okay. so i'm going to breakdown my least favorite theory but one i am 95% sure is true. "what did reya do to ava?"
reya is a master of the labyrinth, the unicursal maze, and all things being as above so below, microcosm/macrocosm, internal=external means that she can set paths internally and externally. the body itself is a sort of labyrinth, especially the lungs and the brain. if reya is a queen of mazes she can reroute the pathways of the brain. she's also an alchemist and can alter things chemically, including brain chemistry. that's why this image is desperately trying to tell us about what reya does to ava
it also tells us that she did the same thing to michael
the artwork on the wall is an image of a maze, but it's also an image of a brain. reya can reroute peoples' life paths, their perceived choices, as easily as she can reroute their neural pathways and manipulate their brain chemistry. there is other subtextual imagery that hints at the full scope of how terrible a power this is and the brutality it inflicts on people reya does this to. such as the allusion of ava's fear of the tarasks approaching when she is wearing the crown on her head in reya's dark stone room. a crown with teeth and a direct route into the mind that leaves the wearer immobilized and helpless. now reimagine the second photo below from the perspective of the person with the cage of hostile rats strapped around their head
compare reya staring down at ava on the other side of the tarasks with white light around her to the imagery of winston with the rat cage on his head in the dark stone torture room with the white light surrounding him as he's being brainwashed. 1984 has been directly referenced on warrior nun and associated with ava, and as with most things on this show, it was very intentional. winston is brainwashed in the end, betraying his feelings and beliefs, because his worst fears are used to break him and change the way he thinks, destroying who he was before
think back on what ava says is her worst fear in season 1. being alone and helpless. that fear is realized for a few seconds when she wakes up on dark stone, fearing herself trapped, just as beatrice blows a hole through the center wall of the labyrinthine necropolis to reach her, using the metaphorical "fire and thread" like a stick of TNT (one of reya's ancient aliases coincidentally) in order to guide ava back out of it to safety
notice how ava wakes up on a dark stone, alone when she arrives in reya's own little room 101. the rats, the minotaurs, or the tarasks approach her and she is helpless to escape them. it's her worst fear, but amplified, because reya throws everything she possibly can at ava in order to break her mind from the inside. this is reflected on the outside, because this is alchemical
in alchemy, three colors are used to represent different phases of progress, and are symbolized by different colored stones, platforms, or even beds in alchemical art. the black stone is a place of nightmares and death, the white stone is a new pathway and rebirth and a red stone is completion of the experiment, and fulfillment
reya mentally tortures ava in that dark stone room, alters her mind, and forces her to believe that she has no choice but to fulfill the mission that michael was sent to assign her. now, reya's way is the only way to escape the labyrinth. the horrible knowledge that reya was successful, just like big brother successfully brainwashes winston in 1984, is confirmed visually by ava waking herself up on the clean white sheets
a new path has been set for her, she's been reborn in reya's image. ava can no longer perceive the choices she had before, her uncertainty is gone and she has accepted that she doesn't need to be alive anymore. what was once her defining trait has been scrubbed away and in some ways she is no longer our ava. she's a doll, a bambola, posed by an inscrutable ancient overlord as a sacrifice, like a tin soldier dying mindlessly for an unknown alien cause. her soul is the same, but her mind isn't anymore
it's one of the bleakest possible endings to the show imaginable when viewed this way. thankfully, we have the cool blue light of that damn divinium sword to take the edge off what is actually a huge loss for our hero, much like the ending of season 1. and like beatrice said, sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war
izzy806
gummygunk
germansingergirl
yousharknotpass
kaledo-art
baratheonpilled
