#.....Eva's the killer isn't she

[shsl-hubris-guy]

Eden's Garden Ch 1 spoilers below :3

I SMELL SACRIFICIAL LAMB'S BLOOD HELLO. The Biblical referencing in this game goes so hard fr

also thank god I was so sure they were about to fridge Eva in the blackout jesus christ-

[questionablecuttlefish]

Okay Fine Let's Talk Timebomb and Season Two.

I do want to talk about this because I have a Lot of thoughts and feelings and it has been building up and building up, not only based on what's happening in other social spaces, but what people keep bringing into mine despite my best efforts to avoid it.

This isn't any kind of hatepost, I don't think I could hate Ekko or the ship if I tried, I just want to explain my very mixed feelings about the whole thing.

My likely-to-be-very unpopular take on Season Two's Timebomb romance is that it left me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable.

Not with what was in the show itself, I feel like that was perfect. Powder and Ekko sold me completely. They made me feel things. I even liked how Ekko and Jinx's story ended. I think it was beautiful, poignant, perfect...

...until.

'The Discourse' since, the way the fan culture has exploded around it, and particularly some of the creators' commentary on it, has made me sour on the whole thing.

It feels like I'm suddenly part of an increasingly small subset of people who saw what they did with S2 Timebomb and applied our media literacy to what was on our screens and got something very different to what the fandom consensus seems to be.

For context, I semi-shipped TB before this. Though I've always been Team Lightcannon, I had a lot of respect for timebomb, I understood it, I had read a few very good fics, I was just in the space of "Jinx has hurt Ekko too much for him to ever fully forgive her for murdering his friends, they might come to an understanding, and there will always be a silent undercurrent of love beneath the hurt, they may fight together on the same side again someday, but whatever bond they had as kids is broken and they can't go back, and both know it."

I respected, and still do, people who shipped them romantically, but I've always seen them as a broken childhood friendship being a much more interesting dynamic, and being hot for each other lessening that to an extent and not really adding anything to it.

All of his interactions with Jinx in season one are violent; she murders five Firelights point-blank in front of him in her intro scene, and Ekko reacts particularly upset to the pink-haired girl, Eve or Eva, whom Jinx shoots in the back. It's clear this isn't even the first time she's fought them. We don't know how many of Ekko's found family she's put on the Memorial Wall or how close he was with any of them.

Ekko is clearly convinced that "Powder" is gone, and the person who replaced her is a cold-blooded killer who can't be reasoned with. Leading to the Bridge confrontation, and this:

This is the first time Ekko catches a glimpse of "Powder", yes, but more importantly, this is the first moment he recognizes Jinx's humanity. He's hurting her, killing her, and he can't do it.

....and she knows he can't do it.

So, to save him the weight, she pulls a grenade, with the intent to kill them both, foreshadowing quite neatly where Ekko/Jinx (but not Ekko/Powder) is going to go in S2.

Fast forwarding from Season One here, Ekko disappears for 2/3rds of the second season, completely offscreen.

When we catch up with him he's woken up in the S2E7 AU; the Powder Timeline.

Here's where I start to get a little confused by the fandom take. Because, you know, I've seen enough Star Trek and Stargate and Supernatural and Batman the Animated Series and Quantum Leap to know exactly what this is.

This is the 'bottle episode', this is the 'Perfect World' trope, where the protagonists find themselves in an alternate universe - or trapped in a dream - or they've died or think they've died and this is their 'heaven' - where they have everything they ever wanted.

This is familiar storytelling and E7 follows a familiar pattern, the protagonist struggles to adapt to the surreal new circumstances, they are seduced by the illusion, particularly falling in love with someone in the Perfect World, but eventually, they start noticing something incongruous - something isn't quite right - (In this case, it's Vi's death, and Powder holding back her genius and hiding her grief to be support girl for others) - that reveals the Perfect World to be not as perfect as it seems.

And the hero has to choose to go home, because he realizes that this isn't real, it doesn't belong to him, he doesn't belong here.

Which is exactly what happens with Ekko in E7.

Which brings is to AU!Powder and Jinx.

And here's where I really start to struggle with the seeming consensus that the romance between Ekko/Powder automatically leads to Ekko/Jinx, like you can just transfer the one to the other.

I'm sorry, fam, I thought my basic media literacy was telling me that this girl:

Is not the same person as this girl:

....and I am not getting into any debate about "Jinx" vs "Powder" as identities within our current Jinx. I'm talking about Powder in the E7 AU.

AU!Powder is literally a different human being.

She may have been the same person up until the explosion in Jayce's laboratory, but from that fork in the timeline, she becomes a FUNDAMENTALLY different person to Jinx, shaped by different experiences, different relationships, different life events.

Powder's physicality with Ekko, as you can see in those GIFs, the casual intimacy, the clear affection, the way she touches him, looks at him, her awareness of him in her space, is so utterly opposite to the way Jinx interacts with him that if anything, it nailed home to me how savagely absent this kind of feeling is from his relationship with Jinx.

Powder loves Ekko. She leans on him, snuggles into him, touches his hands, dances with him, kisses him.

Jinx cares so little about him she barely makes eye contact and would casually kill him without blinking.

And I thought that was the point.

I really thought that was the whole point of E7. Being in the perfect world, getting his perfect love story with his perfect Powder, the girl Jinx could have been, but can never be, drove home for Ekko that his feelings for Jinx, both romantic and resentful, were tangled up in his illusions of "Powder", and it took living those illusions as a physical reality for Ekko to see his mistake.

To be true to himself, and true to her, Ekko had to let that go and go home.

To face his world's Jinx, and be there for her in her darkest moment, even if it meant giving up the love he'd found with Powder, a love that belonged to a different Ekko, for someone who could never love him back.

To me that was Ekko's most heroic moment, an act of selfless sacrifice. But that's what it was - a sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Season Two Jinx is not aware of any of this. The last time she saw Ekko was on the bridge where she nearly killed him, and for all we know she might have thought she succeeded.

She never talks about, thinks about, refers to, or even has scribble-nightmares about Ekko, not even once.

Season Two Jinx is, instead, having a love story of her own.

And Isha was and is a PUZZLE to me. Because she's more plot device than character, she isn't necessary except as a way to give Jinx a villain-to-hero arc and a way to reconnect to her humanity.

But she could have been Ekko.

If they really, really wanted us to have Timebomb Canon, instead of confining the entire arc to a bottle episode in an alternate timeline with a literally, physically different girl, they could easily have given all of Isha's considerable screentime to an Ekko and Jinx romance.

I'm sure Amanda Overton would have been on board with that. But that's not what we got. It's almost like reading two different fix-it-fanfics for the same character, put into the same show and running in parallel.

I'm not crazy, this is what's happening for Ekko in s2;

While this is happening for Jinx at the same time.

But Jinx's love story, too, ends with a tragic sacrifice.

And here's where the two stories finally intersect.

When Jinx is in her darkest moment, her absolute rock bottom, Ekko comes back into her life, a miracle, impossible, a Boy Savior.

But she's still ready to kill him.

Because she didn't dance with Ekko. She didn't invent a time machine with him. She didn't sit and watch the city lights with him and share a tender kiss and a heartfelt gift.

That was Powder.

Jinx and Ekko are resuming right where they left off on the bridge, right back to "I pull this pin and we both blow up".

They've both loved and lost, but their stories are absolutely unknown to each other. Ekko Doesn't Know About Isha. Jinx Doesn't Know About Powder.

It's only when Jinx (a genius, a reminder here) sees monkeys of her own design inside the Z-drive - recognizes her own handiwork, but knows SHE didn't make those - that, I think, sheer curiosity stirs her out of her darkness.

She has to know what that was about. She hesitates, just long enough for Ekko to speak. And, though offscreen, he tells her his story, and maybe she tells him hers.

And it's enough, just enough, to set Jinx back on her Redemption Arc, to become the hero Isha always saw in her.

Maybe even the hero Vi and Ekko saw in her, too. Her new costume is full of references to all of the people in her life who never gave up on her.

(side note, the yellow stars and crowns puzzle me, though - they're quite prominent, but who are THEY for? Isha? Maybe? Yellow isn't a color associated with anyone in Jinx's life, but that crown's identical to the one she scribbled on Demacia in Fortiche's map, is... this a very subtle future Lightcannon tease? Nah. I'm not that crazy.)

I mean her costume is also almost literally both a Fishbones and a Fiddlesticks cosplay, with her hair as Fiddle's tongue, so take from that what you will.

It's clear Jinx and Ekko war painted each other for the battle, but the Firelights are also similarly painted up, and (with Linke even confirming this) there really wasn't time to develop anything else, guys.

And I am, honestly, fundamentally angry at anyone who would suggest that, even if she'd been in any space to want it, our boy Ekko, one of the most genuinely good men in recent fiction let alone in Arcane, would take advantage of a girl he just talked out of suicide.

Moving on. During the battle, Ekko is knocked out and lying not far from Jinx. She doesn't even look at him, she leaps up to defend Vi instead.

And that's their final interaction on the show.

Instead of returning to Ekko, Jinx chooses one final act of sacrifice.

Ekko's final shot of the show is this.

He's sitting, alone, burning a mourning paper, where he sat with AU!Powder - where he and AU!Powder kissed - a place that has no significance to himself and Jinx, whatsoever.

It's little wonder who he's thinking about here, and which name he's burning on that paper. The girl he truly loved and lost.

For all he knows, Jinx is dead. But it's not only her he's mourning.

Or maybe he does know, or suspect, she's alive.

But either way, he's making one final act of sacrifice, too, with that paper burning into the breeze.

He's letting her go.

He's choosing his own story.

He's staying where he belongs.

Jinx may have become a symbol of the revolution, but it's Ekko who is, and always will be, the true hero of Zaun.

And this is Jinx's final shot.

Because let's face it, we all know she's on that airship.

She's "breaking the cycle". She's "walking away". She knows that Jinx has left too many scars on the people she still loves - on Vi, on Ekko, on the cities of Piltover and Zaun - for her to pick up the pieces.

She knows that if she's going to find out what "Jinx" might stand for now, she has to go very far away from everything and everyone. She has to leave it all behind and find something new.

Maybe even someone new?

And ultimately, that's why I feel the Timebomb we got was perfect, they shouldn't touch it, they shouldn't try to force it to be "Endgame", not because it couldn't have worked, but because that's the opposite of the story they told.

For the rest of my analysis, lol, this got a bit long but i have FEELINGS.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't buy Jinx and Ekko as a love story if they had actually told that love story. But they didn't. It had no screen time. They have less interactions in S2, maybe even in both seasons added up, than Vi and Loris. Let that sink in a bit.

We know it's Amanda's favorite ship, so she may have intended more, and may even actually give us all more at some point, but please, dear god, let's stop pretending they fucked or kissed or even held hands offscreen.

That's honestly a bit insulting to both of these characters, to insist hell or high water that this very important milestone in their relationship happened, but they just didn't even bother to depict it. That an entire love story (because it would be a whole one, remember, Ekko and Powder had a romance but Jinx did not experience any of that, she and Ekko are back at Square One) would just be cut for time.

They both deserve better than that.

Let's stop pretending there was some grand, horny, Forever Love story with 60 minutes of cut footage, all of it timebomb content, somehow left on the cutting room floor of an animated show where every single frame has to be deliberately hand painted.

Because if in some insane universe they had written, storyboarded, voice acted and animated an entire 60 minute additional timebomb storyline and then cut it from the show, that would itself be a searing indictment of the quality of the storytelling in that imagined arc, but that's not what happened. Anyone who knows how filmmaking works would shoot this one down, and the showrunners already have, so let's leave it behind.

I know Timebomb blew up hard, and I get it, but what we got on the screen is not confirmation that there is any relationship at all between Ekko and Current Timeline Jinx. If anything, Ekko and Powder's beautiful romance only highlighted the tragic 'never to be' of Ekko and Jinx.

And it's absolutely fine to look at the art book, look at the creator comments, and imagine what could have been. Draw the fan art, write the fanfic, imagine the what-ifs and the fix-its, those are all beautiful and valid expressions and deserve their space.

But don't go insisting it's "the canon" and going after the shippers of other ships for these characters as "not canon" or somehow offensive for existing, especially toward one particular ship that, yes, has been around much longer than timebomb, is uncool.

I think this is mostly people who are New From Arcane, it's Baby's First Ship and they don't know how to share space. The timebomb fans I knew pre-season two didn't do this, at least not often enough for me to notice or care.

But I'll just say to them, if a Timebomb follow up happens and they actually tell a good love story for Ekko and Jinx, I will accept it. Grudgingly, because I think Lux/Jinx is an untold, untapped story full of incredible character dynamics that would complete Jinx's story in ways that as much as I love Ekko, he's too tied to her past, he can't.

But I love Ekko, and I love Jinx, and I will accept it.

But I'll also say to them, if the followup doesn't eventuate, if things take a turn they don't expect, if Jinx's airship is heading for Demacia, maybe they'll have to experience just a taste of what it's been like for Lightcannon fans for ten long years.

And maybe that's healthy. Maybe that's okay. Maybe our endgames don't need to be 'canon' to have value and that's a lesson we should learn.

Maybe there's a new Light on her horizon, and that's okay too. Maybe Ekko won't be alone forever. Don't forget - until Arcane - his story had nothing to do with Jinx, and there was a whole lot of it.

More with the Firelights, maybe bring in the original Lost Children of Zaun from his old stories, his inventions, his parents, all could yet be in his future. Who knows? He might find a way back to AU!Powder - or she might rebuild what they worked on together, and come to him, no matter what butterfly effects that could set in motion...

But if Jinx is heading for a Light on her horizon, maybe Ekko might Explore some of his possibilities. Find a new Spark of connection. Just saying. Jinx isn't his only ship, either 😌

And it is okay for people to move on, and let go. Maybe, for two characters whose themes are letting go of the past, living in the moment, redefining their identities, and moving on, that's what their story should be.

[fanganfessions]

I believe Wolfgang was a genuinely good, but misguided character.

And I believe if he hadn't died in chapter 1, he only would've become more misguided. But in a way that's entirely justified from his POV but terrible from Damon's and Eva's.

For example, imagine that he reads into Damon and Eva's speech from chapter 1, and how they think group bonding is only a way to get other people to lower their guard (at least from them). He also sees them being apathetic to idea of murder. He then sees Damon and Eva getting along with the others and participating in bonding moments they themselves basically deemed only useful for potential killers. Wolfgang overthinks this and spends the whole night up awake worrying about everyone else.

Heck, about Eva, he'd be correct in the case of canon, her bonding moments with the larger group (gaming tournament) were only a cover-up for murder. But this isn't canon, and we're basically going off of the AU idea that Eva spends more time thinking about the killing game tuan the postee, gets dragged to the tournament by Diana who isn't busy that day, and has fun and bonds with the group, especially Cassidy with their niche favorite video game (You could also have Eva not bond with the group, but just not commit murder as well for this AU).

But Wolfgang doesn't see this. He only sees people who deemed bonding moments murder opportunities engaging in those exact moments. He overthinks this so much that he distorts his own perception of Damon and Eva, from classmates who accused people of being potential murderers and sabotaged the group's spirit (still a horrible thing to do, but not as horrible as what he thinks they are in this AU), to possibly cold-blooded murderers who are taking their opportunities (big emphasis on possibly here, he doesn't see them as monsters, but he also doesn't really see them as people due to his twisted perception).

And he starts doing what he thinks is right. He begins asking Diana and Kai whether they feel safe at night, whether they'd like to switch rooms to room with eachother or Grace and himself, that its fine for them to ask to do so and no it won't inconvenience anyone in the slightest, he asks Toshiko to stay away for them, as shes in potential danger because of her age, he asks Desmond to keep an eye on them as Desmond's a marksman and he'd surely be able to defend himself incase anything happened, he starts being a little more vocal about them being suspicious then more and more, he keeps an eye on them every time he sees them with the group, whenever they're close to being left alone with only one other person he makes sure to stay behind so nothing happens.

But just because he's the hero of his own story, trying to protect his friends from people he thinks are going to hurt them (to reiterate, this isn't entirely ungrounded in fact, Eva did murder him in canon) doesn't mean he's not the coldhearted villain of another. Damon and Eva don't see these action as "harmless" or "preventative". They see him trying to ostracize him, asking Desmond to basically stalk them, making Toshiko run away, sabotaging their relations with their respective roommates to make them alone and less safe at night, never letting them be alone with one of their classmates and fostering distrust between the group while preaching the exact opposite. They see him as a giant hypocrite who is entirely delusional.

in short, I really think villains who are nice and kindhearted to everyone but the protagonist are cool and should be featured more.

(Most of this is AU but I think it could've had a decent chance to become canon if Wolfgang and Eva were long-term characters)

⠀

[gachagon]

@ Your analysis about how the P:EG cast is full of hypocrites:

Another huge contrast I thought of between them and the casts of the Danganronpa games is that with the DR casts I could see certain scenarios where all of them make it out alive. But with the Eden's Garden gang it feels like a murder was bound to happen.

And a big part of that in my mind is because the majority of murders in Danganronpa are due to the characters being manipulated by Monokuma & the Masterminds. Even Korekiyo who didn't even kill for the Necronomicon motive was still manipulated by Team Danganronpa into being a serial killer.

With the first case of Eden's Garden though that isn't the case. The motive didn't even factor into the case other than Eva stealing the taser gun from Desmond's room. Yeah Eva was on a time crunch because of the Traitor Perk but she was already planning to commit murder beforehand due to being worried that someone will kill her. The perk just made her quicker to put her plan into motion.

Honestly if one of the students had tried to say that "the one to blame for Wolfgang and Eva's deaths is Tozu" like what's usually done after executions in Danganronpa I feel like Tozu would have an actual leg to stand on unlike Monokuma.

He didn't start anything, he was merely fanning the flames that the students started.

I agree with this too because even though the rest of the class didn't take Eva seriously, when she was ranting about how "Any of you would've done what I did!" I kind of believed her. They're already so distrusting of one another, and them pretending that everything's okay while holding onto this serious distrust amongst each other is just fueling the Killing Game. If Tozu had left the puzzle for Desmond and it was a bullseye or something, would Desmond had shown anyone as well? If it was some special law puzzle that only Wolfgang could decipher, would he have shared it with the rest of the class?

I truly don't think so. I also noticed they blamed Eva for a lot of Tozu's actions, like when Tozu introduced the motive, Grace said "So we're in this mess because of the math girl? Typical..." because Tozu said he became inspired by Eva's outburst in the pharmacy over the watches.

But it's NOT Eva's fault, she's not the mastermind after all, she's in the same boat as them. But they still put the blame on her instead of being mad at Tozu for spying on all of them. I think the motive itself not factoring into the murder is a good plot point in the story, because you at first think that someone will kill to keep their secret hidden. Or maybe someone has a terrible secret that they don't even want another person knowing about.

I remember hearing that this is the type of Danganronpa where only 2 survivors will make it out, and usually that's not the case but I can definitely see it happening with this group. They're not killing each other or hating each other over the motives the Headmaster gives, it's because of how they treat one another instead T_T

[dramaticallytotal]

TDWT Headcanons Pt. 2

• Trent is kind of nervous around his former Killer Grip Action teammates, even though he apologized to them already. He knows they forgive him but he still feels wary.

• During the Yukon challenge, Noah got so cold, and of course, Alejandro noticed and made him take his top shirt. Noah kept trying to tell him he had hand warmers in his utility belt, but hey, a hot guy wants to give him his shirt? Who is Noah to refuse?

• Owen and Noah tried to smuggle the corgis onto the plane after the London challenge but were unsuccessful, which made Noah even more upset when he was eliminated. He could accept being thrown out if he had gotten to sneak in the corgis. Without them, it seemed so stupid. Everything is better with dogs.

• Eva and Izzy give Alejandro the shovel talk, and he is properly terrified of them. Once Noah was eliminated, he had to hide from Eva for a good while.

• Trent, Harold, and Cody would sometimes sing and work on songs together until Sierra started being a big creep about it.

• Everyone looks into the cameras like they're in the Office when someone is being stupid or they are annoyed. Harold was the first one who did it on the island, and Noah did it around the same time, and then the others just kind of picked it up.

• Despite what the viewers think, they do stay the places they land for a little bit. That way, they don't waste fuel. Sometimes, they get to stay in hotels if Chris is feeling generous, but for the most part, they just stay in the plane. They can explore a bit but only in designated areas.

• Team E-Scope and Owen all sleep in a huddle on the plane. It's kind of like a cuddle puddle. At first, Team Amazon put up a bit of a fit about it. Especially Heather, since she sees it a fraternizing with the enemy, but when faced with the collective glares of Eva, Izzy, Noah, and surprisingly, Owen, the complaints stopped.

• Trent starts to bond with Team Chris, and he's super excited but scared. But he does get suspicious of Alejandro because of all the flirting. It's just not the done thing in his book, and it makes him uncomfortable. He doesn't want to doubt his teammate but he can't help but feel like Alejandro's intentions are anything but good.

• He doesn't voice those thoughts as he doesn't want to ruin the dynamic of his team or start waves if there really are none.

• Izzy isn't actually as crazy as she pretends to be. This isn't a new headcanon for the fandom, but it's one of my favorites.

• Izzy, Courtney, Alejandro, Heather, Ezekiel, Bridgette, Cody, Harold, Trent, Duncan, and surprisingly Noah can all sing and sing well but Noah and Duncan don't like to sing. Duncan because he only likes to sing specific genres and not all willy-nilly. Noah because, look, he's got a reputation of hating things or not putting in effort, he's not gonna change.

• One of his sisters, Noelle, was and is in theatre. So she always pulled him to practice songs, scenes, etc. Unless she just wanted to sing and wanted a partner. Don't ask Noah how many times he played the role of Christine because Noelle always wanted to be the Phantom.

• Sometimes, when the passengers (Chris calls them this instead of campers or contestants) get homesick. Those with siblings unofficially like to get together and talk about their siblings and what they miss about them. DJ misses his brothers almost as much as he misses his momma.

• There's a smaller group who get together to shit talk their siblings and how glad they are to be away from them. Heather leads, of course.

• Gwen and Trent start to bond and talk again during the challenge in the Yukon. They do try to keep it low-key because Gwen fears that Trent's team will hold his past actions against him and vote him off preemptively. Trent because he doesn't want Heather to spin it in some way that makes Gwen or himself look bad.

• And also because they don't want Sierra's attention. She tends to go...crazy about couples.

• Eva has a hard time not stopping and helping Noah, Izzy, and Owen if she sees them struggling. Those are her best friends, and she's ride or die. She does restrain herself though for the competition because she does not want to be sent home early again. She is planning to either get to the merge with Team E-Scope + O or make sure at least one of them do.

• Chris buys a magnet from everywhere they land because he knows Chef collects them for his fridge. He can't help but indulge his husband, and he loves the little smile he gets.

• Alejandro is trying to limit his flirting to his competition, but he really can't help but flirt with Noah because he likes his reactions and wit that he throws at him. He also can't help but seek out Noah when he is flirting with the competition to see if he's watching or jealous.

Last Part Next Part

[themindcastlesystem]

Beyond the Veil of Hypocrisy... lies chapter 2 (theory)

(Sunny, they/she) okay so this might be my first proper post on this site but we all gotta start somewhere lol

BACKGROUND

In the book of Genesis, Eve was tempted by the serpent (Satan) into committing the first sin. Adam followed suit, and God punished both of them by expelling them from the Garden of Eden and revoking their immortality.

In Project: Eden's Garden, Eva was tempted by her distrust of others (encouraged by Damon, who wears a tie with a snake on it), and she committed the first murder. She was executed - leaving Eden's Garden Academy, so to speak.

So... what happens next?

THE KILLER

Well, Eve convinced Adam to join her in committing sin, right? She took the forbidden fruit from the serpent, ate it, and gave it to Adam. So Adam committed the second sin. But Adam - Damon - is our protagonist here. That can't be quite right.

But I don't think he's going to stay the protagonist much longer. He experienced a much more condensed version of the type of development arc experienced by a protagonist like Shuichi Saihara [v3] - and he rejected it at the end of the chapter. While it is possible that he might continue to resist his primal urges to distrust others, I don't think it's likely - he already had to be pushed out of his comfort zone so much just to consider that Diana might not be the killer in chapter 1, and now his only confidant - Eva - is dead, and on top of that, Diana is still trying to emulate Wolfgang, who both he and Eva firmly believe was leading the class to destruction. "I couldn't hold back my true feelings anymore"; "it pissed me off".

Unless a miracle happens in the midst of this murder game and Damon manages to find other people to trust (not excluding Diana, though it's not likely), I don't think he's going to keep going down the path he started on in chapter 1. The first murder happening means that the chapter 1 festivities (game tournament, co-op laundry, bunk buddies) won't happen in the same manner, and if they do, it'll be through bated breath. If he already had to be pushed so hard just to play some games with the group before anyone died, it'll be ten times harder afterwards. (Naturally, this isn't to say that I think Damon is incapable of trust or kindness - giving or receiving - and in fact, I heavily empathize with him in some ways. But old habits absolutely die hard.)

In essence: Damon is my prime suspect for the chapter 2 blackened, and I don't think he will be the protagonist any further.

THE DETECTIVE

What then? Well, we just heard a very protag-y speech from someone at the end of the chapter, didn't we? It's what pissed Damon off: Diana's "like a chameleon, I will adapt!"

Diana has already had a great spotlight within chapter 1, and she has shown the makings of a leader. She's bright, kind, and energetic; people tend to like her; she adapts to the various situations that come her way. She is trusting of others, arguably too much so, but yet she comes across as mostly level-headed. Her youth hinders her, as she struggles to read the room and is reprimanded for this, but she tries to show the same compassion than Wolfgang - much more organically than he did, in multiple situations. She is emotionally intelligent, able to perceive when others are unwell and offer them genuine care.

Yet, she isn't a natural in her role. When she was forced to bear witness to her friend's death, and everyone and the evidence are against her... much like any normal person, but unlike a protagonist, she breaks. She is traumatized, barely able to speak and holding back tears. She struggles to tell the others what happened to her, even as they seem ready to unanimously send her to her death. It is the kind deed of the actual protagonist that snaps her out of her catatonia enough to tell her side of the story and help lead everyone to the truth.

But I believe Diana has still yet to shine.

BIBLICAL CANON...

Diana is specifically very reminiscent of a Danganronpa protagonist, too. She has one of the most classic DR-esque designs of the cast with her school uniform, her faith in others resembles that of Makoto Naegi [THH], and her personality is reminiscent of Kaede Akamatsu [v3]. While the team behind Project: Eden's Garden has been clear that players should not expect DR tropes to take place in the game, and it can be argued that an early-game protagonist switch would essentially be a parallel to v3, I argue that it's more of a subversion of expectations.

In v3, we start off playing as a lively girl with a kind spirit and a good head on her shoulders, who becomes a natural leader for the cast. She resorts to murder to try and stop the mastermind, completely unexpectedly to everyone around her (including the player, if they don't pick up on the hints that she's up to something). Her death is treated as honorable by the rest of the cast, and she is replaced by more of a typical DR protagonist: a sullen boy with heavy emotions on his heart and a tendency to distance himself from others. His attachment to her helps him carry on her legacy by learning to believe in himself, working with others, and surviving the killing game.

...VS. INTERPRETATION

In my prediction of P:EG chapters 1-2, we start off playing as a sullen boy with distrust on his heart and a tendency to distance himself from others. He is pushed out of his comfort zone quite a lot by the rest of the cast, and he ends up exploring, doing chores, and playing games together with the rest of them... but someone is killed anyway. Then, when another student he doesn't care for comes under fire for the murder, he challenges his base instinct to assume her guilt, instead figuring out an argument that there's more to the story and it can't be her. (Whether it's a logical or emotional argument doesn't matter as much as it seems, as he initially doesn't realize the logical issue and just feels something is wrong; that said, I do like the pathos route much more for this reason.) He is beginning to learn to trust people... until it turns out that his only friend was the killer, and she not only took advantage of him and emotionally manipulated him, but ends up trying to frame him and get him killed. All the while, the person who she initially framed was a lively girl with a kind spirit and a good head on her shoulders, trying to be a leader for her classmates in spite of everything, but being completely shut down by everyone else.

I think that unlike Shuichi, Damon's development is temporary and about to fully regress, and Diana may be a very good friend, but she isn't a universally loved natural leader like Kaede. So, similarly, I think their character arcs will be reversed entirely: Damon will stop trying to trust people and resort to murder, and Diana will have to prove herself as a leader and source of encouragement over an extended period of time. At the same time, where Shuichi retained his affection for Kaede after her death, even knowing she had killed someone, Diana will have to let go of her feelings of affection for Damon to see that he has given up on her (and the others) and become a killer. And yet, she will have to fight on - she has no choice but to live. She won't give up on her friends like Damon and Eva did, and she won't excommunicate them like Wolfgang did. And, even after realizing that her friend not only never trusted her but is a murderer, she will reconcile that with her positive memories of him - accepting that Damon was a complex human being that was put in a despicable situation... and, much like Eva before him, even though he committed one of the worst sins imaginable, he didn't deserve to die at the hands of this killing game's "God".

MARGINALIA

Imagine how much of an uphill battle Diana would be up against Damon if she had to prove he was the killer. He's hand-cranked to be good at debating people, even if he doesn't have the upper hand logically. While Damon has been rigidly logical so far, as is typical of a murder mystery detective, debaters also have tactics like "spreading" - talking so fast the opponent can't process their argument or get a word in - up their sleeves. This tactic is especially useful when the facts aren't on your side and you need to regain control of the room without resorting to obvious ad-hominem and losing favor. (Like Eva did when cornered in chapter 1: "he does want bloodshed!")

Also, this has nothing to do with the theory proper, but I want to give an honorable mention to Grace Madison for making for a good chapter 2 suspect as well. She became friends with Wolfgang, slept with him, and then he fucking died the next morning and she had to guard his dorm room so no one would disturb his belongings. God forbid Tozu cleans out his dorm in chapter 2 to boot. Girl is GRIEVING, and I think people will suspect her out of pure emotion even if she ends up nowhere near the next crime scene.

Anyway, who knows if I'm ever gonna post again on this site. But to anyone reading, I hope you enjoyed this theory, and give me your brain thoughts! Hyperfixation go brrrr

[knaveumineko]

Umineko Episode 4 Blog: Message in a Bottle

Ramblings about the big picture mystery stuff.

The aspect of the killings that remains ever-illusive is the motive. Episode 1 was such a barrage of confusing happenings that anyone who reads it will naturally be thinking, "What on Earth just happened?" You can tell that Umineko wants you to engage with it this way because of how it writes Battler. His emotions and growth generally reflect that of the reader themselves, although, naturally, he's pretty slow on the uptake so that we have a chance to think about it ourselves. However, once you get far enough in, you realise that just constructing a series of events that could have happened isn't good enough to "solve" the story. If your explanation requires people to act against their nature inexplicably, or you don't really have an explanation for why someone did something beyond the fact that they must have for the set-up to make sense, then your explanation won't be satisfying.

In Episode 4, this is keenly felt. The murders are mostly trivial to explain away since we have so much freedom to construct a sequence of events. We don't even know if anyone besides George was dead by the time Battler left the guesthouse. However, the phone calls require everyone involved to be lying to Battler, including Krauss, Kyrie, and Jessica. Why did they do this? Under duress? If they knew they were getting killed anyway, I could see Krauss going along with it just to keep his daughter alive. Kyrie has more mixed feelings toward Battler, but I could see it. Jessica feels really weird to me. No one is left to hold hostage for her if we take things at face value. I kind of feel like, even under duress, Jessica would fess up just to ruin the killer's plans at that point.

Episode 4 ends by highlighting the motive more keenly than ever. It was confirmed in red that the killings happen because of something Battler did 6 years ago, which he's failed to remember (sounds like the Sayo promise from Episode 3 might have been it after all. Otherwise, I can't think of anything that's been mentioned.)

What sort of person is "Beatrice"? We know that she secretly met with Maria and taught her about magic, and that she wrote those 2 (or more) message bottles which in some sense predicted the murders. Based on all of the talk about risk, it seems likely that she wrote a lot of these stories, and the two we've heard about explicitly are the ones that happened to make it to shore. Battler has that line about how he won't be able to understand the killer as long as he keeps thinking of them as just a greedy human. The initial letter always claims that solving the epitaph is somehow important, but in Episode 3 everyone and their mother was solving the epitaph and there was still someone besides Eva killing people. She seems to genuinely want people to solve her murder mysteries, considering she ended the first one by telling the reader to find the truth.

I wonder to what extent the fantasy Beatrice is accurate to what the real "Beatrice" is like. It seems like Ange's character arc is probably meant to answer this, given it ends with her committing her own murder spree with "magic".

Here's a crazy theory. I've been thinking a lot about Kanon. He doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does he? Dying and coming back, always vital to the killer's plots, but he doesn't get nearly the backstory that Sayo does. Plus, the fourth wall break with Shannon and Kanon sort of implies that the two of them are fictional characters on the same level as the demons. The end of Episode 4 is pretty clearly telling me that I should be thinking about Kanon, seeing as his body went missing again. It's hard to imagine that Kanon was on-board with a plan where Shannon commits suicide, and then, what, he just wanders off into the woods and does it too? Or Shannon kills him and hides the body so he won't mess up her scene? It's weird.

Back in chapter 1, I called Kinzo being dead by thinking about the set-up of the whole story being written by the killer, and considering what kind of twists such a framing would be designed to support. An obvious idea was that it would allow the author to mislead the reader with a character who doesn't really exist, but there was also a possibility I briefly thought of, but dismissed, when I was thinking about EVA's red truths at the end of Episode 3: the checkmate wouldn't work if two characters were the same person.

What really got me going down this rabbit hole was Beatrice's "at most 17 people were on Rokkenjima" Red Truth. It's possible that it's a double bluff and I'd kind of love if Ryukishi just made fun of me for assuming that there'd turn out to be 16, but it seems like I'm supposed to at least think about it. Kanon's the obvious suspect for a trick like this, since he's the only one Battler has never met previously, but Battler has seen everyone but Kinzo at least once, so there can't be another completely fake person. The only thing left is to cross-reference everyone and see if there are pairs of people Battler has never seen simultaneously.

It took a while, but after going back over the openings of the first 4 episodes, it seems that Shannon and Kanon are never once seen in the same place at the same time, except in third person scenes where they're surrounded by accomplices. Circumstantially, Beatrice says 5 people can be spared by the game, so it's odd that there are supposedly 6 survivors of Episode 1, two of whom are Kanon and Shannon. There's some weirdness regarding how Kanon keeps getting described as hard to notice. In the chapel scene in Episode 2, Shannon just kind of vanishes in-between the bodies being discovered and Battler showing up. We're told she's helping Kinzo write his will, which pretty clearly wasn't true at this point. In the Episode 3 locked room chain, the rooms are set up so that Shannon's has to be entered first, and Kanon's last, so Shannon could, in theory, just move while everyone is upstairs. She has a master key, after all.

It definitely seems like the sort of twist this game would do. The biggest problem is that it would require George and Jessica to be the stupidest people alive, which actually isn't that big a problem, honestly.

I've been pretty busy lately, but I'm still thinking about Umineko and I'm excited to read the Answer Arcs. I'll do one more post discussing the murder mystery stuff from 4, and then maybe a post or two in between the arcs just for fun, before I move on.

[ironworked]

911 and closure

We've all already talked about how Buck and Tommy's relationship is different from his previous ones, and how the breakup itself is also different.

But what about other breakups? (I'm very probably not saying anything new and there might be clown makeup all over this, but I need to yap)

Chim proposed to Tatiana, who couldn't say yes and ended up breaking up with Chim while he recovered from his rebar-through-the-skull injury. They ran into each other at the hospital months later and met for drinks a different day.

Hen was visited by Eva as part of her 12-steps program before leaving LA (Karen went to see Eva too).

Maddie was kidnapped by Doug and killed him 🔪. Later she revisited the scene (with therapist Frank) so she could really let him go.

Non-romantic relationships/events? Chim and the Lees had a ceremony for Kevin in s7; Bobby had his talk with Amir; Athena solved that old case from her childhood, then also found Emmett's killer and made peace with him...

Then we have this firefighter with the 118 who was on a date when his partner dropped a bomb on him. He had to talk to his people and think about his future, and on the next date decided to take a step forward in the relationship, but his partner left him instead.

I could be talking about Buck and Tommy, but you know who else?

Eddie and Shannon.

She wanted to divorce, and then she died. And here's Eddie, who still hasn't found closure for this relationship.

Of course they are different people, with different personalities and baggage, and different conflicts. It's not about paralleling the relationships. What I mean is that Eddie and Shannon's relationship was truncated, and he still canonically mourns not just what could have been, but the chance to say his piece.

Now, we have Buck and Tommy whose breakup has the same beats but a completely different significance (Shannon expressing different priorities vs Tommy's fear) and a radically different aftermath (Shannon died; Tommy is bubbling Buck). Sub-zero closure.

So we have three options now:

The story ends here. This would make it rare in this show's history, and either make Tommy The One Who Got Away for Buck, or they'll have to weirdly move on like nothing happened. The first is just unsatisfactory, and the second unlikely given they just said it's the most transformative relationship since/surpassing Abby (depending on how you read that line) and they aired that texting scene.

They give them closure. This is more 911's style. The downside is that they'll have put Buck on the hamster wheel again, but the bar will have been raised for any new LI (will be compared to both Abby and Tommy, etc).

Second chance. 911 is also the second (and third, and fourth) chances show. The upside is that they don't have to create or cast a new LI, but Buck isn't super settled already either; they could have them take things slow if that's a concern in the writers room.

Which one will they choose?

Well, I obviously don't know, but I'd say that if it were #1 they could/would have made the breakup itself more final (just changing 'See you around, Buck' to 'Goodbye, Buck' would have done it) and/or not included the texting.

The texting! I keep going back to that, because we already have the whole Buck Baking Thing that came with an explanation and a visual; it's now shorthand for 'Buck misses Tommy' so the emphasis on texting is superfluous unless it's leading somewhere isn't it?

[i-chrystophylux]

IOTS AU - Liberation of the Slaughtered Izzy

Izzy is one of the ones that took the events the worst- mainly due to the fact that she was looked at and suspected of the events at the island for a long time until proven innocent.

(This can go with anyones headcanons. Specifically on the 'Izzy is not REALLY Crazy' theory)

= Option 1: Izzy Isn't Crazy - During the events of IOTS, Izzy was just as sane as anyone else, and took the persona of someone crazy to stand out on the show of Total Drama. However, once the killer showed up on the island- she didn't maintain the character just to maintain it- she maintained the crazy personality- because half the time being crazy scares other people off. Including the crazy ones. She dropped it after being rescued because she didn't need to use her crazy persona to her advantage anymore. =

or

+ Option 2: Izzy genuinely was crazy during the show after smacking her head off the dock when she first entered Total Drama. She ended up knocking sense back into herself with (just as bad, if not worse) head trauma when she ended up slamming her head into the wall in a breakdown after being rescued- which is the reason she was forced into therapy. +

~

Izzy is forced to go to therapy by her family because of her tendency to freak out and depsite not getting mentally healtheir, she has better control of emotional outbursts.

She works part time at a floral shop as she has been quite keen with plants and nature for a long time. She supplies the flowers Katie takes to their friends graves.

Izzy lives with her family, so she constantly has someone to make sure she doesn't do something to herself during one of her breakdowns.

Despite only having 1 guinea pig, their household has a total of 5 to make sure that the animal has proper socialization when she's not home.

Her guinea pigs name is 'Owwie' but she sometimes refers to it as 'Owen' subconsciously.

Owwie the Guinea Pig is a healthy, but somewhat plump blonde and white guinea pig- with a bright blue harness because it likes to go on walks.

Her and Eva met up after she started to get more days to herself out of the mental hospital- and they started dating after finding comfort in each others company. The dating process is VERY slow and both of them are fine with that.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

A Rite Of Passage: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: A case brings you to a small town in Texas that is close to Mexico's border. Someone is killing people who illegally cross the border, and he's a lot closer than you think.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

After taking care of the head, your team went back to the station to give the profile to all of Eva's officers. Deputy Boyd is there watching the team with careful eyes but your eyes are on him and only him.

"We're searching for a personality type called a Human Predator or a hunter if you want to get basic. All the victims we've been able to conclusively tie to him have been older or handicapped in some way. This suggests he waits for someone to separate from the pack and looks for the weakest."

"Like a lion or something?" Eva asks.

"A lion hunts food. This type of predator hunts power. It's not about serving a need, and everything is a means to that end. We also believe that he makes his victims run through the desert in order to weaken them."

"Like a coward," you say while keeping direct eye contact with Boyd. He holds your gaze before looking away with narrowed eyes. Yeah, he's wearing his heart on his sleeve. He's showing all his cards to someone like you. "He may not be capable of taking them on in their strongest state despite their age or infirmity. This suggests that he's possibly handicapped in some way himself. Certainly weak, maybe small, or even thin."

"An unsub who creates chaos and then attacks typically carries this through to all aspects of his life. He's unlikely to be in a relationship. If he is, it's an abusive one. This guy gets off on control. He will have tried to stay very close to the investigation. He's well aware that the sheriff has started looking into the missing illegal immigrants."

"How do you know that?" Eva asks.

"It's probably why the decapitations started as a countermeasure. He's trying to throw off the investigation. It's typical in an organized offender like this. Cary Stayner, the Yosemite Killer, drove more than fifty miles to dump cigarette packs and driver's licenses at intersections to throw off suspicion," Spencer explains.

"Start by looking back at everyone you've talked to in connection with these killings. We need to start with people who are familiar with the immigrant journey."

"Like who? Advocates? None of them will talk to us. I've tried," Eva sighs.

"Well, the coyotes want this guy caught. He's hurting their business, and if the advocates really care about the immigrants, they're gonna want to find whoever is responsible as well."

"There's one guy who could help. He runs an outreach program called Libertad."

"Where can we find him?"

"Boyd, do you want to take them over to meet Richard Corral?"

Eva asks but her look suggests she wasn't asking.

"My lucky day," he sighs.

Emily offered to go and because you don't want her alone with him, you agreed to join them. Boyd isn't too happy that you're going solely based on what you said in the profile reading but he keeps his mouth shut. If you want to be sure Boyd is the one who is killing these people, you have to read into him more and maybe catch him off guard to the point where he will confess something.

"Corral, these FBI agents want a word with you," Boyd says when you get there.

Richard finishes with what he is doing before walking over to you, Boyd, and Emily. He is limping slightly which catches Emily's attention.

"See the limp?"

"Emily," you whisper and shake your head.

Richard might fit the profile but he isn't the one who is killing these people. You take out your phone and step off to the side but stay close enough to hear their conversation. As you call Penelope, you don't take your eyes off Boyd.

"Hey, Pen, I need you to run a check on someone for me... Make that two."

"Who are you looking to get dirt on?"

"Richard Corral and Ronald Boyd. He's one of the deputies here."

"Ooh, you think he's the unsub?"

"Yeah. Let me know what you get."

"I'll hit you back."

"What is wrong with you, Boyd? None of my clients will trust me If I've got federal agents walking around here," Richard hisses.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't spend your time helping illegals sneak into the country."

Your eyes narrow at his words.

"They only want a better life."

"Well, they ought to come in the front door."

"Gentlemen, another day?" Emily butts in. Boyd steps off to the side and looks at you. He is angry and desperate which makes him dangerous. "Mr. Corral, we understand your hesitation but we aren't here about immigration, we're here about murder. Do you know anything about the heads that were left in front of the sheriff's station a few days ago?"

"Everyone does. My clients are terrified."

"Clients," Boyd scoffs.

Again, more anger.

"Deputy, why don't you go wait outside?" you ask. He is much taller than you but he doesn't intimidate you. "And I wasn't asking."

Boyd glares at you but he doesn't say anything. Like a petulant child, he turns and leaves.

"Another man was murdered last night. An immigrant. We need to figure out how this man finds his victims. Sheriff Ruiz said you know more about these people's journey than anyone." Richard nods. "How many places were there to cross?"

"For every tunnel we find, there's twelve more we don't know about."

"What about once they've made it?"

"Runners keep documents in the trunks of their cars--passports, fake social security numbers, and green cards. It's a big business. Especially in border towns."

"Do you know these runners?"

"No, they change all the time."

"If immigrants don't find you, where do they go?" you ask.

"Safe houses. It's supposed to be where they can find rest, water, and food."

"Supposed to be?"

"It's more like a prison until their families can pay off the coyotes."

"Where are these safe houses?"

"Are you kidding? They come and go faster than the tunnels."

"Thank you for your time," you smile politely.

Since Richard can't tell you where these safe houses are, Hotch is relying on Sheriff Ruiz to help him with the geographical profile. It would help to go to them and talk with the immigrants but it's unlikely that someone from those houses will talk to your team. Then you think of the man who was just murdered last night and how he traveled with a group so someone will be missing him. If you can find last night's group, you can find the route they used therefore finding the hunting grounds for the unsub.

Eva isn't too fond of this plan because if she knew where they were, she'd shut them down. Without her help, you're forced to look at this through a different lens. You can start with the houses closest to the border but it's going to take a while for Eva to pull the land deeds. That's where Penelope comes in. Hotch has her looking for homeowners and renters with criminal records who are always moving and looking for homes with short-term leases. Every house that is housing illegals will have higher utility usage.

Penelope came up with three, and she sent the addresses to all your phones. You and Emily leave Richard's outreach post and join Boyd in the car.

"You know, we're not going to get very far if you keep arguing about illegals with everyone," you say to Boyd.

"This place used to be different."

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know. Different."

Images of Boyd decapitating people's heads are enough to solidify your theories. You take out your phone and type something in your notes before angling it so Emily can see. She looks away from the road and looks down at your phone.

I think Boyd is the unsub.

She looks at you and you give her two nods before taking away the phone and locking it. The closest safe house is ten minutes from you so that's where you three head to first. If this is a bust, you'll check out the other ones. However, when you get there, you can feel the fear radiating from the horse stable next to the house. Boyd is in the front while you and Emily are in the back. You know that the man inside the house will make a break for it when Boyd makes himself know which is why you and Emily have guns trained on the back door. Spencer might not have the qualifications to carry an MP-5 but you do. When you went to do your firearms test a few years ago, you passed with almost every weapon. Your dad owned a lot of guns that he'd let you use growing up.

"Police! Open up!" Boyd yells from the front.

Just like what you predicted, the back door opens and a man runs out. You stick your arm out and hit him right in the chest causing him to fall on his ass. He puts his hands up in defense mode when he sees the guns on him.

"FBI. We have a few questions for you," you glare.

"No hablo ingles."

Emily sighs. She is fluent in Spanish so she takes over. "FBI. Tenemos algunas preguntas para usted." 

The man is put in handcuffs but before he is arrested, he is forced to tell you where he is keeping the illegals. There's a reason why you felt fear coming from the stables. There are people in there scared of the man you arrested. He rapes them and keeps them prisoner for his own sick pleasure. After you get them medical help, you take the man back to the station for questioning. The man is placed into an interrogation room that Derek is going to use so you're off to the side with the rest of the team to watch him.

"Anything?" Hotch asks you.

"He picked a fight with Richard about the illegals. He's very angry and desperate. I even saw him decapitating someone through energies. I don't have any evidence though."

"No, but you can question him afterward."

"Okay, I'll do that."

Derek walks into the interrogation room and stands in front of the man who is stoned and silent, and Eva walks into the room where you and Hotch are.

"Now, you're gonna listen to me. If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine. I don't care, but you're facing rape, kidnapping, weapon charges, and numerous counts of federal conspiracy to smuggle and harbor illegal aliens. This is your last chance to help yourself, my friend."

"He doesn't look concerned," Hotch says.

"It's because the whole border situation is chaos. He has as much chance of just getting deported as he does of doing prison time."

"I'll make some calls and see if I can pull some federal strings."

"Who's gonna pull the strings when you go home?" she sighs.

Emily and JJ are questioning the woman whose husband disappeared last night, the person whose head was on a stick in front of the sheriff's house this morning. The mother was distressed over her husband but her son told them that he saw the sun when they were running which is weird since they cross the border at night. They didn't think too much of it and passed it off as the kid having trauma for leaving his father behind.

You wait until your team is done questioning everyone before you search for Deputy Boyd. When you don't see him, you question around for his whereabouts. The line of questioning your team did took a little longer than usual so Deputy Boyd was sent home, and Sheriff Ruiz also went home. You take out your phone and call her but she isn't answering.

Weird. You'll talk to Boyd tomorrow. Penelope's search of the deputy didn't come back with any red flags. He's a model employee even though he doesn't have a lot of friends or family around.

When you arrive at the station tomorrow, there isn't a deputy in sight.

x

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[simkjrs]

umineko episode 1 theories

info: i have finished the question arcs! this is a reread of episodes 1-4 to see if i can crack the mystery before getting to the answer arcs.

spoiler warning: discussions of episode 1-4

after rereading episode 1, here's my current list of theories of how the ushiromiya family murders went. you can also check out my notes from my first readthrough here.

shkanon theory: shannon and kanon are both dead and being impersonated by a third person that i'll refer to as "shkanon," who may or may not be named "sayo."

drugged kinzo theory: kinzo didn't build his little room with all necessary living amenities just so he could close himself off from his relatives. it was actually krauss and natsuhi who remodeled that room so they could imprison him in there and take control of the estate and kinzo's money. and also they were drugging him like crazyyyyyyyyy and maybe thats what led to his madness and/or early death.

krauss used the gold already theory: a corollary to the above theory. since krauss took control of the estate, he naturally found the gold and used it to finance his investments but because he fucking sucks he pissed it all away anyways. thats why krauss really needs to cover up both kinzos death and the mysterious deficit in the gold, so one of his conditions on the other siblings is that "all gold belongs to him if discovered" so he doesnt have to pay back the gold hes used and also maybe can avoid them investigating how much has been lost already.

aspiring black widow natsuhi theory: corollary to the above two theories. since krauss is so incompetent at money management, and the other siblings are problematic inheritors for various reasons, natsuhi truly believes that she would be the best person to take over the ushiromiya family as the head (see: "carrying the one-winged eagle in her heart"). as a result she wants to kill her husband, take over the family, and clean up the mess her husband left behind. in order to do this, i think she has teamed up with the servants to kill krauss & the other ushiromiya heirs at the conference. as for why the servants would want to cooperate...? probably money, blackmail, resentment against the ushiromiyas, or a combination of all 3.

fake daughter jessica theory: since battler has already been switched at birth, there's no reason why jessica has to be krauss' biological daughter. imagine if natsuhi cheated and had krauss' non-biological daughter and passed her off as krauss' child the whole time. but perhaps... the evidence of that infidelity, and jessica's ineligibility for the ushiromiya wealth, is still out there. i have no particular evidence for this theory except that i think it would add a fun extra layer of spice to all of natsuhi's motivations.

jessica has a secret possibly evil twin theory: corollary to the above theory. who's to say this one isn't true

the adults solved the epitaph on night one theory: if eva was capable of solving the epitaph in episode 3, no reason why she and the other adults couldn't have figured it out in the other episodes too. then i think they started killing each other because of the desire to get ahold of the gold, which resulted in eva & hideyoshi emerging as the final victors.

ushiromiyas blackmailing nanjo like crazy theory: you ever notice how hes such a fence sitter whenever natsuhi or eva argues over him? hes being forced to lie his ass off every time someone in the ushiromiya family has an opinion and its so funny. no recourse. can't take sides because everyone knows the dirt on him and have his balls in a vice grip. anyways, we already know hes lying about kinzo being alive, so he could totally lie about other bodies being dead too. the end.

different servant factions: this theory comes from beatrice's red truth, "Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo are not killers." i believe they are complicit in the murders and have helped conceal/carry out the murders, but were not responsible for the murders themselves. this leaves "shkanon" as the ultimate culprit for many of the murders. although genji, kumasawa, and nanjo helped cover up certain deaths, shkanon must have different motives from them, otherwise they wouldn't have ultimately been killed by shkanon.

now onto my possible explanations for the murders.

six sacrifices

natsuhi plans with the servants to kill the ushiromiya heirs. for this purpose, she or shkanon pretend to be beatrice and deliver the letter to maria; the purpose of invoking beatrice is to obfuscate and confuse as much as possible. honestly, everyone probably could've gotten the culprit from maria if they just asked "what form did beatrice take?" / "what did beatrice look like?" instead of asking "who was beatrice?"

before natsuhi & co can go through with the plan, the ushiromiya heirs solve the epitaph and end up killing each other over it. gohda is collateral damage. eva & hideyoshi emerge as the victors and believe that they are the only killers on the island; now, they just have to get away with it.

the servants who were originally going to help natsuhi kill the heirs, instead help eva & hideyoshi cover up the murders. eva & hideyoshi want to blame everything on the servants and/or natsuhi so that they can take the gold and the estate. when they leave for a room alone, notice how they aren't worried about the killers or for george's safety; they just talk about going on vacation after this, untroubled by hideyoshi's business troubles or possible murderers. that's why i think they didn't believe they were in danger.

note 1: we know that shkanon went to the mansion this night; this was the perfect time to stage "shannon"s death. we don't actually get to see shannon's body or face, so it's entirely possible that hideyoshi/eva made a deal with the servants to let shkanon fake shannon's death that night, and hideyoshi just turbo-lied to george about shannon being dead.

note 2: kinzo's body was moved into the boiler room during this night in order to blame his death on the previous killer.

note 3: the reason why natsuhi went into kinzo's study and came out composed, was because she thought she was on track to taking over the ushiromiya family completely. therefore, eva's everything didn't matter anymore.

now let's review the red truths for this murder:

I guarantee the identities of all unidentified corpses. Therefore, there were no body double tricks!

When talking about the first game, Beato clearly declared that she guaranteed the identities of all unidentified corpses!

at first glance you might think this puts a hole in the shkanon / body double theory. however, in the ninth twilight, we also get this red truth:

There are no unidentified corpses, and all of the survivors have alibis

meaning: all corpses have been identified. there are no unidentified corpses, so beato's identity guarantee means nothing. just another little trick from the witches.

with this, my theory can stand.

eva & hideyoshi

we know the servants went to prepare food together. so, i think that shkanon and genji went to eva & hideyoshi's room pretending that they were there to deliver dinner. since they'd helped hide the bodies earlier, eva/hideyoshi don't suspect anything and let them in. shkanon carries out the murders. genji helps him stage the scene. they pretend that they had to cut the bolt in order to get in, and they paint the magic circle on the door. then they pretend they just discovered the room and call everyone over.

natsuhi may or may not believe that this murder is still part of her plan.

the red truths for this death:

Both deaths were homicides! It is not the case that, after the construction of the closed room, one of them committed suicide after committing murder! Furthermore, the murder was carried out with both the victim and the perpetrator in the same room! No method exists for the perpetrator to commit murder from outside the room!

so, no problem, because the murders were staged when there wasn't a closed room. we're all good!

"kanon"

the same body that was used to stage shannon's death can be reused here. after all, we don't actually have any proof that shannon's face was destroyed. battler didn't see it and hideyoshi could've lied about it!

however, witch eva gives us the following red truths in episode 3:

Shannon is dead

Kanon is dead

suggesting that shannon and kanon may have been two real, and two separate, people.

therefore, it's also possible that shannon's body was used to fake shannon's death, and kanon's body was used to fake kanon's death, leaving shkanon free to do as they wished.

the only thing is that kanon's body keeps going mysteriously missing in the other 3 episodes, so i'm inclined to think that only one body is being used to fake both deaths. maybe witch eva is talking about a metaphorical death for one of these names -- like a sort of, "shannon is dead... now, only sayo remains!" kind of thing.

anyways, kanon's body double is staged in the boiler room and he's pierced with a stake; shkanon slips away out the back; kumasawa waits until shkanon had time to get away, then screams and pretends she just discovered the body.

nanjo lies about kanon's death status, pretending that he had been just killed.

let's take a look at the red truths about this death:

 All of the survivors have alibis! Let us include the dead as well!! In short, no kind of human or dead person on the island could have killed Kanon!

Kanon did not commit suicide

Kanon did not die in an accident!

FAILED REPETITION: 'Kanon-kun's death was a homicide'

if we assume "kanon" was dead before the episode started, there's absolutely no problem here. the only mystery is the method of death, but i think it could have easily been something like illness, malnutrition, etc.

kinzo

this has already been covered, but basically he died before the start of the game and natsuhi and krauss were just keeping his rotting old body on ice in the bathroom in his stupid locked up study. thats why it smells so strongly of chemicals in there. on the first night when the servants were staging the first deaths, kinzo's body was taken to the boiler room to pretend that he died at the same time.

the letter in the study

"how did beatrice's letter get into the locked study"? this is an important question since this is the impetus for natsuhi to drive a bunch of people out of the totally safe locked room.

my personal number 1 theory is that natsuhi was the one who put it there because she wanted to give an opportunity for her servant collaborator(s) to get rid of unwanted witnesses.

however, another possibility is that natsuhi is now aware that the murders aren't entirely under her control; even if she believed eva & hideyoshi's deaths were carried out at her behest, maybe the death of "kanon" has made her aware that there is a killer on the island who isn't under her command. so now she is genuinely on guard because she doesn't know who the killer is!

genji, nanjo, kumasawa

since i think that shkanon is still alive and kicking at this point, it's easy to believe that shkanon came in and killed them.

the red truths for these deaths:

Naturally, Maria, who was in the same room, did not kill them! And of course, their three deaths were homicides!

 I guarantee the identities of all unidentified corpses. Therefore, there were no body double tricks!

Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo are not killers

no problems here!

natsuhi

natsuhi actually has a lot you could blackmail her about: krauss' improper management, her plans to kill the other ushiromiya heirs, etc. and if you believe in "jessica is not actually krauss' biological child" theory she has even more weaknesses to hang onto.

i think shkanon lured natsuhi out for an individual confrontation by stating in the letter that they knew about at least one of natsuhis secrets. if natsuhi wants to claim the ushiromiya headship scot-free, she needs to kill shkanon without anyone hearing from shkanon about her incredibly incriminating secrets. therefore, it's really easy to get her to come out alone.

natsuhi was killed via gunshot by shkanon. maybe one with a silencer since the kids only heard one gunshot.

the red truths for this one:

Natsuhi's death was a homicide! There are no unidentified corpses, and all of the survivors have alibis

The bullet buried into Natsuhi's forehead was not fired from her gun!

The thing that shot Natsuhi wasn't a trap, it was a real shooting murder with a gun raised and trigger pulled!

note: NOT the same as “Someone shot Natsuhi with a gun” so who knows.

and with that all the mysteries can be solved!

other theories

i've been contemplating the question of battler's "sin" from six years ago. from these red truths:

Six years ago, no person called Beatrice existed for me. (Used by Battler)

The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Ushiromiya Battler and Beatrice. (Used by Beatrice)

Ushiromiya Battler has a sin

Because of your sin, people die.

Due to your sin, a great many humans of this island die. No one escapes, all die.

we know that battler got lost in the forest 6 years ago and he doesn't really remember what happened then.

for a while i had these theories...

battler promised to take shkanon out of the island but then his mom died and his life blew up and he forgot

battler accidentally ruins a servants life by scapegoating them for something

but after remembering that the sin is not between battler and beatrice... my new theory is that battler did something that led to 1) kinzo's death, or 2) the discovery of the lost gold, which directly leads to all the reasons for the ushiromiya family murders.

The End

thanks for reading my theories and i will see you for my episode 2 theories soon!

[daughterofevil158]

How do you think Damon would comfort each of his soulmates when they cry?

You put this socially and emotionally awkward man in front of someone crying and you can visibly see him blue-screening. honestly chances are higher of him getting one of the more emotionally open soulmates to help him, but we'll ignore that for the time being. giving a few different reasons for the crying to add variety since Damon's actual comforting would probably be awkward hugs/back pats all around

Starting with the people I can most easily imagine crying in front of Damon:

◊ Toshiko: Like I mentioned in the previous crying ask, being a kid put in a killing game would terrible. Girl is trying so hard to be brave, but Damon unintentionally ruins it by constantly reminding her to be cautious here and that she should be careful because of her being an easy target. He's saying it out of concern, but Toshiko starts wailing that she knows that, so stop rubbing it in. Congratulations on completing a big step in being an older sibling: accidentally making the younger one cry (gods save him if this is in public). He wouldn't necessarily go back on his words, but he means it when he says that he'll do his best not to let that happen, and any potential killer has to go thru him first. Which sets her off even more because she doesn't want him to die either, and as an Ultimate she can take care of herself. Definitely more of a self-soothing thing where Toshiko is hugging Damon until he can barely breathe and sobbing into his chest while he clumsily pats her back (definitely needs to wash his shirt when it's over, but he doesn't say anything about it).

◊ Diana: Much like Damon himself, I see Diana as the type to put a brave face in front of the others then break down once she's alone. She gets caught by Damon at some point and he is desperately trying but unable to say things the way she does. It's another situation where the effort put into the comforting helps more than the comfort itself. She is once again hugging him for support but this time he returns it sooner.

◊ Kai: definitely also because of fears of dying, but Damon isn't as gentle about it as he is with the above at first (insert that "Gordon Ramsey with children vs. with adults" meme). Imagining it happening shorter after rooming up and finding out they're soulmates, so Kai is also upset that his soulmate hates him. Damon is forced to "begrudgingly" admit that, no, he doesn't hate Kai, he just thinks he's annoying and clingy. If he really hated Kai he wouldn't have helped with the ring. Is also one who clings onto Damon while crying, tho not as snotty. Kai feels like he'd be tired after a good cry, so Damon's stuck like that for the rest of the night.

◊ Eva: absolutely putting her reason as being the confrontation about her murder plan. She tries to remain calm while explaining her reasoning, but Damon would be more vocal that he trusted Eva because soulmates should be able to do that (i'm realizing i say that a lot in these posts lol) and that breaks her. She never had any friends before this, and the first one she made (her soulmate at that), she abused his trust while knowing he'd die if her plan succeeded (that, along with the deaths of the people who were trying to befriend her, would've definitely been something she refused to acknowledge until it happened). Definitely another situation where the comforter starts crying even harder than the one initially crying. (Imagine these two 18 year olds violently sobbing into each other while hugging, only held up by the other person. And Wolfgang is just standing there)

◊ Mark: definitely the one who ignores the building up stress until it bursts. Damon can hear him trying to make a new track, but he keeps pausing and restarting before stopping without finishing it, so he goes to check on him. Finds him curled up on his chair with his head in his arms, quietly crying. (I'm just theorizing here, but I'm convinced that them having similar features in gonna be important at some point in canon.) But because Mark looks so similar to how Damon did a few years back, he is simultaneously gentler and more uncomfortable about this (tho he has the awareness not to show that). Damon moves him to his bed so he won't end up falling off the chair, tries to get up to get some tissues or water or something, and gets firsthand experience on a gator's death grip. Bro's not letting go until he's done, so Damon just has to accept it. Thinking that Mark is also a quiet crier who lets out a stuffy and awkward "Thanks..." when he finally lets Damon go.

◊ Wolfgang: Why is he so far up compared to the rest? Because Damon almost getting 360 no scoped is now canon to the AU. This would be the second time that Damon got hurt because of him (the first being with isolating him at the start). And considering everything we know about the Akire's, there's already some self-loathing and guilty feelings that are exacerbated by this. He's there the moment Damon awakens and is apologizing profusely for putting him in danger, running his hands through his hair and visibly trying not to breakdown then and there. Damon does not help with his quip of "I'm the one who got shot, why are you so upset?" It wouldn't be as visceral as his in-game moment of crying, but Wolfgang is definitely not a pretty crier. Since he's normally so composed, I see him as the type that hyperventilates and goes into gasping choked sobs pretty quickly. He's holding back from hugging Damon to avoid worsening his injuries, but Damon makes the effort to sit up and clumsily wrap his arms around Wolfie.

◊ Ulysses: Also one who's crying either out of stress or from being relieved that Damon's alright. Doesn't even realize that he's crying at first, just that he can't see as well and his journal's getting wet spots. Damon points it out and gets a quiet "Oh..." in response. Another quiet crier, sobs are almost as quiet as his normal breaths. It's a coin toss on whether he conks out as soon as he's done or is desperately in need of a coffee afterwards (tho the former is more likely).

◊Cassidy: Girl is Totally Fine™ and there's nothing wrong with her. Stop looking at her imitation arts, stop it. She's not breaking down easily unless the walls are deliberately chipped at, but if Damon did catch her crying he'd be taken aback because. She's the cheerful gamer gal who always has a funny quip in mind. Another one who'd initiate the hug and not let go, and is probably just as messy a crier as Toshiko.

◊ Jett: More easily cries than Cassidy, but is lower than her on account of his helmet and surprisingly being a fairly quiet crier (more of a shaker than a sobber). Imagining his reason being guilt from their shared pain soulmark because Damon's never actually blamed him for any of it despite Jett definitely getting major injuries even before the big crash (like, just imagine all the ways drag racers can get hurt and Jett's probably gone thru all of them at least once). Jett feels shitty enough about it without the bonus that his soulmate also felt every moment of agony, thank you very much. Damon's attempts at comfort almost make it worse because, in Jett's eyes, he should be pissed at Jett for putting him through that. But Damon's initiating the hug despite everything, and Jett eventually returns it after some hesitance.

◊ Desmond: Trickiest to imagine of the bunch, but I decided he's also crying because of Damon getting hurt. But it's more tears of frustration than actual crying?? Based on his blackmail, I'm giving him a protection complex, if that makes sense. So upset that he wasn't there for Damon because even though he didn't die, he could've, and that's all Desmond can think about. Dude's great at comforting but not as great at being comforted. He'll be okay, he just needs some time to process what happened (he is Not Okay). Damon eventually has to claim that he's the one that needs a hug to finally get Desmond to accept one.

[crv-uzumaki]

Last-second predictions

ALRIGHT, happy day before chapter 1 everyone! Just so something is out there, I'm just gonna get my thoughts out on the general roles everyone has before some of them are wrong. This isn't gonna be a death order prediction, just their general roles and what vibes they give off. Feel free to add your own so you can dunk on me when I'm wrong (or so I can dunk YOU when YOURE wrong)

Damon Maitsu and Eva Tsunaka: Both of them give me the vibes of people who die in chapter one (Damon more as a killer and Eva more as a victim), mostly because they're estranged from the group. If one of them does die this chapter, I'm leaning towards Damon but could go either way

Wolfgang Akire: I see Wolfgang living for a while at least, it'd be pretty sad to see the killing game wear his optimism down when combined with how passionate he usually gets during the trials could lead to a huge breakdown of his ideals

Toshiko Kayura: honestly no idea lmao. Her not getting any lines during the trailer is a HUGE red flag, but we've never had a literal child in the games before, so she really is just a wildcard to me

Jett Dawson and Mike Berskii: they're really cute together but I just KNOW one of them is gonna die and motivate the other at some point. Praying it's Mark (nothing against him, I just like Jett too much to let him go)

Wenona: I will be VERY surprised if she gets through the whole game, given how cynical she is. She comes off as too influenced by Celeste to not be part of a murder trial right?

Grace Madison: She gives me survivor vibes, weirdly enough. Her just refusing to play along in the opening is a big part of that, and I can see her not giving in easily if a motive gets dropped

Cassidy Amber and Kai Monteago: Both give off the random side character who lives through the whe game just because they don't really do anything. If one of them does die I'm gonna say it's Kai (sorry but he's too much of a boyfailure)

Desmond Hall, Diana Venicia, and Eloise Taulner: all are really nice and unfortunately that's kind of a death knell in this series. They'll probably live for a little while at least though, maybe even get through the whole thing if they're not too confrontational!

Ulysses Wilhelm: eeeehhhhhhh hes boring. chapter 2 victim

Jean DeLamer and Ingrid Grimwall: they probably won't die in chapter four if I had to guess, but they probably won't get through the whole thing still. Though Ingrid has more of a role in the group, so she might have more of a presence

And that's all of them! As I said you can add your own predictions to the tags if you want to be wrong with me, together, but just have fun P:EGGING out there!!

[legayfuck]

okay but the way that noah and eva were SUCH GREAT CHARACTERS that NEVER DID ANYTHING is so upsetting. I know we all wanted a team e-scope comeback and wt TOTALLY COULD'VE DONE THAT like

and there's definitely possibility for people to get eliminated fairly late in the game, like sweeden sour, rapa phooey and of course double eliminations

first, I'm going to talk about the relations between the members of team e-scope

there could definitely be an expansion on the team e-scope relations. eva and izzy could have a very dynamic friendship- they're both some of the most threatening competitors while also having contrasting personalities. this friendship could've been used in island when they were both returning contestants. eva would recognize that they're both targets because they both skipped challenges and izzy really just went along with anything. she and eva definitely got along and they would be a killer alliance.

if eva made it even like a couple of challenges I think it would be good. just push trent and bridgette back once and move the no pain, no game challenge to after hide and be sneaky. there's the whole trent and heather plot in search & do not destroy, heather, leshawna, and eva could all have immunity in hide & be sneaky which would lead to bridgette's elimination, and then eva loses in no pain, no game. that would give enough time for at least a little use of eva and her rivalries with other characters. ALSO why was izzy in an alliance with heather? put her in with eva cmon. anyways. in hide & be sneaky, the guys could use eva's hate of bridgette to their advantage. anyways I'm going on a tangent here. NEXT

noah and izzy had at least some sort of thing going on since haute camp-ture. izzy with the 'throwing some shrimp on the barbie, that means you noah!' and the whole 'he kissed a guy!' thing definitely leads you to believe that at least izzy thinks they're friends, even if she just annoys noah. then in world tour, while he spent most the time calling her a nutcase, she carried him around a lot it wasn't like he hated her, he just didn't want owen dating her because she didn't treat him right.

noah and eva are a good team-up. noah's the brains and eva's the brawn, that's alliance material. they know each others strengths and neither really have friends. well, noah has owen but that's basically it. and owen isn't the most strategic person in the game. and both have a lot of enemies.

I'm going to talk about potential of the characters as if eva was in world tour and on team chris because that would make sense with canon

I feel like eva could be used so well. She didn't like being famous, so she was all in it for the money. She was straightforward. She was not playing any games. SHE WANTED THAT MONEY. I think Alejandro would see her as useful and keep her around, but he knows he has to get rid of her before the merge. Plus, she's so great for an antagonist. She has a lot of drive and could have a rivalry with literally anyone. She could have beef with tyler I mean realistically. he was a killer bass. also, I feel like she could have an alliance with alejandro. she doesn't seem like someone exactly all for alliances, but she understands a deal when she sees one- alejandro is a powerful competitor and she knows it. betrayal later could be AMAZING and I'll get to a point with that in a minute

and we all know the noah story, we've heard it a million times but it's true, he's a great character. He has a rivalry with alejandro, was labeled 'the schemer' or whatever even though he did nothing, he's really smart like they could have used that. he also had a lot of rivalries with people that were just not used. he didn't like alejandro, he didn't like sierra, he didn't like duncan, and he definitely had potential for relationships (positive or negative) with other contestants. he could still be eliminated at the same time, but at least let him do something.

okay. so I know we all love blaineley. well I actually don't really but we all love blainerific. HOWEVER. HER ASS DID NOTHING. I would bring back either eva or noah. eva, if having that alliance with alejandro, would be mad as hell. and post-merge, she could interact with members of team amazon. noah also is against alejandro and has a lot of potential for relations with other competitors. then I would have them last a little longer than blaineley did so they ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING anyways that's my little rant about eva and noah

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Halloween Special

Ah, October 15th. The midway point of October, a good time for me to post my Miraculous Halloween Special idea. This is honestly pretty independent from both my Rewrite and Shift Season, because chronologically it takes in late season 3, which I determined to be in Spring 2016, but this takes place in October. So yeah. Not really canon, but fun!

The akuma plot is pretty simple. It's Halloween in Miraculous Paris, but Grandpa Rolland is pissed that an American holiday is invading France. Hawkmoth akumatizes him into the Gargoyle, Ladybug and Chat Noir fight him, you know how it goes. What really matters is the civilian plot, and what everyone is going as:

Marinette, Alya, and Nino are all going together and Chaperoning their little siblings or Manon, in Marinette's case:

Alya is Ladybug while Marinette is Chat Noir. This was Alya's idea.

Nino is Jason Voorhees.

Manon is also Ladybug, while Ella and Etta are both Rena Rouge (one of them is supposedly an illusion, I'm not sure which one,) and Chris is Carapace.

Chloe and Sabrina are also going trick-or-treating going to a secret exclusive Halloween party. Chloe is Zelda while Sabrina is Link.

Adrien somehow convinced Nathalie (who's dressed as a witch,) and Tomoe to let him and Kagami go trick-or-treating together with the Gorilla as a chaperone. Adrien is Shinji Ikari, Kagami is Utena Tenjo, and the Gorilla is EVA Unit-01.

Ivan and Mylene are also going together alongside Ivan's little sister. The three are going as Sulley, Mike, and Boo from Monsters Inc. respectively. (Thanks to msweebyness for the idea, btw!)

Rose and Juleka are going as well, chaperoning Rose's four little goblin brothers (headcanoned characters):

Rose is Ladybug (she couldn't get Juleka to be Chat Noir.)

Juleka is Killer Queen (she couldn't get Rose to be Kira Yoshikage.)

The triplet brothers are the three little pigs, while the fourth youngest brother is the big bad wolf.

Although she's not coming with them, Rose's bratty younger sister (also headcanoned) is also trick-or-treating with her boyfriend, going as Peach and Mario respectively.

Nathmarc are also going, with Nathaniel's first cousins once removed niblings (even more headcanoned characters):

Marc is going as Kyoya Otori and managed to rope Nathaniel into being Tamaki Suoh.

Nath's niece is dressed as a goat, while Nath's nephew is dressed as a chicken.

Not everyone in the class is trick-or-treating, however. Many of them are going to the school's Halloween party:

Max is dressed as Markov, while Markov is dressed as Max.

Kim is a basic sheet ghost while Ondine is a mermaid.

Alix decided to go as the scariest thing she knows: Chloe. Chloe, when she comes to the party because she's done trick-or-treating Sabrina got tired of the secret exclusive party, is not amused.

Principal Damocles is the Owl (Hoo Hoo!), Ms. Mendeleiev is the Bubonic Plague, and Ms. Bustier is inexplicably a succubus.

Most of the students are going to the party after trick-or-treating. Aurore and Mirelle are some of these students. Aurore is Hurricane while Mirelle is Snowflake (both United Heroez.)

Lila unfortunately didn't have time to dress up because she was too busy planning the downfall of her enemies and living multiple lives helping out with all her charities.

As for adults giving away candy on Halloween:

Tom is in a gorilla suit while Sabine is a nurse.

Marlena is out working this Halloween, so Otis is handing out treats dressed as a Leopard.

Andre is giving out large candy bars to the kids that trick-or-treat there. His wife wouldn't let him dress up, though.

Luka (dressed as Josuke Hishagikata,) is handing out candies on the Liberty. Anarka is dressed as Lisa Lisa.

Max's mom is dressed as an astronaut.

Mylene's dad is dressed as the mime from his performance.

Roger's busy with his job, so he left out a bowl of candy that tells you it's your civil duty to take one and only one candy.

The Agreste Mansion isn't giving out candy, unfortunately. Gabriel doesn't like the holiday.

[lxrd-ren]

Quick shitpost theory concerning the pre-trial images, don't take this too seriously

^ These ones

Needless to say this entire theory is an expansion of what's been revealed in Chapter 1, so spoilers ahead for Chapter 1

Alright, so this is a theory specifically built on what direction the characters are looking in. I've also linked it to where they are looking exactly

As indicated by the colour key at the top left of both images, the characters looking left will be killers, those looking right will be victims, and my best guess for those looking at us are the survivors. (On an off-note, Cassidys portrait is so different from literally all the others I can only assume she's a mastermind or something)

Moving on, I made this assumption based off of Wolfgang and Eva; Wolfgang is looking to the right, Eva is looking to the left. Plus, Eva is also looking at him. I applied this logic to everyone else.

Also, I connected the ones looking outside the circle to another on the assumption that the circles can be seen as next to each other.

By all this logic, everyone will be as follows, in no particular order:

Eva killed Wolfgang

Kai kills Ulysses

Desmond kills Toshiko

Diana kills Ingrid

Wenona kills Mark

Grace and Demon are possibly survivors, and this does kinda fit considering Tozu said himself the killing game will go on until there's two students remaining

We cannot see where Jett is looking, but we can assume Jean will kill him as he is both marked as a killer and looking at him

Eloise is the odd one out, being marked as a killer but looking at Grace. This may just mean she kills herself, or attempts to kill Grace in some way, or both. I mean she accused Grace at the start of the trial and was yelled at by her twice in only this chapter - them continuing to antagonise each other in future chapters isn't that hard to believe personally