File:ACV Darby McDevitt thread on Isu incarnations and Sages.png

Darby McDevitt's thread clarifying how past Isu lives work for Reborn Isu and Sages

Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "Clarifying this now, because I'm getting lots of ?s -- Odin is not a separate entity inside Eivor; he is not a parasite trying to "take over." We have simply dramatized the friction between her human personality and the "previous Isu life" that is slowly revealed to her. (1/?)"
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "I have always written Sages as if they were people with a severe amnesia that is slowly starting to lift. Someone who, one day, begins to remember that they were someone else for many years. And that someone else might be an entirely different person than they are today. (2/?)"
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "This, to me, makes it a more human story than a simple battle between a good and evil soul. It's more about someone being presented with a different way of being, and choosing to embrace or reject it."
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "Of course, we have taken dramatic liberties with depicting this interior struggle ... that's part of the fun of this medium."
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "I should add ... we have dramatized these sort of internal struggles since the first AC. The kill rooms are not literal depictions of an assassin talking to their target's ghost. They're all in the protagonists head. (Except in Unity, which is ... something else entirely!)"
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "In a series where human memory is the cornerstone of everything we do, my explanation here should be much more palatable than imagining an Isu homunculus taking a joyride in the human mind."
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "Something else to consider with this angle—imagine a horrible human who started having visions of a kind and magnanimous Isu. He'd now have the choice to embrace this better, earlier version of himself, or reject it and continue being horrible."
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "However, if the drama was simply about a kind Isu trying to take over a horrible human host, for me the drama gets less interesting. You're not watching a human make hard decisions—you're just rooting for a dead Isu to “win” an abstract battle."
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "So, all this to say, I hope this preps you well for The Last Chapter, which — as you can see from the trailer — dramatizes the Eivor-Odin relationship in even more dramatic terms. Can't wait to talk about it when it's out!"
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "TL;DR Valhalla spoilers! Eivor is literally the reincarnation of the Isu Odin, not a host for a second autonomous entity called Odin. I find the former a dramatically more interesting idea, b/c it implies a person struggling with themselves—not a war between good and evil."
AC: Landmarks (@ac_landmarks) on Twitter "Would you say that what Eivor is going through is another version of what Sages go through? Ex: Roberts/Standish grew & realized they're reincarnations of Aita & acted on it. Eivor however, got a traumatic experience & awakened Odin, now it's her choice to say yes or no to him?"
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "Yes, the same. When I first started writing Aita Sages I always imagined some form of emotional distress is what triggers the buried memories to start resurfacing. But it would be different for each instance I'm sure."

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