Arcann romance appreciation thread! Haters keep out please!❤

[JakRoanin]

Hi great discussion! 😁 Now, I've not read nearly as much as @witchglove has, but I think I have enough knowledge to raise a few counterpoints if I may...

1 hour ago, witchglove said:

I do want to say when it comes to Arcann being emotional that I definitely DON'T see him as impulsive in the sense that he just randomly explodes or makes decisions based on sudden whims of feeling. He's FAR from an 'emotion bomb', in my opinion.

See, this is where I tend to base my theory on the Cinematics Arcann rather than based on options Arcann. In the cinematics, it's clear that he is an 'emotion bomb.' Thexan, is clearly the twin in control and far more confident. Thexan is trying to keep Arcann's emotional dam intact, but when it finally burst, he was lost in the flood. Even within the story his dam is still incredibly fractured. For example, Valkorian hits the hot spots multiple times to force him to lose it. In ALL of the fights, he loses his situational awareness. In English, he gets tunnel vision due to heightened emotional impulse.

Also, I don't see him as a J type. Senya? Yes. Thexan? Possibly. Vaylin and Arcann? No, I don't see it. J types tend to need lots of structure (me especially I've noticed). They like lists, organization, and plans. Arcann never seems to be needing a solid plan. When he destroyed Assylum, it wasn't a planned out thing, he just winged it. The same with Darvanis and the Mandalorian raid. His only real plan was the Battle of Odessen. 

Again, not saying he can't plan, not saying he doesn't plan. just saying he's perfectly fine being dropped cold into things and going from there. Batman he is not. Superman or Tony Stark more likely.

[witchglove]

1 hour ago, JakRoanin said:

Hi great discussion! 😁 Now, I've not read nearly as much as @witchglove has, but I think I have enough knowledge to raise a few counterpoints if I may...

See, this is where I tend to base my theory on the Cinematics Arcann rather than based on options Arcann. In the cinematics, it's clear that he is an 'emotion bomb.' Thexan, is clearly the twin in control and far more confident. Thexan is trying to keep Arcann's emotional dam intact, but when it finally burst, he was lost in the flood. Even within the story his dam is still incredibly fractured. For example, Valkorian hits the hot spots multiple times to force him to lose it. In ALL of the fights, he loses his situational awareness. In English, he gets tunnel vision due to heightened emotional impulse.

Also, I don't see him as a J type. Senya? Yes. Thexan? Possibly. Vaylin and Arcann? No, I don't see it. J types tend to need lots of structure (me especially I've noticed). They like lists, organization, and plans. Arcann never seems to be needing a solid plan. When he destroyed Assylum, it wasn't a planned out thing, he just winged it. The same with Darvanis and the Mandalorian raid. His only real plan was the Battle of Odessen. 

Again, not saying he can't plan, not saying he doesn't plan. just saying he's perfectly fine being dropped cold into things and going from there. Batman he is not. Superman or Tony Stark more likely.

Yeah, okay, emotion bomb was probably the wrong word to use! But I still see his attack on Valkorion in the cinematic as something that has built up over a very long time. To me, it's that slow simmer coming to a boil and then finally just spilling over. We also see him losing his temper earlier in the cinematic when he smashes the comm with the Force after he and Thexan report to Valkorion. I think Arcann had a long cascade of moments like that, gradually losing more and more control specifically with regard to Valkorion until it just exploded in the attempt to kill him.

When I wrote 'emotion bomb' I was thinking of characters like Vaylin or Kylo Ren. Vaylin kills for completely random reasons - for amusement or in a blind rage - but Arcann, at least, always has a rationale behind killing someone. Also in contrast to Arcann, I see Ren as that kind of DS character who lashes out at anyone who pisses him off or gets in his way, breaks random stuff with his lightsaber in temper tantrums, etc. I don't see Arcann as THAT kind of emotion bomb, at all. To me, Arcann is more of a predator, someone who does lose control when his particular emotional wound is ripped open, but not someone who just lashes out at everyone unthinkingly. Yes, he winged it to some degree on Asylum, but again only after Valkorion turned up and ruined his plans. He was trying to make a deal with Outlander before that (he was totally lying about letting our friends go and so on if we surrendered to him, of course, but he still had a plan - he wasn't just running in blind and attacking us). Even the way he kills Heskal seems like a planned attempt to intimidate us as much as possible. He doesn't just kill him, he poses him as we enter the room.

So, I stand by thinking of him as a J-type over a P-type. I think he does tend to have a plan of action. P-types are also supposed to be really good at dealing with unforeseen problems and adapt quickly to change, because they're more flexible thinkers. When Arcann loses his situational awareness, I think it's because he completely loses his cool; the plan is ruined and he isn't quick to find a new strategy that actually works.

Maybe we could look at some descriptions of IS-types and see which description we think fits best overall? Do you agree with the IS part?

Again, I'm not an expert and I could be completely wrong! This is so much fun to talk about though 😊 MBTI is such a great tool for analysing the tiny details of his character.

EDIT because I thought of something else: When we first meet Arcann in The Hunt, he very clearly has a plan. He studied our character and found out that we might be able to do what he couldn't do alone, and kill Valkorion for him (or distract Valkorion in order for Arcann to kill him, if you choose to accept Valky's power). He doesn't just 'wait to see what happens and wing it', as I think a P-type would. It all seems very premeditated. I get the impression he had already planned to use our character as a scapegoat for Valkorion's death, too.

Edited May 9, 2023 by witchglove

[JakRoanin]

See, I think I misunderstood your meaning behind the word Bomb. To me, bombs are not random, the require a countdown, and or a trigger mechanism. Random doesn't really work with bombs. INFJ literalism hard at work. Now, Vaylin is a Tommy gun.

With Arcann, placing him as Sensing rather than Thinking is primarily based off of him his preferring to react in situations rather than seeking immediate control. 

[witchglove]

17 minutes ago, JakRoanin said:

See, I think I misunderstood your meaning behind the word Bomb. To me, bombs are not random, the require a countdown, and or a trigger mechanism. Random doesn't really work with bombs. INFJ literalism hard at work. Now, Vaylin is a Tommy gun.

With Arcann, placing him as Sensing rather than Thinking is primarily based off of him his preferring to react in situations rather than seeking immediate control. 

Emotion bomb was a poor choice of words on my part. I think I got the expression from Sims 4 where the 'emotion bomb quirk' causes characters to explode in random fits of rage and sadness 😄I agree that Arcann does explode in the proper 'bomb' sense of having a timer or trigger.

Having said that, I think it's worth noting that as LS he actually has extremely good self-control and emotional control. He's able to reject Valkorion's attempts at manipulation ("you have no son") and he responds calmly if our character chooses the cruellest dialogue options in conversations with him. The only time LS Arcann seems to lose some emotional control is in the romance - not in a negative sense, but in the sense that his feelings seem to 'spill over' with very little prompting (just saying 'I care about you' is enough to make him launch into a big, risky confession!). We also need to take his life experiences into account though. His behaviour in the romance is probably in large part due to being completely inexperienced and very starved for affection.

Sensing is juxtaposed with Intuition (S-types vs N-types). I would place Arcann as a S-type because I'm guessing he processes information through his senses rather than through abstract ideas. I'm not 100% sure about this one though. An S-type would have a high degree of situational awareness and we did just talk about how he tends to lose his. S-types also prefer concrete tasks and actions as opposed to N-types who are idea-people that like theories and abstractions. With regard to that, I think Arcann seems like more of an S-type.

Edited May 9, 2023 by witchglove

[JakRoanin]

Are we talking Pre or Post Voss? Because, there is a difference between a Healthy Type and an Unhealthy Type. Don't get me started on Assertive or Turbulant.

[witchglove]

Pre-Voss has to be an unhealthy type and post-Voss has to be healthy, I think.

I think LS (post-Voss) Arcann is an Assertive type, for sure. Not 100% Assertive, of course, but enough to make the result swing that way. If he wasn't, I think he would respond worse to our character's cruel dialogue options, for one thing.

[JakRoanin]

Well, in that case, based on my limited knowledge and a truckload of opinion (because options) I'd say pre-Voss Arcann is an entirely unhealthy ISFP-T and post-Voss, a healing ISFP-A. Just my opinion, and based on the new stuff in 7.3 subject to change.

[witchglove]

My vote will be for pre-Voss Arcann as a very unhealthy ISTJ-T and post-Voss as a healthy/healing ISTJ-A. I think it's a small T though and depending on the description (which vary a lot from website to website, I've noticed), he might be an ISFJ.

My problem seeing him as an ISTJ (the Logistician) is that I don't think he's enough of a traditionalist. The ISFJ (The Defender) may be too much of an empath. ISFP (the Artist) strikes me as too spontaneous and I'm not sure Arcann has enough of a creative drive to qualify (although he does make the armour for us. That would also be a very appropriate ISFJ gift, though).

In conclusion, I don't know for sure which type is exactly the right fit, but we seem to agree on a rough type which, to me, just confirms that Arcann's character design is rock solid 😊

[JakRoanin]

I think I can accept the J more than the T. Introspection is not the sole purview of Thinkers. Still, what fun!

Strengths & Weaknesses | Adventurer (ISFP) Personality | 16Personalities

Edited May 10, 2023 by JakRoanin
More Context

[Siita]

18 hours ago, witchglove said:

I'm loving this discussion on personality types! I'm by no means a professional or expert at this either, but I am huge C.G. Jung and Myers-briggs nerd, so I've read a couple of the books. For me, I think the most important take-away from reading the books as opposed to just taking the test is that the theory is much more complex than just 16 personality types. Each type has a set of cognitive functions that determine how information is absorbed, processed, and used to make decisions. So, if we're going to use the theory as Jung intended it, we should be looking at how Arcann makes decisions, for one thing. I think this is important, because it means that being 'introverted' vs. 'extroverted' isn't just about how social or outgoing someone is, but about whether their thinking, feeling, and sensing is focused inwards or outwards. For example, I think it's clear that Arcann uses introverted thinking. Introverted thinkers rely on inner logic whereas extroverted thinkers are all about gathering information/data. There are a number of cutscenes in KOTFE where we see Arcann quietly thinking while on the throne, sometimes to Vaylin's frustration (she tries several times to get him to jump into action). Introverted thinkers tend to be innovative and clever, less prone to doing things 'by the book'. That also fits Arcann, in my opinion.

Similarly, feeling can be introverted or extroverted. Introverted feeling is directed inwards towards an inner sense of identity, values, etc. while extroverted feeling is directed outwards towards other people. I'm less sure about this, but I think Arcann might use extroverted feeling (which doesn't mean he isn't an introvert as a person - I absolutely think he is. All FJ types are extroverted feelers). Introverted feelers base decisions on their own gut instinct. Extroverted feelers look outside themselves and consider how their decisions impact others and how others will respond to the decision. Both pre- and post-redemption, Arcann seems to me to focus feeling outwards, towards others. He wants Valky's approval at first, and later he wants to do his duty by the Alliance and is greatly concerned with not letting the Commander down.

The question is whether thinking or feeling is his dominant funciton. I'm not really sure myself. It's important to keep in mind, too, that no one is 100% one or the other. There are gradations. For example, I always test as an INTJ, but I'm only just a tiny bit more of a thinker than a feeler. Whereas another INTJ might be far more of a thinker than a feeler.

So, in answer to @Siita's question: I cannot remember what result we got, but I'm also pretty sure it was either ISTJ or ISFJ. In this thread, we all seem to agree on the I as the first letter. It would also be interesting to look at the differences between S and N (sensing vs. intuitive cognitive function) and how they apply to Arcann, but I'll stop for now.

I do want to say when it comes to Arcann being emotional that I definitely DON'T see him as impulsive in the sense that he just randomly explodes or makes decisions based on sudden whims of feeling. He's FAR from an 'emotion bomb', in my opinion. @Siita and I have talked about how we see his emotion as more a slow simmer coming gradually to a boil and THAT'S where it can erupt into something disastrous (like attacking Valky and ending up killing Thexan, or deciding to bomb 5 planets to dust). Oh, and of course we have to consider the fact that Arcann's MBTI type might change depending on whether we're talking Dark Side or Light Side. Jung made a point of saying that someone's personality is NOT set in stone and if the Shadow-self takes over (which is basically what happens in Star Wars when someone falls to the Dark Side), it can become the opposite of what it would otherwise be. LS Arcann strikes me as very stoic and someone with a very high degree of emotional control.

 Sorry for the massive nerdy rant 😄

+148939843420384 for this gem of a post.

There's just so much here that's on point, in my opinion.  I wish this could be pinned. 👏

Thanks for bringing up Arcann and our view that he is NOT an inherently impulsive person, rather someone that's a deep thinker, always planning the next move ahead of time unless something impacts that or his emotions reach that "boiling point".  I truly feel that Arcann's "emotions baseline" is a lower simmer and that it usually takes a gradual increase in these emotions (rage, affection, losing control etc) over a defined period of time for him to erupt (resentment towards Valkorion, realizing Arcann's losing the advantage (and even his mother!) in his war against the commander, and even falling in love).  In fact, you can draw many parallels between Arcann and Tyth ("Rage rising!", "The inferno ignites", "I boil over", cleaving adds in the operation fight makes his stacks of rage accumulate until he reaches a tipping point and boils over etc).  It a majority of scenes that we see Arcann in, he is contemplative, reacting to most situations by thinking things through in quiet contemplation, and generally just absorbing information and details, analyzing it before making any decisions or saying much of anything.  

This idea even applies to romance, in my view.  In Unmasked Regret, Arcann has CLEARLY been thinking about the Commander in a more tender way for quite some time, even going as far as to plan out and craft a piece of armor by hand for her/him.  The emotions "boil over" once he starts speaking to us and he discovers that our player character "cares for him".  Just the thought that someone that he has been through so much with (and experienced the full gamut of emotions toward!) simply cares for him is impetus enough for the words to spill out, and continue spilling out even after our character briefly interrupts him.  This, as with most other Arcann emotions, especially after his dark times, came to be after this "emotional simmer" built up to a boil.

Gah, I can talk about this forever (and we should soon, @witchglove) ! 😄

Again, I have to say that Arcann is one of the most interesting, nuanced characters imho.  I can't get enough!

[Siita]

I just wanted to say that I feel that we, as Arcann fans, are living in such an amazing time! 

Not only are we getting new story that Arcann, a character that can theoretically have been dead for MANY years now, plays a role in, but we're also getting more romance content.  As Arcann says, "This is AMAZING!" 😉

I'm SO VERY glad that the devs realize what a phenomenally nuanced and interesting character they have on their hands and have  correspondingly decided to continue Arcann's journey over the years.  For me, aside from some outliers, I have not been very happy with the vast majority of general Star Wars content that has come out since 2015-ish.  SWTOR has been doing the heavy lifting in that regard, shouldering the burden of bringing QUALITY Star Wars stories, characters, and themes to life when the main franchise couldn't (imho).  Arcann and his story being the highlight for me.  Long story short, if we didn't have SWTOR, I would have ditched Star Wars a long time ago.  🤷‍♀️

Again, look what we have and look what is coming.  We are so lucky.

"This means a great deal to me." ❤️

[JakRoanin]

Well, just because I disagree that Arcann isn't impulsive, because what I've seen is opposite of what I consider cautious. Doesn't mean I don't ADORE him. My JC needs more passion and impulse in her life and heart. That said, it's a mistake to think impulsive people are not deep thinkers. I believe that this article (reading the entire thing) sums up Arcann to a T. And the romance section, I'm sure the Devs read it.

Introduction | Adventurer (ISFP) Personality | 16Personalities

[Siita]

Hello everyone!!

@witchglove and I wanted to share a video that we made that focuses on Arcann's amazing journey over the years in SWTOR.  He's literally one of our favorite fictional characters of all time and we are beyond lucky and thrilled that new content featuring Arcann continues to be released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd-ZIiLPpvc

This video hits us in the feels every time - we hope it does for you, too ❤️

[JakRoanin]

I guess the conversation is over then?

[cosmicchar]

“Adventurers may be shy in public, but alone with a partner they trust, the masks come off – few people get to see this side, and it’s always a pleasant surprise.”

Mask. Perfect! And I think the section on passion and intensely feeling heart is spot on.

But ISFP (Adventurer) seems a bit too spontaneous to describe Arcann, in my opinion, which is why I lean towards J type rather than P type, even though I would describe him as "impulsive". I see Arcann as impulsive in the sense that emotions often fuel his decisions in KOTFE, and blinds him to the point where he goes too far, causing too much collateral damage in an attempt to destroy the one thing he hates. Such as accidentally killing Thexan when trying to kill Valkorion, ordering his Knights to fight to the death for failure to find the Outlander, bombing five planets to force the Outlander out of hiding. 

Maybe my use of “impulsive” is wrong. He doesn’t make decisions entirely on a whim. But because most of his actions in KOTFE are in an attempt to find the Outlander/Valkorion, and Valkorion is Arcann’s core weakness, then his decisions are pushed to be more extreme, to the point where they seem driven by feeling and impulse. Then after Voss in KOTET, Arcann makes an effort to be more emotionally in control, which is why I then think he goes from ISFJ to ISTJ.

I disagree with him not having a rigid structure. As emperor, Arcann exiled or killed any civilians that opposed his rule or raised any questions about it. In addition to that, I would describe Arcann’s mindset as rigid, in the sense that he always has a set goal in mind, and it takes extreme measures for him to deviate from that. This goes for his childhood (seeking approval from his father), before Voss (destroying his father, expanding Zakuul, ruling the galaxy), and after Voss (atone for his past, establish peace).

I’ve never looked much into personality types so this is a very interesting discussion! I just don’t have enough background to discuss all the intricacies.

On 5/10/2023 at 10:43 AM, Siita said:

This, as with most other Arcann emotions, especially after his dark times, came to be after this "emotional simmer" built up to a boil.

Amazing description.

This is the key thing I love about how Arcann’s fall is portrayed in the Sacrifice trailer. I can feel his entire life playing out in the span of 4 minutes, years and years of disappointment festering into resentment until he finally hits his breaking point.

On 5/9/2023 at 5:46 PM, witchglove said:

EDIT because I thought of something else: When we first meet Arcann in The Hunt, he very clearly has a plan. He studied our character and found out that we might be able to do what he couldn't do alone, and kill Valkorion for him (or distract Valkorion in order for Arcann to kill him, if you choose to accept Valky's power). He doesn't just 'wait to see what happens and wing it', as I think a P-type would. It all seems very premeditated. I get the impression he had already planned to use our character as a scapegoat for Valkorion's death, too.

A tangent about this: If we’ve just discovered a far more technologically advanced society, and discovered Vitiate is also the emperor of this society, then why is our first action, assuming we don’t accept his power, to kill the emperor? Isn’t this unwise on our part? Assassinating Zakuul's emperor would be a declaration of war from us. Which is exactly what Arcann uses to justify his later invasion of the Core Worlds.

[JakRoanin]

Well, I think we all have different sense of what impulsive is. So, I need to re-evaluate my hypothesis. So, first stop Dictionary (dot) com, obviously. There are in fact, four definitions:

1. actuated or swayed by emotional or involuntary impulses: an impulsive child.

2. having the power or effect of impelling; characterized by impulsion: impulsive forces.

3. inciting to action :the impulsive effects of a revolutionary idea.

4. Mechanics. (of forces) acting momentarily; not continuous.

These four definitions do touch multiple areas of our Prince's personality. Again, nowhere does it say that Adventurer's cannot plan. Arcann was raised in a criminally rigid fashion and obviously it had CATASTROPHIC effects on his psyche.  

[cosmicchar]

5 hours ago, Siita said:

Hello everyone!!

@witchglove and I wanted to share a video that we made that focuses on Arcann's amazing journey over the years in SWTOR.  He's literally one of our favorite fictional characters of all time and we are beyond lucky and thrilled that new content featuring Arcann continues to be released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd-ZIiLPpvc

This video hits us in the feels every time - we hope it does for you, too ❤️

Beautiful! Going from killing each other on Asylum, to kissing each other on Odessen. "So much has changed, for me, for us."

Actually, I got into SWTOR because of Arcann. I saw the Sacrifice trailer on YouTube and became extremely emotionally invested in him, which made me watch all of his story in KOTFE/KOTET/romance cutscenes on YouTube, which then made me want to play the game. So really, I'm invested in the main story to see where Arcann's story goes.

A podcast dedicated to Zakuul? Count me as a subscriber. Are you releasing episodes on YouTube?

[cosmicchar]

18 minutes ago, JakRoanin said:

Well, I think we all have different sense of what impulsive is. So, I need to re-evaluate my hypothesis. So, first stop Dictionary (dot) com, obviously. There are in fact, four definitions:

1. actuated or swayed by emotional or involuntary impulses: an impulsive child.

2. having the power or effect of impelling; characterized by impulsion: impulsive forces.

3. inciting to action :the impulsive effects of a revolutionary idea.

4. Mechanics. (of forces) acting momentarily; not continuous.

These four definitions do touch multiple areas of our Prince's personality. Again, nowhere does it say that Adventurer's cannot plan. Arcann was raised in a criminally rigid fashion and obviously it had CATASTROPHIC effects on his psyche.  

I wouldn't say anyone needs to re-evaluate. We each focus on different things of his overall character, which causes us to have different interpretations. I guess the only right personality type is whatever the devs write for him.

From Cambridge dictionary, there's also

acting or done suddenly without any planning or consideration of the results

[JakRoanin]

True, I still think the Strength and Weakness section of the ISFP article I linked also fits Arccan to a T. I agree doesn't Arcann go through life on whims. But just because he doesn't spontaneously show up with Roses, or a random date, doesn't mean his personality isn't naturally attuned to spontaneity.  It's a nature vs. nurture scenario.

[witchglove]

1 hour ago, cosmicchar said:

A tangent about this: If we’ve just discovered a far more technologically advanced society, and discovered Vitiate is also the emperor of this society, then why is our first action, assuming we don’t accept his power, to kill the emperor? Isn’t this unwise on our part? Assassinating Zakuul's emperor would be a declaration of war from us. Which is exactly what Arcann uses to justify his later invasion of the Core Worlds.

I suppose our character really has no other choice. I think our character does realise that he/she is being set up (at least, that's how I head-canon it - and also how I wrote it in my fanfic that covers those events!), but he/she came out there to kill Vitiate, knowing he is a threat to the whole universe, so it is a worthwhile sacrifice. I mean, what else could we do, if we don't accept his power? And our character doesn't know for certain that Arcann intends to conquer the Core Worlds or that he will turn out as tyrannical as he does. In our character's shoes, I would also have chosen to go with the lesser evil and kill Valkorion, even if it meant giving Arcann an excuse to invade with an unbeatable Fleet. Better that than Vitiate/Valkorion eating everyone 😄

I like to think that it would give our character pause to see how much more technologically advanced Zakuul is, though. It's a good dilemma and more could definitely have been made of it in the game's story!

1 hour ago, cosmicchar said:

Beautiful! Going from killing each other on Asylum, to kissing each other on Odessen. "So much has changed, for me, for us."

Actually, I got into SWTOR because of Arcann. I saw the Sacrifice trailer on YouTube and became extremely emotionally invested in him, which made me watch all of his story in KOTFE/KOTET/romance cutscenes on YouTube, which then made me want to play the game. So really, I'm invested in the main story to see where Arcann's story goes.

A podcast dedicated to Zakuul? Count me as a subscriber. Are you releasing episodes on YouTube?

@Siita's video is an absolute masterpiece and shows the development of the relationship so beautifully! And the way the music underscores that development makes me tear up a little.

Thanks for your interest in our podcast project, @cosmicchar! We're planning to launch pretty soon and will let everyone know where to find us 😊Planning to be on Youtube, yes!

I played SWTOR from the start but took a long break while I went to uni. Like you, I got back into it as soon as I saw the Sacrifice trailer. That trailer is phenomenal and I could talk about it forever! I fell in love with Arcann instantly and that love has only grown since then. Such a complex, nuanced and tragic character with so much amazing symbolism attached to him (the mask, the arm, the scars, his whole look). I cannot wait to see what's in store for him in 7.3!

[JakRoanin]

At the point we "discover" Zakuul we are backed into a tight corner. I don't know if I think my characters felt 'set up' by Arcann but after the destruction of Marr's ship, Valkorian had PC by the throat. 

[cosmicchar]

Makes sense, there's no other option. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think that for those that refused power, he/she was shocked that Arcann didn't execute them and instead "teamed up" in killing Valkorion. They definitely didn't expect to be knocked out by Valkorion's Force blast, so I wonder if they initially had a plan for what to do next. Maybe they thought a negotiation was possible, to prevent retaliation. I don't think they felt set up, but they're definitely tense because they're alone in an unknown, advanced civilization and Arcann holds all the cards at that moment.

3 hours ago, witchglove said:

Such a complex, nuanced and tragic character with so much amazing symbolism attached to him (the mask, the arm, the scars, his whole look).

Oh, I can gush about his character design all day.

Symbolism-aside, I love the gold trim, runes, layered fabrics, sharp edges. He looks so regal, powerful, and intimidating.

There's a inversion between light and dark, because Arcann is wearing white and Thexan is wearing black, but Arcann is the one who falls to the dark side. In addition to that, I think the white fabric represents how Arcann is more easily "stained"/corrupted. Thexan on the other hand: while black fabric also stains, it's not as visible.

Arcann has a shoulder guard that connects the mask and arm, so there's no visual separation between them. It looks like darkness is consuming him, similar to how Vaylin's tattoos look like darkness seeping into her veins. Also, DS Arcann in KOTET wears all black because he doubles down on revenge and the darkness has consumed him, but also since black is Thexan's color, it's like Arcann is channeling the memory of his brother, which is all he has left at that point.

Some time ago I saw some early design concepts for Arcann, posted somewhere I can't find now but there's a few variations of his mask, with varying degrees of how much of his face is shown. I think the final design is perfect, because it covers his mouth so we can't see most of his emotions, which makes him look less human. But one eye still shows, which does most of the emotional work. On a more funny note, the mask looks too thin to fit his nose, and realistically it hinders his peripheral vision. Oh well, sacrifice realism for good symbolism.

[witchglove]

I think our characters would realise that there must be a reason why these powerful people captured them instead of simply killing them - and that reason must be that they are going to use them for something. Depending on your dialogue choices, Arcann says a number of ambiguous and vaguely threatening things to you, such as 'we'll soon see what you're capable of' and 'you won't need to speak to answer my questions'. It's pretty clear that he has some kind of agenda concerning our character. To 'set someone up' means "to trick someone in order to make them do something, or in order to make someone seem guilty of something that they have not done" (the dictionary definition). That is what happens - we are set up as the scapegoat for Valkorion's murder by Arcann (and I don't think he just winged that on a whim; I think he at least considered that option beforehand). I'm not saying our characters would be able to guess all of that in advance, but my characters would definitely have expected to be used, deceived or exploited in some way by the time we're being led into that throne room. I imagine that they felt completely out of their depth and that they didn't expect to come out of that alive or unscathed.

51 minutes ago, cosmicchar said:

He looks so regal, powerful, and intimidating.

Yes! All my feels in that sentence 😊

1 hour ago, cosmicchar said:

There's a inversion between light and dark, because Arcann is wearing white and Thexan is wearing black, but Arcann is the one who falls to the dark side. In addition to that, I think the white fabric represents how Arcann is more easily "stained"/corrupted. Thexan on the other hand: while black fabric also stains, it's not as visible.

Arcann has a shoulder guard that connects the mask and arm, so there's no visual separation between them. It looks like darkness is consuming him, similar to how Vaylin's tattoos look like darkness seeping into her veins. Also, DS Arcann in KOTET wears all black because he doubles down on revenge and the darkness has consumed him, but also since black is Thexan's color, it's like Arcann is channeling the memory of his brother, which is all he has left at that point.

Some time ago I saw some early design concepts for Arcann, posted somewhere I can't find now but there's a few variations of his mask, with varying degrees of how much of his face is shown. I think the final design is perfect, because it covers his mouth so we can't see most of his emotions, which makes him look less human. But one eye still shows, which does most of the emotional work. On a more funny note, the mask looks too thin to fit his nose, and realistically it hinders his peripheral vision. Oh well, sacrifice realism for good symbolism.

Excellent observations!

His character design is so richly detailed - there is just so much to look at and talk about. I have seen those early mask designs and it's interesting to see how carefully they considered how much of his face should be hidden. And the design of the mask itself is interesting; the jagged edges, the shape of the eye... To me, the eye always looked vaguely tear-shaped, which aligns with the inherent tragedy of his character. There's the same level of detail in his visible eye - you can see that faint ring of blue around the pupil; his true self hasn't been entirely eclipsed by the Dark Side. As with his face, there is just a sliver left, indicating the potential for redemption.

I love how you described his cybernetics as the darkness consuming him! That's something @Siita and I have talked about a bunch of times. Also, it is noteworthy that DS Arcann's mask covers even more of his face and that the cybernetic arm is bulkier. Not only does it make him look even more intimidating, but it shows him becoming more machine/less human than before, as a result of Senya's death.

I wish we knew what the script on his robes say. We've tried to translate it before, but to no avail (unlike Vaylin's, which can be translated when compared to the other Zakuulan letters you find around the Spire).

[JakRoanin]

One thing that did disappoint me about the Zakuul arc was that the Lore was so minimal. I want more context of the culture and history of Zakuul. What do Vaylin's robes say?

[witchglove]

Vaylin's robes say: LOYALTY - ETERNITY - DESTINY - FAMILY - SACRIFICE.

You can read more about it here. It's possible to translate a bunch of text (signs etc.) around Zakuul using that primer, but the writing on Arcann and Thexan seems to be from a different alphabet (it's not Aurebesh either). I figure they probably say something similar to Vaylin's though.