#Theoryposting

[springtrappd]

THAAAAT'S SYSTEMHOOD, BABY!!!!!!

you people could not comprehend the shit going on behind some people's eyes

[curly4830]

very unsound theory-post but this is relating to KnightDess stuff. I think Kris might be in their own snowgrave equivalent with Dess. because of a few reasons but let's get some assumptions out of the way first i'm assuming that the weird text boxes(see: ch4 soul segment on a non-snowgrave run. the one that comes out of Kris' phone) are The Knight. and i'm assuming that Dess is The Knight which is all but confirmed to me at this point Kris opens the shelter at the end of CH3, it might only be after defeating The Knight but i know they know the codes. after defeating The Knight in CH3 they get knighted, going along with their already knight-like appearance in the dark worlds Kris and Dess are/were definitely friends, and there's already the whiffle bat incident(which actually comes from chapter 1. the last post was wrong) The Knight drops a weapon only Kris can use, addresses Kris directly if we're assuming that the character speaking in Mantle is The Knight Kris doesn't want us to see the code in Dess' guitar. whether that be out of not wanting us messing with it or not wanting us to get the code remains to be seen it's not the most sound theory, doesn't have a whole lot of evidence going for it but i just have to get it out of my head. i think at some point this friendly rivalry turned into pushing Kris to become stronger. whether that be to stop the roaring or to cause it.

[comrade-slugcat]

why the hell is saints time so cold?!?

this is one of the things that had been bothering me since downpour came out, and its explaination in the iterator chatlogs bothered me even more: what do you mean the suns light isnt warming the planet anymore?

After all, water vapor doesnt prevent warming, actually the opposite; its technically a greenhouse gas

Well fear not, for after agonizing over this for several months i have realized something

The (we're calling them benefactors now right..) benefactors had a sulfur problem, as evidenced in a white pearl:

This is the genome of a sulfur-processing microbe. In my opinion these were used far too late to have any effect.*

now. The sulfur could have been in the ground or water, but that wouldnt have been quite as big of a problem and it most likely wouldnt lead to the extinction of most creatures

What would though, is if you had massive amounts of it in the air

One of sulfurs properties is that it causes global cooling by reflecting the suns light back out to space, this is one of the reasons gobal temperatures drop after a volcano erupts

And compared to carbon it needs very little sulfur to cause noticeable effects

So if you put mass amounts of it into the atmosphere it could possibly block the stars heat causing the iterators to be the only thing keeping the world warm

and that is why saints time has so much snow, its because of the atmospheric sulfur!

[ashkav]

red herring lucy

I don't think this Lucy:

is the same Lucy that Sam married. for one thing, Neil talks about smuggling brain dead pregnant women, which makes me believe this is during the BB experiment phase of Bridges, or the end of that and the beginning of mass BB production, during which time Sam himself would be a BB or freshly born.

even in the clothes - they're just too normal. it reminds me of Cliff's sections in DS1. Early into the Death Stranding timeline, people still wore modern western clothing in a way we recognise from current day, and the further along we go in the timeline, the more the clothing style changes and evolves.

others have said it seems like she is conducting a therapy session here, but i don't think that's right. it seems more like she is a scientist and a person Neil trusts, and he is admitting to her what BRIDGES is paying him to do to try and get her to turn away from the company that employs her. why would BRIDGES assign Neil a psychiatrist (or at least a psychiatrist who hasn't been briefed about this before hand who in that case shouldn't be shocked by human trafficking) when they know he has sensitive information that shouldn't be released to the rest of the company? why would they care particularly about his mental health in any case when they are show interrogating him roughly at the start of the trailer?

maybe i'm huffing copium and there will actually just be a cheating plotline with Sam's dead wife, but.... idk. i have my doubts.

[goldbeard-ceadeus]

Can't believe I haven't Ceadeus posted at all but man, Ceadeus is one of my absolute favourite monsters. The design, music, and regard Moga Village has for it. It is a creature from a different age, an age of an ancient civilization that was sunken through some great calamity (likely Dire Miralis attempting to baptize the world in fire, since it can fire huge meteors out of its back, it stands to reason a consistent assault from it would sink a city. There is also a theory that this is the castle you fought Lao in FU). And its design supports this, it's white, glowing, almost like a ghost. Its horns constantly growing until they blind the beast. Similarly to how Hunter Hubs grow endlessly until they are blinded by their own progress. The theme being called "Moonquake" also makes sense, as it is similarly coloured to the moon, and is likely large enough to affect the tides in its immediate surrounding. Or, it's simply a reference to a possible belief held by the people of Moga.

"We ask of the meaning of life

We ask of the image of life

Now, let us give birth to a new song

The sound of the sea is the chain of life

Resonating with life, hailing the earth

The liberty of life, the harmony of the sun

It is the song that connects us all

This voice of the sea is the melody of life

The tune of life, the beat of the earth

The breath of life, the harmony of the sun

It is the song that we all sing

All will chant

Wishing for will and heart

All will raise their instruments

Imagination, desire, and thought

A new song, birthed within us."

I also think the lyrics lend credence to the idea that Ceadeus is a deity to the people of Moga, the voice of the sea. Which makes sense, because when the quakes happen, they describe hearing this groaning, thumping sound from the depths. This creature is a god, an Elder Dragon, and it demands respect.

It just is such good, subtle writing. Monster Hunter always has some pretty barebones and honestly, poorly written storytelling when it's NOT subtextual, but man, when it is, it's great. The developers really have a strength for leaving small hints that contribute to the greater whole.

And Ceadeus is so interesting to me because he isn't even the final boss, but he is treated like a king in both song and environment. The Ruins are his "castle". His horns, his crown.

Just. GAH. I love MH3U

[snake-author]

deltarune spoilers below!!

what the heck is up with all of the ARK mentions? I feel like the ARK has some sort of significance... maybe it's about character arcs?? but that's not the spelling they used... ARK... Is there going to be a flood?? maybe?? Are there going to be people who can't get on the ARK?? People that you can't save no matter what?? Is it the sacrifice?? Who's going to be sacrificed?? Ralsei because he's a goat?? Noelle?? Kris?? BERDLY???

man idk

[crypticcryptocryptids]

SPOILERS FOR MALEVOLENT PART 51 BELOW THE CUT!! (i am theorycrafting on main and have Thoughts)

Okay so y'know how Kayne said he killed every other version of himself (Nyarlathotep) way back when (Intermezzo). And y'know how Lilith objected to Arthur calling her Kayne's daughter and corrected him that her father is Nyarlathotep specifically and not Kayne.

Now maybe she just objects to his whole *waves broadly* taking over every timeline at once thing, but that doesn't make a lot of sense given, y'know, her demanding the stone to do presumably the same or similar. But i think - and hear me out, okay, there's a reason - i think maybe it's because Kayne actually isn't her father. or more specifically, Kayne isn't her father.

Because, look, it's - there's parallels between Kayne and Arthur. Particularly in what they would do for their daughters. And we've seen Kayne offer to - well, change timelines, or shift Arthur between them, if he cooperates (although whether or not he plans to follow through is a whole nother issue to address), which. Hm. Opens up possibilities, doesn't it?

Back to Lilith, though - I have a theory. Maybe, perhaps, she says Kayne isn't her father because he's not her version of Nyarlathotep. Sure, in the general sense Kayne is Nyarlathotep and Lilith is the daughter of Nyarlathotep, but this specific version of Nyarlathotep (Kayne) is not the father of this specific version of Lilith. And since Kayne, you know, killed every other version - well. you can probably see why she might be upset with him.

What happened to Kayne's Lilith? Honestly I dunno, but, well, given what happened to Faroe... it doesn't seem likely to be anything Good, I'm afraid. Even if it wasn't due to Kayne's direct actions (although, again, given the parallels he draws between himself and Arthur, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it was) it still was (presumably) enough to set him off to find another (alive) version of her.

I am still curious (both in consideration of this idea and not) about Every Other Version Of Lilith Than This One in all those timelines where Nyarlathotep is gone and what happened with that, but I don't know that there's really enough to go on :/ maybe since there was the whole fiasco with getting trapped as Scratch something happened to her across other timelines and since she was imprisoned in this one she survived? Or maybe that was a consequence of whatever happened. I have no idea and not nearly enough information to come up with a satisfying answer so: shrug. Maybe we'll find out eventually, maybe not.

Anyway I am just. Very delighted by the idea of the (potential) narrative parallel between Lilith and Faroe in being the daughters of the type of man who would take the place of another version of himself in pursuit of happiness.

(or maybe not. maybe Arthur can be kinder to himself, any version of himself, than Kayne was. we'll have to wait and see.)

[murder-bear-fanatic]

I think it’s pretty interesting how in the Route 0 explanation, World Death is framed as something the Earth actively chose to do in response to humans. To me, this implies that either the ancestors to the TRC viewed Earth as being more sentient than (most) IRL people do, or that they intentionally phrased it that way to shift the blame off humanity and onto the Earth itself. I think it’s the latter, because it would be more blatant in the worldbuilding if it was the former. At the same time, the routes where you discover you’re not on Earth phrase Futurum as being a “second chance” for humanity, so it’s clear that they on some level recognize that humanity fucked up. I don’t know where I’m going with this, but it’s been spinning in my head so here, take it.

[nyaagolor]

Umineko Chapter 2 Theory Posting

Well uh. To be honest with you I have very few ideas about this chapter, so actually laying out the "answers to the mystery" would be fruitless because I don't have any. Currently my only thought is that everything after the parlor scene is a hallucination or straight up didn't happen-- I think Rosa blew her nephew's brains out the second she thought him suspicious. Instead, I figured it'd be more fun to talk about the more macro stuff: to lay out what I think I know about the "rules" of the story so far. I'm not sure if these are right, but I imagine it'll at least help me start solving the mystery

The omniscient narrator is a lying little bastard. Every instance of raw "magic" and unexplainable things has occurred when we're in the omniscient narrator POV. While I do think there are more specific tells, for now I'm treating the omniscient narrator as a "what-if" rather than an unbiased reporter. To add onto this, I believe that each character's narration is giving us their version of the truth-- they're not lying, per say, as I think every character sincerely believes what they're saying is accurate, but I also don't think they're all correct. Thus, most of my theories are based on character POVs and not the limited narrator

We're outside the catbox, but the cat is still dead. Magic cannot and does not change the end result of something, only how it happened. We as the audience are exploring possibilities, but they're just that-- the only thing we know for sure is what happened when the box was opened. Thus, any event of magic can be explained retroactively by the end result, and anything that doesn't appear in the end result can be discarded. (For example, in the boiler room scene, we can ignore anything and everything that isn't "Kanon got stabbed" because that's the only thing that remains once the catbox is "opened")

Magic can only do what is accomplished by human hands. I'll admit that because I finished Chapter 2 earlier in my streaming session than I expected, my friend and I decided to go through to the first few scenes of chapter 3 and that's where I got this idea. We see here exactly how Beatrice "revives" the rose-- the explanation being that she just wrapped some gold lace around a different rose (since the one Maria was looking after was taken by Gohda to be their little dessert) and lied to Maria that it was her rose. This kind of smoke and mirrors is what I imagine magic is: it is impossible in a literal sense, but the outcome is only something that can be done by humans, and thus can actually be explained by human tricks

To sum it all up: I think that the entire story is in essence a catbox: We opened it up to find the cat dead inside, and Beatrice and Battler are basically just arguing about HOW the cat died, since everything happened before we opened the box. Since magic is just human tricks with a little more flourish, neither can be technically "wrong" at this point, but I can at least use these rules to make myself a framework for how to solve these mysteries

Unfortunately I'm even slower on the uptake than Battler so the likelihood I'll actually solve anything is. Questionable

PS: My answer to the ultimate mystery of "what the fuck is up with Beatrice" is that she's Kinzo's bastard child groomed to be like her mother for Kinzo's own fucked up romantic machinations, and the whole reason she's "like that" is because she's the child of divorce. Send tweet.

[velvetxcashmere]

:33 < found this lil theory thing in yt comments, do we fw it?

[certifiedpurpledumbass]

So, to what degree is Etienne Lux lying about his current limits and what defences actually work against him? This is the man who does everything he can to present himself as a controllable threat to avoid terrifying people and nations into pointless violence after all: fake warning alarms, psychic shields that are at most a minor inconvenience for him to bypass, wishing he'd killed the Devil quicker so Valentina didn't have to reveal herself and they could remain in secrecy for a while longer, and probably many more things I'm missing or we don't know about. So many of his actions aim to hide how strong he is and keep the world believing itself to be safe, so why can't that same strategy apply to the other Superpowers too?

I don’t think he’s at the point where he can control them, or at least not yet depending if Magus was telling the truth about him growing stronger (wait sidebar has it been established if Heavy is actually resistant? Id assume he has to be or he likely would not have been around this long), but I definitely don't believe Etienne's claim that the gravitaty singularity actually matters significantly (sidebar 2 how the *fuck* does that even exist safely would that not be a goddamn black hole?!?). Considering Heavy's Family being threatened, and his new family about to enter onto the scene, we'll probably find out how effective that defence really is before long, and I’m willing to bet not very.

[springtrappd]

on one hand i think charlie's 'masculinity' (being into. sighs. boy things, not getting relationships, dressing practically & without much care for her appearance, etc) is very intentionally set up against henry's idealised version of her being a literal doll -- always waiting for him with a smile, dressed to the frilliest nines imaginable, safe and sidelined far away from the grit and grease of his workshop -- and meant to contrast against elizabeth, who is aware of her objectification and indulges in the performance of a 'femininity' that she desperately needs to feel like it will make her enough(; elizabeth specifically mentions trying to imitate circus baby using makeup, while charlie experiences dysphoria seeing her own eternal smile in the mirror). on the other hand if there is anyone in this franchise who deserves to pull a sadako it is absolutely charlie emily

[loreleilangenue]

i think its interesting how all of the wonders are can be a pretty clear "dark mirror" to their team mojo foil (eg lance is if eira never befriended arthyr and joined the royal guard, bandy is alchemy if they only focused on gaining fame as a source of wealth instead of actually caring about their art form, dock is if river stopped seeing other humans as people) except for alastor and heartless. like they are supposedly the direct opposites of each other. so either thats just to place them apart from the other characters; or its because alastor is actually a 1000 year old identity stealing vampire who started the jury as a failed scheme to get rich only for it to get way too out of control so now he just has to go along with everything and can't reveal that he actually started the jury 300 or so years ago because no human lives that long and he would probably get staked, so now he's just trying to do damage control before the jury moves on from witches onto vampires and figures him out

[tuttiwrites]

Scenes From A Life Ch. 6 spoilers without context

[ashkav]

Lou theory time

elle fanning, who i'm assuming is adult Lou, always has these very faint threads on her. at first i though it was just when she was floating:

(not sure if you can see it but it's clearest near Fragile)

but later when she's eavesdropping you can also see them as she walks away:

(near her shoulders)

what are these things? obviously, the clearest connection i can make, especially since that puppet character featured so prominently in the trailer, is puppet strings.

but puppets need a puppeteer. who do the strings lead back to?

my theory for where Lou went is that she grew up on the beach, which is why she's older and Sam and Fragile are seemingly the same age and why she was found in a chrysalis covered in tar. let's not forget she seems to bleed tar with timefall effects from her suckers (?):

all relating back to tar and chiralium and cephalapods, three things we know are indicative of a connection to the beach.

(and it seems like Lou's inherited her dad's aphenphosmphobia too. her skin goes red and gets hives the closer the doctor gets to her arm.)

but the beach is famously a solitary place. and Lou can't have been alone since toddlerhood (this is assumption based on the first trailer. it's possible that she 'died' and disappeared later on in life, but likely she got shot the same time Fragile did) and on top of all that she's got clothes! who dressed her?

so far we're aware of only a few characters who can travel to and from the beach:

Sam (with Amelie's help). it cant be him because obvious reasons.

Fragile. unlikely. she apologizes for 'misleading' Sam but i think it's more likely she was talking about the nature of the 're-connection' rather than Lou.

Higgs. getting warmer. he obviously knows something, and his hair floats when he touches the empty pod, but it's inconclusive.

Amelie. the only one for sure still on the beach. the only other character witch weird bodily shit going on (eternal umbilical cord, the Bridget/ Amelie split).

and then we have the masks:

the gold chiral mask is Higgs's staple, but let's not forget who gave him the idea. in both the skeletal half mask from the first game and the full face red mask from this game, Amelie did it first. the gold is based on her black skeleton mask Die-Hardman wears for most of the game and the red is just her face, like a pharaoh's death mask.

Lou and Amelie are linked somehow. and the puppet strings make me feel like that connection is not going to be a happy one.

[kidcapes]

The new SMT5 Vengeance trailer showed this new form for Nahobino and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be some sort of fusion with Tsukiyomi.

His new weapon is an arm-scythe similar to Tsukiyomi's weapon and one of his new skills is called "Paraselene Blur", selene referring to the moon, which Tsukiyomi is the god of.

In base SMTV, Tsukiyomi also made this comment that Aogami was based on him, so I'm thinking that the explanation is going to be that the new form is utilizing his latent Knowledge from Aogami's data banks. Possibly some sort of fusion?

I'm also wondering if this is going to be related to how the MC Nahobino is more human than Susano'O. Maybe there's something like the Protofiend technology has been set up somehow that it can't fully utilize a god's power/Knowledge and that's why Susano'O's characteristics were more downplayed in the original. Also there's an NPC who mentions that Protofiends have existed in Japan for as long as anyone can remember, so I'm thinking it might be possible that they can theoretically utilize any god's Knowledge? If that's the case that also might tie into the new form. Let me know if you have any thoughts or something to add, I'd be interesting in hearing more opinions or if you'd like to see more of my theory ramblings.