Date: 02/12/2024
Mood: too cold to function
Listening to: I miss you - °C-ute
The complex nature of water
I jokingly have said in private for a while that Paul's tattoos are like the Rorschach/MBTI test of the Rammstein fandom lmao. The most common answer is "idk it reminds me of something like the sun." The next two most common answers are "or maybe stylized stars" and "perhaps random geometry" (closer to the truth).
If you answered one of these I diagnose you with these traits:
sun = follower not a leader, easy going, optimistic, instinct answer, you probably are influenced by others saying this online or read this before and agreed with it
star = abstract thinker, a more creative type mind, trying to actually study a bit but not the type to dig into commitment
geometry = strong critical thinker, trying to find depth, realist, someone who may have studied art professionally or are into mathematics for a living/interest. This answer is the closest to the truth.
If you answered none of the above and said "it's artistic mathematical geometry snow crystals", I am gonna have to diagnose you with "extremely niche weirdo who knows things about subjects they shouldn't know overlapping Rammstein."
Guess which one I am?
I am team snow crystals!!!! Where my snow crystal besties at? ❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄
Colloquially called snowflakes by many people. Because this is the more ~correct~ answer. And now, I want to explain why I know this to be the case. So help me I am reaching into niche nerd territory by the minute as I type this thing.
Here's the things we're talking about if you can't remember this on demand as I can.
(PS I am aware of the fourth tattoo on his left forearm. It's clear that is a special tattoo meant for private personal reasons and I don't want to commentate on it due to that reason. Ok, we cool?)
First, I guess I should "debunk" the solar answer because most people say this as the most common impression. Ancient solar designs and symbols from Proto-Indo-European origin that are influencing your answer are most commonly 4 or 8 point symbols. Sometimes even 12. A solar symbol at 6 points is very uncommon because 6 has very little to do with the sun from a science perspective. All of Paul's tattoos use the number 6 in hexagonal polygons. These sun symbols are known in Europe due to Indo-European ancestors that many born in Europe from birth say this answer most often due to vague awareness and exposure around them. Especially any Slavic people familiar with the kolovrat. (Which is an eight btw.)
It's why I said this is a very weird fandom Rorschach test happening as cultural exposure changes the impressions. Americans are less likely to have awareness exposure to these sun symbols without directly seeking out the knowledge. We don't exactly have rune rocks around here in the US as protected heritage sites or in museums. Due to the roundness in the designs, people continue to double down on the thought process of the solar wheel symbolism having European cultural background.
Additionally, I find the solar answer to be a fandom cognitive bias to Paul's personal identity. He's been called warm/sun in fandom for over a decade as a meme/running statement due to his personal way of being. It's a cognitive bias association to read it that way based on preconceived notions of Paul's existence in fanon.
Do you know what is 6 hexagonal, uses this double layered imagery, and has outward geometric points?
The molecule composition of water when turning to ice turning to snow crystals.
When it snows, the cold air causes the water vapor molecules in the air dropping from the cloud to "rearrange" into random crystal shapes and designs. It's not that rain turns into snow. It's that the air is so cold, that the water vapor never turns into a rain drop and skips this step. It freezes into a snow crystal instead and skips the rain drop status. Rain turning into snow or vice versa is what we call sleet/mixed weather. By the time the water vapor reaches the ground, it's formed into a design of a snow crystal. Hence the creation of snowflakes. These designs use the number 6 because that's the water vapor molecule itself being morphed in mid-air. If you look up 'water molecules of ice' or something like that, you get a bunch of hexagon stuff lol. Ice is hexagons! If you could somehow microscope your ice cube, it's thousands of hexagons held in place.
If the air applies the same exact treatment to all six aspects of the molecule evenly, you get a symmetrical snowflake design. This causes a wide variety of flake types due to the temperature itself dictating what kind of designs happen. Yes, the temperature shift can cause many designs to exist. There are numerous unique types of snow crystal forms and I'll get into this in a minute.
Snow crystals can also be improper formed, ugly, or even asymmetrical due to numerous variables in the air being applied to it as they fall. If only two of the sides get one type of air applied, then the other four pieces of the molecules get another air status applied; they turn out asymmetrical or weird looking. Many snowflake images are the most perfect images because photographers are throwing away imperfect or ugly snowflake images. Giving you the impression snowflakes are always amazing. They're not always perfect looking. Nor are they always intricate. Sometimes they look stupid, malformed due to air shifts, like dumb cylinders or sticks, or blocky things lol.
Here is a chart of the various known types we have logged studying these things.
Hold it! I am sure looking at this you're like "I see things here very much like his tattoos omg what." Stop! Don't get ahead of me on this. When people stereotype the imagery of snow crystals they often think of delicate fernlike dendrites, branched dendrites, or radiating stick thin dendrites shown in this chart due to holiday decor using this image to be pretty.
That is why when you first see his tattoos you never think about snow or water at all. You're very influenced by stereotypes of holiday imagery of what snow is.
The thing is Paul's tattoos are actually a hybrid design of stellar dendrites and arrowhead twins from water molecule formed snow crystals in hexagonal states. That's the truth lmao.
For many years, people who study water and weather have been fascinated about why this causes hexagonal geometry. So if you said "this is geometry design", you're still 100% correct to say it. Snowflakes are geometrical math already in numerous ways. This is quite well known by artists and mathematicians. Which is why I said if you studied the math aspects of art or math outright, you likely came up with the geometry answer already.
If you're a very advanced math head, you likely would say his tattoos are all "G2 root lie systems" of hexagons
and you're right. That is the biggest influence on the design's structure of why the two main arm tattoos have a layered image.
Many snowflakes that are symmetrical and have dendrites turn out into G2 root systems too naturally in nature. This is normal of snow crystals to look like G2 roots. 2/3 of his tattoos use the G2 root systems to format itself.
The elephant in the room here is that many tattoo artists are well versed in snowflake geometry lore. It's very common for them to be influenced and aware of snowflakes. Some tattoo artists specialize alone in geometry, math, and snow water designs to create work for clients. Many such artists end up studying geometry and math to some degree when doing abstract, shape, or complex design work like this. They often end up being influenced by snowflake photographers and imagery. This isn't some secret.
Well it's that most casual people are the ones who just don't know it or what they're looking at when they stare at Paul's tattoos. I mean, that makes sense! It's a niche subject!! I am sure when I started this post you were like, "ok, finally I am certain Bree has lost it. there's no way she can talk about snow and mean it."
You either have to:
a) be into math
b) be an artist that is specializing in non-human non-animal
c) be a weather enthusiast
For me, I am c) weather enthusiast. I spent my age from 7 to 16 trying to be a meteorologist. That was my favorite thing. I would unironically watch The Weather Channel for fun as if it were like watching Nickelodeon. I have been obsessed with the sky since forever. I love astronomy, weather, and that's why I studied a sky based religion like PIE systems. My favorite season is winter to be honest and I love rain.
I know you're like, "but can snowflakes really end up looking anything like his tattoos? they have such strong hexagons that seem so human brain made. are you sure?"
Yes. Does this not seem familiar to you?
These are genuinely photographed snow crystals. Not art renders. This is truly what influenced this type of tattoo. Many geometrical tattoo artists take inspiration, ideas, and methods of design from snow and G2 root systems.
It's very apparent to me any artist(s) doing his tattoos knows what stellar dendrites and arrowhead twins are. The person(s) knows their stuff, knows their geometry, knows their snow water molecules. The arrowhead imagery combined with the G2 root systems of two of his big arm tattoos is basically a dead giveaway of the snow crystal and math influences. And the fact two have strong 6 hexagon center pieces found in those snowflakes right there. Because the artist uses his natural skin color as the pale/clear part of the snow crystal. It's very obvious this is the influence on the design to me. Thereby using the ink as the frosty white aspects of the crystals.
His skin is the clear part, the ink is the white frost patterns. It's a snow crystal design concept artistically re-conceptualized, if you asked me my humble view. If you ever were reminded of arrows, you weren't really wrong to believe that as this is the word used for snow crystal designations. The one on his neck is the most snow crystal looking one of all without needing to re-conceptualize it artistically and very stellar dendrite at first glance. It was in 2017 at his neck when I said, "omg my theory about the snow origination grows stronger!! this is crazy evidence" because of how obvious this one is to be stellar dendrite influenced without reinterpretations.
Everything is artistically reinterpreted to hybridize the hexagon's (center piece) dendrites (pointy pieces going outward) with stellar traits (spiky angles coming off the sides) that use the additional arrowhead twins in the extra design of the G2 root system pattern. Where they added stellar attributes to the arrowheads too. This is the work of artist(s) whom are familiar with geometry and snow influences. They very likely specialize in it as a preferred art to have this depth of awareness that goes beyond guessing it.
The better question is if Paul knows any of this about water/snow or just the artist(s) who knows it. For all purposes, he could have simply said "geometry designs" and the artist(s) themselves is more responsible for using water design, snow, and geometry awareness knowledge to create something as desired of the client. The fact his choice are all consistently hexagonal 6 makes me wonder because that's literally what nearly every water/snowflake is numbered because of its 6 frozen molecules causing hexagons. It's not a random number when in these design types that mimic G2s and ice and has everything to do with water in this shape.
It's been amusing in fandom because everyone keeps saying Paul is warm/sun words from some kind of collectivism bias. For numerous years I've had the utter opposite reaction to everything about him because I say water. He's water association to me for years and years now. Because of his tattoos and me having this knowledge. Very water nature in numerous ways of his personality and behaviors imo. He said he likes being in the rain in the Haifisch making of lol. There's like a decent amount of photos of him near random types of water than you'd assume to exist, he is known to enjoy swimming, and many in fandom are aware of his surfing hobby. Also, this man was born in December. Guess what happens in December in the sky? Yeah idk but I don't see him and say 'sun' like everyone else. I am just built different I guess.