Why isn't Dawnslight evil? [Firefight and Calamity spoilers]

[Shadow of Electrum he/him]

So I have recently reread the reckoners series, and something I can't seem to figure out is why Dawnslight wasn't evil. So we know that before calamity was defeated epics were evil because they drew upon his darkness, and to combat this you had to save someone despite your fear/weakness. I'm sure we're supposed to assume that Dawnslight faced his fear off screen or something like that, but I'm unsure how or when that was even supposed to happen. From what I can gather, Dawnslight was good from day one and he has no visible weakness. The only other character this happens with is Languish, but even Languish has a period of unaccounted time in-between the start of his epichood and his service of Lifeforce. Again I'm sure this is supposed to be some sort of mystery, but if we know when or how Dawnslight defeated the darkness I would like to know.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, AvonZapper said:

So I have recently reread the reckoners series, and something I can't seem to figure out is why Dawnslight wasn't evil. So we know that before calamity was defeated epics were evil because they drew upon his darkness, and to combat this you had to save someone despite your fear/weakness. I'm sure we're supposed to assume that Dawnslight faced his fear off screen or something like that, but I'm unsure how or when that was even supposed to happen. From what I can gather, Dawnslight was good from day one and he has no visible weakness. The only other character this happens with is Languish, but even Languish has a period of unaccounted time in-between the start of his epichood and his service of Lifeforce. Again I'm sure this is supposed to be some sort of mystery, but if we know when or how Dawnslight defeated the darkness I would like to know.

While it is not explicitely stated, it is implied that because Dawnslight was in a coma long before the rise of Calamity, he did not ever have the Rending (just as David never had a Rending), and therefore never experienced the Darkness inherited from Calamity. He also rarely used his powers conciously, since they manifest more as a way of making his coma dreams a reality (based on the posters seen near his room - FF Ch 49):

Spoiler

As I ascended the light grew brighter, and I began to make out odd decorations on the walls.

…Posters?

Yes, posters. Old ones, from the decades before Calamity. Bright, vibrant colors, women in ruffled skirts, sweaters that exposed a shoulder. Neon on black. The posters had faded over time, but I could see they’d been hung meticulously back in the day. I stopped beside one in that silent stairwell. It showed a pair of hands holding a glowing fruit, a band’s name emblazoned at the bottom.

 

[Shadow of Electrum he/him]

3 hours ago, Treamayne said:

he did not ever have the Rending (just as David never had a Rending), and therefore never experienced the Darkness

  Reveal hidden contents

As I ascended the light grew brighter, and I began to make out odd decorations on the walls.

…Posters?

Yes, posters. Old ones, from the decades before Calamity. Bright, vibrant colors, women in ruffled skirts, sweaters that exposed a shoulder. Neon on black. The posters had faded over time, but I could see they’d been hung meticulously back in the day. I stopped beside one in that silent stairwell. It showed a pair of hands holding a glowing fruit, a band’s name emblazoned at the bottom.

 

(Sorry I don't know how to properly quote stuff)

This makes a lot of sense, but I do have a problem with this theory. When David bypassed his rending, both Regalia and calamity were surprised. I say this because Regalia reacted to this as if it was completely impossible, which at this point it was believed to be impossible. The problem is that with how closely Regalia worked with Dawnslight and Calamity, I would have expected a different reaction from the two of them. Of course I think they'd still be surprised, but I don't think it would have been "I've never seen this happen before!" Kind of surprise if that makes any sense. Beyond that I really like this explanation, thank you!

[Treamayne]

On 12/25/2023 at 12:48 AM, AvonZapper said:

(Sorry I don't know how to properly quote stuff)

This may help:

Spoiler

• At the bottom left of a post you will see a "+" icon, a "Quote" link.
• At the bottom right you will see an heart icon (and possibly different reactions in the future).
• At the top right you will see a hamburger menu (three dots) which shows: Report, Share, and (your posts only) Edit and Hide tools.

Likes/Reactions:

Spoiler

• The Heart Icon (Like) is how you thank people or "like" a post
  • Likes, Mentions and Quotes should all send an alert to the appropriate person - even when added to an old post through the Edit feature.

Report Tool:

Spoiler

• Use  the Report tool to report any post (your own or others) to a forum Mod
  • Use this if you do accidentally double-post (sometimes it's the browser or a slow link that causes a double post) - just leave a message that it was an accidental double post and the Mods can fix it. If it was the first post of a new thread that doubled, they usually can merge the threads if they both have answers, so all of the content is retained.
  • For reporting Spam, only report a single post by the user to let the Mods and Admins know - they get messages for each "report" so reporting each Spam post is annoying and unnecessary. If all posts by a "new user" (bot) are all spam - then all of those posts will be deleted when that account is deleted.

Hide Tool:

Spoiler

• Use the Hide tool to hide your post if you want to remove it after posting (useful for accidental double-posts)
  • Hiding the first post in a Thread will hide the threan as long as ther have been no replies (Needs Testing)

Mentions:

Spoiler

• You can "Mention" a person by typing "@" and slowly typing their user name (spelling matters). As you spell their name, the interface will show a pop-up with matches - when you match appears, click it to add the Mention
  • Likes, Mentions and Quotes should all send an alert to the appropriate person - even when added to an old post through the Edit feature.

Quote Methods:

Spoiler

• The "Quote" link is exactly that, when you click it the quote will be added to the reply at the bottom of the thread wherever the cursor is (adding a carraige return if necessary)
  • So, if you have already started to reply before you decide to quote you can then add the quote before or after your text depending on the cursor location when you click "Quote"
• The + icon is multi-quote. As you read a thread, if you want to quote multiple items you can click that for each post you want to quote
  • As you click +, you should see a toaster pop-up on the bottom right of the browser window showing how many quotes you will have
  • They are added in the order you click the + icon, not in the original post order, so you can set the order of quotes for your reply
  • When you are ready to reply, click on the toaster pop-up and it will take you directly to the reply section and add the quotes automatically with one blank line between each for you to add your comment(s)
• Finally, you can also highlight a small section of a post and, when hovering over the highlit portion, click the "Quote Selection" button that pops up.
  • This will also be added to the cursor location, rather than the bottom of the reply.
• Also note that you can move quotes after they have been added to your reply.
  • For example, you add a quote and realize there are no empty lines below it for you to type - so you can hit "enter" before the quote to make an empty line then when you hover over a quote you will see a 4-way arrow at the top-left that you can use to drag the quote up (or down)  and move the quote to before the empty line. . .
  • This is also how you can add quotes to an Edit of your own post. You quote using any of the methods above and the quote will go to the reply section. You then hover over the four-way arrow and use CTRL+C to cut the quote, which you can then paste into your edit window.
• Likes, Mentions and Quotes should all send an alert to the appropriate person - even when added to an old post through the Edit feature.

Editing posts:

Spoiler

• Use the Edit link to make changes to a completed post or add information to your post if it is the most recent (to avoid double posting)
  • Quote buttons will still send a quote to "Reply" if you have a post open for edit, but it is easy to cut/paste the quote to the Edit box
  • Editing the first post in a thread allows the thread-creator to edit the thread title (important for changing accidental spoilers)
  • Editing allows you to add a reason for the edit (Spelling and grammar (SPAG), formatting, clarification, new information, etc.), but it is not required.
• Likes, Mentions and Quotes should all send an alert to the appropriate person - even when added to an old post through the Edit feature.

Other:

Spoiler

• Quotes and Spoilers are very similar, but here are the differences:
  • Spoiler tags are default "closed" and are not attributed - they may be opened by clicking the spoiler box title
  • Quotes are default "open" (but may be closed by clicking the Quote Title and are denoted by the basic arrow icon on the left side of the quote title), If the quote was added with one of the methods explained above, it will be attributed - if it was added with the quote icon in the Reply/Edit tools, it will not be attributed.
  • Attributed Quotes will have a curved arrow icon on the right side of the quote title to jump directly to the post from which the quote was taken.

Hope that helps.

On 12/25/2023 at 12:48 AM, AvonZapper said:

Of course I think they'd still be surprised, but I don't think it would have been "I've never seen this happen before!" Kind of surprise if that makes any sense.

Well, we don't know if Calamity ever came to Babailar, we only know that Regalia seemed to have a way to contact him. As for Regalia, Dawnslight was one of the first Epics anywhere and while she kept him safe (hostage), we have no reason to believe she ever had a way to communicate with He Who Dreams. How would she even know he never had a Rending, much less how that may or may not affect his power access? She's only been in Babilar a comparitively short time since she did not have her own rending there, and spent time with Prof and Tia before moving the New York to challenge the reigning epics there. Also keep in mind that this is one conversation where David triggers her weakness - so she may have been overstating her position a bit due to power-induced-hubris, which was then extra-shocking because not only did he not display powers, but his weakness was triggered (which affects the emotion of the scene, I think).

 

Edited May 31 by Treamayne
SPAG