just got to ep 93 of riptide on my relisten (when finn wakes up) and i can’t stop thinking about how during the feywild arc, when celestine was assessing the magic involved in apple’s transmutation spell, necromancy was one of the types listed.
when gillion finally gets through to the unconscious finn using the bracelets, finn keeps talking about his spell, asking if it worked, if it protected his crew. it’s clear that the spell finn had been casting (over the course of 100 years supposedly) was incredibly important, and likely the reason he ended up trapped as a bird. clearly finn had some knowledge of what may happen, considering he started preparing so far in advance. it might be part of the reason he left the undersea in the first place. but after waking up, with the spell’s resulting mental deterioration, he can’t provide the answers he may have once had.
(something about the spell feels very reminiscent of a deal. finn trading his knowledge and intellect, whether he did so intentionally. something he dedicated his life to. him being able to protect his crew, to a certain extent. and when he finally gets to see that his spell worked (?) he might not fully remember it’s significance. might not remember what he wanted. why he made that choice.)
during my relisten, i’ve really taken note that whenever any of the black rose crew are talking about the hole in the sea and what they remember, there’s some pretty big gaps in memory. they all recall falling unconscious at one point or another, and waking up somewhere else. drey struggles to remember a lot after being in the block so long. finn’s memory is waning, either from age or the effects of his spell. and initially, when chip talks about that day, he’s confident in what he remembers, and doesn’t seem to dwell much about losing consciousness and how he ended eventually ended up at skullslice port.
but when finn wakes up, and chip gets the third part of the map tattooed on his back, everyone’s confused. why wouldn’t it be on arlin, like they’d thought? why now?
drey says something along the lines of “why chip, though? he wasn’t even down there with us. you weren’t there, right chip?”
and chip doesn’t say anything.
i think the reason there’s so many gaps in memory is that maybe none of the black rose pirates made it out. maybe there’s a reason necromancy was involved in finn’s spell.
(THESE ARE THE RAMBLINGS OF A MADMAN BTW I DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE A THEORY AND I MIGHT HAVE COMPLETELY MISREMEMBERED SHIT BUT I AM FULL OF SO MANY THOUGHTS)