#cc theory

[a-library-ghost]

this detail in CoM caught my eye in terms of cc hofas connections??? the fate of the underworld and lost souls??

[chloesimaginationthings]

William Afton has top tier FNAF parenting skills

[bs-fangirl]

Dinosaurs:

[livsmessydoodles]

ready to cause some chaos...?

[snaileo]

really rough darius doodle bc ive been consumed by thoughts of him ever since the trailer dropped

[silverlinedeyes]

Reblogging this theory that Theia’s second daughter returned to Prythian with Truth-Teller before the rift closed for…reasons 🤣

The Illyrians—A (Crack) Theory

Major HOSAB Spoilers below

Theory: Were the Illyrians originally demons from Hel that Aidas (or Apollion or maybe even Theia) sent with Theia’s second daughter through the Rift to protect her and Truth-Teller?

In HOSAB, we again learned that Theia (and Fionn) had two daughters: Helena, and a second daughter. While Helena was forced to wed Pelias and remained in Midgard, no one knows what happened to her second daughter. Indeed, Aidas*** says she disappeared into the night, and he never learned her fate.

(***the real Aidas of course might know where Theia’s second daughter is)

The Starsword has a twin, without which the Starsword does not have (all of) it’s powers. As far as the history books show, Gwydion’s twin was lost sometime during the first wars:

We also learn in HOSAB that the Starsword is Gwydion, and that it’s twin is Truth-Teller, which is in Prythian:

Which means somehow Truth-Teller got from Midgard and Theia/Pelias’s possession back to Prythian.

So how did Truth-Teller get back to Prythian?

My best guess is that Theia’s second daughter took Truth-Teller through the Rift to keep Pelias from being able to use it, and from being able to use Gwydion at its full power. Originally I wondered if she stole it from him after he killed her mother, but this passage gives me pause:

Here, Rigelus is talking about how the Asteri’s attempt to go back to Prythian to seek revenge on the Fae who defeated the daglan (asteri) there was thwarted by “your ancestor who also bore that star on her chest.” Which to me is saying that a *female* closed the rift, not Pelias. So was it Theia before Pelias slew her, or was it Helena after Theia died? Which one had a scar like Bryce’s on her chest?

If it was Theia, did she give her second daughter the knife and tell her to flee with it through the rift to protect her people and stop Pelias from getting to full power?

If it was Helena, was this her last act of defiance to stop Pelias and the Asteri, and to protect her people? To take the knife from Pelias, and to stop the Asteri from returning to Prythian?

Anyways, back to the point: I think Theia and Fionn’s second daughter fled through the rift with Truth-Teller, returning it to Prythian.

And I don’t think she went alone.

At the beginning of HOSAB, Bryce is at the ballet looking at art of the first wars:

“An army of winged demons swooping down from the skies upon a terrestrial army gathered on a plain below.” And Bryce later remembers the leathery wings of the demons she killed in HOEAB.

An army of winged soldiers—sounds familiar.

Hunt later describes Apollion’s wings as leathery:

And when Bryce sees Azriel, she says he has “demon wings” and later describes his and Rhys’s wings as “leathery.”

…

Are Illyrians descended from demons? Do they descend from the flying winged demons in Hel’s armies from the first war?

We also learn that Apollion slew Pelias for his brother Aidas, who loved Theia. To avenge what Pelias did to Theia.

Did Aidas or Apollion (or maybe even Theia) send a group of Hel’s winged demon soldiers through the Rift with Theia’s second daughter to protect her and see her through safely?

Indeed, the Illyrians are bred soldiers who are brutal and old-fashioned in their ways. Is this because they were born and bred warriors from Hel, trained to fight against the Asteri? (Thanks @wingedblooms for this connection)

And if the Rift is under or on Ramiel as I suspect it might be, did they come through in the Illyrian mountains and make their home there, guarding and hiding what Theia’s daughter brought through the Rift—Truth-Teller?

Is that why there are Illyrian runes on the scabbard? And are those really runes from Hel?

Are the Illyrians still tasked with guarding the Rift?

If the Rift is under Ramiel, what else might be there? What else might the Illyrians be protecting?

And one last thought (again, thanks to @wingedblooms for helping me with this idea and brainstorming with me):

Could Theia’s second daughter have mated with one of the Illyrians/demons that helped her through, and could her (and Theia and Fionn’s) bloodline be in the Illyrian line?

We know Helena had shadow powers as well as starborn powers—could her sister have had them too?

Could that be where Azriel’s shadowsinging ability comes from—Theia’s second daughter?

And if that’s the case, he is an heir of Fionn, and to Truth-Teller:

Theia and Pelias killed Fionn, “taking some of his bloodline’s most powerful and precious weapons.”

Weapons. Not weapon. Gwydion and Truth-Teller are two of Fionn’s bloodline’s most powerful weapons. And if Azriel descends from Theia and Fionn, they’re his bloodline’s weapons too.

And Azriel has one of them. Had had it for centuries.

Did it choose him? Is that how he found it? Was he drawn to it? Did Azriel “win” Truth-Teller in a similar way that Ruhn won the Starsword? And does that mean Azriel can wield Truth-Teller and its powers?

And does this mean that Rhys is also an heir to Gwydion and Truth-Teller, given the hints we got that Ruhn and Rhys are related? That Gwydion and Truth-Teller are Rhys’s bloodline’s weapons as well?

I think Azriel and Elain are certain to go to Ramiel in ACOTAR 5 to search for the fourth trove or for the trove weapons. To see what is under Ramiel. And I wonder if we might discover more about the Illyrian’s history then, and what they’ve been guarding.

And one final question: was Elain also able to use Truth-Teller’s powers, and how? Is it because she is starborn, or simply because she was made? Or is it something else? Was Truth-Teller pointing to several connections between Azriel and Elain when it formed that bridge between them? True mates, but also starborn, or heirs to TT?

Wait, a final final question! Is Theia’s second daughter also the fae warrior that trapped Koschei????

Thanks as always to my friends for talking to me about my theories, especially @offtorivendell (who has a different theory about the Illyrians I think she’ll be posting about soon) @psychee92 @merymoonbeam @avallens and, as already mentioned, @wingedblooms

[ashiiuou]

here's some art for a FNAF AU i've been working on that combines paternal bonding, self-consciousness, and haunted arcade cabinets.

bonus:

[cheruv-ii]

Petition to bring back Ben's signature thousand yard stare

[teapot-of-tyrahn]

i feel like, as a society, we don’t talk about the lore implications of jumbo enough. because no matter how you look at it it’s tragic.

context: mumbo jumbo’s channel was originally a two-person channel run by mumbo, and jumbo, respectively. jumbo left the channel shortly after it was formed and so mumbo took up the full mantle of “mumbo jumbo”. but it was never supposed to be mumbo jumbo. it was supposed to be mumbo and jumbo.

mumbo is forever a half pretending to be a whole. and isn't that heartbreaking?

slightly off-topic perhaps but. i don’t know. jumbo looks awfully familiar... dirty-blonde, wears a red jumper, known for being the builder of the pair? idk….. just an eerie resemblance!

[evil-mcytblrconfessions]

I'm not much into cc truthing but i 100% believe jschlatt came from the future and killed his past self to take his place. That's why he had such a drastic twink death and why he keeps predicting when important people dies

.

[offtorivendell]

How long has Koschei been stirring the Cauldron?

Posted for @elriel-month 2025, "Free" prompt.

Disclaimer: this is just a theory that makes no claims of being canon. It's also not a theory that's specific to Elriel, but still heavily revolves around them and their potential, so I think it fits for this month. My thanks, as ever, go out to @wingedblooms, @silverlinedeyes, @psychologynerd, @lovelydreamlight, and @elrieldreamer for always chatting crack theories with me. Love you all. 💜

Spoilers: the entire Maasverse is referenced, please read with caution if you aren't up to date.

Before we crack on, the following posts may be worth reading (but are by no means required), just so you know where I'm coming from with all this:

All about the Cauldron's oily magic, Azriel and Elain being separated for plot reasons, and discordant mating bonds - here and here

The Archeron sisters descend from Starborn fae - here

Powerful parallels between the Archeron sisters and Theia (and Bryce) - here

The Asteri may be tampering with mating bonds - here

Elain's Sight may require both darkness and song - here

What if Elain and Nesta wore iron bangles to stifle their latent magic while human - here

Three brothers x three sisters, an anti rainbow - here

I hope to discuss Koschei's hypothetical scheming behind the scenes, which I suspect has been going on in order to prevent Wyrd from being freed. This will involve the Archeron sisters, Elain, Azriel and Lucien, and Rhys' odd behaviour. This post will be long, and a little convoluted, I'm sorry, but I hope it all makes sense in the end.

Let's begin!

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily...

Are Merrill's powers "but a dream," similar to Elain?

As I have mentioned before, these two lines, both from Azriel's ACOSF bonus chapter, have bugged me for years:

Fury was a moonless night on Rhys' face.

Just this taste in the dead of the longest night of the year, where only the Mother might witness them.

You can read the main theory post, but to sum up the relevant points:

I believe that Merrill may be working for Koschei as some sort of double agent (though he could be unaware of her other affiliations) either because she is the trapped/enslaved ghost of a murdered faerie, or she is trying to save the soul of a murdered loved one

I suspect that she has been spying on Feysand's inner circle, reporting everything back to Koschei, and facilitating control over them in some way

Years ago, I suggested there may be a possibility that Koschei was once known as Fionn, the High King, and that he may have been the original shadowsinger (or tied to shadows in some way), and a daemati; I also noted that there were some interesting parallels between Azriel and Koschei in the text. I have since expanded on those thoughts in this theory, and I cannot wait for more lore on this topic. I haven't posted my "Lightsingers in the Library" theory yet (though I've spoken about it before here and here, and I hope to get it done eventually), so to briefly explain where it may come in: I suspect that there is some link between daemati and Singer powers, in that they can all get a read on - and maybe even influence - the minds of those they're targeting. I think Clotho may be a Singer (either a shadowsinger or lightsinger), given she appeared to follow along with Feyre and Rhys' mental conversation in ACOWAR, and I also find it suspicious that Rhys appeared to used his daemati powers to trick Feyre in much the same way I think lightsingers (and shadowsingers!) might lure their own "prey."

I smiled slightly at Rhys, who kept looking ahead as we spoke mind to mind. Don’t they know by now that they can find you down here? Of course. But I never go to the same spot twice in a row, so it usually takes them so long to find me that they don’t bother. Plus, they know that if I’m here, it’s because I want to be alone. Poor baby High Lord, I crooned. Having to run away to find solitude perfect for brooding. Rhys pinched my behind, and I clamped down on my lip to keep from yelping. I could have sworn Clotho’s shoulders shook with laughter. - ACOWAR, chapter 20

I could almost see what would have happened: The shop ladies would have been polite—a bit nervous—and given us privacy as Rhys sat on the settee in the back of the shop while I went behind the curtained-off chamber to try on the red lace set I’d eyed thrice now. And when I emerged, mustering up more bravado than I felt, Rhys would have looked me up and down. Twice. [...] Then he’d have tugged me a bit closer before leaning in to brush a kiss to my navel, his tongue— I swore as I slammed into the post of the stairwell landing. And I blinked—blinked as the world returned and I realized … I glared at the eye tattooed in my hand and hissed both with my tongue and that silent voice within the bond itself, “Prick.” In the back of my mind, a sensual male voice chuckled with midnight laughter. My face burning, cursing him for the vision he’d slipped past my mental shields, I reinforced them as I entered my room. And took a very, very cold bath. - ACOMAF, chapter 38

So if Koschei is a daemati and/or shadowsinger, or he has access to one (or both!), then I am extremely worried for all of the warnings Rhys gave Feyre in the original trilogy, with regards to always guarding her mind. Chekhov's daemati hasn't come into play yet, and I am scared for Rhys and co. Do you remember back in ACOWAR, when the twin Ravens infiltrated the Library and targeted Feyre and Nesta? We learnt that they entered the mind of the priestess who let them in, but left her alive for some reason. Rhys, in a state of distress - ie. not at his best, so very potentially not on guard for an attack in the moment - then entered the priestess' mind after the fact, in order to see what had happened. Did Koschei/the hypothetical daemati take this opportunity to stow away in his mind?

I promise I'm not making excuses for Rhys, but I've said before that it would not surprise me if his "out of character" behaviour, whether that be harshly berating Azriel over Elain, or lying after Feyre said "no more lies, Rhys," turns out to be orchestrated by Koschei, or something Valg-like, having infiltrated his mind and quietly pulled some mental threads here and there.

Did the priestess who let in the Ravens unwittingly act as a middle man for a powerful being who wanted to get into Rhys' mind? And who might it be? My money is on either Merrill or Gwyn - and to clarify, this does NOT make them evil, it would make them HIS VICTIMS - because of the following passages. Merrill first.

She knocked on the shut wood door. “Enter.” Nesta opened the door to a rectangular cell of a room, occupied by a desk on the far side and two bookshelves lining both long walls. A small pallet lay to the left of the desk, a blanket and pillow neatly aligned. As if the hooded priestess with her back to Nesta sometimes couldn’t be bothered to return to the dormitory to sleep. - ACOSF, chapter 13

Merrill turned at that, and Nesta was greeted with a surprisingly young face—and a stunningly beautiful one. All the High Fae were beautiful, but Merrill made even Mor look drab. Hair white as fresh snow contrasted against the light brown of her skin, and eyes the color of a twilight sky blinked once, twice. As if focusing on the here and now and not whatever work she’d been doing. She noted Nesta’s leathers, the lack of any robes or stone atop her braided hair, and demanded, “Who are you?” - ACOSF, chapter 13

Merrill laughed, that phantom wind around her whispering. “Do you not know who I am, girl?” “I know that you are keeping us from our work,” Nesta said with that flat calm she knew made people irate. “And I know that this is a library, but you hoard books like it is your own personal collection.” Merrill bared her teeth. “You think I do not know you? The human girl who was shoved into the Cauldron and came out High Fae. The female who slew the King of Hybern and held up his head like a trophy as his blood rained upon her.” Surprise lit Gwyn’s face at the graphic description. Nesta didn’t allow herself to so much as swallow. “The wind whispers to me even here, under so much stone,” Merrill said. “It finds its way in through the cracks and murmurs the goings-on of the world in my ear.” Merrill snorted. “Do you think you are entitled to do as you please now?” Nesta’s power rumbled in her veins. She stomped on it, shoved it down and strangled it. “I think you like to hear yourself talk too much.” “I am descended from Rabath, Lord of the Western Wind,” Merrill seethed. “Unlike Gwyneth Berdara, I am no lackey to be dismissed.” To hell with this witch. To hell with restraint and hiding. - ACOSF, chapter 29

Firstly, there are some parallels with Elain's own magic, and maybe Mor's, that make me think Merrill may also be able to access the murky realm/space between/Void in a similar manner. I include Mor in this, as in addition to her witchy potential, I have long thought that Truth and Sight could function in much the same way. Since Mor's introduction in ACOMAF, many people have noted that Truth-Teller could be named after her, but I suspect it's deeper than that, as Truth-Teller translates literally to "soothsayer." A Seer—Elain. But I digress.

“I was a dreamer born into the Court of Nightmares,” Mor said. She twirled a curl around a finger, and I wondered if her story might be the worst of all of them as she said simply, “So I got out.” - ACOMAF, chapter 16

Seer. The word clanged through me. She’d known. She’d warned Nesta about the Ravens. And in the chaos of the attack, that little realization had slipped from me. Slipped from me as reality and dream slipped and entwined for Elain. Seer. - ACOWAR, chapter 33

Gwyn’s hair seemed to glow brighter with her song, skin radiating a beckoning light. Drawing any listener in. But Merrill’s warning clanged through the beauty of Gwyn’s voice, and Nesta cleared her throat. Gwyn whirled toward her, glow fading even as her freckled face lit with surprise. “Hello again,” she said. - ACOSF, chapter 13

Merrill, as I discussed in this theory, was blinking as she appeared to refocus on Nesta in the "here and now." This parallels Elain leaving the clutches of her Sight, which @wingedblooms and I suspect is linked heavily to the space between, but it also sounds strikingly similar to the following scene with Nesta and Rhys...

Gwyn, however, stilled, those large teal eyes looking even more unearthly as they widened. No fear tinged her scent, but rather something like surprise—awe. Rhys threw her an easy smile, one Nesta would have bet was crafted to put people at ease in his oh-so-magnificent presence. The casual smile of a male used to people either fleeing in terror or falling to their knees in worship. “Hello, Gwyn,” he said warmly. “Good to see you again.” Gwyn blushed, shaking herself out of her stupor, and bowed low. “My lord.” - ACOSF, chapter 28

Nesta leaned into Cassian. Not much, but enough for a trained warrior like Rhysand to note. A dark, silken hand brushed inside her mind. A request. She debated ignoring it, but found herself opening a small door through the steel, spiked barrier she kept around herself day and night. The door was essentially a peephole, and she allowed what she supposed was the equivalent of her mental face to peer through it to the dark, sparkling plane beyond. What? You are to treat Gwyn with kindness and respect. The thing that stood beyond the fortress of her mind was a creature of claws, scales, and teeth. It was veiled from sight beneath writhing shadows and the occasional passing star glinting in the darkness, but every now and then, a glimpse of a wing or a talon shone. Mind your own business. Nesta slammed that small viewing hole shut. She blinked, slowly registering Emerie asking Cassian about tomorrow morning’s lesson, and what she’d miss today by leaving an hour early. Rhysand’s eyes glittered. - ACOSF, chapter 28

We still don't know much about Nesta's silver flames/death magic, but as far as we do know, she does not have Elain's abilities to See without scrying tools, and she cannot communicate mind to mind on her own steam. It's also odd that Rhys has met Gwyn before (though he does not appear to know her well, given Gwyn's awed reaction), because when would that have happened? The above passage from ACOWAR, chapter 20 said that most of the priestesses didn't bother to seek him out when he does visit the library, because they know he goes for his own reasons/he's too hard to find. The only other instance I could think of was Gwyn's arrival, but Mor took her to the library sanctuary, not Rhys. So, was Gwyn's mind the one the Ravens infiltrated, hypothetically allowing Koschei in, to then further his advances into Rhys head when the time came?

Where Nesta had been in contented silence before we found her, Elain’s silence was … hollow. Empty. Her hair was down—not even braided. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it unbound. She wore a moon-white silk dressing robe. She did not look, or speak, or even flinch as we entered. Her too-thin arms rested on her chair. That iron engagement ring still encircled her finger. Her skin was so pale it looked like fresh snow in the harsh light. I realized then that the color of death, of sorrow, was white. The lack of color. Of vibrancy. I left Cassian and Rhys by the door. Nesta’s rage was better than this … shell. This void. - ACOWAR, chapter 15

It's interesting that we know the colour of "death" and "sorrow" is white, and while Merrill has hair as white as fresh snow, Gwyn's nickname name means white/bright; Gwyn is also cognate with the Irish name... Fionn. Meanwhile, Gwyn ap Nudd is the Welsh king of the faeries, ruler of the Otherworld and leader of the Wild Hunt (about which @merymoonbeam has so thoroughly theorised), while Fionnbharr is the king of the Daoine Sidhe, and occasionally the ruler of the dead in Irish mythology. As an aside, Merrill's name means sparkling sea, which also ties her to Koschei, who is apparently "as old as the sea," or older (per Vassa); is this coincidental, or is SJM trying to hint at some link between the two? Again, I'm not saying that either Merrill or Gwyn are - or will become - evil, but I am considering them as potential pawns in Koschei's game. In Gwyn's case especially I don't think she would be aware, though I could always be wrong.

"The High King is not pleased..."

Another passage that has jumped out at me - I think I've talked about this on one of the Reddit subs, but I can't find it - was this scene Under the Mountain, in ACOTAR.

I’d never become accustomed to the Attor, but I had come to accept its malignant presence. Seeing my escorts stiffen awakened a dormant dread, and my mouth turned dry as we neared the bend. Even though we were veiled and hidden by shadow, each step brought me closer to that winged demon. My feet turned leaden. Then a lower, guttural voice grunted in response to the hissing of the Attor. Nails clicked on stone, and my escorts swapped glances before they swung me into an alcove, a tapestry that hadn’t been there a moment before falling over us, the shadows deepening, solidifying. I had a feeling that if someone pulled back that tapestry, they would see only darkness and stone. One of them covered my mouth with a hand, holding me tightly to her, shadows slithering down her arm and onto mine. She smelled of jasmine—I’d never noticed that before. After all these nights, I didn’t even know their names. The Attor and its companion rounded the bend, still talking—their voices low. It was only when I could understand their words that I realized we weren’t merely hiding. “Yes,” the Attor was saying, “good. She’ll be most pleased to hear that they’re ready at last.” “But will the High Lords contribute their forces?” the guttural voice replied. I could have sworn it snorted like a pig. They came closer and closer, unaware of us. My escorts pressed in tighter to me, so tense that I realized they were holding their breath. Handmaidens—and spies. “The High Lords will do as she tells them,” the Attor gloated, and its tail slithered and slashed across the floor. “I heard talk from soldiers in Hybern that the High King is not pleased regarding this situation with the girl. Amarantha made a fool’s bargain. She cost him the War the last time because of her madness with Jurian; if she turns her back on him again, he will not be so willing to forgive her. Stealing his spells and taking a territory for her own is one thing. Failure to aid in his cause a second time is another.” There was a loud hiss, and I trembled as the Attor snapped its jaws at its companion. “Milady makes no bargains that are not advantageous to her. She lets them claw at hope—but once it is shattered, they are her beautifully broken minions.” They had to be passing right before the tapestry. “You had better hope so,” the guttural voice replied. What manner of creature was this thing to be so unmoved by the Attor? My escort’s shadowy hand clamped tighter around my mouth, and the Attor passed on. Don’t trust your senses, Alis’s voice echoed through my mind. The Attor had caught me once before when I thought I was safe … “And you had better hold your tongue,” the Attor warned. “Or Milady will do so for you—and her pincers are not kind.” The other creature snorted that pig noise. “I am here on a condition of immunity from the king. If your lady thinks she’s above the king because she rules this wretched land, she’ll soon remember who can strip her powers away—without spells and potions.” The Attor didn’t reply—and a part of me wished for it to retort, to snap back. But it was silenced, and fear hit my stomach like a stone dropped into a pool. Whatever plans the King of Hybern had been working on for these long years—his campaign to take back the mortal world—it seemed he was no longer content to wait. Perhaps Amarantha would soon receive what she wanted: destruction of my entire realm. My blood went cold. Nesta—I trusted Nesta to get my family away, to protect them. Their voices faded, and it wasn’t until a good extra minute had passed that the two females relaxed. The tapestry vanished, and we slipped back into the hall. “What was that?” I said, looking from one to the other as the shadows around us lightened—but not by much. “Who was that?” I clarified. “Trouble,” they answered in unison. - ACOTAR, chapter 41

The brilliant @wingedblooms has discussed Nuala and Cerridwen at length before, theorising about their wraith powers and how they may fit in with Elain and her future arc, so I won't rehash all her work (here and here), but I really do love the association of shadows and weaving, and how it ties to the Void tapestry/fabric in ACOFAS (see @silverlinedeyes for her theory about Elain wearing Void). Will Elain and Azriel eventually harness light and dark, weaving them together to traverse the space between, as I have suggested before?

But I digress. The pig creature's mention of a "high king" - the only instance before ACOSF introduced us to High King Fionn - caught my eye, and I haven't been able to drop it. Am I right that the once (and future, if he gets his way) High King Fionn¹ is still in play somehow? As Koschei, at least in part? Theia's light was split into three, could she - or Silene, or whomever the Fae warrior once was - have done the same to Fionn to weaken and imprison him? Have the Bone Carver and the Weaver returned to him, or, alternatively, Amren and Lanthys? I suspect the latter, and this is another theory I hope to post about in more detail at some point. But basically, three brothers for three sisters; three lights of salvation and three of death? As above, so below, right?

¹ I think Silene was missing certain details with regards to her family's history.

Was Fionn, as Koschei, controlling the King of Hybern, with or without a Valg parasite? I find it really suspicious that Feyre immediately dropped back to "king" and assumed the Attor and pig creature were discussing the King of Hybern, especially after ACOSF introduced an actual High King. Was SJM setting up her long-term game plan a decade ago, whether or not she decided to pursue it? Stolen spell books sound very appropriate for Koschei the Sorcerer. The King of Hybern was never a High King, and it's now fairly accepted that he may have been possessed by a Valg. I know there's definitely a possibility that I'm reading too far into this, or it's a plot seed that has since been pruned, but I still think the Attor and the pig creature were ultimately working for Koschei, not the King of Hybern. Just like I suspect of the Ravens, who referred to their "master," not their king.

“May the Immortal Light shine upon thee, sisters"

I was speaking to @wingedblooms and @silverlinedeyes a while ago, and I think it's possible that the runes on the Archeron cottage could have been hiding their magic.

I kicked my boots against the stone door frame, knocking the snow from them. Bits of ice came free from the gray stones of the cottage, revealing the faded ward-markings etched around the threshold. My father had once convinced a passing charlatan to trade the engravings against faerie harm in exchange for one of his wood carvings. There was so little that my father was ever able to do for us that I hadn’t possessed the heart to tell him the engravings were useless … and undoubtedly fake. Mortals didn’t possess magic—didn’t possess any of the superior strength and speed of the faeries or High Fae. The man, claiming some High Fae blood in his ancestry, had just carved the whorls and swirls and runes around the door and windows, muttered a few nonsense words, and ambled on his way. I yanked open the wooden door, the frozen iron handle biting my skin like an asp. Heat and light blinded me as I slipped inside. “Feyre!” Elain’s soft gasp scraped past my ears, and I blinked back the brightness of the fire to find my second-eldest sister before me. - ACOTAR, chapter 2

Feyre was blinded by light and warmth as she entered, which sounds very similar to the way the light of the Starborn - from whom it's very possible the Archeron sisters could be descended - can blind an Oracle, which I have discussed here. Like the iron bracelets I've discussed before, suggesting that they might suppress Nesta and Elain's magic, were the runes there to protect the family? And - given the similarities noted between Elain and her father, and the fact that Elain appearing to be leeched of life in the Hewn City could be due to the land or a portal trying to revive itself - could Papa Archeron's meagre (we assume) human portion of Starborn light have been powering the runes that protected his daughters, leaving him constantly tired, depressed, and drained? And was the same thing happening to his daughters?

Koschei has been playing the long game

I know many of us have discussed the lake of starlight in the Spring Court at length, so forgive me if this has been covered before, but has anyone suggested that it could be linked to Mama Archeron teaching at least Nesta how to swim, after their cousin drowned in childhood?

Nesta focused on her breathing again. She knew how to swim. Her mother had made sure of it, thanks to a cousin who had drowned in childhood. Murdered by faeries, her mother had claimed. I saw her dragged into the river. Had it been a kelpie? Or her mother’s own fears warped into something monstrous? - ACOSF, chapter 33

Has the Archeron sisters' line, possibly both maternal and paternal, been targeted by Koschei for generations? Is it because they are human descendents of the Starborn fae, and/or the faerie warrior who trapped Koschei at his lake, many thousands of years ago? And Vassa? Was/is she to be Koschei's salvation, if his plan works out?

“So I’m your huntress and thief?” His hands slid down to cup the backs of my knees as he said with a roguish grin, “You are my salvation, Feyre.” - ACOMAF, chapter 19

Cassian and I waited, not daring to interrupt. “Clever, that Fae warrior. Her bloodline is long gone now—though a trace still runs through some human line.” He smiled, perhaps a bit sadly. “No one remembers her name. But I do. She would have been my salvation, had I not made my choice long before she walked this earth.” I waited and waited and waited, picking apart the story he laid out like crumbs of bread. “She could not kill them in the end—they were too strong. They could only be contained.” - ACOWAR, chapter 23

She had saved my life once—Under the Mountain. In exchange for my sparing Lucien’s. Did she wonder where her lost son was now? Had she heard the rumors I’d crafted, the lies I’d spun? I couldn’t tell her that Lucien currently hunted the continent, dodging armies, for an enchanted queen. To find a scrap of salvation. - ACOWAR, chapter 43

Mama Archeron died of typhus - and another cousin of hers died of malaria "after visiting Bharat," by the way - and both the Archeron fleet and fortune were lost in a storm on their way to Bharat, sending Feyre, Elain and Nesta (and Papa Archeron) into a poverty from which it would be very easy to perish. Nesta herself said that she wanted them to die to get their father to act. This could all tie in with what we read in ACOTAR:

“Didn’t …,” Tamlin interrupted, his deep voice surprisingly gentle, “didn’t your mother tell you anything about us?” I prodded the table with my forefinger, digging my short nails into the wood. “My mother didn’t have the time to tell me stories.” I could reveal that part of my past, at least. - ACOTAR, chapter 8

I know I'm not the first to wonder at Tamlin specifying Feyre's mother (and not parent or nanny/governesses), but it seems important that...

Mama Archeron knew how to swim²

Mama Archeron saw faeries drown her cousin in a river

² Feyre went swimming in a pool of starlight... did Mama Archeron ever meet a faerie herself (and go swimming, maybe in a pool of starlight - that's less likely, I know)?

You guys know I've been thinking for years that Koschei has been working to prevent 3x3 from happening, such that I think his storms sank Papa Archeron's fleet in order to try to kill off the Archeron sisters through poverty. The pig creature did say that "the High King is not pleased regarding this situation with the girl" - was this because he wanted Feyre (and by extension, her sisters) far away from the action? But Wyrd - who is also playing her own game - had a different, more chaotic, idea?

What if, once Feyre had been Made against his wishes, Koschei had to change tack? He may have wanted the sisters Made after all - better the enemy you know/keep your enemies close, after all - to use them for his own means, but to do that he needed to stop Elriel, and therefore Wyrd, from realising their full potential. Does he plan to insert himself into their union in some way, or use either Elain or Azriel for his own means, due to their hypothetically compatible powers?

The Cauldron's swirling eddies

As I'm sure you're all aware, I've been a believer in the true mates theory for a while, and while my thoughts on the nuance surrounding it have evolved over the last four years, I have believed, since ACOSF, that the mating bond between Elain and Lucien is likely due to Koschei using the Cauldron, possibly through the king of Hybern.

She refused the knife Cassian handed her, though. Went white as death at the sight of it. Azriel, still limping, merely nudged aside Cassian and extended another option. “This is Truth-Teller,” he told her softly. “I won’t be using it today—so I want you to.” His wings had healed—though long, thin scars now raked down them. Still not strong enough, Madja had warned him, to fly today. The argument with Rhys this morning had been swift and brutal: Azriel insisted he could fly—fight with the legions, as they’d planned. Rhys refused. Cassian refused. Azriel threatened to slip into shadow and fight anyway. Rhys merely said that if he so much as tried, he’d chain Azriel to a tree. And Azriel … It was only when Mor had entered the tent and begged him—begged him with tears in her eyes—that he relented. Agreed to be eyes and ears and nothing else. And now, standing amongst the sighing meadow grasses in his Illyrian armor, all seven Siphons gleaming … Elain’s eyes widened at the obsidian-hilted blade in Azriel’s scarred hand. The runes on the dark scabbard. “It has never failed me once,” the shadowsinger said, the midday sun devoured by the dark blade. “Some people say it is magic and will always strike true.” He gently took her hand and pressed the hilt of the legendary blade into it. “It will serve you well.” “I—I don’t know how to use it—” “I’ll make sure you don’t have to,” I said, grass crunching as I stepped closer. Elain weighed my words … and slowly closed her fingers around the blade. Cassian gawked at Azriel, and I wondered how often Azriel had lent out that blade— Never, Rhys said from where he finished buckling on his own weapons against the side of the wagon. I have never once seen Azriel let another person touch that knife. Elain looked up at Azriel, their eyes meeting, his hand still lingering on the hilt of the blade. I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection … that knife. Paint that when we get home. Busybody. - ACOWAR, chapter 69

“I was just checking on dessert,” Elain explained as they approached the doorway and Azriel. Nesta met the shadowsinger’s stare and he gave her a nod. Then his gaze shifted to Elain, and though it was utterly neutral, something charged went through it. Between them. Elain’s breath caught slightly, and she gave him a shallow nod of greeting before brushing past, leading Nesta into the room. - ACOSF, chapter 58

It wasn't a rainbow that emerged from the other side. Not even close. It took her a moment to process what she was seeing: a gradient beam of starlight. Where the rainbow would have been full of color, this one began in shimmering white light and descended into shadow. An anti-rainbow, as it were. Light falling into darkness, droplets of starlight raining from the highest beam into the shadowy band at the bottom, devoured by the darkness below. Like the fading light of day—of dusk. - HOFAS, chapter 39

But what if light blasted from either prism, meeting in the middle? What would happen in the collision of all that magic? - HOFAS, chapter 39

Twin bursts of that light flared from either prism, gunning for each other. Bands of light falling into darkness, her power stripped to its most elemental, basic form. They shot for each other, and where they met, light and darkness and darkness and light slamming into each other— - HOFAS, chapter 39

Such light and darkness—the power lay in the meeting of the two of them. She understood it now, how the darkness shaped the light. But all that colliding power... it was the boost she needed. - HOFAS, chapter 39

Given SJM's love of/focus on the importance of trios in her work, it would just make so much sense to me that the Archeron sisters each held a third of a new protective power (to replace the portions of Theia's light that Bryce took, leaving Prythian unguarded), becoming a living Archesian amulet, if you will, and that their relationships with the three Illyrian "brothers" would fall under fated or prophecised, rather than cliche. There is a decent amount of evidence that Azriel and Elain showed interest in/comfort around each other from their first meeting in the human lands, and so much about her bond with Lucien seems suss (to me, and of course no shade at Lucien); the balance between three brothers and three sisters is also so important.

@psychologynerd has posted this brilliant theory, which discusses the possibility that the mating bonds between each of the three hypothetical (at least, for the moment) pairs could reflect an alchemical marriage, and I am so on board with that idea. It matches my own thoughts on the importance of Elriel's romance not just for each of them to experience a partner who I think is best suited to them, but for the potential of a carranam bond to exist. And it is for this reason I have long suspected that, while Wyrd (or Someone) gifted Elain her Sight, or activated some genetic potential she always carried, Koschei was very likely pulling some strings between Azriel, Elain and Lucien in order to stop Elain and Azriel from getting together and realising the true potential of their powers, both individually and as a unit. Because if true mates are carranam (or if these three pairs are both true mates and carranam), then they would each be a force to be reckoned with separately, and formidable as a whole. Imagine just how useful all of their powers would be, stripped to their most "elemental, basic form." Besides Elain and Azriel's unique and powerful magics being enough to put a target on their heads, this would make them even more sought after, by someone who knew what to do with raw magic.

Koschei and his ilk wanting to prevent that by using the Cauldron to mimic - @merymoonbeam, I think, has discussed the Cauldron's ability to recreate spells - a mating bond between Elain and Lucien makes sense in this context. Nesta and Cassian were so at odds with each other that maybe they were a lower priority target for that reason - or maybe it was due to Elain and Azriel's specific magics, as I've suggested - but beyond Graysen and Mor, who they've each moved past as of ACOSF, Elain and Azriel have no external barriers to becoming involved romantically. So Koschei took care of it. Or at least, he thought he had done, until Elain and Azriel got perilously close to throwing caution to the wind on the most recent Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year.

Rhys's face drained of color. "You believe you deserve to be her mate?" Azriel scowled. "I think Lucien will never be good enough for her, and she has no interest in him, anyway." "So you'll what?" Rhys's voice was pure ice. "Seduce her away from him?" Azriel said nothing. He hadn't gotten that far with his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to. Rhys growled, "Allow me to make one thing very clear. You are to stay away from her." "You can't order me to do that." - ACOSF, Azriel's bonus chapter

Rhys jerked his chin toward the door. "Get out" Azriel tucked in his wings and left without another word, stalking through the house and onto the front lawn to sit in the frigid starlight. To let the frost in his veins match the air around him. Until he felt nothing. Was again nothing at all. - ACOSF, Azriel's bonus chapter

Thank you to @psychologynerd and her anon, who brought the first of these two passages to my attention - I'd completely missed it, even though I've spoken about the second quote before! I have wondered for a while whether the longest night of the year might increase Koschei's reach, strengthen his magic, and/or weaken the wards holding him trapped in his lake. Which brings us back to Merrill and her blinking herself back from an apparent absence, and fury being a "moonless night" on Rhys' face.

As I noted in my reblog of @psychologynerd's anon, Rhys draining of colour actually reminds me of Elain in a couple of scenes, which I have discussed above:

When her skin was as white as fresh snow, which Feyre made sure to note was the colour of death and sorrow

In the Hewn City the night before, when Cassian gave his unsolicited fashion opinion

It made me wonder whether something was trying to get at Elain's magic, so could it signify the same thing for Rhys, with his voice of pure ice? Then Azriel felt nothing, was again nothing at all - Void. It could definitely just be imagery that SJM has chosen to represent their individual struggles, but what if that's not the case? I really do think and hope that "far larger forces" are at play here.

Because Nuala gave us some interesting information about the Winter Solstice in ACOFAS.

Nuala went on, “It’s a time of rest, too. And a time to reflect on the darkness—how it lets the light shine.” “Is there a ceremony?” The half-wraith shrugged. “Yes, but none of us go. It’s more for those who wish to honor the light’s rebirth, usually by spending the entire night sitting in absolute darkness.” A ghost of a smirk. “It’s not quite such a novelty for my sister and me. Or for the High Lord.” - ACOFAS, chapter 1

Is Nuala suggesting that absolute darkness is not so fun for those with a magical proclivity for shadows? She named Rhys, but this could extend to Azriel... and Elain?

It also creates a lovely parallel with this moment in ACOSF:

But even the silence weighed too heavily, and though the shadows kept him company, as they always had, as they always would, he found himself leaving the room. Entering the foyer. Soft steps padded from under the stair archway, and there she was. The faelights gilded Elain's unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. She halted, her breath catching in her throat. - ACOSF, Azriel's bonus chapter

Azriel was spending his evening sitting in the darkness, and it was certainly not a novelty for him, until he saw "the light's rebirth," one Elain Archeron glowing "like the sun at dawn." In addition to the play on Rosehall/Rose + Hall between ACOFAS and ACOSF, this further cements in my mind that SJM was using ACOFAS to help set up Elriel (though I could of course be wrong), and the fact that forces beyond Rhys and Prythian politics may be keeping them apart.

That just leaves the original couple!

How do you solve a problem like Feysand and Nyx?

I've wondered this before in a few different places; what if Koschei wanted to accomplish one or both of the following tasks:

Force Nesta to return the death magic she stole from the Cauldron as she was Made (thus depleting it)

Kill Feyre, Rhys and Nyx before the latter was born, thereby preventing the realisation of a potentially catastrophic (to him) combination of magics

I am far from the first person to note that, when Feyre met the Bone Carver in the original trilogy, and he appeared to her in the form of her future son, he did not have wings. Someone as perceptive as Feyre would have noted that in a second, especially as the Carver did give himself wings at a later date.

“I’d have to agree,” Rhysand said. He stepped inside, the light bobbing ahead to illuminate a dark-haired boy sitting against the far wall, eyes of crushing blue taking in Rhysand, then sliding to where I lurked in the doorway. - ACOMAF, chapter 18

Up and up into the darkness we walked, through the sleeping stone and the monsters who dwelled within it. At last I said to Rhys, “What did you see?” “You first.” “A boy—around eight; dark-haired and blue-eyed.” Rhys shuddered—the most human gesture I’d seen him make. - ACOMAF, chapter 18

Hybern was stirring, frantically assessing what and who now stood before them. The Carver had chosen the form of an Illyrian soldier in his prime. Bryaxis remained within the darkness roiling around it, the living tapestry it would use to reveal the nightmares of its victims. - ACOWAR, chapter 69

So he orchestrated a winged baby in some way (possibly using the daemati backdoor I discussed earlier to ensure Rhys didn't consider wings when he and Feyre had sex in Illyrian form). If he simply wanted Nesta to return her stolen Death magic to the Cauldron, he had created a scenario where she could make a new bargain with Wyrd or the Cauldron to return most of her powers in order for the knowledge to save Feysand's lives. However, Koschei/Someone wanting to off Feyre, Rhys and Nyx - who would be the realisation of both their powers combined - would also make sense, and parallel his hypothetical goal of separating Elain and Azriel, using her mating bond to Lucien; it would permanently destroy the hypothetical 3x3 of light and dark, Chaos and Void, that Wyrd worked to return to Prythian's world. Goodbye, anti rainbow.

We know that Theia's light was a form of protection for Prythian's world - was it really light from the Asteri, as we were told in HOFAS, or was it actually from Wyrd/Chaos? Do Wyrd and/or Koschei want Elain (and likely Nesta and Feyre to complete the whole)³ in place of Theia's then fragmented, and now absent, magic? Did the Cauldron, through Wyrd, gift Elain His abilities, and what was Nesta left with besides her silver flames? If I'm right about Koschei being Fionn in some way, this would tie in very nicely with @merymoonbeam's theory that Fionn was a Seer (which ties right back in with my post discussing Elain's Sight being associated with shadows/the murky realm, and my old crack theory that Koschei/Fionn was the original shadowsinger). It's all coming together lol.

³ I would assume that if this is the case, Wyrd/Chaos and Koschei would want the trio of Archeron sisters for different, likely opposing, purposes.

Too crack? Just crack enough? We'll have to wait and see.

If you choose to comment on this post, please remain respectful. Thank you for reading so far! 💜

[doc-ocktism]

look at my detectives dawg my murder isnt getting solved 💀

[chloesimaginationthings]

Cassidy loves to scare the FNAF night guards..

[bs-fangirl]

I totally get the actor being too busy to return to Chaos Theory; it's just hilarious to me that they jumped straight to 'kill Brooklyn with a dinosaur' and let that be the whole plot of the new show.

[misstrashchan]

The Little Prince and the Ever After

So it was confirmed a while ago that Oscar's allusion is the Little Prince, which many Oscar fans and Rosegarden shippers in particular where theorising back in V6, with Oscar's crush on Ruby Rose being proof that she was the Rose that the Little Prince loved and cared for. Both @conehatcryptid and @chaikachi have written wonderful posts about Oscar's allusion to the Little Prince here and here.

However, after V9 I'm inclined to think both Ruby and Oscar interchangeably play the roles of the Little Prince and the Rose, in much a similar way that Blake and Yang both interchangeably are the Beauty and the Beast (Blake's surname means beautiful woman, and she likes to read like Belle, but she is also the Beast who wishes to redeem themselves, and is a literal Beast as a faunus "black the beast descends from shadows". Yang is introduced as the "yellow beauty burns gold" and wishes for a life of adventure like Belle, but she is also the Beast, being left by their Beauty and having a fiery temper).

This is in part theorising/speculation, as V9 obvious main allusion is Alice in Wonderland, and the similarities I see maybe coincidental, since both stories deal with similiar themes. Both stories have a child that travels to strange lands to meet characters that represent the misgivings and absurdity of adult society and the pressure to conform to these as you grow up, and the confusion as to who you are and should be that follows.

Alice's journey to adulthood is a path that takes her from a confused child changing size and unaware of her true identity to an assertive girl scolding the immaturity of the Mad Hatter and ends with Alice being brave and confident enough to confront the Queen of Hearts.

The Little Prince's story is about the importance of reconnecting with your inner child as an adult/someone growing up.

"No! I will grow up, but I'll never forget about being a child!"

In V9, Ruby must grow into an adult like Alice does, but also reconnect with her inner child as she does so like in the Little Prince.

RWBY is known for its multilayered literary allusions, and Oscar, the Little Prince, does introduce us to the story The Girl Who Fell Through the World in V8, which is Remnant's version of Alice in Wonderland. Not to mention Ruby and Oscar's arcs are intentionally foiled, so maybe it's not coincidence. It's entirely possible with how V9 also appears to be following the story of the Little Prince too. While Ruby is in the Ever After she travels through the different acres like the planets the Little Prince visits, meeting similar characters.

She is confronted with the question "what are you" on an existential level:

Little: What's wrong?

Ruby: Have you seen other people- humans- like me?

Little: Exactly like you?

Ruby: No, not exactly like me. We're similar, but different.

The Little Prince:

"Good morning" he said courteously.

"Good morning--Good morning--Good morning," answered the echo.

"Who are you?" said the little prince.

"Who are you-- Who are you-- Who are you?" answered the echo.

"Be my friends. I am all alone."

"I am all alone-- all alone--- all alone" answered the echo.

She meets Little (as in "Little Prince" as well as "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Alice Liddell") who is meant to symbolize Ruby's inner child, as the Little Prince reminds us of the inner child we have forgotten as we grow up. Both Ruby and Little "die" in a sense as the Little Prince does, but ascend and come back.

In fact the whole way ascension is described in the Ever After is on par with how the Little Prince and the Snake describe how they will leave their body as an empty shell behind to go back home, being "called back" home to the Tree.

"It'll look as if I'm dead and that won't be true, this body is simply an empty shell, I can't take it with me"

Purple Paper Pleaser: Then, the wisest of our village suggested breaking from our physical forms, so that the winds may carry us back to the Tree.

...Which leads me to how the Curious Cat and Neo are both the Snake who convince Ruby/the Little Prince to "die".

We get Cats and Snakes being linked together early on in the first episode of v9:

Mouse Leader: You have our sincerest apologies! Please understand that our kind is a bit skeptical of cats… and snakes… and cats.

This stuck out to me considering this is foreshadowing of the Curious Cat being the main antagonist of the volume, but we don't ever see any snakes in the Ever After.

The Curious Cat's first appearance is akin to the one of the snake in the Little Prince movie (2015) of two eyes peering out at the Prince

The Snake is a character who speaks in constant riddles and is confident they have all the answers to life's mysteries, similar to how the CC knows so much but is incredibly cryptic in how they speak. The snake is also meant to represent the inevitability of death, and part of the CC purpose is to help the inhabitants of Ever After to ascend, which is a process of death and rebirth.

Curious Cat: Mmmm, when we break or wear out or simply finish what we were made to do, we’re called back. But Herb… his heart was too weak to listen, so I gave him a little bit of mine.

Blake: Is he… dead?

Curious Cat: (chuckles) No, no! Well, maybe a little bit, but not at all.

When it comes to Neo being the Snake, she manifests her illusions of the Jabberwalker to terrorise RWBYJ after killing it, the one being capable of dealing permanent death to Ever Afterans.

She's also the one who offers their "poison" to the Little Prince, (the tea made from the leaves of the Tree) which they accept.

Additionally the way the Curious Cat enters Neo is like that of a snake slithering inside her. Once the snake bites someone, they are described as becoming an "empty shell", and the CC is looking for an empty human vessel to possess, while Neo wants to destroy Ruby and make her feel empty.

Curious Cat: You’ve lost something most important, haven’t you? And now you have nothing left. How delightful! An empty host, perfect for me to fill.

Neo-Torchwick: You don't deserve to die Red! You deserve to be broken down... torn apart... wiped from existence.

And when the Little Prince believes their Rose has perished (Penny) or will perish (Oscar), because of them, they give themselves over to the Snake completely.

But, Neo and the CC also play into the Fox allusion as well. The Curious Cat's ability to give his heart and understand others is similar to the Fox's sentiment in the book, who tells the Little Prince the importance of taming, and of looking with the heart:

"Now here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with one's heart that one can see rightly. What is essential, is invisible to the eye."

"Men have forgotten this basic truth. But you must not forget it. For what you have tamed, you become responsible forever. You are responsible for your rose..."

Curious Cat: I know, Your Majesty, it truly isn’t fair. You must play your game and win at any cost. It must hurt your heart. Let me help.

Curious Cat: But Herb... his heart was too weak to listen, so I gave him a little bit of mine.

He "tames" the Red Prince in managing to calm him down from executing RWBY to just exiling them.

He helps Herb to "see with the heart" when he becomes blind to how he has stagnated and forgotten his purpose in being overwhelmed by his work.

The Fox is meant to show us the importance of the patience and compassion that is needed to understand and connect with others, to reach out to them. This is part of the CC purpose in the Ever After in fixing those who are broken, but becomes the negative declination of this in becoming manipulative over time. (like him "taming" the Hawker to make him do his bidding)

Neo is like the Fox in that she dislikes hunters (huntsman and huntresses) and she has lost the person who has tamed her, who was "unique to her in all the world" with Torchwick. Part of what escalates Ruby's conflict with her is that she does not take the time to understand and empathize with her:

Ruby: Is that seriously what this is all about? You still blame me for what happened to Torchwick?!

Neo-Roman growls

Ruby: If you’re looking for an apology, you’ve wasted your time!

and much like the Fox points out here:

"One only understands the things that one tames... Men have no more time to understand anything"

And that it is only when Ruby takes the time to understand Neo towards the end that shows how she has started to grow, to understand the importance of looking with the heart, the very first step of "taming".

"You must be very patient. First you will sit down at a distance from me-like that- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye and say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstanding"

(...I believe this will continue on in Remnant with Mercury and later Cinder)

The idea of intertwined allusions of the Fox and Snake with the CC and Neo in V9 interests me. Because it makes me wonder if my theory/prediction on Emerald/Mercury both being the Fox to Oscar's Little Prince may not be entirely right, but that they will both be the Snake also. If they are it will likely be an inversion, with the Prince (Oscar, and maybe Ruby) helping the Fox (Emerald) realise the importance of "taming" (taming Mercury, specifically) while the Snake may play a more positive role in saving instead of killing.

After all, the baobab tree roots in the book are meant to consume and threaten to kill the rose if she is neglected too long, and while Ruby is consumed by the Tree in the Ever After that very much resembles the baobab, and she does "die" in a sense, the tree is a positive force that helps her to be reborn and grow into her true self. So, Emerald/Mercury could have a similar duality in alluding to the Fox and the Snake, capable of killing and saving the Little Prince.

@aspoonofsugar I think has mentioned Emerald's design resembling a snake puts me in mind of this, plus Mercury's main allusion being, well, the god Mercury, whose symbol is this:

A staff with wings and two snakes entwined around it. His emblem also features wings, and like a snake he technically has no legs (in a symbolic sense too, his lack of semblance and agency, the freedom to be his own person) Alchemically I believe the mercurial character is meant to shift between life and death also? So there is something there in how the Snake simultaneously saves and kills the Little Prince. (also this is me really really stretching here with my red string but. The Curious Cat. Like Mer-curius. Mercury. Both the Snake for Ruby and Oscar.)

Depending on your interpretation of the stories ending, the Little Prince ends up dead because of the Snake's bite, or the Snake genuinely helped him return home and be reunited with his Rose. Mercury/Hermes is said to be able to travel anywhere, any plane of existence without limitations, which has lead to theories of Mercury's semblance being flight or teleportation, which, well, in relation to the Snake aiding the Little Prince:

"I can carry you farther than any ship could take you," said the snake. He twined himself around the little prince's ankle, like a golden bracelet. "Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came," the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star . . ."

This is of course just me going off on another theory for funsies, but it would be interesting if Mercury was placed in between a choice of killing or saving the Little Prince and helping reunite him with his Rose. How Emerald and Mercury would save Oscar/help him and Ruby is unknowable. They could be save their life, help delay the merge, or just helping assure him of his own personhood and agency (this could be explored through how both Mercury and Oscar lack semblances relating to the "curses" placed on them in relation to their father figures), or something else entirely, but either way I'm pretty confident they'll have a significant role to play in the Vacuo arc.

I am aware most Rosegarden fans are mainly theorizing Tyrian as the Snake, (I've even seen some say Ruby is the Snake as well as the Rose, with a similar sentiment of the Snake being capable of saving/freeing the Little Prince, not killing him) especially since the first scene Oscar is introduced is him waking up from a nightmare following Tyrian being sent to capture Ruby Rose, as well as like, him being a venomous scorpion faunus present in the desert right now. But even that only makes me more certain in a way since Tyrian is meant to be Mercury's dark foil (and the antagonistic mercurius for Emerald/Mercury) accompanying him into the desert. So like, it Could Be Both.

Ruby also meets a King/Narcissist like in the Little Prince (the Red Prince). The Narcissist demands to be complimented and coddled, much like the Red Prince. The King is drawn wearing a crown too big for him (in the 2015 movie adaptation it is constantly crooked and threatening to slip off his head), similar to the Red Prince.

The King claims absolute authority, that what he says will happen if he orders it so. However this is untrue, as he will only order what will already happen. The Red Prince claims he always wins his games, but the board game he plays with RWBY is already in his favour as the pieces on their side throw the battle so he can claim victory. Both cheat and find loopholes in order to maintain their superiority over others. The King symbolizes rulers who make a big deal about the power they have, but who in actuality are pretty ineffective as rulers and will cheat and find loopholes to justify their power. It also mocks their grandiosity and showiness, which is kind of funny because they think they are way more important than they actually are, all of which fit with the Red Prince (...and with two other characters that were significant during the Atlas Arc *points at Ironwood and Cinder* even moreso after episode 3 of RWBY Beyond)

The Lamplighter, whose job on his tiny planet is to continuously light and snuff out the single lamp, but because the night and day cycle is so short he essentially never rests and is caught in this loop, always stuck working and nothing ever changing. Jaune as the Rusted Knight is stuck doing the same jobs everyday in a Sysiphus task of preventing the Paper Pleasers from ascending, and rests very little. He is also the Geographer, who maps out other planets but can never travel himself (because he is too busy drawing maps) and suggests to the Little Prince to visit Earth (the acres that Jaune maps out but has yet to properly explore because he can't leave the Paper Pleasers, is trying to find a way back to Remnant, their "Earth").

Another interpretation is the Lamplighter as the Caterpillar, who similarly has a neverending and thankless task of helping the Afterans ascend, and has stagnated as a result.

The Stars are not a character in the book perse, but they do come up a lot both in RWBY and in the Little Prince, especially when it comes to the theme of death and rebirth, and grief. In V9 in the Ever After we meet the Paper Pleasers (origami stars) that Jaune is desperately trying to stop from ascending, essentially keeping them trapped as he monitors them. There is a character in the Little Prince that obsessively monitors the stars and keeps them trapped, the Businessman. It is pointed out by the Little Prince that while the stars make him rich, the Businessman is of no real use to the stars.

In much the same way the Paper Pleasers do not need Jaune as much as he needs them to prove his own worth.

The climax of the Little Prince movie (2015) adaptation is the stars being freed from their entrapment, ascending into the sky, free from control, by the protagonist who is a young girl trying to break free of the expectations placed on her by adults as she grows up, is like one of the stars herself, rising into the sky.

The paper pleasers ascending, while initially seen as tragic, in actual fact allows them to grow and be more, and the Genial Gem that appears to once have been the Paper Pleaser called Ruby is the one who explains this process to WBYJ as they are worried about Ruby and how the process of ascension will affect her.

The Pilot is likely WBY, as for them Ruby is like a younger sibling to all of them who helps them reconnect with their inner child early on in the story, much like the Little Prince does for the Pilot. For Weiss, Ruby helps her connect with her inner warmth and heart. For Blake, she helps reignite her lost idealism. For Yang, she is her inner child to nuture, the one who lost her mother. The author Antoine Saint-Expury based the character of the Little Prince on his own younger brother who died, and that the Pilot as the narrator of the story is himself as an older sibling remembering and grieving for them. When WBY all watch Ruby drink the tea, it mirrors the scene where the Pilot watches the Little Prince give himself to the Snake, and is too late to intervene, particularly for Yang.

Their body disappears, and it is uncertain whether the Little Prince has died or found their way back home to their planet, and to their Rose. For Ruby, it is both. She dies and was reborn, literally reclaiming Crescent Rose and regaining her Rose emblem, she reunites with her Rose, her own sense of self. And in her ascension is able to come back to defeat the Curious Cat, and return home to Remnant with everyone. (coincidentally I think this is how Oscar's story will go, he will sacrifice himself to the Merge fully and "die" in a sense, momentarily, but return fully to himself later on, reuniting with both his sense of self and his Rose, Ruby Rose).

Oscar is also Ruby's Rose in a sense, someone she has tried to protect and care for. Even the pattern on the back of his outfit can be seen as the stem and thorns of a rose, like Ruby's hood can be seen as the petals of a rose. The Little Prince believes that if the Rose is left alone, then it will be his fault if they die:

“If some one loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself, 'Somewhere, my flower is there...' But if the sheep eats the flower, in one moment all his stars will be darkened... And you think that is not important!"

"He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing."

When Ruby cuts down an illusion of Oscar, killing him, it is foreshadowing that Ruby is afraid she will not be able to save Oscar from his fate. This is the final breaking point for her (along with Little's death) that leads to her drinking the tea.

...But as much as I am a Rosegarden shipper, it's actually her mother Summer Rose and Ruby's identity that is the main "Rose" to her Little Prince in V9 that she becomes separated and united with, imo.

She learns that their Rose (Summer, and themselves) are not uniquely one of a kind, but "like any other common rose" the same as all the other hunters represented through their weapons in the Tree with the blacksmith. Like the Little Prince in the Rosegarden:

"Good morning" said the roses.

The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower. "Who are you?" he demanded, thunderstruck.

"We are roses" the roses said.

And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in the whole universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden! ... Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world, and all I had was a common rose."

Not in the sense of being a SEW who believes they are the only one of their kind, but that like her mother Summer Rose, or any other huntress or huntsman that has lived (represented through the weapons she looks at, and her saying they all have the same weight to them) she is not perfect, or unique in always knowing the right thing to do and being a flawless shining hero. Ruby thought the ideal of the hero Summer Rose she carried and tried to emulate was unique and special, what made her "rich" in the sense it defined her self worth, but she was a "common rose", a person, a human being, just like Ruby. Being like any other common rose means Summer is much like Ruby herself, just a person trying their best, with their own flaws and burdens to carry. Ruby leaves the Rose behind initially (gives up her Rose emblem that Summer left her, rejects Crescent Rose) and the pedestal she puts her on shatters, becoming disillusioned with Summer like the Little Prince does with his Rose, specifically after finding out that they lied.

Ruby: What? What was that? She… She lied. She left with Raven. Why would she…?

Blacksmith: Who knows why people keep the secrets they do. Maybe you’re not the only one who has felt the weight of other’s expectations. Like Alyx, like your mother.

What makes Summer unique to Ruby is not her being an ideal hero, but the love she had for her as a mother, and that in of itself is incredibly beautiful and powerful, because it helps her realise and affirm her self worth.

Summer: (voice) I love you…

Ruby turns to see the red glowing light behind her.

Summer: (voice) Just the way you are.

"Of course I love you," the rose said to him. "If you were not aware of it, it was my fault"

Much like the Little Prince learning and understanding that his Rose is unique to him, not because she is one of a kind, but because of their time shared together, loving and caring for one another. That it is our ties to people that makes us special and unique in the world, to the people we are connected to and choose to care for, more than any power or titles do. Which goes back to the source of Ruby's power as a Silver Eyed Warrior, her love and compassion of those around her. The true power of humanity.

[annymaght]

I'm having emotions