Re: Monster Fucking for Fun and Profit

[rynling]

It looks like I have found my niche. It's always nice when a story goes well, and I'm enjoying myself so much that I want to cancel class so I can keep writing into the afternoon. I won't do this, because I'm a professional, but it sure would be lovely to spend the day working on this story.

What I'm writing is the dysfunctional romance of White Mask Varré, the first NPC you meet in Elden Ring, and the lord he serves, the demigod Mohg. Mohg is basically Satan, and he essentially lives in Horrible Blood Hell. Mohgwyn Palace is very optional and very late-game content, and the only reason you'd go down there is to punish yourself. Still, this area is cool as hell (so to speak), and it's intriguing that Varré's story stretches from the very start of the game to the very end.

The quality of Varré's voice acting shines even in a sea of stars, and he's a rather handsome lad under his mask, as game modders have demonstrated (here). Meanwhile, Mohg is... Well, he sure is (something).

Mohg is incestuously fixated on his childlike half-brother (or perhaps half-sister, what is gender??) Miquella, who is probably going to be the focus of the upcoming DLC, as suggested by the promo graphic (here). Despite this, Varré is clearly in love with Mohg, so much so that he carved the rune of his soul into his forehead.

I'm not saying that any of this is healthy; I just think there's an interesting story here.

Comments

[lassarina]

Healthy relationships are overrated in fiction, I'm just saying.

[rynling]

Agreed 100%. I just started getting into SFF fiction from the 1970s and 1980s, and I'm amazed at how boldly dysfunctional many of the characters are, especially given how progressive many of the authors' messages seem to be. I'm embarrassed that it was so easy for me to forget that the insistence on purity in genre fiction is a very recent thing.

[lassarina]

It's so recent--I think of the stuff I read as a teen and what the pitchfork mob would have to say about it now and just shake my head. Like, to be clear, I think being able to identify and interrogate when things are presented as Normal that should not be (actual abuse, for example) is a valid skill--but in order for that to be possible and even useful, one has to see examples that are subtle and fucky as well as cartoon villain. And, importantly, fiction is not real life and we can do all manner of things in fiction that aren't suitable for real life. Way too many people do not understand this.