#anywho i've had this theory since 2014 but idk if i've ever seen anyone talk about it which is crazy

[that-wizard-oki]

theres something that morganthe said that's always confused me. In the final fight against her: "Face me in all my forms and despair." Why does she have other forms of Balance, Ice, and Storm? Is there an in-lore or headcanon reason or is it just... something the devs picked just to make the fight more of a challenge worthy of being arc 2's ending?

I don’t believe there a confirmed canon explanation for this, though (to absolutely no ones surprise) I do have a very good guess to what these multiple forms might be!

To start let’s take a quick look at the forms themselves

First you have Ice, depicted in a deep blue and star patterns, then Balance, which is mainly void of any color or pattern, Death in Grey and lunar symbols, an finally Storm is purple and clad with solar pattern. 

Which yea, at first glance- nothing particularly unusual stands out about this. Save for Balance, each “version” of Morganthe here is colored in accordance to their respective schools within the game, and... wait a minute though. Doesn’t this seem a little... familiar? 

Oh yea, now I remember-

Y’all, Morganthe’s Memories share the exact same color scheme as those “forms” we see in the Shadow Palace. This, in my opinion, can not just be some wild coincidence and definitely has place within the game’s Lore about Morganthe herself. 

If you’ve kept up with my theories (which if your reading this i assume you have lol), you know I’m very sold on the idea that Morganthe was put through the conversion table process, and was infused with shadow magic so that she could be puppetted and controlled by the one connected to the Shadows core- Old Cob himself. We’ve seen the dialogue that’s stated this a few times, so i won’t get into that here- however, that still begs a interesting question- HOW exactly does the “conversion” process work, especially for Morganthe?

I think it would be so fitting if Spider was actually able to alter/tamper Morganthe’s own memories to how he wanted her to act as Shadow Queen. He talks about how “reluctant” she was to continue working with the Arachna once she figured out they wanted to use her knowledge and ability with Shadow as a weapon. THIS was bad for Spider/The Arachna, because ultimately his plan was to use an outside force so great and terrible (shadow queen Morganthe) that it would eventually lead someone (the wizard) who he could more easily trick into freeing him and then beginning the events of Arc 3 since Morganthe ended up figuring out what his true intensions were. 

So instead of emotionally manipulating her into doing what he wanted (like how he was able to do with the wizard), the only option left was to control her more literally- aka, the conversion tables.

However, I think Morganthe was an especially different case from how we see the Mantises and other Arachna being infused. We See Old Cob simply unweave the shadow tacked onto them with the use of crystals if I’m not mistaken. With Morganthe though, this girl is a fucking wizard prodigy who re-discovered the inner workings of Shadow Magic. I Would imagine that Cob probably had to take a more desperate approach to making sure he had her under his thumb to get what he wanted. 

And, as we know, Shadow magic deals a lot with memories. I think that Spider was able to tamper with Morganthe most formative memories, cut out the parts that grounded her in reality (like her Memory in Avalon of wanting to resist what her brother was doing, and her displeasure over hurting people), and stitch in the parts that influenced rage and power (such as the hurt she felt over Ambrose banishing her) in order to create what we know as the Shadow Queen. 

So in sum, the “forms” we see in the Shadow Palace are Morganthe’s Memories, though they are the ones altered by Spider- that’s why they appear as the Shadow Queen does because he made them into his image. The things we see in Radiance Reborn could very well be the “true” memories, the untampered scraps that Spider had tossed because they were of no use to him.

Now, as for the Balance “version” we see- I think that’s a Forth memory in the progress of being formed. The Blue, Violet and Grey versions we see are obviously Morganthe memories (tampered or not), and they all stand ground in in what are definitely the most prominent events in Morganthe life- all up UNTIL she actually becomes Shadow Queen.

Despite being controlled by Spider, her own shadow still exists within her, and she can still create these physical forms out of her memories. I think that Balance one- the one devoid of any particular color or pattern- would eventually become the memory that signified her time as Shadow Queen, like the three memories we’ve seen before. 

The reason it might be depicted as balance is because the Memory has yet to concrete itself in something that represents the time that it symbolizes- the Blue Memory being Ice makes sense because Ice often symbolizes strength and foundation- The memory of Avalon is obviously set during Morganthe’s very early youth, where she was very impressionable. It could also attribute to her feelings of grief and loss- she might have wanted to remain “frozen” in a time before Malory's death.

Violet being Storm makes sense- Morganthe being banished, her wand/deck being taken from her, accidentally hurting her classmates, ending up homeless/an eventual pirate, and generally being scared of her powers than NO ONE seems to know hwo to help her control, probably leaves her with an extreme sense of anxiety and sadness, such easily represented by the power and energy of Storm Magic.

And then you have Grey, the memory that kicks off all the unspeakable stuff occurring for Morganthe in Khrysalis, and is obviously reprehensive of death magic. For me, I think this time, especially once she starts to refuse the Shadow Magi, is perhaps Morganthes lowest point. All she really wanted was to learn how to control astral magic, “find her true self”, and return home and prove she wasn’t some monster. But here she is, having been groomed and tricked by the Magi into re-discovering lost knowledge and wanting her to be their grand weapon in a war she wants no part in. Needles to say, this memory being rooted in Death fits. 

So then, what would the fourth forming memory be? For me, I think Fire. The most uncontrollable element, and one obviously linked with rage and destruction, I think fits the time in Morganthe’s life were she was the Shadow Queen- even if Spider was partly controlling her the entire time, it was still her. (Also, as shadow queen she’s clad in a deep, scarlet red color with her usual black robes... just sayn’ lol)

Speaking of, I actually wanted this memory to be a focal point if Morganthe ever gets a redemption arc. While I think she could more easily accept thosr first three memories/shadows as a part of herself, i’d expect her to actually repulse the idea that this... “Scarlet” memory/shadow belongs with her. The biggest reason for this is that, if she “accepts” this part of her life, she’ll ultimately have to remain with the reality of what was done to her, the Spider had control of her, that she DID hurt and kill so many people... that’s scary, and I think could speak to a lot of trauma victims in the same what Arc 3 speaks so clearly to those with broken or divorces families.

Anywho, i’m really starting to ramble here, but TL;DR: Morganthe’s different forms at the end of Arc 2 could very well be related to her memories we see in Radiance Reborn, and also allude to the idea that Old Cob, when Morganthe went through the conversion table process, may have tampered with those initial Memories/Shadows, and created memories that would help fuel Morganthe’s power as shadow queen. 

And yea, It’s very possible the devs simply picked Ice, Storm, Death, and Balance for game play purposes, and it doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but! What’s in the fun in that y’know? I think this, or something akin to it, is a lot more intriguing and gives a lot more depth to Morganthe’s character, as well as the story for Arc 2 :D