This is a theory I've mentioned more than once on here but never thought to make a proper post about so here we go. I'm using the bigger text size because this post has big screenshots and small paragraphs.
I'm sure everyone here's watched the time travel episodes in season three. If not, here's the best place to. The YouTube episodes haven't been reuploaded in better quality and a couple free streaming services have them in HD but only season one for some reason.
The arc starts with Hotekk's Challenge Pt. 2 and ends with Threshold of Destruction. In those episodes, we learned some juicy lost history of Perim. Stuff that may or may not have been intended to play a bigger role in the rest of the season? Or will in a continuation but Any Day Now. Anyway, Peyton and Sarah's trip in Loser's Circle taught us a few interesting things about their favorite tribes, especially the past Danians. Because look at these guys.
These are not ants. Although, we did get a couple different types of them.
The blue ones could be wasps, though.
Obviously, these aren't the Danians we see in the present. They're not explicitly called Danians in the show, but there's a green dragonfly with a card that classifies him as one, and I don't see why the others would be something else.
A few Danians in the present even look out of place. Say I didn't know who Odu was yet. Was shared his first card art and asked to guess which tribe he's from. I'd say either Danians or OverWorlders. Odu just doesn't look like an ant.
There's also the existence of Hisser, who was really the only thing worth remembering about Trading Cards the episode.
That is a beetle and he's just chilling in I assume the depths of Mount Pillar, where this marketplace he operates in stands. This was such an interesting moment for the Danians, that got ignored because it's Trading Cards.
Now it's time for the theory. Apart from Hisser and a few different-looking Danians, we don't see anything like this among the tribe in the present. Something happened between Loser's Circle and the start of the show that took the other insect species out. Species that seemed to be working with the ants just fine.
So, back in those days, the Danians weren't just an ant colony. They were a coalition of all the insect creatures that populated the jungles in ancient Perim. Soon, they grew big enough to form the first insect empire. This called for creating a hive, which prompted them to sap resources from the jungle to create it, most importantly the water. We saw the past Mipedians try to stop them, but yeah, the Danians won out.
However, good times must end. Somewhere down the road, the past Danians started to collapse. Draining the jungle brought about some food shortages. Kiru's UnderWorld was really making a name for itself out there. The First Conjurors figured out how to wield a warbeast. But none those were the main issue. The coalition, in classic Perim fashion, never really got along. So at some point, the bugs had a Perithon moment where the tension came to a head and civil war erupted. The different species fought each other and I'm gonna say it, things got chaotic. They were not gonna bee okay.
While all the other species were in some degree of chaos, the ants did what they do best; work as a singular unit with absolutely no fear of death. This gave them an advantage over the rest and, amid all the confusion, they overpowered the other insects. When the dust settled, the ants came out on top.
The hive beneath the lost jungle was destroyed by the fighting, so they gathered what resources and intact goods they could, plus some prisoners of war, and sought a new spot to build an anthill. Their captives were integrated into the new Danian empire, one way or another. Some became soldiers, molded into their role by parasite species the ants had tamed and manipulated with primitive sorcery. The other subjugates lived in the shadow of their new masters and what became Mount Pillar, working as market salescreatures or fungal farmers who trade with the colony. Most of this ancient history, like the other tribes', has been lost to time; tidbits were recorded in the Hive Gallery.
The few survivors of the other species who weren't taken fled. Some found an obscure location, or a whole different continent to call home. Others managed to assimilate into one of the other tribes (Laarina and Zalic's ancestors becoming OverWorlders, Kerric's UnderWorlders, etc.). Taking in outsiders wasn't so big a deal in those times, all the tribes took what and who they could get.
That should be everything. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Odu will show you the door now.
"Now, get outta here! Unless you got candy."
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