#Definitely only a theory

[grievingbovine]

More than just an important plot point, I believe AIM, EMMA SEN, and The Mesaage are a subtle 4th wall break by Muir and an attempt to communicate with her readers without fully divulging what she wants. I've been paying a lot of attention to what and when Aim says anything.

All of the meme references throughout the book are not only an example of how Earth humanity things have echoed through 10k years but also a way to connect to readers in a way that only the readers, and John, can appreciate. So much of it has resonated with readers in ways that make us love the books even more, and it's literally just for us.

If you were an author that constantly spoke to your readers through cleverly placed memes, what better way to divulge a message than through more references? Two systems of communication used by many of us that are both obsolete and already archaic to us in 2024, it seems too pointed to be just a fun little nod, or a BoE naming convention (don't get me started on the possible meanings behind some of those names, not until my next theory post).

“I don’t want to read you the riot act. Don’t care about what people say … care about what people do. People say all kinds of things because it’s so easy to open your mouth and make words come out. It’s the doing that shows you what they are, and what they feel.” -Aim, chapter 17, ntn

The next section is John 5:1, the second to last of John's sections and the point where he finally tells Harrow about creating nuclear fallout on Earth. He claims to have had no choice, his words tell her that he regrets it, despite later saying "that's all the end of Earth was, making things clean."

It's also at the changing point of Pash, she starts to begrudgingly work with Camilla and the other zombies. She constantly insults and lashes out at them, but she works with them for the prospect of a better world.

Anyway this is long but I think there's more to The Message and we may already have pieces of it we haven't caught.

[campbenji]

i haven't even watched s2ep1 and i already know i won't make it out of s2 a sane person

[luckyshinyhunter]

🔥🎬2024 has been giving us some amazing animated shows!🎬🔥

[trappedinafantasy37]

I am sure many of you are aware by now that Minthara's Speak with Dead lines now have her mentioning a daughter. She did have these lines back in EA that were since removed on final release, but have now been reintroduced with Patch 8. @baldursyourgate did bring up a very good point that we could potentially be dealing with another breakup scenario where these lines were readded by "mistake" and may be reverted in a future hotfix. The only thing that has me feeling a bit sus is that unlike the breakup, tweaks to Minthara's Speak with Dead lines were mentioned in the Patch notes this time.

However, these notes are vague. Her dialogue "makes more sense" in Act 2? I don't quite recall precisely what they were before, but I'm pretty sure her lines made sense. But, this does indicate that Larian did deliberately change her SWD dialogue. There are one of two possibilities I can think of, 1) they intentionally reverted back to her EA lines where she mentions a daughter or 2) they recorded new SWD lines entirely but accidentally reverted to the old ones rather than add the new ones (although there is no indication of new recorded lines). If #2 is true, we can expect a future hotfix to wipe this one away. Another more anecdotal thing I want to mention is that Larian tends to respond to mass public opinion. I wasn't on Tumblr when the breakup went down, but I was on Reddit. And that period of time was the most any of the BG3 subreddits talked about Minthara, and most were not pleased with the breakup. It did not take too long for Larian to undo the breakup. Right now, it's almost as if Reddit is unaware of the new SWD lines even though some subreddits do, uh... enjoy the idea of Milfthara. Since there isn't a massive social response to it, I have my doubts Larian will do anything.

As a Minthara enjoyer, it gets very frustrating to have each new patch recharacterize her. It would genuinely piss me off if they take her baby away... AGAIN. We know this will be the last patch, but there will still be hotfixes for a little while. As excited as I was yesterday, I am going to reserve calling this canon until Larian completely moves on from BG3 (even though it is canon in my heart).

However, if this dialogue remains, it creates a continuity error with Minthara's character as she never mentions having a child while she is alive. She only mentions the kid if she is dead. But, it's not like I've recombed through all her dialogue with this new Patch and Death Domain Daedra just barely woke up on the beach so give her a minute. So far, the theory most have is Minthara keeps her daughter a secret to protect her. But, I do not see any reason why she would withhold info on her daughter to a romanced player.

Minthara does actively grieve her home and says she will miss it until the day she dies. She could, of course, be grieving a daughter she will never see again. But I would think that if she had a child, she would not resign so quickly on the idea of never going home. From the moment you recruit her, all her future speak is of her remaining on the surface. She really really wants to kill her mom, but accepts she never will because she accepts never going home again. Even at the end of the game, she still plans to live on the surface. You are the one who has to bring up returning to the Underdark and her sole intent is to kill her mother. That honestly would be the most appropriate moment to mention she has a daughter waiting for her at home.

It also isn't like Minthara to be so witholding either, even if her intent is to keep her daughter safe. But, once she reads your mind, she knows with certainty that you are a safe person to tell. Minthara also very much likes knowing your intent, and she explains her intent to you often. So she wouldn't hide her intent to retrieve her daughter if she goes to the Underdark with you. Yes, she does go to the Underdark on her own if not romanced. But I think she is compelled to go down there for a completely different reason and not for a child.

So, we have a Minthara who supposedly has a child, but never mentions one unless she is dead. Minthara is also very open about her life in the Underdark, but never once talks about how motherhood affected her life. And she never speaks of a kid to a romanced player when returning to the Underdark, the one person in the world who should know that they are about to be a stepparent. This child creates nothing but contradictions. Personally, I do headcanon she had a child anyway regardless of what Larian says. She is 200+ years old, has admitted to having many sexual partners, and would have had the expectation by her house to have a child at some point. I have thought this exact contradiction through many times over. My theory is that Minthara does not mention having a daughter because while the Absolute was erasing her, it also erased her memory of having a daughter. "Well, technically the lines happen if she dies after the Absolute torture." Ssshhhhhhhhh... I'm going to ignore that because this is the only way all of this works in my brain.

[fallofthecelestial]

Okay. Since we're going over all the takes on Mr. X at this point.. What if his powers really don't have a backside. What if (the state of) his normal life is the backside.

What if his normal life is akin to that of heroes where he has to pretend to be something he's not and follow rules that the people who control his life came up with to further their own goals. What if he can only be free of other people's beliefs and expectations when he's a hero.

What if in reality he truly is like everyone else. The other heroes. The ordinary people. All those who work themselves to the bone, who are tired and overworked and sick of all the exploitation...

What if when he's in the form of the number one hero.. when he becomes the most sought after product on the hero market..

Is when he gains the freedom to truly be himself

[blueberry-ry]

You guys know that you can dislike characters without being fucking weird about it, right 🤨?

[babacontainsmultitudes]

OUGH call me Big Shane Silva the way that episode had me falling over and torn into pieces fuuuuuuuuuck oh the Trudy and Francis heart-to-heart... The group hug... The gunkata... The middle-aged witch yuri... The hole in the stars... MAN.

[timkontheunsure]

Pregnancies theory - Have their cake and eat it too

Best guess at where Millie's plots going

We know Millie past is going to be explored more in season 3.

And it very likely that part of it'll be Millie's half exes and oohs back story, her history with Chaz.

We didn't really get anything about how Millie and Chaz split, or what the relationship was like.

But the hints we've gotten make it seem like a very bad time for Millie.

Chaz is dead, making it unlikely he'll prompt the story himself (zombie 👻).

Logical that means it'll tie into Millie's current plot,

So past relationship trauma tyeing into Millie's current pregnancy chose..

A previous pregnancy seems a possibility right?

But ok let's look at what we what knows from Blitz's interview of Millie.

That's got to a be maybe a few weeks after her break up.

And straight after she got sacked.

Because Millie was employed when she nabbed the job out from Blitz and Moxxie.

And she did well enough to impress straight off.

So she wasn't sacked for something she did, as Blitz is confused anyone would let her go.

She says getting jobs and keeping them comes down reputation. And Blitz asking what Millie's rep is like now prompts her go into a rage.

So Chaz did something that'd made her seem unreliable to her former employer. Like something that would need her to take time off?

The underpaid goon work doesn't seem to come with a lot of benefits, or employment rights.

And Chaz is definitely the sort of scumbag dump Millie for a shit reason, like an unplanned pregnancy.

Leaving her feeling trapped in a situation, that even year's later makes her hulk out.

It's also feels a bit similar to how Chaz leaves Moxxie trapped and alone, to take the heat.

Edit adding these bits, cus it telling what made her rage was Chaz saying he financially secure with a the bright future, before inevitably trying to hookup with her again. (Not sure if would have checked if he had a kid knocking about to scupper the deal with Crim. Or if he'd have enough of fuckboy to not even ask).

Mills is drinking a beer when Blitz walks in, so unlikely to still be pregnant.

Without a job or support; she'd have really struggled to feed and look after a kid. Pregnancy would have undoubtedly ruined any chance of getting a good job.

There's very few examples in American media of abortions.

This is could look at the reasons a young single woman, who just lost her manual labour job, would want an abortion. It could do alot of good.

Media likes to pretend practicalities of just not making enough money to make a pregnancy a workable thing don't exist.

There are thousands of good reasons to have an abortion, and with the show being indy and set it hell; they can go there. (Restrictive religious media monopolies can go do one)!

But why I'm I betting on previous abortion; and then her keep it this time?

3 Reasons

Easy out of universe plot savvy reasons

Think that if they weren't going to have Millie decided to keep it, it would be set up to stay more private than it's gonna.

Millie left the test box in Blitz and Loona's bathroom bin.

Blitz is honestly the only one living there who I buy does the cleaning. (Loona's Blitz's kid who he spoils. Stolas wouldn't know how to clean).

Blitz is a very protective dad, who's going flip his lid if he thinks he's little girl is pregnant.

He's not going to keep this quiet, which means Millie's got no hope in hell of the whole of IMP not knowing.

As her boss, if anyone can tell her that they can make adjustments it's Blitz.

2. In universe support (backed up with some narrative reasons)

Millie has a similar mindset Blitz, that her only value is what she can do, especially for others. It's something she pins a lot of herself worth on.

Pregnancy would challenge this idea, cus she'd have to physical do less. (And helluva like to show previous trauma being overcome).

But Millie's situation has changed a bit since Chaz. Even if she in her panic hasn't really realized that yet.

She's got a supportive husband.

A better paying job, with alot more security that's doing well now.

And a boss that would be very willing to adapt to keep her.

They've got more resources they can ask for help, like knowing Stolas. Another parent, who's good with babies, and can empathize not feeling ready to have a kid.

Cus Stolas was a teen dad, and Millie's only 1 year into her marriage. (Narratively it'd be a good way for Millie and Stolas to bond).

And Blitz while he hasn't had parenting experience with babies, he's is an ex children's performer for years. So he is just pretty good with kids.

Stolitz would definitely babysit if Millie keeps it lol.

IMP's a small family business, they can be alot more flexible with childcare. And even have the kid staying in the office after she's back from her maternity leave.

It used to be really common for smaller families businesses to let parents bring their kids in, till they were old enough for preschool. Because there's always someone around, and well the kid's family. 🤷

(I was brought up like this. And just taken to whichever factories my Mum or Nanna worked at. A cot was set in the break room for any babies who need it. Because how else are working women ment to manage. It's basically unimaginably with Amazon isn't it).

And if Blitz and Stolas' don't go gaga over a sprog to play with I'll be amazed.

We also know Sallie May going to have bigger part going falwards, and Millie pointed out Sal can rely on over people more, to be able to take more time off.

So it is possible Sallie May could help cover her sister's maternally leave.

3. Foreshadowing and Menis

Moxxie loves kids but he's got alot to learn. And with how helluva does foreshadowing, it's likely he's going to get the chance to be a dad to screw up lol.

Seriously pretty sure Moxxie is going a very steep learning curve.

At least Millie has younger siblings that she appears to have had to look after, so it won't all be new to her.

(Even if parentifcation give a lot weird blind spots).

But ok the menis bit dun dun dun! Kidnapping

We know Crimson is after revenge on Moxxie and Millie, for different reasons.

He hates Millie because she murdered all his guys easily; and she's *gasp* a dame. How dare a woman show him up like that!

And Crimson has a life long hate and disappointment of Moxxie, for not being the macho man he wanted as an aire to inherit the totally legit business.

M&M's tot could seem like the perfect do over baby for him to mode into the perfect mafia don.

I'd kinda laugh my head off if Crim goes to all the effort to trying to kidnap the sprog, gets his arse handed to him by the whole of IMP, plus Millie's family; all for the baby to be a girly.🤭

I used @warblogs17282 helpful post that puts together the s3 hints for this wild guess post.

(I know you also put a post on here too, I'm just failing to find it sorry 😅).

[herefortheships]

Betelgeuse and marriage theory

A Beetlejuice head-canon/theory I have (It's somewhat "Beauty & The Beast" coded 🌹🥀).

Having died poisoned on his wedding night, Betelgeuse's soul is bound by the ritual of marriage.

We already know he will be able to reenter the mortal world if he marries a living person (due to the rules of the afterlife and whatnot), but here's where my head-canon starts:

Bound to the ritual of marriage, if he marries someone he loves, who truly love him back, dead or alive, his soul will be freed and he will be able to pass on to the great beyond next to his beloved (once his beloved passes away as well, assuming she happens to be currently alive *hint hint*). This person has to wear Delores' ring and accept and love Betelgeuse as is. She has to fall in love with his soul. Only loving him truly, wearing the ring, and sealing the deal with a kiss will release him, and that way, in the end, both his soul and his beloved's (it has got to be Lydia, please) can move on peacefully into the great beyond and exist without curses or attachments.

Totally a fantasy in my head because there's no way something like this would happen in canon much to the sadness of my little heart lol, but I thought I'd share it with you all. And who knows, maybe if there's a third movie they will explore what it is about Betelgeuse's character that is so attached to the concept of marriage. Because, listen, maybe the ritual where a ghost marries a living person and can materialize in the living world is something that is bound to the rules of the afterlife, and detailed in the Manual for the Recently Deceased, but the symbols and ritual of marriage is something intrinsic to the character of Betelgeuse itself.

He died on his wedding night, for starters. He was tricked by Delores and fell for her immediately. One could argue he fell quickly because she is so gorgeous and no doubt manipulated him into believing she loved him, and that's definitely part of it, but also, (and I have no doubt about this one), he believed her and fell for her immediately because Betelgeuse wants to be loved. He's a romantic underneath it all, and he wants to love and be loved. He might have been desiring it for a long time, failing to find love throughout his life until he met Delores.

He may exude self-confidence (maybe even to a delulu extent lol) and present himself in this very raunchy way, but inside, I'm sure he desires a genuine love; he wants to love someone and be loved truly. And he died, murdered by his bride on the night of his wedding. Betelgeuse was murdered on the night that should have been the happiest of his life, and his desire for love and a wedding stayed with him beyond the grave, now stained with blood and betrayal and a curse that can only be broken, in my head-canon/theory, by marrying someone who truly loves him, whom he truly loves.

Marriage is definitely a very important theme in Beetlejuice, so it'd be interesting if there's something more underneath it, which could be explored in the next movie if we are so lucky to get it.

[whatsourmotto-whocares]

scenes I can't believe are directly adjacent =

Tommy gets his cake (and eats it, too 😉)

[txxty]

is it an unpopular opinion if i say that out of all the "___gate" theories, birthdaygate is my least favourite, like i genuinely do not like it at all

"i dont believe the duffer brothers forgot wills birthday" yeah okay but i 100% do think that sorry

its just more unnecessary angst targeted at will, like no his mother, brother, sister, and best friend didnt all suddenly forget will's birthday that is insane

[justag0at]

Y'all ever think about that small amount of time where the researchers in Corbeaux (the color researching house) just saw red in the sky. Imagine the immense validation from that. Related did you know the theory of color being determined by lights wavelength dates back to 1801, and spectrometers have existed since the 1800s?

[silverthelovebug]

Brooklyn and Ben definitely convinced Yaz to start smoking with them. Brooklyn pulls Yaz aside and is like “Bro. I think you would benefit from a bit of weed”. and Yaz is mad sus. she couldn't smoke in hs bc of track and just never got into it. but Brooklyn has her hit a joint and Yaz is like “Wow… I love… not being anxious for like five seconds ….”

(Sammy does the minimum dosage on edibles)

[beansterpie]

totally random mononoke thoughts, and.... potentially unpopular opinion? but however the two sequel mononoke movies go, what I really don't want above anything else is like, a kusuriuri backstory. or things explaining in depth how kusu (and that whole system, because I guess there was a lore dump semi-recently, but I personally don't like the gist of it so I've been ignoring it lol) and his powers work. for me, kusuriuri is such a compelling character because we know nothing about him, and yet he continues to exist, just like many enigmatic forces of nature in that world.

I wouldn't mind there being little hints or implications, but any sort of definitive backstory or lore explanation would genuinely disappoint me lol. I don't wanna know!

[hijinxinprogress]

Civilian Gothamites realizing they can get vengeance through Sword!Robin

Gothamites figuring out if they happen to mention a rogue treating animals poorly within hearing range of sword!Robin that rogue will be in custody with at least four fractures and a concussion and Damian being completely aware that like 63% of these people are lying but it’s the only way he can get experience with the nonlethal takedowns he’s experimenting with bc everyone keeps complaining about how he treats his opponents and allies 

Like he’s guiding a civilian to safety and they mention that “this would be the worst thing to happen to me today if riddler didn’t stab my fucking cat” and this civilian does not own a cat but they did own a car that was just paid off but riddler fucking crushed it with a stupid ass hot air balloon that’s shaped like a fucking question mark and Damian is aware of this bc he was the one that verified the insurance claim (but he’s been looking for a reason to punch Nygma in the throat since his last Arkham escape when he called Damian a moron)

And he also knows that if he plays along with it and says ‘as if I’d let that gaudy and tactless imbecile get away with committing such atrocities’ when prompted that he’ll get away with barely a slap on the wrist like he gets three half hearted but long lectures he’s not going to listen to and an online sensitivity training seminar he goads Tim into completing (Damian and Tim 100% try to trick each other into doing work they don’t want to do and full heartedly believe the other has no idea what they’re doing)

Bruce’s tendency for finding small crashouts at risk of becoming future rogues in Gotham and deciding they need love & supervision but what actually happens bc he’s so fucking awkward is they get almost the same amount of supervision just with like an hour of intense helicopter parenting a week but honestly besides that they just have more money and resources to do fuck shit

Tim 🤝🏾 Damian: using the manipulation tactics they learned from their mothers then later improved on with help from an assassin cult and bat/cape interrogation questioning techniques on the homies

[itsalwayslikethiswithyou]

I really don't want Oisin to be a bad guy. Adaine deserves to have a crush on someone, maybe even get her kisses in. I have no theory or anything that would support Oisin being in the RatGrinders and not being a terrible person but I do have this hope in my heart.