So You’re Telling Me When Parker And Arthur First Met, Parker Saved Arthur’s Life. Then, The Last

Red Valley S4E6 Finale

I had to sleep and wait until morning so I missed it by a couple hours but HELLO???? SO many emotions and none of them I can express in a way that’ll do them justice.

That was incredible? It was just surprise after surprise. The swapping “that’s my line”s? Just stab me in the heart why don’t you? They’re so sickeningly special in my heart. As other people have pointed out, I love how we can always squeeze some genuine comedy in there too no matter how intense it gets, in the case with the “chop chop”. AND MALCOLM???? There’s so much here to think about wow. I wish I could be better at talking about this because this whole episode was wow

Basically just oh red valley how I love you

My take on The Manager and Kayne

The moment John and Arthur enter The Managers office were told something very clearly. He looks and sounds EXACTLY like Kayne aside from the color of his suit. To the point that the boys think they were sent to Kayne in death. This tells me one thing very clearly: This is still a specific mask of Nyarlathotep. Not his core being himself. Or a different mask.

I've seen a lot of theories that this is Nyarlathotep himself and Kayne is a rambunctious kid who is off making trouble but that doesn't seem to be the case. Nyarlathotep has at least 1000 avatars or 'masks'. Hell there is an entire CoC game that takes a year of regular play minimum to get through and it only has you dealing with 3. These masks all look very different from each other. Some human, a lot not.

The body that Kayne is in, is one of those masks. It's the one Nyarlathotep is wearing right now. It's still him in there. Because The Manager looks exactly like Kayne we know that he's still that mask. He just made different choices, just like Kayne asked a different question.

I've also seen a lot of theories that add a layer of self loathing to him that pretty much every character in the show has. But I really doubt that's the case. Most of Nyarls masks aren't that manic or crazy. They're charming and put together, able to sway LARGE groups of people, in some cases entire empires. That shit takes boiling the frog, not dancing around in gore. The Manager comes across more like how his masks normally behave. And I've always felt that Kaynes insanity is the result of collapsing so many iterations of himself into one body.

I don't think The Manager is innocent and pure. Or wracked with guilt. I think he just knows this isn't going to go the way Kayne wants, and just like Arthur and John, wants to keep living. Nyarl keeps Azathoth asleep because he likes doing what he does. He's more than capable of being helpful when it suits him, and I'd bet that's what we're seeing here. Not guilt and self hatred, just trying to keep the status quo he enjoys quite a lot. Trying to differentiate from Kayne is just a way of distinguishing himself, they're identical otherwise. Even in behavior when he's not actively trying to stop it. I don't think he's pure and good and feels guilty. I think he just doesn't want to die either.

Kayne killing every single version of himself is so interesting cause it's like.

This ultimate act of control. This is the only me that is and was and ever will be. In a way it's antithetical to the idea of a crawling chaos. It's this strange sort of contained order.

And then John who started as a fragment of something else. A piece who is constantly fighting against who he used to be and become someone else and become whole beyond what he was.

And then Arthur who is forced to change and endure and grow while still having connection with parts of himself he's been forced to leave behind.

John, Arthur, and Kayne: master of my fate captain of my soul but in very different ways.

Don't make me pull out my Arthur Lester wound stats

distortion + foxglove

Theory about Lillith: She killed Arthur's parents because they were going to sacrifice Arthur to her.

Something something John being powerless to help the person who means everything to him. Something something his only agency and body parts beings ripped away from him. Something something John being put right back where he was with the witch. Being forced to watch Arthur be stabbed and cut open alive in a wretched parody of what John thought would be the last of his best friend. Watching be laid to the ground in a bloody mess. Head unbowed but forcefully pushed on his back with an exposed belly and a powerless pawn to the games of gods. And how John is right there beside him. Something something how he had to witness that twice in one episode. Powerless with no hand and no eyes. Begging in his own form of prayer to a god he doesn't believe in and fears. Do you think Arthur shut his eyes so John wouldn't have to watch him get pulled apart at the seams

These were rabbits once. Hundreds, if not thousands, of rabbits. An impenetrable, twisting mass of hunger. The sound is unceasing. Chukka-chukka-chukka

timelapse below !!

(Spoilers for ep 52) but do you think that John, in his last moments with Arthur, realized what it was like for Arthur? To be blind? Do you think Arthur, limbless and useless, realized what it was like for John? To be a passenger in a body meant to be yours?

Another sketch I did a while back