Hero of the Month - Edition N°17

For the first edition of the 2017 year, I will present a character coming from one of my favorite video games of all time, from one of my favorite franchises: She appears for the first time in Bioshock Infinite, from the saga Bioshock. She's one of my fictional loves, my steampunk lady, my trans-dimensionnal princess: Elizabeth Comstock.

Elizabeth was born in 1893, and her first name is Anna Dewitt. Her father is Booker Dewitt, a former soldier, who has become a private detective, alcoholic and crumbling under debts. One day to pay a large debt, while Anna is still a baby, Booker has no choice but to give his daughter to a man (Robert Lutece), and very soon, Booker, remorseful, tries to prevent this, without success.

Anna becomes Elizabeth and is raised by Zachary Comstock, a prophet leading a flying city, Columbia, and wants to make Eizabeth his heiress. Elizabeth grows up isolated in a huge tower of which she never goes out, with a little finger missing (which she thinks is a physical deformation of birth), and with the ability to open dimensional doors, all under the supervision of Songbird, A giant mechanical bird. But in 1912, Elizabeth is rescued by Booker, whom she did not recognize, and Booker either (having forgotten everything, but was instructed by someone to bring the girl back, to clear the debt).

During her journey with Booker in the streets of Columbia, Elizabeth will discover a little more about her past and who she really is. When she discovers that Zachary and Lady Comstock were not her real parents, Elizabeth swears to discover the truth by all means. She does nothing to prevent Booker from killing Zachary, and succeeds in mastering Songbird and pushing him to fight for her, which he does by destroying the enemy shuttles that threaten Elizabeth and Booker during a brutal final assault. Having learned that her tower was actually a giant siphon containing a great power, Elizabeth and Booker use Songbird to destroy the tower completely. Elizabeth then recovers all of her power, and her memory. She decides to reveal everything to Booker, who also had forgotten everything. In a memory, Elizabeth sees Booker trying to recover his daughter before Zachary disappears behind a dimensional door, the fight is fierce, but Zachary manages to take the girl, but the little finger of the baby is cut by the closing of the dimenssional door , Which explains the missing of her little finger, and explains the fact that Elizabeth possesses dimensional powers, because a part of herself (her finger) has remained in another temporality, making her exist in two worlds at once. Elizabeth, helped by the twins Luteces, then helps Booker remember, namely that he sold Elizabeth when she was still a baby, and that Zachary is actually another version of Booker of a parallel world, having been baptized To expiate his faults and remorse after he participated in massacres being a soldier, the Booker version having refused baptism and having grown up in depression and alcohol. 

Elizabeth knows that the only way for everything stops is that the real leader of all this madness has to die before everything happens. She and Booker go back in time, returning to the moment before Booker leaves for Columbia. Booker, knowing that he is also Zachary at the same time, let himself drowned by Elizabeth in the waters. Elizabeth thus remains alone, having fulfilled her mission, and all her versions of herself disappearing around her.

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood  \m/ 

Dreams: When the Fictional Worlds unite to save ours

Between you and me, who has never dreamed of seeing many of his favorite fictional worlds to meet and blend, to give completely unbelievable stories. That's almost what I dreamed last night.

In my dream, I was as a spectator, I was present but nobody saw me. From what I heard, the real world was in danger, dimensional gates were opening up everywhere, and unknown evil forces of great power arrived to invade the real world, but also the fictitious worlds that we have created. Their goal was to destroy the real world so that all fictitious universes disappear. The fictitious personages had then to unite to gather forces that could be of size against this enemy, and to protect the world that created their franchises. In any case, it had to be damn powerful and dangerous to push all fictional characters to unite to fight him.
In the place where I was, I do not know in which world I was, but it was a very large room, like a sort of refuge or a hidden sanctuary, in which thousands of fictitious personages had gathered from many different universes. There were heroes and villains, for in spite of their rivalries they had to unite to defend the worlds in which they exist. They seemed to be preparing to fight the enemy. Outside, the sky had become black and distorted by vortices more and more numerous, pouring out sorts of fluids of evil shadows that scattered in the air. The enemy seemed invisible, but had the power of a god. From what I heard in the discussions of the characters, is that the situation was critical, that several fictitious worlds invaded were in poor posture and that unfortunately, many characters already had lost their lives in fighting.
To be honest, as it is a dream, I mostly saw fictional characters from franchises that I know. Among the many characters I saw, I will start by quoting a few characters from Game of Thrones, who seemed to lead by Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys and her dragons. The Night's King was here too. There were also Star Wars characters, such as Leia and Han Solo, who were talking with rebel alliance soldiers for a battle plan. I also saw Chewbacca and Dark Vador with them, some stormtroopers too, but oddly, not Luke. Yoda was here too, with the memebrs of the Jedi Council. In the Medieval Fantasy franchises, I also saw several Lord of the Rings characters like Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas, with army of men, dwarves and elves ..... Sauron was here too, leading an army of orcs. I also saw the Dovahkiin, who was starting to go, sword in hand, and followed by some Nordic warriors, and by the Ashen One, the main character of Dark Souls III.
In the Sci-Fi and Steampunk franchises, I also saw characters from Mass Effect, who were also ready to go for the battle (Shepard, Garrus, Liara, Tali, Wrex .....). Although I do not know much about the Halo franchise, I saw the Master Chief, who was talking with several human soldiers and aliens, to establish a strategy together. A little further on, there was a group of Transformers, led by Opitmus Prime, who were beginning to turn into vehicles, heading for the fight. From Dead Space, there was Isaac Clarke in his armor, and Ellie Langford with him. There were also the Na'vis, led by Neytiri, who raised their weapons, howling like warriors, to give themselves courage before the battle. Ninja Turtles were here too, with their master, Splinter. Michaelangelo was eating a pizza, but I saw in his eyes that he was a little worried, not joking as usual. I only saw two characters from Bioshock, Booker Dewitt and Elizabeth Comstock, but not Songbird, too bad.
Among the heroes of comics, I have seen several also. From Marvel, I saw the Avengers, all assembled and marching in group, determined to go to battle. From DC, I saw the Justice League, which also accompanied the Avengers towards the fight.
I also saw many Disney characters, even a lot, so I could not quote them, but among them I saw: Maleficent, Mulan with Mushu, Shan Yu and his Huns, Elsa and Anna with soldiers of Arendelle, Jack Sparrow, the Prince from Sleeping Beauty, Belle and the Beast, Simba and Nala leading a group of lions, etc ... There were too many for me to quote them all, and I will surely forget to quote some. Even horror characters were present. I saw Xenomorphs and Predators, and despite their fierce war, they did not fight each other. Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger were also there. For my part, I could not speak but only look around, and I saw them all, preparing to go into battle, and worrying for them, for I was wondering if this unknown enemy was as powerful as that.
They were really very numerous that I can not say everything because I could not see everything before I woke up. I do not know why I had this dream, but it was an experience, and it almost made me think of an enormous fanfiction of my mind, in which all the existing fictional characters form a giant alliance to fight an overpowering enemy who wants to destroy the world that created them.


Mathias, the Killmaster
Fire and Blood \m/

DiscoveRock Edition N°22 - Terra Tenebrosa

For the first edition of DiscoveRock of the year 2017, I will plunge you into the heart of the most unhealthy darkness with this band from hell: Terra Tenebrosa.

Swedish band formed in 2009, Terra Tenebrosa is really a special band, first with its avant-garde and black metal style very saturated, the guttural voice of the singer, dark, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and always in an unhealthy atmosphere and abandoned places. Their video clips almost resemble unhealthy videos of the Deep Web, which adds a little more to the terror. The members of the group are masked and their real names are unknown. For me, they are the darkest band I ever listened, but they're really good. For now, the band released three albums, their first "The Tunnels" (2011), "The Purging" (2013), and "The Reverses" (2016).
If you love creepy places, creatures, darkness, demons.......Terra Tenebrosa is made for you.

Members:
- The Cuckoo
- Hisperdal
- Hibernal

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

Villain of the Month - Edition N°17

Hellcome humans, I hope you had a good 2017 start, and now, let's go for the first 2017 edition of the Villain of the Month.
And, we start with a villain from a French franchise, the most emblematic villain of the anime series Wakfu: Nox (or Noximilien) the Xelor.

Noximilien was once an ordinary human, watchmaker and inventor, he spent most of his time inventing machines that would allow him to make a fortune and thus ensure a better life to his wife and children. But one day, in a cavern, he discovered a mysterious artifact, the Eliacube, an object belonging to the extinct civilization of the Eliatropes. Nox, fascinated, took the object in his laboratory to study it. But over the months, the influence of the artifact on Noximilian was felt. He remained alone, locked in his lab, no longer ate, no longer slept and became very aggressive, to the point that he had become skeletal, his face dug with fatigue. His wife became frightened and decided to leave with the children, leaving Noximilian alone. Later, he learned that his wife and children had died as a result of the tidal wave that swallowed up the island where they were, because of the chaos of Ogrest. This news broke the already fragile spirit of Noximilian, plunging him into a chaotic and murderous madness. Determined to make up for his mistakes, he decided to go back in time with the Eliacube, to bring back his family. He abandonned his name Noximilien the watchmaker to become Nox the Xelor. 

For 200 years, since Eliacube gave him a longer life than standard, Nox traveled the world to harvest the most energy from Wakfu to power the cube and develop his project. One day, he meets a dragon, Grougaloragran, and Yugo, a young child of the Eliatrope people, containing in him a quantity of Wakfu unimaginable. Nox set out to pursue them to take their energy. Nox ravaged the world, destroying legendary entities, and after failing to take Grougal's Wakfu, he targeted the Sadida kingdom, containing a legendary artefact, the tree of life, the source of life for all Sadidas in the world. 

After a terrible battle that saw the death of one of his friends, Yugo faced Nox, and after a titanic fight, Nox emerged victorious in the fight, and seeing that the tanks of the Eliacube were full, decides to go back in time . Unfortunately, the time goes back only 20 minutes (thus effacing the defeat of Yugo), and Nox, impotent and lost, sees his project faded. Nox realizes that he has been manipulated from the beginning by the Eliacube, and that he will never be able to see his family again. Nox fled, and returned to the tombs of his wife and children, where time finally caught up with him, reducing him to a pile of dust, leaving nothing but his helmet and armor in front of the graves of his family. Thus ends the life of Nox, who joins his family in death.

Nox is a Xelor, a magician capable of mastering the powers of time. He can stop time as he pleases, teleport himself, send rays with his hands, or create a sword he uses to fight. With the Eliacube in his possession, Nox's powers are more powerful than those of an ordinary Xelor. One of the most interesting points of Nox is that it is not a villain who does evil for the evil. He's a "Drama villain", because his story is tragic. Nox is not really evil as he want to show it, he just went crazy because of an artefact too powerful for him. Nox was a loving husband and father, and he was ready to do anything to see his family again and redeem his faults, even to destroy the world for that, knowing that by going back in time, all the atrocities he committed during the course of the 200 years will be erased.

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

Shared between love ad hate for Cersei Lannister

For a few days already, after thinking, I am always divided on a point, about the character of Cersei Lannister, from the franchise Game of Thrones. As many know, Cersei is one of the most hated characters, but oddly enough, many other fans likes her, and in a way, I understand them: the character is complex, and on the other hand, when you really know the character of Cersei, you see that she is not really "bad", she does not do evil to do evil, she has her own reasons that make her this unique character.

I know, Cersei committed atrocities in the series, but for my part, I was glad that she killed the High Sparrow and all its sect of crazy fanatics (even if Margaery did not deserved this same fate). In season 1, Joffrey ordered the execution of Ned Stark, Cersei wanted him to stay alive. For my part, I do not considers Cersei as a protagonist or antagonist, but rather between the two. Already, Cersei can not be an incarnation of evil, because she can love, and as proof: her children. She really loves them, and at the moment of their death she suffers horribly and it is understandable for a mother. Cersei is paranoid about the well-being of her children because she knows that she lives in a cruel world where many people would not hesitate to harm her children to harm her, and so she wants protect them, and she is also paranoid about the incest relationship with her brother Jaime. She wants power, but perhaps she wants more, knowing that the power of the crown may be the only way to better protect her children. I think that with the death of all her children, Cersei will close herself a little more every day in pain, which will eventually turn into madness, making her a dark but tortured character who will want to take revenge on this world that has taken to her what she loved the most in this world.
In this sense, I can not really hate Cersei, because I think the loss of children and the sensation of constant fear 'cause you live in a really dangerous world would make anyone crazy. That's why, in a way, I love Cersei, for the complexity of her character, her slyness which in the end is, perhaps, the only way for her not to show her fear for the safety of her children. And also, Lena Headey is a nice, beautiful, awesome and talented actress, who gives all her complexity to the character.


Mathias, the Killmaster
Fire and Blood \m/