#mastermind theory

[atrociousgargamelitis]

Hey, I have a theory. You know how in the trailer we see Blitzø looking at his memories from his own POV, probably in the Mastermind episode?

What if other characters see their memories too? Specifically, what if Stolas see his own memories as well?

What if he sees everytime he looked down on Blitzø that he doesn't remember? Or that he does remember, but they just look and feel so different in hindsight? Everytime Blitzø flinched at hearing the "Blitzy" petname and everytime he looked visibly uncomfortable?

Could this be the way Stolas becomes aware of his unconscious and deeply rooted classism?

[darkspellmaster]

I have a couple questions if you don’t mind?

1. Why do you ship Lizzy n ciel?/gen. I personally don’t ship them since they’re cousins and it could be considered a proship based on that-

2. Do you believe in the r!ciel is the mastermind theory?/gen

As interesting as it is, I don’t personally believe in it. But I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

I'm gonna answer two first because I thought a lot about it.

2. I think R!Ciel is and isn't the mastermind. What I mean is that I think he was part of the reason for the death of Vincent and Rachel, and why it happened, but he's also the victim of his own hubris and his actions as a child.

I honestly believe that R!Ciel has some sort of brother complex with O!Ciel. Every line he says regarding O!Ciel has an undercurrent of something being not okay with him allowing his brother space to be his own person. He's codependent in a lot off ways. When O!Ciel said he should play with Lizzie, R!Ciel basically told him he'd rather stay in and play with him. The going to the lake, it was clear that R!Ciel wanted to stay home too and felt sad when told to go with the family to have fun. He goes out of his way to get him stuff to help his cough (though that could also be him trying to make O!Ciel sick, but I doubt that), and we've seen that he insists on taking pictures and doesn't like it when O!Ciel leaves his side. The two biggest ones though is the Chapter where Dee is making food with R!Ciel and Vincent and when Vincent mentions Weston and having house brothers, R!Ciel gets this look in his eyes that is just blackness as he says that he doesn't want fake brothers. Then there was his whole freak out when O!Ciel told him he wanted to be a toy shop owner in London and insisted that he was going to do it too. My honest to god guess is that R!Ciel was convinced somehow, probably at a party, that the best thing to do was get rid of his father so that he could be Earl and order O!Ciel to stay with him. As he told O!Ciel even if he has Lizzie there he would rather be with him. Because Sebastian, the dog, was tied up, I think it would have had to have been R!Ciel, or someone the dog trusted and clearly he was locked up so he wouldn't be hurt. This is where I think R!Ciel comes in for being the Mastermind. My guess is that after his talk with Rachel, he realized that the only way to get what he wanted was to get his father out of the picture. He probably didn't want his mother to die, but she seems to have gotten in the way of the attack. I don't think he killed the dog either. What I think is that our main big bad came up with a way to kidnap Vincent, or told R!Ciel that was the plan, or at the very least intended to harm Vincent. The deal probably was that the person would make sure he and his brother would be together forever. So R!Ciel agreed, let the persons in, after locking up the dog, and probably attacked Tanaka when Tanaka caught him and realized what was going on. The person I think behind all of this is Viscount Druitt. He's in every important arc, either in person, a part of it, or mentioned. In the Red butler arc he was a suspect, in Curry arc he's a judge, in the Campania arc he's part of the Aurora society and tries to become an emperor. In Weston he's the way that Derrek Arden is alive. In the Green Witch he's show to be a Prefect and went to school with Vincent, Dee and the mysterious Violet House Prefect. (By the way Yana tends to like to hide things behind word balloons I've noticed or covering the eyes). We haven't seen him in the Blue Revenge or Blue Memory arc yet, but he'll likely show up at some point. So my money is on him manipulating everything from behind the scenes for some reason. 1. There's a lot of reasons I ship Lizzie and Ciel. The main one being I actually like how their personalities click. Ciel respects and cares about Lizzie. He's amazed by her and probably was a bit jealous of his twin due to their relationship, though he never seemed to show it. We know Ciel can get upset and jealous when it comes to Lizzie as he broke a damn vase when he couldn't draw her into the show. He's gone back for her and protected her a number of times: The bear, and the boat are the top two in the manga. Plus standing up for her at other points too.

Not only that but he also helped her to come out of her shell after the Campania and be her strong self as well. He lets her hug him and Sebastian pointed out that he only sleeps well when she's around.

Lizzie has shown protection for him too. In the Campania, rooting for him during the cricket match. And in the Demon Six issue she fought with Charles Grey to stop him from going after Ciel. So we know that she cares deeply about him. She brings out the best in O!Ciel and in turn he brings out the best in her.

Another reason I'm okay with the shipping is that traditionally in nobility it was common place to marry your first cousin. Queen Victoria and her husband Albert were first cousins. Several members of the royal family have married distant cousins over the years, even the late Queen Elizabeth and her husband prince Phillip were cousins. So that isn't something that bothers me. The way I see it it's following the tradition and it makes sense for the siblings to have Lizzie be with R!Ciel since the boy doesn't seem to be able to defend himself very well . And it would make sense for Lizzie to protect O!Ciel from others due to his illness. She nearly beat Sebastian until he had to go harder on her and she held up to one of his punches well enough that she was able to speak before passing out. The Girl broke glass with her sword going through it! I think she'd be a good defender to him. Lastly, I sort of see the pairing as maybe yana's way of doing the snow Queen. In a side chapter we've already seen Lizzie as Gerta, who is looking for her best friend Kai, who was taken by the snow Queen. Kai in this case, is Ciel, and the Queen is Sebastian. If you know anything about the story then you know that part of the tale is about two friends growing up to be adults through various adventures to find one another. Or Gerta to find Kai. Also Ciel has the mark on his right eye, the same place the Queen put an ice shard in Kai's eye to make him follow her. There's also the fact that Sebastian calls her the child of the sun, and one of the aspects about her is that Lizzie melts Ciel. So that's another reason why I ship them. As for the pro vs anti shipping thing, I tend to stay out of it. I'm not a fan of Ciel x Sebastian because he's a demon that wants to eat him, and it's strange to pair them up. But I'm not going to dictate to anyone who they can and can't ship. I'm very old school in the ship and let ship mindset. If I'm not a fan of the pairing I just move on, unless the story is just that good and then I'll skip over the pairing I don't like. Simple as that. I have nothing against people that don't like the Lizzie x Ciel pairing, just as I hope others don't have issue with my liking of it. Hope that answers your questions.

[demodraws0606]

Guys...I think Whit is the culprit.

Sorry guys this is gonna be a long one

You know I'm a big believe of Whit mastermind theory and depending on how the trial goes he could still be the mastermind despite being the culprit but uhm...

Mf has like an 80 pourcent chance of being the culprit

My theory of Levi being the culprit kinda has went down the drain though i'm not really that upset about it because it was admitidely the most generic route.

I still do not buy for a second Eden is the culprit mainly because it contradicts a lot of her behaviors and also is only really based on one piece of evidence that could be explained by something else.

I think the most credible option to me right now, is Whit, especially because with how certain things are laid out for us we can actually make out a concrete motive for why Whit would do this.

I'm gonna write down what I think and explain why I believe Whit is most likely the culprit (also i'll deal with a couple of holes and explain why the theory still works alongside them) and also i'll use a couple of speculations made by other people as well

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think it's known by everyone that the way Whit's secret was revealed is extremely strange, for like two reasons.

One, it means that it's impossible for anyone (including Whit himself, we'll get into that later) to have known what Whit's secret was, or to confirm it with certainty in the trial. We only have Whit's word for it.

Second, Whit takes a very strange amount of time until saying what secret he has, like right after Hu denied to say which secret she has. Which is extremely weird because if his life was so uneventful wouldn't he have managed to pick out a secret as blatant as this.

I thought this would be meant as a red herring to put suspicions on Whit however with Levi revealing his secret and this loose thread still not being addressed, I think it has to be important to the case at hand.

Now, despite people pointing this out every analysis that tries to handle this kinda goes into a brick wall because it immediatly assumes that Whit is lying about the dead mother secret being his. However there's too much pointing towards Whit having the dead mom secret.

No, I think we're going about this the wrong way. It's not about us not knowing what Whit's secret was, it's that Whit had no idea what secret actually was his

In fact that's mentionned before trial on how Whit just didn't know WHAT his secret even was, and no one could really tell him what it was because Rose threw it away

But that's weird right ? You would think Whit would know that his dead mother would be the likely secret, you could argue he just didn't want to share with everyone but that still doesn't explain the strange amount of time until he revealed he had Rose's secret.

And if he didn't want to share that his mom was dead, why did he let everyone the opportunity to say if they had his secret and to spill the beans...

Unless things are more complicated than just Whit having a dead mom, after all if it was just that wouldn't he have known immediatly that was his secret ? After all Teruko had the same issue as well as she didn't know what her secret could actually even be.

You could argue that I put my back against the wall here. If Whit not knowing his secret was his motive as to why he commited the murder then why did he let a bunch of people the opportunity to air out a potentially incriminating secret. Wouldn't that mean he wasn't worried about it ?

However, you have to keep in mind Whit had no idea how bad the secrets were, the only secrets that was revealed was J's which in retrospect of other secrets seemed like a much lighter one.

You could argue "Well Whit had David's secret which was pretty bad" however despite how bad that secret was it was also very vague and since Whit didn't know how much about David it doesn't really mean much on how deep the secrets were.

Considering Whit's personality as well, it was possible he was in denial or some deeper reason as to why he wasn't thinking about it. "Bitter things need to go down the drain" and all that.

In fact Whit was one of the first ones to say they shouldn't reveal their secret before J's secret was immediatly revealed.

I also don't think Whit being in denial has to be rooted in logic either (especially with how inconcistent he seems to be about the secrets), the murder was commited right before the deadline and although there was planning behind it, it was still a last minute decision (aka not done immediatly during the day of the motive reveal). You could argue pressure got to him or he overthought it as it became increasingly clear how much deeper the secrets went and how much the people who set this game up knew about them (something Whit investigated himself).

I think the way Whit acted about the secrets is too contradictory to really use any of what he says as actual evidence against the secrets not being his motive basically.

Now, let's go into the other point and how it works with the potential motive, the speculation that Arei was waterboarded.

Yeah, this seems to hint heavily that this is what happened and Arei's actual cause of death would be by drowning instead of strangulation like expected.

But why not strangulation ?? Why do a technique that is much harder to kill Arei, unless they were trying to get something out of drowning her. I mean we don't technically know if it was actual waterboarding but considering how planned this murder was and how we do actually have pieces of clothing that would serve for waterboarding, it seems to be likely.

(I'm not exactly sure how it stuck together with the starch afterwards but considering how the playground's ventilation works it's possible it dried up quickly) (There's also Arei's missing glove if you don't believe Teruko and Hu's clothing where used for it)

There's also no reason to drown her instead of strangling her with the rope unless there was another justification for it. But the episode actively goes out of it's way to say that there probably wasn't an attempt at tricking people into thinking the murder happened during 7:30 PM.

Anyways, why would the culprit waterboard Arei then ??? Clearly this means they were trying to get information out of her...

Which makes 0 sense unless it was Whit who would at least have a small justification for it, aka him not knowing what his secret is. I do admit it is a bit blurry on what type of information Whit would've truly wanted or why he did this before just killing her. However out of anyone (that already isn't pretty much confirmed innocent) it would only make sense for it to be him.

Now onto other stuff unrelated to the secret thing, like how unhelpful Whit has been this trial to a suspicious degree. AKA :

-Trying to distract away from the letter framing Eden and then just throwing her under the bus immediatly when he's questioned about it.

-Refusing to reveal David's secret

-Coincidentally having an excuse for not seeing Arei's body swaying

Now all of these could be argued to be in character reasons, after all didn't he do something like that chapter 1 with Charles (kind of). However this is a new level of trial interferance that really isn't justifiable at a certain point.

You could argue "well wouldn't talking about the note and David's secret be useful to make them seem guilty"' and while that'd be right to an extent. However everytime Whit witholds something like with Eden and David, he seems to cave eventually so the only thing he has achieved in this trial so far is to stall for time. Which could potentially be intentional if he's the culprit.

Now that I've kinda covered the major points, here are a list of suspicious things, mostly things that Whit knew before I get to my final point (how this would fit the narrative this chapter).

(I do wanna say most of this things isn't technically necessary info that the culprit needed to know but it definitely helps).

Whit was present during Teruko and Hu changing, meaning he would have known about their old clothes and could have found out where to get them.

Whit was present during the fight in the cafeteria, which is when Arei demanded to have her rope thrown away leading to Mono-TV putting it in storage

(Eden was busy helping J and Arturo so only Teruko, Charles and Whit could've known this information by listening in)

Whit also is the reason David is in the relaxation room leading to his conversation with Arei although idk how much of that would even possibly be planned or how that would help him, still important to note though.

There is probably more I could say however I want to get to my last point, I do think Whit being the culprit fits this case more than anyone else.

I know the question of the tape is still unanswered, if Eden did take it wouldn't that mean she is the culprit ? Well I don't think so but overall I just don't think this one singular piece of evidence is enough to say Eden's the culprit especially if we look at the bigger picture.

I'm probably just repeating the same things people probably have heard already but Eden committing such a gruesome murder for pratically no motive at all (outside getting out but it would make the secret motive useless) just doesn't really make sense.

However it is true that from what the title of this chapter suggests "all that glitters (is not gold)", it would mean a character isn't as innocent/good as they seem.

But wouldn't that title make more sense with Whit ?

Eden and Whit both are seemingly the positive vibes character of the cast, both being seemingly "normal". However Whit's positivity is a lot more toxic than Eden's, cracking jokes at innapropriate time and seeming to not let himself show even negative emotions (contrary to Eden who has let herself be upset multiple times).

Narratively speaking, Whit being the culprit, would put Charles in a similar situation to Teruko perhaps deepening their bond further without having Teruko going through a regression arc (she was way closer to Eden than she was with Whit).

It would allow Eden's message to not be lost/contradicted while also going with the apparent theme of the chapter that things aren't as they seem.

And also "all that glitters is not gold" would be a very smart saying for Whit, the one who died his hair blond (would be a very fun double meaning)

[blitzsicedcoffee]

Okay Lets Settle This as a Group:

[loveteruko]

small spoilers for new drdt episode

hey HEY HEAR ME OUT ON THIS BIT

remember when people in the fandom were making a big deal out of those dents in the wall, theorising a lot about their origin and meaning?

call me delusional, but i call bs on whit just tripping and monotv, the mascot of the killing game, letting it slide because "it was funny". i don't think the purpose of these dents was just being a punchline to a joke that apparently happened off screen. (unless this was always a red herring and drdt dev was keeping the theorists busy to shock us all with something else later, which i also find delightful)

but what if we put this somehow strange whit moment on our evidence board next to all the other times where whit said or did something seemingly insignificant, but also suspicious as fuck, and we put our tin foil hats on, and then we reread that one whit mastermind theory post and what if and

[beatrix33]

so I noticed something in this shot from the trailer

We’ve never scene Stolas in this outfit his normal clothes are red but I’m almost positive that’s not what he’s wearing in this shot because if you look at either version of this outfit it’s pretty clear it’s not that.

Because even without the cape the shirt he is wearing has red sleeves and no white or gold accents. I do think an argument could be made that he is wearing his apology tour fit since that does include a red long sleeve top without accents but here’s why I don’t think he is:

In the first picture Stolas is wearing black pants and the shirt is low cut to show of his slutty chest feathers. The second shot his pants look much closer to what he wore prior to his booty shorts/romper phase, also the shirt has a turtle neck. When I first noticed this I was like oh cool new Stolas fit love that.but then I realized:

Stolas is not wearing a cape here this is important because capes are typically a sign of royalty and his lack of a cape could signify that he has been cast out be the Goetia family. This theory is further backed up by the fact that blitzø is protecting him from a threat and as far as I can see he is not being bound by belssed ropes so there is no reason for him not to be using his powers unless he DOSENT HAVE THEM ANYMORE because he was cast out of the family. Anyways I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how he will probably be cast out of the goetia family and lose his powers, but I haven’t seen anyone mention this so I thought I’d put it out there as some added evidence to this theory.

[raywhitfield92]

I'd like to share my theories for the last two episodes for season two of Helluva Boss.

I think Mastermind will be about Andreaphus' plan.

It sounds awful but i truly believe the succubus at the party actually kidnaps Stolas and takes him to Andreaphus' castle. He keeps him there so he cannot show up to the divorce hearing, as i think this courtroom will be where they announce the divorce.

Stolas doesnt show up which is bad for his image, seeing as he cannot defend himself. The sins decide to take a vote which unanimously is in favour of stripping Stolas of his powers and giving it to octavia, who can be exploited by Andreaphus, who wants the grimoire.

Sinsmas i think will be a complete battle between the sins and the Ars goetia, who are for or against whatever was decided in the courtroom.

Vissagio who can see the past and future might warn Blitz somehow that Stolas is being kept hostage. He uses the crystal to get into the palace where he sees the succubus guarding Stolas with the sword we see Blitz holding in the trailer. Blitz will feel guilty for letting Stolas go with him and he will have to kill him and take the sword.

The battle accumilates outside where they are targeted by Satan and Andreaphus, however defended by Ozzie and Vassagio. Stolas has no powers now so he is helpless and being shielded by Blitz, who has a sword which he doesn't know what it does (maybe its powerful against royalty?)

I feel like after the battle or somewhere in between it, Stolas tries to take Octavia home but as she's said before it doesnt feel like home anymore and she blames Stolas for ruining it. she stays with Stella and Andreaphus for now, not knowing the truth about them both.

Stolas is heartbroken and weak, Blitz takes him to his own house as now his home isn't safe anymore. whatever happens with Blitz' business will now determine what happens with Stolas, because i think Blitz is going to keep his word and hire Stolas, maybe in season 3?

Then Blitz has a whole other problem with being in close proximity to the one he loves but being careful around him and not rushing anything as he feels like a failure to Octavia.

And here is where Stolas will get his epiphany as to why Blitz felt used by him. when he realizes the difference in class as he has to learn to live as a commoner he will see the mis communications he caused Blitz.

(I'm dyslexic so sorry if I've butchered some of these names)

[legend-of-cupcake]

Tsukasa works FOR Sakura

Now this is very likely me just being slow and not connecting the dots until now, but chapter 109 has made me realise that Tsukasa is not the one in charge of the "destroy all yorishiros" plan... It's Sakura.

It's this line here that's made me finally see the light, Tsukasa has to "help Sakura, by destroying the yorishiro." He is not actively desiring the yorishiro to be destroyed, he's just doing his part in the plan. In chapter 106, he wasn't even phased that Nene didn't want to destroy the yorishiro and the only reason he persisted was because it was "his job."

Even way back in chapter 93, Sumire describes Sakura as the one No. 6 serves. Sakura gave him the job of destroying his own yorishiro, not Tsukasa.

Sakura is the one who wants the yorishiros destroyed, she's been trapped inside the school for 100 years and is tired of it. She wants to leave whatever duty is keeping her bound

And she is more than willing to make sacrifices to make her wish come true

Sakura is behind everything, she is the reason that Tsukasa was freed from where he was trapped (very likely Hanako's boundary).

She is also the one altering the rumours.

Tsukasa, as cunning and intelligent as he may be, is probably a bit too impulsive to be the brains behind the entire operation. His intense curiosity for things would likely get in the way, no matter how well he means or how serious he's being.

And again, it's clear Tsukasa is not as invested in destroying the yorishiros as we are initially led to believe. Again, he really doesn't mind that Nene no longer wants to destroy yorishiros anymore

In fact, it's Natsuhiko who worries Nene won't destroy them. Keep in mind Natsuhiko is 100% loyal to Sakura and not necessarily to Tsukasa. If this was Tsukasa's plan, I doubt he would be worrying over whether Nene will keep doing her part as the kannagi

The only reason we even initially thought this was all Tsukasa's doing, was because Sakura painted a picture that she was in a similar situation to Nene.

Sakura gives the impression that she can't go against Tsukasa, that he is her master. But that can't be right, because we know Sakura was the one who appointed the 7 mysteries in the first place. And she was also the one who freed Tsukasa, so how could he be the "master" in this relationship?

I think, Sakura said all this to gain Nene's trust.

Nene, being the modern kannagi, is absolutely vital in the plan to destroy the yorishiros. So having her trust Sakura would help out immensely.

So overall, whether it's the price he's paying for having been freed-- or for some other reason entirely-- it's quite clear to me now that Tsukasa is not the one in charge of the "destroy the 7 mysteries" plan. He's absolutely a major key player, with his cunning and curious mind clearly being an advantage (figured out the fastest and easiest route to stopping time so he could access the clock-keeper's boundary with Nene). But he is doing all of this to help Sakura, it's not for himself.

[x-kiwi-03]

He'll just start over huh?? *shaking bc it's all coming to together*

I don't think it ment he'd transfer All for One to the closest hero but rather use one of his 'spares' to take another route in his plan.

We keep getting reminded of Chisaki. His quirk being the foundation of Decay, Deku losing his arms, him showing up in Shigaraki's mind-place. I think this is intentional on Horikoshi's part, trying to stir up some wonder on where Chisaki is and why he just sorta disappeared.

Chisaki's a bit of a mystery, we don't know who his true parents are, we don't know how he ended up in the doctor's facility, or how Afo knew he was another soul tainted by the unjust hero system.

"That one boy" I'll be honest, this could easily be about Dabi. But why not say "Dabi", the doctor was already talking about him using his name. That whole dialog sorta feels like a warning about another. (I put the whole panel for y'all to interpret yourself if you wanna. First of three⬇️) Not to mention the doctor's wording, "didn't buy what we were selling", Kai's whole arc was about getting people to buy what he was selling.

Not to mention this checks out with Chisaki's personality. He's known to be deviant like Dabi, to go off and do what he thinks is best despite what others say. A lot of people speculate that Kai ran away from the doctor's facility, and that's when the yakuza boss found him. The yakuza boss and crime facility that's said to be the only thing he likes, and he lost it all because he believed he knew better.

Now stay with me on this one...

Chisaki needed to lose his independent personality (or, in better terms, Afo needed Chisaki to lose his independent personality). Kai needed to go through and lose everything he valued because of this independent behavior so he would grow to hate and shun that part of himself. This would make him vulnerable to someone's words; "Let me lead you", "You never do anything right yourself", "You need guidance, I can guide you".

If/once Chisaki finds out the boss is dead and it's naturally all his fault, that'll be his true breaking point and when he's at his most vulnerable. I've literally been saying this for years, Kai is the perfect target for Afo's fresh start.

Horikoshi's been talking about a sequel, who knows if he'll actually make it or how long it'll be when he does. But I really hope that he'll up the rating so his managers will let him go more indepth with his villains like he said he wanted to.😭

[daisyswift3]

UMM so cruel summer and a lot of other songs are making a lotttt more sense now that I’ve realized the “devil” that Taylor keeps referring to is actually the music industry as a whole thanks to @keepingsecretstokeepyoutk (see this post). “He looks up grinning like a devil” // “I would’ve stayed on my knees and I damn sure never would’ve danced w the devil AT 19” // “Dear reader if you aim at the devil make sure you don’t miss.” Do you remember the Top Global Artist vid that spotify released that had cruel summer as the background song and had a bunch of cruel summer references? Yeah go back and watch that again w this context in mind 😃 Taylor (the angel) has had enough of the games and is gonna end them once and for all which is very Katniss Everdeen of her—hello the archer 🏹 if any of you have read or watched the hunger games you know how the story ends

And you'll also remember that Katniss escapes the games twice by cheating--the first time w poison berries and the second time by destroying the arena itself (which was a clock) WITH itself using a lightning strike current at midnight that shot thru her arrow -> "And there was one prize I'd cheat to win." Not to mention Katniss was the mockingjay, a symbol of rebellion and resistance. And the fire symbolism in this trilogy was meant to represent how that rebellion can spread from a spark of hope. Snow lands on top but fire melts snow. Taylor is a huge hunger games fan so I wouldn't be surprised at all if these parallels were intentional. Also I'm not the first one to notice the hunger games connections, I saw some other gaylors point this out so I can't take full credit for that

“You play stupid games you win stupid prizes” // “Devils roll the dice” // "Baby let the games begin" // The scrabble instagram post // The mastermind chess board // "You see all the wisest women had to do it this way, cause we were born to be the pawn in every lover's game" // "No more keeping score now I just keep you warm. No more tug of war now I just know there's more"

I think it's possible Taylor knew that her masters were gonna be sold hence all the game imagery and songs abt heartbreak on lover

She's literally gonna take down the industry as a whole and expose everything. This is the reason for all the cryptic messages and meticulous planning. AND THIS IS WHAT THE ALBATROSS IS ABT TOO. “She’s the albatross she is here to destroy you.” They tried to keep her locked away in cages and towers and closets and tried taming her and pulling out her teeth but it didn’t work

“Devils that you know raise worse hell than a stranger” SHE’S the devil now and she’s abt to make their lives a living hell

“She’s the death you chose” i.e. the music industry chose to kill Taylor (which is why TTPD is a post-mortem album) so now she’s coming back to haunt them hence the ghostly Victorian attire. “We gather here we line up weeping in a sunlit room and if I’m on fire you’ll be made of ashes too.” THIS is the karma she’s talking abt that will happen at midnight!!

“You’ll see me in hindsight tangled up w you all night burning it down”

I am the APPARITION. I am the LINE OF POETRY. THAT’S TAYLOR. SHE’S THE GHOST WRITING POST-MORTEM POETRY

Literally feel like I am abt to explode from all the earth-shattering revelations I’ve just had

[fatherfigurefusion]

Everyone’s always talking about DRDT mastermind yaoi, but where are my mastermind queerplatonic yuri appreciators (J/Rose)?

[tackletofset]

My wishlist for Dark Rise #3

(more to be added/ subject to change)

Anharion POV chapters

James dressing himself in Red

James aragases Will's "magic door"

Will regains Sarcean's memories (and finds out that the Collar doesn't take away James's free will)

Violet betrays Cyprian to serve Will (foreshadowed by Devon in book 1)

Will and James visiting Sarcean and Anharion’s tomb

Flashback on Sarharion pseudo-wedding (ft. the Collar) (just like the cuff exchange in Captive Prince)

The Returners and white death were revealed to be coming from the Lady/ the Sun King, not Sarcean

Cyprian, Visander and Elizabeth GROVEL at Will's feet for forgiveness

Will goes on full Dark King but using his powers to save everyone

Visander and Philip consummating their marriage honeymoon

[haine-kleine]

Fulfilling my quota of Touyadoomposting by going back to this theory and expanding it. This is mostly a crack theory except instead being funny everything is just horrible lololol

Ok so as silly as the Tenko's entire life being orchestrated by AFO pretty much since he was born reveal was, it also gave us the fact AFO used to have drinking dates with his father specifically for the purpose of making him as abusive to Tenko as possible.

Combine this with the weirdly OOC fact that Enji gave up on achieving the number one place at the ripened age of 20. Sure, Allmight's shining beacon of hope and strength may have been a source of great jealousy for a young and upcoming number two pro hero but come on now. 20 is still a teenager, why are you giving up without even trying.

Enji's admirable hero quality is determination.

No matter how insecure he secretly was, giving up at 20, with a perfectly healthy body, and putting all of his determination into making a kid with a quirk stronger than his own and making that kid achieve his dream in his place, is not even backwards logic, it makes absolutely no sense. Enji is not even one of the quirks obsessed characters, he has never been interested in anyone's quirk besides his own and his sons'. Despite his weakness (overheating), he is all about pushing through and overcoming it. To put this shortly, Enji is dumb as a shoe a very single-minded person. This is simply not someone who would entertain such concepts as perfect quirks or eugenics.

You know who does though? Yeah, this guy.

Enji is ruled by his emotions and has tragically low emotional intelligence. This makes him very susceptible to manipulations. And AFO is one hell of a manipulator. A villain obsessed with destroying Allmight and the number two hero who dreams of throwing Allmight off his pedestal. Why wouldn't AFO seek him out? If he saw that seed of self-doubt and carefully nurtured it, Enji giving up despite being so young would start making sense. Enji seeking out a quirk marriage would also make sense (I refuse to believe this man is the only one who came up with this idea in the entire manga). He clearly didn't know what he was doing.

Even choosing a Himura as a candidate for his little eugenics experiment would start making sense if it was actually AFO's suggestion. The Himuras are famous for their strong ice quirks, and Enji's goal was creating a heir whose heat tolerance would be higher than his. This is basic logic. Having babies with a woman who has an ice quirk and is vulnerable to heat won't land you any kids with a fire tolerance higher than your own. He set himself up for failure, they all came out like Touya

Granting Enji's logical thinking abilities the benefit of doubt, we look the other way and spot Garaki being involved in this case. AFO wanting to see what would come out of genetically combining strong ice and fire quirks just for the sake or his curiousity makes so much more sense than Enji being unable to comprehend his choice for the quirk marriage wasn't even fit for his goal. Touya did eventually end up in AFO and Garaki's child laboratory, which was the purpose of Garaki fronting as a quirks doctor for kids. And Enji was in contact with Garaki since Touya was 4 years old.

Also makes for such an evil irony that Touya's trauma stems from him seeking a reason for his existence and not finding one. And the entire reason for his very birth is just AFO being a cold-blooded quirkist manipulator

[bleucaesura]

I would like to know what Blitzø is leaving on the D.H.O.R.K.S’s desk.

Tossing it out there: an invitation.

Stay with me…

Mayhaps - the Cherubs screw over the D.H.O.R.K.S somehow (perhaps they want to kill Blitzø and team but the Agents want to capture and study them - as indicated by the big’ol tube chambers in the background) and when the team-up inevitably fails (cuz Blitzø always triumphs lol) IMP/Blitzø gives Agent One & Two an invitation to team up with THEM instead.

The Agents look tired and defeated. They don’t look (too) shocked and defensive when Blitzø appears. I’d also like to venture that Agent one looks pleasantly surprised - dare I say ‘hopeful’? And Blitzø just puts this little card on the desk and finger guns them (like the smarmy fuck he is 🤣).

Eh? Whatcha think?

Addition: personal head canon - I like to think that the big green button is for the “Bitch Juice” and Agent One is ready to flood the room after their soul crushing defeat 😅

[strixop]

umm hi drdtumblr pls rb if you have an addition to this!!!!

okay okay so this is spur of the moment because my brain is disintegrating but like??? whit. right? theories about who he is, if he’s the mastermind, etc. aside, he has this habit of saying stuff that????? are 110% allusions to stuff he SHOULDNT know abt??????? always in a ‘oh boy i did NOT realize that the first time i watched this’ kinda way too (examples below)

chapter 2, ep. 7 ‘hanging out’

this is easily the most notable mention imho, references to DDLC aside, for all intents and purposes this is definitely?? a red flag???? given that area was in the playground HANGED??? the only real reasons i could think of is if he’d already seen the body, been the culprit, or the mastermind, and tbh i don’t think he’d be either of the first two 😭

chapter one, ep. 8 ‘prophetic dreams’

tbh this is WHY i’m making this post bc after i finished rewatching chapter 2 early i wanted to rewatch chapter one again right???? and okay u can have whatever thoughts abt mastermind BUT some of my personal favorites are the whit ones which just. make me at least pay attention to him right? and so i’m mid trail and realize he says THIS!!! a subtle but DIRECT reference to the mai dream!!!!!! like!!!!!!!!!

look i get that these two things alone don’t necessarily mean much BUT i’m convinced that they mean something and that i’ve probably missed out/forgotten some other similar bits like this!!!! this is where i ask u to help!!! if you’re rewatching too, or if you remember a specific moment like this, PLEASE reblog abt it! i feel like this is sm important!!!!!

[bamfwizard]

I've posted a few times about it on and off, but I have a concrete theory that I need to repost for how Viktor's side of Arcane S2 will pan out.

[SPOILERS, duh.]

I've been researching since 2021 because I REFUSED to believe that Sky would be introduced just for her to die for the sake of progressing Viktor's arc. and now that S2 has been released, the details that Act 1 peppered in have only further led me to go down this stupid, obscure Runeterra lore rabbit hole.

so there's a Chembaron in the Legends of Runeterra lore named Corina (sometimes called Corina, Mastermind; sometimes called Corina Veraza). she shares a lot in common with Sky in that she's a talented scientist, a born Zaunite, and really just looks SUPER similar. (also, the scars on the side of her face in her LoR art seem to mimic a certain Arcane character's current form.....something related to a Hexcore incident.....but hey, call me crazy.)

not only is she a scientist, she's a botanist. something that aligns with Sky's later work, as she was experimenting on plants in her attempts to help Viktor. which brings me to her talents being a foil to Viktor and Jayce's work, as per this quote from her wiki.

so she looks almost the exact same and has the same talents. pfft. ok. but the introduction of The Grey and the importance of the Chembarons in S2 really solidify the possibility of Sky being Corina for me. one of Corina's main objectives is her creation of a flower that feeds off of the Zaun Grey and clears the pollution, which, again, holds similarities to Sky's work in trying to help Viktor.

oh, and I think it's important to add that Corina is a major rival and enemy of Caitlyn.

so do I think that all of that lore would stay the same if Corina were to come into the world of Arcane as Sky? no. and do I have any clue how they exactly would/will bring her to life as a character rather than a hallucination? nope. but if we know one thing for sure, it's that Riot is FULLY WILLING to shift the lore to make it work in Arcane. there's probably a bit of Sky left in the Hexcore, and we know that Viktor still cares deeply about her, even as he begins his Glorious Evolution.

anyways, that's my Ted Talk. all I know is that if I'm right, I'm TOTALLY popping back in to say "I told ya so".