#id LOVE it if they also kicked off the founding and the pantheon were significantly later additions to exandria than we all thought

[jocelynmakenna]

Ok who wants to hear my luxon/moon gods theory?

Wow you're still here? Okay let's get started.

Theory: the luxon (a being of light) and some unnamed being of darkness are the two gods locked in the moon prison.

"That's not a hot take" you say. Yes, correct. I have a lot of evidence though (because I'm fucking insane).

Let's start with what we know from Matt's explanation from the C2 wrap up (3:33:00ish). I will note, he specifically says this is a creation myth, so I am cherry picking data to fit my theory because it's a myth and I think it's fun. ANYWAYS!! Matt says the luxon is a being of light, born with the universe, and wants companionship. The luxon finds a cold rock and embraces it with its light etc etc. The one thing I will note here specifically, is that Matt notes that the luxon desires to bring life to this cold dead rock (exandria) but when it does so, the elements erupt into chaos. So, my thought is that when the luxon/this being of light shows up to exandria, the cold darkness it is met with is some other being, a being of darkness, and once it embraces the world, the clashing of the light and the dark is what causes the elements to erupt.

For a more sane (and probable) ending to this set up, the light and the dark are fighting. The luxon creates life by giving sentience to the primordials, but life isn't good because 2 opposite forces are at war. So when the wandering gods show up and kick start the founding, the luxon and the darkness are still fighting and they are threatening their precious creations/paper dolls. So the gods lock up the gods in the moon to save their creations.

"But what about the beacons!?!?" I hear you screaming and crying about. Well, the kryn believe that the luxon split itself into the beacons in hopes one day sentience would form and reassemble it so it could have an introspective moment. I simply think that's a WILD FUCKING PLAN so let's talk about some theories. First, we need to establish a timeline of WHEN people got the beacons. According to the kryn, it's implied it's pre-founding, but I don't think that's right. See in the exu intros, the stained glass only show events that have already happened. In exu prime and kymal, the beacon glass floats above a pair of hands, as humans have the beacons. BUT in the calamity intro, the beacon floats on its own, no hands. Through everything I've seen, the beacons may not have gotten into human hands until the calamity started! (If u look at aeor's timeline, it fits. Their experimentation with it could have started post calamity kick off). So assuming that I'm interpreting the beacon imagery correctly, humans get the beacons during the calamity...

I think there's two options for the beacons.

1) the kryn were more correct in timeline. When the luxon and the darkness were locked in the moon, either both of them or just the light, split themselves (or got split up) into beacons that were then hidden from the people as they were just too powerful. They weren't found until the calamity because the gods had Other Things to deal with.

2) the kryn were less correct in time. This has less evidence but man it's fun. Imagine, if you will, a being of light and a being of darkness, trapped in a prison with a city of your most loyal followers. And you look upon the planet you once called home and you see these invaders. Gods that were not from here, that locked you away to play with their toys, destroying your home. What do you do? You break parts of your power, just small enough to get through the gate that surrounds your prison. A gift to the people who call your planet home. A way to literally rewrite the fabric of reality, to change time, to change the odds in their favor.

Does option #2 make sense given what we have? Not entirely, but it doesn't break canon at all. But I do want to keep going on this thread, if the kryn and vasselhiem and the collective history of exandria is fundamentally different than what we know. Do I think what I'm about to type is going to happen? Probably not, because narratively, it probably won't be as satisfying, but it would certainly be something.

Let's start at the beginning. Darkness on exandria, luxon shows up, fighting between the luxon and the darkness causes elements to go sicko mode and perhaps the creation of the primordials via the luxon's influence and want of sentient life. Here's where we get into the red thread conspiracy theory: the luxon is also responsible for the founding. The humanoid species of exandria come into existence at this time, with the only divinity being from the luxon and the darkness. The world isn't great, the primordials are stirring up shit, the gods are constantly fighting, so a bunch of people form a cult of some kind (perhaps referring to each other as brother and sister). They use an apogee solstice to ascend to godhood and lock the old gods into their own prison.

I'm sure you think there are plot holes here but let's walk through some stuff. First off, this idea came from zerxus's line in calamity that said basically that humans were always here (on exandria), that the gods never created, they just came and shaped. That humans/humanoids weren't created by the gods, perhaps by something much older. But if you think that the most kind gods would know enough to know that their story is a lie and perhaps give hints to followers about the truth should it save their lives, I offer you a different line from calamity. Brennan says as the Lord of the hells, that he no longer remembers his brother (the old god of death's) name. That somehow, the power of ascension of a mortal was enough to rewrite the memory of a god. This could mean that when the pantheon ascended, that they literally rewrote EVERYONE'S memories, including their own.

Do I think that these theories I have word barfed here are correct? Maybe? I don't think all of them are off base, though some probably more than others. I think a mix of things could happen, ie the luxon and darkness being the ones to kick start the founding and the pantheon was a later addition to exandria. Or that the beacons were later additions but the gods were humans and ascended.

Some fun stuff to theorize about I'd love to know y'all's thoughts (aka the 3 people that are actually gonna read this I'm so sorry this is so long).