*actively Attempting Murder*: His Compassionate Nature And Aura Of Tragedy Have Captivated Me

gotta be infuriating to be one of the people involved in the plotting/secrets of the Holy War in dgm.

you picked random guy one to be the Guy Who Dies (he even agreed!) and he’s just… so hard to kill. Everything that you’ve done to kill him has backfired and he’s harder to kill now.

your choice to use him as your memory vessel extended his life temporarily. that other guy’s attempt at killing for this decision failed miserably, now he has a weapon and is years younger. the weapon is no longer responding to commands and won’t kill him. yet another person tries to kill him, but because he’s a kid now, he feels bad and spares him. you feel bad when you try to kill him, even after he’s grown up a bit—he’s just so nice!

when he tries to die on his own, he’s super durable.

now you’re just waiting him out, but he’s making everything so difficult. you think you’re getting somewhere, and then he comes back, clinging to life and sanity by the skin of his teeth.

he’s dying at a rapid, unstoppable rate and he’s unkillable.

big fan of characters whose first and greatest indicator of something being deeply wrong with them is how chill they are and how quickly they rebound

with the knowledge that innocence is an parasitic entity that basically eats misery, I want someone to know that I think of Crowned Clown refusing to let Allen be killed/die or be separated as a kid throwing a tantrum because someone took away their candy.

like Apocryphos is desperately trying to get this piece of candy away because “it’s not good for you!” and Crowned Crown is kicking screaming crying about losing this food.

dgm manga spoilers

this is entirely a crackpot theory as I haven’t reread all of dgm in ages, so I’m likely missing a lot of relevant information, but:

is the reason for the earl making akuma to prevent new accommodators? Like, if I’m interpreting past!lavi’s words correctly, innocence feeds off of/attaches itself to people of particular suffering and tragedy, right? And mana won’t let himself grieve/cry because it will attract the earl (I think) and Allen is the same. So is the earl intentionally going after people who experience great suffering and just… nipping them in the bud? if the innocence is hostile, or even just keeping in mind the Noah clan’s hatred of it, then preventing it from getting stronger from feeding or gaining the ability of fight would be a smart move.

I’m not sure why specifically going after people in deep grief is a qualifier outside narrative themes, but it would make some sense to me, especially if the Noah’s past world was destroyed due to something relating to the innocence.

I know we all make fun of Cale for sabotaging his own slacker life, but honestly given his life experiences, it kind of makes sense.

Beyond the obvious fact that he’s a good person who’s going to help where help is needed, it was also his responsibility to do so for around a decade.

Like, I’m pretty sure one of the reasons he gives for why he needs to do all this is because conflict would inevitably reach his doorstep and cause issues for him. In the shelter before he joins team 1, he wasn’t actively involved in the fighting… then the fighting came to him, destroying the shelter with massive amounts of casualties.

And unless I’m misremembering the side chapter, he did try to take a day off as team leader krs (for cjs and lsh’s death anniversary)—and then the company called him in to deal with a crisis.

So his life experiences do kind of align with the “I have to fix everything before I can have a day off” mentality

mdzs au where everything is the same except jiang cheng calls wei wuxian “edge lord” during his yiling patriarch era

personally, I’m not the biggest fan of modern aus (the more distance from real life the better lmao), but in particular the significant traumas of the characters don’t always translate well (which… maybe the point actually). But seeing how the author does is always interesting! that said, here’s how the closest I can think of for a dgm modern au:

Allen: if you cut out the whole past self and possession situation, up until the Order, it’s pretty one to one. As a child, he had a limb difference and was trafficked. He met Mana and Allen the dog, the dog died, the place he was trafficked to burns(? maybe attacked and he was spared out of pity?) Due to the trauma of the incident, Mana gets worse, thinks Allen is Allen the dog and then they live on the streets until Mana’s death. Occasionally Mana mistakes him for Nea to keep that aspect of the trauma. Allen is attacked shortly after, survives, and is eventually taken in by Cross (and his debts). He gets a few stalkers or already has them and finds out later.

Lenalee: once again, the fighting is a bit tricky for a plain old modern au, but I can make some things work! After her parents died in an attack, she was adopted out of China into England to an abusive family. Eventually Komui was able to get custody of her… I’m unsure/doubtful he would actually be able to do this with the systems in place, so maybe foster care would work better?

Kanda: A cult??? I guess? And Alma died setting a fire maybe? Unless you want unethical government experiments in your modern au!

Lavi: … I don’t know about this one. A very emotionally distant family that shamed any expression of emotion or connection as weakness? But it doesn’t have quite the same implications, I think.

Miranda: Pretty easy! She’s still miserable and can’t keep a job. Poor Miranda.

Alistar: A bigoted, isolated small town? Very tough on this one. Maybe such a small town that superstition still runs strong and he was run out of town during a series of disappearances (actually caused by his girlfriend, Eliade).

Timothy: Pretty much the same. Abusive father who was eventually jailed for thieving, the orphanage where he lived had money trouble and he started stealing himself. Not sure where the trauma from the orphanage being attacked could fit in.

Mana: A crime family/mafia?? His brother (for reasons we aren’t sure of yet) went on a rampage and managed to take out most of the family, forcing Mana to kill him.

Link: he and his siblings/friends from the streets are adopted by a corrupt government official.

I’ve changed my mind, I’m not Sisyphus anymore. I’d rather the boulder just fuck me than push it up hill.

everyone (but especially Cross and Mother) watching Allen Walker

Mana, holding some clown gear: And one day, I’ll pass these down to you!

Allen, enthusiastically: Just like your mental illness?

Mana, equally enthusiastic: Yep, just like my mental illness!