#isidora morganach

[the-magiarcheologist]

Hogwarts Legacy Timeline

I've gone deep into research to try to put together a timeline of events that happened before the start of the game.

Ok, let's break it down! (I'll provide my sources for all of this)

And let's start with the most shocking: when anne gets cursed.

Almost everyone assumes (logically) that she got cursed sometime during the fourth year or the summer before the start of fifth year. But, in the book "The Art and Making Of Hogwarts Legacy" there is a short paragraph introducing Sebastian and here is what it says:

If we take this info as legit (and I think it is since that book was written by the people developping the game) then Anne has been suffering from that curse for far longer than anyone thought!

That also means that Ranrok opened the first repository over a year before our MC starts at Hogwarts and discovers ancient magic.

Before we start the mission 'It's all Gobbledegook" with Amit, Lodgok tells the MC that Ranrok orginally unearthed Bragbor's journals that had been long lost. From these journals, he discovered that wizards had hidden for 'repositories' full of magic that Bragbor had built for them. He knew all of this was connected to five names: Rackham, Fitzgerald, Bakar, Morganach and Rookwood. Ranrok then sent Lodgok to begin the search at Rookwood castle.

Sebastian also confirms that Goblins first arrived at Rookwood castle. Before we visit his sister, he tells MC: "No one has felt safe here since Ranrok's Loyalists took a peculiar interest in that castle over there - Rookwood castle."

Miriam was actually already at Rookwood castle, conducting her research on ancient magic, before the Goblins arrived. That is how Lodgok meets her. She had already found the container (with the portkey inside) and was studying it. (Lodgok tells us this after we complete the mission with Amit).

Other Goblins join Lodgok at Rookwood castle to search it. At this point, Rookwood must have joined hands with Ranrok and allowed the Goblins to tunnel under Rookwood castle to search for the repository. (We overhear Rookwood telling Ranrok: "I allowed you to tunnel under my family home!" when we first visit Rookwood castle to start the second trial from the Keepers).

The Goblins find the first repository and Ranrok is thrilled. That is when Lodgok tells him that he met Miriam and that he trusted her and allowed her to continue her research on the container independently. Lodgok does not really know what happens after that but we know that Ranrok eventually found her and killed her. So Miriam died sometime between Ranrok finding the first repository and the start of the fifth year.

The only other thing we know to try to piece together when Miriam died is that shortly before her death she first sent George Osric a letter warning him about Ranrok's activities (presumably she knew that he had accessed the first repository) and then "before [George] could respond" she also sent him the container. Since George himself says he had not had time to respond to her first letter before he received the container, that probably means only a few days went by between Miriam being worried about Ranrok's activities and when he found her and killed her. (We learn all of this from George Osric in the carriage going to Hogwarts.)

The other interesting thing is that George tells Prof. Fig that he had received Miriam's first letter (and the contained shortly after), "months ago". Rookwood sort of confirms this when he tells Ranrok that he spent "months and countless Ministry favours" locating the container (he says this when we overhear his conversation with Ranrok at Rookwood castle). So this means that Miriam died several months before september 1890.

This raises a lot of questions: Why did George Osric wait that long to tell Prof. Fig that he has received a mysterious container from his wife before her death? Also, why did Miriam send the container to George and not her husband? Were Prof. Fig and his wife estranged? Did Miriam not trust Prof. Fig? But that's the topic for another post I suppose...

Anyway, after Goblins started searching at Rookwood castle, they also started searching at other locations connected to the 5 names of the Keepers. (We know this, again, from Lodgok before we start the mission with Amit). That is when they arrived at Isidora's house. We don't know the exact timeline between them arriving at Isidora's home and the fire during which Anne got cursed. This could have happened before Ranrok found the first repository. But it happened after Ranrok and Rookwood started their alliance since Rookwood was at Isidora's house with the Goblins. So I think it happened after Ranrok had already found the first repository but we can't be sure.

Anyway that's all I've got! Have I forgotten something?

[mad-world-of-meyrin]

Sebastian Sallow (3)

~ •●• ~

Here are some Sebastian Sallow GIFs that I created from a YouTube videos from @AFGuidesHD, @aiyariaart and @silverxstardust.

To be honest, I don't really know what to think of Anne Sallow. She's not evil but I think the game gives us so little information about her that it leaves us asking a lot of questions. I also wonder what relationship Anne and Ominis had... What I do know, however, is that I hate Solomon Sallow !

So, here is this third batch of GIFs on Sebastian Sallow. I invite you to go look at the Tumblr accounts of @aiyariaart and @silverxstardust which have very good content; and also their YouTube channels (particularly that of @silverxstardust which makes very beautiful videos of Sebastian and MC).

You can also find some GIFs of Hogwarts Legacy in my fanfiction We had it all, available on Wattpad in English and in French (Nous avions tout).

[girl-named-matty]

Your day gets a lot sadder when you realize just how similar Sebastian and Isidora are.

[phinik]

[animasola86]

The Mountain Cavern*

*For lack of a better name because we never learn the name of that place (unlike the Overlook Mine), so I'll call it the Mountain Cavern aka the place you find during the last triptych quest with Sebastian.

LANDMARKS ETC MASTERLIST

[passiveslthrn]

KNEAZLE IN A POKE

This is was VEEERY cool art fest in our russian HL fandom🔥There are so many talented artists! And of course, thanks @hohogwarts-kekacy for this event❤️

My arts:

1. “Something is not right”

2. “Azkaban has been waiting for them”

3. “The keeper. Beginning”

[shiakihades]

Theory about Undercroft notes

This week I decide to play again HL, and for the first time I saw this:

Those notes in the wall apear after we use that mirror in Isidora's house. The draw in the wall is the same as the key we useat the beginning.

I belive that isn't Isidora who have put that draw there, because I belive that the key was made after her death.

The same for Sebastian. He never saw the key. At this point in history he had not yet seen the rune symbols, nor the mechanisms we used in the Jackdaw mission, and these drawings were already on the boards. So is impossible to be him.

So i thought about Percival, but I saw this post of @the-slytherin-paramour:

it clearly say 'Percival is hiding something'

And he wouldn't doubt himself.

So... if it wasn't Seb, Isidora or other keeper, it must be our MC.

These notes on the blackboards appear as we progress in the missions, so I believe it is the Mc who wrote them.

But what you guys think?

Edit: For those who want to know where it is:

[portkeygames-art]

Isidora Morganach destroyed portrait and concept art by Vanessa Palmer

[alsopartgekkos]

nameless legacy

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Idk what is it with legacy but everything seems to me like it was written on a napkin five minutes before the programming started. I'm crying about the ancient magic and the fact that nothing was done with it. The friends weren't involved with the plot enough, Fig was involved too much (were they trying to copy year 4 and 5 with Rakepick???), we CAN'T FUCKING ALLY WITH RANROK, Isodora and Bragbor successfully cooperated to create the repository but we can't have main character and ranrok paralleling that and working together.

You know, you're absolutely right.

This game was like...almost incredible. But in every area it could have been incredible, there's this pesky "almost" stuck as a prefix for this reason or that reason.

The companion mod is proof that not enough was done with the characters in this game (Amit doesn't even get a quest-line) but it's obvious that the characters are still compelling. Poppy and Natsai are three dimensional and lovable, and Sebastian's popularity speaks for itself. Even the ones who aren't meant to be in focus can be well crafted. (They rolled a real winner with Ominis, I said what I said.)

Fig was obviously meant to be a significant character (I am still not clear on what subject he teaches, does anyone know...?) and given his connection to the plot through Miriam, that's to be expected. He's a lovable guy and I don't mind him being so relevant, but it's obvious that (for better or for worse) the student characters are largely here by obligation and in the mind of the developers, they're more for side-quest content. That other characters like Fig and Lodgok are meant to be the important ones. Again, for better or for worse. I've heard it said that Sebastian's story should have just been the main storyline of the game and honestly...that's not entirely a bad idea.

Though frankly, I think a far better idea would have been just having Isidora as the villain instead of Ranrok.

Which is a good segue into talking about the other points you mentioned. I've talked about this before as well, but yes. Ranrok was beyond wasted as a character. What you describe would have been perfect, and yeah, it would have mirrored the backstory. It seems so obvious. Ranrok deserved more development and deserved to be portrayed as someone the MC might sympathize with. He deserved an ending of his own, where the player can side with him. Never mind the political, real-life reasons for why this was essential, it's just a no-brainer in an open world RPG that would have you believe it has multiple endings. (It really doesn't...)

Oh and that reminds me, this game pretends it has two endings when really, it only has one. Yes, you can choose to harness the Ancient Magic rather than becoming a Keeper, but it changes nothing about the game's ending. Half of the players were already going to head-canon their MCs as doing that anyway. The Ancient Magic is such an intriguing concept but apart from being a map marker for The Fifth Year to discover new plot threads, we don't learn much about it at all.

Honestly, the most fascinating the Ancient Magic ever gets is when we're learning about it through Isidora. The scene where she removed her father's pain was genuinely chilling, and in that I saw the glimmer of a terrifying villain wielding magic we had never seen before. Isidora would have been the best kind of villain because she would have believed she was doing the right thing and would have had understandable reason why she believed it. What she could do to those who oppose her...what she did to the people she loved, and all because she wanted to help them...the power of Ancient Magic is frightening, in no small part because we know so little about it, but we could definitely have stood to learn a little bit more, especially as it's unlikely to be featured again. (Unless they make a sequel.)

I think above all, what this story needed was more nuance. Everything is way too black and white. There are hints of something more, but they get dropped almost immediately as they get brought up. Maybe that's why Sebastian's storyline is a fan-favorite. His dynamic with Ominis and where his story ultimately goes, not to mention the sympathetic reasons why it ends up where it does...and the actual impact The Fifth Year's choices can have on this story...yeah, the rest of the game could take note. Isidora isn't developed enough, and neither is Ranrok, when they could both be exceptional characters.

You want to know my favorite scene of the game, bar none? The scene where Lodgok opens up about meeting Miriam and his grief at her death. That. That is the kind of nuance I'm talking about, and combined with the scene's atmosphere and raw emotion...I teared up. I mean it. That was so powerful. I wish more of the Ranrok storyline was like that more of the time. Any story in the Potterverse that centers around a Goblin Rebellion cannot afford to be this black and white, and we all know why. But in general, it's just better storytelling if there are more shades of gray.

[the-magiarcheologist]

The Forgotten Witch

Let me tell you the tale of the Forgotten Witch.

Chapter 1: The Prophecy

First of all, do you know Sylvia Pembroke? She is a seer in one of the portraits in the Grand Staircase.

Throughout the game she makes different prophecies that foreshadow events in the game:

"Ancient secrets bring forth an age of magic with the rise of a new hero."

This one is about the whole plot of the game.

"I can sense someone close to you needs your help. Someone with the initial "S"."

That one is obviously about Sebastian.

"When what was lost has been found, the brother's betrayal will turn the tides of war."

That's when Lodgok finds the last of Bragbor's journal and tries to bring it to the MC. Ranrok discovers that he betrayed him, takes the journal and kills him. And by getting hold of the last journal this turns the tides of the war since Ranrok now knows where to find the last repository.

"When mentor and student collide a path must be chosen."

I think that one is about the final choice of the player, whether we follow the path of the Keepers and keep the repository closed and secret or we follow Isidora's path and try to use the ancient magic in the repository.

I think all of her prophecies can be explained by event in the game. And then there is this prophecy:

"When the forgotten one's true power is revealed bonds of trust will be broken."

And for this one, I couldn't think of a straighforward, obvious interpretation for it. And trying to find out who exactly this "forgotten one" is has lead me down quite the rabbit hole...

Now, the first thought is: the forgotten one must be Isidora. After all, all mentions and memories of her have been erased by the Keepers. What is her "true power" then? It could be her ability to rid people of their pain. And what about the bonds of trust that are broken? That's where it all starts to break down. The MC learns of Isidora's "true power" through the Keepers memories, there is no big revelation about Isidora that causes MC to loose trust in the Keepers or Fig or anyone else, really.

Someone on reddit had another interpretation. They believed the "bonds of trust" that were broken were between Rookwood and Ranrok. When Rookwood discovered what the repositories they were looking for really were (Isidora's "true power") and what Ranrok intended to use them for the fragile alliance between Rookwood and Ranrok shattered ("broken bonds of trust"). But rewatching the scene in the mine when Ranrok takes bragbor's last journal I think it's pretty clear that Rookwood realizes that his alliance with Ranrok is over the moment he understands that Ranrok has now found the location of the last repository. He realizes then that he has lost all of his usefullness to Ranrok and that the tentative partnership they had is over. Hence why he tries to kill Ranrok right after (before Ranrok can try to kill him). I don't think any "bonds of trust" are broken here because there was no trust to begin with and there is no revelation of a "true power". Rookwood already knew they were searching for repositories of ancient magic.

But thinking along the same lines, maybe the broken bonds of trust could be between Sebastian and MC when Sebastian realizes that Isidora could use ancient magic to cure people of their pain (the "true power" that is revealed) and yet MC refuses to ask the Keepers about that power or refuses to use it to cure Anne. But I think that is stretching it. Even though MC and Sebastian have a little fight about this I hardly think that you could say that "bonds of trust" are broken.

So maybe we should go right back to the beguining. Maybe the "forgotten one" is not Isidora but someone else entirely...

Chapter 2: The Statue

How do you go about discovering the identity of someone who was forgotten? You go search through the game files for clues of course!

And low and behold, there is an asset called "ForgottenStatue", could it be related to our "forgotten one"?

I think the name of this particular asset is quite significant. Usually any asset in the game is identified with a letter. There are plenty of assets called "SmallStatue_A", "SmallStatue_B", "WallPlaque_D", etc. Few assets are given actual names like this.

And besides, don't you recognize this statue? It's the statue that is standing in the alcove by the water in the transfiguration courtyard!

It's the statue that Prof. Ronen had us repair at the very beguining of the game after learning reparo. Prof. Ronen says this statue alledgedly represents heartbreak and that perhaps a jilted lover, seing it and finding it too accurate, could have lashed out and destroyed it. But maybe that is not the full story. Maybe there is another reason it was destroyed, perhaps so that no one could ever recognize this statue and find anything out about the witch it represents.

So here we have a statue of a forgotten witch. No one really knows for sure who she is, what the statue represents. Looking at the clothing that she is wearing, it seems that she is from really ancient times (could be ancient greece, could be ancient rome,...) and alledgedly she had her heart broken at some point.

Chapter 3: The Dagger

The statue is not the only thing I found in the game files. There is also a very interesting asset called "SM_Evil_ForgottenWitch_Dagger". Again, note how this asset has an actual name (as opposed to just "SM_Dagger_A") and also that it is even labelled as "Evil".

Sorry for the image being so dark but I really wanted to show how the rune on the dagger is glowing. From what I can understand by looking at other in-game assets, the glow we see on the rune means there will be some VFX applied to it in game. So obviously, the rune etched into the dagger is significant somehow. The dagger is also very ornate. And, because it is labelled as "Evil", we can deduce that it is some king of artifact used for dark magic.

The gives us some new information about our "forgotten one". First of all it seems that she is a witch (that is also consistent with the "Forgotten Statue" that is of a woman) and she practised the dark arts. Could this be what her "true power" is? Some secret form of dark magic?

For the longest time I thought that this dagger was just part of some cut content, that it was not used in the game. Until someone found this exact dagger in a the middle of a standing stone circle near Marunweem Lake!

They also identified the rune on it as Mannaz rune. It's an Elder Futhark rune meaning 'mankind'. Elder Furthar dates back to the first century which is coherent with the type of dress of the forgotten statue. These runes also apparently had deep spiritual significance. Mannaz represents humanity, community and cooperation. It could also represent intelligence, mind and memory.

I went and found the dagger in-game myself.

It's in the middle of standing stones on a flat circluar stone engraved with some weird symbols reminiscent of alchemy symbols. Also note the human skeleton that could hint at some dark ritual maybe involving a sacrifice.

I don't know if there are other places like this one elsewhere in Hogwarts Valley where we can also find the dagger. I have not found any yet but let me know if you have!

But there's more! In the game files, the asset for the dagger is found within the folder of props for "Sanctum_Dungeons". These are any dungeons related to ancient magic (like the keeper trials). So, how exactly is this dagger related to ancient magic and the Keepers?

Chapter 4: Ancient Magic

There is yet another place where the "ForgottenWitch" appreas within the game files. There are assets for stone columns used to build the environments for the ancient magic dungeons which are the Keeper trials, the place below the restricted section when we find the book and the cave we go to with Richard Jackdaw to find the missing pages and get access to the Map Chamber.

First there is a set of assets called "SM_SanctumDun_Column_Natural" which look like stone swirls.

Then there is a set of assets called "SM_SanctumDun_ColumnFlair_Forgotten_Witch" which look a little more ornate with some developped "spikes" (sort of looking like thorns on the stem of a rose) but still made of stone.

And lastly, there is a set of assets called "SM_SanctumDun_ColumnFlair_Keepers" that are even more ornate and detailed with spikes and some sort of tendrils. These columns also glow (again I believe indicating some VFX being applied to it). There are also some gold trims that can be added.

To me, this looks like some kind of evolution of art style or archetictural style over time. As the technique is developped over the centuries (from 'Natural stone' to the work of the Forgotten Witch in antiquity and to the work of the Keepers in the late middle ages), more and more ornate designs are made possible.

I believe the "Forgotten Witch" could wield ancient magic. Like we see the Keepers do, she used ancient magic back in antiquity to transfigure the world around her, build elaborate colums. But then she also used her ancient magic for some dark purpose. This is the "true power" that the profecy refers to. What about the bonds of trust that are broken, then? I believe the events of this particular prophecy have not happened yet. Someone (and lets be honest, it's probably the Keepers because they are the only ones who seem to know anything about ancient magic) knows about this Forgotten Witch and the dark magic she used but they kept that secret from the MC. And when this secret is finally revealed, uncovering a dark history of ancient magic, the bonds of trust between MC and the Keepers will be broken.

After all, Isidora herself, another forgotten witch, could have left us a warning when she wrote on the wall of the Undercroft: "Percival is hiding somehing".

[mad-world-of-meyrin]

Isidora Morganach

~ •●• ~

Here are some Isidora Morganach GIFs that I created from a YouTube video from @AMHarbinger.

She is a character who is too little considered in my opinion. What makes her an interesting person is that she's a villain who thinks she's doing good. She's not merciless like Ranrok, she wishes to help the wizarding world by eradicating sadness, and unfortunately meets a sad end.

You can also find some GIFs of Hogwarts Legacy in my fanfiction (where Isidora is present) We had it all, available on Wattpad in English and in French (Nous avions tout).

[girl-named-matty]

For those asking where Isidora wrote "Percival is hiding something." under the post made by @the-magiarcheologist, you can find it on the chalkboard in the Undercroft (see image below)

[simply-slytherin]

Guess who finally finished Sebastians quest and saw the last pensive memory. This gal. And let me tell you I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS AND THEORIES FRIENDS! LONG ramble & spoilers for HL below the read more.

Sebastian quest:

So first of all focusing on the Sebastian quest line Solomon was so out of pocket for trying to attack us while inferi we're attacking us?  Like excuse me sir are you actually just trying to kill us maybe let's take care of the undead before we start fighting?  Also this man was an auror right so like he should be able to easily disarm 2 students without having too completely fight us like he was.

Also the Slytherclaw in me was coming out because when he destroyed that artifact I got so mad that is history and like an archeological find and now it's lost to history because he destroyed it instead of responsible people studying it.

But I do have to say I feel like it was very obvious that he had some PTSD or a lot of his own issues that hes trying to figure out. So he clearly also wasn't dealing with the situation in a healthy way none of it was healthy or good.

I obviously did not turn in my main boy Sebastian absolutely not we are ride or die lol.

Main Quest:

The way I'm playing the Isadora and Sebastian crosslines are happening like simultaneously. So it's super easy to see the similarities and comparisons between the 2 about how Isadora and Sebastian are trying to help people but maybe it's not doing so in the right way. Obviously I think Sebastian is way more in the right than Isadora. Like originally when I was reading theories about Isadora I was totally kind of on her side but then when they started showing that she was practicing her magic on students....minors.... like literally 1st year Hogwarts students I was like OK now that's not cool.

Also like her dad being wiped off all emotion is definitely a step too far I believe there could be an importance for relieving pain when needed but pain is also there to help us learn and appreciate the good in life. Literally this is a Vampire Diaries moment do not turn off your humanity switch LMAO.

I just want to mention that because my MC is a girl San Bakar's comments to us about not feeling like we are trustworthy felt lowkey a little sexist just because we are the only other 5th year female to wield this power other than Niahm.

OKAY NOW FOR THE GAME THEORY:

At the moment of writing this I technically have not finished the full game but I know it happens,  But I remember people theorizing about a specific part that I just witnessed with Isadora and her death.

When San Bakar does the avidikidivi on Isadora and she x_x yknow.  We see these little traces of ancient magic leaving her into the repository. And I saw a lot of people theorizing that maybe this is her leaving some part of her behind and that there's something hidden there but I actually think a more likely theory is that the part of her that is leaving is used to somehow help set up her pensive so that the future ancient magic weilder can see her memories. So she basically set up a plan B.

What I also found really creepy was that as she is dying like being hit by the spell her eyes kind of go blank and she smiles falters and then falls whereas we have seen a lot of people will just instantly die. I have 2 theories on this one of them that is connected to her setting up the pensive is her knowing that everything is safe like her memories and her theories and that they'll be passed on but I also think that she has removed pain from herself to the point that she doesn't even feel the pain of the most powerful killing curse.

It's a little bit like death note lol where I think this dark use of ancient magic tainted her and changed her personality from her true self almost like a drug.  To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if she actually made horcruxes.

Anyways I was a lot of rambling but I do think that the Keepers are also a bit wrong for a just completely shutting this down instead of looking into it any responsible healthy way.

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk lol if anybody wants to theorize with me please hit me up I would love to chat!!!

[animasola86]

Isidora's Chamber in the Overlook Mine

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