#lesson 17 NB

[str4wberri-mochi]

Drowning yourself in alcohol is not the healthiest way to deal with shit, it does not solve one’s problem at all but rather serves as a distraction with a price.

As a man who had seen the world change and grow right in front of his eyes, he knew emotions were a fleeting aspect of life and took quite pride at the fact of how well he managed his emotions.

But he felt a small void in his heart as he read your text 'Will stay at HOL 2night'.

It was humorous really, how the both of you managed to go three thousand years back in time, lived under the same roof and somehow- just somehow, the brothers still occupy the most of your time.

That just shows your bond with the brothers, doesn't it? And that's nice, he tries to convince himself.

Well since you're not coming tonight, might as well hit a bar right?

And now he's down under six shots, unable to walk straight, and probably red (though he can't tell). He feels a bit guilty, for coming to alcohol as a solution. But not because it crosses his morals- hah, as if he has those- it's because you scold him like a child whenever he drinks too much.

but it's alright, he'd take your scoldings as long as you're looking at him. How cute you look with that sternness in your eyes. He walked out of the bar, unsure why, but he did.

hm?

that's you.

cue a frown.

with satan.

"Hey MC!"

He exclaimed to his full ability while ignoring the demon you held hands with. It's fine he's not jealous.

Solomon isn't a jealous man.

~

[inhuman-obey-me]

Diavolo & The Loyalty Thing

Alrighty everyone, we're going to be blunt here -- if there is one character misunderstanding in this fandom that has always pissed us off (jk there are many actually), it is how people interpret Diavolo's deal with Lucifer after the war.

We know a lot of y'all don't like him because of that agreement. We know a lot of you think that Lucifer is magically bound to Diavolo's will because of it, as with a pact, and is unable to defy him. We know that many of you dislike Diavolo because you think he was taking advantage of Lucifer in that scene.

Well, the devs have made it plain time and time again and even more so in Nightbringer: that is not the case.

You are wrong, and here's why. (Or, to put it more nicely, please let us convince you otherwise.)

(spoilers including Nightbringer Lesson 17 below the cut)

Let's start by reviewing the situation from Lucifer's side:

Lucifer, a guest to the Devildom many times before in a diplomatic coordination context, has just led, and subsequently lost, a civil war in the Celestial Realm. The catalyst that pushed him to start this war was the impending punishment declared against his sister, Lilith. Seeing that sister get fatally wounded in said war, he flies down after her falling body, where both of them land in the Devildom.

Diavolo then shows up with Barbatos, presumably because they, you know, saw two war-wounded angels falling from the sky into his domain. Lucifer turns to Diavolo and starts shouting that he knows the prince has the power to save his sister -- and pleads with him to do exactly that.

Diavolo makes a point of telling Lucifer that it may not be in the way he expects or wants, but he agrees to do it on the condition that Lucifer swears loyalty to him. Barbatos attempts to interject against the idea, to which Diavolo responds that he's aware already that this is a big risk for him. Lucifer, upon realizing that he is becoming a demon himself as a consequence of the war, agrees to Diavolo's terms.

(OG Scene on left, Nightbringer scene on right)

Diavolo then takes Lilith before she dies and reincarnates her as a human. This then remains a secret between the three of them from that moment all the way until the events of OG Lesson 15, when Lucifer finally confesses the whole thing to his brothers in the first timeline, and then OG Lesson 16, when MC reveals it (in the second timeline).

So to recap: Lucifer started a war with Lilith's punishment as the catalyst, lost, showed up in the Devildom, and then demanded the prince of that realm save his sister from essentially the same punishment he was fighting against in the first place.

To be clear about Diavolo and Lucifer's relationship at this point, they had been communicating about diplomatic affairs, as a governmental head and a top representative respectively. They are friendly, but not close friends yet. They are not allies in this war. Diavolo is not involved at all in the Great Celestial War or the situation with Lilith. And with this rebellion, Lucifer no longer holds that diplomatic status -- in fact, as mentioned in Nightbringer Lesson 8, the brothers were essentially war criminals in the eyes of the Celestial Realm, with Lucifer as the leader.

Moreover, Diavolo's goal as prince is that he wants to establish peace and cooperation between the Devildom and the Celestial Realm. These two realms were enemies for the vast majority of history, and although there is a nonaggression agreement between them currently, it's a tense sort of truce, not true peace.

Helping Lucifer defy the Celestial Realm is in direct opposition to that goal. Taking in the brothers at all is pretty risky in terms of that goal, as Barbatos makes clear above, but there's at least a sort of implication that it is the Demon Prince's business what to do with new demons. Interfering in the Celestial Realm's punishment of one of its angels though? Well, Asmodeus and Leviathan understand right away when they learned the truth from Lucifer back in OG Lesson 15.

There was a very real risk of pissing off the Celestial Realm that he had to calculate against here, and it's a risk that threatens not only him but everything that matters to him most -- his realm, which is a responsibility he takes very seriously, and his goals, for peace between the realms.

And then there's Diavolo's own precarious political situation.

Though Nightbringer retcons this a bit with Diavolo's father falling into a slumber and leaving the realm to Diavolo more suddenly, the original OM actually established that Diavolo was in charge before the fall, with the Demon King going off to sleep shortly after giving the brothers' their titles. And Nightbringer has shown that his position as the de facto leader of the realm is very much in question.

The nobles of the House of Lords are very blatantly unhappy about Diavolo and his goals, especially in regards to the now-fallen angels. Really, the whole realm doesn't really approve of angels -- they've made a clear point of it in NB, and even well into OG's main story, approval ratings for the exchange program are mentioned as being better but still pretty low, with various references to demons threatening to eat the angels.

But more to the point, the House of Lords has power over Diavolo. Though he is the rightful heir to the throne in terms of birth, they are able to challenge that right, and they even choose when he will be allowed to ascend to the throne -- something which, even in the distant future of OG, they still have apparently never allowed him to do, seeing as he's still not the king even after all this time. And just between his goals for peace and his taking in the fallen angels, they already maneuvered to punish him with suddenly demanding he go through the Kingsblood Crucible to potentially prevent him from ever becoming king. And as Diavolo says, even if he passes, they could still decide against appointing him king.

Now imagine if they found out that he risked the safety of the entire realm to help save a dying angel. If they knew that, they probably wouldn't stop at just challenging his fitness to rule.

So, to be clear, when Lucifer showed up with Lilith, yelling at Diavolo to save her? Diavolo was NOT free to just do whatever he pleases. When he said he's taking a big risk by helping Lilith, he really was. There were so many reasons why he shouldn't, and no real reason why he should -- but Lucifer was begging him to do it anyway. So, he needed something in return. Some kind of reassurance, some kind of protection in the potential consequences.

And there certainly are consequences for helping Lucifer. Even with the Lilith deal being a secret, there are consequences. We saw that already with the House of Lords' increased animosity -- as said above, he was nearly removed from power over it. And as for the Celestial Realm?

Well, that brings us to the end of Nightbringer Lesson 17, where Raphael comes bearing a message from the Celestial Realm -- or, more aptly, a threat.

(We could go into a whole thing about why the Celestial Realm is threatening this but that's for another time)

So, here we are, at the very dangerous crossroads that Diavolo finds himself at now in Nightbringer -- the Celestial Realm coming into his domain with blatant threats of war, while the nobles of his own realm just tried to remove him from power. Threats that are being made against him over helping Lucifer and the brothers. And that's without any of them knowing about Lilith, which would only make all sides even angrier.

You know what he could really use, amidst all those threats? An ally. Someone he could depend on to have his back. Someone he could rely on to be unequivocally on his side, in that very precarious balance of powers.

So that's what he asked for -- loyalty. For all that he was putting on the line for Lucifer's request, he asked for Lucifer to stand by him in turn. What he asked was simply this: "Don't stab me in the back. Don't leave me to deal with the consequences alone. If I'm going to help you, promise me you will be there for me too."

P.S. Lucifer himself has said he agrees with Diavolo's goals. Talking with Diavolo about the peace and cooperation plan was a huge part of why he started having doubts about the Celestial Realm! He was not being asked to do anything he disagreed with; Diavolo knew Lucifer feels the same about his goals as he does. Lucifer takes the loyalty thing too far in OG Season 1, but it was never the only reason for him supporting Diavolo!

[soli-nepenthe]

If MC is the exception and not the rule, as forging pacts are concerned, it's no surprise in his long-lived dealings with demons he has to be strategic (because it is highly doubtful vice-versa that demons would give you a fair deal, otherwise why the need to be cunning?)

Solomon is no proverbial "white knight" (funnily enough, I think Mammon, out of all the brothers, fits that definition despite his "scummy" behaviors. And the brothers make frequent mention that they find Sol in the OG to be demon-like, not trustworthy as a human...) and we get to see that ugly human side in his moment of in vino veritas...

In the OG game (minus Mammon and possibly Beel) MC is aware of how dangerous life in the Devildom can be with their life threatened at certain points (and esp Lesson 16) and only after plot and character developments are made, MC finds out that the brothers are human-like in tendencies and feelings, but still very much demons.

People can decide whether or not to like Solomon, but going back to point # 1, not all denizens of the Devildom will play fair, and you do need to have a strategy to survive. In this case, Solomon's strategy is motivated on the basis of fighting/protecting the human realm from two supernatural realms.

tldr, love him or hate him, he's not perfect "good guy" material, but Solomon's actions make sense given the context with demons. And just a tiny reminder that when he didn't know it was Asmo, he did show a measure of concern advising him to stop drinking any further and to go home.

Edit: Something more to consider:

These pacts are give-and-take contracts for both parties and have to be carefully/wisely negotiated/approached given the uneven power balance (with somebody coming out on top and the other more or less subservient to the "master"). So, it makes you wonder what were the high costs were for Sol in getting his 72 pacts? His soul???

In the case of the unexpected encounter with Asmo, it had to be one of the easier won pacts since he started (again, with his motivations for what he does at the forefront).

[rashomonss]

sir you’re making it harder for me to want to go back to my present satan ( ;´ - `;)

also nightbringer lesson 17 spoilers

i was absolutely flabbergasted after what Raphael said like…damn Σ(°△° ꪱꪱꪱ)

[acaribeau]

I just love this two...

[Spoilers for Extra lesson 17]

The loyalty all of them have towards Lucifer... It's astonishing...

Beel went to tell Luci about the banshee but

Mammon, being the second responsable for them, the closest to Lucifer, did it first. Probably even before they begun to clean the office.

And when Lucifer saw Beel in this state of constant guilt and sadness and fear...

He just broke the record and distracted him with an old memory.

And later, he petted him and consoled him like a little puppy, repeating him over and over again that that wasn't his fault

Beel is so devoted to Lucifer in heart and soul, and Lucifer cares for him so much💕

[louisfruit]

To be fair I like that the fandom talks about morally questionable things the characters do. I remember playing mystic messenger and getting upset at creepy things the characters would say or do and see absolutely no one in the fandom bothered by it and I hated that

[twiceasfrustrating]

Everyone shut up. I was watching the 2023 anniversary video for Fate Grand Order for the 100th time and had to sob about Merlin (FGO) and Solomon (Obey Me). Just like, the massive amount of parallels between them made me cry.

Merlin is beyond humanity, has watched over it, seen the blessings of it and the absolute tragedy of it, but he still chooses to protect humanity and proper human history over and over again. He will choose humanity every time, no matter how many mistakes we make.

And then there is Solomon; immortal and powerful. He will also choose humanity every time. No matter what, he will choose humanity and to side with humans, no matter what.

And I just... I had a MOMENT and I have not been okay since it clicked.

[bbnibini]

I wonder if it's a design choice or the devs themselves can't make up their mind, but why did Solomon's eye colour "change" in NB? The chibi sprites in the OG show his eyes are shades of grey to brown/almost gold-bronze.

The NB chibi sprite shows his eyes to be dark blue and brownish-gold.

Don't even get me started with the cards and merch that can't make up his effing eye colour

To my Solobesties (I'm calling Solomon stans this now. I think we formed a strange kinship after lesson 17 even if we never interact lmao), especially artist solobesties, hats off to you and your service to the community.

My personal HC is kinda a spoiler for uhhhh something I'm writing, but here it is:

"It's just…your eyes are like you: I can't figure them out." "MC, I-" "No! No! Solomon, I'm sorry! No…it's not like that, I promise! Look at me, won't you? Please look at me." So he did. His eyes trembled as he met with yours. How could he have hidden this part of himself for this long? How could you not notice? How could you forget? How could Father be so cruel to him and you for simply existing? You traced the corner of his lips with your thumb as you held him by the cheek. He was leaning onto your right hand, unable to maintain his gaze. He was surprisingly bashful. Adorably shy without his facades. But he looked like he would crumble even with a gentle word so you did not say anything. He looked at you expectantly, then looked away as your gaze burned onto him for too long and muttered, "You can't figure me out?"in almost a whisper, after a long-drawn out silence, weighing in his words, watching your expressions and body language. Afraid, so deathly afraid. You smiled. "It's like I'm looking at a mirror. Sometimes it's silver, sometimes it's midnight. When you look at the world around you and then look back at me, I feel like you've captured the sky and the oceans in your eyes. It's beautiful." His face was red all over, even to the tips of his ears. It was such a shame. You haven't even said everything you wanted to say to him yet. That he was the moon and the stars to your daytime; gold and silver gazes, looking after you from afar in the many branches of realities he couldn't be as honest with you as he was now. Ah. What will you do without him now? How can you give this up after remembering everything? You knew it was selfish, but you love him. Both of him. Every part of him just as much as he loved you and every part of you that existed. But now, you had to say goodbye. Again. How truly unfair.

[melverie]

⸺ LESSON 1 ⸺

unregistered

Solomon

Solomon & Barbatos

MC's magic

situation in the Devildom

demons & angels (& humans)

strange feelings & soup

misc

- lesson 2 || all posts so far -

1. As you might have seen, I'm trying to connect some plot points atm and have decided to just go through the lessons again in hopes of untangling this mess. Depending on my motivation I might do this for all 40 lessons All of them will be tagged under #mel's descend into madness because that's honestly what it feels like lol 2. This is a mix of gathering facts from the game as well as me trying to make sense of everything. I'll add the lesson references to all things actually stated in the game. That being said, I'll only add them to moments that happen in lesson 1 since that's less work for me lol 3. I'd love to hear your thoughts!! Add stuff, dispute some of my points, theorize, bring up story points that don't make add up to you--idc what it is but I'd love to hear it all!! Either share it directly on here or send me an ask if you'd rather share them as anon 4. General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me

⸺ UNREGISTERED ⸺

most likely Nightbringer, so I'll just call him that -> 'Nightbringer' fits into the amount of characters in their name, and just like the unregistered number, NB later in the story talks about taking MC to a place where they will be happy [1-1//chat 'Untitled' with Unregistered; both pics below]

Fun fact: "lightbringer" (aka the meaning of Lucifer's name) also fits :)

NB knows MC's name because they told him recently from NB's perspective, and a long time ago from MC's perspective [1-1//chat 'Untitled' with Unregistered]

Nightbringer talks about how nothing remains hidden from him and that they see everything (-> Barbatos, Michael, Father?) [1-1//chat 'Untitled' with Unregistered]

this is how NB describes how he sees time [1-1//chat 'Untitled' with Unregistered; pic below]. It's similar to how Solomon claims Barbatos once described time to him

⸺ SOLOMON ⸺

definitely Solomon and not some imposter because his cooking is still the same inedible mess we know him for 💖 [1-17]

he's casting some spell when MC calls him and claims it's for jumping through spacetime [phone call 'Untitled' with Solomon] -> at the very least it doesn't have anything to do with influencing the memories of the others because they already didn't remember MC before their phone call

Solomon is the one who tells us we are in the past [1-12]. I have no reason to doubt him there -> he also says that MC "just disappeared" [1-12]. No mention of anyone's reaction to this though

Solomon is also the one that tells us that we need to reforge our pacts with the brothers if we want to make it back to the [1-12; pic below]

⸺ SOLOMON & BARBATOS ⸺

had (OG) Barbatos lend him his power to come to the past [1-12]

when choosing the option that implies that MC and Solomon are dating, Diavolo response with this [1-9; pic below]. That doesn't sound like there's any bad blood between them yet, at least not from Diavolo's point of view which, in turn, makes Barbatos' behavior toward Solomon so much stranger

⸺ MC'S MAGIC ⸺

Solomon explains that MC's magic is much weaker because their pacts with the brothers aren't functioning properly since they are in the past [1-12] -> the OG already established that MC's magic is tied to their pacts with the brothers (OG's season 2 plot literally revolved around that), so it makes sense -> since they need magic to return to the present, MC is essentially trapped in the past [1-12]

MC isn't able to use the pacts at all at first [1-2, non-amnesia route], however the pacts aren't completely severed as evidenced by MC being able to use the 'Stay!' command [1-5] -> once overcome by a warm light inside them, MC is able to use the pact commands again [1-5]. Imo it somewhat plays out similarly to MC being revived during the lesson 16 incident in the OG (which was Lilith's doing)

something about Solomon's reaction to being told MC used stay bothers me. Idk what though. Then again, maybe he was just worried about MC's safety, so it could also just be nothing [1-9; pic below]

⸺ SITUATION IN THE DEVILDOM ⸺

the Great Celestial War was about a year ago [1-2] -> Mammon mentiond that it felt more like a century to him [1-14; pic below]. Probably nothing but I'm critical of every little detail at this point lol

the demon king is already out of commission, but he was still around to give the brothers their titles as avatars [1-5]

the brothers' arrival threw the Devildom in disarray [1-7]

⸺ DEMONS & ANGELS (& HUMANS) ⸺

both Asmodeus and Diavolo talk about how angels and demons technically aren't enemies anymore, yet both parties are still clinging to what happened in the past [Asmo in 1-15, Dia in 1-18; both pics below]

Diavolo says that the goal of building the school is to bring the Devildom and the Celestial Realm closer together. He generally talks about just the "two realms", completely leaving the humans out of all this [1-18; pic below]

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

Diavolo says that he feels like he and MC already share a strong bond [1-18; pic below]

Lucifer indirectly expresses his concern for MC, and is honest about his feelings and worries with them (only to immediately downplay it and snap at MC, thanks Luci 💖) [lesson 1 hard mode]

⸺ MISC ⸺

the House of Lamentation has just been rebuilt in the Devildom. They also once again tell the story of what happened in that house when it was still in the human world and say that it might be cursed [1-7]. Not really all that relevant tbh

Diavolo first talks about building a school [1-17]. RIP 'The Glory Days' devilgram ;-;

Lucifer says that he doesn't trust demons [1-18; pic below]. Will be slightly relevant again in lesson 12 iirc

[journey-to-the-attic]

-> jtta 3rd anniversary request event - masterlist (complete!)

#3rd anni event tag / ao3 link

1. lucifer / night dagger scene from om s2 during lucifer's amnesia arc

2. [dragon au] mammon / first encounter dragon mammon finds runaway human ik, recently accused of witchcraft, in the forest

3. [hsr au] dan heng, bailu / vidyadhara family bailu and ik comfort dh in the aftermath of the luofu story

4. [rpg au] solomon / past life solomon remembers who he used to be

5. asmo, beel / photos after ik departs the devildom, asmo and beel discover something she left behind

6. belphie, astaroth / stellar confession belphie contemplates his feelings about the guy he can't stop thinking about

7. mammon / rain + hug mammon tries to help a catatonic ik in the aftermath of the attack in the underground tomb

8. [infernal friends] diavolo, barbatos / bullies little ik is dealing with some unpleasant peers at school

9. [dragon au] lucifer / bonding dragon lucifer begrudgingly cares for the human mammon brought home

10. luke, raphael / chocolate luke acts oddly (and raphael acts even odder) for a day

11. [nightbringer] belphie, lucifer / deep sleep scene from nb lesson 12 - except ik can still communicate from within the coma

12. [infernal friends] asmo, simeon, luke / trick-or-treat simeon takes luke on a trip to the human world and runs into a familiar face

13. satan, lucifer / sick some time after the exchange year, lucifer brings a poorly ik back home to the house of lamentation to recover

14. mammon, belphie / nap ik needs some sleep

15. levi / games ik and levi cause some mischief in among us

16. lucifer, dad, aunt / home visits lucifer shows up in the human world and finally meets aunt lisa

17. [dragon au] twins, newspaper club / rescuers ik and the twins save some unfortunate travellers from the royal huntsmen

18. [dad in the devildom] lucifer / lost child early in the exchange year, lucifer inadvertently rescues two-year-old ik and becomes her biggest hero

19. [infernal friends] barbatos / tea party barbatos gets summoned for the first time by diavolo's new human friend

20. [spiderkid] brothers / the exchange student's a spider! the brothers (except satan, who already knew) learn about the new human's decidedly not-human powers

21. [dad in the devildom] levi, satan, beel / babysitting lucifer and zhao are out, and these three are the only ones home to take care of little ik

22. [it takes two] diavolo, mammon / on fathers ik, diavolo and mammon sort-of vent to each other about their various issues with their fathers

23. [symbiote host] mephisto / unexpected meeting mephisto meets the mysterious fourth exchange student on her first day at the rad

24. luke / outing the kids have a little afternoon tea date!

25. [symbiote host] asmo / shopping trips asmo has difficulties trying to buy ik nice things

26. brothers / paws n' claws one of solomon's secret potion has given everyone animal features! extra long and extra cute, since it's the finale!

[26/26]

[inhuman-obey-me]

what do you think happens when a human gives a demon their soul in exchange for a pact?? would it give that demon all the wisdom? powers of the human??

From what we've seen in the game, honestly it basically mostly comes down to like...wanting human souls because demons find them shiny and attractive. And tasty? Also tasty.

However, it seems that's basically the extent of it, in terms of what demons get from human souls themselves.

(spoilers for Nightbringer below the cut)

When it comes to potentially receiving things like wisdom and power from humans, you have to remember that demons (and angels, for that matter) don't actually really...think quite so highly of humans?

Compared to demons and angels, humans are essentially considered weak beings to be guided or influenced by one side or the other -- a point that has been especially emphasized in Nightbringer.

Let's use Solomon as an example -- a human that has both power and wisdom. In fact, he has been outright known as the names "Solomon the Wise" and the "Witty Sorcerer" in OM canon, and he is the most powerful sorcerer ever to exist, in terms of power as a human. And even for all that, that's only barely enough to make Lucifer have to actually put a little bit of effort into warding him off. Lucifer has made clear more than once that, if he actually cared more, Solomon would absolutely be no match for him.

Now, to be fair, Solomon does have 72 pacts -- but none of those pacts have actually been confirmed in-game to be for his soul. We know that Asmo was just sort of drunkenly manipulated into making a pact, and Barbatos mentions in the "Tea Time With You" Devilgram that his pact with Solomon is actually about atonement. Which, by the way, is a super juicy tidbit for them to have dropped in a Devilgram and we desperately want to know more about that?? When he makes a pact with Asmo a second time in Nightbringer, that also involves no promises of his soul. And, more generally, Solomon argues in NB Lesson 17 that most pact-making usually involves having to manipulate or outsmart demons -- though, we also know from Thirteen that his soul is amazingly shiny, and that's why she also wants it.

Now, that's Solomon, who is a special case in terms of both power and wisdom. And rather than coveting those things from him, the demons of the cast treat him more like either a nuisance or a threat. Meanwhile, power is actually the reason Solomon makes the pacts -- because the pacts give him power, not the other way around.

Then consider that the average human is not Solomon, but more like MC was at the very beginning of OM -- no magic, no power, not known for any special wisdom or anything. They, and their souls, are not typically meaningfully powerful or wise to demons, who themselves are way more powerful and cleverer than anything they could get from a human. So, as with the screenshot from Lucifer earlier, it would seem it really just comes to being like a shiny gem, something demons want to collect -- either to simply own their soul for eternity or to consume it as a delicacy.

There is a way that demons can get a taste of power from humans in a pact, though, and that is when the human draws it out of them while under a pact. This is what MC did with Asmodeus when Solomon lent them his power back in OG Lesson 8, which was so fascinating to Asmo that he actually freely decided to make the pact with MC, just so he'd have more opportunities in the future to experience that power again.

Rather than being power that the demon receives as part of a human's soul, that seems to be a two-way street, since Solomon also references having Barbatos lend him his power in NB Lesson 1 in order to go back in time to where MC was sent. But in terms of power from humans? It's while they have the pact with the human alive that it matters.

tl;dr -- Demons want to collect human souls because they're shiny and tasty. Humans want pacts for power.

[astaroth1357]

My reaction to Solomon in NB Lesson 17:

Oh sweetie... that is so embarrassing.... We ain't even that close, bruh...

[jackalopesao3]

🪼 Michael 🪼

Remember my theory on Michael/Celestial Realm being the antagonist(s)?

About Michael’s goal being to find a way to get the brothers back to the CR?

Here are the links to my previous theories:

Well I’ll be damned! Lesson 17 dropped a bombshell that puts some credence to these theories. Spoilers/screens below the cut!

Michael, you…you fucking jellyfish!

I highly suspect Michael is behind MC’s trip to the past. I’ve theorized before that even if he is not NB, he could have called upon Solomon to use his pact with Barbatos or Michael could have even done it himself since he does have some time travel capabilities.

The only reason I think maybe he made Solomon do something is because he did give him the Ring of Wisdom. He likely can utilize whatever agreement he has with Sol to make Sol do something like that. In religious texts, when Solomon pissed Abrahamic God off, Michael allowed Solomon to lose his ring and let Asmodeus yeet him to the ocean. Solomon likely wouldn’t deny a request from Michael after that happened given his dislike of the ocean.

There’s also a possibility that Michael is simply aware of the timeline getting skewed and is taking advantage or that he was planning this in the OG timeline so now he has a better opportunity.

So Yandere!Michael? “If I can’t have the brothers back, no one can have them!” Because that is yandere behavior right there. Though let’s be real, he probably just wants Lucifer back. We all know about his creepy Lucifer shrine.

Let me bring up some facts that lead me to believe Michael could be NB:

1. Nightbringer is preceded by the sound of trumpets. Trumpets are associated with angels, not demons.

2. Nightbringer accepted the human’s offer to pray to him in return for helping them. Demons do pacts. Humans are more likely to pray to angels. Humans have prayed to Michael for protection.

3. Michael goes by a few different names in some transcripts. Metatron is one which is similar to the Lucifer/Satan debate where the names are sometimes interchangeable or they’re two separate beings.

4. Michael has an elusive way of talking which NB also has.

5. Michael sent MC back to the future when Solomon’s cooking had sent them to pre Celestial War days.

6. Michael has motive. He wants to change the past to get the brothers back.

7. MC yells at NB to show themselves. MC doesn’t recognize their voice. MC has only spoken with Michael a few times so they prob wouldn’t recognize his voice. (NB could disguise their voice so take this one as you see fit.)

8. If this truly is the past, why is Michael suddenly doing things differently? What changed the timeline that could make him act this way…probably nothing unless he is fully aware of the timeline change or caused it himself.

There are other reasons too and I do have a table made up with characters and tallies for possible NB identities and Michael was one of the top contenders. If I can find a way to screen it and upload it via mobile I will post it soon.

I may also add to this post later because wow. That bombshell. I had a feeling but at the same time I’m still shook Solmare went with it.

[acaribeau]

I just love revealing myself as a time traveler and forcing Barbs and Sol to just fucking gaslight everyone 💕

[scarlett-vixen]

Watching y’all get to play the newest lesson in NB while I’m still stuck in lesson 17 because my cards are too low really is the equivalent of the Eric Andre meme at the cat or a very chonky cat who got locked out of the house and is DESPERATELY scratching at the door for mother to let him back in because he may never eat again. PLZ I WANT TO JOIN LET ME IIIIIINNNNN

[twiceasfrustrating]

I have not played the newest lesson yet, but why is everyone talking about Solomon? Like, the dubious nature of their pact was stated in the og Obey Me (as told by Asmo himself) and earlier in NB by Solomon and no one said a thing back then as far as I can recall. What did lesson 17 do that people are suddenly going off about it?