Thread by @illegible_words, Playing through ShB on alt, I keep thinking about various analyses of [...]

Playing through ShB on alt, I keep thinking about various analyses of the unsundered and the ways each of them is mentally fucked. I don't like framing things as "more" or "less" with mental illness, they each have their own thing so it's like apples and oranges.

One bit I do find interesting though--first go, my opinion was that Emet-Selch has the most obvious/recognizable symptoms in a way? Guy is REALLY obviously depressed, he drags the Scions + WoL into his Terminus PTSD flashback, he basically makes puppets of all his dead friends.

He does a little to mask it sometimes, but by and large signs come out in his sleep, his posture, whole shebang.

What's interesting to me now though, is I think despite being the most initially visible Emet-Selch also might be the most functional in a way?

Elidibus and Lahabrea I think both hide what's going on in different ways. Lahabrea is essentially confirmed to have been committing slow suicide by body-hopping, and given his expertise I don't believe for a second he was unaware.

If Lahabrea was reckless with himself for the Ardor I think it's because he viewed any damage taken to his person as an acceptable loss. Probably became an issue mainly when he physically/aetherically could not keep up with Emet-Selch and Elidibus for missions.

I could go on at length about scene interpretations for him, but the short version is I think he was doing a combination of dissociating, treating the situation as absurd, and hysteria. I think he deliberately hid the extent of his own issues from the other Ascians too.

Basically I figure he wouldn't have been able to stand it if he'd made his personal issues a burden to the others. Any point those issues bled through he just tried to work harder, even when that ultimately caused more damage. Stopping for personal issues also = unacceptable.

At a certain point, even those who knew Lahabrea had a hard time reading him I think.

And Elidibus, we have canon confirmation via Tales From The Shadows that at minimum Emet doubted whether he even gave a shit about him and Lahabrea anymore.

I think Elidibus' problems are a combination of the memory loss and intense repression to try and keep himself focused on the Ardor/making sure everyone else stayed focused on the Ardor.

For my own take atm, the difference between Elidibus and Lahabrea's issues is that Elidibus has denied his personal self along with needs/desires to the point of not even being sure he has them anymore.

Lahabrea knows he has a personal self, he just hates himself and treats his own needs/desires as utterly insignificant in the face of the Ardor. Sure they're there, he probably knows full well what they are. They just don't matter.

Emet-Selch does actually give himself the mental breaks that come with sleep, does actually spend time with the sundered and at least goes through motions of trying to engage mortals. He has major problems sure but he can manage? Meanwhile Elidibus doesn't know how to fist bump.

I love all three of them to bits, and I think all three are horribly dysfunctional. I'm just kind of fascinated because I initially didn't have the idea on Emet's comparative functionality because I hadn't gone into the other two unsundered yet.

Two last disclaimers, 1) personal analysis, I don't mind if other folks interpret differently but this is my own spin given info we have and going over scenes 2) twitter character limit sucks I'm not unpacking everything here b/c of the required textwall lmao.

But yeah this keeps crossing my mind. Reiterating not a contest or anything. I just think the bois r neat.

Latest Threads Unrolled: