#shad maybe if it worked out logistically but im not sure that it does

[bed-of-ashes]

OKAY aphblr has allowed me to explain my silly little revamped version of Irene + Aphmau so you're all gonna have to suffer for it

I was an autistic little child who hated unforeshadowed plot twists (but also I was like 10 and only had so many literary analysis skills) and I have carried this grudge with me toward adulthood but. I really hated the Aphmau being amnesiac Irene plotline. I've tried remedying it several times over the years but I think the idea I've finally landed on and am now obsessed with is Aphmau being Irene's daughter.

First of all, it fits the whole matron theme, and second, it goes with that early season 1 lore that Irene had a family. It would make Aphmau's guilt really interesting when she thinks she isn't living up to her mother's legacy. The lore idea is that 1,000 years ago, when Shadow Knights/Shad came to kill Irene, she used the last of her power to place Aphmau in the staff. Hyria comes to the burnt wreckage of their home (hello! Remember how Aphmaus greatest fear was her village on fire!) to mourn and recognizes the staff for what it is, storing it until a Shadow Knight would protect Irene's daughter, making it safe enough for her to return.

But what if Irene had a second daughter? A younger one, who escaped the assassination and went on to live a normal life? We know Aphmau likes to name her kids + pets after people, so, for no reason at all in particular, let's say this girl's name is Alina. Magicks is a very uncertain area in MCD lore but I'd imagine it's to some extent genetic, so maybe when Irene's other daughter has a son, that son develops powerful magicks when he is far too young to control it. Maybe the Alina 1,000 years ago doesn't know how to help him and she sends him off with a tutor who promises he can reign in this boy's untamed magicks. Maybe that boy drove his tutor insane because the power of Irene ran in his veins, and his tutor pushed him off the balcony of a stony castle. Maybe his aunt finds him 1,000 years later and takes him in as her own.