#crack theory | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

offtorivendell · 3 months

Text

The Asteri, the Daglan, and Prythian's Court System

Disclaimer: this is a stupidly massive crack theory that could end up being disastrously wrong. Oh well.

Spoilers: the ACOTAR and CC series to date (I'm halfway through HOFAS right now, slowly plodding along, so nothing beyond that).

Image from ACOSF, Kindle edition.

Buckle up for some more of my nonsense! I think I could have discovered why Prythian's land has the Court and High Lord Systems. This theory still has a couple of wrinkles to iron out, but it's plausible, so I figured I'd share what I've got.

A massive thank you goes to @ladynightcourt3 and @psychologynerd for our chat yesterday morning, which led to this post. I love you guys! 💜

Full warning that this will A) be absolutely cracked, and B) contains Maasverse spoilers, including from HOFAS (up to around 40% I think), but I was mulling over what I'd read so far and this popped into my mind.

Part 1 - The Court System

Bryce made, I think, one hell of an assumption when she said the following in HOFAS:

Vesperus, the only Asteri left on this world, lay dead. - CC HOFAS, chapter 26

@wingedblooms and I have previously theorised that some of the barren regions in Prythian may be so because the death gods were trapped there, drinking the magic of the land, rendering it spent - lifeless - and possibly unable to power up a gateway to an interstellar rift. We both also think it's very interesting that one Elain Archeron was referred to as “a rose bloom in a mud field,” but I digress.

However, in HOFAS, we learnt that there was a Daglan/Asteri, called Vesperus (who considered herself the Evening Star and their god), trapped in a crystal coffin far below the Prison, which was once a land of Dusk.

The female’s long nails scraped along the lid of the coffin. She didn’t look at them as she tested the lid for weaknesses. “I am your god. I am your master. Do you not know me?” - CC HOFAS, chapter 24

It's interesting, no, that the region was named after the Daglan who ruled it? Was this common practice? Because we just so happened to learn, in Feysand’s ACOSF bonus chapter, that there was once an ancient Night Court goddess named Nyx.

You know, their son's namesake? Yikes. 🫣

“You may call me Vesperus.” The creature’s eyes glowed with irritation. “Are you related to Hesperus?” Bryce arched a brow at the name, so similar to one of Midgard’s Asteri. “The Evening Star?” “I am the Evening Star,” Vesperus seethed. - CC HOFAS, chapter 25

Silene, Theia's second daughter, who “escaped into the night,” gave us further information that appeared - to me, at least - to be incomplete. Or perhaps inaccurate? She had been taught by her mother, so she could have been fed certain things as facts. For example, was the land of Prythian really divvied up into seasons and times of day before the Daglan came to town?

The land strengthened. It returned to what it had been before the Daglan’s arrival millennia before. We returned to what we’d been before that time, too, creatures whose very magic was tied to this land. Thus the land’s powers became my mother’s. Dusk, twilight—that’s what the island was in its long-buried heart, what her power bloomed into, the lands rising with it. It was, as she said, as if the island had a soul that now blossomed under her care, nurtured by the court she built here. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction. And the horrors it produced … those, too, my parents would turn to their advantage. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

My sister and I grew older. My mother educated us herself, always reminding us that though the Daglan had been vanquished, evil lived on. Evil lurked beneath our very feet, always waiting to devour us. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

Reading between the lines, I think it's just possible to link the powers of each land with the Daglan who once ruled over them. Perhaps each region - each “precursor” to a modern day Court - had a Daglan/Asteri buried underneath a barren peak, or in a body of water? Is this why the lands have frozen seasons, pools of starlight*, or powers based upon the light of the time of day? Because of a monster buried far, far below the surface?!

*Is there a Daglan entombed in a crystal coffin far below the surface, or is it a cache of firstlight, one that may be refuelled each Calanmai? Or, as @psychologynerd has suggested, is there a Made object of power that will draw Elain to the Spring Court?

Our home had been left empty since we’d vanished. As if the other Fae thought it cursed. So I made it truly cursed. Damned it all. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

Despite my efforts to hide what this place had once been, a terrible, ancient power hung in the air. It was as my mother had warned us when we were children: evil always lingered, just below us, waiting to snatch us into its jaws. So I went to find another monster to conceal it. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

I left, wandering the lands for a time, seeing how they had moved on without Theia’s rule. They’d splintered into several territories, and though they were not at war, they were no longer the unified kingdom I had known. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

As a quick aside, I still suspect that Fionn may have been a Daglan - or similar, perhaps an Under King - who tricked Theia into thinking him a normal faerie and used her to overthrow his peers in order to gain more land for himself. It seems exactly like something a rogue Asteri would do.

Like I suggested earlier, could each region be named for its ruler? Because the names of at least one of the Midgard Asteri was, shall we say, coincidentally similar to the Daglan of Prythian, and others appear to match at least the solar courts.

Solar:

Dawn - Eosphoros

Day - Rigelus

Dusk - Hesperus

Night - Sirius

Seasonal (incomplete/unsure/probably incorrect):

Spring - Austrus?

Summer - Octartis?

Autumn - ?

Winter - Polaris?

As I said, the Midgardian Asteri don't perfectly match up to the seasonal Prythian courts, but it's too close to not consider as a possibility, imo.

Perhaps the lands of Midgard were broken up into solar regions and something else that wasn't seasonal? But given the Vesperus/Hesperus competition... maybe whatever species Asteri and/or Daglan are are strongest when travelling with a full complement of powers? And each "clan" (for lack of a better word) that travelled together had dawn, day, dusk, and night “lights,” as well as spring, summer, autumn and winter lights? Could it weaken them to be without a full cohort of powers? As @ladynightcourt3 said, it would explain why they were so upset about Sirius. Could Rigelus be hoping for a replacement to find them and return them to full strength, and that's why he keeps an empty throne?

Part 2 - The High Lords

No one knew that the infant who sometimes glowed with starlight had inherited it from me. That it was the light of the evening star. The dusk star. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

An Asteri being buried under each Court could explain the high lord magic as well.The HLs are “a different breed,” per Lucien. Did the Asteri/Daglan need a Starborn Fae who is predisposed to holding, or withstanding, their magic? If this is the case, it would explain why the next in line to inherit the power - or who the magic chooses - isn't always a direct descendant of the previous high lord. Does it pass to the Fae with the strongest Starborn blood? And why the mountain shook when Mor got her first period. There has to be a Daglan/Asteri buried under the Hewn City.

That being said, why is it only men who can inherit the magic, and not women, especially when we now know that high ladies used to exist? Did Theia's betrayal made them distrust females in general, or was it something Seline did? Or is it because the women have the most/purest/strongest, starborn power, so did the men keep them down to use them as “breeding stock” in order to legitimise their rule, similar to what Pelias did with Helena?

Part 3 - Further Thoughts

I still wonder how Hybern and Hel could come into play here, because I think those lands are linked. A Valg/Hel Prince population on a different island?

@psychologynerd noted that we’ve previously connected the solar and seasonal courts, such Dawn = Spring, Day = Summer etc., and that it would track for Autumn and Dusk - an appropriately matched pair - to migrate together to Midgard. As an aside, this could tie in with the parallels shared by Azriel and Lucien, who may be/are linked to Dusk and Autumn. What if their power was connected via their “stars”?

@ladynightcourt3 wondered if Hesperus may have changed her name, hence Vesperus’ anger.

I can understand how a Daglan's presence may impart their magic into the land, especially if they're left buried - steeping? - in the soil for millennia, but how would that magic shape the faeries living there? Is it like I suggested in this post, that prolonged exposure to a powerful object allows a tie to be forged?

A bonus crack theory for fun - what if Merrill is a trapped Asteri? Either Nyx or Sirius, whom Apollion ate, and perhaps she escaped the pit of Hel through the base of the House of Wind library; nobody knows where she came from, she's descended from Rabbath of the Western Wind… her room is described as a cell and she called Nesta “girl” like Amren - an ancient - did. I dunno, but there's something about Merrill.

As always, thank you for reading! 💜

#hosab spoilers #hofas spoilers #acotar cc tog crossover theory #acotar theory #the dusk court #dusk court #the night court #night court #prythian #acotar #sjm books #maasverse #feysand #feyre archeron #rhys acotar #crack theory

107 notes · View notes

freesiaandrain · 6 months

Text

can't wait for jjk 239 where Higuruma will decide that since Yuji isn't possessed by Sukuna anymore, they are now considered divorced, so Sukuna owes Yuji half of all his possessions

#the one opponent sukuna couldn't beat: alimony #he owes yuji five shadows lol #jjk #jujutsu sorcerer #jujutsu kaisen #jjk 239 #jjk leaks #jjk memes #sukuna #ryoumen sukuna #yuji itadori #jjk itadori #jujutsu itadori #new chapter #jjk theory #crack theory #crack post

194 notes · View notes

parachutingkitten · 2 months

Text

New theory that in season 7, Zane knew Pix was leaving the whole time, and just kept it a secret cuz she said she needed time away from the team which he 100% understood.

She had plenty of time to think it through while he was passed out, and then talk it through in his head while his speech was on the fritz. He could respond back to her in garbled nonsense which only she understood. With Pixal's habitual talking out loud in Zane's head that we see in this scene, I find it unlikely she wasn't verbally creating her plan to leave and save her father.

Zane staged the initial loss of contact after a mission, at a time he knew people would hear and observe him being confused.

Pictured: Zane making a ~confused face~ in front of at least half the team after awkwardly inviting Pixal into a group conversation (a thing that never happens)

He still has a bit of a mental breakdown without her, cuz he's not used to her being gone, so that character beat still works.

And when she shows up, he goes out of your way to help her. This can definitely be them subtly flirting with each other:

He asks if perchance anyone else was affected by the time shenanigans cuz he knows pixal is around.

Pictured: Zane already looking at Samurai X while asking if anyone else was affected by the temporal disturbance

Their eventual reunion doesn't have a lot of fanfare, just a low key normal hug with a half baked excuse for her absence, cuz they aren't actually surprised to see each other.

Observe this assortment of Pixane Hugs:

And then observe how much lower energy the hug in question is:

... I think it's possible. That's all I'm sayin.

#ninjago #pixane #pixal borg #zane julien #pixal ninjago #zane ninjago #crack theory #ns7 #hands of time

140 notes · View notes

eemoo1o-tfrmoo · 7 months

Text

Gothi seems to be the only one to believe that Hiccup is into something in the first film. She watches Hiccup in training, with this thoughtful expression as opposed to one of awe, she picks him to go up against the Nightmare (Hookfang), and as Toothless is being caged she covers two children’s eyes to stop them from watching as she herself does in horror. Gothi knew.

#httyd #theory #how to train your dragon #hiccup haddock #gothi #toothless #crack theory #one could suppose #original post #queue

223 notes · View notes

morgulien · 8 months

Text

y’all, i doubt i’m the first person to come up with it, but i have a new Tolkien crack theory:

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are in fact Beren and Luthien.

303 notes · View notes

pikahlua · 22 days

Text

Look I'm just saying @bakuhatsufallinlove presented the idea that everything Shigaraki ever Decayed may be ACCESSIBLE if he were to develop the reconstruction piece of Overhaul AND NOW I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER ABOUT HOW SHIGARAKI ONCE DECAYED A PERFECTLY GOOD SET OF FOREARMS

IT'S HONESTLY TOO PERFECT

#my hero academia manga spoilers #final arc spoilers #theory #crack theory #total crack theory #UNLESS...?

81 notes · View notes

mchib · 1 month

Text

‘We need more bipolar characters’

YOU COULDBNT EVEN HANDLE HIM

first of all i think this is common knowledge but he exhibits a complex and erratic personality which i think could potentially be interpreted as symptom of bipolar disorder - bipolar is a characterized by extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania) and lows (depression) - throughout the series and manga (i think the manga shows this better) mellos behavior fluctuates dramatically displaying periods of intense energy impulsivity and irritability which align with manic episodes,,. - in the manga mellos depicted as ambitious driven and sometimes reckless in his pursuit of catching Kira. he has a chronic case of impulsive decision making such as kidnapping poeple and hijacking a character showcases a lack of regard for consequences which is a hallmark trait of manic behavior - i also think mellos extreme emotional responses ranging from fits of rage to moments of despair mirror the intense mood swings characteristic of bipolar disorder. he also struggles with self esteem and identity also point towards bipolar disorder... individuals with bipolar disorder often experience fluctuations in self esteem oscillating between grandiosity during manic episodes and profound self doubt during depressive episodes - mellos constant comparison to near (who he he and only he sees as his rival) and his need to prove himself could stem from underlying insecurities exacerbated by his mood swings

him developing bipolar could totally be a normal trauma response from literally a lot of abuse that he has faced, most of the main characters from wammys house show no signs of like rebellion or outlandish behavior like he does but that doesnt necessarily mean that nothing happened and i think the author gave characters such as near and the other orphans way too much mental fortitude. bipolar can be developed at any age and its especially common between ages 15-19. not to mention other than it being genetic, theres a huge link between bipolar and childhood trauma. like imagine being groomed your whole childhood into this competitive environment with other 4 year olds to be the smartest toddler so u can substitute this crazy genius when he dies. and think of it like come on theres no chance all of these kids desperately wanted to be detectives when they grew up there was definitely like some sort of foul play. L is an exception obviously since the orphanage became abusive after he came and he was treated like a king basically while the other orphans mental state was completely disregarded because they were only brought in from several corners of the world solely to be his successor. in fact the first generation orphans were literally expected to kill themselves because of the pressure and A killing himself literally was not a shock at all to the orphanage in fact i suspect that a lot of the first generation orphans made to succeed L had a horrible mental state and also killed themselves which if you think about it B (which stood for backup) losing his mind was completely normal even if the way he went about challenging L was not. not to mention how he had to live with shinigami eyes but thats for another post lolol.,,, anyways yeah mello's behavior is actually justified when you think about how much of an abusive household he lived in even if its kind of obvious that the author disregarded coming up with an explanation for the orphans mental wellbeing and how it would have affected their adolescence except from the character of mello and even when they show mello they basically make him seem insane and watari like an angel . reading the la bb murder cases from mello's perspective really opened my eyes to like how it actually was in wammys house u can really understand it from his tone and stuff also with that one page hold on lemme find it

'but what if they could copy him? what if they could make a backup? that was us. L's children, gathered from all corners of the world. children gathered together, never told each other's names. but even for a genuis like watari, creating a fake L was easier said than done. even for near and i, who were said to be the closest to L... the more we tried to be like him, the closer we got, the farther away he was, like chasing a mirage. so i hardly need to tell you what it was like when wammy's house was first founded, when he was still experimenting. the first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, beyond birthday, was brilliand and deviant. B stood for Backup.'

'L was the goal of everyone in wammys house. everyone one of us wanted to surpass him. to step over him. to step on him. M did, N did and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal.'

sorry for my complete lack of spelling punctuation and grammar but i think i got my point across and also big thanks to @monards who helped me finish this draft by giving me the energy to continue and also encouraging my crippling death note addiction by feeding into it with questions and remarks like 'woah!' and 'eureka!'

#death note rant for my three followers :33 #i feel like i made sense #to some extent #i had to scroll on pinterest for a while to find a picture of mello where he doesnt look like hes a crack baby #why does he look like he was rolled around in 🌿 in his infancy #i love my wammy house kids #crack theory #crepe tag #death note #labb murder cases #beyond birthday #l lawliet #miheal keehl #mail jeevas #nate river

121 notes · View notes

feyd-meowtha · 1 month

Text

I like to headcanon that Geidi Prime is just super into birthdays. Like obviously Feyd has his big special birthday-boy moment but I choose to believe that everyone on that planet is walking round with a special hat and a badge when it's their birthday and having a great big party on their special day.

Like maybe Paul goes to stay and he doesn't mention that it's gonna be his birthday cus he doesn't think it's a big deal and Feyd finds out and is absolutely livid because he hasn't even planned a PARTY or got him a PRESENT.

🎈 🎂 ✨ Geidi Prime = Birthday Planet ✨ 🎂🎈

#dune #paul atreides #feyd rautha #dune part 2 #dune part two #austin butler #timothée chalamet #crack theory #the rest of the landsraad are like 'those guys kinda weird snd scary #'its cute how much they like birthdays though'

96 notes · View notes

milkinthemicrowave · 3 months

Text

Theory: The Magnus Archives entitites are homophobic. /nsrs

One of my favorite things about the Magnus Archives is the LGBTQ+ representation. However, what’s VERY funny to me is that since this is a HORROR series, the fact that more gay people are being targeted by eldritch horrors than the national average… makes it look like the dread powers are just, SUPER homophobic. It’s completely unintentional and extremely funny to me. “Statement of Herman Gorgoli, regarding his period trapped alone in a suburban area of Cheadle, and how he almost died while on the way to give his ex-husband Alberto’s moose heirloom back-”

“... that’s like the 5th gay person this week that almost died in an eldritch encounter. I’m… noticing a pattern. Will bring this up to Martin. Anyway, audio recorded by Jonathan Sims-” Herman and Alberto from Episode 150: Cul-De-Sac are one-off characters who, in any other media, would ABSOLUTELY be a wife and husband by default. But in the Magnus Archives, the fact that they are both men isn’t isn’t screamed about like “LOOK!! DIVERSITY!!!” …It’s completely normalized. As it really should be. In the Magnus Archives, a character doesn’t NEED a reason to be queer, just the same as they don’t need a reason to be straight.

But… if we assume that the percentage of LGBTQ+ people mirrors that of our world, the amount of queer relationships in these statements does not match the population average at ALL.

...And this series is about eldritch dread powers almost killing people.

So… why are so many of the victims LGBTQ+? The dread powers are homophobic. In this 500 page essay, I will. DISCLAIMER: this is a VERY non-serious theory. I know that Jonathan Sims made it this way just because he could, and it’s EXTREMELY refreshing. I love the series how it is, and would never want to change it. This is just a very funny thought that popped in my head one day. Thank you for reading my ramblings. Also, this theory goes RIGHT out the window if we assume that there's a higher percentage of queer relationships in the world of the Magnus Archives, so. That could also be true.

#the magnus archives #tma #magpod #jonathan sims #smirke's fourteen #crack theory #lgbtq

119 notes · View notes