#when i said i was happy to hear kayne again i didn't mean this

[redundare]

malevolent theories and predictions too unhinged to post in the discord pt 1 (rampant spoilers for everything thru part 29)

i've seen this one around, but it's my favorite pet theory: Kayne is a christian entity. everyone's convinced he's the crawling chaos and that's far more likely, but hear me out: he chose the name Cain. at one point he mutters about a Lilith, another very important figure in christian lore. when John says "jesus fucking christ" Kayne snaps back "present and accounted for." he really wants John to take Arthur to the order of the fallen star, and what we know about the order is: it hides in plain sight (what's more plain sight than the church?) and Larson is a member. Larson, who met Collins in a confessional during Prelude. i'm just saying! (this is the only one that has any evidence btw the rest are just me vibing)

the reason Arthur is special is because he has the blood of an eldritch god in his lineage. we know that Amanda Cummings and Anna Stanczyk were pulled into the ritual because their blood was the blood that began the ritual to unleash Shub-Niggurath 600 years ago. so blood is canonically important, and we know absolutely zero about Arthur's family or heritage. plus, Kayne says anyone else would've died during the ritual, which means Arthur was a stronger vessel than a normal human. why is he able to hold onto his sanity so well, and why is he able to host john without dying? cuz he's a little eldritch himself???

even more unhinged: Arthur actually became the missing part of the king this whole time, and the voice in his head is just a way for him to cope. (the Trader saw two of them and had no reason to lie about that, so i don't believe this one's actually true, but it's fun to think about)

Arthur's parents: they were either into eldritch stuff, or they didn't kill themselves, they were murdered to push Arthur along his path

i don't think Kayne lies as much as people think he does; like most tricksters i think he has fun with the truth just as much as lies. for example, he says to Arthur, "No, you’re not caught, you’ll leave alive, and alone and and and… afraid." this is all true! Arthur does leave alive and alone and afraid. so i believe when he says, "John’s grown, he’s regretting, he’s a hero now. He’s gonna sacrifice himself for you, obviously" this is Harlan is directly foreshadowing endgame (or maybe just a season finale, and then Arthur has to go to the Dark World)

next season we're going to a different plane. Arthur and John are going to try to stop an Order ritual and get their asses sucked into Leng or R'lyeh or some shit (alternatively this will be the point where john sacrifices himself, and Arthur has to go after him, possibly with yellow in his head again cuz you know Larson's gonna be there)

OR it's Arthur who gets sucked into the other plane/goes away, and next season we get John and Yellow together sharing a body having to go save Arthur (this is less of a theory and more of a dream, god i'd be so happy if this happened)

the booth entity. at some point somewhere, harlan said this was "the patrons versus a malevolent entity." who the fuck is the booth entity, and is that the same malevolent entity we're up against? was harlan being metaphorical and meant he the DM is the malevolent entity? (would not be surprised; isn't that all DMs really?) but Kayne put such a fucking emphasis on choice, and Arthur's entire existential spiral that's been going on since part 11 about choice vs predestination has been one of the central themes of the whole narrative. will the 4th wall break down entirely between booth john, patrons, and the narrative?? logistically i'd say no since it's behind a paywall and how would you engage the free listeners with that content, but my heart says absolutely yes this is where we're going.