[EN] Lostbelt 6: Avalon le Fae: The Moment a Star is Born

[OnesFleetingGlory]

- that backstory about oberon. Im not sure what the scene is trying to portray when oberon reborn in the welsh woods like a fairy tale only for the scene to static then retell the story again but this time the tone is creepy

The fairy tale-ish vibe is how 'Oberon' presented his birth was like to others. The creepy one is how Vortigern actually saw it, being hatred incarnate, that the insects swarming around him are gross and disgusting to him.

[Gehennahem]

- that backstory about oberon. Im not sure what the scene is trying to portray when oberon reborn in the welsh woods like a fairy tale only for the scene to static then retell the story again but this time the tone is creepy

The fairy tale-ish vibe is how 'Oberon' presented his birth was like to others. The creepy one is how Vortigern actually saw it, being hatred incarnate, that the insects swarming around him are gross and disgusting to him.

It doesn't help that in his Interlude, we fight what is most likely his Chrysalis which means that yeah, he truly is basically a whole ass different thing due to being the "Will of Britain" manifested.

[Deathhappens]

Castoria Mats

Her true name is Hope.
She is a savior-type fairy, born to spread hope to the people (or rather, to the fairies).

◇

Like the name “Hope” implies, she is a fairy in charge of spreading hope throughout the world, and for a long time, she carried out her irresponsible duties (the unreasonable act of “making everyone happy” without any form of concrete plan!), but people demanded hope endlessly, and before long, hope became something taken for granted. No matter what good deed she performed, no one appreciated her. Everyone forgot about her, and she drifted off to the Nameless Forest, having been worn down and brought to despair by her very own namesake, “hope”.
In many ways, she is in the same position as Artoria Caster.

When viewing Hope as “a savior consumed by the people”, you can really understand the meaning of her lines when she is about to turn into Moss.
(However, it is perhaps something that can only really be felt by those people who can truly relate to it... At least, when the name Hope is mentioned at the end, I would really like it for people to react with an “Ah...”)

She lost her value to society, her role ended in fatigue, she became disappointed in herself, and both her place in the world and her name were lost. But even so, at the very end/until the very end, she became a “hope” without substitute for someone within the storm.

And I'll dump this whole section here because it highlights the whole thing.

LB6 section 30

You have always been running amidst this storm. This maelstrom of malevolence. This crucible of truth.
You have lost count of how many times you had given up, of how many times you wished for death.
The reason you were able to keep on going, without hesitation...
It was because you had that light. That distant, small, blue star shining in solitude beyond the storm.
Whenever you fell, you would stand up crying. Whenever you were tired, you would boldly hold your head high.
That star always shone bright in the distance.
"A handful of good intentions amidst the malice."
"A bright future that would be bestowed upon you one day."
For you, that star is nothing more than a light shining bright.
That alone was enough to make it your goal.
The fact that somewhere out there, someone else is also gazing at that star.
That was your only hope. Through any and all storms, that fact alone never changed.
But the light of that star was always there to cheer you up.
No matter what storm sweeps across the world of man. Even if the suffering outweighs the reward.
That light which has always kept watch over you since you were but a child.
That lone light that shone amidst the storm.
[...]
A voice curses me, the one who ended Britain. A voice resents me, the one who fulfilled the duty of Paradise.
Tens of thousands of complaints. Hundreds of millions of voices accusing me.
This is simply the face of malice. In reality, there is no star shining amidst the storm.
With a reason like that, I could not possibly save someone other than myself.
Who...? Someone is shielding me---
No, they're not shielding me at all. They're desperately reaching out a hand to me---
Someone from the furthest end, no different from you, that you have long since forgotten.
Her name was...
[Flashback to Castoria giving her name to the nameless fairy]
Her name was Hope, one who found the light of the star at the very end.
One who had grown tired of her role, that of giving hope to everyone, and lamented. Yet she did not lose her smile.
She protected me all this time, over a mere random act.
She believed in me, even now, over something as insignificant as that.
I just don't want to betray that star. I just don't want to discard this feeling.
For such an insignificant reason, we...you[line 3]
Always! I always have to do my best...!
Even if it's false courage, even if it's just self-complacency. Even if I lack confidence to the very end, not knowing the answer.
Even if it appears to be a meaningless, insignificant reason to others.
I believe in that alone. I can only believe in that.
That alone keeps me running, even now.
The pulse of the star within your heart. The tolling of the bell will, in time, resonate within you.

- - - Updated - - -


Names have a lot of power, especially in this story (see the TAM LINS), and for some fairies, their names and purposes were one and the same. Hers was one such case, and so when she lost her purpose, she also lost her name, and this would eventually cause her to become Moss and disappear. While Castoria has selfish reasons for "giving away" her name, she does so also because "not having a name must be miserable" (especially for a fairy). It's a genuine act of compassion for someone who saw none of that anymore, but whose purpose in life was previously to spread those exact kinds of feelings. It's a reassuring thing, like "yeah the world sucks but there's always good out there", and in a way it cements even that early how Castoria is the true savior of Britain. Something like that, at least.


You mean Lysander? That's what Oberon wrote on the nametag he left you with when you passed out in the forest. Lysander for male, Hermia for female, and those are two of the principal characters in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

Ah, that was it. I knew I was confusing it with the 40k character.

- - - Updated - - -

Ive finally finished lb6. That sure was quite a read. Id give it a solid 8/10

Oberon really managed to turn my opinion on him in the last part. Ive mostly thought of him as a info dump character for majority of the story but his backstory and introspection was good enough for me to somewhat understand his popularity.

Yesss!!. Habetrot is free. So that's what she sounds like. I expected her voice to sound like a cheeky granny

Now for the questions
- what supplementary materials i can read that expands on things not brought up on the story? I remember something like getting to see Redra's last moments and Ainsel being the first to pick up baby Castoria, muramasa going to ector's workshop etc.
- what was Altria's spring memories? The one that ended so fast? Did they brought it up or i didnt notice it?
- i didnt quite understand that scene with the star before 3rd ascen castoria appeared. Was the star literally supposed to be Hope the fairy we meet in the first chap?
- Did the collapse only start when Oberon decided he also wanted to drag down the rest of the world along with fae britain?
- if i understood castoria's character right she's basically a timid version of normal arthuria but unlike normal arthuria she doesnt want to embrace her duty because of how terrible fae britain is and she thinks it deserves whats coming to it But castoria and arthuria share the same base desire of just wanting to see the ones they care about happy. Did i got that right?
- was that ever present feeling they played during oberon's fall?
- was there supposed to be something more to blanca's character?
- i remember something about vortigern being gaslighted into being oberon. Was that fanon?
- that backstory about oberon. Im not sure what the scene is trying to portray when oberon reborn in the welsh woods like a fairy tale only for the scene to static then retell the story again but this time the tone is creepy

I can answer at least one of those- yes, a rendition of Ever-Present Feeling plays several times in key scenes of the LB. I think I noticed at least one other piece from F/SN somewhere but I didn't run it down at the time so I'm not sure lol

- - - Updated - - -

Castoria isn't really timid, and Muramasa calls her out on acting like that a couple of times. She's just a natural pessimist (hard not to be when you've seen nothing but a world of negativity since "birth") and lacks confidence in her abilities (again justifiably given how many

plot developments

miracles

it took for her to make it to the goal). She's fiercely competitive and a bit of a loudmouth on the inside though, in contrast to Artoria acting cold as a king while being a softie inside.

[Deathhappens]

Speaking of which, something else I found interesting:

Spoiler:

During the entirety of the LB, Castoria never uses her Avalon le Fae abilities to harm another fairy. Sure, she fights Tristan in Gloucester (not by choice) using the magecraft Merlin taught her, but she never attacks anyone after she starts powering up by ringing the Bells of Pilgrimage. All the references to her using her power during the war are about supporting and protecting the RTA troops, and even when she absolutely loses it during the failed coronation it's still Grimr who sends the knights trying to apprehend them flying. The only times she fights after that are against Cernunnos and then arguably against Vortigern, both direct threats towards the fairies and not fairies themselves. Sure, you could say she fights whenever she's available as a support in battle, but that's not really "canon". I don't remember if she's ever a forced support either, except maybe against the Norwich Calamity (again, a threat to Britain).

[Kuzu]

- what was Altria's spring memories? The one that ended so fast? Did they brought it up or i didnt notice it?

She didn't have any lol

That was the point. Her life sucked in Britain basically to the point she has no happy memories from living in it.

[Reverse_side98]

Meeting Ector or Knocknarea wasnt happy enough for her?

Still have a few questions
-what supplementary materials i can read that expands on things not brought up on the story? I remember something like getting to see Redra's last moments and Ainsel being the first to pick up baby Castoria, muramasa going to ector's workshop etc.
- i didnt quite understand that scene with the star before 3rd ascen castoria appeared. Was the star literally supposed to be Hope the fairy we meet in the first chap?
- Did the collapse only start when Oberon decided he also wanted to drag down the rest of the world along with fae britain?
- if i understood castoria's character right she's basically a timid version of normal arthuria but unlike normal arthuria she doesnt want to embrace her duty because of how terrible fae britain is and she thinks it deserves whats coming to it But castoria and arthuria share the same base desire of just wanting to see the ones they care about happy. Did i got that right?
- was there supposed to be something more to blanca's character?
- i remember something about vortigern being gaslighted into being oberon. Was that fanon?

[mami-kouga]

Meeting Ector or Knocknarea wasnt happy enough for her?

Still have a few questions
-what supplementary materials i can read that expands on things not brought up on the story? I remember something like getting to see Redra's last moments and Ainsel being the first to pick up baby Castoria, muramasa going to ector's workshop etc.
- i didnt quite understand that scene with the star before 3rd ascen castoria appeared. Was the star literally supposed to be Hope the fairy we meet in the first chap?
- Did the collapse only start when Oberon decided he also wanted to drag down the rest of the world along with fae britain?
- if i understood castoria's character right she's basically a timid version of normal arthuria but unlike normal arthuria she doesnt want to embrace her duty because of how terrible fae britain is and she thinks it deserves whats coming to it But castoria and arthuria share the same base desire of just wanting to see the ones they care about happy. Did i got that right?
- was there supposed to be something more to blanca's character?
- i remember something about vortigern being gaslighted into being oberon. Was that fanon?

1. I'd recommend you read Castoria's mats, Nasu's blog posts for the chapter, the translation of the LB reminiscence and the slowly updating draft book translation (thaaaanks Comun). I don't really have the energy to hunt them all down though.
2. The star is kind of a metaphor kind of literal but in the end it all amounts to hope. The star we called for was our hope.
3. Read Castoria's mats.
4. Read Oberon's bond CE, if there was ever planned to be more then Nasu hasn't given any indication
5. Misunderstanding from speedreading resulting in fandom telephone game

[Reverse_side98]

1. I'd recommend you read Castoria's mats, Nasu's blog posts for the chapter, the translation of the LB reminiscence and the slowly updating draft book translation (thaaaanks Comun). I don't really have the energy to hunt them all down though.
2. The star is kind of a metaphor kind of literal but in the end it all amounts to hope. The star we called for was our hope.
3. Read Castoria's mats.
4. Read Oberon's bond CE, if there was ever planned to be more then Nasu hasn't given any indication
5. Misunderstanding from speedreading resulting in fandom telephone game

Thanks. Not sure if you missed it because you numbered my question 1 to 5 but it was actually 6 and the 3rd question was actually

- Did the collapse only start when Oberon decided he also wanted to drag down the rest of the world along with fae britain?

[Manadrive]

Meeting Ector or Knocknarea wasnt happy enough for her?

Still have a few questions
-what supplementary materials i can read that expands on things not brought up on the story? I remember something like getting to see Redra's last moments and Ainsel being the first to pick up baby Castoria, muramasa going to ector's workshop etc.
- i didnt quite understand that scene with the star before 3rd ascen castoria appeared. Was the star literally supposed to be Hope the fairy we meet in the first chap?
- Did the collapse only start when Oberon decided he also wanted to drag down the rest of the world along with fae britain?
- if i understood castoria's character right she's basically a timid version of normal arthuria but unlike normal arthuria she doesnt want to embrace her duty because of how terrible fae britain is and she thinks it deserves whats coming to it But castoria and arthuria share the same base desire of just wanting to see the ones they care about happy. Did i got that right?
- was there supposed to be something more to blanca's character?
- i remember something about vortigern being gaslighted into being oberon. Was that fanon?

Not for spring memories, memories of happiness divorced from duty or expectation.

For supplementary materials it might be worth looking at the From Lostbelt Manga, it depicts the perspective of the villainous characters in the lostbelts. The scene of Muramasa at Ector's workshop comes from there.

The star is hope in a general sense. For as horrid as Fae Britain is it wasn't without good aspects. Upon meeting the fairy Hope, Artoria gained vindication that she was not the only one seeing that star.

The collapse started with Cernunnos' death. Had Vortigern been solely Vortigern, the will of Fae Britain the situation likely would have resolved itself... but as we know, that didn't happen.

Castoria is a bitter pessimist, hating the duty she inherited from her predecessor shirking it, hating the land as she can see it's true nature, hating the faeries for wanting salvation yet scorning any attempt to bring it... yet utterly resigned because she has no way out save fulfilling her duty. So when she meets people she likes, and who share her goal (Chaldea, Ritsuka etc), she gets the mental kick to actually, seriously try.

Blanca's character is the subject of Oberon's Bond CE. Roughly, a princess of the welsh woods, she knew what Oberon-Vortigern truly was and what he truly hated, and so dedicated herself to helping him.

The Vortigern to Oberon thing was a misunderstanding. When Vortigern manifested in the welsh woods, the insect fairies there thought him a prince due to his appearence and so gave him the name Oberon, as a fairy prince called Oberon did once live in fae Britain. However thanks to Morgan bringing in information from Proper Human History, they wound up doing to him, something similar to what Morgan did with the Tam Lin, adding the name and legacy of a PHH being. And since PHH Oberon is a partially fictional being, Oberon-Vortigern himself became a partially fictional being, which caused his disdain for how "reality" treats "fiction".

[Reverse_side98]

Not for spring memories, memories of happiness divorced from duty or expectation.

For supplementary materials it might be worth looking at the From Lostbelt Manga, it depicts the perspective of the villainous characters in the lostbelts. The scene of Muramasa at Ector's workshop comes from there.

The star is hope in a general sense. For as horrid as Fae Britain is it wasn't without good aspects. Upon meeting the fairy Hope, Artoria gained vindication that she was not the only one seeing that star.

The collapse started with Cernunnos' death. Had Vortigern been solely Vortigern, the will of Fae Britain the situation likely would have resolved itself... but as we know, that didn't happen.

Castoria is a bitter pessimist, hating the duty she inherited from her predecessor shirking it, hating the land as she can see it's true nature, hating the faeries for wanting salvation yet scorning any attempt to bring it... yet utterly resigned because she has no way out save fulfilling her duty. So when she meets people she likes, and who share her goal (Chaldea, Ritsuka etc), she gets the mental kick to actually, seriously try.

Blanca's character is the subject of Oberon's Bond CE. Roughly, a princess of the welsh woods, she knew what Oberon-Vortigern truly was and what he truly hated, and so dedicated herself to helping him.

The Vortigern to Oberon thing was a misunderstanding. When Vortigern manifested in the welsh woods, the insect fairies there thought him a prince due to his appearence and so gave him the name Oberon, as a fairy prince called Oberon did once live in fae Britain. However thanks to Morgan bringing in information from Proper Human History, they wound up doing to him, something similar to what Morgan did with the Tam Lin, adding the name and legacy of a PHH being. And since PHH Oberon is a partially fictional being, Oberon-Vortigern himself became a partially fictional being, which caused his disdain for how "reality" treats "fiction".

Didnt cernunnos died like a long time ago but the collapse was just a recent thing? Or you meant that when he died he chaldea killed him?

[OnesFleetingGlory]

It's the latter.

[idpersona]

So i finished LB6 myself.I would give it a 8/10-a very good story overall but Baobhan Sith's storyline getting super compressed felt awkward,especially when she was supposed to be Morgan's Achilles' heel.

Anyway,i have two questions:

1)What's with the red text options during Oberon's reveal?Was it just to have an option to present Guda as extra edgy/super deducer"i knew it all along?"
2)Why did Oberon kill the Mirror Clan assassin knight dude?If it was due to his foresight powers possibly unveiling his identity,wasnt Gareth a much bigger danger for that?Or he just thought"she's gonna die before she gets a decent enough grasp of her powers"?

[Comun]

1)What's with the red text options during Oberon's reveal?Was it just to have an option to present Guda as extra edgy/super deducer"i knew it all along?"

The chapter was full of "blindly trust Oberon vs suspect Oberon" choices and the red text is rewarding the player for picking "suspect Oberon" most of the time. If you didn't, the white choice would have been the only option on screen?

2)Why did Oberon kill the Mirror Clan assassin knight dude?If it was due to his foresight powers possibly unveiling his identity,wasnt Gareth a much bigger danger for that?Or he just thought"she's gonna die before she gets a decent enough grasp of her powers"?

I'm not sure Oberon knew who Gareth was. He killed Portunes because Portunes was a genuine threat to our party and we can't die before we get rid of Morgan.

[Base]

The former is to make it clear you successfully unlocked those dialogue options by making specific choices when interacting with Oberon throughout the story.

The latter was out of vengeance for helping to destroy Oberon's forest as well as keeping Barghest on the table to inevitably snap and become a Calamity. He makes a similar comment when learning of Barghest's intentions to evacuate the Fairies on Manchester to Proper Human History, noting that it was too late for that.

[idpersona]

Oh,another thing that i probably missedid we ever learn what Castoria saw on Dracae River?The hairpin mentioned in the LB CE?

[Norayd]

Yeah it's the hairpin she first saw in Hector's house, and that Muramasa said he was sorry he couldn't craft for her