#knights of the borrowed dark

[squimbusfrommypolls]

*Squimbus: character that never wins or makes it in poll competitions on Tumblr.com, typically from media that isn’t well known on tumblr but can just be a very obscure/unpopular character

[best-childhood-book]

[doyouknowthischaracter]

DO YOU KNOW THIS CHARACTER?

[doyouknowthisdisabledcharacter]

sorry to bug, but do you have any characters in the running from Knights of the Borrowed Dark?

Yes, Graham ‘Grey’ McCarron has been submitted.

[twofoursixohjuan]

knights of the borrowed dark books: having superpowers and joining a secret monster-hunting organisation sounds fun, right? but what about...

...the PTSD?

[shinie-evie-art]

Darcie Wright everyone!!!!

aka blorbo from book

[hdawg1995]

I vote that the DragonFable fandom and the Knights of the Borrowed Dark fandom become friends.

[denizenhardwick]

Theory: How Thralldom Works

AKA What Thralldom Even Is, How It’s Somehow More Disturbing Than I Previously Thought, Why Grey’s Hand Is The Way It Is, And How All Of This Connects Knights And Tenebrous.

Warning: This theory is extremely spoileriffic, majorly for Knights of the Borrowed Dark and minorly for The Forever Court. [Note: I wrote this in 2017, before The Endless King came out. It may be worth an update and further analysis in the future, as I still believe this theory and would like to examine it now that the series is completed.]

Intro

This is a really long theory. It covers a lot, it seeks to explain a lot, but it all stems from what we know about thralldom.

Thralldom has been a mystery since it was first introduced; not much about it has been explained, yet it brings up so many questions. How does it work? Why are the Three able to do it? What the heck is going on with Grey’s hand?

The Three talk about it extremely vaguely, and The Forever Court doesn’t give much information on it beyond confirming what was already implied. However, that lack of detail, plus how plot important it is in FoCo, leads me to believe that it’s a part of something bigger.

I think that the explanation for thralldom reveals something gamechanging about the KotBD universe.

No, I don’t think I know what that is. But I know what vein it’s in.

Basics

At it’s most simplistic, the theory is that thralldom is an adapted version of what the Man in the Waistcoat did to the Opening Boy, and exploits a Knight’s connection to the Tenebrae.

Theory, Elaboration, and Evidence

Knights have a connection to the Tenebrae, described as them being “born closer to the dark.” This connection lets the fire of the Tenebrae’s sun bloom in them, and likely is the reason they can see in the dark. Besides this, we don’t know what it entails.

The Opening Boy and the Woman in White both used to be independent Tenebrous, but as of the end of KotBD, they’re part of the Clockwork Three, which is one entity in three bodies.

The Woman in White and the Man in the Waistcoat became parts of the same being because they were together for so long. The Opening Boy, however, had something done to him that made him part of the Clockwork Three.

Tenebrous are malleable, and easily change/are forced to change.

When trying to get information from Director Ackerby, the Three torture it out of him, rather than fishing through his head or anything of that sort, though they claim that they can.

In chapter 16, the Three say, “I wouldn’t fight it, little Knight. Worming into the heads of mortals is a talent of ours. Of course, the process isn’t perfect, flesh being what it is.”

They’re talking about thralldom; mortals obviously refers to humans here.

There’s also the definite implication that they use this process--or something similar--on creatures not of flesh.

We don’t know all that much about thralldom, except that it’s the process by which the Three can enter someone’s mind and control them, as well and sift through and even manipulate their memories.

I propose that their thrall process was originally designed to be used on Tenebrous, and they adapted it for Knights.

They called it a “talent,” but every other time they’ve tried to enthrall a Knight, it’s ended in that person dying. This high mortality rate would be explained it what they’re doing was meant to work on Tenebrous, who live longer and are more adaptable than humans.

The Three don’t even try getting into Ackerby’s head, and he’s a normal human, although they do make him hear ticking.

The Opening Boy--who I think the process was used on--seems to be mostly under the control of the others, though he still has a bit of free will and helps Denizen free Mercy.

It works by exploiting a Knights’ connection to the Tenebrae.

Perhaps being born closer to the dark comes with certain Tenebrous traits. A bit of their malleability, maybe? After all, they’re changed by the Tenebrae’s sun. It manifests as a fire in their chests, giving them power, but also latching onto their anger and, most importantly, turning them to iron.

Thralldom was originally a process meant to completely fuse one Tenebrous to another, and it’s being used on humans with only a little of the kind of adaptability it requires. Thus, the Three can get into Knights’ heads, but not completely change them.

Grey’s hand was turning to clockwork, which looked like it was growing out of him. This hasn’t been explained at all yet in the series, but if thralldom rides on the Tenebrous traits Knights have, this change would make sense.

Clockwork is what connects the three Tenebrous in the Clockwork Three, so that’s what would manifest.

The Cost, which also changes a Knight, notably starts in their hands, then works along the rest of their body.

Basically...

This is all really mindblowing for me, and has been freaking me out ever since I first came up with the theory. It’s disturbing, but it makes a lot of sense to me, and explains a lot of the mysteries of the series. It covers what having a “connection to the Tenebrae” actually means; it covers the Cost; it covers the Clockwork Three; it covers thralldom, and it finally explains Grey’s hand.

I’m not sure how great a job I did explaining and justifying myself, but I’ve wanted to share this theory for months, so I hope it makes sense!

[shinieevie]

knights of the borrowed dark meme..but its a spoiler so under the cut it goes

[starship-prism]

Heyyy uh new cat

Well a not cat

Anyways it's name is Pick Up The Pieces

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[squimbusfrommypolls]

[npdclaraoswald]

So, I'm reading A Death in the Family in between customers at work, right? And one of my coworkers sees me and starts talking about what it was like reading it when it originally came out, so of course I was like "How old were you? Did you vote?" And he said he was a teenager but didn't vote and I was like "You could have saved him!" And he said "Oh, I would've voted to kill him." My baby bird??? You are cruel and heartless, Sean??? How can I work with you?

[impossible-rat-babies]

eyrie as a dragoon can mean so much to me without me having any way of explaining it

[twofoursixohjuan]

a quick try at Vivian Hardwick from KOTBD! not sure whether or not I like this design yet, but she does at least look appropriately badass