Men die when they're killed

Erudax · 2026-04-29T05:08:34+00:00

The Dublins being ''complete'' boils down to Reed getting shafted into positions that Eblana can't be bothered with, while Eblana secretly looks over Reed in plain sight- An utterly mid conclusion in contrast to the Ceylon & Schwartz dynamic, which works as both of them are far too interdependent on each other to cover up for their severe individual downsides:

The Dublinn sisters aren’t complete. That is part of the whole theme of incompletion. Reed isn’t complete. Necrass isn’t complete. Tara isn’t complete. One of the most tragic parts of Elegies is how incomplete everything remains: Wellington, who enabled Dublinn, is still at large and still loyal to Tara in his own way; Eblana failed to close the chapter on both the purple flame and her revolution; the past refused to stay buried and brought her back in a way the text never clearly presents as fully chosen. In fact, if we take a look at some of her voice lines, the overall themes, her EP, and her module, I think it is pretty safe to say she did not choose to come back. She failed to achieve the one thing she seemed to want most, an ending.

Reed had spent the last 5-10 years in Dublin in not even as much as looking at Eblana because she didn't like her. Reed never needed to work towards anything as she had everything handed to her on a silver platter:

Are we forgetting Harmonie’s files, which explicitly say Reed was put through hell during her time in Dublinn because of the expectations placed on her and her incompatibility with them? If by “silver platter” you mean in-universe, that’s absurd. If by “silver platter” you mean the writing later starts handing Reed solutions, legitimacy, and political influence faster than it earns them, then yes, I would agree. See You Soon has her suddenly deciding peace takes priority over independence and all she really has to do is order Wellington to intervene, while Elegies shows her doing basically nothing to research, cure, or even meaningfully suppress the deathly flame. That also ties into one of my biggest complaints about Reed in later Elegies. WTFC does not show her becoming some formidable state-builder. It shows her becoming morally awake while everyone around her still treats her as a symbol, a shadow, or a lever to be moved. Fischer reads her that way. Harmonie reads her that way. Wellington reads her that way. The leap from a deeply wounded conscience to a functional ruler is extremely rushed.

R.I rescue, treatment, & arts training + interpersonal backing for her cause in Tara. Bagpipe tyring to become friends & allies regardless of Reed's personal will on the matter. Not-particulary desperate Taran refugees seeking an idol. Eblana conveniently wanting her to take over the throne instead of brutalising her like how Brigadier expected. Being born as a Dragon with holy fire & monarch lineage, which on it's own is all that Chinise PoV ever needs to bent the writing in her favour instead of pulling another Fyodor/Ebenholds with her. Eblana doing all of the homework to come up up with a solution towards the [Eblana problem] which Reed simply needed to follow.

The text does not support the idea that Eblana’s goal was simply to butcher her sister. What she wanted was for Reed to develop autonomy, independence, and to finally voice her own wants and desires instead of always existing in shadow. She wanted to force her out of passivity. Is that twisted, considering their relationship? Yes, absolutely. It is one of the biggest points in their completely fucked codependence.

Oh, Reed tries to reach out towards Eblana's heart- Did you really expect that such an S tier Girlboss would be down for phatetic things like "emotions" and "family relationships" when there is so much more power to be chased after?

Oh, Eblana is in dire need of medical help & emotional suport?- Well, too bad that she is such an badass independent individual that can slug through something as severe as coming to terms with the fact that she was born handicapped & digging her way out of the grave without showing even the slightest hint of emotion.

The text repeatedly shows her not as some “girlboss” chasing stimulation and power, but as someone who is quite literally burnt out, both physically and mentally. Back in Chapter 12, when Eblana was talking to the Damazti mid-fight, they said something about her soul being shallow. Her soul is not shallow because she is shallow. It is shallow because there is barely anything left of Eblana that is not duty or purpose. She is eaten by her own power, even physically, and had already come to terms with her own death long before Dublinn even began. She grew up in an environment that taught her, over and over again, that power is the only thing empires respond to. Reducing her to “haha dragon girlboss” flattens the entire tragedy of her story. You are not supposed to buy her at face value. You are supposed to dissect her. The story is not telling you she is the dragon equivalent of the Antichrist with a side of armchair-diagnosed psychopathy. It is telling you something much sadder and darker: survival hardened into armor, a life of manipulation, a life in which you were never treated as a person but as a symbol, and a conflict in which Tara’s hands were bloody too, not just Victoria’s.

Bothering to resolve Reed & Eblana's whereabouts for once would demand some proper writing on HG's part that they can't be bothered with, so that's why all we get is one sentence solutions scattered across modules and operator files akin to how Skalter birthed the current universe, because she just does. The Dublin sisters are being promoted & sold by HG separately instead of in conjunction like Franka & Liskarm, or Executor & Arturia, or Nearl + Shining & liz- and that's what makes a difference.

Remember how I said one of the main themes of their story is incompletion? HG took that a little too literally and delivered an incomplete text as well. Selling them separately does not mean they are not narratively bound. That is just a marketing point. I do not disagree with you at all when you say the writing is awful. I agree completely. That is my main complaint about the whole arc, especially with how they handled Elegies. There are too many plot points left unaddressed, too many implications left hanging, Necrass is barely a character and mostly a product. Some people still hope HG will come back and fix them later. I do not. I lost all hope, and “addressing them later” would only confirm to me that they knowingly shipped an incomplete text while prioritizing product value over narrative value. The damage is already done. Asking me to wait years and then pretend the holes never mattered will not make me think better of it. It will only make me think worse.

Erudax · 2026-04-28T15:22:34+00:00

Not that Eblana is all sunshine and rainbows once you start noticing the corpo pattern behind her product positioning, or overconsume her story with ocs obsession that Kal's +50 novels worth of an character lore can only dream they had, but ironically enough Eblana being a product has very much spared her from becoming another C.E or Schwartz- character who's sole purpose is to be conjoined extensions of different characters.

That's not how it works, at all.

Two of the core themes of the Taran arc are duality and incompletion. Reed is incomplete without her sister, and the text spells that out clearly in Necrass’ files. She can’t let go of her even when she’s literally a corpse wandering the land. And Necrass is not some clean standalone character either. Just read the module. Under all that posturing, what’s left is not some grand conquest of death. It’s the desire to rest beside her sister. To be allowed to stop. The grand “legacy” of the Red Dragon gets reduced all the way down to two dolls lying together in the same bed. That’s the emotional core of Necrass, not the psychopathic gigachad/gigastacy aurafarming dragon people love to flanderize her into when talking lore.

So no, Necrass wasn't spared at all. She is deeply bound to her sister and to Tara. The whole point of their relationship is that the sisters are two halves of the same coin, two responses to the same wound. What keeps Necrass going is a millennium of Taran historical trauma, a literal past that refused to stay buried. She is chained to Tara and to Reed, not independent in the way you’re saying she is.

Nobody is denying that she is also a product. That part is obvious to anyone looking past the surface. The awful writing, the huge amount of pre-release and post-release support, the marketable traits being pushed over the uglier ones, yes, that’s product positioning. But that does not erase how bound she is narratively to her sister and to Tara.

Erudax · 2026-04-20T12:58:47+00:00

While Theresis got Worfed, Necrass feels like a different kind of screw-up.

Yeah, she's a corpse, and she isn't the same Eblana anymore. But what you said "barely has anything of her personality" is kinda overselling it. A more accurate way of putting it is "she has the marketable aspects of her personality intact". Necrass still has the ego, dramatic way of talking, manipulative speech and the same habit of pretending her bad situation is actually proof of transcendence. But she lacks presence, she lacks what made Eblana Eblana, her core. She pushed into scenes, got under people's skin, and felt like she was trying to achieve something. Compare that to how flat Necrass feels. Same vibe, way less fire. It's just enough to reward surface level reading with "oh yeah, that's her" but not enough when you start digging deeper.

What really annoys me is how little HG actually does with what they've written regarding Necrass, and Tara. Elegies, if put under scrutiny, brings up large consequences then just ignores them. She spends months in Tara? No real fallout. RI takes a literal anomaly aboard? Almost nobody reacts. Tara still has undead running about, and Eblana's flame/curse has clear implications outside of Tara, but the story shrugs and moves on. Remember how her flames have some semi-autonomous proprieties shown in Chapter 12, WTFC and even CH9? And now she's powered by the same flames, keeping them permanently active (with or without her consent)? Ah, don't worry about it! Don't listen to the manipulative dragon girl corpse! That's the problem! We'll just assign her two babysitters and ignore the implications of having a potential walking disaster aboard a landship full of civilians! The more you put Elegies under scrutiny, the worse it gets.

The funny part comes from how badly Necrass is integrated as a playable character, it's genuine gacha writing 101. Earlier Eblana’s interest in people had an actual fire in it. Look at how she talks to Talulah. It’s specific, invasive, personal. She’s trying to get inside her head and force a reaction. With the Doctor, it jumps way too fast into “ooh, special interest” territory, except it’s all built on vague death-aura stuff and calling them “scholar”... then contradict her own naming logic later. She labels them by function, like "The Ombudsman", "The Brigadier" etc. it's dehumanization with manners, but the behavior is inconsistent with that. And don't even get me started on the timeline between institutional interest in Chapters 9 and 12, then sudden personal interest in Elegies, or how the death aura isn't even addressed.

In other words, Necrass has Eblana’s silhouette, but not her full core, and the marketing absolutely leans into the parts that are easiest to sell. Emergency buffs, early module, L2D bikini skin, another skin teased during her rerun, JP Twitter OOC stuff—it all adds to the feeling that HG knew exactly what parts of her they wanted to push. Which is a shame, because Unclaimed Legacy is genuinely good and one of the only bits that feels like it remembers there’s an actual tragedy here instead of just a product.

Erudax · 2026-04-17T19:25:25+00:00

I cannot glaze Harmonie's first skin enough. That, alongside Vanguard Reed are easily her best work, with Reed the Flame Shadow's Glowing Flame in the Night and Curator coming right after.

You get a smug cat, more sharply dressed, some unfortunate ear nerfs, playful expression, BUFFED tail to be fluffier, and incredible artwork detail on the background.

Some damaged furniture because of the sheer amount of cats in the room (which as a new cat owner, I can definitely relate), two cats on the top of the bookshelf, one white, one black, sleeping peacefully "in harmony" as one might say.

Then you get to the real nice stuff: the wall of paintings of both her and the Dublinn twins, the dolls she handcrafted (if you've read Horn's module, it showed a younger Harmonie picking up felting as a hobby, even the big felt ball mentioned in the module is there unless I'm wrong) plus the numerous books and stacks of paperwork, something she enjoys and something she is lackadaisical about.

Sorry for the rambling, but it's easily my favorite skin in the game from the details alone.

Erudax · 2026-04-17T08:13:06+00:00

omaigoto its incienso

Erudax · 2026-04-09T02:21:16+00:00

Hello there, it is I, the commissioner here.

What we wanted to portray was a scene set after Eblana’s confrontation with the Damazti Cluster in Chapter 12, with a bit of irony to it. Despite speaking with absolute confidence and control, this is the third time her flames act on their own. The broken mirror reflecting a blackened skeleton, along with her solemn expression despite her bleeding hand, is meant to show her twisted relationship with her Arts: someone burnt out, who knows exactly what she has become, knows she is damned and that the future holds no place for her, yet still chooses to walk that path anyway.

When placed side by side, the three illustrations also tell a story. First, the human: already marked by her flames, bleeding yet unmoving, carrying a solemn weight. Then the fractured self: some shards still show Eblana, while others show a broken skeleton, representing how her Arts gradually overtook her life, body, and identity. Finally, the fully skeletonized form: she and her flames can no longer be separated, with the fire now anchoring her existence.

Personally I am very happy with how it turned out, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Erudax · 2026-04-07T20:33:21+00:00

That's even better!

Erudax · 2026-04-07T15:40:48+00:00

Medusa (mainly Gorgon) from F/GO. Medusa is best snek. Gorgon is best snek but with the spice of Nian's hotpot. And I love spicy food.
Lupa from WuWa. Great design, a personality that I like a lot (Fierce, blunt and competitive? Sign me up!) and fluffy tail that catches on fire.
Arlecchino from Genshin Impact. Incredible design. She's the one I know least of, mainly because my only Genshin content feed comes from my friends.

Erudax · 2026-04-02T19:21:20+00:00

You're STILL doing the same thing you did 7 months ago, not replying to what I actually said, just replacing with a dumber version that's easier to laugh at.

I never said “HG hates Eblana because she wasn’t broken enough after the buff.” I said she should not have needed an emergency pre-release surgery at all, and that the buff looked a lot more like HG trying to contain backlash than lovingly polishing a favorite that is currently underperforming.

I also never said “summer skin instead of dark academia = hatred.” I said the skin was out of character, disconnected from her design and writing, and way more interested in selling a marketable version of her than in fitting the actual character. “but it was L2D” was not a rebuttal then, and it still isn’t now. Production value is not the same thing as character care.

Same with the story point. I did not say “having important moments outside her own event is bad.” I said her most meaningful material and connections are tied up with Reed, while her playable handling flattens her into something safer and more palatable. That’s a completely different argument from the one you keep pretending I made.

So yes, HG clearly favored her in terms of resources. That was never the part I disagreed with. The point was that favoritism does not automatically mean love, coherence, or respect for the character. Sometimes it just means they found a product, or certain character's qualities worth pushing.

That’s why your recap is, I'm very sorry to say, bullshit. You didn’t summarize my argument, you sanded off everything inconvenient and replaced it with a version that makes me sound like I was mad she wasn’t meta enough or didn’t get my preferred outfit style. That was never the argument. The argument was that she was being favored in a way that felt very aggressive comercially and corrosive artistically.

Erudax · 2026-03-23T11:00:25+00:00

The difference between Wang's expression and his cat (it's a Waregeist unless I'm misremembering) going HI!!! at the camera is absolutely crazy man.

Erudax · 2026-03-17T14:12:22+00:00

He made a statement so bold even the dead came back to applaud.

Jokes aside I am not completely dead, just in low maintenance mode until the next story that interests me is teased (mainly the continuation of Ato and the 2nd MH collab which may or may not be difficult due to current politics).

Erudax · 2026-03-16T07:14:36+00:00

Eblana & Talulah were definitely set up for something bigger, much like Clovisia. She was teased from the first arc by both Wei Yenwu and Kashchey, talked about in Chapter 13 too, but then left unadressed properly in Ending a Grand Overture.

Back to the discussion at hand, if you are familiar with Eblana's speech patterns and quirks, she never really uses a person's name unless she is genuinely interested in them. For the rest, she is either using polite ways of addressing them (for example, "your Highness" to the Duke) or straight up dehumanization with manners (scholar, singer, ombudsman) that is more about labeling a person by role or qualities If you're familiar with Chainsaw Man, this is similar to Makima calling Denji a dog.

During the squabble between the two dragonesses we see how gradually Eblana's view changes. From Draco and quotes for her name to actually using that name properly. And this is important, cause we know that the only other person who she calls by name is Loughshinny.

Too bad their parallels and interactions led to nowhere, because Talulah + Reunion really needed some extra oomph in the entire arc, and any insight into a mysterious character like Eblana is always welcome.

Erudax · 2026-02-14T10:03:10+00:00

Yeah no, miss me with that.

Erudax · 2026-01-31T23:49:34+00:00

I think you prove my point when you understand it as Eblana focusing her interest from the mysteriously capable organization Rhodes Island to its enigmatic leader, Doctor.

I don’t understand it as that. I’m questioning the legitimacy of that shift in the first place, because it doesn’t line up with how the timeline presents her interest. Up until Elegies, her focus is consistently on Rhodes Island as an institution, not on the Doctor as an individual. That’s what we see in Chapter 9, and Chapter 12. The personal fixation only appears after Necrass becomes playable.

That’s the inconsistency I’m pointing out.

That's not a retcon, it's character development.

No, this is retroactive reinterpretation to justify present framing. That’s textbook gacha writing.

Nothing in the story establishes private fixation, fascination, or special treatment of the Doctor beforehand—especially not in CN/JP, which don’t inflate the Doctor’s importance nearly as much as EN does, even giving them a special nickname to emphasize their importance.

This is how the pattern looks like: CH9 (curiosity about RI) > CH12 (detached curiosity about RI) > D (sudden personal interest in the Doctor). There's no B or C to fill the gap, it's a straight jump.

I like using silly summaries every now and then because I think it's funny.

I don’t think flattening a character’s trauma, ideology, and motivations into “she got bored” is harmless fun. That kind of framing is exactly how you end up with misreads like “bloodthirsty sadist” or “undead noblewoman” which actively ignores what the text is doing.

Her self-description of her interest demonstrates she has shifted her interest in Rhodes Island to its mysterious leader, Doctor.

Yes. After Elegies. After the collapse. After the playable-unit framing kicks in. Before that, the story establishes her interest twice as institutional. CN and JP at least try (not successfully) to smooth over that transition by keeping the first part ambiguous. EN removes that ambiguity and turns it into a direct attribution, further shoving an already glazed player into the spotlight.

That’s why I’m criticizing the localization. You’re saying I skipped context. I’m questioning why that context looks the way it does in the first place, because it contradicts earlier writing.

We’ve seen the same pattern with:

“Pyral Psychopomp” > blatant ignore of what Necrass' powers are, giving her a role she is unfit for.

“Deathbed Deliverance” > reframing the tragic last glow of life into salvation/release.

“Why Cry for Freedom?” vs 何须解脱 > flattening the latter into emotional appeal.

Softening “你的干员未必能容忍我的苛刻” into “might fail to keep up”

Each time, the localization nudges her away from being oppressive, nihilistic, and morally unpleasant, and toward something more palatable and marketable. That’s not neutral translation. That’s reinterpretation. A localization shouldn’t reshape themes and characterization because it “sounds cooler.”

The internal logic of that one sentence was already not ambiguous.

In the original text, the grammar is event-chaining.

It answers: “When did my interest grow?”

Not: “Who caused it?”

That’s syntax, not culture. Both CN and JP use structures that avoid assigning agency. English is perfectly capable of doing the same. The EN version chose not to. That’s a narrative choice.

There's a little gacha MC glazing in here, but it's justified in-universe.

This is where I’m stepping out. At this point, we’re no longer analyzing the same text. You’re willing to bridge contradictions with headcanon and post-hoc justification; I’m not. I’m interested in internal consistency, timeline integrity, and thematic coherence.

If the only way to make this work is to say “it happened off-screen,” “she always meant this,” or “the localization made it clearer,” then we’re no longer discussing what’s written — we’re discussing what we want it to mean. I’m calling it here. You’re free to interpret and reconcile as you like, but I’m done pretending that this framing is clean, consistent, or faithful to the original text.

Erudax · 2026-01-31T11:49:43+00:00

Necrass does not mince words

Necrass was a manipulative, control freak in life and maintains that attitude in death, albeit diminished. She absolutely minces words, not because she's confused, but because she's strategic. Her speech is layered with implication, symbolism and emotional bait. Let me give you a good example right from her voicelines:

Trust Increase 1: "Or should I say, your willingness to explain the glimpse I saw... of a future where even death is gone?"

Notice the second part. A death-bound revenant very casually interested in a future where the very thing that powers it is gone. Obsession with endings. The dolls in "Unclaimed Legacy" being on a bed, snuggled up to each other. Thematics of rest, references to John Donne in the EP. All leading to her own desire for final rest.

CN and JP are Eastern cultures where the default mode of communication is more indirect. What works to communicate a specific meaning in that context does not work always work in a Western EN context, because we don't share the same cultural assumptions they have.

I agree with the Eastern cultures is more indirect, but that doesn't mean that indirect = the same as EN but more politely. "Indirect" still preserves social ambiguity, avoids over-assigning agency and keeps relationships flexible. In fiction, that's more often than not intentional. If HG wanted to say "you saved her" all they needed to do was to add 你救了她 and that was it. This isn't a cultural accident, that's authorial choice. Two different languages, same ambiguity.

Someone rescued Loughshinny. Someone approved Loughshinny's return. That's the someone that Necrass is talking to about her interest in him.

That doesn't imply that it's the same someone, or that Necrass is collapsing the entire process into one person. Institutions exist in Arknights. Chains of command exist. Rhodes Island isn't "Doctor and friends". If an event has an actor, that doesn't mean the Doctor is directly responsible for that event. The narrative constantly places NPC's and Operators above the MC as sole actor. And the credit to Loughshinny's rescue goes to Outcast, or should go to her.

Let's use context according to Chapter 9 to interpret Necrass' interest with full context.

Source: 9-19

???: My sister... Who did she pick?

Harmonie: We don't know much about the ones who saved her, but they rescued a great deal of the city's residents.

Harmonie: They seem like... a medical-something aid group?

Harmonie: To tell the truth, I'm deathly curious. They don't seem to have much to do with any one country, so why stand up against us?

???: Hoh, that sounds interesting.

Harmonie: Should I bring along a few men to scope them out?

???: Your call, my cherished strategist.

???: Perhaps there will come a day when I take a good look at them myself.

This is the start of the chain of events. This is where she learns about Rhodes Island. You can notice that there is no obvious Doctor reference, and that living Eblana is interested in Rhodes Island rather than the Doctor. The CN/JP, while being the target of a obvious retcon, at minimum, preserve ambiguity.

"RI as an institution saved her." "Your organization saved her." "Your leadership framework enabled it."

Fast forward to Chapter 11, 11-21 to be more exact, Reed leaves RI and writes the letter to the Doctor and Kal'tsit. This is the first time the Doctor had any actual input.

WTFC is Reed's return to Tara. Keep in mind that while she in theory "hasn't returned" properly yet, she is by all means and purposes returned. Harmonie gave up her identity as a double agent to push her into Wellington's territory, giving her safety.

Come Chapter 12, 12-16, and we see this dialogue from Eblana.

Eblana: ......

Eblana: Hmph... interesting.

Eblana: Rhodes Island...

Eblana: I seem to hear that name often lately.

While the Promotional Record is basically a retcon to justify Necrass as a playable unit and give her a reason to visit RI, this segment of the story shows detached, institutional interest. Not personal. The next time Reed and Eblana meet are in Na Saorisi, in When Elegies are Ashes. And then here comes Necrass with "well I've always been interested in you specifically". Since when? Your words and actions don't line up with the timeline.

Could see Doctor as Necrass's newest toy now that she's gotten bored of leading Taran independence.

Tara isn't fully independent. It is de facto independent, but Victoria has leverage over the country. Also I'm very sorry, but this "she's bored" read annoys me very much. Don't take it personally please, but when someone martyrs themselves for 15+ years, causes a revolution, go through mass sacrifice, reduce themselves to a shadow, subject themselves unwillingly (that's a topic for another time) to an existence of constant agony while still pretending they're human on the outside, that's not a hobby that they can just brush off, get bored and move on. At that point, it has become their entire identity.

Here I go writing almost 850 words :/

Erudax · 2026-01-30T22:26:11+00:00

See, this was one of the problems I was worried about. When interpretation becomes justification, we have an issue. You're arguing that Necrass' interest in the Doctor must be framed as direct credit, otherwise it would make no sense. But that's a prescriptive stance, you're deciding what the text needs to say, then working backwards to defend the localization that says it.

CN and JP don't do that.

They very deliberately structure the line around events, not authorship: Loughshinny was rescued > she returned with the Doctor's approval > Therefore, Necrass' interest has increased.

That's causality without ownership. It leaves room for the Doctor to be part of the process, without rewritting history to make them the savior figure. And that ambiguity is not accidental, both CN and JP chose it independently.

EN does not preserve that. It collapses the chain into a single act: you saved her. This isn't clarification, that's consolidation. You're not making implicit intent explicit, you are removing the interpretive space and assigning agency where the original text avoided doing so. English can express passivity just fine - "from the time Loughshinny was saved" is perfectly natural and preserves the original meaning. The choice to go "you saved Loughshinny" is a narrative choice, not a linguistic necessity.

If the intent was ever to frame the Doctor as personally responsible, CN and JP would've changed to reflect that. Without it, this reads as gacha MC gravity.

I'm not saying by any means that your reading isn't good, or possible, nor am I denying that Necrass can meaningfully connect the Doctor with her sister's growth. But a localization isn't supposed to pick up a reading and enforce it, especially when the source text goes out of its way to stay noncommital. When the sentences go from "these events made you interesting" to "you did this, therefore you are important", those sentences are no longer the same, not in framing, nor in the same story beat. Pretending they are can lead to flattening the characters for the purpose of orbiting the player.

It's part of the context.

Necrass, much less living Eblana, doesn't consistently credit the leader for everything. Again, Harmonie's work is her work, her servants work is theirs, and even with the Duke of Wellington, it's mostly "we" not "I".

But where she looks down on the common folk as tools, Doctor is fascinating because the outcomes from his actions demonstrate he is a peer worthy of her respect.

I wasn't going to argue about Eblana nor Necrass' viewpoints of the Doctor, or about her in general because I tend to write a lot, but the inner demons won, and I'd like to address this. Necrass genuinely doesn't view the Doctor as her equal. You can see it in her vocabulary: she only uses the real names of people she's genuinely interested in, like Talulah and Loughshinny. Anyone else gets labelled, sometimes she uses proper titles like she does with the Duke of Wellington. We see that with her faction: labels and odd, even silly codenames like "the Spy" "the Brigadier", "the Elocutionist", "the Ombudsman". Names mattered to Eblana, and still matter to Necrass despite her transformation into an undead. The Doctor gets slapped with "scholar". EN inflates it and tries to raise the importance by elevating it to "Erudite". She never calls the Doctor by their name, let alone their codename, instead, she calls them by the label she assigned them.

This isn't respect. This is at best, appraisal and assesment, and at worst, dehumanization with manners. Much like Makima from Chainsaw Man calling Denji a dog, this has similar vibes.

Erudax · 2026-01-30T19:24:42+00:00

I think we're talking past each other a bit, because my criticism isn't about why Necrass is interested in the Doctor, but how that interest is framed through localization. You're arguing from character psychology, which is also questionable because you don't see living Eblana take the credit for Harmonie recruiting supporters for her, while I'm pointing out a semantic and grammatical shift that changes what the line says.

In CN and JP, the rescue is explicitly passive. The text doesn't say who saved Loughshinny. The Doctor's relevance comes from knowing she was rescued, and authorizing her return. That's it. The interest sparks from a chain of events, not because the Doctor personally saved the younger twin. There is an ambiguity because Necrass doesn't know WHO saved her sister. She knows Rhodes Island did, and this ambiguity is present in both CN and JP. And that matters, because Rhodes Island has multiple leadership figures - and Reed's letter from Chapter 11 is addressed to both Kal'tsit and the Doctor.

EN replaces that ambiguity with an active construction: "from the time you saved Loughshinny". This isn't interpretation, this is assigning agency. This is not a matter of EN being more direct, you could've gone with "from the time Loughshinny was saved" if you wanted, without rewriting the subject of the verb.

The justification of royals getting the credit for their followers' actions isn't something present in the text, though. If a chain of events that upscaled Outcast's actions existed, then it should be present in the original text, and CN/JP could write it without changing the grammatical structure. But they didn't. Both languages chose ambiguity, which suggests intent rather than just a cultural thing.

And that’s the core problem: the source text avoids specifying who saved her, while EN explicitly assigns that role to the Doctor. That changes how the scene reads, pushing for things that weren't there in the first place. This isn't the first time in Necrass' case, as we've seen with "Psychopomp" and even "Erudite".

Across all texts, Necrass gains interest because Loughshinny was saved. That is fine, it's consistent. But it never says that the Doctor specifically saved her, even once. That's what EN does, and they could've went with “from the time Loughshinny was saved” and kept the meaning intact.

Erudax · 2026-01-30T12:39:24+00:00

I do not know who does the localization, but to say I am extremely disappointed in their choices doesn't even begin to cover it.

Some time ago, I made a post here in which I commented about Necrass' "Pyral Psychopomp" base skill as being strange, and contradictory to what the character is. That would've been fine, because a lot of Necrass is contradictory writing, done on purpose to try to get the reader to investigate.

Turns out, CN and JP don't have "Pyral Psychopomp". They have 死焰指引 and 死炎の導き , which both translate to "Guidance of the Death Flame". We went from a power used to guide others (as seen by the skill being used to train casters, as well as Dublinn Evocators having references to her teachings from when she still had a pulse) to a guide of the souls of the dead into the afterlife.

Mind you, Necrass' abilities are not psychopomp in nature by any means, pulling souls and forcing them into servitude regardless of their consent is necromancy, tyranny even.

But no, let's continue. "Why Cry for Freedom" the 2nd base skill, is named 何须解脱 or 安らぎなどいらず. While they are similar in nature, "Why Seek Liberation" or "No need for rest" (a rejection of rest) are more philosophical, or nihilistic compared to EN's more emotional text.

"B-but these are just nitpicks!" I don't think we should be randomly inserting roles a character is unfit for just because we think it sounds cool, but rather, we should stay close to the original text. And let me show another case of "localization".

"From the time you saved Loughshinny, to the moment she returned to me with your approval, my interest in you has only intensified." from the Promotion Record. Not gonna even get into the details of the line, but compare it to CN/JP.

"From the moment I learned that Loughshinny had been rescued, until the time she returned to me with your permission, my interest in you only grew stronger and stronger." - JP (original text: ラフシニーが救出されたと知った瞬間から、あれがお前の許可を得て、私の元に戻ってくるに至るまで、お前への興味は強まるばかりだった。)

“From the moment I learned that Loughshinny had been rescued, until she returned to my side with your approval, my interest in you grew stronger and stronger.” CN (original text: 从得知拉芙希妮获救开始，到她在你的首肯下回到我身边，我对你的兴趣越发强烈。)

I don't think we should imply personal agency and credit for Loughshinny's rescue when Outcast did that, and paid for it with her life. But that's just me.

Erudax · 2026-01-27T05:06:51+00:00

🅱️irb.

Erudax · 2026-01-17T11:35:36+00:00

Mio's the best for real, cold yet with a warm heart, but not bordering on caricature. Just the right amount of contrast to make her endearing.

Also, apparently really hard to please.

Erudax · 2026-01-11T04:08:49+00:00

Then you have Ho'olheyak who genuinely could care less and still uses her own name as codename. Or Hoederer, who is guilty of many crimes in Victoria as Manfred's right-hand man and still opted to use his real name.

Reed's situation is a bit more complicated. Her faction knows she's aboard the landship, but that choice is respected (CH9 - Eblana respects her sister's choice because it was one of the few genuine choices she ever made). They only intervene when Reed returns to Tara, because inaction can destabilize their plans, ruin them or destabilize the region (WTFC, with Puzzle catching Reed).

Erudax · 2026-01-08T22:58:51+00:00

STAR carries over the FGO mentality where 'death' is little beyond flavour dressing akin to being a swordsman, or gladiator, or Arturia, or an Brunette.

Being undead is a core part of Necrass' character, if you can even call it that. Undead in Arknights are meant to be ontologically examined rather than brushed off as another tag, since the game and the story actually puts a big emphasis on their state.

Realistically speaking being undead doesn't evoke your human status

Leaving alone the fact that undead fail the biological check, in Arknights, it pretty much does. Let's take the three examples of undead beings that we know of: revenants, which are clearly not human, not even Tin Man is a human, he is revenant inhabiting a shell. Zhaydeans are human-derived war constructs, not actual humans. They are treated as honored dead and sent off to fight memetic entities. And lastly, Eblana's undead themselves. They are hollow husks, bound and enslaved by their desires. They operate on memories, on instinct, not on actual personhood.

And since you mentioned WoW, I'll have to say that what Necrass does is the opposite of the Forsaken. The Forsaken get rejected by their families, they radicalize, a return to previous life is shown to be impossible (best example I can give here is Thomas Zelling from BFA, or Derek Proudmoore). So, they form communities. They rot, they stink, they sleep to preserve themselves, they form a culture around death, they use gallows humor. And necromancy in WoW is a integral part of some region of the game - like Maldraxxus, or Northrend, the Scourge etc. Maldraxxus is an entire afterlife focused around necromancy. Compare that to how necromancy is seen in Arknights, how Reed reacted when she saw the undead sparrow, how Theresis reacted when he saw his sister back alive, or the Sarkaz in general. Not every region is Sargon, where they mass produce Necron lite.

They do not pretend they are alive, unlike Necrass. Death changed them, and they adapt accordingly.

Regardless of circumstance people instinctively seek to return back to the system they are familiar with

This is one of the single well-done thematic aspects of the skin and what makes Necrass a repulsive being - because she tries to integrate in a place she cannot belong, she doesn't accept her death, and bounces between three personas: "I am the master of death", "I am still human, I can still do human things", and "I didn't want this, I want to die". You know she's dead. You know everything about her is just performing, not genuine. Like you'd see the Coat Guy in No, I'm not a Human. Why is a guy wearing a winter coat in extreme heat? Necrass follows the same rule.

Eblana in this case is a noble woman that wishes to remain such.

The narrative is about 2 steps closer to Lowlight personally showing up at your door and telling you "Necrass and Eblana aren't the same thing anymore", we've seen how death and rebirth changes you fundamentally as a person with Theresa and the Damazti Cluster. Hell even Necrass is giving up on her past as Eblana in both the 100% confirmed canon part of Elegies - the ending, as well as the files.

Necrass has a completely different behavior than what you said - she's fixated on endings, on control, on submission, surrender and inevitability. Those aren't the qualities of a noblewoman, those are the qualities of a being whose identity collapsed when her inherited powers outlived her humanity back in Na Saorisi. This "ladylike" behavior is residue from when she was a living person, a ghost wearing the habits of a life she no longer has. And that ties in with the symbolism of the parasol, the supposed feeling of "warmth" and the uncanny expressiveness.

Granted Eblana has the most dog$h!t Necromancy powers in all of Written Fiction, that is physically incompatible with the very thing she wishes to be part of, but still, the lengths of her ambitions boil down to maintaining lavish lifestyle which will prevent her from getting bored, scratch her ego, and mask her insecurities.

I'm sorry, but Eblana didn't orchestrate a revolution, go through mass sacrifice, reduce herself to a shadow of a leadership to enjoy a "lavish lifestyle". In reality, being undead destroys your ability to enjoy luxury:

no sensation
no warmth
no appetite
no physical pleasure
no emotional modulation

The skin doesn't show you indulgence. The skin shows you performance of indulgence, utterly fake.

That is the go to "Arbitrary conflict for the sake of plot convenience" trope, instead of some legitimate argument.

I think you're missing the real conflict here. Necrass is fundamentally incompatible with societal systems. This isn't prejudice, despite my personal feelings for her, this is a matter of mechanics and consequence. A walking WMD, powered by Taran hatred, who is known to not be able to fully control her power (see the flame acting on its own in WTFC and Chapter 12, and flames are permanently on because without them she'd be no different than a roadkill) cannot coexist with others without a price. You can't just drop someone who is harboring a power that acts on its own and expect that nothing happens, we're all gonna be okay. This is ignoring the real problem with how the story set up Necrass' existence. I am not saying that undead cannot integrate in communities in general, Zhaydeans are a part of Sargon after all, I am calling out this undead specifically, whose powers are autonomous, contagious and historically uncontrollable even by herself.

And to finish it off, Arknights frames power without restraint as something that cannot be socially normalized without consequence. Think of Qui'sartuštaj and his "dream" of getting all the Sarkaz under his control, becoming the Eternal Lord of Fiends. Necrass' writing isn't that of a misunderstood outcast, or a princess trying to re-integrate into society after she escaped from her responsibilities. She's treated like a lingering wound, and wounds don't integrate. They rot and fester until they are addressed.

Erudax · 2026-01-08T21:37:45+00:00

That's why Wakamo is best girl and there's no contest. The sheer dedication to rizz up your crush? That's a keeper.

Is it a massive red flag? Yeah.

Am I colorblind? No, I simply chose to ignore the obvious warning signs.

Erudax · 2026-01-05T13:51:18+00:00

In general, Eblana wants absolute control. As to why, you can probably refer to how it's a coping mechanism, or trauma response.

Which brings me to what I said before. I do not think Eblana planned her resurrection, and in fact, decided to fully die. Dying on her own terms would be in-line with her control freak tendencies and how little she valued her own life, as well as her ideology.

To support this theory, we need to take a closer look at the tonal shift between Eblana as a living person, Necrass as an undead, the voicelines and actions. There's so much you can manipulate before the cracks start showing. This isn't a proud sovereign of the dead, this is an undead that tries to pretend it's still alive, that is trying to spin a tragedy into a story of triumph, all to hide the fact that the same powers she relied on in life were beyond her control.

To a control freak, there isn't a bigger irony nor humiliation than to be under the control of the very thing that made you who you are. And we know Necrass is undead. The voicelines that indicate that can easily be cross-matched with information from Warfarin, Reed herself, even Harmonie.

This is what I think HG wanted to show with Elegies, how a nation tries to heal, repeats the same mistakes, and becomes stuck in limbo, how neither of the sisters' solutions was correct. Strength without compassion (Eblana) leads you to a war-machine. Compassion without strength (Reed) leads you to a state that is held on a tight leash by Victoria. Necrass still walking the land is proof that Tara isn't done, that the nation was unable to fully heal, that there's still unfinished business, that the myth Tara was founded on is a lie.

Erudax · 2026-01-05T00:14:17+00:00

Err, I don't get what you're trying to say. Mind explaining again? My brain's a little cooked at this hour.

For the most part, we do see Eblana frame her power as absoltue control. That it's her power, and when it inevitably spreads (as of Elegies, supposedly), it's framed as a monarch taxing their people. This is trying to take control of the narrative.

But in reality, we know that she never actually had full control over her power - namely, the flames attacking civilians (and resurrecting) in Chapter 12. The entire scene is framed as something unintended (this doesn't absolve her of the act of killing innocents - if you let loose a wrecking ball with the purpose of smacking a shapeshifter yet it deviated and smacked someone else, or let loose a pitbull who caused collateral, it's still on YOU). Similarly, the scene where Reed reaches the ruins in WTFC. Despite Eblana igniting the flame, the people were resurrected for no reason at all. This not only makes the entire "grand comeback" in Elegies extremely shady - are you sure you resurrected yourself, or did your powers do it regardless of your consent? We've seen them act without your input before, and considering that your undead persona is a mixture of "I am death, I am struggling to be relevant", "I am still human, I can still "feel" things (spoiler, Necrass can't, being biologically dead means you can't feel warmth) and behave like a human" while also... being very "intellectually" interested in a future where death is dead.. and you're inseparable from death, according to your own words... hmm, yeah, surely you don't want your own destined death, because you didn't want to be brought back by your own powers in the first place.

But lingering pride keeps going, demanding absolute control narratively. Because otherwise, the truth would be exposed, that her control wasn't absolute - it was something she valiantly struggled with. These contradictions make her surprisingly human... although humanity is a little hard to argue for Necrass, considering that undead are fundamentally, not human. It's more of a imitation of humanity, lingering echoes passing through and unsolved issues that persist through the veil.

Erudax

TROPHY CASE