#bes season 2 speculation

[ceruleanskies48]

Dead Mothers of BES pt. 4 (Mizu)

Mizu, Taigen, Akemi, and Ringo are very different characters, but the two things they all have in common are shitty fathers and dead mothers (at least from our Season 1 knowledge). The shitty fathers part is pretty self-explanatory, but let’s dig into what we know about their dead mothers and what we might speculate.

Part 1: Akemi's mom

Part 2: Ringo's mom

Part 3: Taigen's mom

To close out this series, let's talk about the elephant in the room, Mizu's (biological) mom.

How do we know she’s dead?

At the end of Ep. 8, Fowler says that one of the remaining white men (Skeffington or Routely) killed Mizu’s mother. While it’s true Fowler could be lying, I personally don’t think he is. This is the piece of information he leads with when trying to convince Mizu not to kill him, so it’d be very risky if it were false. He doesn’t know what Mizu knows, so if her mom were alive and she knew that, she would just kill him for lying. In addition, if Mizu’s mom were alive, it would be more advantageous for Fowler to say that and dangle information about her whereabouts to entice Mizu to keep him alive. 

When did she die?

Assuming Fowler is telling the truth, she died at the time of the fire we see at the beginning of Ep. 3, when Mizu was an infant, assassins were sent to kill her, and she was passed to her maid to be put into hiding. Presumably her mother was killed shortly before or after that scene. 

How did she die?

Either the assassins killed her, Skeffington/Routely personally killed her, or she died in the fire.

What was she like?

The fact that she had a maid taking care of Mizu suggests that she was well-off. This is also implied by the fact that the maid was paid to hide Mizu. The maid did so for 5 years (according to the character designers, Mizu was 6 when she met Swordfather, at which point her hair had grown back, so she must have been around 5 when the hut burned down since she was bald at the time), but the maid was likely paid enough to support them for all of Mizu’s childhood if she had not become addicted to opium.

Mizu’s mom was most likely married to someone of the same race since she was able to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth without issue. This presumably would have been very scandalous if she were unmarried. Mizu thinks her mother was raped, but it’s more likely her parents were in love given that her mother took great risks in going through with her pregnancy and had the means to terminate it.

If Mizu’s mom was Japanese, she must have been a noblewoman who fell in love with one of the white men. If she was white, she must have come to Japan with one of the four white men, perhaps as his wife or sister. In this case, her father was likely a very high-status Japanese nobleman given the size of the bounty put specifically on Mizu’s head. Assuming Fowler is telling the truth about either Skeffington or Routely killing her mom, it’s more likely that she was the wife of one of them, so the killing was motivated by betrayal at her infidelity. 

The fact that Mizu was carried to term, not killed by her mother shortly afterward (once she saw her blue eyes), and put into hiding also implies that her mom loved her deeply. She knew her daughter’s existence and her blue eyes would cause huge trouble and danger for both of them, but she decided to keep Mizu anyway. This is also why I tend to believe Fowler that she’s dead. Given how much she loved Mizu and wanted to stay with her, it seems unlikely she wouldn’t have tried to find or contact Mizu if she were still alive.  

[adh-d2]

OK wait. Hold the fucking phone for a minute. I think I'm onto something here.

Omega has reached a new level of badass since returning to Tantis. From the moment she entered the vault she's been cool, calm, and confident.

This is the face of a girl with a plan, and with absolute faith in her brothers.

We've all been assuming that faith is in Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker. But what if it's faith in someone else, too?

And hey, come to think of it, remember how we all thought it was weird that one episode ended with Omega alone with CX-2, then the next opened with him handing her over to Hemlock? Remember how rushed and unnatural it felt to have our protagonist alone for hours with the mystery villain and not get to see a single second of it?

And OH MY GOD look at this fleeting expression the moment CX-2 bends to undo her cuffs, before she quickly averts her gaze.

Now let's go over her dialogue with the kids again:

"Want to know a secret? I escaped from this mountain before"

"Really?"

"How?"

"I had training. And I wasn't alone. Know what else? I'm doing it again. And I'm taking you all with me."

What if Omega told us a lot more than we realize? She has a secret. She knows she's not alone.

[polin-erospsyche]

Are they married here??? Because it’s their flat ad I’m pretty sure they have spent the evening there. And if they are not married then

1) these two are truly wild, disrespecting the rule of society this way

2) don’t tell me we’re getting divorced Polin before we’re getting married Polin 😫

ALSO

When does this take place???? Like are we getting several scenes of him just following LW in the middle of the night? Because if not, you really mean to tell me that these two have an argument, have a heated kiss, then they go home, he goes out for a walk and then spends the rest of the night on the couch???

Like let me kiss you real quick before going back to being mad at you and needing space. That just seems weird 🤨

OR we’re actually getting divorced Polin at the same time as married Polin?? Because there’s something that some people have noticed and I find it strange. Married Polin on the day of their wedding are not smiling like they usually are when they’re around each other

Like weird right??? So it’s either the shots we got and we have a feeling they’re not in absolute bliss (I won’t say they’re not happy because I’m pretty much convinced they still are) or it’s that there’s just too much going on for them to be completely blissed out.

I know people have said it’s a happy wedding but what if we get a happy exchange of vows and the rest is bittersweet? What if the wedding is the end of ep7 and this scene

Is actually the start of ep8? It would make more sense why they’re sleeping in the same flat. It’d just be that much more angsty, because what do you mean they get married and they’re still not on great terms so they spend their first night as a married couple separated??? He offers her the bed, the bed they’ve already slept in together might I add, and he takes the couch. It would also explain why no one is talking about a wedding night in all the sex scenes we will get

[turtleofthehollow]

I hope in season 2 we get a bunch of Lucifer in full on Dad Mode with everyone at the hotel

Even better if it’s unintentional, he’s just so old he can’t help but see everyone as his children in need of guidance and safety

The real kicker is if everyone not so secretly loves the treatment and constantly seeks him out to receive the fatherly love they were deprived of in both life and death

He’s completely oblivious to it, and because he’s desperate for connection he happily gives them the parental affection they crave

The only one resistant to it is Alastor who refuses to see him as a fatherly figure, but he also hates being out of the loop, so he reluctantly plays along and accidentally works through his daddy issues

[greenqueenhightower]

They paralleled b&c with Alicent and Criston sex scene to make sure people would be outraged about THAT and put most of the blame on Alicent and Criston to take audiences mind of Daemon and Rhaenyra.Tb people are already blaming the two for it and I don't think the show runners did this cause they didn't know what to do with the characters in this season and they were just desperate for a plot specially how Alicent is supposed to be present during b&c in the books. That would humanize her too much in the eyes of the audience and some people would even question Daemon's actions and Rhaenyra for not punishing him. But having Criston off duty during the scene breaking his vows once again and having him and Alicent blaming themselves/Aegon blaming Cole, would just be the final nail in the coffin for the audience everyone will direct their hate at them and not Daemon.

You nailed it, anon!

This is where my mind went too, but I am trying to dissuade myself. It is offputting to think that the writers do not want to humanize Alicent or the Greens, and are content with giving Alicent only the subservient roles so that she feels always guilty and ready to atone for her sins at any given moment, but they push the tb agenda and want to excuse the gruesome actions of Daemon and Rhaenyra.

If that does not scream TB favoritism then I don't know what does.

[burningfunobject]

Complete word vomit but like what if viktor decides that whatever the 'arcane' is too dangerous or comes at too high a cost and starts The Glorious Evolution from there?

Maybe he feels responsible for whatever the weird magic orb thingys are and decides that all of this mess (not just with the hex core but also with zaun and piltover) was due to human error so now he thinks he has to help people by getting rid of their 'flaws' like they're ability to make the kinds of mistakes he made in s1.

We know he already doesn't want the hex core to be around anymore so why would he suddenly become infatuated with it?? Like sure maybe it has an influence over him, but I seriously doubt it would last all season

Plus viktors whole Thing is helping people why would he stick with the hex core and all it's bs if it means either vaporising people or shimmer? Viktor is smart that's like the first thing we know about him I feel like he'd find a way out of the hex core's thrall

Idk I just don't really want to watch hex core bs for like a quarter of next season, I'll still probably like it tho

[maxfieldparrishes]

Some Thoughts™ about PUSSS (Potential Upcoming Sex Scene Scenarios)

Oh god I'm dying of curiosity oh god

These scenarios depend on 2 factors: 1) when the scene happens in terms of the 3-act structure, and 2) who, specifically, is getting nasty. Is the sex scene going to be in Act 2 specifically, or is that a blanket warning for the next 2 acts together? I'm not sure 🤨 🤔

So, in response to these incredibly pressing questions, I have come up with the following ideas:

If it's in Act 2 and...

Caitvi: I highly doubt it's going to be real - I'd be willing to bet it's a drunken dream or hallucination of Vi's after her downward spiral starts, which... you know, totally understandable 🥺

Not Caitvi: I doubt it'll be Mel/Jayce 2.0 as they appear to be otherwise occupied 😬 Sevika, maybe (I wish), but I don't think so, I don't think they'd allocate screentime and resources for that, as much as I'd love it because I KNOW in my SOUL that Sevika can FUCK... As for Timebomb - they'd need to do a LOT of heavy lifting wrt their relationship in, considering the quick pacing of this season, a very short amount of time to sell that, and I don't see that happening, I just don't think it's possible to execute it that well. There's also Ambessa and whichever twink she's choosing to obliterate. Last option, and one that pains me to consider, is Caitlyn and a rando. She's also dropping straight towards rock bottom and making bad and impulsive choices - meaningless breakup rebound sex with a random hot girl is something I can see her doing tbh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (I think Vi is going to be too busy fighting, self-isolating, and frankly too drunk for this to be a choice that she makes, compared to Cait)

If it's in Act 3 and...

Caitvi: I'd be willing to bet on it happening after they reconcile, or near the end of the series - maybe even in the last episode. Who knows?

Not Caitvi: idk, could be anyone

Looking at all this, I'm willing to bet, say... 85 to 15 that it's going to be Caitvi. The question I have is when, because that's going to drastically affect and set the tone for the scene. I will say that, personally, I hope a Caitvi sex scene isn't a dream without something (like a real sex scene happening in Act 3 👀) to soften that impact - "it's not real!" would feel like something of a cop-out to me, and I'm sure a lot of viewers would be hurt by the writers making that choice, but... we'll see.

Thoughts? Comments? Let me know what you think is going to go down (aside from the lesbians on each other at some point 🥰)

[thefirstknife]

Speaking of weird things in the season already, I'm back with the obsession with names of things in the seasonal activity.

So in Riven's Lair, you get randomly assigned "missions" that change with each run. I believe there's five of them as I've played a lot of Riven's Lair so far and only got these five to rotate. Maybe there will be more in weeks to come!

Anyway, if you look in the top left corner when you start the activity, it will tell you the name of the mission you're on. The names that I've seen so far are:

Polysemy

Apophasis

Synchysis

Enthymeme

Tautology

Long post under:

These aren't random words! They're all related to language and rhetoric, which makes sense with the Ahamkara theme as Ahamkara are very dependent on the way language is used around them.

Polysemy is when words or symbols are capable of having multiple meanings. Apophasis is when you speak about something by denying it or mentioning it by saying it's not required to be mentioned (def check examples on wikipedia if this is confusing). Synchysis is also a way of speaking in a way that deliberately messes up the order of words to confuse or surprise the person you're speaking to. Enthymeme is a type of an argument where you construct a sentence which tells some sort of a fact by omitting the way you came to that conclusion because the fact should be obvious on its own (again, check wiki for examples, it will be easier to understand). And tautology has a meaning in both language and logic; in language, a tautology is a statement that repeats something, adding redundant information and in logic, a tautology is a logical formula in which a sentence is constructed in a way that every interpretation of the sentence is true.

I doubt these words were chosen randomly and there might be more or perhaps more will cycle in during weeks to come. But even with just this, there's a pattern. I'm not sure which meaning of tautology is being used here; possibly the language one because it fits the rest, but the logic interpretation could also be possible.

The first week's mission was also specifically Polysemy:

I assume next weeks we'll probably do other specific ones in some order, which would also mean there should be at least 2 more. I'm wondering if there's some sort of a reason why these specific words were chosen. Obviously they all relate to forms of speaking and language which is the primary way that Ahamkara use to affect reality; speaking in specific terminology and using particular phrases and language forms is important to them and when speaking to them.

But given the involvement of the Vex, it also reminded me of the lore book Aspect in which every chapter is named after grammatical, linguistic and logic terms. Aspect is also specifically related to the Black Garden and Sol Divisive. Not only that, but Aspect deals with, among other things, the fate of the Ishtar scientists and their copies in the Vex Network, and primarily uses Chioma as their main viewpoint, and the whole situation with Neomuna and Veil Logs has returned my interest in this lore book.

I feel like it isn't a coincidence that we've spent essentially the entire year reacquainting ourselves with Chioma and Maya and Ishtar as a whole only to bring back Sol Divisive and the Black Garden back in the final season in this way. As the Veil Logs told us, one of Maya's copies interfered with one of the logs, sending signals, and Chioma, at the end of her life, contacted the Vex presumably to be consumed by the network so she could possibly reunite with one of the copies of Maya in there.

This brought me also to the mysterious signal from Scatter Signal lore tab in which Osiris tracks down some sort of a signal that seems to be talking about the Vex, but spoken in a strange way. So I began thinking that this signal might be coming from Chioma, consumed by the Vex, from the Vex Network, reaching out to the man who's been studying her, living in Neomuna and researching the Veil for months. Specifically, the final Veil Log mentioned a few similar words and phrases being repeated. Specifically, when Osiris mentions that Chioma was researching "the entaglement of Light and Dark" and when Nimbus and Osiris discuss "parallel connections and parallel energy fields;" then in the Scatter Signal message there's mention of how, presumably, the Vex are trying to "move from parallel to entanglement." The Veil Log also talks about how the Witness can communicate through our Ghosts and how that connection might be going both ways; Scatter Signal also mentions "bridging communion with a Voice."

Copies of Chioma and the other scientists (with the help of Praedyth) once tried to use the Black Garden to send a message out of the Vex Network, detailed in Aspect. We don't know if they succeeded (at least in our current timeline). The Black Garden has been a big focus in Lightfall almost out of nowhere in such an immensely world-changing way (with the explanation of the Black Heart), and it will still be important this season with the exotic mission. It's a very pleasing loop of the story; everything started with the Black Garden in D1 and everything just before TFS might end with it. I'm also incredibly intrigued by the fact that the returning weapons from Undying (a season about the Sol Divisive and the Black Garden) have returned with a new perk called nano-munitions: very Neomuna-sounding name. Perhaps certain Ishtar scientists are influencing the Vex or extending a helping hand to us.

The questions that remain: how does this tie back to the Ahamkara? Why are the Vex interested in the Ahamkara? What do the Ahamkara have to do with the Black Garden? What's with all the strange language terminology that deals with double meanings and ways to confuse? Is it just regular Ahamkara shenanigans to trick us? To trick the Vex? Maybe both?

The point is, I don't think this is as simple as Riven just being sad that all the Ahamkara are dead and wanting to secure her clutch. Nothing is ever simple with the Ahamkara and nothing is ever simple with the Vex; and now we're dealing with both. And somewhere in all of this, there is also a concerning involvement of the Black Garden that connects to both of these elements. At the end of it all, there's us, who rely on this specific combination of elements to get through the portal, pursue the Witness and save the universe.

Spreading the brain worms to the rest of y'all to think about. If you spot any other mission names, feel free to share, though I think that if they happen, they might happen in the coming weeks. Also as I mentioned before, I know there's been leaks and lore tabs unlocking early on Ishtar: I've not seen any leaks or cutscenes and have not read any lore tabs that aren't explicitly visible in-game so if there's a really simple answer in that leaked material, I don't know about it and don't want to know about it so please don't spoil to me or to others!

[violets-emotionalbreakdown]

Whooooo wants to bet that on some level, Caitlyn blames Vi for her mother's death bc it was Vi who begged for Jinx's life and it's easier to be mad at someone else than deal with your own guilt and culpability?

[makorragal-312]

3 Reasons Why Buck Could Be Golfing with Evil Mustache Man

It's some sort of dream or alternate reality (which I seriously doubt)

2. Buck is trying to get entail on Gerrard so that he can get fired, so he attempts to get close to the enemy (honestly, this option makes the most sense. No way in hell our boy would willingly hang out with that prick)

3. Tommy is taking Buck out on a golf date and end up running into Gerrard. And Tommy like a dumbass decides to invite him over to join them, much to Buck's annoyance and he ends up being forced to be cordial and tries to ignore him. (lowkey don't want this to happen, but could definitely see this happening)

[m4rs-ex3]

ok i say this both fully anticipating and honestly hoping for someone smarter than me to disagree, but imho: book 1 is rayla's, book 2 is callum's, and book 3 is ezran's. obviously they all have big moments in every season but if i had to nail it down i'd say that's about right. so far, i'd say book 4 is ezran's, and book 5 is callum's, so reversed.

all this to say GOD i want book 6 to be a rayla season

[sansacherie]

i have no idea if the alicent-rhaenyra reunion in episode 3 is actually happening. for many reasons, i try not to pay attention to leaks if i can help it, false or not.

but apparently its meant to take place in the sept and honestly, out of all the places to do it, the sept is really the only and best place for it.

on one hand, you could potentially have great call-backs to their younger selves in season 1 and demonstrate how much has changed this then.

and two more important- the only thing that would prevent realistically (barely) these women from tearing each other apart is knowing the sanctity of the place they're in. i don't think alicent would want to defile her place of worship with murder, even if its a murder she thinks is justified. (according to some of these leaks she partially blames rhaenyra for blood and cheese, which GOOD.) the same thing applies to rhaenyra. she does understand the importance of the faith to the seven kingdoms that she wants to rule, which is why she makes jacaerys and lucerys swear oaths under the seven that they will not engage in any fighting when she sends them off.

like we have to remember what a huge deal it was when joffrey decided to go script and behead ned stark at the sept of baelor. even though ned had just "confessed" to treason, the faith (and everybody who wasn't joffrey and co) was HORRIFIED by what joffrey had just done at such a holy place.

[thermoskind]

one thing that's been confusing and cracking me up about the torture scenes is how baffling the vibe is. like it fully looks like a party and my first assumption is something like the swede's bachelor party got crashed but i can also see the crew going down the list of party necessities and insisting that it's just not a proper pirate stag if you skimp on hiring good torturers.

[shaakyhaands]

You know, in hindsight…? It actually makes a lot of sense why s2 would be like this.

Neil has mentioned several times how he needed to “make Aziraphale and Crowley the stars of the show”, and how there needed to be conflict for “TV dramatics”.

If everything wrapped up nice and neat by the end of s2… what need would there be for a season 3?

No, no, no, no, no. Can’t have that. No, this is TV. And before it can get better, it first needs to get a whole lot worse.

No, s2 is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. Gutting us, the audience. Taking the mood from the end of s1, and getting it to where it needs to be for the start of a s3. And if s3 is going to be our happy ending? Where we’ll go from feeling low to feeling elevated? That means, for maximum dramatic effect, s2 has to end on as sad and heart-wrenching a note as possible.

Hang in there, y’all— for our spirits to be lifted, they must first be felled.

… Also don’t get me wrong, I was DESPERATELY HOPING S2 WAS GOING TO BE FLUFFY AND LOVELY AND SWEET ENOUGH TO ROT MY TEETH… but I had a sneaking suspicion something like this might’ve been more of the angle Neil was going to take. I’m really way too fucking soft, and can’t take angst, even if it’s for a good story. I just want the guys to be happy 😭 but Im just gonna trust Neil on this one

[greenqueenhightower]

ok so I saw that alicent is pregnant… and she'll give birth to Maelor or take moon tea and abort the baby…pls tell me that it’s all a bad dream :(

*Spoilers Ahead* Oh, dear anon, I wish I could tell you it’s all a bad dream 💚

I saw the leaks as soon as they came out and for days I’ve been discussing them with friends and mutuals. If it gives you any consolation, we know only that Alicent will feel her stomach in episode 4, ask the maester to prepare 🌙 ☕️ , and then drink it secretly. I’ve read all kinds of interpretations for this, but please be reminded that this is all we’ve got in terms of the leaks; the rest is speculation. Three scenarios are floating around:

a) Alicent takes the moon tea as a form of birth control. This implies that it’s not the first time she’s taken it, and it’s her regular habit to take some after she’s had sex with Criston. I think the way the scene is set up and delivered in episode 4 will determine whether Alicent has asked for moon tea before (What is her reaction? Does the maester seem to have prepared this before for her? Does he speak as if she’s asked him to make moon tea for the first time?).

b) Alicent takes moon tea as a form of abortion. The way “Alicent feeling her stomach” is interpreted is that her pregnancy is advanced (although idk how that can make sense given that Alicent and Criston have been having sex for a few weeks?) or that she fears she might be pregnant because she has failed to take moon tea this whole time and she might be experiencing the early symptoms of pregnancy like nausea, fatigue etc (which would make her pregnancy around 2-4 weeks, but certainly not at a stage when she can feel anything in terms of movement. Perhaps she’s touching her stomach out of concern and fear for what she has to do.)

c) Alicent takes the moon tea, but she stays pregnant nonetheless, and this pregnancy results in the birth of Maelor. The speculation gets wonky after that. I’ve read all kinds of things, that Alicent tries to kill herself by the lake as we see in the trailer (I’d hate that!) and even that she marries Larys to conceal the bastardy (since Criston’s vows as a white cloak are for life and they can’t get married, and if he’s found out to be the father he’ll be executed).

My overall reactions:

I would be fine with Alicent taking the moon tea as a form of birth control or abortion if the show does not melodramatize this moment or exploit it to give Alicent further reasons to resent herself and additional “sins” to atone for the whole season. Please, writers, let her move beyond that characterization and give us further insight into her psyche and a well-rounded portrayal of her character.

In case her pregnancy is advanced, taking the moon tea can be extremely dangerous (we know this because it almost killed Lysa) so I wouldn’t want to see this pain inflicted on her. We also know that there are religious qualms for those who adhere to the faith of the seven regarding moon tea (Margaery was convicted because Pycelle confessed he brewed her moon tea six times) so I wouldn’t want my girl to go on hating herself for something like that.

Most importantly, giving Alicent a bastard child and making Maelor a bastard would be character assassination for me. I’ve read that the writers might go down this lane for the Rhaenicent parallels and to further highlight the tragedy and her “hypocrisy” but it just doesn’t make sense to me. It also highly affects both Alicent’s and Maelor’s arcs in S3. Therefore, I am hesitant to believe that the writers would so deviate from canon to show us Alicent pregnant with baby Maelor. Does this mean they can’t if they want to? No, it doesn’t, but the chance, at least to me, is very slim.

I hope I’ve alleviated your fears somehow! Let us see what actually happens.

[stephy-sketches]

Baxter is going to bring Adam back from the dead just so Niffty can kill him again