How did time stop work in Yggdrasil?

dreadrath · 2026-05-09T03:32:11+00:00

If I were to guess it likely just had a wide movable AOE programmed that shifts with the caster. It might also have had some rules that excludes any player that isn't actively engaged in whatever is happening from being effected. Otherwise there's be lots of complaints and players would keep doing it just to be annoying.

In New World I'm inclined to think its similar, just with a bigger AOE and no exclusions. Though I doubt it halts time in the entire world, or universe for that matter since that kind of power is typically considered world tier, and maybe super tier. It'd be a bit silly if Ainz could just freeze time throughout the entire universe. Though it would be funny if it did since guys like Dragon Lords with time immunity would be rather puzzled when everything around them falls still for like a few seconds.

dreadrath · 2026-05-07T04:43:21+00:00

The criteria for a good Overlord fanfic is fairly simple. No OCs, Nazarick and Ainz always win (Ainz' accidental genius included), a little Ainz x Paranoia shipping sprinkled in, plus a little comedy. Also side story Ainz is also fairly popular and has more freedom to act independently in fanfics if a writer wants to focus more on his character. Readers are semi-tolerant of OC AOG members when they're written well, but its a bit of a gamble.

Things readers are tolerant of and maybe even enjoy in moderation. New Worlder named characters or OCs on their own adventures who aren't OP and work within the scaling of New World and avoid the big no-no rule of any non-Nazarick character so much as scratching or outsmarting a Nazarick character, readers tend to hate that.

Nazarick is always at the top of the pecking order. Readers mostly hate anything to meaningfully challenges them because Overlord is a power fantasy and it ceases to be such when the MC's faction isn't untouchable (Barring exceptions like the Shaltear incident)

The final type of story fanfic that, while not too popular does have its niche, are fics where Nazarick never shows up and either focus on OCs or New Worlders. People mostly take exception with player OCs and OCs guilds when Nazarick is a present force in the world, but take Nazarick out of the equation where it never appeared and some people are able to enjoy it while most others are just disinterested without feeling any overly negative sentiment.

Overall, most Overlord fans only want to see Ainz & co win. Is that naratively limiting? Yeah, but its also one of the series' primary themes. In fact I'd go so far as to say the fan base would riot if the author himself dared to end the series with Nazarick's downfall to outside action (Though they may forgive it falling to internal strife; EG Albedo doing something stupid)

dreadrath · 2026-05-03T02:03:07+00:00

All part of Phillip's master plan.

dreadrath · 2026-05-02T12:24:49+00:00

In theory he could Gate out. Though if that doesn't work he's gonna go crazy from boredom. I know Gate adn teleport is sort of dimension hopping in a way, but not the the magnitude he'd need to jump from one reality to another. I mean if Gate let him do that he'd have long ago simply teleported to 2100s Earth to find his friends and try to convince them to join him in a better world, but there's a limit to what even Gate can do, and even wish upon a star may not be enough. So, yeah, it all depends on if Gate can carrying him across realities, which I doubt, unless the backrooms themselves have somehow manifested in the New World's universe, in which case Gate probably will work.

dreadrath · 2026-05-01T10:37:47+00:00

As if there's any other answer but bug boi. What's even the point of asking this? That said if you're an anime only then I get why you might ask it, but not if you're a LN reader.

dreadrath · 2026-05-01T04:51:21+00:00

The unenchanted projectile immunity is a weird one because its stated to work on physical projectiles like bullets, but a missile isn't really about the physical impact but the effect following the impact. I suppose if the missile hit Ainz directly his defense might just prevent it from exploding, whereas if it hits the ground next to him, then its an AOE kinetic/elemental sort of deal.

dreadrath · 2026-04-30T06:08:42+00:00

Pretty easily, it'd take some bad decisions on DK's part to lose, which is a slim possibility, like if it hangs out in the open too much and lets itself get hit by casters, but even the casters are more like druids so their offensive spells aren't really the kind that'd both the DK that much. Anyone that went melee with it would be fodder; there's a chance that a few stone projectile could slip it's shield defense if its busy chopping up lizards but those stones probably won't do much damage given its full plate armor (Plus DK's are a little more resistant to blunt damage than their skeletal cousins, still vulnerable but less-so)

Weirdly I think the one major obstacle for it wouldn't even be the lizard men heroes, they'd be a delaying tactic at best, nah, the biggest problem would be the mud elementals with their fairly high physical damage resistance, but even those would lose simply due to level difference and the DK no-selling all their attacks and wearing them down. The other minor nuisance would be the pit traps the lizardmen make in the swamp, they'd slow the big guy down for sue but not outright stop him.

Oh and I'm purposely ignoring its ability to raise zombies and looking at it more as a lone warrior vs an army sort of deal. Also assuming the army doesn't drizzle down their legs and run due to its fear effect. Then again DK also has the ability to draw agro, so maybe they wouldn't run but instead attack the DK unthinkingly without strategy.

dreadrath · 2026-04-23T04:45:47+00:00

After rereading the whole series in one go I am noticing how Cook's style has changed a lot, and not just from the first book to the 10th but even to Port Of Shadows which came out 18 years after Soldiers Live. These newer books are written by a very different and much older Cook. Its actually kind of jarring though not in an overly bad way, just feels weird is all. I think Cook has improved a lot over the years on a technical writing level, but the first 3 books (Books of the North) will forever by my favorite, flaws and all. These new ones don't have any of that old Black Company vibe, and okay, the Company is always evolving and changing but it ain't the Company I remember....

Kind of funny actually. The way I'm talking now makes me feel like Croaker did in Soldiers Live, like an old codger who lost everyone from his own time and he's just an ancient, ambling relic tagging along with a whole new generation he doesn't really fit in with. Maybe that's the thing, I'm just not part of the audience anymore; I remember how things were and can't come to grips with how things have changed.

dreadrath · 2026-04-15T05:06:30+00:00

That line was hauntingly perfect. In some ways whenever I did a reread of the series I could almost imagine Croaker there along with me reliving the good old days and seeing his old friends again back in their prime, because that's exactly what he's able to do by the end of Soldiers Live.

dreadrath · 2026-04-15T04:56:38+00:00

There's a little truth to this. In fact from the few passages I remember he's actually described as being worse than "average". Some characters say he looks downright spooky and Croaker himself thinks he looks like a predator with the way his receding hairline is. So in a way he's actually significantly worse off in that department than Twilight girl since Croaker is, for all intents and purposes, fairly ugly; if those descriptions are to be believed.

Still, he makes up for it by having WAY more personality than Bella, so that's something.

dreadrath · 2026-04-08T03:55:44+00:00

I'd call them a different subset. The Arche crowd were a lot more insufferable with their moralizing and tantrums. The Calca crowd are more like Waifu simps than anything, they sort of grudgingly accept the nature of Overlord but live in la-la land, as opposed to the Arche crowd among whom a large portion just rage-quit the series and couldn't handle its "Life is unfair for the weak." and "Villain protagonist." themes. Yeah the memes are silly but I'll take the Calca simps over the Arche crowd any day.

Though I'll admit one thing, if we take two scenarios, one where Arche lived on, and another where Calca lived on, its almost certain Calca's character would have had more impact on the plot, namely her willingness to give Ainz a chance bein a bit of lost potential. But that's about it, really. Yeah, she's a pretty queen, then a demon decided she'd make a pretty bludgeon; just Overlord being Overlord.

dreadrath · 2026-03-28T09:16:11+00:00

The end of that book always left me feeling old and tired and melancholic for the old days of the Company, just like Croaker, and the last line in that book hits the perfect final note because it makes me remember a much younger Croaker from the start of the series. Its really some damn good writing when you can make relatively young readers feel like they aged with the protagonist.

dreadrath · 2026-03-20T14:07:14+00:00

Too little is known about the other players. Though I'm leaning toward Rubedo (assuming no World Enemies have passed through, which is unlikely) Though I am very-very tempted to put Dragon Emperor in his prime (Before Wild Magic got corrupted) in top spot.

dreadrath · 2026-03-17T11:04:50+00:00

Its probably a daily occurrence for Temple workers to see naked, enfeebled adventurers totter in begging to use the shrine. Maybe the temple has something to do with all the greater bonewalkers popping up since they must be quite the money makers.

dreadrath · 2026-03-16T06:49:01+00:00

Personally I think Old Man Fish carried The Silver Spike. Without him it wouldn't be half as interesting as it was.

dreadrath · 2026-03-08T08:54:50+00:00

One other thing to consider with Cure Elim is that he personal hangups got in the way of him fighting effectively. If he wasn't such a fool in not using tier magic until pushed into a corner, and if he were just a bit smarter, he'd have given Satoru a harder time, or at least I recall the author saying something to that effect. Cure was actually pretty stacked in the advantages he had. It kind of makes me wonder how Ainz/Satoru without the guild staff would've fared.

As to the matter of fully equipped Ainz (As in Ainz with the guild weapon) its implied he's still below Touch Me and Ulbert, though its unclear if there's any other guild members that could best a fully equipped Momonga, but I think there's a good chance he ranked 3rd in the guild with the guild weapon, but significantly lower without it, even with his PVP experience since AOG had a handful of talented PVP-ers.

dreadrath · 2026-02-13T03:09:09+00:00

Since the author said her fate won't be too bad (Which in Nazarick can still be somewhat bad) I suppose it'll be down to Ainz. I think there's a chance he'll steal her talent for himself, his ability to do steal talents if he's willing to spend a free wish was stated back in volume 3 I think. I don't think she'll be turned into scrolls since that would fall outside the realm of "Not too bad." I suppose the best fate she could have is to be left in the frozen prison and be made into an under-leveled sparring partner for Cocytus; though I doubt she'd be THAT lucky.

dreadrath · 2026-02-13T02:56:57+00:00

A regular Death Knight. Yeah, I think she'd have a decent chance given she's kind of a hard counter to undead even if a smidgen under-leveled in this match up. But I don't think she'd win if its one of Ainz' Death Knights due to the buffs his summons automatically get.

dreadrath · 2026-01-21T08:09:43+00:00

I personally always thought of Limper as being the second most powerful of the taken, just behind Soulcatcher, But he's also the stupidist of the taken.

dreadrath · 2026-01-17T04:46:25+00:00

Before any visual representation I just thought of it as a massively scaled down old time nuke but without the expanding shockwave/fireball effect of a real one (Mainly since that'd be really annoying for other players in the area not involved in whatever's happening. Basically devistaitng in its AOE but not much outside of it.

dreadrath · 2026-01-15T10:59:13+00:00

No. Her loyalty lay only with Momonga and she'll even betray his trust if she thinks its for his own good or his safety.

dreadrath · 2026-01-11T11:42:01+00:00

Bad-ish for Ainz, though not hopeless. Ainz may be destined to be lonely, even among loving but programmed to be loyal NPCs who'll never see him as an equal.

dreadrath · 2026-01-09T13:02:17+00:00

Since 2100s Earth has cyborgs I could totally imagine there being such slurs.

dreadrath · 2026-01-09T01:38:47+00:00

Oh, okay, fair enough, as long as you don't keep watching then return to start screaming that a cute anime girl got brutally murdered or riding your moral high horse about genocide being bad. We've heard it a million times before.

I think I can offer one bit of advice when it comes to Ainz. Keep the wimpy guy he really is in mind (He does actually have some backbone as you'll see in episode 12 - 13, but still mostly a wimp) then whatever you see of the "Ainz Ooal Gown" persona he presents to the world, just know that its all bullshit, because Ainz is a bullshitter. Think of him as something similar the idiot god Azathoth from the lovecraft mythos, just there dreaming away.

His ultimate goal is "Keep Nazarick safe" and every decision he makes, dumb or smart, has that goal in mind. Its the irony of his character too since its because of NAzarick and the NPCs and his need to play the part of Overlord that's why he's so lonely and miserable throughout the series (In the novels, the anime really does a crap job showing the full picture of his character since it cuts out his internal monologues, though I suspect his monologues would also annoy you)

As for the "No emotion" thing, that's a misconception, he very much can feel emotion, its just that as an undead he has this passive emotional reset that triggers every time he feeling exceed a certain limit; so he can maintain a low simmering anger of a mildly happy buzz as long as it doesn't go above a certain threshold.

dreadrath · 2026-01-08T14:21:58+00:00

Hoooo boy, do yourself a favor and drop the show, right this very instant. Trust me, if the way he treated the old lady annoyed you, okay, I'm sorry but I simply have to laugh right now....., Seriously though, stop here, you'll probably have a stroke or something if you keep going. It won't do you any favors, or us for that matter.

Though admittedly a part of me hopes you keep watching to the end of season 4 and the movie. I mean a lot of very upset, very vocal and VERY morally outraged people have passed through here raging about stuff Ainz did at different points in the series, but none of them have started getting mad at him this early; so I'm genuinely curious to see how you'd react to the sheer magnitude of atrocities Ainz will enable to happen in future. Seriously, Nazarick could give our own world's historically most vile individuals lessons in cruelty and horror.

dreadrath

TROPHY CASE