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VADD Hunting tournament outfits

SUOL shared this sketch on Twitter. They are wonderful~

ML Flower Meanings in VADD Chapter 90

In leaked screenshots of Chapter 90, where they announce the placements of the hunting competition's participants, the four MLs— Derrick, Reynold, Winter, and Callisto— are shown surrounded by flowers.

Of course, all of us know that SUOL-nim is fond of putting small details into her work(and I make my English teachers proud by overanalyzing things), so here's a quick breakdown of the flowers and their meanings.

Derrick Eckhart: Blue Hydrangea

Hydrangeas are a multitude of species, the majority of which are native to East Asia. Their name comes from two Greek words, which together mean "water vessel". This refers to the shape of the flowers, but can also be to this genus's tendency to need a lot of water. Hydrangea colors can be all over the place due to soil pH, and in theme with that, they have varied meanings, especially when taking into account different cultures.

Blue Hydrangeas symbolize regret, apologies, and forgiveness.

This could mean that Derrick is regretting how he treated Penelope and is trying to ask for her forgiveness(unlikely, but let a girl dream). Perhaps it can also be Penelope's regret in trusting Derrick during the trial, and him immediately blowing that chance to high heaven and into hell the second he opened his mouth.

Sidenote: I originally thought they were chrysanthemums because I got blinded by ML sparkles. (I need to sleep.) I'll add my original explanation for chrysanthemums below.

Blue Chrysanthemums, which I thought Derrick was depicted with, symbolize a love that is over and how the person has gotten over the pain.

It could be referring to how Penelope no longer trusts Derrick as of the end of Season 2, and how she has decided his route to be unviable.

Blue is also the color that Derrick is associated with throughout the novel: his ribbon, his clothes, and not to mention, the teaser image dropped during the series' release countdown.

Reynold Eckhart: Pink Roses

Roses are a ubiquitous sight in any situation that necessitates. With over 300 species and tens of thousands of human-bred variations, roses can have many different appearances and meanings. Even a difference in the shade can have a new meaning.

Reynold is shown with pale pink roses in the background. The specific variety is unknown, but it looks like a Belinda's Dream Rose or a Royal Highness Rose to me. Both of them have the pale pink color and classic rose shape(which I have no idea whether or not there's a rose species for that common shape) and also the petals curl down and form semi-triangular shapes.

Belinda's Dream on the left, Royal Highness on the right

Light pink roses convey a sense of femininity, grace, and comfort. They convey gratitude and sympathy.

Perhaps, like with Derrick, the pink rose symbolizes Penelope and Reynold's emotions towards each other. Gratitude towards him for believing her during the trial, and Reynold's comfort and sympathy towards his sister.

Pink is also the color Reynold is associated with: not just in his hair color, but also in promotional images as well.

For novel readers, we know that Reynold's affection indicator turned pink and that the colors share meaning with rose colors(at least speculated to be so).

Callisto Regulus: Red Roses

Again, as with Reynold's section, roses are ubiquitous and have many different meanings. I'm not sure about the rose variety, but they look to be the same 3D asset.

However, I would like to take a shot in the dark and say the red roses in his panel are Chrysler Imperial Roses or Super Hero Roses.

Chrysler Imperial Roses I chose for the way their blooms are tight with the outer petals being looser and curling in to form triangular petals. They are said to have thick stems with noticeable thorns.

Super Hero Roses are not as tight, but share the triangular petal curls and have bright oval-shaped leaves. They also look very overexposed when photographed because of their brightness.

Super Hero roses on the left, Chrysler Imperial Roses on the right

Unlike Reynold's pink roses, Callisto's red blooms are seen with rose thorns, something that was overlaid with Eckles' introduction in the beginning chapters of the manhwa, denoting his danger.

Red roses symbolize love, passion, commitment, faithfulness, and loyalty. They denote reciprocated romantic love and a strong relationship.

Unlike Reynold, I think Callisto's roses are mostly his feelings towards Penelope, and no, I'm not saying this as a Callisto main.

Throughout the story and in the future of the manhwa, Callisto is steadfast in his loyalty to Penelope, committed and faithful to his love for her. Of course, those who have read the novel also know that Callisto is the endgame ML, and his gauge color becomes red.

(I'm sorry I somehow wrote so much for Callisto even though he was supposed to have the least— Reynold already had the explanation about roses)

Winter Verdandi: Wisteria

Wisteria is a vining shrub and member of the pea family. They can come in various shades of purple, white, or red. They can have many different meanings, but symbolize romance in the cultures where they are native.

It's seen as a symbol of everlasting wisdom because they can grow for over a century, and their sprawling vines represent the continual search for knowledge.

Mauve wisteria means "passion, hidden beauty, intellect and wit, and devotion".

Lavender wisteria conveys "delicateness, refinement, grace, wealth, and royalty."

White wisteria, which can be seen in the panel, implies "healing, purity, health, youth, rebirth, and mourning."

In Korea, wisteria symbolizes a devotion that transcends death.

In VADD, Winter has a secret identity as an information broker and a wizard. The continual search for knowledge and eternal wisdom is something that is characteristic of Winter. He's also one of the most refined and gentlemanly of the MLs.

Fans of the novel will know that Winter rewound time and is the cause for the time loops, all to let the original Penelope have another chance at defeating Leila.

The white wisteria may primarily mean "rebirth", tying back into the time loop that he created.

VADTD cover analysis!

This stems from an analysis I did on the vadtd server (everyone is welcome to come and join us). Since there seem to be a few people who are confused about the order of covers or the seasons they represent, I decided to make a little analysis, (this is coming from someone who has almost all english physical copies of the manhwa). I shall fulfill my duty as self-proclaimed season speculator and covers analyst (•̀ᴗ•́)و

As of now we have 7 known covers, after Suol-nim made an announcement on twitter that the new and 4th season will begin on the 30 of September, and with it came a picture of what might be the new season’s cover.

(To make the placement easier to understand, just look at it this way: the odd numbers are the main covers, whereas the even numbers are the filler covers, which was pointed out by @seirclys as well).

1. Let’s start from the very beginning with the first cover.

The first cover ever that we know of, where Penelope is by herself. We've seen this cover plenty of times. It is the first season's start, and I'd also like to think that the fact that she is by herself is not only showing that she is the protagonist, but also her distance with everyone else.

We can see that there are various crystal hearts around Penelope and each represents one of the male leads. Penelope is laying in a coffin, (most likely showing the many in-game deaths), and surrounded by flowers, more specifically white lilies that we see in the novel illustration of Penelope.

She is wearing the dress which is said to be her favorite, that appears each time a panel of the actual game is shown. It seems to be her trademark dress.

Penelope is holding onto a dark red rose, which I believe is supposed to represent how she chose Eckles as her escape out since his affection score rises easily.

2. The second one is not a season start cover, nor a main cover, it’s a physical copy cover because the first season was broken in multiple parts when published as physical.

On the cover we see Penelope and Emily; I think this shows how now Emily is firmly on Penelope's side and will continue to serve her from then on. The duchy in the background and Emily's presence could also be symbolizing how other servants as well are now recognizing Penelope as their superior, like the head butler Pennel did.

Penelope’s dress is a stark contrast to the one seen on the first season cover. Her dress is very bright and shorter, looking to be made for a more leisurely time. There is also a book in her hand and her expression is calm, while Emily brings a cheerful air.

3. The third in line is a main cover, and consequentially, the second season's cover.

On the cover we see Penelope and Reynold standing back to back, and the place is the attic where they had a verbal altercation, however Reynold understood where he went wrong. Their position shows how they are close but yet so far; Reynold from now on will try to mend his relationship with Penelope (in his own way), while Penelope for the time being doesn't want to have much to do with him. They will grow closer as time goes by.

Reynold has a remorseful expression while Penelope is almost indifferent, neutral even.

Some of her hair is resting on his shoulder, and she is holding a pink rose, which from my understanding is a nod towards Reynold since now we know that his affection score is pink.

I think that it all means that, despite the two of them having clashed the most, Penelope is still welcome to allow Reynold to be close to her.

Thorny vines are present at the top, together with pink roses and blue roses that look to be yet again hinting at Reynold’s affection score, and possibly how his relationship with her will be meant to be: lighthearted feelings, with brotherly love.

4. Like the second one, the fourth cover is mostly a physical copy cover, since season 2 was broken in parts for serialization reasons.

On the cover we see Penelope and Callisto, who is very present in the hunting arc. His stance very distant from Penelope, signaling that the two of them are not that 'close' in that point in time/plot. Callisto could also be considered as being more in the background since he is the farthest away from Penelope, unlike Emily and Reynold so far.

Callisto is looking at Penelope with an observant expression, whereas Penelope is looking at us. I’d like to point out that Penelope is always looking at the viewer, while if there are other characters in the cover, they are always looking at her.

Both of them are wearing their garments from the hunting tournament. Their weapons are also in sight, which are quite important in this particular arc.

Penelope’s crossbow and her use of it is what got her banned the previous year, and this time around it will be used to save both her and Callisto from the assassins chasing them. Callisto’s sword will slay the bear that attacked Penelope, and it was also used by him to aid Penelope in their fight against the assassins.

5. The fifth cover is a main cover, and season’s 3 main cover.

It features Penelope and Derrick standing with their backs to each other, separated by prison bars, symbolizing Penelope's wrongful incarceration, as well as her cutting ties with Derrick after the trial.

The broken blue string is a call back to how Penelope was seen 'stepping’ on a blue ribbon, which is a figuration and meant to represent her relationship with Derrick, to show how she is once and for all cutting every connection to him, writing him out of her options.

Both of them are dressed in the same attire we see on them during the trial arc, showing exactly when their affiliation became strained.

Although they are standing back to back, it is very different from how Reynold did it, (Reynold was basically sitting next to her with her hair even falling on his shoulder, basically very close); Derrick on the other hand has no physical contact with Penelope whatsoever and we can only see half of his face, his figure is also fading towards the bottom.

In her hand Penelope is holding the dagger that was used as evidence to prove her innocence during the trial. The snapped string and the way she holds the dagger makes it appear as though she cut the string, which would be pretty ironic given how the dagger was the evidence of Penelope’s innocence, which Derrick doubted from the beginning, and because of his skepticism he did not get the chance to even know about the dagger before Penelope herself presented it during the trial.

Like with Reynold’s cover, there are thorny vines around the cover, however the roses here are darker in color and obviously meant to represent Derrick.

6. This is not a main cover, and is the filler cover for the continuation of season 3.

This cover represents the island arc where Winter is a prominent figure.

Like Reynold he is very close yet far at the same time, and like with Callisto, their distance shows a lack of complete trust from Penelope towards them. However whereas Callisto still didn't have Penelope's faith, Winter lost it in this arc.

Penelope's back is facing Winter, while he is reaching for her with a purple rose in his hand (the exact same color as his affection score), but there is no physical contact between the two.

Penelope is also adorning an almost indifferent expression. With his 'test’ to see if Penelope was a follower of the Leila, he endangered both the children and Penelope herself, which made her lose all of her hope in him.

At the season's end we see how Penelope cuts off ties with him as well and tells him to not look for her unless she looks for him first. It is pretty much the same situation that happened with Derrick; Penelope is giving her back to both of them with a serious and determinate expression on her face signaling how she ‘writes them off' her list of potential escape routes.

There is yet another pattern at the edges of the cover, consisting of thorny vines and roses in a coloring that represents the male lead featured on the cover.

The cover where Callisto is featured seems to be the only one so far (featuring a male lead) that does not have these thorny vines and roses, despite him very much being a male lead. I previously attributed that to his cover not being a main one, however after further inspecting Winter’s cover which is also a filler one like Callisto’s, I can say that it’s not the case. Perhaps the vines full of thorns are there to symbolize how each of the male leads did something that made Penelope reluctant to place trust in them and consequentially less prone to consider them successful escape routes.

7. The seventh cover was shared yesterday on twitter by Suol herself, and will most likely be the main cover for season 4.

This signals that the season will begin with Eckles coming back from his training, (I could explain the cover further, but it contains major spoilers so I won't include this segment, and I will be vague with the discernment of the cover's symbolism).

Eckles is shown to have a desperate expression on his face, and there is also a little distance between him and Penelope.

Due to the previous pattern of the last two covers, as well as Penelope's almost doubtful/ incredulous and somewhat 'angry’ expression, one could assume that Eckles did something that made him fall from Penelope's graces, so she'll most likely take a distance from him too.

His hand is still the one that's holding the magical sword Penelope gifted to him when they went out and she bought him all the training equipment, together with the amulets for the Duke, Emily and Callisto.

The background consists of the thorny vines that were present in the previous two covers and Reynold’s as well (which backs up further the theory that Penelope will distance herself from Eckles), with roses of pale and darker colors, which make them seem as they're withering; the two of them look to be inside of the greenhouse, where they did appear once before.

Their attire is the same as when they went together shopping, which is a little unusual since it’s an ‘old’ reoccurrence, and it breaks the sequence of the characters wearing the same clothes from the beginning of the season/arc they’re meant to represent.

On X, SUOL-nim shared this meme about how the male leads apologize 🤭

Hold your breath before reading chapter 154—

OK, LESS WORDS TODAY, A LOT OF SHOUTING!! KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Our bunny Reynold is happy that Penelope liked the rabbits. They even had a little chat about it~

God, I love these cute scenes. Especially before I know I'm going to cry a lot :'D

Penelope then makes eye contact with Winter... OLD MAN, YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART WITH THAT LOOK-!

And actually, I look back at Winter's yellowish brooch with a very strong desire to write angst headcanon, that it means something big to him... seriously, man, you wear this brooch all the time. How did your identity under the rabbit mask not be revealed?!

But at that very moment, Penelope was thinking about the poison she had ordered from Winter. And I can actually relate to both of them... especially when we get to know Winter's thoughts in more detail next season.

BUT EVERYONE GET UP 'CAUSE IT'S CALLISTO APPEARING!

Do you understand how much Callisto loves Penelope? He did not wear a cloak, but a jacket on his shoulders. Not white shoes, but dark ones. HE EVEN CHANGED THE BANGS A BIT-

About the most important thing!

Callisto was pleased and smitten by Penelope (as were we all a few chapters back, 0% judgmental and 100% understanding). They spoke over the gifts Callisto had left before their first family fight. Penelope blushed. And...

Damn golden dragon. I did not expect to see this frame. Although sometimes I think that because of the long wait for years, I just got used to waiting, and not getting what I expected. That's why I have a strange feeling.

And at the same time, it really perfectly illustrates how the golden wings of the dragon covered the darkness that should have been pitifully hidden.

AND FINALLY IMPORTANT NEWS!

While you're admiring this image of Calliope, looking for the same frame for the parallel.... news has already been announced about the seventh volume and what merchandise will go with it!!

Also, as you all noticed, each of the men had flowers on their suits. Therefore, if you want, you can make a separate post with an analysis 👀✨️

And now I will continue to scream. Thank you all.

Rant time again!

I wrote this a long time ago but I did not believe that these cockroaches, due to their lack of intelligence, would come to steal my own arguments and change them to their degenerate perspective:

With this, it is clear to me that these people are probably here on Tumblr too, so I'll say it again: Fuck you and your lack of reading comprehension!

Callisto is equally important to Winter in the plot, and throughout the novel that was made clear. Callisto has literally been fighting the Laila clan since his youth and that is why Laila chose to brainwashing him and marry him, so that he would stop interfering in her plans and to have access to the dragon's fang. That you only read spoilers and claim to have read the novel is something else apart, and it only proves that you are just as illiterate.

The one who is not relevant at all is Eckles, because that suffering that they mention in the conversation has no place in Laila's fight like you said, so stop saying ignorant things!

It's disgusting that I have to share Winter with these kinds of fans, even Winter has more class than these kinds of people.

VADTD New Outfits for the Coming of Age Ceremony!

On X (formerly Twitter), SUOL-nim shared a sketch with the outfits worn by the male leads for Penelope's coming-of-age ceremony

She mentions: "Coming of Age Ceremony Costume Sketch. Winter recycled the costume from the birthday party because… I couldn't waste the costume that he could only wear once (it's a matter of efficiency, but I liked it so much). I thought it would be fun to have a simple tradition related to the coming of age ceremony costume, so I added common elements such as a flower on the chest and ribbons on the wrists of the Eckharts, who hosted the ceremony. I struggled with the details of Reynold’s costume, but Naver <Muwon Yadam> writer Hou (Hou_heavyrain) helped me decide on the palette and pattern🥰. I designed Callisto’s one while maintaining the overall white color, and I was careful to differentiate it from the existing costumes. I like it because it turned out just as I intended!”

You can really see the effort and detail SUOL-nim put into them. They are wonderful. 💓 

Incorrect quotes meme dump