Concerning the three 'R's of Valkyrie · 5:30am Aug 5th, 2014
Okay, so. Since I am getting really quite tired of readers telling (or sometimes asking, though rarely) me that I need to change how this little bit of my world works, I'm just going to post this little blog to clear the air once and for all.
As a quick refresher, the excerpt from Valkyrie in question: "When a pony dies, he or she has three choices: Rebirth, Revive, Restore. Some call them the three ‘R’s. Rebirth is a pony who does just that: The are Reborn into some form of undead. This choice is normally taken by ponies who still have unfinished business among the living, but can't return to a physical body to finish it. Ponies who choose to Revive are reborn into the world of the living from another womb. And ponies who choose Restore cross to the other side, to paradise."
Now, for the very last time, yes the above is correct and no I did not make some half blundered mistake. I'm going to break this down bit by bit so those who are confused by this will hopefully understand.
Rebirth: Quite a few of you think that this should instead be renamed to Revive. Let me explain my reasoning here. The full definition of Rebirth is the process of being reincarnated or born again, this is true. I also take this quite literally. For the purposes of Valkyrie, the pony is "reincarnated" as an undead-- a completely different life than what they had while still living. They are reborn as something completely different than what they were before, and their old life is nothing more than a past memory. And again, I did say this was the option most chosen when the pony in question no longer has a body to return to; see Revive and what it details below.
Revive: Others still think that this should be labeled as Rebirth. More reasoning inbound. The full definition of revive is restore to life or consciousness. Again, I take this quite literally. A pony who has chosen to be revived through another womb is the exact same pony they were before they died and were presented with the three 'R's. Even though they may be a new born colt or filly, nothing about them has changed aside from their age. They are simply revived right back into their old existence. They're just way younger now. This option is usually chosen when the pony has unfinished business to attend to (like a scientific breakthrough) and has a body to still return to.
Restore: Oddly enough, this one has remained untouched, though some just think it is unneeded at all. Well, they're wrong. Restore means to bring back to a previous [state]. In this case, ponies who chose this option are restored to the state they were in before being born as a pony-- but naturally I can't really mention this state, because spoilers.
Naturally, I didn't really include this into the story because I felt I didn't need to; the characters knew exactly what was being discussed. I should have known better, however, and I'll probably have to mention it again in greater detail in a later chapter.
Now, does this make any sense at all? Or is it only just in my own head? Either way, I'm growing weary of people saying this needs to be changed. Hopefully this will clear some stuff up and appease some readers at the same time. I posted pretty much all I can without giving a whole bunch of spoilers away. And none of us want that, do we?
I really don't see a problem with this.
Other than:
Should be 'They are Reborn', but that's just my inner grammar nazi.
Yeaaaa, this seems about right to me. I guess people just need to realise that it's the authors story and they can really name it whatever they want.
Could you change this?
paperhouseproductions.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/d/cdc-0329e.jpg
I need some higher value bills.
Getting back on topic, when can the next chapter of Valkyrie be expected?
Owwy. That made my brain hurt.
"When a pony dies, he or she has three choices: Rebirth, Revive, Restore. Some call them the three ‘R’s. Rebirth is a pony who does just that: The are Reborn into some form of undead. This choice is normally taken by ponies who still have unfinished business among the living, but can't return to a physical body to finish it. Ponies who choose to Revive are reborn into the world of the living from another womb. And ponies who choose Restore cross to the other side, to paradise."
That was simple enough.
Rebirth. I cant think of any videogame or movie I've seen where the process of "Rebirthing" involved coming out of another womb. A reborn character always has a new body but it is never the body they hoped to return to. So it is fair that in this story they are reincarnated as an undead. And to return to the world of the living they must form a link and take the caster's form. It still fits the whole "your mind but not your body" thing that rebirthing/reincarnating brings.
Revive. Reviving someone involves RETURNING THE SPIRIT/SOUL TO ITS OWN BODY. As most forms of revival involve restoring the body first and then listening to the gasp as life returns to said body, there are also rules involved with revivals. If the rules of revival allows for typical revives to occur then ok. This story however says that the rules for revivals are that once the old body is spent it cannot be used again. Instead a spirit/soul must revive as a new life form.
Flicka, I applaud you for your literal scene of rebirthing and reviving to make it more interesting for a spirit/soul to decide it's fate. Rebirth and gamble your chances at getting someone to recall you or Revive and wait out your time before you can continue your old task.... and hope that someone doesn't finish it before you do.
Restore. You are done. You have no reason to take either risk. Pass over to paradise. Bada Bing, Bada Boom.
However, after reading your post I can only assume that paradise involves a completely restoring the spirit/soul. By this I mean that a spirit/soul has it's memories wiped and is capable of returning to the living as a new entity entirely. Cause to most, being able to forget all the hardships and start fresh is a form of paradise. However, by confirming or denying my thoughts would be a big spoiler I'm just gonna leave it there as "I've said my piece".
Speaking of piece, now that I've got that out of my system my mind and body are at peace.
2344856 Praise Princess Twilight, someone who gets it! You just used much simpler terms, is all. The only thing I'm going to say is that Restore is slightly off, but not by much. Thanks for the compliment though!
Well thanks, but I was good. The story description seemed legit to me so I just went with it. Still thanks for the added information.
2344763 Yeah, don't you? I just hope that no one around here starts that with me when I finally start posting my fics here.
'Cause if they do, they will be firmly, but politely, shown the "door".
2345326 You get popular enough, they will. It's an inevitability like death, taxes, and welcome-to-Ponyville parties
2344763
I know, right?
Certainly a very interesting concept for what happens after death.
I'm going to have to start reading valkyrie again, I caught up with it a long time ago and haven't touched it since so I've got a bit of catch up to play
2345360 Well, as much as I want my stories to be liked, I hope to Celestia and Luna that they, and I, never get that popular! I've been writing stories for quite a long time (mostly for my own fun and enjoyment), and, as much as I'd like folks to like them as much as I do, I'm afraid that if they start telling me, "Oh, you should've written it this way; your way doesn't make sense!" or "It would be so much better if you wrote Applejack this way, or shipped her with Rainbow; etc.; instead of your OC...nice though she is!"; well, I'm afraid that I'd get more than a bit snippy and/or snappish and tell them it's my fic and storyline, and they should keep their muzzles in their own beezwax, and keep them out of mine!
I mean, okay, I like...and appreciate, and accept...reasonable criticism and critiques, but I'm the one who knows how my story's going to go, not the ones who start harping on me to do things their way, or according to their head-canon, not mine. Sorry, but that ain't gonna fly with me as a writer!
2345365 And sadly enough, you're both right.
2345466 See, when people start doing that to me (like with the example in this blog) I politely but quite firmly point out that they are wrong and why they are wrong. I want to see them challenge me in my own element. Its a fight they won't win-- especially if they don't even have something published themselves.
As for the popularity, well.... I never imagined that I'd be popular enough to be recognized at times. Or that I'd have so many people interested in my work. I think what really caused me to realize that people enjoy my stuff was when a certain long-time reader of mine called me a figurative "God of World-Building". That was when I decided that maybe I'm pretty decent at this writing stuff after all.
2346203 Exactly! That's what I was trying to say for my own way of doing things!
Yeah, you are. I adore your stories and I'm always eager for the next new chapter.
2347980 Don't worry. I had planned to post this before I read your comment. Just figured it would be easier to link you here than to explain it in a comments section. Its not just you, so don't apologize. Several readers were thinking along the same lines, and a couple of them were being rather narrow minded. So I just enlightened them a bit.
You're saying two different things between the excerpt and the explanation.
In the excerpt, you say that the reborn "is normally taken by ponies who still have unfinished business among the living, but can't return to a physical body to finish it", while in the explanation you say the revive "is usually chosen when the pony has unfinished business to attend to (like a scientific breakthrough) and has a body to still return to."
I understand why you'd be reborn if you didn't have a body to return to and why you'd revive with one, but they'd want to return to their same life if they had unfinished business.
The explanation makes sense in that regard, but it's still different from the excerpt.
As to the method, if they're going to be a new being altogether, then they should be reborn through the womb and start with a completely clean slate. If they still have unfinished business then revive them back to their body until they can complete it so they can move on.
For restore, it doesn't sound like moving on. It sounds like revive. Maybe release would work better, since they let go of their life and move on to the other side.
2348524 They are two differing concepts, though. Reborn is the option a pony takes when they no longer have a living body, instead becoming Undead to finish whatever it is they still need to do. Revive is the exact same thing, except the pony still has his or her body to return to. Aging them back into a colt or filly during this process is like "recycling" the body to keep it fresh, or habitable.
The excerpt doesn't really specify how the Revive path works (only that the pony is reborn from a womb), so this blog post clears that up a bit.
And as for Restore, they're still being restored back to their original state before being born in the world of the living in the first place.
The whole thing is bloody confusing to me.
When I say 'undead' I mean something or someone that should (i.e. that's their proper fate) be dead being kept "alive" or "restored" to "life" in a less than savory manner (i.e. a reanimated corpse, not a viable pony body). The only thing keeping them on this side of the afterlife is the constant expenditure of magic.
The only way that revive can work as a word/concept (independent of your story, persay) in my mind is a D&D style basic resurrection wherein an existing body has a soul (the one formerly living therein) reattached and the body magically restored to the way it was before they died. There's rarely a new body involved nor do they change age or anything of that sort. That sort of definition in no way jives with a brand new body which ought ostensibly to have it's own soul somehow having this dead pony's soul grafted into it.
2348524
As to "Restore", what he said, more or less. What exactly could/can exist before the body. For what it's worth, logically, the soul's sense of identity is tied up with the body it had before.
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Tangentially, as a matter of personal opinion (what isn't?), it's not sensible to assume that it's okay to not tell the reader anything as long as the characters theoretically understand what they (the characters) are talking about. It's something of a cornerstone of stories in general for the narrator (the third person view?) to tell the readers a certain amount of what's really going on unless they're intentionally obscuring it for effect or with the intent of having a dramatic reveal later on.
If you think that's okay, but others don't, maybe you have devalued the importance, in your mind, of those details to the story as a whole?
Hmm, it's still confusing. You can't be wrong, it's your story, but while rebirth can be used for lots of things using it for something other than the one that literally involves a womb and second birth is just, odd. This clearly didn't bother me at all in the actual story, but now that I read it again it bothers me to a stupid degree. It seems like Reincarnate instead of Rebirth would be more clear, since the body in question is not exactly alive, but it is incarnate, and you used it right there in the description after all.
It's like big and gigantic. If you have two big things most people wouldn't care what you use when they're by themselves. But next to each other if you don't label the bigger one gigantic, it will seem wrong even though the words don't have to be that specific. So even though there is no reason you can't use whatever words you want in this context, you might want to think about changing it anyway, because it will still feel wrong to most people.