#ghost theories

[osirisiii-bc]

Primo Emeritus: Florence.

This is the first of my posts where I locate each Papa in Italian cities based on the occult influences/history of each city. I hope you find it interesting and useful!

Primo Emeritus, The Old One, the embodiment of all that is sacred. A personality like his deserves to be located in an ancient city full of art, poetry, and history, shaped by the esoteric and alchemical obsessions of the Medici family, amidst the enduring shadow of centuries-old Satanic cults.

Let’s see why I have chosen Florence for Primo.

In this chapel of ritual…

From the early 70s to the late 80s, a series of murders occurred in various regions of middle-north Italy, with the most infamous taking place in Tuscany, known as the case of the 'Monster of Florence' (Mostro di Firenze), which resulted in the deaths of 14 people - officially, but it is believed there were way more.

The theory is that these murders were part of a large network of Satanic rituals involving influential figures from Rome, Perugia, and Florence. This network is supposedly still active. The original cult allegedly responsible for initiating these rituals seems to be the 'Rosa rossa' (Red Rose) cult. 

A fertile ground for writing Ritual...

2. The creator of Hell.

Florence is the birthplace of Dante Alighieri, the renowned author of the Divine Comedy and the creator of the now canonical structure of Hell.

Primo could have had many more things in common with Dante than we expect: indeed, it is said that Alighieri was part of an esoteric cult named ‘Fedeli d’Amore’ (Loyals to Love), probably affiliated with the Templars. From there, Dante is said to have drawn inspiration for his symbolic and esoteric tales, as well as his passion for numbers.

Keep an eye on Dante, as he will eventually come back in the next chapters.

3. The ghost behind the open window.

It’s not a Ghost story without an actual ghost.

In Piazza Santissima Annunziata, there is a building, Palazzo Grifoni, that holds a mysterious detail: a window that remains open at all times, whether day or night, summer or winter. Legend has it that a woman of the Grifone family bid farewell from that window to her lover, likely Ferdinando I, who departed for war. She waited for him by that same open window throughout her life, but he never returned, dying in battle. When she passed away, the window was finally closed. However, soon after, numerous mysterious events happened in the building, to the point the residents concluded that the building was haunted by the ghost of the woman, and they have kept the window open ever since not to upset her.

But that's not all: the Ferdinando I statue placed in the square, has his face turned to look right to that window… At the very end, he finally came back to her.

4. The Boboli alchemical garden.

Boboli represents a very particular case of an alchemical garden conceived to be ‘accessible’ only to those who have a strong alchemical and esoteric knowledge. It is built as a symbolic route where you can contemplate the principles of magical and alchemical doctrine along the way. You’ll be welcomed by two fountains, placed one on top of the other: the Mose’s (it is an indoor fountain) and the Carciofo’s (artichoke). They are believed to represent the esoteric concept of “as above so below”, but the references to esoteric concepts are present along the whole garden.

Primo would have surely loved this place.

[blackbird5154]

My head has been generating a lot of theories about Terzo these past few days.

Many indicate that his mythological prototype is Lucifer, and he is replaying his path of the fall. Lucifer rebelled against his father and was thrown from heaven.

What if Nihil remained in charge even during the reign periods of his sons and his opinion was to be reckoned with? But we all know what kind of ruler Nihil is.

Merliora's theme is a world of absent God and man's ambitions in it. What if Terzo pushed aside Nihil and tried to rule himself? So at the end of the era, Nihil came back and "threw him out of heaven". Next comes the Prequelle - thematically, the era of the Lord's punishment.

Of course, this still involves Sister Emperator, who was clearly the grey eminence behind Nihil's back. It was convenient for her to control the will-less Nihil, but it was undesirable for her that Terzo would interfere in their duo by taking power away from her obedient puppet.

Judging by the way Terzo had placed his hand threateningly on her shoulder in one of the Summonings, he had gotten to her as well. He knew she was the real source of decisions in the Ministry. Thus, he had created two enemies for himself at once: Nihil and Sister.

You know the rest.

[phantoms-finger-tapes]

I've seen a lot of people thinking these are tombstones. Let's clear that up.

For those who don't know, this is a reference to the stone tablets (there are 2) where the 10 Commandments were written. The title of the compilation, 13 Commandments, is the most obvious sign that it was in reference to that but this is also made clear by the fact that Secondo is holding a staff which is in reference to Moses, the one who brought the stone tablets. Also, the waves around Secondo is a reference to Moses parting the Red Sea.

Now what's interesting is that there are 13 Commandments meaning one tablet should have 6 commandments and the other, 7. But the one shown has only 5 which imo is definitely a reference to Papa Emeritus V.

[emxritus]

Okay, some random Ghost theories/hcs I have;

Copia is a twin. He isn't aware of it, but he has a twin brother.

In ties to the comment above - this twin brother is going to become Papa V.

Sister would let Copia be killed despite her obvious love for him. She sat by and listened to Salty not only make subtle threats and alludes to his end, but also the whole deal with the casket. Sister, in my opinion, does not care. She loves him, yes. But as long as she has a next heir in line, Copia would be an easy kill for her. It would crush her, but she'd do what was needed.

Terzo and Secondo's mothers are the two women from the Kiss The Go-Goat music video that Nihil kissed. I fully agree and believe that he got these two pregnant and they are the mothers of these two boys. (My sweet partner takes the credit for this theory!)

Secondo is a 100% snake guy. He loves snakes. He owns a ton of them. He always has one wrapped around his neck.

Terzo doesn't really have a favorite animal. He likes them and respects them, but there's none he's really obsessed with. If he had to pick, I feel like he'd enjoy snakes as well, possibly cats.

Terzo is touch adverse. The only ones able to touch him are his partner and whoever else he gives explicit consent to. Otherwise, he's going to be pissed if you touch him.

(Not my OG theory- but!) Copia was the one who was told to kill the other Papas. It was all planned out ahead of time and he simply did the dirty work for Sister.

[copiousloverofcopia]

I am so grateful Papa didn't die 🥰

However....it was still Copia's last show. A fact which still breaks my heart a little bit.

Now I wonder what comes next.

I've heard some theories but I am hoping we get a chapter (YouTube video) with the missing info/link between Copia leaving and he who comes next....

Soon?

[gothdaddyissues]

So are we all thinking that the boxing outfit and the string quartet and the dancing skeletons carrying Copia are all part of a hallucinatory dream he's having while he's dying, or are you less morbid than I am?

[egonspenglerishot]

Unpopular opinion but imperator might actually just be a very sensitive and overprotective mother to Copia. She doesn’t want to guilt trip him or anything, she had primo Secondo and Terzo killed so Copia could finally become papa and fulfil his birth right.

Also if you think about it in the chapters there were so many times Copia slipped up around imperator calling her mom or saying I love you.

[leshyyx]

So bare with me because I am very sick but I want to address something that I keep seeing be bought up in the fandom over and over again and that is - are Terzo and Copia related?

The answer is, we don't know. It has neither been confirmed nor denied outright so everyone makes their own theories but the issue with this is that some people from both sides of the spectrum portray their side as fact rather than their headcanon. People who ship Copia with other Papa's are getting hateful messages saying that they ship incest etc.

In canonical Ghost lore, the only ones that have been outright stated to be related are Terzo and Secondo, who are brothers born three months apart and Nihil being their father. It is never even stated that Primo is 100% related to them, the only evidence we have towards that is in chapter 3 where sister says that they need to inform Nihil's sons of the news but that could have just been referring to Secondo and Terzo as they were in that room, and that papacy is hinted to be passed down through generations but let's be honest here, that doesn't make sense if we look back to the dance macabre mv.

There is evidence to support Copia being Nihil's bastard son, yes, but there is also evidence supporting Copia being the son of Satan aka the antichrist and you're free to make your own opinions on that but don't spread hate and bully each other because your headcanons and theories don't align with each other.

So until it is confirmed in a chapter or Tobias himself comes out and clearly states the relation in an interview, play nice, smoke pot and have fun.

[writingjourney]

Being a Ghost fan is just inevitably becoming the conspiracy myth uncle who reads the most unhinged theories on questionable websites and proceeds to talk about nothing else – only that we're aware it's fictional and the questionable website is tumblr.

[idekmydud3]

GUYS IM GETTIN REAL SUSPICIOUS

[apostatewitch]

y'all what if the reason that nihil's ghost is becoming younger and looking more corporeal is because TF is gonna take us through a weird time warp or something and do a set of shows as young nihil.

[stressghoul]

GHESTIE I saw you mention 'Watcher In The Sky' is a song of Copia looking for Terzo. What if Copia is looking for Terzo because he achieved being Papa and he became visible confused and slowly going insane, he then try to look for the other Papas for help, I guess in a way, like the lyrics in the song "Evil-utionary the optics for us to get answers as to why we signal to another dimension that we stand here ready for reply... Communication is key" He contacted them from the other side to try and look for help how to be a Papa cause Nihil won't teach him, Sister Imperator refuses to even call him by the title he worked so hard for, the only ones who can really help him are the other dead Papas. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense but I'm crying my eyes are sore 😭😭😭

BROOOOOOO okay i think ur onto something. Copia defs is isolated by both Sister and Nihil - its almost like they don't even like him even being around the ministry, which Copia 100% notices. so, where can he turn? his brothers and specifically Terzo.

in W.I.T.S he says "can you see what i see?" and "the kaleidoscopian visions we've seen" - feeding into the idea that he may be going insane by trying to find Terzo and maybe seeing things.

he also says "...tell of bloodlines of top notch" and I cant help but think of when Nihil says "he is not a part of the bloodline" in the chapters.

copia is looking to the afterlife for help, bc his life, as it turns out, seems to be plotting against him

[kuromyou]

Papa III was happy (compared to Papa II) Part I

For this first part, I wanted to do a (hopefully) quick comparison of the album covers for the EPs released by Papa II and Papa III to get some insight into their personalities before going more in depth with Popestar.

First up is the EP, If You Have Ghost, by Papa Emeritus II (the song by song interpretation done previously).

The album art is based on the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which itself was inspired by Bram Stoker's book, Dracula. The cover features Papa as "Count Orlok" on a ship. In the movie, in far off Transylvania, Orlok wishes to buy a house across the street of beautiful young Ellen. He summons her husband to do the transaction. The husband realizes Orlok may be a vampire and sees him packing his coffin to meet his love interest, Ellen.

He is a sad and lonely figure with a tragic ending. He lives in a castle avoided by the locals. Plague follows him wherever he goes. And he drinks human blood. After finally meeting Ellen in person, he stays too long feeding on her. The sun rises and Orlok is turned to dust.

The band Ghost has used horror movie imagery before, this could be just another instance of that. But, by contrasting with Papa III's EP,

Next up is the EP Popestar, by Papa Emeritus III.

In this cover art, two anthropomorphic buildings across the street from each other are playing chess, a strategy game that involved moving pieces originally representing parts of a military with goal of capturing the King. The building on the left with the black chessmen sports horns and vertical pupil eyes, possibly representing the devil. The building on the right with the white pieces has a crown, potentially representing "god" and pupiless eyes that watches one of it's pawns get captured. Hmmm. Papa III himself stands atop a golden pillar in-between the buildings in his casual outfit a la Sweden's King Gustav III. His right hand is raised and holding a bright object, possibly the sun, with 5-pointed stars appearing to circle around it.

Overall, Papa III appears as the centerpiece of the cover art. He literally holds up the light overseeing a figurative battle of dark (evil/Satan) and light (god). This suggest he thinks rather highly of himself.

Additionally, the title of the EP, Popestar, is a play on the words "pop star" or a person "regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era". Thus, Papa is the arbiter of this battle between good and evil with a confidence and self esteem that contrasts what we saw with Papa II's EP cover art. Is it possible this is a facade and Papa III is also sad? Sure. But as we look into the EP itself, I believe the evidence will not support that idea.

Well, that was much longer than I expected it to be. Join me next time as I delve into why Popestar indicates Papa III was a happy person (and possibly the happiest Papa?).

[hauntedghoulette]

Ghost Theory!

The Sunshine Theory:

So you know how we have Sunshine? What if Sister Imperator was the one who brought her in to watch Copia and his every movements? All of us are thinking it could be Aether/Sodo/Rain/Swiss..

But instead it's Sunshine who's the one who unalives Copia at the end of the tour. We hardly know anything about her(sorta/kinda?) but still.

She popped out of nowhere with no warning or announcement at the beginning of Pre-Imperatour.

[copiousloverofcopia]

What if the Ghovie comes out June 6 at 6am?

[gothdaddyissues]

Listening to Phantomime today got me wondering...

Do you think that the "Escape From The Ministry" game that came out with the ep's release has any clues for the plot of the upcoming movie?