#tcotb theories

[cauls-antique-pepperbox-pistol]

hi you seem like a nim enjoyer HE GOT FULLY LOBOTOMIZED BETWEEN TRILOGIES? WHAT HAPPENED? I DONT KNOW HOW I DIDNT NOTICE THIS WHEN I FIRST READ THE SECOND TRILOGY HE SPEAKS IN THIRD PERSON AND CANT PRONOUNCE WORDS ANYMORE? HUH? HELLO?

Myron being gone just messed with him that much ❤️ /hj

Yeah I also thought that was stupid. He speaks normally in Library of Souls. Once again wish Ransom Riggs was more consistent with things, I know that’s a minor character, but surely he would remember how Nim talks? Guess not. He wrote him like a child (excluding that one moment where Alma talks to him all sweetly, cause Nim was visibly stressed out. That was WHOLESOME.)

Or maybe Myron being gone really just messed with him that much ❤️❤️ /hj

Also anon I thought about this a little while before replying, and had a bit of theory time, but idk if anyone wants to hear those theories, so I’m sticking with not liking the way Riggs wrote him in TCoTB

[shadow-cooper]

⚠️ Some thoughts about TCoTB (SPOILERS) ⚠️

WARNING: MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS!!! Some of these are my thoughts about the book and some theories I have. This is very long, so if you read all of these, I applaud you.

FINAL WARNING FOR SPOILERS

I’m actually kinda disappointed that there was no “secret organization of normals” in America like H thought. How cool would it have been if there were normals causing havoc along with the typical wights, hollows, and Caul?! Everything that H said before he died would have actually been an interesting path for Ransom to take, because practically everyone in the books think that normals are dangerous and “stupid”. Like...I wish he could’ve proved that. But instead, we just got our usual bad guys.

Abe’s logbook; what became of it? Surely it was an item of great importance that Jacob shouldn’t of forgotten about back in New York with the hypnotist. Also, what happened in 1984 that made Abe stop writing in it? (Also going to briefly mention Jacob also forgot about the car, but that’s not as important...)

I knew Fiona was going to come back. Ransom wasn’t even keeping it a secret anymore. I love her so, so much. I’m just glad she isn’t evil/working for Caul (anymore...).

I also knew Sharon was gonna be involved in an ymbryne-opposed uprising/splinter group. The fish-men in Devil’s Acre called Jacob a “false prophet” in AMoD. Is their prophet going to be Caul? Are the ymbrynes going to be killed/targeted by them after being filled with nonsense by Caul’s goons? (Also, where is his assistant?)

I thought we were going to find some of the “Emancipators” in this book. Obviously Noor is one, but I’m curious about the others. I’m still left wondering Jacob’s role besides being their “Moses”/leader. Obviously he should be in the prophecy as well, but we haven’t heard about his part. If Ransom is closely following religion-based texts, I think Jacob is going to have to enlighten/prove to Caul’s potential ymbryne-hating, freedom-wanting followers, that they are wrong. Caul might be playing the part of Pharaoh alongside being a prophet.

H stated that he and Abe knew about the prophecy for a while, because they were trying to save kids that supposedly matched the descriptions of the “7 Emanipators”. Surely they knew a lot about it for them to actively keep an eye out. They also must have known about the ingredients written in the Apocryphon, or at least V must have, because of how adamant she was in not wanting to be found. H even told Jacob so before he died. Did they figure it out in 1984 and stop when they realized V’s importance to it? (Would explain her age).

How DID Murnau find V’s loop location? He stated near the end that he had known for years, but lost men trying to crack the loop entrance. The postcard, (which I honestly thought was a lazy attempt to hurry Jacob and Noor’s discovery along), was used as bait for that. But HOW? Did someone from Abe’s group go rogue and tell her location? Did someone visit her, but was not careful (but careful enough for the entrance to not be found)?

Why WERE Jacob and Noor SO surprised about V revealing herself to be an ymbryne? Like, they were told she was? Twice? Also, why build up her character so much but kill her off so quickly and stupidly? She was trained by Abe for goodness sake. She could’ve taken Murnau down easily. It was just so rushed.

As for some of the theories above, I think H was hiding something or knew a great deal more than he was letting on to Jacob. My gut is telling me that he WANTED the prophecy to come true (The New Age led by the Emancipators). Before he died, he said “I’m sorry, brother”, which caught my attention more than the reveal of the prophecy. Was that for Horatio? Or Abe? The reason why I think he betrayed him is because of what Abe said. “They’re coming for me, understand? I don’t know how they found me after all these years...” (MPHFPC pg. 26). H visited Abe when Jacob was younger to see the “special boy” Abe was so proud of. Maybe he was visiting to see if Jacob really was important. Did Abe know Jacob was part of the prophecy? For how long? Did Jacob also do something with his powers when he was a baby, like Noor did? Idk if this theory holds water, but it’s just a feeling.

[greeksandmagic]

How Exactly Did Caul and His Followers Get Themselves Turned into Hollows?

I've had this one in my drafts for a while, and I decided to make myself post it already.

Well, I've been thinking about this specific conversation in Library of Souls. I'll just quote it here.

'Just as someone who's a gifted cellist wasn't born with an aptitude for only that instrument but for music in general, you weren't born only to manipulate hollows. Nor you, to make fire.'

Emma frowned. I'm over a hundred years old. I think I know my own peculiar ability by now- and I definitely can't manipulate water, or air, or dirt. Believe me, I've tried.'

'That doesn't mean you can't,' Reynaldo said. 'Early in life, we recognize certain talents in ourselves, and we focus on those to the exclusion of others. It's not that nothing else is possible, but that nothing else was nurtured.'

'It's an interesting theory.' I said.

'The point is, it's not so impossibly random that you have a talent for hollowgast manipulation. Your gift developed in that direction because that's what was needed.'

'If that's true, then why can't all of us control hollows?' Emma said. 'Every peculiar could use some of what Jacob's got.'

'Because only his basic talent was capable developing that way. In the times before hollows, the talents of peculiars with souls akin to his probably manifested some other way. It's said that the Library of Souls was staffed by people who could read peculiar souls like they were books. If those librarians were alive today, they'd probably be like him.'

This kind of indicates the fact that the peculiar soul is flexible, depending on its base. My guess is that every peculiar has this one base in their soul, and whatever standardly builds up on it is what causes their manifested peculiarity to nurture. Whenever a peculiar's 'unique' layer of their second soul has completely built up, they manifest their peculiarities. This is why most babies don't manifest their abilities right then.

The Ymbrynes who caused the loop collapse in Siberia weren't experienced, as Miss Peregrine had stated. The built-up, unique peculiar-ness the former-Claywings had possessed was what had enveloped their base, like a second skin.

They hadn't become a hollow, they'd been enveloped by their own distorted souls, to change into one.

Their physical age was reset, because the second soul's unique layer is what holds all the years that they'd skipped through, and when the unique layer of their soul consumed them, their true age had been released from its fibers, and so they were reset to their physical age.

Basically, the unique layer of their souls' 'DNA' was corrupted under the loop collapse, and it had expanded to consume them. The longer they stay a hollow, the more the second skin will consume them, until they won't be able to change into a wight anymore.

When the hollowness of a hollow's soul's unique layer is filled up with pieces of other peculiars' souls, the corrupted skin is forced off, and they become themselves again, except their pupils are blank, and most of them don't remember much. (I'm going to talk about this later.)

They probably only 'eat' a little of a peculiar's soul, since Caul (he did try to stop the hollow when it almost ingested Jacob, but let's face it, Caul might've been faking, or maybe he wanted the whole soul for himself) was perfectly fine with letting a hollow loose with Jacob, even though he needed him for his second soul in Library of Souls.

The only transformation we've seen- at least a little of- is Horatio's. H had kept him as a hollowgast for a long, long while, and that's why he'd directly morphed into a hollow, instead of shedding his second skin.

Now, about them losing their pupils, and memories.

Pupils are the dark circular opening in the center of the iris of the eye, which varies in size to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina. They're what records whatever they see, to make memories, which are stored in the brain.

The hollows drip blood from their eyes, which kind of indicates that their pupils must've been damaged whilst the second skin enveloped them. The blast from the collapsing loop was probably too bright for them to take.

Their blood is black when it leaks out, but I still think it'd be the normal dark-red color of blood when it's still inside them. It just turns black when they bleed, because their second skin is black, and it tints the blood black, too.

Now, with no pupils to filter light, they take the blunt of whatever they see. They have no pupils to adjust to different lighting levels, so they always see the same way. They'd be perfectly useless in a dark environment. I used to wonder if they were colorblind, but they probably see everything brighter, and harsher, than we do- in light.

The brain panics, because the way the wight's seeing things now is much, much different from the usual. It's too bright, and it can't handle processing it, since it's such a contrast to their prior way of seeing. They probably saw everything darker when they were a hollow.

The brain figures out that the only way to adapt to this is to start over, and it lets go of all the memories it's stored until then.

There are two exceptions to this, of course.

1. The hollow transforms into a wight in a specific environment (dark, cool, et cetera), and it takes a moment to go through everything it knows, because the brain can't just let go of a memory that's being currently put to use. The hollow's determination and zeal for its goal is far too strong, and its memories far too important. (Caul)

2. The hollow is taught all that it knows carefully and appropriately. It has understood and processed everything, deeply. (Horatio)

To prevent the prospect of turning into hollowgast while collapsing a loop, you have to:

Lessen the brightness of the collapse's blast

Contain it in the span of the loop's area

Have more experienced Ymbrynes

That's all, for now! I'll add on to this, though only if I think of something else to mention.

[ymbrynes-and-peculiarities]

The Desolations Of Devil’s Acre Theories

With only two weeks left before the release of TDoDA, here is my theories/things I would like to see post

Things I would like to see (I have a lot of things on my mind but I’ll keep this super short)

Miss P interacting with Caul (and Myron if he comes back), they barely even talked in LoS and I want to see more of their rivalry  

More ymbrynes, especially morally gray ones. With the recent controversies surrounding them, I’m wondering if some of them (especially the ymbrynes-in-training) might turn against the older ymbrynes and attempt joining Caul 

Same thing for wights, I feel like some wight just stick with Caul because they have nowhere else to go. Perhaps we’ll finally meet some “decent” wights

V, just V. I refuse to believe she died that easily

Murnau. He's despicable but oddly entertaining, and now that Caul is back I want to see their dynamic

A happy ending, please. They've been through so much

Theories: 

Jacob will lose part of his peculiarity, at least temporarily. For those who have watched Ransom’s first livestream, he read the first paragraph of TDoDA (spoiler warning) which basically describes Jacob losing his soul. This, combined with the line in the book’s description “after a narrow getaway from a blood- thirsty hollow” could perhaps mean that Jacob lost some of his affinity with hollows

Miss Avocet could be a traitor. This one’s a bit far-fetched, but it seems weird that she knows about the prophecy, knows what it implies and still keeps quiet until TCoTB. And I still think that some of the ymbrynes in training might betray them

Miss P will be one of the emancipators

Myron's portraits are "magical" and will be used to bring him back. It seems pretty out-of-character that he would sacrifice himself without a backup plan. Perhaps those portraits work like his "shuttle" invention, and link him to his house, kinda like a blueprint of himself

(Spoiler from the livestream) Now that it's revealed that Sharon has multiple peculiarities (especially a navigational ability) I'm thinking perhaps he used his navigation-related peculiarity to locate Caul in AMoD (I'm talking about the part where Jacob has a nightmare, sees Caul and hears rats). I hope it was for a good purpose, or perhaps it was for a not-so-good one, but he might be super helpful in Desolations when it's time to track the other emancipators. Either way, I hope he doesn't become a villain

(Spoiler from the livestream) The sky funeral will be for V or Miss Avocet (for some reason I don't think she will survive this book) but I sincerely hope it's not for Miss P, that woman can't have suffered this much just to die. Besides, she had a pretty good opportunity to die in TCoTB (with the list of ingredients needed to bring back Caul) and since Ransom kept her alive, I'm hoping it was for her to have a happy ending

I don't know why, but I have this feeling that Emma might die... again, I hope not, but she might

Horatio (H's pet hollow, now a wight) will be back as a morally decent wight

Since Ransom said that a picture of Miss P's house was needed for this book, I'm assuming that they will either travel back to the past and navigate the Cairholm loop again, or it's a happy ending and the loop has been reconstructed and Miss P has moved back there

That's all for now, feel free to add your own theories, or things you'd like to see!

[rubyof-thesea]

okay so I just finished tcotb & I have Many Thoughts of course but it’s gonna take a while to absorb & sort through everything so for now I’m just gonna post the notes I took while reading to get some of them out there!!

Spoilers under the cut!!

-Noor saying “hey asshole” & promptly attacking the dude through weaponized sneezing lmao I stan

-Two swears in two pages? Again, I stan

-��Hi. So there’s like, four guys with guns coming for us right now” I love her. I love her

-Rat man!!!!

-Somebody listen to rat man he has a point. 2020 is year of the rat show him some respect

-I’m actually surprisingly kind of okay with this whole noor/jacob thing that seems to be building???? I mean it definitely would be better as just a friends/siblings dynamic but I’m really enjoying their interactions so far. I think a lot of it is because I’ve come to find Jacob a lot more likable through his interactions with her, seeing him react to watching somebody go through the same thing as him & try to help her through it

-Melina deserved better!!!!

-Not really a big fan of the whole “ymbrines watching over her whole life” thing with Noor. Almost feels kinda cheap somehow.

-Poor Enoch, always stuck witnessing people be heterosexual

-FIONA??????

-This Wild West town loop is just confirming my theory that a ren faire would be the perfect place for a loop entrance bc so much weird shit happens already that it wouldn’t even make a difference

-“He was sweet-natured despite his best efforts to be a jerk all the time” my favorite character trope

-Finally some Emma content pls let them actually be friends now

-FIONAAAA

-Fiona having a specific flower that she grows without thinking makes me so happy- real life flower nymph right there

-You know what I’ve changed my mind. It feels like the moment Jacob actually decided he had caught feelings for Noor their interactions got so boring

-“WHATS. UH-OH.” Lmao I stan Enoch

-Bronwyn so casually getting the little ones to bed before they discuss committing Crimes I love her

-Be! Gay! Do! Crime!

-I love Emma. I miss her

-Noor’s little humming thing is so cute I’m in love with her

-Oh my god Hugh calling Fiona ‘sweetheart’ & ‘love’ and running to her even though she’s clearly still possessed this is peak romance

-Ngl I’m kinda living for this aesthetic. Flowing white dress? Ancient eclectic graveyard?? Intricate spirals of flowering vines carpeting the ground around her??? Almost killing your boyfriend while mind controlled & only regaining control at the last second???? *chefs kiss*

-Wait wait wait wait pump the brakes why the hell would he cut out her tongue before he had everything for the ritual. Also why was she even in that dress in the first place

-The blood dramatically spilling out of her mouth & onto her white dress? Titus Andronicus vibes

-Oh fuck off jacob as if Emma shouldn’t be there to meet one of the last living connections to Abe & get some answers. This is important to more than just you & noor & you know it

-Why are they acting surprised that V’s loop is so deadly wasn’t that already established???? Like I could’ve sworn

-I’m not really vibing with this whole last chapter. I feel like it should’ve just ended with them finding the postcard

-Motherfucker. I knew it was coming but still. V had the potential to be so interesting 

anyway that’s all for now!! I have work in the morning & need to get to sleep but I wanted to put these out there while they were still fresh!!

[cauls-antique-pepperbox-pistol]

wait i would love to hear your nim theory

Alright so

(CW: physical abuse mention, I guess?)

I like to think that before he came to Myron, Nim was working for/in the care of some turncoat/evil ymbryne or someone who pretended to be one in Devil’s Acre. Either way, he thought of them as one. (One day, he finally ran away and hid in Myron’s house, where Myron found him eventually)

During TCoTB, when they’re talking to Nim about the recipe, there’s a moment when it looks like he thinks he’s about to be hit. So maybe back then he was hit by the ymbryne he was living with. Thus explaining his behaviour in front of Miss Peregrine and how surprised he was when she was being so so patient with him.

So anyway, maybe right then all that trauma caught up to him again and made him talk like that? I don’t know, trauma can do strange things to people.

Still not a big fan of how Riggs wrote him there, at least Nim was there at ALL, but that could be explanation

Also note: I refuse to believe Myron abused Nim ❤️ in my head they are dating ❤️❤️

[shadow-cooper]

So you guys remember all the dreams Jacob had of Abe in the first triology? Like where he taught Jacob how to sense hollows, kill them, control them, etc? Nearly every one was significant in some way. He woke up pretty much being able to use those talents.

That got me thinking about the significance of dreams in TCoTB. My mind automatically went to the dream Jacob had as he first entered V’s loop. In it, Abe confronted Jacob (who was a hollowgast) and yelled “STOP! YOU MUST STOP” before stabbing him with the letter opener. I think that Abe was trying to warn him of Murnau (maybe that was obvious and I’m just dumb lol)

In summary, I think Abe is trying to aid Jacob through dreams the very same way Caul had been using them to mess with his head. But how would Abe be doing that? How is Caul even doing it? What would that imply for Abe? Gahhh I have so many questions. Am I just overthinking things? 😭 If Abe has been protecting Jacob the whole time, that’s really fuggin wholesome, ngl.

[greeksandmagic]

The Conference of the Birds - Theory

*SPOILERS FOR 'THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS'*

I just spent ages thinking about the Epilogue for TCoTB, and I was puzzling on about this one detail.

It's mentioned that the six calls the little girl made were specifically for Ymbrynes, six of them.

Now, I think it has something to do with the emancipators too. We already know Noor, so there are supposed to be six more of them.

All the other six can't just be Ymbrynes, though. They're supposed to be powerful, yes, but all of them just can't be Ymbrynes.

My conclusion? I think the six Ymbrynes were the Ymbrynes of the peculiars that are supposed to 'emancipate' Peculiardom.

[ymbrynes-and-peculiarities]

Theory Time

With the 6th book's release date approaching, I thought I'd share some of my theories for The Desolations Of Devil's Acre (spoiler alert for TCoTB)

Don't hesitate to add your own theories!

Leo was willing to stop chasing Noor and agree with the ymbrynes so easily because Caul proposed him something better (since Caul can literally "talk" with anyone, he could have talked with him too)

Some of the wights might turn against Caul (I'm thinking about the ones captured in Hopewell, who Jacob described for the first time as looking uncharacteristically defeated)

Similarly, some ymbrynes might turn against the other ymbrynes and join Caul's forces, especially the ymbrynes in training and especially Francesca. She seems to know too much, and I think the Bentham brothers proved again and again that knowing too much ends up badly

V is actually alive (yes, wishful thinking, I know). I mean, she's a fierce hollow-hunter and an ymbryne. She must have some tricks up her sleeve

Speaking of V, she is called the "mother of storms." We literally saw that, but what if this was meant figuratively as well? She might be Noor's adoptive mother, but she's still her mother. Storms typically have lightening, and Noor controls light (which might look like lightening if she produces a huge amount of light like she did at the end of AMoD). What if the "storm" was also Noor? Perhaps it's a hint at the massive powers Noor will have to use along with the other emancipators to defeat Caul

We have already met all seven emancipators. Jacob is probably one of them, along with Miss P

Caul is not the only one who's back. Myron might be back, but the line "the old ones from their sleep are torn" makes me think that other ancient souls from the Library will be resuscitated too. And given how some of those souls were described in LoS, it's not going to be pretty

I've said it before, but I'm not fond of Sharon's little meetings. Sounds a lot like the beginnings of the Claywings. I don't really trust Sharon anymore. Bonus points for Jacob hearing sounds of "rats" when he dreamt of Caul in AMoD, and for both the recipe and the beetles being stolen from Myron's house by the wights (it's stated that Sharon knows the place better than Bentham himself, so perhaps he's the one who gave up the location of the recipe and the beetles)

This is getting way too long, I'll probably write the rest on another post.

Thoughts?

[cauls-antique-pepperbox-pistol]

So I figured some stuff out? One is a theory about Myron’s name and the other two are meanings to names

I’ll start with the theory. So this is either super stretched, a very big coincidence or it does and will make a lot of sense in the story

A while ago I looked up Myron’s name to find a meaning to it and—apparently it’s connected to myrrh. And myrrh is one of the things the Three Wise Men gave to baby Jesus. And in TCoTB when Jacob and Noor were navigating their way through V’s loop via Noor’s song, they came along a WISEMAN STREET because her song went “Eight, nine, ten, three wise men” (page 315) So uhm, coincidence 👀? Also I’m not Christian, nor religious in general, so if I got something wrong and you know more about this, please correct me lmao

Second thing is Murnau’s first name Percival. I also looked it up and apparently it stands for “pierce the veil” which means to “see the truth within a lie”—maybe that he saw through Myron’s attempt to fool the wights with “mother of birds”? It also means “to uncover something hidden”—V’s location? And that someone sees through another one’s disguise—but that would mean that Murnau is good at seeing through OTHERS’ disguises, cause we all gotta admit he’s pretty good at disguising.

Last thing is the name Velyana which means “the hidden one”. Seems pretty fitting. Though I don’t remember where I saw that, nor can I find it again :(

If I remember correctly Ransom Riggs said in one of his live streams that most of his characters’ names don’t really have a meaning. But uhm,, man I dunno, not so sure about that anymore. I mean Caul’s name has BIG meaning too, sooo

[cauls-antique-pepperbox-pistol]

It’s theory time again ✨ I swear even once the series is over, I’ll still be making theories despite the fact they can’t come true anymore

Anyway

SPOILER FOR TCOTB AND DESCRIPTION SPOILER OF THE DESOLATIONS OF DEVIL’S ACRE!! (in case ya’ll have only seen the cover and not the description of the book and if you wanna start off the new book completely blind, you might want to avoid the description cause I think it already reveals a lot lmao)

My friend @shibibble had the same idea, so I wanna give credit lmao

So the description said that Noor and Jacob are suddenly, instead of V’s loop, back at Abe’s house. And like how?? So I hope this either gets explained or it will be another slight plothole. So here’s the theory:

Before V’s loop would have collapsed or Caul would have done anything to them, Myron maybe somehow teleported Jacob and Noor to safety? I mean I don’t know if Myron knows where Abe’s house is located, buuuut maybe that’s one of his powers now, to teleport.

I really don’t know who else or what else could have caused that yknow—like V’s very likely very dead, Caul probably wanted to either kill them or talk to them and Murnau just flew awayayayeah

(I just really want Myron to come back, huh)

But I mean the new book is not even out yet, so who knows maybe we’ll get an answer to that question right at the start

[ymbrynes-and-peculiarities]

TCoTB Random Thought #1 (spoiler alert)

*waves hello after months of inactivity*

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing fine!

I had a random thought about The Conference Of The Birds, something that's been bothering me since the first time I read the book (big spoiler ahead)

After Murnau basically cut out V's heart, he was described as holding "something small and dark". But the thing is... a heart isn't supposed to be small? Or dark? But we know that he took the heart, otherwise the resurrection thingy wouldn't have worked...

So, my thought is that perhaps ymbrynes come with two hearts, a small one corresponding to their bird form and a human heart (I mean, peculiars have two souls so why not two hearts?). Yes, I know that it's highly unlikely, but I want V to still be alive so bad that I'm making up weird theories 😂

Thoughts?

[shadow-cooper]

You know what, after that long post I made about how I felt about TCoTB and theories I had, I have to say I’m not as impressed about the book as I was when I finished reading it. I took some time to sit back and wow, there were moments that just...didn’t fit (like Noor discovering her past, eww that was kinda cringey). BUT I adored the wholesome moments and seeing how much the characters truly loved each other.

Like, it’s still good, don’t get me wrong, but if I absolutely had to pick a favorite book, it’d be LoS.