#wwdits s5 theories

[cinders-gh0st]

someone pointed out nandors last wish and the idea of him wantonly using it to turn guillermo back into a human and I CAN'T EVEN!!!

[ev-belknap]

More wwdits s5 theory talk following ep1-2

The documentary crew has changed tactics 👀 It used to be when Guillermo asked them for a moment of privacy, they’d back off. (And then they’d try the sneaky way). Now they kept actively pestering him to get to the bottom of the story. We also saw something we never ever saw before: pre-roll film. They gave us a conversation between Laszlo and Nandor while setting up for an interview!

So here’s my theory: the series is reaffirming to us that this is a story within a story. That it has unreliable narrators. There are things the housemates do not share with the film crew, and I think this time, it’s going to be something big they’ll try to keep off the cameras. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more sneaky footage in the future…

Also that moment where Guillermo alluded to the editing of all the good bits? The joke supposedly is that Nandor never did anything nice. Which is bullocks, I can think of plenty. However, If I was making that documentary, that would *not* be the place in the story where I’d be putting that montage in 👀

[barren-heart]

We already know the ending of What We Do In The Shadows the show. The movie told us.

Spoilers from both the movie (2014) and the show (2024)

I think it’s obvious when Taika and Jemaine set out to make an American version of their vampire comedy, they weaved a lot of the same storylines into the show. We have vampire roommates, werewolves (not swearwolves) , familiars, an ancient vampire, vampire hypnosis, and a camera crew.

All the same ideas exist from movie to show, just presented differently.

Guillermo, the familiar turned vampire hunter turned bodyguard turned vampire turned back to human, is a combination of the movie’s familiar and vampire Hunter roles. I believe he’s also the love interest, Katherine.

I think the show, while becoming it’s own thing entirely, has a deep connection to the movie. I think they’ve been trying to follow viago’s love interest storyline since the show switched hands from Taika and Jemaine to Paul Simms.

While probably not known to most, Paul was instrumental in bringing the show over to the States, having helped to fund it.

He was already in the world of Shadows, and while I haven’t agreed on the way he’s said things and some direction the show had taken (season 4 had some growing pains), I do believe he’s understood the heart of the show.

Which is why I think they took such a dramatic shift in season 4 to tell and show the audience that Nandor doesn’t want to just date, but to really have a life or afterlife partner. That season had two “coming outs”. Guillermo obviously coming out as gay, and Nandor coming out as pansexual before he was turned.

I think this distinction was really important to build their romantic dynamic. They wanted to show Nandor’s interest in Guillermo wasn’t attributed to just horny vampireness, but actual true love and affection for him.

And having Guillermo formally come out as gay was more than just the Freddie gag (or the purpose of Guillermo having a boyfriend so that Nandor sleeps with him causing Guillermo to get upset about it which encourages Guillermo to take vampire turning into his own hands, leading to the events in season 5), but to show the audience that Guillermo’s not just a hero worshipper of his boss. He could very well have a crush that could become something more.

And while Simms’ execution of Nandermo so far has not been executed perfectly, (mostly because I think his version of Shadows uses jokes to cover or masque serious moments whereas Jemaine’s comedy often highlights and exposes the truth about life in funny situations), I think Paul’s vision is headed in the right direction.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Guillermo has a far larger familiar role than the one in the movie. Storytelling wise, it’s expected that Guillermo’s ending will solve the lingering vampire question that was halfway resolved in season 5. Because the show is telling the audience, “Wait. There’s more.” There’s more change to be had. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that a part of Nandor’s arc is finding love. And part of his ending will have to be resolving this, as well.

And funny enough, Viago’s ending resolves both of these issues. He finds love with Katherine again and turns her into a vampire, but she got to have a full life first. There’s comedy there (he’s still older than her even though they don’t look it) but also there’s heart. She got to have a full life and agency of her own instead of being robbed of it.

I think Paul wants to set up this ending because it’s funny but also, to highlight his appreciation to the original. We expected from the jump that Nandor would turn Guillermo eventually and we can’t just have that without growth and change and conflict in between. It’s nice to get everything we want, but that’s not what sitcoms do. Sitcoms subvert expectations, and Paul is highly versed in sitcom structure. (Something that I think even Jemaine and Taika had to learn. )

Paul Simms’ isn’t just a writer in the room, he is a writer familiar (haha insert lame reference joke here) with the source material in a sitcom format. The movie wasn’t a sitcom. They could resolve Viago’s relationship because movies resolve arcs at the end of the movie.

Sitcoms don’t resolve anything at the end of an episode or even the end of a season. They resolve them at the end of the show. He knows Nandermo would end the show, because when characters get what they want (whatever their aspirations are) it completes the narrative. In sitcoms, the characters wants drive the purpose of the show.

And all good sitcoms don’t immediately give you (the audience) what you want until the end. And yes it can be frustrating, but when done right, the payoff is worth it. When the arcs are finished, the story ends. Even in sitcoms and comedy shows. So, Guillermo and Nandor being together and Nandor even eventually turning Guillermo, would have to be arc finishers. That would end the show. Which is why I think s6 is ending here, because the lead (Nandor) finished his arc.

Now whether that means Nandor will turn Guillermo on screen or not is yet to be seen. Maybe at some point down the road when Guillermo’s family is much older or have moved on from this earth and maybe when there is a new way to be a vampire without blood, Guillermo will be ready.

[jack-fruit]

I wonder if Guillermo will be able to use his telekinesis in the future to help him continue being a slayer. Can't touch wooden stakes or holy water? Just use your mind to fling them at your enemies!

[rosewaterraindrops]

What is a "Saratoga Split"?

This theory is such a reach that I debated even writing it down at all. But at the very least, it was a fun little history refresher! My theory: the “Saratoga Split” is a reference to the 1777 Battle of Saratoga from the American Revolution, and it’s foreshadowing either the rest of the household having to defend Guillermo against Nandor, or Guillermo choosing to leave Nandor. My reasoning is below. 

The “Saratoga Split” could be seen as a throwaway moment, but there are too many strange things about it that stand out. First of all, I looked up the Saratoga Split and I can’t find a single mention of it anywhere, so I’m not sure it’s even a real hairstyle. Second, Guillermo doesn’t know the answer, so Nandor says the name very slowly and deliberately, twice. Third, Guillermo fully turns away from Nandor here (see screenshot below), so that we can see both of their faces - this is not the most natural thing to do in conversation, and feels intentional. Whenever one of them is fully facing away from the other, some secrets are usually brewing (see: the sound machine scene in ep1 or “I let you live” from the s3 finale).

Nandor’s love of battles and military history has been well-established throughout the show, and was emphasized in the prior episode, S5E7 “Hybrid Creatures”. At the beginning of “The Roast”, Nandor tries to engage with Laszlo by asking him a question about the 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay, in which the British Royal Navy defeated the French Navy. Fast-forward to the “Saratoga Split” dialogue at the end. It’s said by Nandor, who a) canonically loves battles and b) already mentioned another battle earlier in the episode - a battle that is also from the 1700s and also involves the UK and France. 

Quick refresher on the Battle of Saratoga: it’s widely analyzed by historians as a turning point in the American Revolution, because the American forces managed to defeat the British forces, thereby raising morale and convincing France to form an alliance with them. This French alliance eventually helped them win the war. The American forces were victorious in the Battle of Saratoga partly thanks to the leadership of Benedict Arnold - who was wounded in battle and later switched to the British side because he felt unappreciated. His name literally means “traitor” in America, despite all of his contributions towards the revolutionary effort. 

The word “split” itself invokes division, rupture, separation, abandonment, etc. We know that Guillermo’s decision to be turned by Derek has already created an emotional divide between him and Nandor, whether or not Nandor knows the truth yet. We also know Guillermo is missing in S5E10, implying either a voluntary or involuntary separation, and the title of the episode is “Exit Interview”, implying someone leaving. 

Assuming this “Saratoga Split” reference is intentional, I think it’s a nod from the writers to the viewers, and can be interpreted in two different ways. 

1. It could be drawing a parallel between Guillermo getting the rest of the household on his side and America securing the French alliance. In this case, the “split” might refer to the fact that everyone has taken Guillermo’s side, leaving Nandor alone. The “alliance” between the rest of the vampires and Guillermo might end up being crucial in protecting Guillermo from Nandor’s anger when he finds out the truth about Guillermo's turning.  

2. It could be drawing a parallel between Guillermo and Benedict Arnold. Guillermo served Nandor faithfully for so many years but Nandor still refused to turn him, so he ended up going to Derek, and his actions have been described as a betrayal by multiple characters. Nadja even calls him a “traitor” in S5E5 “Local News” - yes, it’s for a different reason, but fits in with the overall theme. In this case, the “split” would refer to Guillermo possibly choosing to leave Nandor and the household, the way Benedict Arnold left the American forces. 

Anyway, time to pull myself out of this rabbit hole. 

[bottombaron]

so an episode where everyone almost dies but Laszlo? shit if that doesn’t feel like a classic mark of death to me.

[jaspe-r-ed]

Ok so im re watching wwdits, & im on s5e1 and something clicked when guillermo is joking w the vamps at his birthday dinner & nandir turns to him & says 'i will kill you' in reference to his 'what if dracula turned me' joke. Not would, will.

What if thsts at bit of foreshadowing? Remember when jenna died as one of the steps in her transformation? What if guillermos slayer genes are keeping him healthy enough so that the vampirism cant kill him & bring the next step of his turning?

What if nandor has to kill him to push him into the next step of his transformation?

👀 food for thought

[sphericalbee]

My theory on Nandor this season is that he knows Guillermo is a vampire- he's doing the whole "I know what you did" thing too often. ik he's a dumbass himbo but IT'S NOT AN ACCIDENT jksahfkjhakjgd

So, I think he's stressing Guillermo out on purpose. Of course he doesn't want either of them dead, but he's really pissed that Guillermo would betray him like this- so he's doing weird petty shit.

[imdayyydreaming]

what if nandor secretly made a wish that guillermo cannot be turned into a vampire by anyone other than him at some point in season 4? what if he realised that guillermo was technically no longer a familiar so was free to get turned by anyone, and decided he couldn't risk that happening. vampirism is a curse, etc, etc?

but the djinn, with their typical wishfuckery, found a loophole in the wording and made it so guillermo's transformation instead cannot be completed rather than begun.

and that's why we've not seen the djinn yet this season- they're trying to make us forget about the two wishes nandor should have had remaining, so that the eventual reveal packs more of a punch.

also this isn't necessarily as nandor is planning on turning him. more of a preventative measure against guillermo being turned and having no reason to stay so leaving him. maybe sometime after freddie left, with nandor realising he could lose guillermo too alongside everyone else and trying to ensure that couldn't happen.

and that way, they've both betrayed each other. guillermo has gone behind nandor's back and brought shame on him. nandor has taken yet another thing right from guillermo's grasp. first freddie, now vampirism.

holy shit what if freddie served as a warning of what nandor can take from guillermo using a djinn wish in this essay i will-

[dracumor]

The more I think bout how everything will play out once Nandor finds out about Guillermo, the more I think about the whole "the only reason you're alive is because of me" argument and I'm just so convinced that what will happen is Nandor is gonna ask Guillermo to kill him

[wow-its-me]

OK GUYS

I watched em’

And I have two main theories on what’s going on with Guillermo

1. Van Helsing stuff. My first thought while watching the episodes was that his vampire hunter dna/powers was fighting against the turn. This would probably follow up with an arc about his identity, and maybe him becoming a new type of vampire (as I assume no other van helsing has been turned) or it could be followed by an internal debate for Guillermo as he feels like he has to choose a side of himself (and like this whole show,,, it can be an allegory for queerness)

While I do think all of that is a piece of what’s going on… it’s not new. The whole Vampire vs. Van Helsing thing has being going on ever since Guillermo found out about his heritage. The internal struggle has largely been dealt with. (And so has the allegory with him coming out to his family)

So!

2. Nandor. I didn’t even really think about this until I heard a few other people mention it. The internal struggle comes from his own regret and guilt for not being turned by Nandor. He waited like twelve years for him and finally decided to stop waiting. But he didn’t stop wanting. He’s going to be subconsciously fighting off the turn until he can accept that it wasn’t Nandor that turned him. (and also their continued unresolved feelings)

Anyway all about him accepting himself

Apparently the next episodes about pride

[ev-belknap]

BATSHIT wwdits s5 theory time!!

Yes this is after watching ep 1 and 2 so scroll on if you haven’t seen.

The vampires were *really* fast to go ‘oh no being turned by someone else is forbidden actually’ and then Nandor doubling down hard. Then triple. … quaple? This rule seems very new and very convenient and just maybe made up on the spot 🤔

And then Laszlo was *really* fast to go ‘damnit Gizmo but I can fix this I’ll get Nandor to bite you’ like sir? That’s slightly out of character? What makes you so sure you can pull that?

… what if there was a plan to turn Guillermo afoot. And everyone was in on it. And Guillermo just ruined it 👀 I will be watching Laszlo like a Hawk.

[strawmaguchi]

Okay Wwdits 5.10 realization: the reason killing Derek did not kill Guillermo was because Guillermo had only been a vampire for a month so therefore he aged a month when Derek died. If the Baron was killed both Nadja and Laszlo would age the number of years they’ve been vampires and that would kill them because humans cannot be that old.

[megaawkwardhuman]

I've said it once and I'll say it over and over again

my personal definition of insanity is trying to make sense of details that were probably just overlooked in a show

with that being said here's my theory on the whole killing someone's sire = bad things and how can still be true

warning: I'm aware this is like 99% bullshit and prob doesn't make sense I'm just having fun and dealing with gay vampire withdraw by having a category 5 hyper fixation event

OK OK SOOOOO as we know nandor was able to kill derek without killing gullermo (all it did was make him human)

which makes no sense since not that long ago nandor was freaking out about the baron dying and back in season 3 he tried his darndest to make sure the sire didn't die so that all of vampire kind wouldn't die

now a common theory I see is that the main reason why killing those two would be bad while meanwhile killing derek wouldn't be as much is a matter of the person ageing the amount of time they spent as a vampire (as seen by guillermo growing a beard and longer hair when being made a human again) so if a vampire who lived past a human's life expectancy they would just die

and yeah I fully believe that

I mean it makes a lot of sense

but it wouldn't explain why killing the sire would kill ALL vampires

sure it'd kill vampirism but not the younger vampires themselves

this is where my bs theory comes in!

now despite being bitten a month ago guillermo was only by the looks of it (I'll get into what I mean later) a FULL vampire for not that long (as seen by his outfit not changing at all from finally drinking blood to the party to the fake ceremony)

sooooo what if when nandor killed derek it was in a small period of time where under specific circumstances it WAS possible to kill the vampire who turned guillermo?

let me explain

so to be a vampire you kinda have to be dead

but what exactly kills you? (if you die purely due to the bite)

back in season 1 what kills jenna is a fever induced by the vampire cells so most likely that's what normally kills you

or at least the process most likely takes a while to kill you

but what if it (the vampire cells) didn't kill him

you see as we know his van helsing blood has been fighting off the vampirism with all its might ever since he got turned by derek (which is why memo was a weird half vamp all season)

and when guillermo died it was for a very VERY short period of time

so what if his van helsing blood brought him fully back to life?

like memo was dead enough for long enough to jump start the processes power wise but due to the van helsing blood fighting back and bringing him back he was going through all of that while still alive

OR he did die but not fully

like I said before guillermo's death was surprisingly short

well what if instead of being brought back by van helsing blood what if it wasn't able to bring him fully back so instead made it so that he didn't die fully (which was the best it could do)

with that being said however I personally believe that if nandor waited until the next day it prob would have been too late

for you see I think drinking blood not only finished giving guillermo his powers I also think that it would have also led to the vampire cells realizing that guillermo either isn't dead or isn't fully dead

so IF guillermo said he wanted to stay a vampire OR if they waited any longer they couldn't have turned him human again by killing derek since he would have fully died by then

so with all of that being said I think under normal circumstances if you killed the vampire who turned you after being fully killed by vampire cells you die

but if you were brought back through other means or you kill them BEFORE you fully die you go back to how you were pre bite

now you're probably wondering WHY TF WOULD NANDOR KNOW ALL OF THIS!?!?

weeeeeeell remember the trip he promised guillermo back in season 3?

while I do believe he wanted to make turning him a trip to make him realize what he'd lose as a vampire

I also think that he probably did some research in the council library beforehand

so that IF guillermo still wanted to become a vampire

and guillermo learned the hard way that he couldn't handle being a vampire

well...

at least his last memories with guillermo would be nice before he "fixed guillermo's problem" if you catch my drift

tl;dr: normally killing the vampire who turned you would actually kill you but due to blood bullshit™️ and timing nandor was able to kill derek without killing guillermo and make him human again

also he knew this shit cause he looked into it before the trip he planned all the way back in season 3 as a plan if shit hits beyond the fan

[rosewaterraindrops]

Realized something about the WWDITS timeline:

-In the promo for S5E5, Nandor says they got to Staten Island in 1892.

-Laszlo was Jack the Ripper, who was active from 1888 to 1891.

So maybe they left London in 1892 so that Laszlo wouldn’t get caught!

[readnscreen]

Guess who finally caught up with what we do in the shadows!!!!??

Cork board time!

Derek says his transformation took 6 to 8 hours and he is a fully fledged vampire, which why did the vamps in the house decide to turn him?

Jenna's transformation took like a week right? Like it took longer and she fully died, the way the vamp slayers where convinced Derek died.

Jenna's bat form is fugly and she had some trouble mastering her abilities until she realized she had a special power.

Guillermo is getting only a vague blood craving, perfect vision and big ears- is the transformation plus Van Helsing instinct making him a better hunter via vampire transformation, will he be able to feed from vampires, Colin Robinson mentioned energy vampires where the only vampires that could feed on other vampires.

Again Jenna wasn't exactly sure what was happening when she was turned and was very anxious until she accepted the turn, kind of, so maybe it could be that it's taking a long time because he's nervous and not sure he wants to go through with it, because at the end of season 4 he tells the camera crew they can keep his closet so he didn't plan on coming back, but he backed out of his original plans.

Also the way the way all other familiars we've met talk about their relationships with their masters plus the way they where talking about turning Guillermo it's clear Nandor was never going to turn him so why is it suddenly a blight on Nandor's reputation that Guillermo got turned?? make that shit make sense, though it does imply that being a familiar is like an internship.