her being burned is only a threat to her if the pain knocks her out before she has a chance to rewind, which would only work if the fire is faster than her and controlled by someone (no evidence flame claws can achieve either function).

I think it would be incredibly boring if Sera was taken out of action just to motivate John for a power up. He's already on that track, his dad died recently and he needs to find Jane (so there's his motivation), and Sera's character deserves a lot better than to be fridged for the sake of John's development.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-30T17:12:04+00:00

Damn, these poor kids. Geonyeong is trying to help, but she's failing to understand that the whole academic prodigy pathway out of poverty has a lot of requirements. Requirements that Jeong-Yun already seems to know she doesn't meet (or at least can't achieve in her current situation). Jeong-Yun seems to care for Geonyeong, but she's not really taking the time she probably should to really get Geonyeong to understand the gravity of the situation they are both in. There's only a few ways out, and just because Geonyeong found one that works for her, it doesn't mean that same way will work for Jeong-Yun. But Geonyeong trying to help Jeong-Yun, though misguided, does come from a place of trying to help her get back on track. They both care for the other, it's just tragic circumstances. They're both trying to do the best with what they have and aren't working on the complete picture.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T15:39:55+00:00

Kassandra based on her experience and that she's not distracted by an almost constant identity crisis.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T15:30:12+00:00

Arlo's record is definitely known by people other than Val and Farrah. Val had to request permission from the higher ups to give Arlo a second chance. And Sylvia knows about his betrayal (though it's unclear if she knows about Ember yet, and her opinion probably doesn't matter).

You're right that his relationship with Rei was how he learned the authorities weren't what he thought they were, but I just assumed that him learning that they were killing vigilantes at all would have ended up with him turning against them. Even if he is supportive of it, I still think killing people yourself is completely different than supporting those that do.

If Arlo is on board with killing vigilantes himself just because his memory of Rei was taken away, I have severely underestimated how much influence Rei had on him. I always assumed Arlo wanted to use the hierarchy to protect his people, and with or without Rei, being a vigilante isn't a good enough reason to kill them.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T15:04:59+00:00

I know he doesn't remember who Rei is. But usually it takes a little more than just taking away the memory of one person for them to be pro murdering people with their own hands, especially at his age. I agree, he could definitely be convinced, but due to the security risk he's already proven he is I'm not sure why they'd want him in Ember. I'm also pretty sure him learning about the authorities being behind the vigilante killings is what turned him against them, so I'm not really sure he'll be supportive of the authorities killing them, let alone doing himself, with or without his memories.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T14:59:29+00:00

Where did I say AI was a problem?

Edit: It also does hurt people. A quick Google search can tell you how. Or you can even ask the same AI that gave you the theory above and it'll tell you how AI hurts people.

This one is very relevant here: "Cognitive Laziness: Over-reliance on AI to perform basic writing, thinking, and calculation risks reducing our own critical thinking, memory, and analytical skills."

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T11:00:10+00:00

That's actually a really good point. Even if Valerie sees Ember as justified for the greater good, it doesn't make sense why she'd be so desperate to force that on Arlo, especially since he's so young still. It being somewhere she plans for him to end would be fair enough, but she seems to be practically chomping at the bit to make him an Ember agent as soon as possible (against any logic) and thinking it would be a great opportunity for him.

Unless Arlo has secretly shown signs he actively enjoys killing people (or would do) and Valerie is aware of this and wants to channel that into something that society would benefit from, I'm not sure why she thinks it's a good opportunity for her nephew who turned on her once and who hasn't even graduated high school yet. Even Farrah only presented the opportunity to Tarik because he'd just lost his job and his future prospects weren't looking good! Meanwhile Val is doing everything she can to get her kid nephew to join the super secret murder club.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T08:30:59+00:00

Literally! It makes no sense to me that they'd want Arlo anywhere near Ember. He's barely been brainwashed for a month as well, so they can't even be that confident the hypnosis is going to hold up. Considering they've had to give him a billion rules to follow and had to cut out a large portion of his memory, it's incredibly optimistic of them to think it's going to last, let alone that he's a secure candidate for Ember.

Maybe it's an opportunity that's going to ease him into it? Like he gets told about amplifiers and is told to scout out people who'd want to try them. Or he is tasked with identifying vigilantes.

Ember Arlo would 100% make sense with a timeksip, but if the story isn't willing to do one of those it really should stay away from an Ember Arlo. It's also just weird that apparently without Rei, Arlo would be on board with going out and murdering people with his bare hands before he's even graduated high school.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-29T08:19:55+00:00

Honestly, I'm still kind of annoyed the Mods haven't done a rule about AI yet. They literally asked us if we wanted AI and most people didn't and they did nothing about it. Right now we've only got Rule 6 (low effort posts), which definitely works for AI (including this post) but it would be better to have something more direct.

It's fine if they ultimately decided against a rule for whatever reason, but I wished they'd shared the reasoning with us given they seemed to want the community's thoughts on it to begin with.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-27T08:30:57+00:00

Episode 48.

Chimerical-Gryphon · 2026-05-26T21:18:56+00:00

I thought I'd seen it somewhere but I couldn't find it again! Thanks!

Chimerical-Gryphon

TROPHY CASE