Wait i got another question for you
How are elite Octarians born ?
Elite Octarians are those Enemies who have a harder Ai than regular Octarians and have seaweed in their hair in the story mode
Like is it a some sort of mutation? cuz if I remember says that the seaweed is like implanted into their skulls i don't know I didn't look into splatoon lore back in the days
I get to bring out the artbooks on this one! I had a lot of fun flipping through them to find as much about the elite octolings as I can. From what I gathered it looks like the seaweed isn't implanted into their skulls, and is instead attatched to their goggles.
It likely functions as a symbol of rank to show that they are stronger than a typical octoling. However I don't think that this is solely strength in fighting as we can see in Marina's chat room that Marina herself was an elite octoling, hence the seaweed.
Marina's specialty wasn't in fighting, it was in tech. So chances are elite octos are simply defined as higher rakning octarians than most others.
However, I don't think that mutation theory is far off, I really like the idea and I think I can find some evidence to back it up.
Throughout all of the games elite octolings have black tentacles instead of red, like most octoling soldiers do. Even when fuzzy they're tentacles are significantly darker than others. However, when we look at a sanitized elite octoling we can see that the tips of their tentacles are a green color.
The fact that there are even elite sanitized octolings is strange. If sanitization is meant to make them perfect soldiers, then how are some better than others? Unless they have some sort of phycical difference like a mutation.
Back to the tentacle thing, we can see Marina's tentacles are similar, being a very dark brown color with only the tips being teal. Even in her side order outfit where her tips have a galaxy color, the main color of her tentacles doesn't change.
Of course this could just be cosmetic because idols like the Squid Sisters and Pearl have tentacle tips that change color while the rest of their tentacles don't. I think for those three that is the case, but for Marina it's different.
Why would a sanitized octoling need cosmetics? Why would they care about how they look if they can't care about anything? Maybe it's because they can't change them back.
Here's my theory: In order for an octoling to earn a high rank in the Octarian Army, they have to undergo a mutation process that makes them stronger in the aspect that they are working in. For a soldier it would be physical ability, for an engineer it would be mental ability, etc. This mutation process has side effects, one being staining the octoling's tentacles, which prevents them from changing their color anywhere but the tips. This staining is permantent, which is why it can still be seen in sanitized octolings. Luckily, in inkling society this is a common trend among idols, so it is widely accepted.
But wait. What about Acht?
It is made very clear in Acht's portion of Marina's Dev Diaries that they did not care at all about advancing in the army. Even if they were offered a high ranking position, they would likely turn it down. So why are their tentacles discolored? And why are they more of a brown color than a black or dark brown?
Well I could just say that they wanted to look cool and leave it at that, but that's boring and kind of makes less sense. If discolored tentacles are associated with high ranking military leaders in the octarian army, why would Acht want to affiliate themself with them if they weren't one of them? And would they even be allowed to change the color of their tentacles?
We can clearly see that this color change is still present after their sanitization, but not fully. Their tentacles don't stay brown and instead shift to the purple at was on their tips. Now the tips of their tentacles are more of a red too.
So what gives? Why can Acht's tentacles change but the elite octolings' can't? Because Acht wasn't an elite octoling.
Their sanitization was only partial, which is why they didn't have to wear a uniform and didn't have to fight as a soldier with the other sanitized octolings. So what if that wasn't the only thing that was partial?
Acht wrote in Marina's Dev Diaries that they were "always slacking off and cutting class. I got to know the inside of the instructor's office pretty well." My theory is that, in an attempt to get Acht to pay more attention and care more about being in the Octarian Army, their instructor had them undergo part of an elite octoling mutation, resulting in similar discoloration, just not as extreme. Their insctructor hoped that they would see how much stronger they had become and would want to earn a full mutation. Their plan backfired horribly. Instead of making Acht stronger in something like strength or intellegence, it just made their ability to make muic stronger. This only led them to cutting more classes so that they could focus on making music. This, of course, didn't end too well for them since their devotion to music was what caused them to be sanitized.
Acht's tentacles keep their slight discoloration through the sanitization, but the color itself changes slightly. Sanitization made their skin green, so why wouldn't it change their tentacles too? The consistent pattern of the discoloration is that the main parts of their tentacles are darker than the tips.
Keep in mind that most of this isn't canon and is just my theories. I had a lot of fun with this one, I hadn't really considered the potential lore of elite octolings before. I really like the mutation idea!
Thank you so much for the ask! I've also concluded that I am incapaple of making a post without bringing up Acht in some way lol.
Now I would like to leave you all with this abomination that I found in the Splatoon 1 artbook.
