I Wish Writers Could Give Nimue More Character. I Really Want To Like Her, But For Now She Is Just Okay

Tianqiu and Nantianmen

I think everyone probably already noticed this, but there's a fairly obvious thread being laid down about a future boss/event in the Nantianmen area.

tl;dr since this got long:

There is a dragon sealed in the tree in Nantianmen.

It is connected to geovishaps and possibly Azhdaha in Tiangqiu Valley. There may be two separate but connected beings involved.

It(/they) will awaken soon. (Future event!!)

Now, for the details below!

Let's start with the tree:

At the foot of this Moonlit Tree is a stone tablet:

And also a creepy little girl named Jiu:

The games very sure you are aware of her via the quest "The Secret of Nantianmen" which consists of purely going to this tree, talking to her, and fighting two geovishap hatchlings.

Her dialogue (with some minor lines removed):

"The awakening is coming... and with it, the storm..."

Jiu: You're a little early... Are you here to witness the resurrection of the most ancient, most awe-inspiring individual in Liyue's history?

[about Rex Lapis] Jiu: Hah... That usurper?

Jiu: Humans... They care only about history since the dawn of the age of mankind...

Jiu: Are people really happy to just draw a line under the litany of atrocities humanity's ancestors are responsible for, call it "ye olde worlde," and just get on with their merry little lives?

Jiu: Well, I hope that anyone who willfully indulges in this fantasy world of false prosperity will be consumed by it, and thus get what they deserve.

Jiu: The adepti thought to suppress it with trees. Hah! Fools! Little did they know that after thousands of years... the trees that hold the beast shall surely become one with the beast...

Jiu: And lo, it shall stretch wide its arms, and unfurl its body, and reach out with its roots... And the ley lines of the world shall heed its call.

Jiu: Then, once the beast has quenched its great thirst for that energy which only the ley lines can provide...

Jiu: I imagine any significance we presume to have in this world will vanish for good. Wouldn't you agree?

(Worth noting: Jiu refers to a "He" in a reverent manner during The Secret of Nantianmen, but talks about "it" "the beast" instead dring her normal dialogue. These may be separate things.)

Whatever is sealed in Nantianmen is also mentioned in the description of The Unforged, a claymore that ran along side Vortex Vanquisher. (The theme presumably being "past enemies of Rex Lapis that he only sealed instead of killing properly.")

A long time ago, a dragon there was to be found in Liyue. But it was not a dragon that soared through the skies, but one whose abode was the mountains. Indeed, this ancient dragon of stone was as large as the very mountains it called home.

The legends say that it slumbered in Nantianmen, seeming not at all unlike the surrounding hills.

Then, Rex Lapis came before the dragon, seeking to stop the earth's quailing. They say that for a long while, the land knew peace, and that Rex Lapis gained another comrade by his side.

But in the end, the union of dragons, gods and men was perhaps not to be... The dragon was sealed in the bowels of the earth, and fearing the burning ire of the gods and the adepti, that great vishap, that had once caused rock and stone to tremble, fled into the roots of the mountains.

But over the passage of millennia, the dragon would stir once again...

The legends hold that those who triumphed over the dragon stabbed this sword into the giant tree that subdued the ancient dragon. As one of the seals, monsters and malevolent mortals would be unable to touch it. Indeed, if the legends are true, only those with hearts as pure as clear mirrors could even come near it. Yet, if those legends are true, how did this sword come to be lost?

Nantianmen, check. Sealed in a tree, check.

You can see, this is all connected to geovishaps in some way, and their lore ALSO talks about then returning after a long time. Two hatchlings spawn when talking to Jiu causes an earthquake, The Unforged talks about "that great vishap," the Primo Geovishap's boss area is right near Nantianmen...

Here is the Primo Geovishap description:

After many years, the awesomely powerful Ancient Geovishaps grow accustomed to changes in their elemental environment.

Folktales hold that after the great draconic calamity that led to the ruination of Tianqiu Valley, the overlord of the Geovishaps and Primo Geovishaps was imprisoned deep beneath the earth, and so too did they burrow into deep and unseen places, awaiting their chance to rise once more...

(Note again that the vague language here and in The Unforged makes it entirely possible that the "draconic calamity"/"the dragon" sealed in the tree and the "overlord of the vishaps" are two separate beings.)

But here we get to the next point: Tianqiu Valley. And with Tianqiu Valley, there is an important name: Azhdaha.

One of the associated wiki pages suggests that the dragon in Nantianmen might be the Chi. But I don't think that's likely, given how far away Qingce is and that we do find what is probably the Chi's heart in a cave near the village there. Far more likely is Azhdaha.

Now, Azhdaha is mentioned in two pieces of lore. One is a tablet in Tianqiu Valley, during the "Trails in Tianqiu" quest.

Ancient Tablet: "At Tianqiu Valley the adepti's ancient trail grows cold, I fall down and weep at the ruins I see. Though defeated is mighty Azhdaha of old, there's no restoring this past land of beauty."

(The trail "grows cold" in Tianqiu, so it might have started elsewhere, like Nantianment.)

Something in the valley is very much lingering, based on the notes of the treasure hoarders who tried to solve the puzzles first:

Scratched-Out Treasure Hoarder Notes: "I'm to the point where I'm trying to crack this puzzle in my dreams, or maybe nightmares is more accurate... I saw an old man squatting beside me with a wide grin, urging me to hurry up and solve the puzzle."

Scratched-Out Treasure Hoarder Notes: "Hmm, no... was it an old man or a young girl? ...Ugh, I can't remember."

Old Treasure Hoarder Notes: "And all of the guys who've been in start acting strange once they get out. They insist that the monsters followed them out, but I don't see any monsters."

There is more details about Azhdaha in regard to the "Nameless Treasure" items:

Linlang: I just had a look at this one. These markings are definitely those of Liyue, and you can see inscribed here an anecdote about Azhdaha.

Linlang: They say that Azhdaha was a dragon spawned by a convergence of the spirits of Geo in Liyue, and that even Rex Lapis could not easily subdue it.

Linlang: Rex Lapis thus summoned three adepti to his aid, and together they created a cavernous realm.

Linlang: Rex Lapis then battled the creature, luring it into the cavern, before ordering the adepti to seal the entrance, trapping Azhdaha within.

Linlang: The patterns on the thing you brought seem to describe the three adepti joining hands to create the cavern.

And when you get all three treasures:

Linlang: You... actually managed to put them together? Please, let me see... Indeed, these three patterns, when put together, do tell the story of Azhdaha.

Linlang: This crane must be the adeptus Mountain Shaper, and this deer might be Moon Carver. But this last one...

Linlang: Eh? It seems like this pattern has been... intentionally ground away by someone, to the point where I can't make it out. Who was this third adeptus?

Yes, who was the third adeptus??

Obviously, there is a discrepancy here, saying Azhdaha was sealed in a "cavernous realm," but it's all vague enough that the mechanics can be explained away with more detail. Also, I do feel like there might be two connected beings, once in the tree, one deep underground.

so even if you get lost, and it takes you a while come round & round back to me even if it’s far ahead in the future

if they brought back sousa just to pair him with daisy i would very much prefer them not to bring him back at all. call me crazy peggysous but sousa not being with peggy doesn’t feel right to me and i can’t enjoy his scenes with daisy much (he is still the best man on earth in these) because i don’t see that spark or something that people who started to ship them see.

if they wanted to give daisy relationships in the final season so badly (which is great because she herself wanted some) i would prefer them to bring back robbie. she had great chemistry with him and they were very powerful.

Game of Thrones. "We wrote the worst last season ever."

The 100: "Hold my beer."

SNK is absolutely still the story it has always been and the one that I’ve loved from day 1, with characters that live up to who they are, and a message that means something. Contrary to so many opinions about it disappointing out there, I can’t disagree more.

I love that SNK has always been about the fact that we don’t have to do anything grand or have any specific purpose in life to live a life worth living. From “he’s already special because he was born into this world” to Eren always chasing after freedom “because I was born into this world” to this chapter where Armin voices how he thinks he was born to live those simple, trivial moments where he enjoyed things/his friends, they may not seem like anything spectacular but it’s precious to him and then finally, having even Zeke who still wants to euthanize Eldians, realize that life is worth living for the one moment he enjoyed–this message has always been clearly repeated in this story and it’s beautiful.

Despite how cruel the world is, despite all the pain, suffering and actual hell they live through, there is beauty. Beauty in the small moments, beauty in people most important to you and spending it with them even doing something as simple as walking together or playing ball–it’s not significant, it doesn’t always have to be something major or even something that changed the world, but it can still be precious. And THAT right there is why this story is so powerful, so beautiful. A message that gives hope, that shows that hope exists even when the world is ending, just like how Armin says his friends are still trying to fight and haven’t given up because in spite of everyone that has died, there’s still those that haven’t.

Life is worth living because they are born into this world, because there are things they enjoyed that they still remember even if it’s trivial. Even Zeke admits that he wouldn’t mind being born again and he wishes he realized that there was beauty in the day earlier. And I think that realization gave Zeke a well ended death (I never even liked him personally, but he died well and it was meaningful).

Speaking about the characters, I feel they are absolutely who they have always been. They all play their role, they all did what they had to do. Armin. Jean. Reiner. Etc. And yes, Levi, too. I’ve seen so much criticism about Levi not making the correct “face/expression” or how he killed Zeke without hesitation, but his shock features make perfect sense to me.

This is not Levi killing the “monster” he’s always been going after time and time again, this is not the “beast” that tried to kill Levi. In these last moments of Zeke waving him over, this is Levi killing a human being. *Another* human, not a monster. This isn’t a fight the way it was all the times before, this is purely one-sided Zeke inviting Levi to kill him and simply Levi doing what he has always had to do. Zeke is truly just another sad human that Levi has to kill (one of many he has killed time and time before), and when Levi kills him it’s not a “I finally killed the monster” reaction, but a “this is another sad human I have to kill to end this war” and it’s fitting.

They are quite literally in the middle of the end of the world, rumbling and all happening around them, so even IF it’s obvious to Levi that this isn’t a battle, that this is Zeke letting him kill him without putting up a fight, Levi knows what he has to do, so he does so. Their world has always been about split second decisions, no hesitation, no regretting the choices you make but making them on the spot because it can literally be between life and death as we have seen over and over. In this case, they’ve literally said in the previous chapters that the beast titan is their goal, that “maybe if we kill Zeke, it will stop the rumbling”.

So yes, when Zeke appears, of course he’s just going to kill him without hesitation. They don’t have time to hesitate and they surely don’t have time to “talk” to Zeke. It’s not even about just fulfilling a promise or what people like to say “Levi only cares about killing the beast titan now”, it’s about the fact that they’re trying to stop the rumbling here. What he did makes sense narratively and it’s who he’s always been. Also I completely disagree with those saying Levi has lost his purpose now because Zeke is dead, so he can die. Death is not freedom. Death is not happiness. They did not all fight so that they can die.

Anyways, there’s so much more about this chapter and the characters that I love and so much more to take in. (Also yes, even Eren, I think post-time skip Eren is who he’s always been and I absolutely am and have always been still in love with his characterization. I can’t wait to see his final thoughts.) I don’t usually say anything on SNK chapters because this fandom is literally one toxic or disrespectful to Isayama opinion I disagree with after another. But I’m feeling a lot for this story ending and I am in love with it as I have always been. It’s a masterpiece and so are it’s characters. Anyways here’s my shit take into the void with it. That’s all.

A lil powerpoint of book recs!!!

Part Two | Part Three

So i just wrote some ben copper x mc fluff. See what you doing with me soft boy? Just give me more time and this blog will become ben copper thirst and fluff blog.

it was like, james dean, for sure

stop tagging ben copper in posts if there is no ben ffs this goes to other characters as well. i want to see THIS PARTICULAR character but have to scroll through post with everyone but him