u/Akkala-chu

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Hi peeps!
I made an analysis on both stories and how some elements in both of them connect to each other. I'll place the twt link coz there's so many images attached to specific parts of the text.
https://x.com/Akkalafall/status/2091148745568362932

It has spoilers for both cards! You've been warned! Lol
I hope you enjoy!

Hello!
While we wait for the upcoming myth, I wrote an analysis for the poem running around as related to Raf's 4th myth. You can check it out here:

https://x.com/Akkalafall/status/2083795621471998221

This is the poem translation by chatgpt:

Breaking the Battle Formation An interpretive translation of 破阵子·为陈同甫赋壮词以寄之 by Xin Qiji

Drunk, I trim the lamp and draw my sword, its cold light flashing in the night.

In dreams I return to the old encampment, where bugles awaken company after company of soldiers.

Beneath my banner, eight hundred warriors feast on roasted beef. Beyond the strings of martial music, the frontier melodies rise. Autumn settles over the battlefield.

Warhorses charge, swift as thunderbolts. The bowstring snaps like a clap of lightning.

I had wished only to reclaim the lost mountains and rivers for my sovereign, and leave behind a name worthy of remembrance.

But before those ambitions could be fulfilled, my hair had already turned white.

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If you don't have Twitter, here's the analysis:

This is a fan analysis, please don't take this as official material (unfortunately I don't know more that you do)

"Breaking the Battle Formation", written by Xin Qiji.

In this poem, the speaker is a warrior who never got to accomplish his grand goal to reclaim his land. Despite his old age, he still reminisces over a glorious past and dreams about an imaginary victorious scenario.

I wonder if the regretful voice of Qiji would be represented by Abysswalker Rafayel. Just like Qiji, Abyss Raf also failed to reclaim his land (by not awakening the seas so the Lemurians could return home).

However, differently from Qiji, who still longed to leave his mark in history, Abyss Raf decided to be erased from his rightful spot in history. Raf is willing to let go of his legacy if it means that he could save the life of his most beloved one.

How does this connect to the 4th myth? In the poem, when Qiji is handling his sword, in my view it implies that he was a successful warrior in the past. That parallels with Rafayel telling MC that a better title for the strongest Lemurian would be a God of War. Both Qiji and Raf believe there was a more triumphant version of themselves in the past.

Perhaps the God of War Rafayel will be this glorious warrior: strong, capable, victorious. A man who'll be remembered in life and death. Meanwhile, Abysswalker is like a little flame, self contained, melancholic. In this life, he's an anonymous god, walking on an endless desert.

The bittersweet part of Qiji's poem is that he never returned to be a hero and never accomplished his dream goal. His white hair implies the passage of time and all that's left to him now is the dream of a future that will never come.

And as for Rafayel, he struggles between choosing what's best for his people and restore his land vs. his selfish desire to spare the life of his beloved bride. He knows he's in a catch22 and no matter how far he goes to find ways to have both, he'll always find himself back in the same spot again.

Both Qiji and Abyss Raf comes to the realization that their wishful thinking is an impossible one. So for Rafayel, breaking their bond is his way of letting go of this endless search for Lemuria.

Lastly, I can see how the maple leaves is the perfect motif as it represents the passage of time in a very visual way through the changes of the leaves colors; there's a death and rebirth element to it as they fall in winter, just to grow back in spring.

The poem mentions autumn in the battlefield, which to me indicates that the battle is close to an end, once again implying that time is running out and that Qiji is slowly returning back to reality, back to his winter.

And the maple leaves, which are more commonly depicted in red, adds the perfect visuals to that scene, especially because of its color as it can be used to represent both blood and fire.

My extra interpretation. I love the maple leaves motif. It was so present in my favorite series Chihayafuru. To me, I'll always associate maple leaves with undying passion. Regardless of ones age or abilities, that burning feeling is still there. It's resilient and persistent.

I think it could apply well to Qiji's poem as well. Even though, he's near the end of his life, his passion is still very alive even if it's only in his dreams. And for Raf, he'll always love MC even if they're meant to part ways forever.

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Very long text ahead!

Tl;wr: I was against new LI introduction, became neutral towards V at some point, then turned against V thanks to fandom bad behavior; shared my fears about Infold's direction at the time; thoughts on Raf mains.

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I was against the introduction of a new love interest even before it was announced. I don't know how to explain this, but it felt like something was off with LADS as if the quality was slowly declining, I'm not sure. (I'm glad I saw other people sharing the same sentiment bc it made me feel less crazy lol).

When V was announced, I didn't really like him but I decided to wait and watch. Then the Livestream dropped and oh boy. I honestly became neutral about V as a character, but the Livestream in itself was a disaster! It simply showed that the other 5 LIs were completely sidelined. Besides the house, AR features and V, there was literally NOTHING for the 5 LIs other than a ridiculous last minute ppt slide with Sylus and Caleb's MS announcement.

Infold doubling down on V's launch and emphasizing that he was part of the long-term plans for the company didn't sit well with me at all, especially after the deplorable Cocomelon Livestream. In my view, even if it wasn't their intention, the message they sent was their lack of plans and/or care for the Five Guys by not having anything for them. And let's be real. That Sy and Leb last minute slide just felt like a desperate attempt to shut up the fandom as they bulldoze V's launch. Nothing new yeah, but it's pure disrespect. Disrespect here, disrespect there, disrespect everywhere!

Out of all that, my unsettling feelings about LADS were kind of proven right(?).--Guys, you have no idea. Throughout May and June I was so paranoid about recording everything in the game. MS, WUs, Cards stories, Kindleds, Secret Times, Cafe interactions, etc. I could tell something was coming, but I couldn't pinpoint what and why. And then we had an entire week where everyone was speculating about a potential EOS!--After the Livestream, it became crystal clear to me: Infold was signaling that they were shifting their focus towards new markets, and content for the OG LIs could end up in the back burner. I speculate that they assumed solo mains were 100% hooked on their LIs and would never leave even if the quality of the content got worse.

Anyway, that note aside, fast forward to now, I despise V thanks to his fandom. It's really hard not to associate him with his stans' unhinged behavior and honestly, I'll disagree with an OP from a different post here, the first two weeks did feel like a mass psychosis (just Google the definition). Now, V puts me off so bad that I simply stopped following many creators in the LADS community (video editors, glint peeps, artists, etc), even if they only sympathize with V's cause. On one hand I felt sad, but on the other hand it worked for the best because I'm curating my timeline and I also discovered new amazing artists!

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Next, "As A RaFAyeL mAiN..." Jk! I'm not a poser!!! I AM actually a Rafayel solo main lololol

I was so sad to see Raf solo artists turn their whole page into a V den for a couple of weeks (I'm not gonna lie, even the ones who just showed discreet support and used that hashtag are cut out of my list. Anything-V gives me the ick now, I'm sorry), or when Raf mains say the game doesn't feel the same without V. Ofc everyone is entitled to their own feelings and opinions, creators and players are allowed to post whatever they want in their pages, all in all, it's their space. My point is, as much as Raf is a game character, I still have a real emotional connection to him yk, and it saddens me to see folks who once loved him suddenly talk as if he is not enough. That applies to every LI for sure. And seriously, watching some players return to their former LIs calling them their comfort character, as if they never jumped ship to the brand new guy and in some cases, even dragged their OG LI down for the dawg's sake...... Idk about you, I can't help but give them the side eye lol (I'm an Aries ok? I can't hide my feelings well kek)

I'm also disappointed at some Rafayel mains who considers his story incomplete or that only V can add more to his lore. It's all such a lame attempt to attach V to a well established character and use Rafayel's popularity to leverage the dawg's importance. And let's be real here. We all know that if that rivalry was part of the story, based on V's stans behavior they showed so far, Rafayel mains would need to be VERY well prepared for the tough times ahead.

Honestly, I can see how Raf and V stories could compare (if that V backstory seep is real), but I'm not giving ammo to people I dislike. Also, I find the foil theory running around plain STUPID. When you see any analysis trying to make it work, they compare the most superficial characteristics of each character (amongst the most ridiculous points being the color of the hair, placement in the game's UI, planet of origin, etc). There are some points that seems less worse, but still very surface level.

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On a positive note, the good thing is that the craze quieted down considerably. If you were here on V day, you'd know how insane it was. Some are shocked by the current state of #lad-general, but trust me on this: for the server dweller, that's great because at least they're contained now. On V day, every single channel (including the individual LIs channels) were taken by spammers posting walls and walls of V's name, the cooldown in some channels were 30 minutes. I heard at some point it became 1h (maybe even more), but don't quote me on that. It was impossible to even look at any channel because of the amount of spam. Shit was bat crazy. Despite being contained, just like in most places, the official server is still not a safe space if you have any grievances or frustrations about V even if your opinions are mild and expressed politely. On the bright side, ar least we don't get crazy spams and Sara Brightman's comment section may be ok now.

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May that side of the fandom never find this post and I hope this safe haven stay out of their grasps.