#CRK theory

[wildwinterlunas]

I am really hoping that, instead of Silent Salt being the villain of their chapters, it's White Lily being confronted with the idea that her Beast had more connections with their friends and actively did less objectively terrible things than she did, both as White Lily and Dark Enchantress. I want Silent Salts' crime to be revealed to be that they just didn't want to fight against their friends, leading to the other Beasts killing so many people because of their inaction.

I want the Silent Salts chapters to be themed around the concept of guilt. I want Silent Salt to be more like the ancients, to foil the way that White Lily is more like the Beasts.

I want Silent Salt to only want White Lily's Soul Jam because they see it as the only way to set themselves free from the title of Beast, of Dark Enchantress's control and of their own guilt.

I want the twist in Silent Salts chapters to be that they end up trading Soul Jams, White Lily becoming Silence, and Silent Salt becoming Freedom. I want them both to end up helping each other through their issues, and for Silent Salt to be the first Beast to not only want to make themselves better for their other half, but also fully join them.

But even if none of this happens, I will still love the story because, god damn it, I love knight characters. I just want Silent Salt.

[niaclo]

I haven't seen anyone talk about it, but

Truthless recluse has a key on his chest while the fount of knowledge has a lock

[cuppajj]

Favorite Burning Spice headcanon is the one where he’s the smartest Beast excluding shadow milk himself. Being the Herald of Change (or History in its original translation) means he spent millennia potentially absorbing the knowledge and customs of the civilizations he watched over, learning things from their life cycles, and while he may have succumbed to boredom (or paranoia)-infused corruption, there’s no reason why he’d throw away all the knowledge he acquired over the course of history, right?

And it’s fun to imagine that others just kinda forget he’s incredibly smart. How could you remember when he is the way he is, cocky and loud? But that’s just him on the surface. He can cloak the most ingenious battle strategy as a brash, direct assault. If the other beasts watched him and shmilk play chess, they’d be sitting there for hours, if not days. The idea that Spice can simmer down his fervent bloodlust in exchange for cold-blooded calculation frankly makes him scarier than he already is.

Imagine he looks at you like that. Imagine he does the Ikari pose on you like he’s ready to tear you apart psychologically as easily as he could physically.

[yuerikoko]

My predictions regarding Silent Salt, their inspirations, and how I believe BYE11-12 will play out

Part 1: Inspirations

As many of you have probably already noticed, the beasts are all based on different gods and deities across different cultures. Mystic Flour is Guan Yin (Bodhisattva of Mercy and Compassion), Burning Spice is Shiva (Hindu God of Destruction and Transformation), Shadow Milk is the Devil (Lucifer Morningstar), and Eternal Sugar’s main inspiration is Aphrodite (Greek Goddess of Love and Desire).

So… what about Salt?

While their character and inspiration is unconfirmed for now, we can make some assumptions from their design elements, and the information we have now.

They are presented as being clad in armor— similar to a knight or warrior, and fights with a greatsword.

They are the final beast to be encountered before the Beast Yeast arc is wrapped up, and many also theorize that they are the last Beast to be corrupted.

Their Ancient counterpart is White Lily Cookie, who is heavily associated with faeries, yet is also considered an odd one out amongst her group.

Silent Salt’s Virtue was Solidarity before they fell into silence. Solidarity brings to mind unity and harmony between a group of individuals.

They are implied to be associated with St Pastry’s order, which is heavily inspired by Christian/Catholic churches.

So that has lead me to think, and from everything we know, I do believe that Silent Salt’s mythical inspiration could be…

… King Arthur from Arthurian legends.

Arthur:

Was known as a legendary king, knight and warrior, wielding the mythical sword Excalibur. It was given to him by the Lady of the Lake, before being returned to it once he had fallen in battle.

Details Faeries in the Legend of Arthur. Faeries are VERY prominent in Celtic/Briton folklore. Steel— which swords are made of— are usually regarded as their weaknesses for various reasons. (Technology vs nature, steel being made of “pure” metals that burn spirits)

Brought together the Knights of the Roundtable— embracing Solidarity.

(Tying in earlier points 2 and 5) Is also regarded as an antithesis to Christianity, even if he follows a similar arc to Jesus Christ: wherein he does many heroic deeds, is betrayed (and lead to his death) by someone close to him, then is prophesied to be resurrected/alive and will come back for his people in the end.

Is likely a real figure, unlike the other Beasts— who are mostly religious/mythical.

How else does this tie into Silent Salt? And how they foil/parallel White Lily?

The previous beasts’ relationship with their ancients reflect their origin mythology as well. For instance, Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk being Jesus Christ and the Devil, respectively. I’m not too sure what part Lily would play if we’re going by Arthurian legends, but some contenders would be Morgan le Fay or the Lady of the Lake (which I’ll go into another time).

The Beasts were sealed in a tree in the midst of a lake (a body of water). Quite similar to how Excalibur was obtained (and cast back) into a lake.

Arthur having some ground in reality would make Salt the odd one out amongst their group of purely mythological deities; just like how Lily is the only inedible material amongst the Ancients, who are based on different flavors.

Salt kills flowers (lilies included). Silence prevents freedom. And steel burns faeries.

This is all I have for now. Feel free to correct me or add on with anything if needed. Part 2 is coming soon.

[lov3-sweet]

I just realized that the order of the beasts release is the order of when we meet the starter gang but in reverse.

Custard and Mystic flour being both healers.

Chili pepper and Burning spice being spicy cookies.

(Now we meet Wizard and Strawberry at the same time but non the less.)

Wizard and Shadow milk cookie being mages/Wizards.

Strawberry and Eternal sugar being both sweet as Strawberry extract or syrup is really sweet and has alot of sugar.

And finally GingerBrave and Silent salt, knights are usally known for their bravery and Gingerbraves story contrasts White lily/ Dark enchantress's who is Silent salts counterpart.

Am I going insane or am I on to something?

[kaisapphire]

Eats this theory

what if, before he fully turned to deceit, shadow milk tried to convince his followers that it was better this way?

picture it. a falling-apart fount of knowledge, losing his truth and struggling to stay sane through it all. more and more of his followers are turning against him, and nothing he says seems to appease them.

he realizes he'd left the path the witches made for him long ago, but... even losing his mind, his hope, and his very virtue itself, he thinks, what if I can fix this?

he tries to convince the dear cookies he's guided since he was first baked that it's better now. that they can finally have the sweet deceit they seemed to long for.

of course, some agree. some cookies who, like him, have begun to lose themselves in lies.

it's not enough.

every lecture he even tries to host is almost automatically consumed by talk of lies. every paper he publishes, in shaking handwriting, with ink blotches and tearstains in the margins, eventually devolves into insane ramblings about eyes and puppets and manipulation.

the fount of knowledge is dead, they say.

he doesn't hear; he's too busy scribbling out another paragraph of distorted letters.

why don't they understand? is the last line the fount writes before he dies, and the beast crawls out of his ashes.

~--~--~

i don't know, i just think it would be really interesting to see how shadow milk would cope/change with his corruption. it's weirdly morbid but i like putting him under my metaphorical microscope and poking at him with tweezers :)

feel free to add your thoughts or clarify with yours truly, i just wanted to explore this idea a bit hahah... it was kinda fun, maybe i'll do some more of these

[thytealfox]

ETERNAL SUGAR COOKIE HINTED AT WHITE LILY AND SILENT SALT CHAPTER!!

I just got to the cut scene where Hollyberry Cookie is being shown the world’s pain if she takes the berry from the center of the garden. ESC is telling Hollyberry a riddle of sorts, it’s the intentions of the Beasts, or just summaries of their plots in a bad ending format.

After each of them, the ancients get an ending line of either pain or sadness:

Then we get to the line about Silent Salt:

And White lily cookie is show and she has no voice:

I believe that the silent beast shall silence white lily, possibly for speaking out about the witches. This is what I think but it is a huge idea for what the chapters 11-12 will be.

have a wonderful day/night!! :D

[caseybobava]

I’m really excited that we’ll likely see pre-corruption Shadow Milk in the next update. On one hand, I want him to still have a lot of obvious elements that make him similar to how he is now. But I also really want there to be a connection between him and Pure Vanilla.

I think its pretty heavily implied that Shadow Milk was the founder of the academy Pure Vanilla and While Lily went to. The whole place has his aesthetic, that one portrait relic that looks a lot like him, and with his original virtue being knowledge, no duh he’d make a school where he could share it.

This would mean he literally made the basis of his education, “I taught you everything you know” kind of thing. It would be cool if this comes up in BY chapter 7/8, and because of how Shadow Milk now uses his knowledge for the sake of manipulation, he could say things like “I used to be a lot like you” and “everything you know comes from me” as a way of getting PV to doubt himself.

This also affects White Lily, because going to that academy may have increased her interests in creating cookies, at least giving her the materials to do so. (And hey, I think Lily going to a school made by SM could be why his eyes appear watching her soul jam in her gacha animation)

[cemanirooster]

Silent Salt's backstory theory?

seeing of how The Beasts and Ancients are both contrasts but also parallels of each other made me ponder.

White Lily, while being the holder of freedom, definitely still have some sort of identity crisis that she's not free from yet, especially with the fact that she was split into herself and DE. She already has a voice line where she asked herself which one is the true her after all.

I wonder if Silent Salt will also have an identity crisis, but instead of being split into multiple cookies, they will be the cookie version of the Ship of Theseus.

Silent Salt is definitely based on Kala Namak salt, but before a black salt becomes a black salt, it was once a regular rock salt. Black salt is made from rock salt that is mixed with herbs and then burnt inside a pot for hours. The mixed salt melted inside the pot, and after the heating process was done, it was cooled until it turned into solid crystals again. The salt turned black, and when it's ground the powder is purple.

But seeing their design being much more purple, the plume/hair on the helmet, more like a flame, made it looked like Silent Salt is in the process of either being rebaked again or eternally burning.

What if Silent Salt, despite being a tough cookie (since too much salt can make a dense cookie), has crumbled many times from various threats, and they kept getting their dough mixed in/replaced with 'necessary' ingredients to make them stronger, rebaked them over and over until the colour of their salt slowly turned dark with time, until the heat turned into perpetual flames that burn them inside their own armor. There's even a chance that Silent Salt could be losing some memories from the constant replacement of their dough.

They would remember the beasts, the witches, the cookies around them, but will they remember themself? They would get flashback of them being the holder of Solidarity, but they would think it's their dead predecessor instead of themself.

Is Silent Salt still Silent Salt if their dough is constantly replaced? What's under the armor, really? The beasts cookies came back with a new body that is still themselves, but will Silent Salt really be the same?

[tanoshiboo]

For Shadowsugar theory enjoyers, here's literally (almost) every single Shadowsugar theory in detail . Have fun

[cuppajj]

trying to make sense of the Elder Faerie = Silent Salt theory (and the Silent Salt = good theory)

[flicklikesstuff]

Have you guys ever thought too hard about Crunchy Chip’s over-the-top avoidance of sweets? Because guess what?

I SURE did-

We all know that eating sweets in the Dark Cacao Kingdom isn’t as unforgivable as Chip makes it out to be. The citadel literally has some sweets stored that Fishgatto took in his benefit before.

Caramel Arrow’s fav drink is literally brown sugar milk tea (Like meeeee :D). Not even Dark Cacao himself is strict on it since he has given Chip a pass on the treats a number of times.

As far as I know, I believe no other Dark Cacao denizen is actually that strict on that rule? (I may be wrong idk)

So then, why is Chip like this?

…….

This is going into more theorising territory, but it’s been heavily implied that Chip has spent his entire life (if not ever since his childhood) in the wild. His voice lines point to this. He lives in the mountains, can set up camp by reflex, hunts with the pack, and overall just has a love for being outside.

Also, most likely raised by wolves even? I feel like his story below was meant to be about how he first met and was saved by Dark Cacao since it parallels the bit when Wildberry shares how he first met and is taken in by Hollyberry. While it’s not stated how old he was in that time, I’m going to assume somewhat young enough near Wild’s age if we’re seeing the two stories as parallels?

(After all, this sequence is meant to show why these two cookies are the best, most loyal options to be entrusted with their monarch’s soul jam. It makes sense to me that they’re parallels of a first-meet.

AGAIN, this is my interpretation only!! This story could really be taken as something else too.)

And I’ve been thinking. Assuming IF Chip has spent his childhood in the wild, he must’ve been isolated from cookie civilisation/cookie social circles for a period of time.

Until he was ‘saved’ and then taken in to train and become a warrior and Cream Wolf Captain. With his childhood spent not growing up in a typical cookie home and instead, his heart being always in tune with the wild more, there’s bound to be some dissociation with his fellow Dark Cacaoians.

(This is also the guy who doesn’t know what a delegation is despite being a man in his mid 30s tops. Adding more into my theory that he’s somewhat detached from society.)

………..

Getting to the point, what if this isolation is the explanation? Chip has mentioned that his job has him needed at the kingdom’s borders, thus making him even more distant from other cookies.

And even then, the others even agree so that his rightful place and the place he’s most expected to be in, is in the mountains.

Not saying that this is a bad thing. Not at all! He loves his job. I’m sure Chip loves being in the mountains with his wolves. He’s mentioned how he’s missed and is fully content being there a bunch.

It’s just that…. Does he ever feel a longing to belong? After all, it’s an ingrained thing to desire connections. Not just with the wolves but also, with his very own people too. Does not growing up among other children cookies just like his other fellow warriors had, ever get to his head sometimes?

Does it ever make him feel….isolated and distant in a sense?

Unless, this could be fixed of course. He could really, really, really commit to the values every warrior should have. And Discipline is one of them! If he’s dedicated to the bit, then he could convince himself that he truly does belong and IS a Dark Cacao warrior.

He’ll prove it if he must! To the king, to the others, to himself!

He feels the need to greatly appeal and prove to Dark Cacao so much that he does have a place in this kingdom after all. Why wouldn’t he? He’s kept strict to every rule and expectation, right??

If we consider that the theory he grew up isolated in the wild as a kid could be true, this means Chip has felt like an outsider ever since he could remember.

Being a Dark Cacaoian by blood/jam. But at the same time, still not fitting in. Its tough. (Not projecting nope.)

Btw, this may or may not reminded me of someone else….

Mr. “Would rather be in the silence of the Royal Gardens than loud-ass parties and talking and I’m fully aware how weird that sounds coming from a Hollyberrian cookie.”

*coughs coughs*

Totally not spreading my Wildchip propaganda but I just thought it’d be neat if they talk about how they love their respective kingdoms and would die to serve them but also-also, it lowkey feels weird and kinda hurts to not actually fit in with your own fellow cookies. Also WHAT, you’re an orphan adopted by your Ancient too???

………….

So anyways, I probs dug too deep into what should’ve been a comedic trivial thing of a character and made it into a mini sad-fest. Whups.

Though, it could also be simply that Chip’s just really dedicated while silly about it buuuuuuuut, that’s not as fun to analyse.

TLDR: “I didn’t have normal childhood like other cookies so I sometimes feel like not truly belonging but that’s not true because I DEFINITELY am a Dark Cacao Warrior and I can prove it by overcommitting to the bit.”

Btw, Happy late Bday Crunchy Chip <3 🎉💖

[lapis-the-rock-muncher]

Can we talk about Silent Salt’s soul jam real quick? Because in the YouTube video, their soul jam is on their sword, seen here:

But in the official art, it’s on their chest

Not only this but the color is inconsistent. With all of the other beasts, their soul jam placement and color (with small variations) is the same in the video while Silent Salt’s soul jam is silver/white in the video (until the end) and purple in the official art. I have no idea what this means but maybe the current Silent Salt has it on their chest because the symbol on his sword is missing the two lines that his soul jam has during every other appearance

[wildwinterlunas]

I need you all to know that I will be so annoying when Silent Salt comes out. They're based on Arthurian legend, and that is one of my obsessions. I love those stories, and it seems like SS is mainly inspired by either the Green, Galehaut or Black Knight story—maybe even all.

It's also why I think SS will be the first or second Beast to be redeemed. Both of those stories end with the Super Threatening Knight™ being revealed to not be that bad of a guy and either acting on orders (the green knight was instructed to scare Gwenivere to death, and after it failed, he just messed with Gwain for a bit) or through a promise/duty to themselves or others (Galehaut was called the uncrowned king because he refused to be crowned until all of Arthurs kingdom was conquered, he was also a pretty good King). Then there's the Black Knight stories, which leave many more options for the story, including the possibility of SS being based on Lancelot.

So yeah, I'm going to be so annoying when Silent Salt comes out, even if they're not redeemed, they will likely be my favourite.

[alienpepper]

wildchip fluff theory

so y'all remember that part in cookie odyssey where wildberry and crunchy chip are in the lower city markets and wildberry tells crunchy chip that he's not a big fan of heights and the entire fandom just took it at face value? i do, cause i used to, until i rewatched it and noticed some things(it's not mind-blowing stuff ok dw)

so the whole thing starts with wildberry

(aww wildberry's gonna miss his wolf gremlin :3) this comment from crunchy chip is weird considering how opposed he's been to the creme republic, until wildberry asks this:

ok, so we know that he still doesn't like the creme republic...then what makes it feel like home? what makes him sweet all of a sudden?mayhaps a newfound friend??? *stares unblinking at wildberry*

the two then get roped into a merchant's advertisement

y'know, you'd figure for someone who's armored ass is afraid of heights, he'd be at least a little more hesitant about going on the tallest spire in the lower city, but we all got that one lactose-intolerant person in our lives ordering the five-cheese pizza

but then crunchy chip tries to throw hands with poor british merchant lady:

the trip to the spire didn't go as planned, but the line "let us seek nourishment instead" makes me think that wildberry's falling back on what works with crunchy chip: food

is wildberry just trying to spend more time with crunchy chip before they have to leave? most likely. is the closet fucking glass. ABSOLUTELY.

(edited because it wasn't entirely accurate and if i didn't fix it this post would haunt me forever ty @flicklikesstuff for pointing it out!)

[piromina]

alright. I have thoughts on pavlova.

listen. he's. he's trapped. really, that's what he is. he's trapped, and he knows that he's trapped and he wants to break free, but there's nowhere to go. nowhere to run off to, because eternal sugar has him right where she wants him. if he stays, he needs to obey her every word or else he gets turned to stone. if he tries to run away, the monsters attack him because he's been "blessed" with that scent.

but here's the thing. he doesn't take it out on anyone. he doesn't get mad — and at this point, he's accepted that there's no escape. he's been finding loopholes. he hates his work, so he only does it when eternal sugar is around. and the garden of sweet delights can be safer than the outside world, that is, if one knows their way around it. pavlova does. so here's the thing. he knows he can't escape, not really, not truly, but he knows, too, that the others do have a chance.

enter hollyberry and her entourage. do you remember when he first met them, and the monsters were surrounding them — yeah. yeah, pavlova caused that, because he ventured outside and there were monsters that were attracted to the scent, and hollyberry and the others got caught up in it all. now, whether this was intentional on pavlova's part or not, we don't know. but he did take them to the garden. they would be safer there. they were bound to end up there one way or another. and there are no monsters there, anyhow.

and then he tried to keep them there.

this entire sequence unnerved us, as the audience. we already knew what to expect from this garden. it's a beast's territory. beasts are bad. therefore, the garden is bad. so we should leave the garden. pavlova tries to keep us in the garden? pavlova is bad.

but then eternal sugar tells us to go.

eternal sugar is a beast, we know. beasts are bad. therefore, whatever she says to do is bad. she's telling us to leave? then leaving is bad. leaving the beast's territory is bad?

and then comes her line about pavlova "stepping out of line." her line about having to "reeducate" him.

beasts are bad. if you go against the beast, you are not bad. pavlova's ... not bad, then? staying in the garden is ... good?

and then we find out about the scent. now, what I find interesting is the level of manipulation here. the absolute level of manipulation eternal sugar has with us, as the audience, not knowing anymore what to think, and the level of manipulation she has with her followers. manipulation isn't new to us, especially not from a beast, but for the first time, the lackey — eternal sugar's follower, the one whom she is trying to manipulate, pavlova — is aware of this. aware of this, and does not like it. aware of this, and wanting to be free. aware of this, and also aware of the fact that he cannot be free. it's his wish, you know, on the tree. his quote. "can I be free?" he asks, and then asks for some axes or wood or stew or sugar or whatever else.

he's trapped. that's what he is. and he knows it. and I guess all this is to say is: LET HIM GO ETERNAL SUGAR. LET HIM GO THIS INSTANT.