Predictions and Observations:
The Phoenix Has Landed II

“Your eyes betray you; they tell me that you’re losing hope, and that you’re beginning to doubt your own convictions.” I’m reminded of the way Dr. Collector assessed that The D had been worried earlier that evening.

“This is for…my friend!” You thought he was going to say “my father”, didn’t you? I sure did! But Aster has come a long way in just this afternoon or whatever alone. Despite what happened in his duel with The D, which is reason enough to confront Sartorius, Aster is there to save his friend, and for that purpose alone. I’m rather amazed that his focus so abruptly shifted to that, but since that’s an even worthier cause for this duel, to duel for friendship rather than revenge, I’m not complaining!

Why did “Sartorius” always get upright and Aster always get reverse, except in the case of the Fiend? That was more than destiny…
But why was the Fiend the exception to that? Was it because it was also very devastating in reverse, or was it because “Sartorius” couldn’t affect it? After all, that card represents him; it would be a violation of something or other if he could control how it falls himself.

The Fiend—How did Aster know which one Arcana Force 15 was? Then again, he’d probably dueled Sartorius before, as his friend, because he said Sartorius taught him to believe in the cards.

Failure—why did “Sartorius” make such a point of mentioning it? Why did he keep saying that Aster was doomed to failure, or that he seemed to be a glutton for it? Was he actually saying anything more than psych-out garbage? Repeating the same idea over and over seems more than that when no specific reference has been made to the subject outside of the duel. Then again, “Sartorius” also mentioned Aster’s father, so he could have been connecting this duel to Aster’s “failing” his dad, but that’s stretching it a bit. Why did “Sartorius” keep mentioning failure?

Kung-Fu Mind Grip—how does he DO that?!

One eye crying—Yup, that’s Sartorius. But hang on—we’d seen that before for most of the rest of this adventure. Therefore, when did Sartorius wake up, if it used to be him in control? After, ah, gee, I don’t know. We wouldn’t have seen the one eye crying anymore, that would have been the tipoff. Sartorius himself, though, was in control when he dueled Chazz, or partially in control, and was in control when Aster confronted him in the flashback in Taken By Storm I.

I draw parallels to Marik during the Battle City Finals and how he took refuge in Tea’s mind. Marik had a pretty simple reason for why he *could* do that, though: he’d been in Tea’s mind before, when he took it over during Friends ‘Til the End, and since he hadn’t been forcefully expelled, he could probably return without causing too much fuss (by which I mean among Tea’s neurons, not among her friends; they freaked out about this some, I seem to recall). What’s Sartorius’ property of mind-sharing, if I may ask? I suppose it’s a friendship thing; I’m not sure what exactly the deal is with Sartorius’ body and its many inhabitants of different sides and shades of evil and how easy it is for them to wander. Right now, I’ve got two main theories, both of which seem to think that Sartorius took refuge with Aster when he gave him and Jaden the keys. However, I also need to remind them that we saw him talking to evil Sartorius afterward, so that’s impossible. It can’t have been far afterward, and my theory is that it was around that time. One theory states that it’s a friendship thing and he could do that without Aster noticing; the other states that he somehow attached his spirit to the key he gave Aster, allowing him to return to Aster and hide with him without anyone the wiser. But then…(here’s the bonus question) why did he say “goodbye” at the time?

Not *predicting*-- that’s the real Sartorius. *This* guy’s manipulating the cards! In earlier duels, even Sartorius got cards in reverse!

“Aster: Don’t tell me you feel guilty; ‘cause you’ve helped *me* out a million times. Take my dueling: you gave me the courage I needed to be a pro. You taught me to believe in my deck, *and* myself. So I guess, in a way, you kinda rescued *me*, also.
Sar: I *did*?
Aster: You bet. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for you. So wipe off that frown. Come on—let’s show ‘em what a little teamwork can do!
Sar: Hm, you’re right. But what if the Light is too strong? If we lose, I could never forgive myself.
Aster: You once thought I could beat Destiny. Whaddaya say we put that theory to the test? Well, pal? You in?
Sar: I’m in!
Dark Light: You’ve just taken another step toward the Light!”
I’m getting déjà vu for some reason; I guess just because it’s a conversation that tends to occur between friends in this universe; I’m reminded of quotes from all across the series, in conversations between plenty of folks, but most of all, Yugi and Atem. Most particularly the conversation that happened in Yugi’s dream in Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh and the point in the final duel when they talked about what went into building their decks (II?).

Here we go again: I have a couple burning questions about the Light’s sway. To begin with: was Sartorius ever tricked, or was he always controlled because, being the Light’s main host person, its headquarters if you will, there would have been plenty of power to just control him. Why did it choose Sartorius? Was it his gift of prophecy? Was it the fact that he doesn’t seem too much of a fighter? What does the one eye crying show? Is it a sign that the real Sartorius is in charge, that he’s partially in control or observing? Is it characteristic of Sartorius when he’s *not* possessed or darn close or only when he is?

“That lost soul that hides in your mind”, evil Sartorius called Aster’s friend. I’ve noticed the theme of lost souls before, and I’m pointing it out again.

I noticed some umbrella and precipitation symbolism here. When Sartorius and Sarina (very cute as little kids) lived out in the cold, I believe it was snowing in the flashback. I can’t check from here. In Aster’s memory, of course, it was raining and there was an umbrella: the first time Aster went into the memory, evil Sartorius was about to take the key, and the young Aster in the memory saw him and freaked, letting the umbrella fly away into the gale. When he returns, good Sartorius has taken refuge there, and he’s sheltering under the umbrella. At a later point, when evil Sartorius comes into the memory and addresses good Sartorius directly, Aster takes hold of the umbrella as well and, here’s an even more interesting part, the umbrella disappears because they’re not in the rain anymore, they’re sort of on the edge of a void, and they’re just holding hands as if they were still holding the umbrella. If I had to guess, I’d say this also is representative of how their friendship began. Sartorius says that this damp memory is where the two of them first met, and that, combined with who they were at the time and the symbolism of the umbrella, makes it seem likely to me that Sartorius was in trouble somehow, out freezing in the rain, and Aster came along, with an umbrella, and that’s when they met and became friends; Aster shared his umbrella.

Come on—heroes can’t catch a break! That’s what we’re missing here! I mean, come on! When’s the last time that someone who had every chance and right to win besides Jaden (who wins everything) won?! The Heart was entirely with Aster here, he’s come such a long way, and we’re so proud of him, and he lost the duel! Same with Syrus! One of the things that’s most important in this story is that those who duel with honor and heart usually win; why on Earth has that rule been getting broken far too often recently?!

FOUR SACRIFICES???!!! Plasma requires *four* *sacrifices*?! That’s more than an Egyptian God!

“That card is nothing but an empty shell.” Glad to hear it! That means Aster won’t get whammied by Plasma!

Does anyone in the audience have an inkling what’s going on in Aster’s mind? Jaden might; he communicates with monster spirits, so he’s a bit more familiar with the whole deal with spirits.

Same strategy as The D, I notice with some annoyance: Plasma and D Force. Then again, if the strategy’s good, why change it? It’s not like “Sartorius’” deck has the Dark Angel…

Vengeful Rain is Plasma’s attack, and Aster and Sartorius called it together. There’s the rain symbolism and then there’s the fact that Aster’s spent most of his time as a character dueling, for one thing, for vengeance. This duel was different, so somehow it bugged me that it made a little return to that.

How did Aster know he didn’t have a chance once he saw that? He had time to wish Jaden luck and all.
Full Armor Gravitation, anyone? Ride of the Valkyries, perhaps? Why did it work? Why did it work so fast? Why did Aster already know he was toast? What does it do? What does it do? And is there any way of stopping it?
What on Earth did that thing DO to Aster?!

Aster can’t be entirely gone from the plot. He has such a larger stake in it than Jaden. Seriously; Jaden’s friends are starting to come back, and he doesn’t have near enough reason to win at this point without Aster. If he challenges Sartorius and wins, it’ll be through pure might. And that would be a real disappointment.

The Hands of Justice I and II are the next two episodes, and those sound like Aster also; when we first met him, he said that he dueled for justice. “The Hands” remind me of that clock tower of his, or of the “hand of destiny”. Then again, it would also be justice for Aster and everyone else if Jaden took Sartorius *down*.

Guess what I got as a vocabulary word yesterday? We’re studying word roots, and I don’t know which is worse: that my teacher assigns us these easy words instead of something less insulting, or that most of my class seems to be having some trouble with them. Anyway, one of the words of the week is “duel”. I started laughing out loud in class, and no one had any idea why!

Well, that’s it. This afternoon, The Hands of Justice I (they’ve never, ever gone above three, has anyone noticed?). Sorry about all the confusion over the last few days; I’ve been getting lazy with these things and I sent the last post out immediately when I thought that there was going to be a Monday episode and I had five minutes to get it up before the next one, not realizing how dreadfully incomplete it was. I’ve still got the Shining Friendship and Champion vs. Creator posts; I just haven’t remembered to post them at any point in time when I’ve had access to the files yet. I’m that forgetful, it’s awful. That’s game! -Clio