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#alright gamers strap in cuz this is a doozy
rainbow-wolf120 · 7 months
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The RayClone Theory: Why It Could Be Possible
(Massive Spoilers for CLH below) Tw: Ab//se, Imprisonment, D3ath, Really Bad Pacing on My Part <3
With me thinking about this way too much, I’ve come up with a thought. Have you ever wondered why the CLH Rayman is so… different from his in-game persona?
No, it’s not because it's a remix. Think deeper. Examine them under a microscope.
It could be because… they’re not the same person.
Now, this may sound like another silly cartoon theory, but hear me out. I have… proof. Aka overanalyzing, but school taught me to do that.
So, what is the RayClone Theory? Well, to put it simple, the Rayman we see in the show isn't the ‘first’ Rayman. There’s been many in the past. Many, as in 5 or so. How? That’s what this post is for. So, let's go back to the beginning. Mushing both Rayman and CLH lore alike.
To make this simpler, we’re gonna establish a rule. Referring to all the Raymen in the show as ‘Rayman’ is very, very confusing. So I will make a list:
OG Rayman - Rayman CLH Rayman - Ramon Rayplacement - Fakeman
Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s start.
According to the Rayman lore, Rayman was created with one purpose in mind: To protect the Glade (or, in this case, Dimension X). He was created for one thing only. To protect. To be the ‘hero’.
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In the games, he’s never failed before. He thrives and beats the bad guy. But remember, this isn’t the games. It’s a remix. A what-if. This leads into:
What if Rayman failed? What does he do then?
And not like, fails as in Rayman 2, fail as in royally fucked up. Fail as in, the closest one to him dies by ‘his hand’. No, not Globox, he was considered alive by Adi. But you know who he didn’t confirm?
Betilla the Fairy.
You could be thinking: “Duh, of course she wasn’t mentioned. He was being broad.”, but he mentioned Razorbeard. His ass wasn’t relevant since Rayman M. So why mention him, but not Rayman’s literal mom??
Because she's not alive. 
Eden (and America) has always been a resource hungry society. It’s human nature. In this timeline, society progresses much quicker than in the real world (flying cars in 1992). Progress needs resources. Have you ever noticed that Eden is barren of all plant life? It’s because Eden (or America) used it all for industrialization.
How does this relate to Rayman? You know how the Glade of Dreams is a lush forest? Resources from massive jungles to deep oceans to towering mountains? Imagine what a power-hungry company (or companies) would do if they discovered this.
*Insert How Bad Can I Be Here*
The creation of the Super-Scope must’ve been revolutionary. The ability to travel to other dimensions with one click of a trigger. Resources galore.
Sarah Fisher mentions in ep2 that the Golder Super-Scope was stolen from Eden’s labs. So, what’s stopping Eden from creating this material? Nothing. That’s what.
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Eden, still a sorta underground company, creates this gun and finds Dimension X. Filled with lush resources ripe for the picking. The critters of the Glade don’t know their ‘bad guys’. They don’t look inherently bad. So they leave them be.
Rabbids. The little bunny fellas.
The Kaiju monsters in the show. How does that become a monster? It’s easy. Toxic chemicals. Not just any toxic chemicals, but Eden’s toxic chemicals from polluting the Glade.
I’m getting distracted, back to Rayman.
Kaiju Rabbids started popping around Dimension X. They started small and inefficient until they got bigger and bigger. Rayman took care of them, yes, but one day, he got absolutely bombarded by a hoard of Rabbids.
A massive war broke out between the citizens of the Dimension and the Rabbids. No one knows how it started because Eden left after it got all it needed.
Rayman, having ‘hero-ing’ literally coded into him, fights back. Others help, yes, but it’s mostly Rayman doing the fighting. 
This leads into Betilla, and how she died.
Rayman was getting jumped by Rabbids, so she came in to save him, risking her life as a result. Yes, her sacrifice did stun the Rabbids and cause them to flee into the depths of Dimension X, but Rayman feels like he’s one to blame.
No one really fully ‘died’ in the games. Sure, they got kidnapped, possessed, you name it. But no explicit deaths besides villains.
So, imagine what that does to a guy when his first, full on death witness was with his creator, his mother.
He doesn’t take it too well.
Yes. Rayman was a hero and drove out the Rabbids, but he didn’t save everybody. He couldn’t save his mom.
He failed.
Lost and confused, Rayman runs to find… something. He runs away, something he’s never done before. He never backed down from a fight. So why is he now?
Well, because he’s scared. Scared for his life and others.
Betilla saved him with her own life. She died because of him. Heroes are supposed to be giving the sacrifice. Not receiving it.
Rayman blames himself. If he’s out of the picture, then no one else would risk their life for his.
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The art book says that they destroyed the dimension, but Globox, the Teensies, and even Razorbeard are alive, so the dimension can’t be unlivable. So what if this use of ‘dimension’ was less literal?
This may sound far-off, but Rayman’s “dimension” could be talking about Betilla. She created him, so she is his ‘dimension’.
This transition into Eden! Or, America currently.
Rayman goes into America looking for a fresh start. To find his purpose. He failed his original purpose (which was to be a hero and save everybody), so he blocked out everything that happened originally to start a fresh start.
Or, every immigration story ever. Leaving behind what you loved for a better start.
He needed a new purpose. And that purpose is to be an entertainer!
His origin in America is the same as the show. He goes to college, gets outcasted, and rises with Eden.
Things are different here than with Ramon. Rayman is… less constricted here.
Back when Eden was new (most likely had good intentions), they weren’t worried about Rayman finding the truth. There was no truth to find. So Rayman was allowed to explore, make friends, talk to people and hybrids below his social class.
One day, he met a hybrid journalist. One of the lower-income hybrids, but a very strong writer. Rayman admired their work, being a news reporter and all, and the two became really good friends, even with him getting them a job at Eden.
Then, the journalist goes snooping. Eden wasn’t as terrible as it is in the present day, but it still did bad things. The hybrid craves justice (like any other journalist) and stations a revolt. It affects Eden, but nothing major except getting the journalist put in jail.
Rayman finds out and goes to give his buddy a visit and to ask what happened. Rayman (still under the influence of Eden) explains that they shouldn’t have revolted and that Eden is great. The hybrid shows him the articles and photos (which were disapproved by Eden so they weren’t published) and explains their side of the story. Since the journalist was low-income, they experienced the biases and issues of Eden first hand.
Rayman obviously seeks the truth as well, promising that he could save the journalist. He goes to the Board of the Directors with the proof and articles, demanding an explanation. Not in a violent way like Ramon, but in a diplomatic manner.
(Keep in mind, Rayman has been questioning Eden in recent weeks from folks he’s talked with in his downtime)
Sound familiar? Of course it does. It happens in the show. Clones are still clones, y’know?
The Board, unsure on how to react with their poster boy finding their fucked up ways, tells Rayman that they’ll explain tomorrow.
Rayman, still trusting of the Board, agrees and waits it out. The next day, he awakens, chained in a dingy room.
Why? Well, the Board knew that Rayman’s act wouldn’t be as efficient if he knew what he was saying was bullshit. Think Disney’s Bolt. So what do they do?
Try out their latest technology, of course. And that was a cloning device.
Now, you can’t just clone Rayman. He’s an alien. Not an organic lifeform. So, how did Eden approach it?
Lums. Take bits of Rayman, combine it with various animals, and boom. Almost perfect Rayman clone.
Clones are never perfect. Each one has an imperfection, little or big. And the Lums is what gives Rayman his main form.
So, chain him to the basement so he’s always on hand. Duh.
Rayman stays in that basement for at least 10 years. Sad, alone, and going insane. He can’t die; he’s immortal. Eden goes through at least 4 or 5 different RayClones before landing on Ramon. I’ll go into Ramon in a bit.
When a RayClone is too imperfect or steps out of line, the Board sends one of the Niji 6 to eliminate them. This is shown by this line of dialogue:
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“Taking care of”? What do they imply by that? Maybe it implies that they were sent to assassinate Rayman, or in this case, Ramon. 
So, RayClone bodies can’t exactly decompose. Yes, they can die and lose consciousness, but those Lums inside them don’t allow the body to rot. So what happened to those bodies? Leave them in the depths of Eden to rot.
Back to Rayman, one day, he manages to slip his hand loose from the chains and free him. This happens when Ramon is just made. The Board orders the Niji 6 to hunt and bring back Rayman. During his escape attempt, Rayman accidentally causes an explosion ‘killing him’.
We’re gonna pause his story and shift to Ramon.
Now, I wanna talk about his reaction to Red in ep3. Clones share the same memories as the original, but they don’t experience it the same. It’s like knowing something and actually being there.
The Rabbids attack, but Ramon isn’t really stressed about them attacking. Was he that faithful in the Niji 6? Or was it something else?
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Was it because he doesn’t have that trauma about them?
When Red calls Ramon an “interdimensional alien scum," Ramon bursts? Why? Because he experienced it. He experienced being belittled and talked down by his colleagues at work. He knows how it feels, so he’s pissed.
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If Rayman was in his place, Rayman would be fidgety and panicky about the Rabbids and brush over Red insulting him. If anything, Rayman would be thanking Red for stopping them. Yes, Rayman was talked down in college and his early days, but the Rabbids changed his life.
You could argue that it’s because he had his cry before the cameras were running, but he shows no sign of that. No voice cracks or eye twitches. And the fight just happened, which explains the presence of Red.
Going back in time for a moment-
Ramon was the latest RayClone and the last one with the ‘death’ of Rayman. This makes Eden super protective over him and his opinion on Eden. Other RayClones in the past were either too disfigured to seamlessly become Rayman, or found / was close to the truth. They need to keep Ramon pure.
How does one keep something pure and untouched? Isolated them, of course!
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(Note the use of the word ‘illusory’ here)
This also explains the ‘Eden-generated’ scripts. Rayman wrote his own scripts. Rayman said his own opinion. Now, 10+ years later, Eden writes Ramon’s scripts. Ramon says Eden’s opinion.
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If he was stripped of his freedom, then how would he be infected with the truth?
If he wasn’t needed anymore.
This is where Fakeman comes in. I think Fakeman is Raymesis, due to those yellow eye highlights you can see in a split second.
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The Board wasn’t as faithful in Ramon as they were previously. He might’ve had some outbursts before ep3. They needed a backup. They can’t clone him, the clone would be to fucked up. They needed another Rayman.
Remember the Rabbid invasion in ep2 / 3? While the Niji 6 was dealing with the kaijus, guess who was snooping around the Glade for a Rayplacement?
Raymesis was kidnapped and forced to work for Eden if he liked it or not. They weren’t going to clone him yet, but to keep him in line, instead of acceptance (like they did with Rayman), they used threats.
This explains Fakeman’s uneasiness in ep6 with Retribution Day. That was his first big acting event, and the one Eden decided if he’s replacing Rayman on stage or in the basement.
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Look at his face when it’s canceled. Bro looks scared shitless.
But Fakeman and his lore / personality is a whole ‘nother post.
Ramon follows the same path as Rayman. Seeing something unfair (Rayman’s friend getting arrested and Ramon losing his job), and doing something about it.
It’s that Ramon is filled with vengeance and anger because his whole life was a lie.
Rayman is filled with doubt and confusion because he just refound his purpose, and that was a lie.
Rayman’s whole journey throughout this is finding his purpose. His original purpose was to ‘save everybody’, and that failed. He went to America to find a purpose and did with Eden. In his character bio in the art book mentions this purpose line.
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“Even happier that Eden gave him purpose”. Why? Because he lost his original purpose! He felt he was nothing before Eden gave him everything. He’s under the mindset that Eden gave him his meaning of life again.
They quite literally saved his life.
Anyway, what does Rayman do after his ‘death’? Have an identity crisis of course! He was locked up for over 10 years, his brain is scrambled eggs at this point!
He failed his purpose for Eden, so he resorts back to his original purpose: Be a Hero.
But, what about the Rayman on TV? Is he the real one?
Rayman’s mindset is that he was created to be a hero. Heroes are brave, speak the truth, and rise up against bad. What is the Rayman on TV doing?
He’s being brave, speaking the ‘truth’, and rising up against ‘bad’.
What’s the real Rayman doing?
He’s being a coward, secret about what he knows and saw, and hiding against the bad.
Heroes don’t do that. So Rayman must be a fake. He must be the RayClone. He’s the mistake. At least, that’s what he made himself think.
Now, I won’t get into my ideas for Season 2. If people want it, sure. I will. But for now, I’ll leave it at that. This is 2200+ words, and I’m grasping at the air at this point.
If you disagree? Great! If you don’t? Great! Tell me your own thoughts / theories then!
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