#the only explanatory power this theory has is that it would make more sense for his parents to be comfortable giving him a rifle if he was

[spinji]

Characters With White Hair Have Mutated Quirks

Right what it says on the tin. I have a theory that white hair is a sign of a quirk mutation i.e. someone with a quirk completely unrelated to the hereditary genes they should have gotten their quirk from. This is not the same as a merged quirk, where the power from the child is unique but comes from combining both of the child's hereditary genes. Those quirks can come with their own issues but they aren't completely out of left field given who the parents are.

Eri

This one is self explanatory. It's outright stated that Eri's rewind quirk is unnatural; it's where we're first introduced to the concept of mutated quirks. And her hair has always been naturally white.

All For One and Yoichi

It's established by the narrative that All For One and Yoichi are the first two babies born with what would be considered a quirk by modern standards. Most notably though, both are completely different from spike-like growths their mother had.

Now, because this hasn't been animated yet, it's unclear if their mother has white hair herself or just lightly colored hair but either one doesn't debunk this idea in itself. If her hair is different then both twins have a clear mutation, and if it's the same then her growths could be its own mutation. The series does explicitly mention that their mother was exhibiting a premature quirk an entire two years before quirks as we know them were discovered so clearly there was something different about her.

Shoji

This one is also clearly stated as being a mutation, and it makes sense. Shoji's environment growing up was so hostile to heteromorphic quirks to such a degree that he was violently beat and chased out of his village. If his parents had similar quirks, or any kind of physical mutation for that matter, I doubt they would have survived long enough for Mezo to be born.

The Todoroki-Himura family

This one is the hardest to justify because it's not just one case, it's at least six. Geten, Rei, Touya, Fuyumi, Natsu, and Shoto all have 50% or more white hair. It's very clearly a genetic trait here.

But Rei's genetics specifically are already questionable.

It's stated by Geten that the Himura's have a history of marrying within the family. While details are minimal, if this cycle of incest has been going on for several generations at this point, it's possible that the very ice quirk Enji sought out was a mutation due to the Himura's unstable genetics. It's not a particularly odd or destructive quirk like other, confirmed, mutations, but it is surprisingly dominant and pervasive.

All four Todoroki children have some aspect of this ice quirk, suggesting that the hair color and the quirk are linked.

Touya is also one of the only people in the series born to be unsuited for his quirk. While concepts like the Quirk Doomsday Theory apply more broadly, that theory defines quirks too powerful for the body they host, not a body so genetically twisted that they inherently can't use their ability. Touya's hair also changes in hue over time in a way very unnatural to any other character in the series, as if Rei's genetics are spreading like a virus.

While marrying Enji instead of one of her cousins did diversify the genetic pool of the kids to a degree I still am willing to believe there is some significant damage to their genetic line from all of the Himura's inbreeding and the clearest sign of that is in the ice quirk.

Shigaraki

This one is an interesting case because Tomura's hair actually changes with the appearance of "his" quirk. Keep in mind for this part that the desaturated light blue that Tomura is typically depicted with is an error on the part of the early anime staff since the only color images of Tomura at the time had blue lighting. From the start it was intended to be white. Note that he's already being drawn with white hair in the hideout raid arc.

Up to this point, everyone with a mutated quirk has been born with white hair but Tenko wasn't. His hair turned from black to white after his decay manifested. Keep in mind though, decay was not his original quirk.

While we don't know what the initial quirk was (I personally choose to believe it was float or airwalk) he was born with one naturally before All For One took it and replaced it with Decay. Decay is also a copied and modified version of Overhaul, which we know ISN'T a mutation quirk.

Essentially, All For One artificially mutated Overhaul, and the resulting quirk caused the same physical changes that natural mutations do. The quirk itself is the source of the mutation, so passing on a mutated quirk causes the same physical changes as being born with one.

What about AFO/OFA?

Obviously both All For One (the quirk) and One For All's original form have the ability to pass quirks to others and we've seen over a dozen different people take quirks from both of these processes and not see any changes to their hair pigment.

While being given a quirk you weren't intended to hold is unnatural it's also not technically mutagenic. Giving and taking quirks is a natural process for both AFO and OFA so while the creations of these quirks were a mutation, their intended use is not.

One For All specifically stocks and absorbs the quirks from the users. It latches onto the quirks that are already there or takes up that place where a quirk would have been in the cases of All Might and Midoriya. All For One meanwhile is playing with pre-established quirks. Unless the quirk itself is carrying a mutated strain of DNA, it wouldn't affect the one being given said quirk.

There are holes in this, namely that ED6 shows Eri's mother with her hair style/texture but at the same time anime-orginal additions are difficult to weigh since we don't know if something that insignificant got author approval. It could also be a matter of all mutants have white hair but not all white haired characters are mutants. Either way I don't think this was an intended pattern by Horikoshi, just an interesting way to spin it.

[girlsnightgirlsnight]

i suspect that the Francis from the later episodes isnt actually the same person as the Francis from the bowling tournament. I think that when Francis was alone in his room with the bowling trophy he was actually replaced by the distorted (evil?) version of himself from inside the cup. i think they couldve switched dimentions or something. I'm not sure if he would know it, i suspect not.

[communistkenobi]

a very common mistake people make in political/social discourse is applying individualist thinking to some social phenomenon or theory. one of the most common examples is someone responding to the theory of white privilege with “but there are poor white people” or male privilege with “I’m a man but I have no power” etc. and in order to refute that properly you have to essentially get into a philosophy of science debate, to explain that the benefit of a given social theory is its ability to be generalised above the level of the individual, that what is being described is a social process, that human beings occupy various positions within a social space (a family, a neighbourhood, a workplace, a state) that are not individual. To be able to give an account of some social force you necessarily cannot be just talking about the particularities of a single person - if you were, all you would be expressing is an individual opinion about a single person. If you want to rise above the level of ‘mere opinion’ you need to actually provide an account that is general enough to apply to multiple people of varying social situations but systematic enough to be able to differentiate between who you are and are not speaking about. Of course data are lost in this endeavour - probably best summed up by the aphorism “all models are wrong but some are useful” - but the success of a given social theory is its ability to sustain its explanatory power despite these data losses. Like the whole game of generalisation is building a theory to figure out what data points to discard and which to retain. It is no more contradictory to say white privilege is real even though there are poor white people than to say the police are a white supremacist institution even though there are non-white police officers. In fact these seeming contradictions are accounted for in these same social theories - white supremacy has had centuries of policy development at this point, it is a fairly well-tested set of logics that have adapted to a variety of conflicts, problems, and political/economic/social developments (Sylvia Wynter talks about this in the context of the post-slavery US for example). White supremacy is thus resilient to these apparent contradictions (and these contradictions generate further social developments, such as the shifting meanings and locations of whiteness), which is why zooming into the level of the individual is often not helpful in explaining its effects on a social level.

Weber says that I need not know Caesar to understand Caesar - that to talk about Caesar as a historical figure and as a particular location in ancient Roman society is fundamentally different than a description of him as an individual. And nobody actually talks about Caesar as an individual anyway! Even psychological or biographical profiles of him are premised on the fact that Caesar is worthy of this profile as opposed to any other person living in the Roman Republic. The reason we all know his name is that his place in history is extended beyond the individual. A Roman general and leader is fundamentally not an individual, not a private person. The very fact that I can say “Roman General” but not say any person’s name and have people understand what I’m saying is evidence of this. By definition ‘Caesar’ the historical figure is not an individual in any meaningful sense, he has power that is only available through social institutions and formations, and that is why he is known even today. Even the most liberal Great Man Theories of history locate an engine of history within the general position of Great Man (this is a fundamental contradiction within this type of thinking, the generalised Individual). If there can be more than one Great Man in history then he is not an individual, he is occupying a generalisable position in human history that can be calculated, bounded, and studied.

So it’s very frustrating to deal with! It’s an attempt to refute an explanation of a social phenomenon with individual anecdotes, much of which is already accounted for in said explanation. It makes many, many, many discussions about the social and political world endlessly repetitive and uninteresting, because you are always stuck at litigating the most basic, atomic point of reference. And of course that is the point for many people, they aren’t interested in any of this because they are racist and they are misogynistic and so on. It is an extremely effective derailing tactic, but part of the reason why it’s so effective is because individualism is such a pervasive mode of thinking. All of the groundwork is already laid out for people who say white privilege isn’t real because the social and epistemic infrastructure necessary to get other people to buy that argument has already been built for them to make that type of claim. Which is why the people who smirk at the camera when they say shit like this are so pathetic because they behave like they thought of that all by themselves, unaware or (more probably) deliberately ignoring the fact that they live in a society specifically built to facilitate, automate, and celebrate the garbage coming out of their mouth

[therabbitthatpostthings]

Okay let's talk about Reality in Welcome Home.

YES THIS IS JUST ME RAMBLING AGAIN BUT I SWEAR I HAVE A POINT TO MAKE. This is more of my collecting my thoughts and trying to make sense of what we have right now.

TLDR: The reality of Welcome Home is separated by the "fourth wall" that the characters are not aware of except for few.

So ever since the first update after the website launched I have been wondering about where the reality shift lies in Welcome Home. How can this be a haunted puppet show with no notable names for actors, production crew, puppeteers, etc. I was basically trying to figure out if this was Hello Puppets or My Friendly Neighbourhood kind of situation. Especially after Sally's Halloween Story, it came ever more clear that they are not fully aware of the fact that people are filming them.

This past update has somewhat solidified what I think is happening. The Welcome Home Puppet show exist in it's own version of reality literally separated by the fourth wall. The neighbours are completely unaware that they are puppets, being filmed, etc. The idea that a magic narrator can talk to them is normal (as it is in many children's cartoons, the Narrator from The Powerpuff Girls and The Storyteller from Into the Woods comes to mind). This really all comes together for me alongside the theory that some of the neighbours are self-aware. I'm not gonna argue who is and who isn't but I don believe the Neighbours featured in promotional material that directly speaks to the viewers or anything outside the show are aware.

(Note: It would be a big stretch to say the things like the TV and radio apprenticed were staged or faked by the Welcome Home Crew)

I think the ones most aware are Wally, Barnaby, Frank and Howdy. Everyone else is rather slowly becoming aware or going through the motions like Eddie. Wally and Barnaby are self-explanatory, they are closest to Home and the Narrator(s). Frank by the way of the Bug Theory and the fact that he "breaks script" to comfort Eddie. Howdy is because I cannot think of a way that he would participate in those commercials without knowing somehow. If Home really is antagonistic towards the Neighbours, I can believe they would act in line. Also during Eddie's panic attack, he doesn't move ever after expresses him desire to leave, because he can't move. He's a puppet. It's worth noting that everyone else has a puppeteer accept Wally and Home. Wally has a handler and Home's eyes are the only thing on it that can move via a crank on the side of it not showing to the camera.

I believe the cartoon reality is the one that the puppets see and why in all of Wally's answer videos we see it in IRL footage. He is not blind to what the show is doing. Eddie's panic attack shows up that what they see and we see are very different. This isn't like a foolproof way of thinking because it leaves a lot of holes but most of those holes have to do with things I believe will be answered later. Like:

What exactly is Home and the power Home has over the Neighbours?

Why did the show shut down?

The benefactor sending the packages

Why is Wally the one that remains? Where are the others?

Why were we able to see what Eddie and Wally sees outside of the reality they exist in?

etc.

Thats last point is still up in the air for me because that easier could of been a storyteller point but the fact that Welcome Home narrator and logo pops up at the end of the Homewarming Special alludes that everything Eddie went through we saw. Or at least it was filmed and probably cut out of the official broadcast.

I don't have any answers. What we do know now is that the show shut down, someone is still present and sending packages to the WHRP and Playfellow. This mysterious black goop has the power to influence those in contact with it, even causing loss of time. The WHRP went through an investigation internally and in the website. W is a part of the website and actively doing their own investigation after "supposedly" making contact with Wally in the post-halloween/pre-March 9th update (which you can see btw on the Wayback Machine). Wally, regardless if he is the one sending the packages, is using them to communicate. He wants someone to find him because he KNOWS we are watching and we are looking for him.

Personally I believe Home or whatever entity is controlling it, is sending the packages and trying to control others. I think Wally is a by product of all this and is trying to find his way out by any means necessary. I will never let my "Wally did nothing wrong" propaganda go.

This all btw does nothing to answer the mystery on the website. I have no idea how this reality breaking allowed Wally yo infiltrate the website. The fact that his eyes are no longer visible on the page means he's not here watching us (for now). Also the "You" character description is missing. As far as the Bug theory goes, I still believe that is Frank trying to give us more insight on what happened/happening. Same goes for W, who we know is human since they described the same events of the phone ringing and hearing Wally that the curator did. I don't believe this is Wally vs the Neighbours. I think this is the neighbours being physically or metaphorically trapped while not able to reach Wally they can reach this website and are doing the same as Wally, reaching out to us. I still believe Home/Entity has some control over them and is connected to who is sending the packages and infecting the WHRP and Playfellow. W is also apart of WHRP but has taken notice to everything going around and is choosing to document their findings since the WHRP is starting to run a tighter ship after the last slip up of W (probably) contacting Wally.

Hopefully this made sense to you guys...

[lilislegacy]

I finished HoO three weeks ago and have been making up theories for Percy’s capabilities ever since. Especially after reading HoH.

Considering that Percy can control poison, which contains water, he can control anything that contains a water percentage, in theory. But the concept of Percy blood bending is so interesting. Would he do it? Potentially. I think it would be an accidental ability he discovered while in the heat of a battle.

Like, “Whoops! Just made someone spontaneously bleed!”

I hope that Rick explores the idea of the range of Percy’s powers. He’s the most powerful demigod in the series, so it’d be pretty explanatory that he has a wide array of liquids to choose from, no matter the percentage of water.

thanks for the ask @hibiscusspunweb!

yeah i do hope rick goes into his control of bodily fluids more. the thing is, we don’t know for sure he can control blood outside of tartarus. the thing is, it makes total sense to me how he can control other bodily fluids. urine, saliva, and cerebrospinal fluid, for example, are all mainly water. like 95-99%. blood, however, i think is only like a little over 50% if i remember right. but i can see how he would be able to control it if he can manipulate its water content.

it makes me wonder about the things percy could do if he simply wanted to. remember in BotL when he summoned water from basically nowhere? just because water used to be there? that should not be possible, but he wanted to, so he did. it makes me wonder if percy is only limited by his own morals and the lack of ideas. like, most fruits are mostly water, way more so than blood. could he just send watermelons and cucumbers flying everywhere? and like, i think the human brain is 80% water. could percy just…. smush your brain? or suck the water out of it till it’s like dehydrated fruit?

are there actually rules? because according to rick, demigods don’t have to follow rules like the gods do. as metaphysical entities that embody the natural world, the gods are limited by the laws of nature. but demigods are hybrids that shouldn’t exist. they can do whatever. so is percy limited by the same natural boundaries as his father, or can percy do things poseidon can’t? what if percy is only limited by himself?

[iztea]

dy have any tips to make your art look less lifeless? I stare at my rendered digital art and everytime without fail i start to rot from the lack of soul in it

ok first of all, I think you might be judging your art too harshly. The only quite literal soulless art is AI art so as long as you create something, there's soul in it. But I understand what you mean. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm best suited to answer this since it's something I struggle with myself, but since you asked me, here are my two cents on the matter

A lifeless look in your art may come from two places: a lack of skills or a lack of message/delivery

Skill-wise, there's a looot you can do and improve on : gesture, dynamic poses, more expressive faces, better color language, strategic line expression, shape language, using color theory to better express a certain mood of a piece etc.

i could go into detail for each point but it would take too long so I'll leave it up to you to google and research things on your own ( or you can shoot me another ask if you want me to yap about a certain technical approach and I'll gladly do so)

but honestly, these are just skills and tools that you master in time. A first step is to at least acknowledge their existence. I want to talk more about the second aspect of this issue: intention. The intention behind your art is more valuable than you think. Art can feel soulless if it doesn't send any message, if it's generic, if there's no emotion behind it or if there's nothing to be interpreted. I'm not saying all art should be super deep or profound to hold value of course, but i often feel like this is a rather neglected part when discussing art. We sometimes get so tied up in the technical aspects like rendering or anatomy but the truth is, a general audience (aka the people who will see your art) doesn't give a crap about the technicalities. They judge something at face value and the first thing they look for is the /message/. What is this painting about? Who or what did you draw? The second thing they will look for is connection. When they can relate to the emotion conveyed or the subject matter, the experience becomes more rewarding and engaging. The same applies to the artist. Creating something meaningful and personal often leads to a greater sense of accomplishment. Honestly, skill comes second.

Case in point: why does hyperrealistic art get shit on? It's very impressive technique-wise, yes, you can't deny the artist isn't skilled, but does it express something? Nope, they do the job of a printer which again,. it is impressive but not from an ~artistic pov, just from a skill pov. On the flip side, why do poorly drawn sob stories get so much attention and praise? Because the art triggered a certain emotion (that has overwritten an already untrained eye) and emotions are extremely powerful for humans as we all very well know and it basically makes them ignore or neglect the execution

So, my piece of advice is to draw something that has personal meaning /to you/, that ignites a certain feeling you can't shake ( it doesn't have to be something #deep or sad, laughter and joy are equally valuable so keep that in mind), a certain situation or scenario and I can guarantee your art won't feel as lifeless to you as before. To better express this idea of yours that you now possess, you can now think about the technical side of how you'd express it. For example:

~deliberately messy brushstrokes and textures -> create chaos.

~maybe you're feeling something lovely dovey and soft -> warm colors to express that + brushes with lost edges

~maybe you want to tell a story in a comic format -> focus on calligraphy; shaky lineart gives off the impression of vulnerability; leave whitespaces etc

~something funny? -> goofy facial expressions or lowkey downgrading the quality usually makes something funnier

~Colors ! colors ! colors !!! pretty self-explanatory blues and grays for depression pinks and rainbows for the happy ( or NOT if you're feeling adventurous winkwink)

BONUS TIP: hiding/blocking out/blurring the face of your subject makes the painting feel more immersive. The viewer can relate to the person you're drawing ( "oh he's just like me fr")

There are artists who are insanely skilled but make kinda "boring" art and then there are artists with cool ideas but with maybe an underwhelming execution.

Ultimately, it's a combination of BOTH awesome skills and intentions. Those are my favourite artists. When i find someone who draws something that makes me stare and wonder how tf they drew that while also appreciating how cool the concept is I knoww I hit jackpot. And if they draw fanart of my fave?? bonus points

okkkkkkkkk i yapped for too long sorttyyyyy hope it helped maybe idk

!!!!DISCLAIMER!!!! this is all my personal interpretation and how i view things I'm self taught I've never been to art school or taken any art classes so i might be completely wrong !! take everything with a grain of salt !!

[super-hero-confessions]

I have a theory.

"A prophecy foretold that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, which he did. In penance, he blinded himself and went into exile."

I think we can expect some variant of this for Homelander.

I think the retained elements might be the destroyed city, kills his father, fucks his own mom, is blinded and exiled. But maybe the order or ways in which they happen is mixed up.

Starlight blinding him makes sense given her own powers and that Homelander's eyes/vision do seem to be quite affected by the light. It would also be a sort of poetic justice in a sense for what he did to Blindspot.

The exile could be self imposed due to shame if not Ryan's influence. He relied a great deal on his vision and would have to learn a new sense of the world, as this might even overload his other senses.

Fucking his mom is well, I think self explanatory with the theory of Stormfront being his biological mother. Maybe this will be confirmed or more cryptically alluded to but never confirmed later on. It sort of already has been.

Killing his father just feels like something that will eventually happen. Whether in rage or power struggle or simply because he can, or even because of the way his father may end up treating him or Ryan. Especially if his father attempts to attack Ryan again. I simply feel this much is inevitable.

The destroyed city is also self explanatory. Although it may be more of a destroyed country. Whether caused directly by Homelander or indirectly in all the chaos he will bring, even metaphorically or systemically, it's becoming clear he will be responsible for some level of mass destruction in some way.

All in all, I suspect Homelander may be a modern day retelling of Oedipus. In which case, it can't really be said that he was "the" villain of the story when he was only following the path set before him. But perhaps he was never truly even "a" villain after all, for how does one diverge from a destiny that is predetermined?

[jayz4dayz]

Team RWBY will become the next generation of Maidens

(Disclaimer, none of the edited images above are mine! I just found them on google lol. Also, SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 9!!!)

So this is kind of just a random theory of mine that I’ve been brewing for a while and I’m sure someone has mentioned it before, but I’m simply gonna explain why this would be the logical and plausible ending for the entire show. 

We know the identity of the current three maidens. Cinder Fall is the Fall Maiden, Winter Schnee is the Winter Maiden, Raven Branwen is the Spring Maiden, but we have interestingly never had a confirmation on the identity of the Summer Maiden. Some fans (including myself) speculate one of two things: the Summer Maiden is someone completely random/character we haven’t been introduced to yet, or... Summer Rose is the Summer Maiden. Now if this were the case, then that means Summer Rose isn’t actually dead. 

The very first scene in the final episode of Volume 9, we see a private conversation take place between Summer and Raven about a secret mission Summer embarks on alone. We aren’t sure about the details of the secret mission except for the fact she had lied to her friends and family about it. To me, that sounds an awful lot like she either faked her own death or nobody found a body when she dissapeared and assumed she was dead. I think Mama Rose is still alive somewhere (possibly lurking around in the Ever After which I’ll circle back on)

As for the transference of the Maiden Powers to Team RWBY, I must address the elephant in the room. A few of our beloved side characters must die. 

I’ll start with the obvious. Raven and Yang.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Raven takes a fatal blow in a battle either from Salam’s forces or possibly even a Cinder battle 2.0 or Salem herself. I know damn well the final person in her thoughts would be her daughter. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong. She knows out of everyone, Yang is the most trust-worthy and deserving of such power. Even Ozpin himself had once told her “Your mother must trust you a great deal” when Raven told Yang about how Ozpin turned her and Qrow into birds. In this case, it will be Raven’s final act of protection for her daughter to assure she’ll have a better chance of survival. Not only this, the transference of powers scene between her and Yang would be the most memorable and meaningful moment between them in the entire series. (And gods, Yang out of all of Team RWBY would make the most sense to become a maiden. Her hair ignites on fire for crying out loud!)

Next we have Winter and Weiss.

This one will be considerably more painful to witness considering how strong their relationship is and everything they’ve been through growing up together. My best guess is Winter will die battling Salem or possibly alongside Weiss in battle against a different antagonist, but I’m confident it will happen the soonest. And I mean like Volume 10 or 11 kind of soon. Winter and Weiss will likely be reunited in Volume 10 and near the end Winter will meet her fate, giving the Maiden Powers to her sister who will benefit the most from them. With Weiss gaining these powers, imagine her dust glyphs on steroids. She’d be a fucking unit against Salem’s forces (as I’m sure Winter would be too.)

Then, Blake and Cinder.

I actually have quite a bit of evidence to back this one up. Cinder really doesn’t have anybody close to her that she would even consider giving up her powers for. She’s a greedy bitch and would probably think nobody would receive her powers if she just didn’t think of anyone when she died, only come to find out the final person to look into her eyes before her final breath is the one to take the powers from her. Ironwood once mentioned that it’s not uncommon for the powers to be transferred to an enemy who the Maiden faced in her final moments. Blake absolutely deserves the right to send Cinder to meet her makers and snatch up her Maiden powers. It would be so satisfying to see Cinder and Blake meet up in the holding space between life and death, but Cinder becomes furious when she realizes Blake will be the one to take HER precious power. It’s the ultimate justice and the best revenge Blake could ever obtain. (Also, Blake would become the first Faunus Maiden that we know of and she'd be such a girlboss for it ;p)

And finally, Summer and Ruby.

In the end, I think it would be a wonderful way to wrap up the entire series by making all of Team RWBY into Maidens and would be the most logical way they could defeat Salem. Of course, this is also assuming they somehow are able to get all of the relics and use that to assist them in defeating Salem once and for all. Also, for shipping purposes, it pretty much sums up the soulmate parallels for the four of them to become maidens. Blake (Fall Maiden) + Yang (Spring Maiden); Weiss (Winter Maiden) + Ruby (Summer Maiden). I think it just fits all of them so well!

As I previously mentioned, Summer being alive and the current Summer Maiden would open the door for Ruby to receive Maiden powers. I’m not entirely sure how it would look and I could theorize for hours to try and explain it, so I’ll keep this short. My current belief is that Summer is in the Ever After which would mean at some point Team RWBY would have to return to deal with Neo’s bullshit and at some point come across Summer. In a heated battle, Summer knows her time to ascend has come. If we take a look at Ruby’s ascension, she technically didn’t even ascend at all. She chose herself which means she didn’t become a new person with no memories of her past or who she is. However, I’m fully confident that Summer will choose to become a different person. She knows she would lose all her memories of her family, her Team, and everything that makes her Summer Rose. This includes her Maiden Powers. It would make the most logical sense that she’d transfer them to her daughter Ruby as her final act of a mother’s love. It would be poetic and the perfect character development for both Summer and Ruby. Plus, imagine how much more powerful Ruby’s silver eyes will become. With Maiden Powers, her petrifying glow from her eyes might be powerful enough to trap anything that’s Grim, including Salem. She wouldn’t be dead, but she’d be imprisoned in stone and petrify for the rest of time.

[Another minor theory in relation to this: Summer is actually dead and passed on her Maiden Powers to Ruby when she was still an infant which means Ruby's powers would be dormant until the time is right]

[morimess]

So I went back and rewatched all of the Hachetfield stuff, and now I have some ✨questions✨ and also possible ✨theories✨

(I don't know how much has been talked about before in theory circles, so go easy on me if these are widely accepted theories or questions that have been answered a million times before)

1- The LiB and their altars

Ok, so first off we know there are 5 black altars and 5 LiB- it only makes sense that each altar was dedicated to one LiB in particular- but can be used as a general altar if the need calls for it.

I believe we can determine which altar belongs to which LiB by where that Lord showed up first in the series.

So Pokey's altar is the Starlight Theater, Wiggly's was the old mill (now Lakeside Mall), and Tinky's was The Gazette (in Time Bastard, we learn the Gazette eventually turns into CCRP- Paul and Ted's workplace), Nibbly's is the Waylon place, and Blinky's is Hachetfield High.

I'm pretty sure Nibbly's is the Waylon place because in Honey Queen, the CotSC bring Linda to the middle of nowhere for her to be possessed by Nibbly. I'm gonna run under the assumption that the Church would almost certainly bring her to one of the altars for such an important ceremony- but none of the other altars fit such an out-of-the-way description.

I also think that Blinky would LOVE the drama that goes on behind the scenes of a Hachetfield High, and something about him having an amusement park also tells me that he may enjoy watching drama between children more than he does adults.

2- Grace Chastity may have a touch of "the gift"

My main reasons for thinking this comes from Abstinence Camp and NPMD.

First, Grace was able to get the ax-man to turn on Jerry and Jeri after a single conversation. The ax-man also gave her his ax as a symbol of passing the torch to her to protect the woods. I don't think that would have happened without a little intervention.

Secondly, after the scene with Richie's death, Grace wakes up and says she saw Max- looking angry and not hot at all- and while I do believe it was mainly played for laughs, SHE STILL SAW HIM. I don't know if it *was* just a dream, but dreams have been used as shorthand for having "the gift" before, and I don't believe in coincidence with these shows.

I don't think she has a strong version of "the gift" but I do believe that it's enough that her having the black book will end up being a problem for everyone else.

3- Was the "ghost" of Ethan really a ghost?

This one may seem strange, but Ethan died pretty violently in BF- and he was also at an altar when it happened. That vision Hannah saw of him- was it just a puppet of Wiggly, or was it a little closer to what Max is?

Is Max just more powerful because he made a more violent promise as his last words?

4- The entirety of season 2 is the same timeline

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but the main gist is that, if it happened in season 2, then it falls on one timeline in the Hachetfield saga.

Yellow Jacket is the last event in this timeline, and it starts with Perky's Buds.

Every story in this timeline mentions the Honey Festival. While at the Honey Festival, we get clear signs that things tie together.

In PB- Ziggs is making the pin-up girl specifically to be their mascot to present at the festival.

In AC- I'm pretty sure Steph says that she's going to miss the Honey Festival

HQ- this one is obvious.

Daddy- the mother says she's going to pick up a new father from the Honey Festival- she comes back with Ted.

KT- Ted and the mother flirting. Zoey's roommate asking for something that will ruin Zoey's voice.

YJ- young Sherman sitting on the counter at toy zone.

That's most of them for now- I have other thoughts, but none want to come to me rn. I may update this later with more.

[mymoonfearblog]

"Side Two" Theory: The Web and "Protocol"

These are my admittedly rudimentary thoughts on what to expect of The Magnus Protocol. I'll note for starters that I have only just joined the online fandom so I have NO idea what kind of speculation has already happened and someone may have already said this somewhere. Not intentionally copying anyone though.

So it seems like the primary speculation starts with how the world of TMP is connected to the world of TMA...

One thing my friend Roxy @the-sound-and-the-furry had brought up with me on call following us listening to the TMA finale was the distinction between the titles of the two series', and how telling it could be. We know the Eye to be an entity not inclined towards any sort of direct action or interference - the dissonance between this and Jon's behaviors during the series being one of the main tells that he's not strictly in association with the Eye - and the title of Archives lends itself to this as well. What has happened has already happened, and you're a mere observer of it.

The title of Protocol, on the other hand, is a very proactive title, as Roxy pointed out. 'Protocol' is based around a simple question:

"What do we do if X happens?"

Within a week of this conversation, Roxy shared the following with me.

So I think this is a really sexy theory, and positing the idea of "is this the universe we came from, the next universe, or perhaps the PREVIOUS one" I think is key to answering the questions we all have about TMP.

But later on, in a similar conversation, something entirely different occurred to me.

In this instance, we were discussing the specifics of the TMA finale. Specifically, the Web's (alleged) plan and what about it did or didn't make sense. Here were my messages:

(I am very aware the Spider chose the Eye specifically for its foolish nature this is just talking about hypothetically while it was initially forming its plan).

Roxy's notions about this:

It was in the process of replying to this idea that I was struck by the larger theory.

"The Magnus Protocol".

"What do we do if there's another Magnus?"

We know the Institute at least exists in the world of TMP, so ostensibly Magnus would've been planning the same things here.

And speaking of...

I think that with the tone of Gwendolyn Bouchard in the trailer, we sort of naturally pegged her as a sinister counterpart to Elias as we knew him in the series. But it makes far more sense that she'd be a pissed-off relative to me.

(The Smirke Line doc is a separate theory doc I had created earlier in my listening to the series. Perhaps someday I'll get into it or discuss the specifics of the Web's overarching nature in other Powers' business. This is not that post, however. For the time being I think it's self-explanatory enough.)

There's also the fact that in this universe, modern technology is used to make the recordings, which given the Web's history with technology, and the incompatibility of the stories with it which created the necessity for the tapes, would suggest to me an entirely different type of plan for this universe.

I finally got the chance to go over the ARG results with some friends, and I won't say anything there particularly jumped out at me in terms of supporting or disproving this idea. But no loss is a win where I'm concerned, at least in the short term. I'm fully ready for this to be thrown out in episode one.

There was one other thought which did occur to me, though I'm not entirely sure I have the evidence necessary to support it, and it pretty much makes for just messy speculation right now. I'd be remiss if there's even a chance it's true and I didn't put it out there, though.

Throwing everything I just said about which universe we're in out the window, let's assume we ARE in the universe which follows the initial one from TMA - the one the entities were sent to.

Given that there are aspects to the Web's theoretical plan that seem confusing on paper, as well as one particular web-based episode I think didn't actually get explored further later in the show and its clues were never explained (hint: it's in season four), can we be so certain we know the ORIGINAL finale plan in its entirety?

This merits further investigation. But I do wonder if it's in any way possible that, should my idea about the Web's possible 'alternate route' be accurate, the original series was in some way meant to carry out this plan all along. That gets a bit red-string, I know. But for the moment, I'm not sure it's necessarily proven wrong. Feel free to comment or ask me about it if there are things that you think do, though. I'm very interested in unpacking this further and that's hard to do in a bubble.

Probably several other spider-based posts to come in the near future. I promise to occasionally talk about other things as well, maybe. There's several things I still haven't unpacked here that square interestingly with these ideas but I think it's too much for one post, and I don't want to go any further off the rails than I already have.

This post is already too much. If you did read it then cheers. Please come talk to me about stuff I've been waiting nearly a YEAR to talk to this fandom.

[selormohene]

day 39 (friday, august 11th 2023)

I reread Eugenia Cheng's paper "Mathematics, morally" in which she attempts to formalise the notion of "morality" that gets used by mathematicians. As in, "this is morally true" (to mean "this has to be true or else everything I know about math is wrong," often used in the context of "I can't find a proof for this, but"). One interesting thing she does here is that she says morality isn't reducible to intuitiveness, for two reasons. She actually makes this point in the context of the notion of being "explanatory" and then in a passing comment says the same thing applies to intuitiveness. The idea is as follows: first, something's being backed up by moral reasons (which she identifies with moral truth; she's conflating moral truth and moral justification) is only explanatorily adequate to someone who's interested in the moral reasons behind something. Somebody who only cares about how the algebra shakes out won't be convinced with a moral reason which doesn't explain exactly how the algebra shakes out (although she says that when it comes to category theory, which would presumably cover by extension a lot of abstract algebra, formal proofs and moral reasons tend to coincide). Moreover, she says, quoting Thurston, that "one person's clear mental image is another person's intimidation." In other words, what counts as clear (and she groups in intuitive, useful and explanatory here) can vary; the implicit claim seems to be that morality doesn't vary in the same way? (She also groups in "natural" with the list of things which are only dependent on the kinds of reasons someone is interested in, reasons which may or may not be moral, and perhaps also with the list of things which vary from person to person, even though natural has a perfectly objective definition which is formally "commutes with all maps" and informally "basis-independent, intrinsic to the structure of the categories in question as such without further arbitrary imposition.")

Anyway, something else she says is that morality is to right action as proof is to lawfulness, and that, epistemically speaking, morality stands to understanding as proof does to knowledge. She also says that there's a difference in temperament between kinds of mathematician based on the epistemic attitudes that predominate their mathematical practice: law-abiding mathematicians are those who are satisfied with a proof, perhaps even in the absence of insight into the "point" of the proof, i.e. how the proof illuminates the result proved, whereas moralistic mathematicians are those who are satisfied with understanding, perhaps even in the absence of a formal proof of a given result. (The problem of course is that the illusion of understanding is more prevalent and more powerful than the illusion of proof.) Of course most mathematicians are a mix of both. And in particular, the manner in which proof and rigour aid our understanding is not like the manner in which following the law (as such) aids our sense of morality (which it rarely does). If anything, it's following the moral law that aids our sense of morality, in that it gives us insight into the conditions under which our moral sense works and also helps us to clarify cases where our moral sense might fail at the edges, in the same way that proofs help us to secure our mathematical intuition (which, contrary to Cheng, I think is closely connected with morality) on a firmer foundation by giving us insight into the conditions of its possibility. (Also, funnily enough, her example of law-abidingness without morality in the domain of everyday practical reasoning is speeding on a road but slowing down every time a speed camera shows up, which is manifestly not obeying the law. That's avoiding being caught breaking the law, which is a different thing.)

In any case the reason I mention this now is that it strikes me that I'm very much a moralist, because right now I'm working through Axler and I'm coming upon some stuff where I can see that it's true and how the proofs work but I don't feel like I've understood why, and it's holding me back. I sometimes wish I could just power through in the confidence that the understanding would come on its own, but I do feel like if I'm to have any hope that my creativity will kick in at some stage, and that I'm going to be able to make the transition from assimilation to production, then it has to start with being able to understand the fundamentals deeply and being able to put in effort when things don't make sense, because it's only the prior understanding that allows us to know where to go when we're faced with a result whose proof isn't set out for us a priori.

[crystalkitty1220]

Part 2 to this post on my theory that Mr. Wolfe created Sigma: Why I think Sigma is how Drew and Nevin got their powers (or, at least Nevin. the Drew part is really just speculation)

Edit: in hindsight this theory actaully diverts pretty far from that so it's more of just a theory on the whole jovel twins' mother incident(s) thing.

(IBVS Season 2, chapter 4)

Nevin made it clear in s2ch4 that he wasn't born with his superstrength, and that it wasn't directly connected to Drew's powers. How did Nevin get his powers, then? Well, once again I think this is kinda obvious from another line in s2ch4.

The first few times I read this flashback, I didn't think much on it. I thought it was just a snippet of a memory to show how terrible the twins' mother was, and for the most part, that's exactly what it is. But after like ten times of reading this segment of the chapter (i think i have an issue but thats besides the point) my brain started to really focus on the line "and how this is the thing that will make her love him-". This line implies that the mother did something to change Nevin, more than just in a psychological way. I believe this is a flashback to how Nevin got his power, the mother used some kind of ritual (or, according to my other theory, she used Sigma) in order to force a supernatural ability upon Nevin. Especially because it was proceeded by the line "reminding him without words how small he is, how helpless," which implies whatever the mother did was supposed to change this somehow.

To sum up that part of the theory, I think the twins' mother messed with the supernatural in order to give her kids powers, possibly using Sigma to do it, for one reason or another that we don't really know yet. I'm willing to speculate there was some kind of cult thing surrounding supernatural powers and/or Project Sigma, and the mom was part of said cult.

Now, why do I think Drew also got his powers this way? Or, at least that he was part of it to a bigger extent than is self-explanatory? Well, of course there's the fact that Drew has memory issues and headaches related to the fact that he can't remember anything from his mother's house that happened before some kind of accident. Clearly Nevin doesn't want Drew remembering this, which was made clear in Drew's flashback about the house, but it's actually a line from s1ch20 that really feels like it confirmed that the accident had to be related to the supernatural powers.

(IBVS Season 1, chapter 20)

Upon first read, the line "Drew could remember what happened if he wasn't careful" seems to be referring to the incident that broke Drew's leg. However, I'd like to say that this can't be the case. The paragraph mentions "hiding everything" as if that's how Nevin's trying to keep Drew from "remember[ing] what happened" but in context, "hiding everything" includes hiding the fact that Nevin freed Drew's leg by himself. So if whatever he's trying to keep Drew from remembering is the leg incident, then the paragraph would essentially be saying 'Maybe hiding the truth about how he saved Drew was a mistake after all. No, why would he doubt himself? Drew could remember that Nevin saved Drew's leg by himself if he wasn't careful.' That would just be dumb.

Nevin must've meant different "something" that Drew couldn't remember, and the only other one of those that we know of is whatever happened at the mother's house. How would keeping Nevin's powers a secret from Drew stop Drew from remembering that mystery incident? If it had to do with Nevin's powers, of course. And despite it being possible to claim that the incident that gave Nevin his powers is an entirely seperate incident to the one involving Nevin's powers which Drew can't remember, from a storytelling perspective it wouldn't make much sense for the two incidents not to be closely intertwined.

That's pretty much the end of my train of thought. This theory (more like two theories, really) is a lot more sound than the other one, with a lot less wild speculation, but reading the other one will give you more of an idea of what I was going on about with the whole Sigma thing. Brain go brr, I've read chapters 19, 20, 22, 23, s2ch3 and 4 each like twenty times, but that's just a theory a fic theory, end of post.

[kata4a]

The same considerations apply to aesthetic theories. When theories T and T* conflict, it often makes more sense to accept one rather the other, endorsing the SOC it proposes for the aesthetic properties it deals with. A theory that explains why a baroque oratorio would seem boring to a teenager who lacks musical education, though the oratorio itself is not boring, is methodologically superior to a theory according to which the said oratorio is really boring. Surely the first theory has a greater explanatory power; it is simpler, more concise, and it connects with other good theories better than its rival. A theory that takes as standard the observation conditions of a teenager who cares only for rock music must explain the mechanism through which people who have had some exposure to classical music fall victim to a pernicious illusion that the oratorio is graceful and profound. It must show how a monotonous drone (as the oratorio is if the teenager's observation conditions are SOC) causes an elaborate hallucination of fictitious (since unperceived by that teenager) properties. It needs to expose the hallucination-inducing properties of the oratorio that cause not otherwise delirious adults to be so deluded that they seem to perceive rich emotional and spiritual meanings in a dull whit. Perhaps those adults are not deluded but perpetuate a monumental hoax, a worldwide conspiracy against the young. Such a theory, like other colossal conspiracy theories, requires evidence of such a malicious plot, a proof of the cynical intentions of the cabal that hatched it. Since we have no such evidence, the music-conspiracy theory is methodologically inferior to the rival theory. That theory can explain, in great detail, why that oratorio, while possessing beauty and great inner richness, would seem monotonous and boring to teenagers unfamiliar with the musical language and tradition in which it has been conceived. It will predict that kids who wish to be overpowered by elementary rhythms, whose sense of hearing has sustained irreparable damage by the loud music they usually listen to, will not perceive these positive aesthetic features, at least not on first hearing.

this just pisses me off. also where the fuck does our boy eddy get off talking about rock music's "elementary rhythms" in contrast to baroque oratorios jfc

[majorsoapfan]

The Umbrella Academy Season 3 Episode Titles Analysis

Now that the episode titles for season 3 have dropped, I’ve spent the last few days wondering and theorizing just what they could mean. Most of what I’ve gotten so far rests on symbolism, headcanons, potential theories and a lot of googling, but we all need some way of staying sane until season three drops, right?

Now this is just what I’ve come up with so far, I could be massively wrong in all of these, but these are just my predictions based on what I know of the characters and plot so far, previous ways of naming episodes and the very little I know of the comics.

Meet The Family

Now this one is very self-explanatory and we’ll most likely get to know our birdies very well in this episode. We’ll probably be seeing a flashback to the Sparrows as children fighting crime - maybe already being better at it than their Umbrella counterparts were when they first started.

I’m hoping that we’’ll see another montage of introducing the siblings as adults like we saw in season one with our Umbrellas - which had been so helpful to me at the time as I had started watching the show about a week before season two dropped. I had known absolutely nothing about the show when I started, I had only clicked on it because Robert Sheeran was in the card as Klaus with his pink umbrella and I thought he was pretty. I became a massive fan all because I had thought Robert was pretty and I was bored.

So yeah, I loved the initial introduction montage of the siblings as it helped me figure out who was who quickly without wasting time. And I think that doing something similar for the Sparrows will also help give a better and quicker insight into their personalities and how they work when we see them in episode one.

The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine

If you google ‘ball of twine’ it does mention that this is an archetype for an odd roadside attraction. Now if we’re going literal here, there are plenty of such attractions in the States, including one of just this in Texas, where our dysfunctional family had been last season. Maybe an indication of a road trip or even them fleeing the Sparrows and New York in order to regroup and figure out their next step without the birds circling in?

Ball of twine can also mean wrapping really strongly around something, especially as the material mentioned is usually very strong and durable. A ball of wool isn’t the episode title after all. Now this could mean maybe a family or an emotional issue that is massively at play here. Or more likely, the Umbrella’s and more specifically Five, are trying to figure out their exact steps and actions in the 60′s and just how badly they changed the past and future, both in the general sense of the world and for their own personal lives.

Ball of Twine can also mean wrapping around something tightly, so maybe a trap is being put in place or enacted. Either for the Umbrellas by the Sparrows, or the Umbrellas are trying to lure their counterparts into a trap to regain the upper hand.

Pocket Full of Lightning

Now the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this title is something like this being described or mentioned regarding a character and their abilities. Now the characters that come to mind immediately when referenced to this are either Vanya or Christopher. Or maybe it may have something to do with a team-up, more than likely the Sparrows and what can happen when they team-up and combine their powers.

But lightning also has a lot of symbolism in many different societies and periods and in all honesty, I feel like I have to mention this. Symbolism includes but isn’t limited to: illumination, destruction, punishment, inspiration and revelations. Lightning is also highly associated with the King of the Greek Gods Zeus. Maybe Marcus or Reginald?

Marcus is after all described as a natural leader after all, gaining perhaps a Zeus like image in the public eye?

Whereas Reginald on the other hand would definitely see himself as being as King and acts like it at times, using his children as his soldiers to advance his agendas. Zeus isn’t a very kind or forgiving God either so unlike Marcus maybe this has something to do with the Hargreeves patriarch?

Kugeblitz

Thank you Tumblr for having already given me the definition for this episode title when I had first found out the episode titles so I know that it means a black hole formed from radiation.

Luther and Five when I think of this title in terms of its definition a kugeblitz has me thinking of both space and science, as both topics are highly associated with these characters. Black holes have ties to space which Five who’s powers are teleportation and Luther who spent four years up in space both have ties to a title like this.

But of course we can’t forget the actual alien in the family Reginald Hargreeves. A black hole could be a reference as to what happened to his original planet, or maybe signalling a potential threat later on in the season. Will it cause another apocalypse or a warning for an alien invasion perhaps?

But it also might have links to a well known Umbrella Academy villain, Dr Terminal. I haven’t read the comics so I will admit to a lack of knowledge on this villain although I will Google him later. But as the season will be focusing on the Sparrow Academy and potentially any previous villains, Dr Terminal seems to be the most well known in the fandom and thus the most likely to make an appearance, whether in flashbacks or in person. A few people here seem convinced that this episode title will have something to do with him in some form.

Kindest Cut

When I think of this episode title, my first thought goes of course, to Diego. People can often get cut with knives and they are of course Diego’s preferred weapon of choice.

Maybe however they are referring to another powered sibling and what harm their abilities can cause. Top contenders after Diego of course, are Vanya whose power we know can cut after seeing what she did to Allison at the end of ‘The Day that Was’ in a moment of anger.

But if we go with the Sparrows then Alphonso is at the top of my list. His character sheet is mentioned as him bearing the scars from his years of crime-fighting. His power is assumed to be the voodoo from the comics and if he can transfer the injuries he obtains or inflicts on himself to others, this may be what this title means.

But, and this theory I think is the one that I’m most obsessed with right now, is that the episode title could be an adaptation of the saying ‘unkindest cut’. The definition for this is ‘a cruel or devastating injury or insult inflicted on you by a supposed friend’. 

If we go by current timeline we’re in then my money is that Five may be joining the Sparrows either under duress or having worked out an agreement with Reginald that his siblings would be spared if he did. Only his family might not be aware of what Five has planned and agreed to and would only see the apparent betrayal of what they have all gone through together as a family. Of only seeing their brother join the team that probably want them dead.

But this betrayal may also be coming from the Sparrows and Sloane perhaps. Sloane is an inverse of Five in a sense in that while Five is driven by his desire to save his family, Sloane often feels like hers are holding her back from experiencing her dream of leaving. Maybe she betrays the Sparrows in some way by letting an opportunity to capture the Umbrellas flee or seeking them out as allies.

Marigold

According to what I can glean from the comics, marigold refers to the balls of light that eventually became the 43 super-powered children. So could we be getting an explanation as to how these supers came to be and why?

But like with episode three’s episode title, I can’t not mention the symbolism connected to this title. Marigolds often have conflicting symbolism today. In modern western society their bright colours often have them being associated with the sun and positive emotions and energy such as happiness, optimism and good luck. Not what I think the episode will be about.

But on the darker side of things, which is something that I do think has more ties into what to expect, is that they also refer to jealousy, grief, despair, mourning and cruelty. It is a flower associated with death and the Day of the Dead in Mexico and is said to offer protection from evil spirits. This connection with death is what I first thought of when I saw the episode title and the most obvious character associated with Death is none other than our ghost-boy Klaus Hargreeves.

Klaus as a character has a lot of ties to death naturally and I did see a post on here describing how Klaus will be entering the fourth stage of grief which is depression for both Ben and Dave during season three. This makes sense as they are now both gone in a way that not even his powers can reverse nor can he summon their spirits. Marigolds can often symbolize a despaired love and strong passion as well as well as pain and grief, so it could be a reference to Klaus’ depression over permanently losing both his closest brother and his love. But the main reason I do think that this episode does tie in heavily with Klaus is that it’s a mid season episode and so far that’s usually when Klaus undergoes most of his development. Maybe it’ll continue that way in season three.

Of course if Marigold will also represent a despaired love there are other options in the Umbrellas other than Klaus and Dave: Diego with both Eudora Patch (who is possibly still alive in this timeline) and Lila Pitts still bouncing around the timeline. Allison dealing with leaving her 60′s husband Raymond Chestnut and maybe trying to track down her ex Patrick to find out what happened to daughter Claire in this timeline and Vanya with love Sissy Cooper. Or maybe even Five and Dolores or possibly a love interest for Luther could be a reference to this title. 

Explaining how the Umbrella and Sparrows came to be wouldn’t take the whole episode giving us time for some potential (doomed) love.

Auf Wierdershen

This is very likely to be a Klaus focused episode, even if Marigold isn’t.

The episode title is German for goodbye and Klaus is the character most associated with Germany. Klaus is the only character to have spoken German during the shows events so far and his name is of German origin (interestingly enough, all of the male Sparrows bar Ben, have their names tied to Germanic origin. Meanwhile, Fei’s name is of Chinese origin, Jayme has both Spanish and Hebrew roots, while Sloane is derived from an Irish surname Ó Sluaghhadáin). Not only that but it is considered fanon that Klaus was born in Germany just like Diego and Vanya’s roots are considered to be Mexico and Russia respectively. 

Not only that but he literally has ‘goodbye’ tattooed on his hand.

‘Goodbye’ has many different interpretations for what this could mean especially if this is a Klaus centric episode like we are assuming. And like I mentionned above with Klaus going through the fourth stage of grief in season three, this might be the episode where he moves into the fifth and final stage: acceptance. Perhaps by having one last talk with Umbrella Ben in the afterlife or by trying to track down Dave after Vietnam and discovering he (seemingly - I do have hopes for Commission Dave later on) did live a long and happy life after the war. 

Mending fences with Ben and both getting the chance to air their genuine grievances with one another and mend their relationship from the horrific state it was in at the end of season two might help Klaus find closure. Klaus and Ben both love each other but they crossed a lot of lines and hurt each other deeply with their behaviours last season and they deserved the chance to try and fix the issues as well as say a proper goodbye to one another. This could give Klaus the opportunity to say just that as well as moving into accepting Ben’s death once and for all.

And when it comes to Dave, maybe just knowing that Dave moved on can help Klaus move from depression into acceptance. He was more than fine with stopping Dave from enlisting in the army during season two even knowing that it would mean that Dave would never meet or fall in love with Klaus. He was willing to sacrifice his chance at love with Dave if it meant that Dave would survive. Perhaps if he knew that Dave had been happy and safe in his later life he could then move on and say goodbye? 

And maybe by coming to terms with the departure of two of the biggest influences in his life, motivate Klaus to embrace a new outlook and control of his life and his powers?

Wedding At The End Of The World

This very clearly has ties to the very first episode of the show which is ‘We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals’. Both have marriage and death connected in their titles. The characters that we know have been married so far out of our Hargreeves family so far is Reginald and Allison.

Reginald was married on his home planet when his wife died. Not a lot is known about her other than she was the original owner of Vanya’s violin in the original timeline. Maybe we’ll get information on her and just why Reginald left his home planet?

The next character married so far is Allison who so far has been married twice already (maybe they’re going three for three this time?). And judging by the episode title in season one, that event was the last time the Umbrella Hargreeves (bar Five) were all together as a family until they arrived for Reginald’s funeral. Maybe there’s a link there.

Or maybe this is referencing a whole other wedding that may be happening during the events of season three? I wouldn’t be surprised if Five reunites with Delores and decides just to get married to make it official. To paraphrase Klaus, it’s probably one of the healthiest relationships that family ever had regarding love.

Six Bells

Now this tile had me stumped for a good bit and it will probably make more sense when season three does drop and we watch the episodes, but for now I can just theories on it.

Bells have often been associated with religious services, which may tie in with the last episode, but can also be rung for important events or in deference of important people.

But what is really getting me is that the title is six bells and there are six Umbrellas left so far. Could the bells be in reference to something regarding them, some sort of trap perhaps? Which will definitely tie in in some way to the seasons finale:

Oblivion

Now like episode one this one seems fairly self-explanatory. This seems like Hotel Oblivion is finally coming into play here, meaning they are probably switching the order of stories from the comics. But the question is: if it is Hotel Oblivion, did the Umbrella’s enter the Hotel/prison out of free will or were they trapped here by the Sparrows? Anything goes at this point considering that it’s the last episode of the season.

But when it comes to the Hotel there are so many possibilities as to what happens here:

- Are all of the Umbrella’s trapped inside or did one escape and their other cell mate is a Sparrow perhaps (Sloane maybe for trying to leave the Sparrow Academy?)

- How will this set up the cliff-hanger for season four? Will all or some of the Umbrella Hargreeves be trapped in the hotel once the season ends and that helps set up the tension for the next season. Or maybe a break out of prisoners just like in the comics occurs and the Umbrella's are forced to deal with it?

-Where will this leave our Sparrows at the season end, because I know that we’re going to get attached (I know I will). Will some of them come with us into season four? Maybe they are split into two teams as the season ends, each containing a mixture of both Umbrella’s and Sparrows?

Well that’s all I have, maybe I’m right about some of it, maybe I’m all wrong, just need to wait until season three to find out.

[primrose-path-of-dalliance]

on bren and feeblemind.

(cw: lots of caleb backstory. self-explanatory, i think?)

.

.

this isn’t something i’ve talked about on my blog yet, but since the campaign has begun drawing to a close, i want to make sure i say my piece on the popular theory that bren/caleb was institutionalized because trent ikithon feebleminded him to disable him.

my piece being that it’s exceptionally unlikely he did—at least as a premeditated plan. this kind of theory also falls prey to the exact beliefs ikithon has tried to exploit in caleb.

for our mutual reference, i’ll quote the spell description of feeblemind.

FEEBLEMIND (PHB) 8th level enchantment

Casting time: 1 action Range: 150 feet Components: VSM (a handful of clay, crystal, glass, or mineral spheres) Duration: Instantaneous

You blast the mind of a creature that you can see within range, attempting to shatter its intellect and personality. The target takes 4d6 psychic damage and must make an Intelligence saving throw.

On a failed save, the creature’s Intelligence and Charisma scores become 1. The creature can’t cast spells, activate magic items, understand language, or communicate in any intelligible way. The creature can, however, identify its friends, follow them, and even protect them.

At the end of every 30 days, the creature can repeat its saving throw against this spell. If it succeeds on its saving throw, the spell ends. The spell can also be ended by Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish.

considering the characteristics described and implied by actors other than ikithon—caleb and astrid prominently—who are not motivated to deceive on ikithon’s behalf, feeblemind is not consistent with caleb’s mental break.

fact the first: when bren broke, he became violent and spellcasted.

when astrid describes the circumstances in which he was taken to the vergessen sanatorium (e89, 1:49:30), she refers to his lashing out as “creat[ing] a lot of sparks everywhere else” and rubs at burn scars across her neck. she says that they had to subdue him because he was too dangerous. all of these statements add up to a bren who was viciously spellcasting at his friends and mentor when he broke down.

this wouldn’t have been possible if he’d been feebleminded. feeblemind explicitly prevents the affected creature from casting spells or activating magic items. in that scenario, the only thing bren would’ve been capable of is throwing hands. from him? not very dangerous at all.

how do we know astrid wasn’t lying or intentionally deceptive? because she (and eadwulf) still cares so much for caleb that she risked her life multiple times to aid him. no one who would give caleb a map to a secret volstrucker vault with her own handwriting on it (e127, 29:29; and 30:57)—or intentionally fail to counterspell him when ikithon could’ve seen her do so—would lie to caleb about ikithon attempting to permanently feeblemind him if she knew.

to preempt the idea that astrid had set the m9 up: it’s very obvious she didn’t, since trent ikithon had clearly had no forewarning of a break-in. he would’ve at least been waiting in the vault, already prepared to subdue them quickly, if he’d known.

so it’s fair to determine that astrid would either be honest to the extent of her knowledge to caleb or make it clear that she couldn’t answer him. since she didn’t imply the latter, we can assume she was being honest. and because of astrid’s competence, it’s highly probable she would’ve noticed if his behavior was symptomatic of feeblemind over the years.

fact the second: bren’s mental condition repeatedly improved and regressed while he was institutionalized.

astrid states this in the same conversation about their subduing him after his breakdown (e89, 1:50:50). considering this with the context of their romantic relationship prior to his breakdown, her genuine care for him, and her rise to power that included accompanying ikithon frequently to the sanatorium (e127, 31:07)—astrid would’ve had the motivation and the opportunities to visit bren in person. she could’ve also kept well-abreast of his condition.

actual times of improvement and decline in the mental state that astrid first observed during his breakdown wouldn’t be consistent with feeblemind. although it reduces the victim’s intelligence score to 1, they still retain thought and their sense of identity without problems.

this is a maintenance of consistency and (relative) reason. feeblemind does not actually damage a person’s basic perception of reality. but the health of bren’s behavior throughout the years was instead very unstable.

fact the third: caleb doesn’t remember anything from the burning of his home up to his healing by the unknown cleric.

in the conversation with astrid in e89, he asks her what happened when he broke and explicitly says, “the last thing i remember is my home” (1:46:58). when he first tells beau and nott about his past, he explains that he doesn’t remember much of what happened to him there (e18, 2:51:54).

beyond the reduction to their intelligence, feeblemind doesn’t affect the victim’s ability to form memories. caleb’s keen mind feat and established narrative element of his eidetic memory would’ve still been present as well. therefore, feeblemind alone can’t explain such a significant, near-empty gap in his memory. he would still remember something.

even the possibility of trent ikithon altering them directly is precluded by the fact that the cleric’s healing removed the alterations to caleb’s memory. if all those years had been magically blocked away, they’d have returned when he was healed of everything else.

fact the fourth: sometimes, people really do just break.

nothing about caleb’s backstory is inconsistent with just... being a person living their life, even a terrible one. he was a young man that believed so zealously in his country and his purpose, abused by a powerful older man, that he did many horrible things and believed they were right. until finally he did something that he couldn’t process and broke down.

there’s two reoccurring, underlying assumptions i’ve noticed behind why this theory seems to be so compelling and popular:

caleb just seems so remorseful and traumatized by his double patricide. there’s no way he would’ve willingly murdered his parents. ikithon must have known and decided to preempt his inevitable betrayal.

everything we know about bren, especially from the horse’s own mouth, suggests that he had been willing (at least up until his mental break) to murder his parents. he was literally an extreme nationalist—a fascist, if you will. he was lawful evil (twitter source). he gratefully executed many “criminals” put in front of him, more than likely by burning them to death based on his ptsd. victims whom we now understand may not have been guilty of anything at all.

he was glad to do what he thought was best for the dwendalian empire, and he truly thought being volstrucker was the correct path. trent ikithon, his abuser, treated him as his favorite (e110, 3:30:58). because he believed.

that fervent faith, in fact, is the key to something like his breakdown in the first place. hearing the dying screams of his parents, bren was forced to confront a violent dissonance between his radical beliefs that condemned traitors (as he believed until the cleric’s healing) and the intuitive horror of murdering his parents that he couldn’t reconcile. this fathomless sense of betrayal is why caleb so deeply despised ikithon and himself.

a young evocation wizard who didn’t want his parents dead would’ve run into that burning house, feebleminded or not. someone magically compelled to set that fire would’ve understood what happened as soon as the charm left him and would definitely remember every detail once the cleric healed him.

caleb is remorseful and traumatized because he willingly murdered his parents. as well as many others.

it can’t be that simple. caleb was institutionalized for eleven years just because his abuser pushed him too far? there must be a more nefarious reason. ikithon even said he basically stored him for later.

putting aside the fact that bren having a breakdown in the way he did makes complete sense for his situation, ikithon’s “claim” that he orchestrated all of caleb’s subsequent years is not only something he never actually says (e110, 3:16:34)—it is a claim that’s patently absurd.

i’ve written meta that discusses this in the past (link here). essentially though, the number of moving pieces and assumptions that would be needed for such a series of events is ridiculously improbable. even assuming that ikithon feebleminded him—so that caleb’s mind would be intact when he ‘woke up’—even assuming that ikithon somehow procured the service of a cleric of the archeart—a banned deity in the empire that would oppose ikithon...

why in the world would he ever reasonably believe that caleb widogast, the man he viciously betrayed and lied to and abused, would do anything to benefit ikithon?

trent ikithon is a mortal man. he has power, yes; enchantment magic, authority, and a history of abuse and manipulation over caleb’s head, yes. but ikithon is a mortal man. not a puppeteer in the sky piloting people’s bodies.

he certainly wouldn’t have led caleb to a whole new family that would change everything about his life for the better. a family that would love him, truly—a family that would help him heal, bear the weight of his guilt, and find a real future waiting for him again instead of a self-destructive end. a family that would fight tooth and nail for caleb’s sake against ikithon.

abusers lie. their biggest lie, the one they always circle back to in the end, is that their victim is unique: that there is something which makes them deserving of abuse, and that their abuser is both right and inescapable.

ikithon is read as honest because he chooses his words carefully and has the self-confidence to believe it. everything he’s claimed about caleb and his past have either been implications that he encouraged others to reach for him or platitudes empty of everything except gaslighting intent.

caleb has escaped. and everything ikithon wants is to convince caleb and his friends that he continues to control caleb’s life, that caleb is special, so he can regain some influence over a man who’s come to command so much power.

the idea that caleb must’ve been feebleminded—that he couldn’t have just had a mental breakdown like so many other prospective volstrucker before miraculously, then strenuously, recovering to create a hopeful future for himself—falls into the trap of validating ikithon’s lies.

trent ikithon didn’t see and believe in caleb’s ‘full potential’ before anyone else did. he didn’t foresee a single ounce of the man’s struggle to put himself back together after what he suffered. caleb was not institutionalized to serve as a toy to one day pull back out of the closet. there was no feeblemind or other secretive plan that could only serve to obfuscate the brutal truth:

ikithon abused a boy until he shattered, and tried to hide the evidence. a crime that he’s committed against countless other children. plain and simple.

so that’s my piece.

caleb widogast—bren ermendrud—was not the victim of a premeditated feeblemind from ikithon, based on the mechanics of the spell. even more importantly, the narrative of his and ikithon’s stories would suffer if he was.

now,

A LOGICAL POSSIBILITY I WON’T DENY.

what if ikithon feebleminded him as a method to subdue him after the breakdown?

this is more or less an alternate theory that’s irrelevant to the points i actually wanted to make. but i want to talk about it anyway because it’s kind of fun.

fact the bonus: bren spent eleven years in the sanatorium.

eleven years is a long time. he would’ve been able to save every 30 days after the initial failed save. the exandrian calendar has about eleven 30-day periods every year. assuming a feeblemind spell cast on him just prior to his institutionalization, that’s somewhere around 121 possible save attempts, give or take a few.

what’s the likelihood of him actually saving? to go through the mechanics:

normally, feeblemind reduces a person’s intelligence score to 1, modifier -5. caleb, as a variant human, possessed the feat keen mind from the beginning both mechanically and story-wise. this would make his intelligence score 2, modifier -4, even after feeblemind.

as a level 1-2 wizard, he would’ve had proficiency in intelligence saves. this would be +2 to his save.

in total, the modifier to bren’s intelligence saves would be -2.

in order to cast feeblemind, trent ikithon would have to have been a minimum level 15 wizard. this leaves two possible proficiency bonuses to determine his spell save dc: +5 or +6.

it’s probably safe to assume that his intelligence score is at least 18–20, likely 20. this would be a modifier of +4 or +5. (his intelligence could be 22+ if matt wanted to be a real dick, but let’s assume otherwise.)

spell save dc = 8 + spellcasting score mod (for wizards, this is intelligence) + proficiency bonus.

this means trent ikithon’s possible spell save dc is somewhere from 17–19.

therefore:

at minimum—17 being ikithon as a level 15–16 wizard with an intelligence score of 18–19 at the time of casting—bren would have to roll a 19 or nat 20 to make the save with his -2 save modifier.

at a dc of 18—ikithon either being level 17–20 or having an intelligence score of 20, but not both—bren would have to roll a nat 20.

at a dc of 19(+), it would be impossible for bren to save without additional bonuses such as bless.

i don’t have the brainpower to calculate some real statistical probabilities, but depending on your opinion of trent ikithon’s probable capabilities at the time of bren’s mental break, he may have been able to save against feeblemind sometime during the eleven years he spent at the sanatorium.

naturally, this has the earlier-mentioned conundrum of remembering that return of clarity once he was healed by the cleric, should ikithon have been retrieved to recast the feeblemind and altered his memories. nevertheless, it may or may not be a fun thought to play around with.

[blutunesninja]

Explanations below (I spent sooooo long on them holy hell)

Just thought this was a fun thing to put together, I’m definitely missing a few things but I got as much in as I can, and I tried to explain most of these as best as possible.

Above iceberg/sky:

Kai is the green ninja: Rumors in the season 1 era, it was very built up.

S1-2 voice errors: Many ninja talk with the wrong voices in season 1 and 2.

Zane in the fridge vs. a note: In Season 1 Episode 2, Home, Zane is shown sitting in the fridge in the UK version. In the U.S version, there is just a note.

S1Ep1 video game: On the television release in the U.S for the first ever episode, the ninja are seen playing a custom made video game which is foreshadowing them in the fight for the golden scythe. In the Netflix version, they are playing the Ninjago DS game.

Wu is Lloyd's dad: Wu and Lloyd both have blonde hair, and Wu used to have a thing for Misako.

Jay using wind powers: In the episode The Green Ninja, Jay uses wind powers in the volcano to blow away fire.

Seliel: An original character in the Ninjago Comics, Phantom Ninja

Animejago: Anime style Ninjago in Season 11 “The Absolute Worst”

Zane = Ice Emperor: Before the reveal many people theorized that Zane would be the Ice Emperor.

Iceberg: 

Echo Zane is Mr. E: A scrapped idea by the writers which shows Harumi finding the old lighthouse and rebuilding Echo Zane into Mr. E. Still plausible.

Cole had depression as a ghost: In a canon Ninjago book, The Book of Spinjitzu, it’s confirmed that Cole went through a depressive episode during his time a ghost because of his failure to contribute to the team in the same way he used to.

Sorla is Garmadon and Wu's mother: Sorla has lots of knowlegde about elemental masters, but it’s unknown where she got this information as she lives in the Never-Realm. Also this

Jay has ADHD/Anxiety: He talks quickly, has bad reactions to loud sounds, understands social cues, scared in tense situations, and many other things (this is very plausible)

Lar the water ninja: A self proclaimed “water ninja” named Lar

Merjitzu: An odd rumor back then about mermaid spinjitzu...?

Zane's visions: Zane has many visions throughout the show, and they all seem to come true/seem accurate

Cole's mother: Many theories spawned around the identity of Cole’s mother before season 13, mainly because she was rarely mentioned and never seen until then.

Below iceberg:

Zane and Nya are murderers: they have the highest kill count in the show by far

The SoG massacred tons of people: Self explanatory, while the SoG were taking over Ninjago and running the streets in Season 9, of course they harrassed people.

Cole is colorblind: Cole frequently refers to things as the wrong color in the show, leading to this theory/headcanon

EM age slower than regular people: A prime example of this is Ray and Maya. They don’t appear old at all even after many years. The same can be said about Wu’s whole family.

Ninjago manga: More information on it here, but it’s basically a gag manga series with only 8 pages.

Original S7 ending: The original ending was written to be a finale of Ninjago. It would end with Acronix and Krux locked up in Kryptarium Prison 2.0, forty years in the future, while Lloyd and Kai reminisced about the adventures they had in the past decades and no sign of Cole. [SCRIPT]

Ronin has a wife and kids: Tommy Andreasen stated that in his head, he imagines Ronin has three children and a demanding wife. [tweet]

Nelson and the mailman are related: ???? I don’t even know...

Deeper iceberg:

Zane is a transmale: Stemming from this wiki page because of their visual similarities.

Vex killing prisoners: There are many prison cells in the Ice Emperors palace, but all are empty, leading many to believe they’ve been killed/frozen.

Cole is an oni: Cole survived the fall into the darkness that only oni can survive, like Garmadon and Lloyd. There is no explanation for this, and with little origin story to Cole’s family, one can only assume.

Mistaké is still alive: Many believe Mistaké is still alive, as she’s seen here in season 10.

Harumi playing with a green ninja doll during Great Devourer attack: This doesn't make any sense since Lloyd was not known to be the green ninja around this time, and some could say his first debut as a ninja was in the Great Devourer attack. Harumi seemed to be obsessed with the green ninja around this time, however.

Cole and Jay are related: A probably-debunked theory since not much is known about either of their families. Jay is adopted and Cole only has his father. Some believe their families are connected, as half brothers or even cousins..

the mailman is an Oni: I’m.. not sure about this one either..

Skylor’s original design: [Shown here]

Bottom of iceberg:

Nadakhan is shapeshifting as Clutch Powers/Nadakhan killed Clutch inside the lamp:

Cole is gay coded: The Royal Blacksmiths. Enough said.

The Formlings are a murdering cult: In their animal forms, do they kill animals and or other people?

The ultradragon was hunted and killed: The remains of their bones were used for Iron Barons throne, shown here.

How did Lloyd take his father’s robe from him?: Garmadon was chained up, but Lloyd later returns to the realm of Ninjago wearing his father’s robes.

Fetish art: Many pieces of fetish art have been created for this show, including inflation, feet, vore, tickling, macro, blueberry inflation, and more

Deep waters:

Omega is Clutch's dad: N/A

Jay kills Cliff Gordon in S6: When Jay wishes to Nadakhan for wealth and fortune, and quickly a letter conveniently comes to him about the passing of his father Cliff Gordon, and how he now owns all of his property.

Onceler Morro: tumblr meme

Skylor is genetically engineered: With no mention of her mother, it’s all up to the imagination.

Garmadon x Lloyd: The absolute worst side of the fandom, and yes it does exist/has existed.

incest/r//pe fics: The most disgusting things ever created.