#night swan: the prequel

[th3b4dk1dzz]

Darkest Hour Map/Song Analysis and speculation

Let me preface that while I would have loved Sweet Dreams in the game, I absolutely respect the hell out of the monumental task this song would have been to create. To write a song for a preexisting dance has never been done before, so to make it sync with the scene transitions and the routine, capture the right energy, tell the story effectively, be the right time length exactly and to sound different enough from the original song, that sounds like an impossible task for anyone to complete, so full credit where credit is due.

What I will say is, what we do get in Darkest Hour that we didn't get in Sweet Dreams is a lot more specificity to the lyrics, which might enlighten us to what really happened to Leda. I want to pick certain moments and go into what the implications for what they might mean.

Spoilers Ahead

And keep in mind this will be a Long Post.

"I would play the game, Every hour through the night"

Now we know Leda is from our world. We know, like Sara, Just Dance is a game that became real to her. However, unlike Sara, she chose to stay there at the end of MOTD, so suddenly, she's in the game every hour through the night. It couldn't have been good for her in the long run. I think this twisted up her perception and clarity, making her more vulnerable to whatever happened to her.

What's interesting is that before the faces in the background take on Leda's visage, they are constructed using machinery and polygonal, much like how video games are a mix of machinery and coding, which shift to resemble her more.

"In the dark flow shadows, the mirror lies to me"

The mirror lying to her might allude to the large holographic versions of her own face, harmonising with her or this giant visage of herself as the perfect ballerina. These being potentially the siren whispers she mentioned, luring her to ruin. However, it could also refer to her illusory powers, most likely granted to her from the dark flow. Using this power to first, trick Wanderlust at the end of Canned Heat and then to trick Sara in YSMIAC.

But if we want to look at specific instances of mirrors lying, then look no further than Jack's maps. First in LOOH, we see these mirrors showing Night Swan, instead of himself reflected back in the verses. Then, in Treasure, we see these versions of Jack as the perfect performer (much like Leda saw of herself) coming out of the mirrors. It should be worth mentioning that Treasure itself takes place in a reflection cast into a pool of water.

"I Traded in my Dreams"

Now, this is interesting. This means being Night Swan wasn't Leda's Dream at all. We've been led to believe that she wanted to be Night Swan, that's what she wants to be. But everything in this map suggests she is not in control and was corrupted much like the coaches under her control.

In the section where the smoke see Leda clutching her head, much like Sara does in YSMIAC while she is fighting off the thrall of the Dark Flow. Much like Night Sara was able to corrupt the other Just Dancers with her own newfound dark flow in Swan Lake, while being corrupted herself.

Maybe Leda was corrupted and used that to corruption on her minions in herself. Almost as if this Dark Flow is spreading, adapting, and evolving throughout the Danceverses, and Leda was just patient 0.

As we see in the first verse for Treasure it looks like the mirror room is in some kind of guilded cage, and the pool which the Ilusion is cast into turns gold. As we zoom out of her eye at the end of the map, it turns gold. Is Leda in a guilded cage of her own, inside her own mind?

So, who corrupted Leda?

Someone acting on The Traveller's Interests/Public Image

I don't think The Traveller would have actively harmed Leda. Also, if you want to keep a past relationship a secret, turning her into an evil magic warlord is certainly not the most discreet cover up.

We know that from when Night Swan took over the JD Twitter account in the run up to JD24, Wanderlust is referred to the 'the son of gods'. Note the plural 'Gods', not just one. So The Traveller is a God confirmed. And if there's one thing I 've gathered about the structure of Deities within the Danceverses is they have a lot of stupid rules that don't help anyone.

I could go into a deep tangent on how the political system for the Deitys seems like a hot mess. And one day, I will (believe me, I will).

So The Traveller becomes a God, and someone else essentially decides to clean up his image, including getting rid of a mortal he brought through, who won't leave. Again, I think creating an evil witch trying to take over the Danceverses isn't the best way to sweep someone under the rug, I think, maybe, someone led her to the scariest, most abandoned part of Cygnus to scare her away and try to make her go home. What happened next was not what the Gods intended.

So, which Deity would be high ranking enough enact a cleanup act of another Deity's reputation and has an association, with mirrors and reflections? Belacus, P2 from Woman.

Her headdress has a large disc that looks a lot like a mirror, much like P3 Derkes, is a fire goddess, Belacus has a lot of motifs associated with water, the fishscale teardrop in the middle of her torso, the wave-like tattoos on her chest and water can be attributed Night Swan (The pool of water in Treasure, Swan Lake, Night Swan taking to the boat at the end of DWTS). And working directly under Selios, perhaps the most powerful Deity we know of to date, she would definitely want the rest of the pantheon to her personal standards. Also, Belacus wears a lot of blue, which is also the Traveller's signature colour.

Another Villain from Eternyx

Leda says in Darkest Hour that she was haunted by the dream. Which villain do we know ca haunt dreams and is associated with Eternyx? Cthylla! We see her haunting Scotty's dream in Cradles, and also her Avatar quote, "When you sleep, I'll be there in your dreams"

The map for Darkest Hour is also filled with this pink smoke, which looks to be the same shade of pink that Cthylla is. Again, tying it to the water motif, We see her emerging from the water in the teaser for BS&V (and the real Lovecraftian mythos Cthylla, who the game version is based on, was a water dwelling deity). Also, when do most people dream? At Night.

What do we see in the sky in both Treasure and Cradles has pink clouds in the distance, while in the last chorus of Treasure, there is a large image of perfect Jack in the centre, not on the screens, but transparent like the image of Ballerina Leda when she's on the rooftops.

Also, the second verse and bridge of Treasure seems to take place in some kind of industrial part of Eternyx. Maybe the abandoned factory?

TL:DR: Leda was tricked by Belacus, working on Selios' behalf, into entering the 'abandoned' factory in Darkest Hour with the intent of scaring her into going back to Earth. However, while there, she was corrupted by Cthylla, her warped perception of reality, making her easy to control. Now possessed by the Dark Flow, she can corrupt others by proxy.

Sorry this was so long, and if it doesn't make any sense,but I thought it was interesting, That this map left so many unanswered questions, about what really went down.

[karis17love]

I always knew Chicken is a bad boy 😈🐓

[halfratsalready]

Spoilers for the reveal from the beginning of Murder on the Dancefloor (and for the musical Wicked lol)!!!

Okay so finding out that Night Swan is human (and therefore that Jack is half human) reminds me of the reveal at the end of Wicked that the Wizard of Oz (who is from our world and not Oz) is Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West)’s biological father and the explanation that Elphaba has so much magical power because she’s a “child of both worlds.”

Child of both worlds Jack Rose you have the power to save your friends and therefore the world and I believe in you!!!!!!

[wewere-here]

my question is why did they retcon Night Swan’s eye color from green to yellow

that was like the only physical trait she shared with Jack and now it’s gone

[notsobravetoaster]

Hi guys

[croftersforlife]

I’m surprised my roommates didn’t ask if I was okay from how hard I was laughing at this while making it

[frostyblustar]

SO I HAD A THOUGHT!

What if, since Night Swan is human, she values coaches as less than people? Like since they’re not human, she doesn’t see them as worth as much.

That would explain her using them as puppets with no remorse, she doesn’t think they have real emotions or anything.

Could be a reason she takes a liking to Sara as well.

WHY HAVE I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE!

[sophiakwan0822]

Leda Nox fanart 💜🖤

[andshewas-mp4]

shards of the swan

[gingerakao]

Spoilers for the May 14 JD stuff

POV: The Traveler teaching Night Swan how to open portals

[new-and-disturbed-theorist]

Spoilers for Night Swan Prequel event

What the event confirms without argument:

- Leda is the Night Swan’s real name. We been knew.

- Leda is originally from Earth. Biggest plot twist of the year AND confirms that this is what the former Loremaster meant when she said that The Night Swan and Sara had something in common.

- The Traveler brought Leda to the Danceverses and taught her how to open portals. Probably other Flow Magic as well, but point is, as I said before, everything that happens in the story mode is ENTIRELY THE TRAVELER’S FAULT

- That Night Swan and the Traveler were in love at one point in their youth. *gag*

- That at one point, they broke it off. *yay*

- At one point after breaking it off, Leda went on her own and became obsessed with perfection, and with a little helping of Dark Flow, became the Night Swan we know, we love, and serves today.

- That Discoball existed before Wanderlust. This is the biggest question mark of the event, since Discoball was first confirmed to have been created by the Traveler to appease Wanderlust when he was a kid. This could mean that either The Traveler lost the Discoball that brought Leda to the Danceverses and made a new one for Wanderlust or, what I think most likely, that the Traveler gave Wanderlust his own Discoball instead of creating a new one out of thin air, and in the comic we see him just conjuring them instead of building her from scratch.

What the event DOESN’T confirm:

- Whether or not Jack is the Traveler’s son. There’s no hide or hair of him ANYWHERE in this event that I could find (edit 1: unless you count “If You Wanna Party” and “Swan Lake” but they’re not new info and have nothing to do with this point, so I ignored them). The tasks and rewards are from Wanderlust’s explore section and not Jack’s shine, which would be expected from a Night Swan event considering most Night Swan related rewards come from him (Like Majesty). Point is, Jack has little to no connect to this event (edit 2: refer to edit 1). You could imply that he is, but implication is not confirmation. If anything, this could be proof that Sara and Jack are siblings more than Wander and Jack, cause now Sara and Jack have more in common (edit 3: Jack and Sara being siblings has as much evidence as Jack and Wanderlust being siblings, which is little to nothing. This is a massive joke that I’m going to run with until Ubisoft dares ruin it for me). Could this change with a new social media post by the team? Yes, but for now, we can exhale in relief.

- That the Traveler cheated on Si’Ha Nova. This will probably be clarified by the team later, but based on how young the two look, it’s safe to assume that Murder on the Dancefloor happened MANY years prior to the Traveler and Si’Ha meeting for the first time. What that means for their relationship is still to be seen.

With that out of the way, I can safely deploy this meme.

[th3b4dk1dzz]

I know it's a search engine malfunction to do with the word Night being there, but god, wouldn't it be funny if this was cannon and Run The Night was Night Swan

[karis17love]

🩸SPOILERS | MY THOUGHTS OF "MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR"

Well, now we know why Night Swan chose Sarah to help her. Because her story is similar, she is also human like Leda (so it was true) also is in Danceverse thanks to The Magician/Sorcerer, she has just as much talent like Leda and wanted to be better (NS - perfection, Sara - overcoming shyness). It makes sense, Night Swan sees herself in Sara.

I thought we'd get more Save Your Tears references in this song rather than Can't Stop The Feeling, but here we are. We can see that Night Swan invites Sarah in the same way as The Tralever, giving her the Discoball (Wanderlust dropped it, which could have looked more like a request to give it back than an invitation, as we know Wanderlust is also more childish). Also the difference in reactions and dancing, idk like for you, but Leda and the Traveler had a more intimate atmosphere, where Sara and Wanderlust - more fun.

Also these parallels! Yes I know, the moves are not the same, but similar. What I'm talking about here is the connection between dancers

+ I think that just like Night Swan got powers, it's the same with Sara, but it's more about potential, now I look at it and it kind of looks like Sara was helping Wanderlust open the portal? Idk

[iggypancakes17]

Plot twist: The Lazy Song is Jack���s father and gave him his love of Bruno Mars

Evidence:

He is an explorer, so it would make sense for him to have been exploring Eternyx and met Leda

He is clumsy, lazy, and an overall silly guy, so Leda may have found him charming or seen him as easy to manipulate

The JD Team has been dropping lots of hints at it being Orion, so maybe Baiana is TLS but older? I could see it

[wewere-here]

Wanderlust talking to his dad: “So this human girl I brought into the danceverse—”

Traveler, having flashbacks:

[notsobravetoaster]

Night Swan event (potential) spoilers under the cut, click at your own risk

Guys claim your tshirt here 👇