[ChicletPrime]

Master of Fate - Snow's Embrace

• okay, i'm 3 seconds and four sentences into this myth and i'm already thrilled. having somewhat recently (the last year or two) gotten into xanxia / wuxia stories, the vibe is already immaculate. the master of fate, the power of yin and yang governing life and death - a river and a mountain and land that no one returns from. woo!
  
• little red riding hood with her basket of fruit in a forest... except i leap out of the way of sudden ice spikes, warned by rustling leaves. HOT TAKE: i'm dreaming?
  
• oh wow, no? maybe? "Zayne? You!"  we are shidi/shimei disciples, testing each other? (i really do read too many stories)
  
• oh, he's my... teacher? i barely meet his expectation for recognizing and escaping the trap. of course.
  
• oh, he has strands of golden beads in his hair. lovely. "Shifu". awwwww!
  
• oh, he has little bai ze! my god, this is all the good stuff. hello, little spirit!
  
• ah. we came upon it injured years ago and when trying to heal it, ended up chasing it to the mountain/forest/river where Zayne murders trespassers.
  
• i have "powers". i like this.
  
• we just get here and already Zayne has judged us wanting. story of my every life, i guess.
  
• that... is a really long ponytail.
  
• Zayne is surprised I can see "the tree" which is clearly growing on that little piece of land by the stream. Tree of Life, i betcha. In Fallen Crown, the Tree of Life did kinda look like this one, only you know, glowing.
  
• "How are you certain I'm a god and not an evil mountain spirit who eats people?" GOOD QUESTION. i am eternally optimistic? you're too pretty? you have a bai ze hiding in your sleeve?!
  
• please mr god, make me ordinary. no can do kiddo, fate loves you very much and i'm not getting in the way of that because another one of me tried and it didn't go well. it won't go well this time either.
  
• i am not a good person in this life either. everything is boring and my power to sense things is annoying. am i ever civic minded in any timeline other than the present?
  
• huh. so i get my finger bit by a rogue spiritual viper and then i sulk in bed about it. Zayne is SO forebearing. i am set to work helping to copy talismans that the fight with the Viper wrecked.
  
• "Zayne, you said each flower represents a life. So is there one that belongs to you on this tree?"  interesting! Zayne: "It belongs to me, but it's not me." also, interesting but kinda cryptic. what does THAT mean? Zayne is.. outside the normal order of life and death? he exists so his flower is on the tree but is... not bound by its fall? or something?
  

[ChicletPrime]

• I am very unreliable. i keep trying to dodge the work that Zayne gives me although I've stated two or three times already that I really need to figure out how to pay him back for his spiritual lessons. So I say a thing, but don't do the thing. I would not take me on as a student, ever.
  
• At least Zayne loves me for who I am, whiny flakiness and all.
  
• I get the impression I've been on this mountain for an untold number of years. Because "this year" I get to go with him and Bai Ze on his visit to the local village.
  
• I try to buy a gift for Zayne, but the merchant doesn't want to be paid with sacred twigs or stones. I am a fool.
  
• Zayne didn't bring any money either. Oops.
  
• I'm going to go on tangent here for a second - I am liking Zayne and the setup quite a lot, but I am irritated by the characterization of the girlfriend - enough so, that it's hard to overlook. This kind of helplessness and mean-spirited-ness of how she's written as approaching or doing things is not working for me at all. In Golden Sands, she was also in the ballpark of this kind of personality but it felt... better? Because she was spoiled as heck and deliberately kept in the dark. It felt okay that she had to learn to be a better person, and it also fit Rafayel's playful yet biting persona as well as the foil against it.
  
  Zayne is so grown up in all his interactions, an absolute pillar of goodness (godness?) and duty, that this kind of flighty/careless personality constrasted against his just rings wrong. Why is he even putting up with her? I would not put up with her. She comes across as a cranky thirteen year old. If I was fated for this relationship, I'd be having a serious conversation with the Tree about my options.
  
• Zayne... uses his foresight to tell fortunes from a kiosk at the side of the road? We descended from the sacred mountain to busk?
  
• Hey, we're under spell disguises so we seem more legit. And I have odangos in my illusory hair, awww. I wish there was a visual of that, c'mon Infold, I wanna be Sailor Moon.
  
• I guess we busk for actual money? I suppose that's a good enough reason but not sure why we need money on the mountain. Although I guess the super pretty hanfu have to come from somewhere.
  
• Oh no. Zayne will do a real fortune for me. "There will be an unfortunate event in your life. After it occurs, you will wield a power that can shake heaven and earth." Well! That explains about five of my lives right off the bat, including the last one with your Tower life.
  
• ...aaaand I stake some of Zayne's hard earned busking money to go buy him that gift now. He lets me get away with everything it seems.
  
• Obligatory old man arrival. I like that Zayne is called "Your Grace" in english. I've always loved that title. I also like "Your Excellency" for the record.
  
• So whoever this guy is, the old man part is a disguise and Zayne sees right through it. Astra, mebbe? No, probabaly not. He calls the girlfriend "...that variable." I am the anomaly in the Matrix! "She's finally appeared." Hells yeah, I have arrived and been a pain in the Master's side for ages now. I have a goat named Hua. 
  
• "I've seen her fate. It's clear, untainted and untouched." interesting. "There are no signs of her becoming a variable."  oh, even more interesting. so fate is destiny, until it suddenly isn't?
  
• Old Man: "I heard a small serpent went mad in the mountains. Your Grace must know the reason, yes?"  Okay, is Bai Ze telling stories in town on its drunken weekend parties? Because nobody else was there. Why did the Viper go crazy then, old man?
  
• Old Man Voice Actor is very good!
  
• "...Since Your Grace has already accepted the role of Si-Ming, the variable must be eliminated as soon as possible. Any problems that could occur in the future then will be avoidable."
  
• Oh crap.  I guess I'm something of a flux point? My continued existence will, by my nature, foul up the lines of fate or something? I guess if you're the avatar for Astra, that's a definite issue if you're in charge of keeping destiny rolling along.
  
• Hey! Old Man is offering to off me himself, if "Your Grace" is unwilling. Rude.
  

Okay, the wikipedia entry for "Si Ming" is really interesting.

[ChicletPrime]

• so attending a "sacificial" party-thing in the evening at the village and everybody is cavorting in masks with drums and things. They want to entertain the gods so that their wishes will be granted.
  
• Clueless Me: "Why do so many people want to live forever?"
  
• Zayne: "It's because their lives are fleeting. Yet every life is predetermind. If you try to change it, you'll only be punished."
  
• Did you ever watch the movie "Arrival"? it seems kind of apt at the moment as I contemplate what Zayne is saying.
  
• Zayne: "Do you want to live forever?" GOOD QUESTION. as best I can tell, i do but i don't really think its by my own choice or will?
  
• okay, end of exuberant part of the party - now soft music and a beautiful priestess dancing beautifully.
  
• Zayne: "Humans choose the most beautiful woman to be a priestess and dress her up like a goddess to invite a god to descend from the heavens. The priestess sings about her love for the god, then uses her dance to lure him out. She listens to his prophecy and then -- they consummate their relationship."
  
• SHADES OF WHAT IS PROBABLY IN EDGE OF CONTINUUM MYTH RIGHT?!
  
• So the priestess is sexy dancing to display for the lover she wants to ensnare. I cover Zayne's eyes.  (muahahahah! fantastic, good idea. don't look, Zayne! she is a temptress with nefarious motives! only Bai Ze should get that close to you.)
  
• Zayne: "What are you doing? You're the one who wanted to watch the ceremony."  Me: "Yes, I also make mistakes. That's why I'm reflecting and making amends. If you want to see a dance, I can do it whenever you'd like."  :D :D :D  Zayne: "I'd like to see that. Right now."  !!! wow. love you Zayne, never change. Sylus might be the most overtly sexy of my bound lovers, but you, good sir, are a wildfire just barely under wraps.
  
• gosh, i'm actually gonna do it? dance for Zayne by the altar, under illusion?
  
• oh hey! Zayne will help by providing music on his guqin. and I'm a Disney Princess as the birds are charmed and flowers bloom once again. "She dances with growing passion..."  go, me! in the space of an afternoon i've grown from barely tolerable adolescent to shining beacon of sensuality.
  
• "Was I good?"  girlfriend, I think Zayne is really looking forward to the consummating part now, so yes.
  
• Okay, back to the mountain. And its winter and the Tree is white with snow as well as flowers. Zayne is acting strange.
  
• aww, this Zayne also made me a pair of snowmen. that's adorable.
  
• Zayne says he will give me more difficult tasks now, so that I can become stronger. "As strong as you?" I wonder. Zayne gives me silence.  oh boy. yes, girlfriend. as strong as and maybe stronger. so that if he comes for us with intent to wipe out the snarl in the middle of fate's weave, we can hopefully escape.
  
• "His power is just like him - cold and honest."  amen, sister-thing.
  
• so i am making a hundred umbrellas to be used as spirital seals, powered by the magic of the Tree.  let me guess. Merlin and Nimue?
  
• I'm dodging work again, hiding in the umbrella frames I've built. Zayne passes by and mentions out loud that he's marking me down for skipping out on my training. I determine that i need to find his list of my skipping out and burn it.  why is he keeping me on again? ohhhh right, its for what's below my neck, not what's above.
  
• i am also vain. well, okay. i feel that one in my pride center, i'll let it slide.
  
• "As long as the snow on the umbrella doesn't melt, you don't need to be afraid of anything."  That sounds very forboding.
  
• now, after being sleepy all the time in this winter, with the umbrellas almost done and my training with Zayne almost over, i'm finding it hard to stay awake at all.
  
• Spiritual power pours out from.. the Tree? from Zayne through the Tree?.. it's icy blue and it lifts all the umbrellas into the air in a whirlwind of snow and flowers.
  
• Zayne reaches out and covers my eyes. "Would you like to rest? Don't be scared."  I ignore the odd feeling in my heart and close my eyes. "You can sleep for a bit longer. You don't need to wake up early."
  
• All I remember is that sleeping in the snow was nice. It was soft and not cold at all. After awhile my aching heart quieted down.
  
• Aaaand I wake up in the spring.
  
• "The flowers are blooming!" The Tree is covered with white blossoms. "Zayne!"
  
• "Zayne. Bai. Where are you?"  oh, girfriend. there's a folded umbrella on the ground.
  
• so i spend my time now sleeping under the Tree at night and i guess wandering around during the day. and then at some point I realize I can't sense the Sacred Tree anymore. My power is being suppressed.
  
• the days progress and get brigher. the snow never melts from the top of my umbrella. "Will he not appear until the umbrella breaks?"
  
• As I cry under my umbrella, Hua nuzzles me. awww! my tears wet her fur.
  
• A flower falls out of the tree. I don't recognize it but its white as snow yet not ice.  (jasmine!) Falling flowers represent goodbyes. The person I'm looking for might no longer be here. Hua comes and goes, giving me bright red fruits. (apples! i'm gonna pretend its apples)
  
• I plant the unknown flower under the Tree and leave Hua to guard both. I leave with my snow covered umbrella to see the wide, wide world. IMPLICATION: with my power suppressed, I won't be taken for a monster any more and can be free.
  

wow, it seems like Zayne is constantly sacrificing himself for me, trying to avert his role in my fate

[Coldsaturn]

"the characterization of the girlfriend"
I could talk about this for days!
So, I feel like the writers often fall into the trap of wanting to go "look at how totally not damsel-in-distress and modern she is" and then all they do is make her aggressive, bratty and arrogant. But she still needs the LI, so she's stupidly ignorant or naive on top of it. The worst version of "13yo girl boss" you can stereotype.
When they're (we're) lucky, the story that is set up allows for some of this: as you mentioned, in the Abysswalker myth she is a spoiled young princess who has to learn how the world works, and her behavior is better received because Raf answers to her brattiness by doubling down with his own or straight up not entertaining her at all. In the Lightseeker myth it doesn't go as well because she doesn't change by the end of the story and Xav doesn't bounce against or with her attitude, he's just there (for a while) but we almost wonder why. With Caleb it works because she's supposed to be the bratty little sister and he absolutely loves being the big brother who has to put up with her; he matches her attitude by enabling her and then reasserting his position as the big one she has to listen to whether she wants or not. Same goes with Sylus, he looks and acts like a brat enabler who enjoys watching the little kitten tire itself out (and you'll see that the MC of his limited myth has a another flavor of personality). I feel like that's also the vibe that Zayne gives in the main story, where he's often fond of her antics and they provide some needed silliness to his daily life (but MC in the main story is also more mature).

Choosing the worst characterizations for MC I'd probably go: Abysswalker 3rd place, Master Of Fate 2nd place, Lightseeker 1st place


""I've seen her fate. It's clear, untainted and untouched." interesting. "There are no signs of her becoming a variable.""
I love how this might have just been explained or at least re-contextualized in the new myth.

---

Put a pin on the ritual!
There was a whole meta video that came up about it like yesterday, and it is referenced heavily in the new myth.
* Coldsaturn reads further down your commentary/
"SHADES OF WHAT IS PROBABLY IN EDGE OF CONTINUUM MYTH RIGHT?!"
LMAO there it is.

- Did you ever watch the movie "Arrival"?
I'm in love with that movie, and yes to everything you said.

- "it seems like Zayne is constantly sacrificing himself for me, trying to avert his role in my fate"
That seems to be the case! Or at least, that separation is necessary so that MC can thrive.

[ChicletPrime]

If Zayne is compelled by a higher god (Astra) to govern fate and destiny / who lives who dies and when, in his role as Si Ming or variations of it, the fact that he has to keep taking himself out of her way is really tragic. He must do what it necessary, he probably has zero choice about it. If she is outside of his direct control somehow, she must be removed before she undoes everything. One pulled thread and the entire thing unweaves.

Or.. something like that. That's the vibe I'm getting here. So since Zayne can't defy his own fate and can't bear to enact hers, taking himself off the game board is the only move that it seems he can make. In Tower of Secrets, he strengthens her power before locking her away from him. In Snow's Embrace, he throttles her power before doing the same. In the main story, he hasn't done either yet but I haven't gotten to Death & Rebirth either so who knows. Dawnbreaker has either yet to meet her, or she is already erased, so that's kind of up in the air as to what's going on for him.

They never explain what the fight with the Viper represents, why what should have been a peaceful spirit went so rogue. If it was supposed to be obvious, it went right over my head at least. They also don't explain who the Old Man was, or his relationship to Zayne. They appeared to be equals though? Just as Hades is the God of the Dead but its Thanatos that is the God of Death, maybe this old man character occupies a similar enough space in the heavenly pantheon that he can chide Zayne to do his duty, and even offer to take it from him if its too heavy.

re/Girlfriend Characterization -- We should talk about it for days! I really like how the girlfriend is (mostly) portrayed in the main story which is a "near future" culture, its part of what drew me in at the beginning. She is headstrong, competent, loving and warm to her friends, dependable and not afraid of getting her hand dirty in the pursuit of justice. She makes bad choices but she also owns them and that's really appealing as, you know, a grownup myself.

That is (mostly) kept in the side cards. Its the myths that seems to wobble so much into bratty pseudo child instead of mature woman and its kinda drives me nuts on my bad days when I don't feel very forgiving for whatever reason. Why are they so okay with having the MC as a (mostly) full fledged adult with, you know, ACTUAL TRAUMA in the bulk of the game but in the myths they just dumb her down into pasteboard? I would not date me in either of Zayne's myths. I don't even recognize me in this one at all.

[Coldsaturn]

"why what should have been a peaceful spirit went so rogue"
In my head it was supposed to represent how dangerous MC is, and how tempting her power is for others, to the point of bending what is the natural order of things. In that way, she's not just a variable in herself because of her own actions, but also because of what others end up doing when around her.

"They appeared to be equals though?"
Yeah he talks like he's there doing the same thing Zayne is, so I took him for another "agent of order" or something.

"Its the myths that seems to wobble so much into bratty pseudo child instead of mature woman"
Agreed. In part I guess it's explained by the fact that she's a complete different person in another world and coming from a different background, and said background often leaves her ignorant and naive because that way you can get the narration explain everything to the reader. But the resulting characterization is very hit&miss. There are many players who absolutely adore myths were I could barely stand MC, and I don't know if it's because they're focusing on the LI's story alone as the main drive, or if it's because MC is not a problem to them at all.
It has been getting better on average, though. Part of it might be the writers getting better at exploring those side-stories. Or, the writers being more sure of the kind of audience they have and what they can deliver while checking Chinese censorship in the meantime. A trailer like the one we got from Zayne would have been unthinkable last year, even counting the spicy banners (Japan even raised the app to 18+ on their store). MoF came out June 2024, GoT two months earlier in April, plus all the standard myths, and they all share similarities in how the MC is portrayed. December 2024 was Abysm Sovereign's turn, and the characterization was already much better, though that might have been because the setting was completely different.
The third myths have been good with MC's characterizations too, but they all have been more mature in terms of characters than the ones that came before so I don't know if I can trust this trend for the other two that we're missing.