A Study in Pages

Hello~ I'm Jax. I read and I know things. I am also an expert at over thinking.

[retrogamingblog]

[1970sdeaky]

“rock legend and astrophysicist” is inarguably the most powerful title one can have. the big dick energy is thru the fucking roof

[cactus-pat]

When the wizard multiclasses as a bard

[just-shower-thoughts]

Walking your hot tea over to the couch is a form of meditation in itself

[tolstoyevskywrites-deactivated2]

Aaravos’ Backstory: TDP Foreshadowing

So guys, I am a big nerd who loves foreshadowing in fantasy. While watching Season 2 of TDP, I took screenshots of the books Viren found in the library when he was trying to look up Aaravos, just in case they were decipherable…

And this book looks like it was written in a Germanic language!

So I typed the words into Google Translate, and they’re in Danish!

(TDP fans who actually speak Danish, please forgive me for this terrible google translate job. And fix my mistakes if you want, because I’m not sure I spelled anything correctly. XD)

From the top of the first screenshot:

From the second screenshot (same page; this screenshot was easier to read):

Conclusions:

Aaravos is super powerful

In the past, he helped one group of people fight another. From the way this is written, he probably helped the humans fight the elves. The author says he/she has never heard a name like Aaravos before (he/she’s not an elf) and that others call his/her people “inferior.” Sometimes humans are perceived this way in the show because they can’t do magic. Aaravos encouraged the author’s people to take control of their destiny.

He also gave them “awards.” I looked up “foraæringerne” and I think “gifts” is a better translation. He gave humans magic? Weapons? Magical weapons? Maybe he taught them dark magic!

@aceroruga clarified for me that “indbildskehed” means vanity or conceit. Thank you! “They must pay for their vanity,” yikes…

This reinforces the already convincing theory that he’s a villain

The TDP team has mastered foreshadowing

I am going to sleep now

EDIT: The second book is in Arabic, and @restuffedants translated the screenshot!

[j-t-pose]

Okay, okay. I just want to add something in here. I don't know Danish but I want to add my interpretation of what I read.

The last line in the second part says "build his future." I read this as the writer saying "build Aaravos' future" which doesn't really make sense when the previous lines were all about equality and humans making their own destiny.

Except with what we know about Aaravos' character, it does. Everything we have seen of Aaravos has him being a magnificent bastard. Just look at how he manipulated Viren without even any words! Just by playing on Viren's curiosity and desire for power.

So here is what I propose: Aaravos taught the humans Dark Magic, and the humans revered him for it.

There are a few points I have here, the first being the Cube. Aaravos' Cube. Has the symbol of each of the Primal Magicks on it. And then Callum's dream version of it had the dark magic symbol on it (you know, the swirly one that has a similar silhouette as a caduceus). In this dream, Dark Magic Callum was also wearing a cloak - much like Aaravos was wearing when we first got introduced to him.

Another point is why was he trapped in the mirror in the first place? A mirror that was found in the Dragon King's Cave no less. Probably because he was some sort of Dangerous War Criminal that the dragons needed to keep an eye on. Runaan said that the Mirror was "...a fate worse than death." Which means he clearly recognized it. He was horrified to realize that humans had a hold of it.

Also there was that creepy ritual that Aaravos did with Viren to create the babelfish caterpillar. That... Kinda seemed like Dark Magic. It has been established that the primal magicks come from withing the person but also from the environment and stuff - but dark magic just needs components like wizards from D&D. They take the magic from bits of living (or unloving) things that tend to disappear after one use. How would Aaravos know how to use this unless he studied it for a long time? Or perhaps, created it?

Anyway, that's my theory. He created Dark Magic, taught it to the humans in exchange for them to do something for him. Like "build his future."

[j-t-pose]

I have only seen a few episodes of the Highlander TV Series, but I can already tell that I am going to love it. It has a subtlety that I was not expecting at all. Now just to clarify I am not talking about subtlety in the plot - I have not seen enough to say anything on that yet... I am talking about the subtle character designs and quirks. For example, when we first meet Richie Ryan he is your typical teenage, street-wise thief whose only knowledge about history is the fact that it happened and it can be valuable. By episode five (six months or so in story) he is wearing a Leonardo da Vinci shirt.

Also the couple of times that he has picked up a sword in the season so far he has mimicked Duncan’s stances and moves, which I thought was a really nice touch. They might seem like really small things but they just enhance the story more. The six months imply the important factor of Immortals coming to the city is not a common occurrence which just makes the story more believable. The shirt and the mimicry show that Richie learns - and relatively quickly at that.  Overall, even though I have only seen five or so episodes I can happily recommend this show. The characters are all great so far - I just spoke about Richie because he is the easiest to talk about. The classic sidekick character with the promise to be great.

[j-t-pose]

So maybe I have skewed priorities, but I really want to know!

Voltron: Legendary Defender, season seven, episode eight: The Last Stand, part two.

What is it about this episode that I want to talk about? The Galra Invasion of Earth. Here’s a screenshot of how it went down:

It shows where the communications went down and thus where the Galra invaded. But what the heck was going on with Australia? 

Why are the Galra in central Australia? What happened to the coastal cities? You know, Australia’s most populated areas?

I came up with a few ideas that range from bad, to absolutely amazing (read: pure crack).

1) World War Three (wow, isn’t that delightful to think about) was really, really bad for Australia. Bad enough that they had to leave the coast and start living in central Australia. This one is hard to believe as it implies that five out of eight (it is hard to tell if they got Melbourne or not; this goes by the assumption that they did) of Australia’s capital cities had to be evacuated. Just to give you an idea of how ridiculous this is, in June 2017, Sydney housed 20.86% of the national population. Now add in some population growth...

2) Australia is so bad ass that the Galra - after landing in Central Australia - gave up invading them. I mean Australia is great, everything in this country will try to kill you. Everything. Don’t believe me? I shall direct you to the Death World page on TV Tropes where Australia has it’s very own section. And that just covers the basics. The Galra giving up due to nature getting the better of them? Yeah, I can see that happening. Just look at Olkarion.

3) This one is my favourite: Harold Holt finally walked out of the ocean with the army of fish people he had been amassing over the years in order to defend Australia in it’s time of greatest need. Because if an alien invasion set out to enslave the entire world doesn’t sound like a “time of greatest need” then I don’t know what does. 

[j-t-pose]

A theory for Acxa

I have only recently watched the series but I wanted to get this theory out before season seven gets here. Unlike many of the other theories revolving around Acxa this one has nothing to do with her possible biological relationship with Keith and Krolia. Rather it looks at the possible relationships between Acxa and certain factions, specifically the Blade of Marmora.

Basically, I propose that Acxa might actually be a member of the Blade of Marmora.

Let’s look at the facts: 

First of all, Acxa is a spy. You can tell because of her actions as a double agent for Lotor through seasons four to six. She was also very, very good at it. She successfully fooled Ezor, Zethrid, and even Haggar into believing that she had turned on Lotor. The extent of her subterfuge would require training of some sort.

Secondly, her actions with Keith. She had so many opportunities to kill him but she didn’t take them. Even if you consider her paying off a life debt that still only counts once. Let’s look at a list:

Inside the Belly of the Weblum; Keith cuts her free, Acxa responds by not shooting him when running away with the scaultrite

Tailing a Comet; the paladins and Lotor’s Amazon Brigade face off and Acxa tells her team to stick to the plan and not hold up the Paladins. This is also the episode where she takes a shot at Voltron and accidently shoots the Teludav instead - when Lotor scolds her for missing she doesn’t look that upset.

Kral Zera; this one is the most glaring as Acxa shoots Gnov in the hands to save Keith in full view of everyone. She returns to Haggar and doesn’t say anything. In fact, no one says anything. 

The Black Paladins; she follows Keith in the Sincline ship and even had her guns locked on to him but she doesn’t take the shot. She had ample time to do so before the fleet left but she chose not to.

If she was actually working for the Blade then of course she isn’t going to kill the paladins of Voltron.

Next we will look at the Blade of Marmora themselves. Even shunned as he was, Lotor was still a huge player in the Galra Empire. The Blade of Marmora has put agents in deep cover before as seen with Ulaz, Thace, and Krolia. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to believe that they placed one with Lotor as well; in fact, it would make sense. Information is their game, so not having a key player being watched is odd. The Blade employs halfbreeds and Lotor’s top generals were never full Galra. It is just too good an opportunity to pass up.

tl;dr: Acxa is a triple agent for the Blade of Marmora and her cover is just that deep.

I would love to hear some thoughts on this theory, do you think this could have something going for it or am I just grasping at straws?

[j-t-pose]

I’m late to this Clock Party

So I recently binged watched Voltron for the first time. It was pretty great.

Before I had even started though I had seen many pictures of this one guy: 

And I couldn’t help but feel that he looked really familiar... It wasn’t until I watched the show (and saw Haggar) that I worked out why. He looks like Vaati. From Legend of Zelda.

Purple? Check. Long hair? Check. Pointy ears? Check. Fabulous? Oh, so very much. Sure, Lotor doesn’t have the specific markings, but you know who does? Haggar - who (surprise, surprise) also looks like Vaati.  Also this guy:

Lieutenant Ozar, who is probably descended from some of the Alteans who were living on Daibazaal with Honerva. That would be cool.

Suffice to say, this probably doesn’t mean much. It is likely just one really elaborate shout out to LoZ. It isn’t like Voltron hasn’t referenced the games before - floating triforces anyone? But I thought I would point it out anyway, because Lotor is probably one of my favourite characters. And I know that Lotor’s appearance is based on his original design but I feel that Haggar’s is different enough from her original design to count. 

[j-t-pose]

There has to be more to Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

I waited two years to read this series so that I could read it all in one go. After finishing it though, I am convinced that there will be more… Why do I think that? Because while reading the series - especially the last book - I found too many loose threads that need to be tied up. Not to mention some underwhelming character focus. First of all, the loose threads:

Magnus’ eleventh hour superpower that he didn’t even use. Okay fine, he used it to his advantage once. With the crows. It was such a minor thing though, that it was easy to forget that it happened. So why did Riordan give Magnus the ability to speak to animals so late in the game? Norse mythology has many animals that can speak - a Hela of a lot more then many other mythologies… So here is hoping that Rick Riordan has a plan to dump Magnus into a situation that involves speaking to animals that don’t normally speak back because otherwise, what is the point?

Sigyn. So many questions about Sigyn! Where is Sigyn? Why did she leave without any warning? And more importantly, what does she have to do with Magnus? Sigyn is so full of mystery that I had to cut this point short. Find the rest of it here: https://j-t-pose.tumblr.com/post/168253657314/sigyn-in-mcga-questions-and-theories

Alex’s heritage. Now here it gets really complicated because there are so many cultures in that area which I personally know nothing about. What I do know is this: the way that entire scene played out in the book left a window - no, a door - wide open enough to invite more exploration of both Alex’s character (which needs a bit more focus) and Central & South American culture.

And of course, let’s not forget Magnus’ promise to find Bragi for Jack.

This next part is more wishful thinking rather then actual facts but it has to do with the focus - or rather lack of focus - on most of the other characters. I will admit that The Ship of the Dead gave them a little bit more focus - which was great! However, by the end of the book I was still left a little disappointed.

For example, we were told that Mallory was the glue that brought Floor 19 together, but there wasn’t really any evidence for this. There is so much potential in all those characters that it would be disapointing if Riordan doesn’t do anything with them. Like an anthology of short stories or something - “The Fables of the Flourishing Floor 19”. Just to show us why TJ and Halfborn didn’t like each other at first or give us more insight into Gunilla’s character.

Anyway I am going to do more posts like these in the future - analyses and/or theories on various characters and books. Not limited to the Riordanverse - this is just where it started.

[artisanscribbles]

You forgot the unresolved plot point of book one of Loki saying Magnus will sit on Odin’s High Seat.

That never went anywhere and I’m bitter about it

[j-t-pose]

Ooh, good spotting! However, there are a couple things to take into consideration with this point: 1) Loki’s exact words were that Magnus would get the chance to sit in Odin’s High Seat - not that he actually would. 2) Loki lies. A lot. He is the god of lies after all. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say that Loki was messing with Magnus - much of Loki in the first book was him messing with Magnus - well that, and trying to make an ally of him.

In saying that though, the most believable lies always have seeds of truth to them. In which case, Magnus may indeed have a future adventure that relates to the High Seat of Odin.

So don’t be bitter about it :) Riordan might have a plan. We can hope.

[j-t-pose]

There has to be more to Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

I waited two years to read this series so that I could read it all in one go. After finishing it though, I am convinced that there will be more… Why do I think that? Because while reading the series - especially the last book - I found too many loose threads that need to be tied up. Not to mention some underwhelming character focus. First of all, the loose threads:

Magnus’ eleventh hour superpower that he didn’t even use. Okay fine, he used it to his advantage once. With the crows. It was such a minor thing though, that it was easy to forget that it happened. So why did Riordan give Magnus the ability to speak to animals so late in the game? Norse mythology has many animals that can speak - a Hela of a lot more then many other mythologies… So here is hoping that Rick Riordan has a plan to dump Magnus into a situation that involves speaking to animals that don’t normally speak back because otherwise, what is the point?

Sigyn. So many questions about Sigyn! Where is Sigyn? Why did she leave without any warning? And more importantly, what does she have to do with Magnus? Sigyn is so full of mystery that I had to cut this point short. Find the rest of it here: https://j-t-pose.tumblr.com/post/168253657314/sigyn-in-mcga-questions-and-theories

Alex’s heritage. Now here it gets really complicated because there are so many cultures in that area which I personally know nothing about. What I do know is this: the way that entire scene played out in the book left a window - no, a door - wide open enough to invite more exploration of both Alex’s character (which needs a bit more focus) and Central & South American culture.

And of course, let’s not forget Magnus’ promise to find Bragi for Jack.

This next part is more wishful thinking rather then actual facts but it has to do with the focus - or rather lack of focus - on most of the other characters. I will admit that The Ship of the Dead gave them a little bit more focus - which was great! However, by the end of the book I was still left a little disappointed.

For example, we were told that Mallory was the glue that brought Floor 19 together, but there wasn’t really any evidence for this. There is so much potential in all those characters that it would be disapointing if Riordan doesn’t do anything with them. Like an anthology of short stories or something - “The Fables of the Flourishing Floor 19”. Just to show us why TJ and Halfborn didn’t like each other at first or give us more insight into Gunilla’s character.

Anyway I am going to do more posts like these in the future - analyses and/or theories on various characters and books. Not limited to the Riordanverse - this is just where it started.

[j-t-pose]

Sigyn in MCGA. Questions and Theories.

Unfortunately, not much is known about Sigyn even in the mythology - she is only mentioned a couple of times in the Prose Edda and really only as the “wife of Loki”. The only real look into her personality is the one line in the Poetic Edda in which a seer mentions that Sigyn is “unhappy” sitting beside a chained up Loki.

So lack of knowledge aside, in The Hammer of Thor she “accidently” knocks some of the poison into Loki’s eyes to stop Loki from recognising Sam. Now most people that I have asked wonder why she did this. To me though, the more important question is how she knew to do this. If Sigyn was down there all that time then how did she know that Sam was the bridesmaid and not the bride? Especially considering that Alex’s shapeshifting was enough to trick Loki.

Given that she disappeared at the end of the third book without so much as a stare, there is clearly more going on with her then we first thought.

What follows is pure speculation on my part: In Norse mythology, sacrifice and/or suffering is often needed in order to access magic. It is shown in the books with Hearthstone who used his childhood suffering as a basis for his rune magic. Odin himself, made sacrifices for knowledge - loss of his eye, hanged himself on the branches of Yggdrasil for nine days, and spent six months out in a blizzard.

One thousand years is a long time to endure Loki at his worst - and this is after the Æsir murdered her children and used their entrails to tie Loki down. Suffice to say, Sigyn suffered. A lot.

No wonder she cries blood.

Anyway, my theory is that after a millenia of pain and suffering Sigyn had learned enough magic to get an idea of what was going on in the outside world. Whether it was foresight like Frigg or some sort of projection like Loki, I don’t know. However, the evidence does suggest that her actions in helping Magnus were deliberate and as such she had to have had some foreknowledge of the situation. More importantly, she would have had to gain this knowledge without Loki realising - which likely rules out any outside interference such as Mimir with his Well of Knowledge.

Sigyn clearly knew more then she let on - though considering she doesn’t speak, that is not hard - and the mysteries of her character have not yet been solved. So here is to hoping that she will show up in the future.