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teddyniffler · 1 month ago

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The Power of Five. The 'something' that was broken in Scott was his link to Flint.

'Something inside Scott had been broken'

Throughout the books, there have been instances where echoes of the Gatekeepers' past lives have reached across the years to their current selves. One of the most important echoes is when Matt's powers first awaken during his stay at Hive Hall, after his first encounter with The Old Ones. His health, strength, and power returned in full, although his power was still not in his control, as soon as he is referred to as 'One of the Five' by Chaos. Before, Matt had been helpless and left weak from his sickness, but once he encountered The Old Ones in his fevered state, it triggering a memory within him that he was once the leader of the Five.

This switch is mentioned a few times, although not directly. It's always a moment when one of the Five experiences an awakening after being triggered by a memory of the past. It's almost like they are recalling their former selves, and even though they have no memories other than their own in this lifetime, something within them remembers the power and strength they once possessed ten thousand years ago.

Jamie was forced rather brutally to be reminded of Sapling. Despite never having ridden a horse, he found himself able to do so once he had taken over from Sapling. He had never wielded a sword, yet he instinctively knew how to use one. The most shocking moment was his ability to recall what Sapling named his sword - Frost - without looking down to read the name on the blade. He knew it from his own mind.

In Oblivion, Jamie is rather happy to see Flint again, both boys being happy just to see the other, even though they may have to separate again. Almost instinctively, Jamie moves to fight alongside Flint, despite having met only once before. Similarly, Flint feels a pull towards Jamie, even though Jamie is not the twin he was born with. Jamie even feels confident enough to say he wants to stay with Flint, his brother. That bond is there, but it's not Jamie who has a bond with Flint, it was Sapling.

Another instance involving Scarlett is when she hears her old nickname 'Scar' uttered by Matt, which triggers her ability to control the storm. She simply needed to hear Matt call her by that nickname. It was a part of her identity, just laying dormant within her mind. While others, such as Aiden and her dad had given her nicknames like 'Scarly', it was never Matt. She needed to hear her true nickname from Matt. The instant Matt spoke her nickname, her forgotten power to command the weather resurfaced.

In the case of Pedro, it was hearing the story of the Inca people and then seeing his own image upon the old disk image of Manco Capac. His past form was named after the sun god, Inti. When Pedro then goes quiet for a few days, it's likely Pedro was recalling feelings of his past life: Similar to what Matt and Jamie and then later Scarlett would have discovered. He was Inti, who rode at the front, leading his people into battle against the Old Ones.

This was what give him the courage to lead his people against Diego Salamander.

Scott is the only Gatekeeper without a connection to his past. There are no callbacks to Flint after Scott was taken by Nightrise. We do sometimes hear Jamie talking about Scott as he was before, such as finding food (Explained more below) and never letting Jamie down, always being the protector. Once Scott was with Nightrise, any similarities to Flint ended.

When Scott was nearly killed by Jonas with a sword, he had no natural reflects, no instincts. He was able to dodge the blade from luck and pure terror, but he wasn't successful and got injured badly. Flint, like Sapling, was a skilled fighter, he knew how to work with a sword and how to defend himself. It's likely he and Sapling had years of practice, as all their past incarnations were all skilled in weaponry due to the times they were living in. Flint was shown during book 3 to be more than capable of ducking spears and defending against swords.

Scott had none of these skills, yet Matt from the past confirmed that the past learns from the future, and the future learns from the past. When the present day forms faced the Old Ones, they should have been equal to their past forms, according to Matt, and this is true for current day Matt, Pedro, Jamie and Scarlett. But not Scott.

Then there's the matter of Matt being their 'unofficial' leader. The five slowly came together, and three of them all turned naturally to Matt for guidance. Matt is confused by this, considering Jamie to be a more suitable leader, both because of Jamie's upbeat and welcoming nature and because Jamie was fighting the Old Ones ten thousand years ago. He was there while Matt wasn't, yet time and time again, everybody looks to Matt. But not Scott. Three of them are remembering their bond with the original Matt. This can be seen in Raven's Gate, Evil Star and a lot in Necropolis. The other four - Which includes Scott pre-Nightrise - are often calling out to Matt to come to them. Inti/Pedro gets a boat to sail out to Matt to bring him back to shore while Matt is stuck on his little island. Scarlett can't wait to go to sleep each night because she knows she's going to see him again (and the others too) when she finally sees Matt in person, she can't hide her excitement to finally be with him. These feelings did not just come from nowhere. The past selves' love for Matt is reaching the present day. This fondness is deep and its rooted in a friendship that spans millennia. It's very clear that Sapling trusted Matt; Matt already knew one of the twins needed to die in order for them to win. Sapling found comfort in whatever Matt had told him and he rode away to his own death, knowing that Matt knew this was the only way they could win. Flint never seemed to doubt Matt, he might have been overcome by grief about his brother, but he was right there, riding on his horse by Matt's side. He never lost faith in Matt, he wasn't angry with him. Matt was Flint's leader and Flint followed him. Scar was the only one to confront Matt, and she regretted it, apologizing to Matt afterward because she felt so bad shouting at him. Matt is their leader, the first of the five. Everybody in the past looked to Matt, the boy who would end the darkness, the one who had all the answers. The current Gatekeepers share this affection for Matt; They don't know why they love him for, he is their friend, their leader, but there's something more there. Pedro who has likely mugged a million people felt instantly bad the second he noticed he had stolen from Matt. Jamie looked at Matt right away and was admiring him and his power, then felt a surge seeing Matt again in the current day. Scarlett followed an echo of Matt without thinking. They all love him. Scarlett sees him and hugs him. Jamie sees him and he's all smiles. Pedro would follow Matt to the end of the world. Scott, however, feels differently. He harbors no warmth for Matt, unable to understand why Matt is the leader when they should all be equals. Scott was quite close to fighting with Matt in Necropolis and the hostility only grows from there, to the point that Oblivion comes and Scott and Matt are on opposite sides. If Scott had access to Flint, perhaps he would be very different to how we knew him.

It is likely the Old Ones may have known something of this past connection. In the current day, they learned about the Five, they know if you kill one, their past / future form would travel back or forward to replace their fallen counterpart. They can clearly see the leader of the Five looks exactly the same now as he did back then. Both Matt from the past and Matt now uses his powers by flickering his hands from time to time, although he doesn't need too. It's a natural movement for them both.

Matt from the past likely knew about the Old Ones looking into how the Five worked, he warned Jamie that if the Old Ones had hurt Scott, he may be different to how Jamie remembered him. Matt from the past knows an awful lot of things (Even sad things) from reading his own book, but that wouldn't have told him that they would be replaced by their counterparts from the past or future. It wouldn't have told him about the doors, about their powers. Matt had knowledge from another source (Likely the Librarian) so he may have known the Old Ones would find a way to harm them in the future.

Nightrise knew of a way to neutralize the Five's power and it's confirmed in the book 'Nightrise' that Nightrise had been taking teenagers with any hint of powers or gifts for more than a year before Matt had even been arrested and sent to Yorkshire. The Five were mostly unknown, living their normal lives (They were watching Matt from age 8, but they needed confirmation he was one of them) yet the Old Ones were actively researching through Nightrise any teens for years for any hints of power. It's not impossible to think they could have discovered how the Five's powers work, what triggers them into waking. It is likely if they remember who they truly were - as seen in Raven's Gate when the entire village wanted Matt locked away because they were scared he may remember his past life - they become more dangerous should they discover a link to their past lives, so they found a way through all the chemicals and electric shocks to prevent that member of the five from rediscovering their past lives. In the case of Scott, they succeed and cut him off entirely from Flint.

He never had anything recalled to him from Flint, no dreams, no...nothing. Even when hearing his past name from Jamie later, it meant nothing at all to Scott. He never felt any warmth to Matt. To Scott, Matt was just any other teenager who was bossing him around and trying to take Jamie from him. He didn't feel kinship to Pedro, he felt nothing for Scarlett and wanted to leave her to The Old Ones, yet Flint and Scar were almost like siblings themselves in the past, all the five were.

The Old Ones, of course, know Flint was the boy riding into battle with Matt. They knew one twin had died, they could see his brother was with Matt. Maybe they didn't know which one he was in that moment, but in the present they knew it was Sapling who had died and Jamie who had traveled back to Flint. They would then know Flint was the one with Matt. Nightrise wanted both twins under their control, but when they got Scott it's quite possible they knew they had the same twin who was by Matt's side in the past. Flint and Matt together led the charge, they would want to destory any echo of Flint inside of Scott, the twin whose loyalty to Matt never wavered, even when Scar's did. Who else better to turn other than the boy following Matt into battle that day.

Scott is the only Gatekeeper who is worlds apart from his past self.

During Nightrise, Flint disappears for some time after the battle. He had gone around just like the other five and tended to the injuried and tried to help the survivors, and one way he did was to find food. It's here Jamie compares him to Scott, knowing Scott would be the one who found food too. Scott (and Flint) were resourceful, if somebody was hungry around them, they wouldn't rest until that person (Mostly Jamie/Sapling) had food to eat. Flint had to go into enemy terretory to find the food, without knowing if there were any traps laying in wait for him, left over from the Old Ones to protect their food. Flint and some others dragged back a wagon to bring enough food to go around.

If you were to compare Flint with Scott here, you can see how unlike they are once Nightrise got Scott.

Scott is feasting at a banquet held in his honour from the Old Ones. He knows Pedro is below him in a cell, freezing cold and starving slowly away. Still he eats more than what he needs, he's even left food on his plate for it to be taken away and likely binned. Scott watches as Giovani sneaks food into his mouth as that boy is also starving. Giovani is the same age as Scott, yet Scott is amused that somebody his own age is so hungry that he will risk his own safety to sneak Scott's left over food into his mouth. Scott thought it was funny. Flint would never do that, he would make sure everybody had food, even if it risked his life. He was at his most happiest in Nightrise when he called out to the last bits of humanity that he had food for them. Scott was like that once too, going to find Jamie food if he were hungry, but once the Old Ones got him, he changed. He didn't even care too much about Jamie in the end.