Warning: This post includes spoilers for the fourth ending of IS2
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A. Introduction

The Playwright is the fourth boss in IS2, and there’s not much information on him outside of relic and boss descriptions. He only appeared in two CGs, both of which feature him writing on his desk in what seems to be his office. This essay will focus on a specific common denominator that appeared in both CGs: the vase with blue and white flowers.
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ending CG
encounter node \"Revenge Story\" CG
You might be tempted to say, “So what? They’re just flowers.”
The thing is that, blue roses, as depicted in the CGs, don’t exist in the natural world. Blue flowers, in general, are rather rare. The blue roses that exist currently are the product of genetic engineering, or dye. Genetically engineered roses have their blue pigment taken from Pansies, which appear more purple than the azure blue shown in the CGs.
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Rosa \"Cardinal de Richelieu\"
So it couldn’t have been genetically engineered. This implies that Playwright deliberately dyed some of his white roses with blue dye. And if we look closely at his sprite, all the blue accents in his design are accessories that are worn, instead of on his person.
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B. Significance of the Colour

Why blue? Why did he choose to surround himself with this colour? For aesthetics? If he were a real person, then we can simply say, “Because it’s his favourite colour,” and leave it at that. But unfortunately, he’s a fictional character, one that is related to Phantom- who is chock full of references to Gothic literature at that, which means by design, his colour palette was a deliberate choice on the developers’ part.
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1. The most obvious explanation is because he is meant to be Phantom’s foil, specifically in his Blood Diamond outfit. We can see it clearly in Rhythm in Literature:

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Rhythm in Literature EP
Firstly, the title alludes to the two of them: Rhythm for Lucian, who is well known for his singing voice, and Literature for Playwright, who is known to write the scripts for the troupe’s performances.
Looking at the illustration, the two of them clearly contrast each other, both in design and in position. Starting with the obvious, Luci has red accents and Playwright has blue. Luci wears a hat, a flashy outfit, has short, light coloured hair and short, fluffy tail, meanwhile Playwright only wears glasses and ribbons on his head, a relatively plain/modest outfit, longer, neat dark hair (with few strands of white), and a long tail with short, dense coat of fur. Lucian stands in the spotlight, facing the audience, meanwhile Playwright faces the backstage, away from the spotlight. Both have black central pieces (vests?) but Phantom’s sleeves are white, while Playwright’s are dark gold(?). Phantom’s cape takes up a lot of space, meanwhile Playwright takes up only a minimal amount. Also, the number of belts.
(these two are such ship material I swear)
Looking back at the troupe’s children: We have Lucian, who decided to fight back against the troupe. Shalem, who ran away. Ursus boy, who chose death. Playwright, in my opinion, represents the fourth option: to join the troupe and take part in their tragedy.
We can also see how he contrasts other ex troupe members from the ‘Parallels’ medal description:
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'Parallels' medal description
‘Duality of possibilities’ is in reference to endings 1 and 2. Ending 1 features ‘hope’ where Lucian was brought back safely, but not entirely devoid of despair (ending 4). On the other hand, ending 2 features Ursus boy who suffers even in death, but we the players have an option to help him and grant his wish to disappear (encounter node Reprieve), which is an ending of despair, but not entirely devoid of hope.
The play is composed by both the cast and the playwright, together, so I think the Playwright also parallels Lucian to some extent. Lucian was always full of hope (he was the talented student with potential, looked forward to debut as an actor, etc) meanwhile Playwright was called incompetent (Silver Fork), has a bad ending (Writer's Tongue), he probably represents left hand's despair.

1. Another possible explanation is because the Crimson Troupe’s signature colour is red, so he surrounds himself with the opposite colour, blue, as a sign of minor rebellion against the troupe. This implies that the Playwright doesn’t agree with the Troupe’s goals, but is cooperating with them for the sake of his own goals. Further proof that supports this interpretation is the play “The Lullaby”:

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The play titled \"The Lullaby\"

“A clean, comfortable, and relaxing dreamscape all begins with a lullaby, and when you are awake, everything will be that much better.”

From the CGs we can see that Playwright’s office has a similar window, lamp and ink bottle, and the shape of the glasses is similar to his. So we can safely assume that this play, which also heavily uses the same azure blue in its palette, is in reference to his office. The play symbolises a safe place to retreat to, which might imply that the Playwright uses his office (and by extension, his writing?) for escapism.
A counterargument against this interpretation is that the troupe master also adorns the same blue on his ring.
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4th ending CG
But I think it can be explained by two possibilities:
i - that the troupe master knows about Playwright’s rebellion and is using the blue ring as a subtle threat, or
ii - the troupe master uses blue in his colour palette in an ironic way - this is related to my other theory that the troupe leader is a liberi (or at least, “unknown-suspected liberi” like Conviction) where he is the Bluebird of Happiness, but brings tragedy instead of happiness.
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1. Alternatively, he might have chosen blue because it’s the troupe leader’s colour. The troupe’s signature is red, but to show his status, the leader might have chosen to wear blue to signify his special position within the troupe, and as his right-hand man, the Playwright follows suit. There’s an interpretation of the flowers that supports this theory in section D below.
   
2. He might also have chosen blue because he’s sick of seeing blood. According to the relics in IS2, he uses his blood as ink, and he is constantly seen writing or scribbling with his quill. The colour blue contrasts his blood’s red, you know, unless he has blue blood… hahah. hah. no I’m not kidding because see: no 5.
   
3. What are the two things we know about Playwright? He probably came from Gaul like Shalem and Phantom, and he has blue in his design. Blue, and French. Azure blue is France’s national colour, and many centuries ago, was used to represent the French monarchy, so Playwright might be a royalty for all we know. Read the rest of my Royalty!Playwright theory in the Extra Readings section below.
   

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C. Blue Flowers and the Era of Romanticism

So we covered a lot about the colour blue itself, but we barely touched the main topic: blue flowers. Blue flowers are an important symbol in Romantic movement. But first of all, to really understand the significance of it, we have to look at the meaning of Romanticism and how it started.
To put it simply, Romanticism is a literary, philosophical, artistic movement that focused on the emotion and the self, in contrast to the Age of Enlightenment that preceded it which focused on reason and logic. Interestingly, some historians dated the end of Enlightenment era at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
Back to Romanticism, this movement emphasised imagination, freedom, creativity, and nostalgia for the past. This focus on emotion over reason brought a lot of the literary tropes we know today, such as denying arranged marriages in pursuit of true love or the edgy solitary hero versus the entire world.
Prominent writers of Romantic movement are Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Byron. Edgar Allan Poe was referenced multiple times in Phantom’s character and design: his birthday was based on Poe’s, and his Blood Diamond skin was based on one of Poe’s short stories, Masque of Red Death. On the other hand, Lord Byron’s stories gave birth to the character archetype called Byronic Hero: a sensitive, emotionally complex hero who goes against the world with a sad backstory that makes you want to root for him. One notable example of a byronic hero is Erik from Phantom of the Opera. That is to say, the Romantic era has considerable influence on Phantom’s lore.
During such a time, blue flowers were used to symbolise dreams, desires, love, and the pursuit for the unattainable- themes which were core to the movement. It also represented hope and beauty. Especially blue roses, which didn’t exist, were used to represent impossible love. Worth noting that these meanings simultaneously support and contradict the Crimson Troupe’s ideals: arts and beauty, but in the form of tragedy and despair instead of hope.

D. The Interpretations

Between the symbolism used during the Romantic era, and the flower language used in Victorian England, there are many interpretations we can draw - especially the way he mixed white and blue flowers, instead of sticking to only one colour. (plot twist: he just ran out of blue dye- in which case screw you kitty cat for making me think so much about this)
1, Mixture of lies and truths
White roses are often used to symbolise purity and honesty, and therefore blue roses, which are white roses dyed blue, can be seen as “fake”, “artificial” or “fabrication”. These can allude to many things, for example:
a. His arts
Playwright’s arts is said to be able to change reality to his desire, but such a powerful ability has to come with limitations. Following this interpretation, it’s likely that his arts can’t make something that diverges too far from reality. Like the way the blue rose needs white rose as a base, he probably needs to use reality as a basis for his scripts. This might explain why he needed to rewrite his script when Rhodes Island interfered and came to save Phantom.
b. His identity
From the relics and encounters, we know that Playwright is very dedicated to his revenge plan. It was emphasised in almost every piece of lore crumb that mentions him post-2nd expansion, and he was willing to sacrifice everything he treasured for his revenge. I think there’s a good possibility that he is faking his loyalty to the troupe for his own goals, either trying to use the troupe’s strength and manpower for revenge, or biding his time to stab the troupe in the back.
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ACT 1's description. Keep this in mind because I go back to refer to this relic a lot.
We can see in ACT 1’s description, where he was described as “hero”. I’m certain that this is referring to Playwright because not only is it a necessary relic to get his ending, but also there’s literally no one else we know who has a bottle of blood ink, is trying to get revenge, and wrote himself an ending where he dies in a fire. The two meanings of “hero” are either the protagonist, or the person of noble character; He cannot be the protagonist, because from everything we’ve seen so far, it is Lucian who is constantly being referred to as the “protagonist” or “lead actor”, leaving only the second definition.
From what we know about Playwright currently, he is more of a villain than a hero- he cooperated with the troupe master, making Phantom’s life miserable, massacred people, and they plan to kill countless more. This is why I believe there will be a role reversal, where Playwright’s ends will justify his means, and he will be regarded a “hero”. Maybe not the traditional hero, but rather an antihero or a byronic hero. But then begs the question, what sort of end justifies all these massacres? If you ask me, I would be inclined to say the Crimson Troupe being destroyed for good and the death of the troupe leader, a possible Feranmut, but really, I’m too biassed towards my troupe-hating-playwright theory.
Alternatively, maybe we were lied to, and Playwright is the real “protagonist” of the story, and not Lucian, but I doubt this is the case. Playwright wrote himself an ending, but he also considers himself removed from his scripts, referring to himself as “the creator”.
c. His death
The developers didn’t spare any subtlety when talking about Playwright’s ending, as it was mentioned multiple times that he will die in a fire. However, this may be intended as a red herring - an attempt to misdirect the players to the wrong conclusion.
In Act 1’s description, it’s notable that the terms “first act” and “first ending” are used. Initially I thought that it was a one-act structure play, but if there’s only one act, there’s no need to specify those as the “first”. It implies that there are Acts 2, 3 or more, and Playwright’s “ending” won’t be the end of his life. It might have meant the end of his revenge plans.
Still, whatever the Playwright writes becomes reality, and he did write an ending in which he himself died. There might be a way to circumvent this, for example, by faking his death a certain scifi anime/vn whose name I can’t say because it’s a spoiler-style and letting the Crimson Troupe’s “Playwright” die, and this emo cat takes on a new name and identity (like joining Rhodes Islands and getting a new codename? hopium).
d. 4th ending - Silent Chapter
The fourth ending has Playwright monologuing a lot of things, where he says a lot of these vague lines, and it ends with him talking to the troupe leader. Because of how vague the dialogues are, I think some of these have double meanings, which describe the current situation, but also foreshadow the future events.
In this interpretation, the “lies” aren’t false statements, but rather misleading statements that drive readers to the wrong conclusions.
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2. Striving for the impossible, and eternal love
This one takes the Romantic era meaning of blue flowers: something desirable but unattainable. Roses in general represent love of all kinds, and white roses specifically are used to signify eternal love. It makes sense when you think about it - Playwright has such a strong drive for revenge, he must have cared about the person(s?) he swore vengeance for a whole lot. But, following this interpretation, his revenge plan is difficult, if not outright impossible to achieve.
Maybe the target of his vengeance already died and therefore revenge is impossible, but if that were the case, he probably would have found something else to do with life- or just died right there and then because the life he spent for revenge has no purpose now. Cat is extreme.
Anyways, this means that the target either holds a powerful position in society, or is so strong that normal people can’t touch them. There are many directions to go with this info- for example, if we want to go with the Gaul Royalty route, he might want to take down the Victorian government (or like what’s left of it after the whole conflict in the main story), or maybe Leithania/Ursus too. If we want to go with the Troupe route, the troupe master is hinted to have space/time powers, which can make him nigh untouchable. And so on.
Either way, it makes a good food for thought for when we get more Playwright lore. (HG pls)
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3. Nostalgia for the past, and innocence
This interpretation also follows the Romantic era symbolisms, where the past is glorified and the present is rejected. In Playwright terms, maybe the flowers signify his desire to return to the good old times, before he found out the truth about the troupe’s nature - the loss of innocence, so to say. This sentiment is shared by Phantom, who considered the troupe members his friends and family until the debut night happened and brought everything to ruin.
If we go by what is written in Shalem’s profiles, the troupe had always been intense and competitive, and those who can’t perform up to measure would be eliminated. Some IS2 relics imply that they might be killed and eaten, too. Maybe Phantom didn’t feel the brunt of these because he was the talented genius acknowledged by the troupe leader himself, but Playwright’s case might be different. His first encounter CG was called “endocarceration”, endo as in internal, and carceration as in imprisonment. Similarly, the battle node in this encounter is called, “Bound by Self”. This node is where players encounter playwrights in a dungeon, who want to continue writing but when they do, all they write is nonsense. Maybe Playwright is similar, he is trapped by his need to create the ‘perfect’ story, but he couldn’t. It’s possible that he used to be talentless, until he caught oripathy and got the ability to bend reality (the latter part seems to be implied by Painful Happiness).
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description of 'Painful Happiness'
So to say that, maybe his time in the troupe before he found out the troupe’s true nature wasn’t all sunshines and rainbows either. Instead, the past he fondly thinks of might be the days from before he joined the troupe, or when whoever he wanted to avenge was still alive.
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4. Divinity and loyalty
Because of how rare the blue pigment was back in the day, blue is a colour reserved only for the rich and the noble. Artists only used the colour to paint something considered important, and in the case of Renaissance times, the Virgin Mary. This resulted in the colour blue being associated with holiness and divinity. This, coupled with white roses’ loyalty, might signify the Playwright’s loyalty to the troupe.
A lot of Playwright’s character (not that there’s much of it so far) revolves around his revenge, so I’m not sure how this would fit into it. A thought I had is that maybe his revenge isn’t for a person, but rather for the arts. That matches with the idea that his death by fire is for the sake of martyrdom.
A well-known French person who died by fire as a martyr was Joan of Arc, but outside of these two similarities, I’m not sure if there’s a connection between them. Plus, the spot for Joan reference was already taken by Saileach- Unless…
Joan of Arc was said to crossdress as a boy, therefore the Playwright is actually Saileach crossdressing in her off hours. (Cough forgive me)
I don’t know what else to put here in this section, I don’t have many thoughts or ideas about it.
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E. Other Notable Things:

Other things that are tangentially related but not important enough to be included in the main body:
1, Gothic literature
Touched a bit in the main body. Gothic literature as a genre had major influences on Phantom’s lore, background and character. Aside from the obvious Phantom of the Opera, there were also references to Masque of Red Death and Black Cat, among many others. I highly recommend to read both short stories by Poe to gain more insight on Phantom as a character.
2. ‘Tear of the Departed’
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Tear of the Departed relic description
It was made by an elite operator who hadn’t made any appearances yet, and was hinted to be dead or retired. It has the same shade as Playwright’s blue, and Playwright is often associated with fire. He was also referred to as a ‘hero’, and both honesty and perseverance are traditional heroic qualities. This is a crack theory based on nothing concrete but maybe Playwright is trying to avenge Whitesmith?
Also interesting to think about because the voice in Phantom’s head, the same one that does his brainwashing, led Phantom to RI. So I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that someone in the troupe wanted RI to be involved.
3. ACT 1 (yes, this relic again)
It’s interesting to note that ACT 1’s effects grant hope for some reason. Of course, in gameplay, it grants hope to the players. But I like to think that his arts grant hope to the Playwright himself- a hope to achieve his impossible goal of revenge. The blood red of the ink contrasts nicely with the blue flowers, as if saying that the blue’s unattainable dream is now attainable.
4. Fleur Bleue
In modern France, the term blue flower (fleur bleue) is used to refer to a sensitive, innocent person who is a dreamer. Maybe the Playwright is actually a sensitive and innocent person inside, before he was corrupted by the troupe. I do think he enjoys tragedy, the same way Phantom and Shalem do - Shalem’s files said: the children of the abyss will always yearn for arts, after all. It’s probably part of the troupe’s brainwashing. But, like Phantom and Shalem, maybe he does have another side to him.
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F. Conclusion

One way or another, Phantom and the Crimson Troupe lore ties back to the Age of Romanticism a lot, and seem to have been majorly influenced by it, so chances are that these flowers do mean something. However, a lot of these were based on my biassed thoughts and ideas, so you may or may not agree with it. But, if anyone has any other ideas or interpretations, do tell!
If 5 years from now it is revealed that the roses don’t mean anything and I was overanalysing- it doesn’t matter, I had fun researching and thinking about these stuff. Also maybe in the future, I'll write more about the theories I briefly mentioned in this post, which includes:

• Troupe Leader being a Liberi
• Playwright and Whitesmith
• Playwright and Phantom's role reversal
• Lucian and the Lynx constellation

and more.
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G. Extra Readings

Gaul Royalty Playwright Theory
Phantom and the Black Cats
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H. Bonus

Real picture of me:
https://preview.redd.it/dppx89rrq41b1.jpg?width=666&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc702bc880db6ed2005bece25da00a91fd9f0fc9
My friend asked me if those flowers really are roses.
I… don’t know. They seem like roses. If they aren’t, welp,
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https://preview.redd.it/8g8vq3htq41b1.jpg?width=553&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da5cce9002a533ff2200ada8a05e614ae22fbee5
(was gonna insert a saileach with playwright face in here but man I suck at editing)

I have had this since I was a kid with every haircut I've had and wherever I part my hair. Even when my hair was all one length. It makes it look greasy after I just washed it. I want my hair to look full and fluffy not stringy :( The hairdresser thought it would help to "feather" that section because it looked "heavy" but I think that made it worse looking. Is there anything she could do to correct it? Is there anything I could do? Blowdrying hasn't helped either. And I'm afraid products will just make it greasier. I already use so much dry shampoo. Help please :(

Thinking about a fluffy Edgar haircut?

Hello! Looking for any tips on how to keep my dog cooler, especially at night, this summer without air conditioning. Usually I travel to where the weather is cooler but we won't be able to do that this year.
Where I am staying this summer is hot and humid and we don't have air conditioning. The humidity makes it so swamp coolers won't work, and I don't have a freezer or much electricity so ice packs aren't an option.
I have multiple fans running, sleep with windows open, and I have a doggy gel cooling mat on his bed. He still pants at night and doesn't seem to sleep well if it's above around 65 with this humidity. During the day he is fine because he swims all day, play in the sprinkler, drinks cold water, and hangs out in shade and in holes he digs. But these past few nights I sleep fine and am cool with blankets on while he is panting his butt off all night.
I know you're not supposed to shave double coated dogs, he gets haircuts often that are just trimming his belly and butt fur. But he seems so hot all the time with how thick and fluffy his fur is.
Hoping for some advice I haven't thought of yet that may help him sleep better in the heat?