#you cannot introduce a prophecy which involves reincarnated cats

[the-owl-tree]

regarding various ideas thatve been discussed here, my vision is like 

After the whole “seriously considered murdering him” bit in sunset, Firestar demoted Brambleclaw and made Brackenfur deputy. Cardboard cutout of a man 

Initially Jay is brightheart’s apprentice, Holly is Leafpool’s, lion is brackenfur’s 

In a battle that makes Jay and Holly change their minds (for Jayfeather I feel like I would want him to have some kind of arc about internalised ableism,, like he has to learn a nuanced lesson about how he doesn’t need to be productive by the standards of clan culture and it’s okay for him to acknowledge his limits and choose a different path, but also his clanmates should allow him to define his limits and not treat him like he’s made of glass. I digress) - in the battle where Holly and Jay change their minds, Brackenfur Freaking Dies and only now is bramble deputy. I think I’d want firestar to die earlier too so we can get shitty bramblestar + the most depressed squilf you’ve ever seen

Now we’ve got Jay as Leafpool’s apprentice, Holly as ashfur’s, and lion as brightheart’s because man I always felt bad she never got an apprentice again 

and with this setup I would want basically everything to be significantly more fucked up. Ashfur exacerbates Hollyleaf’s fixation on the code and power (foreshadowing tbc??), I’d want Lionblaze to like, accidentally hurt somebody really badly in training and have to grapple with feeling like a monster more. Maybe instead of Cinderheart falling out of a tree, Lionblaze accidentally injures her 

Speaking of cinderheart I want her to do some of the stuff poppyfrost does I love poppyfrost but having cinderheart narrowly escape death and feel strangely drawn towards the moonpool would be a lot more fun - I think I’d frame her being cinderpelt as something that was either accidental, or intentional but StarClan was in the wrong for not letting cinderpelt rest because I really resent the idea that cinderpelt needed a second chance at life as if the life she lived after becoming disabled wasn’t a good and worthwhile one 

So yeah cinderheart is possessed by a restless ghost, lionblaze can’t stop hurting people no matter how hard he tries, hollyleaf is just regular hollyleaf but more, jayfeather… I dunno maybe make StarClan genuinely scared of him because of how much his power allows him to defy them. Maybe he feels detached from himself and is almost constantly dissociating because he spends so much time walking in dreams and other peoples minds. I don’t know I don’t like jayfeather 

ALL THIS. And then have your thing about dove and ivy being cinderholly kits also be true do you see my vision do you understand . I am so sorry about the length of this I got carried away

I AM EATING ALL OF THIS UP BIG YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i always wished jaypaw's first battle with shadowclan was what got him to change, like it's this big awakening to what clan culture is really like. he gets the shit kicked out of him and he's like "wow. this sucks. why is everyone making this sound so great"

and big big BIG yes with cinderheart, i feel she deserved some better meat than what po3 and oots was throwing her. these are lovely i am LOOKING

[bunnyinthestars]

Adrien is definitely gonna take Emilie’s place in a coma (A Theory)

Yeah so I mean the title of this is exactly what I’m pretty sure is gonna happen. This is because there has been a huge load of foreshadowing and some other subtler reasons I will be going over in this post. Of course, there’s always a chance it won’t happen, but if it didn’t I think I’d be pretty surprised considering just the amount of evidence thats going into this.

(Also sorry ahead of time for the structure of this, I tried to structure this based on my specific reasons for this theory but I kind of went off on tangents in some places and in others I use ideas that I assume come with the theory and don’t necessarily fit into any specific reason (like Emilie coming back to life and what would happen there, why Adrien and not Nathalie, and loosely how theyd get Adrien out of the coma), although I mosty stick to the structure I still want to add this disclaimer just so you’re aware that I wrote this in one go at midnight (also wait right now its 12:10am it is now ten minutes into my birthday??? ok ignoring that))

I dont know man. Just consider what I have to say. Or dont. I will be listing my reasons starting now.

1. Imagery of Adrien being in comatose state/ in a coffin-like thing.

This is surprisingly common??? Off the top of my head I can think of Style Queen and Riposte (I believe) which involve this. In Style Queen, Audrey in the form of her akumatized self had essentially kidnapped Adrien and put him in this gold/glass coffin thing that disintegrated the longer it remained untouched. The other one is Riposte, where Ladybug hides Adrien in that big sarcophogus in the Louvre (he didn’t stay in it but still the imagery is there.)

I also just remembered in Chameleon when Lila took Adrien’s form he was asleep/in a comatose state in that locker and Plagg was like “aw man am I gonna have to kiss him.....” but then Adrien wakes up because Lila stole someone else’s form

EDIT: another instance of Adrien/Chat Noir being shoved into a sarcophagus (besides Riposte) is in Pharaoh in season 1

So yes there is definitely a good number of foreshadowing for this. I might take this further and say if Adrien were to go comatose and be in the coffin Emilie was in then Felix might replace him for some amount of time?? Like impersonate him amd stuff?? Just because there’s lots of stuff in the show with impersonation I feel like it could work aNYWAY BACK TO THE EVIDENCE I KNOW ITS A TANGENT

2. Possible evidence foreshadowing Emilie *inadvertantly* killing (not killing but making comatose you get it) Adrien

This one is not as strong as the first but its worth considering. I was googling the word “mayura” just out of curiosity a while back and basically its a peacock in Hindu stories (like peacocks are a kinda revered animal) and I just initially found a couple websites that said that the mayura has been depicted eating a snake as a symbol of the cycle of time (you dont have to read this part in parenthesis, its just kind of a tangent: the cycle of time as known in Hinduism is another aspect of Hinduism directly referenced in the show: the horse/space miraculous kwami Kaalki’s name is a reference to the prophecied tenth avatar/reincarnation of the god Vishnu, and he is referenced in the Kalachakra tantra which is basically a Hindu book about the cycle of time. Keep in mind I got all this from wikipedia and other internet websites, I do not practice Hinduism and I dont directly know anybody who does, so if any of this is wrong pls lmk because there is surprisingly not a lot of information on the internet about it from what I could tell)

So anyways yes peacock (mayura) eating snake representing the cycle of time. Both Luka and Adrien are represented in the show as the snake, but ultimately I think the snake here represents Adrien just because it makes more sense (Snake Noir, future Alix’s tattoo depicts a snake to be Adrien and is meant to represent Adrinette, Adrien just has some shifty stuff going on with the snake in general etc) and thus, if Gabriel manages to actually get the ladybug and black cat miraculouses and make the wish to bring Emilie to life, then this “mayura” analogy (assuming Emilie as the mayura in this scenario) would make sense if her life brought upon Adrien losing his.

The reason I dont think it would refer to Nathalie even though her official name is Mayura is for pretty much two sub-reasons. The first is that I think she is going to die before this wish happens. I know, its a kids show, whatever, but consider it. The Agreste/Graham de Vanily family has a trend of having opposite names [I am so sorry I literally first heard this from a tumblr user but I cannot remember who I just remember they had made a string of theories on why Emilie Agreste will not be who she seems to be so credit to them I did not discover that] for example the name Gabriel means hero/angel, Felix means happy/fortunate, Adrien means dark, etc, and Nathalie Sancoeur means “birthday (of Christ)” and “heartless” respectively. We already know she is not heartless but rather full of heart because she has fallen in love with Gabriel. So then,,,,,,,,,, the opposite of birth is death. She’s already shown to be pretty sick too despite the peacock miraculous having been “fixed” (as of the New York special being the most recent piece of content). I’m sorry guys I do not make the rules

stop why his face look like that though

The second part of why I think this is a little stupid but. The original art released by Jeremy Zag for Mayura does not look like Nathalie. Plus this art was only released under the name of “the Peacock” (originally Le Paon in French) so it might not actually be the Mayura we know as of now. Now, theoretically, it could be that they had made this art before they knew they wanted Nathalie to be Mayura or just as art depicting what Emilie would have been like as the peacock miraculous holder, and it could literally just be Nathalie. When you compare the images, though, the original Mayura art looks far more like Emilie and a lot less like Nathalie. Yes I am aware this is stupid just know this is only a minor point

I dont know man those faces do not look the same to me and the original Mayura definitely had Emilie’s eye shape and face shape in mind. They might’ve changed it after making the concept art but my point still stands

Ok next reasoning

Again not a very strong point but sometimes dialogue just implies things in Miraculous and I can think of a very specific quote that would fit this happening, and there are probably more that I just dont know to look for since I dont have this whole show memorized

So the quote is from Startrain after Gabriel loses control of the akuma then learns about the Startrain having been akumatized with Adrien on board, and he says “hoping that my enemies will save my son..... how ironic.” When I first heard this quote I really, really felt like it was foreshadowing something just based on his tone and the way this new idea was being introduced of him having to be on the same side as Ladynug and Chat Noir for once, even if it was just temporary. This quote absolutely is indicative to me of a future event in which he’ll have to work with his “enemies” to save his son. A situation in which Adrien is in comatose would perfectly align with this. At least for how I would predict the show would make it, Gabriel would have to turn away from Emilie (who represents the past for him, and this action would therefore represent moving on) and join forces with Ladybug/Marinette, his “enemy”, to save Adrien.

Onto the last reason!

Emilie is probably definitely coming back. Which means someone’s going into a coma in her place.

I mean come on it would be so anticlimactic if they just caught Gabe before he fulfilled his wish. Plus with the way they are outlining Emilie to be this perfect golden being is definitely because its going to far contrast with how she will actually turn out. This doesnt really support the Adrien thing in particular but honestly it would also be anticlimactic of the coma was for anyone else. If it was Nathalie, then yeah itd suck for Adrien I guess but like???? Doesn’t really connect the plots as much. Whereas if its Adrien, that brings Marinette into it, that gives her a powerful as heck conflict. Im guessing they would also somehow resolve his coma with “the power of love” mentioned in the theme song, just because of the foreshadowing with like waking someone up with a true love’s kiss (think Plagg in Chameleon, I guess the rose in Style Queen, maybe Alya’s story to Manom in Stormy Weather if we’re strecthing it....)

TL;DR: Adrien is probably gonna go comatose (like Emilie did) at some point because its been pretty foreshadowed (think Style Queen, Riposte, and even Chameleon), because of the legend surrounding the Hindu “mayura” peacock eating a snake representing time (wow that was not a sentence ok then), because Gabriel has previously foreshadowed having to work with his enemies to save his son, and also just because it would be super awesome and allow each character involved to have a pretty fulfilling conflict and arc.

(all images from the miraculous ladybug wiki excluding the piece of art depicting the mayura which is from murugan.org)

I hope however took the time to read this post enjoyed this theory, sometimes I have really random yet detailed theories regarding this show and I wanted to share this one because if I’m right then this will be proof I had predicted it, also you guys could possibly elaborate on it. I’m all for friendly discussions folks fr

If this doesn’t end up happening the theory is still awesome and they should have done it, and if it does my ego will probably expand and hopefully they will make it as awesome as it seems like it would be. Sorry if the structure of this post is not great, but thank you for reading. I appreciate you, have a wonderful week :)

[fan-clan-fun]

So you want to Build a Clan?- Part 7: Religion

Going on a quick side mission because I feel like religion impacts culture so I'm gonna do that then go back to culture.

Part of what makes warriors, well, warriors, is the presence of Starclan as an organized religious entity. And although most  of us can agree that Canon seriously struggles to stick to a consistent portrayal of them, without Starclan, or at least the belief in it, the clans wouldn't be really as unique as they are. So discussing Starclan and religion is important when looking into how your clan works. In this segment I'll talk about Starclan and religion and how to work out a religion that is ingrained into your clans.

Foundation

Something which is important to consider, and why I chose to discuss this before I  discussed more culture, is that religion shapes how a clan thinks and believes. What a lit is taught and embraces shapes the most basic of thoughts, beliefs and understandings. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with canons portrayal of Starclan. It's there, sure, and powerful, but what role does it actually play in the lives of clan cats? How could Mothwing possibly be an atheist when cats literally materialize to fight? It's inconsistent, with very little foundation, and barely seems to affect the clans at all.

A true complete religion would involve a lot more pervasive thought processes. For example, I would argue that Canon should treat death differently, since cats clearly have an afterlife, and even can interact with it. While it would be sad, the clan cats would look to it with hope. Their elderly parents would finally be able to live freely, their kits would live forever in the prime of youth, their apprentice gets a second chance. But Canon doesn't really do that. Of course Canon is a mess no maybe we shouldn't focus on that.

Anyway. So when you are building your religion, remember to figure out how it fits into their every day lives.

What are the virtues they most strongly follow?

Where do they get them within the religion?

What is their view on the afterlife?

Is there a duality to the afterlife? (I e heaven and hell)

Are there any rewards in the afterlife? Is there an afterlife?

How does their religious beliefs fit into their every day lives?

Does the religion instruct them to act in any certain way, or treat others or themselves in any specific way?

Is there an emphasis on fate or personal choices/responsibility?

Is faith personal or communal? ( Do they gather together to worship or worship alone in their own way)

What is considered appropriate worship?

Are there any words or ceremonies tied to their religion?  (This is important for naming as well)

Do all clans believe the same thing? Are there small differences in beliefs or in practice? (these can be as small as how to pray, looking up how different sects or parts of bigger religions do a same big ceremony but different in small ways, use that to formulate differences in beliefs and ritual for the clans)

Are there any major things it belief on which all clans agree or disagree?

Some of these questions may require information from a further section, but having them in mind as you build your religion is a good idea.

Starclan

In Canon, Starclan is the symbol of the religion of the clans, but in truth it is barely defined. No one is quite sure what powers they possess. Can they see the future? Where do the prophecies come from? How do they interact with cats?

There are plenty of things about Starclan which are interesting, and therefore could be used, but the most important thing with Starclan is to very starkly define, even if it's only for yourself as the writer, who they are and what they can do.

I've written several versions of Starclan in the past, from a Starclan who transcends time and can therefore see the many paths which they can encourage or discourage the clan from pursuing, to a Starclan that recognizes patterns, can sense a cats deepest desire and so can guess when a cat may go down a dark path. There are so many ways to write Starclan.

How you write Starclan and what powers you give them also affects what you can do plot wise. What bothered me most about Power of Three and Omen of the Stars, was that there was no explanation, no basis for cats suddenly having powers. They also suddenly introduced the concept of the Dark Forest and expected people to just naturally accept it. But if you build Starclan up from the very to have certain abilities and powers, who’s to say they can't bestow a gift to the clans? The key to making your Starclan believable is consistency,  and being very specific about what Starclan can and can't do.

It might be good to take a look at how certain cultures do ancestor worship. Why that is a part of their culture. Originally that seems to have been the point of Starclan, or I'm guessing, and so looking at how, say certain Native American tribes, versus Chinese ancestor worship works might give some insight into that kind of culture.

First of all, it is best to figure out how Starclan came to be.

Why did cats who were dying suddenly retain the ability to maintain their consciousness?

When did this happen?

How do spirits work? Is it attached to sentience, or do other creatures besides cats have their own afterlife?

What is this afterlife that Starclan lives in like?

Is reincarnation a thing?

How long do Starclan cats last, can they “die”?

How do they communicate with the living?

Do they have any power to influence/see the future?

Can they give a leader nine lives/how does that work?

What separates them from the living? Are they on a different plane of existence?

What qualifies a cat for being eligible to go to Starclan (ie do all cats go to Starclan? Do non clan cats have an afterlife?)

Are there cats who can be more sensitive to Starclan/spiritual energies?

How does rank work in Starclan? Is there a hierarchy?

Is it important for Starclan that cats be remembered?

Are names given certain status in Starclan or the clans? (Ie does remembering some cats name affect their existence?)

Do cats who have been evil have their names erased or forgotten?

How do the clans remember their past?

Are family members encouraged to pray to, or worship their immediate ancestors and family members in Starclan? If so, how?

Are names passed down in a family said to have greater meaning/power?

All of these aspects will help to make your Starclan more whole and solid. Of course you can always go the opposite direction, which some people prefer, to have Starclan not actually exist but be a fake hoax or religion.

Deities

Another thing which can be used to add more to the story, are deities. Deities can help very conveniently explain where Starclan came from, and there are plenty of fanfic writers out there who have already made use of this and come up with interesting and wonderful narratives.

In any case, deities are the foundation for many, if not most, religions. They serve the purpose of explaining that which humanity cannot explain, of giving a human aspect to that which is inhuman. They embody the power of nature, the mysteries of human emotion and ideals.

You can choose whether or not to have deities for your clans, I often don't, usually explaining my worldbuilding in other ways. But it's always useful to discuss all the possibilities.

If you do decide to have deities, you have several paths to take.

Monotheistic: This is the path where there is one single deity who created the world. It's not as popular in the  warriors fandom, so I don't really have much to say about it. While it offers a very deep and ingrained understanding of religion, it also is very black and white, you either believe or you don't, and the power is either clear and explicit, or not there at all, there's not really an easy way to he ambiguous. For this kind of world, the deity is that which created everything and is the ultimate power who sees and knows everything. How much they involve themselves or grant power to others is up to you.

Great Mother: I suppose this might count as a monotheistic approach, but it is such a distinct subset that I thought it best to address it alone. This is, along with polytheistic approach, the most popular in the warriors fandom, because it resonates so deeply with cats and their likely culture. Motherhood and mothers are essential to life. This also allows for a great mother deity who passed on her power to lesser beings, either more deities or simply animals and other creatures. It reinforces the idea that life comes from mothers and gives them better respect and status.

Dualistic: This is a setting where you have two major opposing forces such Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, Death and Life, light and dark etc. It can make for very interesting contrasts and conflicts. However it does often make for stark lines between positive and negative forces, not as much room for gray areas there, though it's not impossible to create them. It's important when creating these sorts of deities that you have two opposing forces, neither of then have to be inherently good per se, but they must be completely opposed to each other and have far reaching implications.

Pantheistic: This is the path where everything is a part of one thing such as nature or just general life force. I have used this approach before in one set of clans, and how Starclan separated themselves from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth made them unique. In any case, this is more holistic viewpoint. Everything is one, and one is everything. In this setting it is likely that life is held with great reverence and nature is worshipped.

Polytheistic: this is one of the most popular approaches for religion, besides the one where there is no specific deity. It's honestly one of the most fun ones as well. Having multiple deities is fun to play around with, and the stories and myths that are passed on to the clans are extra entertaining.

There are plenty of polytheistic religions out there, though likely the most well known are the Greek/Roman and Nordic pantheons. These are the ones who get up to plenty of shenanigans amongst themselves and humanity.

Unfortunately when the time comes to create a pantheon it can be a daunting task. I have my own take on a pantheon here, and it definitely took effort. Thankfully there  are a few broad paths you can take.

A deity for each virtue (and maybe vice) which the clans consider important and part of their code..

A deity for every rank in the clan, honoring the work and movement through life of the clan.

Deities for every small place and thing ( biiiig pantheon, maybe some deities appear as other animals, demand respect for what they represent)

Deities for the skills which are considered important for the clan ( a way to tie in traditional naming? Suffixes came to be as cats emulating the deities of those skills)

Deities of different aspects of nature, sun, moon, plants and growing things, storms, other natural disasters

Elemental pantheon, with aspects of water, and earth, and air, and fire and any other elements that might do well to be included.

In any case there are lots of options to choose from. Here are a few questions to flesh some of those paths out with detail.

Do deities actually exist or are they just creations of the clans collective imagination?

Which deity is considered the most powerful?

Are any deities related? If so how do they interact? And how are they related?

Are there any rivalries between deities, and do these affect the clans in any way? ( Think stuff like Trojan war which directly involved deities meddling and causing chaos)

How much power do deities have? How do they use/give away this power? (Can they maybe give their power to cats like in the Power of three?)

Do demigods exist? (Ie is there a Zeus god with like a bazillion half deity half cat babies running around)

Can deities be killed?

Do deities directly influence the world? (Like if a deity gets angry can they unleash their anger on the clans?)

How do the deities connect with Starclan? (We're they involved in creating Starclan, or are they completely separate, or something else?)

Now that you have a decent idea of how your religion works (I hope) we can go back to looking at how culture is affected by the religion of the clan in their ceremonies and rituals.