what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, general overview of my findings related to sampo's character, focused on elation!sampo
word count: 4.1k
overview: pre-4.0. a summary of major and relevant findings in my analyses regarding sir sampo koski! evidence-based and focused on the Big Stuff (if you think 4.1k is long for a summary you should see the 60k+ words of the analysis project itself LOL)
now that i’ve gone through an absolutely exhaustive list of sampo analysis, i figured i’d give an overall rundown of the main points + most important things i found for anyone who just wants the tl;dr!
— [from eidolon analysis] e2 “infectious enthusiasm” is the same phrase used when aha appears in the simulated universe. “infectious enthusiasm” could point toward a period in sampo’s life or a state of being that is either 1. influenced by aha’s infectious enthusiasm such as being an emanator or powerful follower or 2. being or having been aha at some point, therefore being filled with infectious enthusiasm that he disperses into others. emanator or “part of” aha theories could be a mix of the two!
— [from name analysis] “sampo” as a name is directly related to finnish folklore and the story of the sampo, which is an object that is notably known for its ties to producing riches/fortune, being fought over by several gods (including being stolen), and eventually breaking.
— [general] for someone so entwined with the masked fools and elation, sampo’s playable path is nihility. my speculation is that he is either going through a terribly depressing mid-life crisis that would heed the call of nihility, or that he is using the nihility intentionally as an attempt to offset the overpowering “infectious enthusiasm” of elation.
— [silhouette analysis] if you look closely at aha’s splash art, you can see a silhouette in the background. this silhouette may not even be sampo, but the angle of its face + neck is reminiscent of sampo’s e6 eidolon — additionally, it introduces a “dual-sided” theme we have now seen in several places, like sampo’s “the stronger the love, the stronger the hate” e4 and even zagreus (a parallel to aha) in amphoreus. one of my theories is that aha, potentially encompassing “two halves of the same coin” like their smiling and crying masks, makes a distinction between the masks/objects in the splash art and the silhouette. this could occupy a number of interpretations, such as a split between pure elation (“happiness”) and the darker, more depressing feelings (“sadness”) that lie beneath — likely something that aha has trouble reconciling or holding onto because of the path pull of aeonhood, a physical split between items like the masks versus the silhouette, or even the idea that the masks are “fake” or for show, meant to draw attention away from the real mastermind pulling the strings, the silhouette whose face is never shown.
— [light cone analysis] sampo’s light cone, eyes of the prey, positions him in a somewhat circular or dual-sided role, acting as both predator and prey. “eyes of the prey” can be seen both as looking into his (the prey’s) eyes while positioning the one behind the scope as the predator locking in on him, while also attributing the “prey” status to whoever is targeting him — thus we are seeing through the eyes of the true “prey” looking at the real predator (sampo). this implies hidden power and cunning, as sampo tends to lure others into his own traps by pretending to fall for theirs.
— [general] sampo’s character has quite a few snake motifs — especially that of ouroboros, a snake constantly trapped in a cycle of its own becoming. the straps on his outfit, when looking closer, resemble the winding form of a snake (in fact, a dead one, as the metal is reminiscent of bones), and the broader theories discussed on this page often involve him being “trapped” or hidden within a constant cycle, usually focused around power or varying states / levels of existence. additionally, and this may just be my own bias, his diamond-shaped pupils remind me of a snake’s as well.
— [penacony analysis] the suspicious nature of the penacony astral express dream bubble and sampo never visiting the express. we know, canonically, that aha has taken human form before to infiltrate the express and blow it up, and that there are… negative feelings, to say the least, from pom-pom about this event. it’s interesting that in the dream bubble, we neither see nor hear aha, even having to choose an astral express member to do the voiceover instead of aha’s real voice. this could be to simply add to the mystery, to remind us that aha could be anyone, but it could also be because we’ve seen or met them (or a variant of them, or even someone who shares visual/vocal aspects) before, and seeing or hearing them now would “ruin the surprise”. factor in sampo giving the express a wide berth, and i don’t think it’s too far a reach to speculate he doesn’t want to show up because he’s worried about being recognized or otherwise scolded by pom-pom, whether that’s because he actually did the blowing up or because he shares an appearance with the one who did. this could apply to several different sampo theories, such as him being or at some point having been aha, being an emanator or masked fool sent to do aha’s dirty work or pretend to be them, being a toy or creation meant to be “in aha’s own likeness,” or even dual theories that posit sampo is a neglected, abandoned, or overworked/exploited side of the aeon who, despite not really being the crazy one, still shares the same body or visual appearance, almost like having an “evil twin”. any of these could account for sampo not wanting to be “recognized” on the express.
incidentally, his burst being a bomb called “surprise present” is uh… very on point for this discussion LOL
— [amphoreus update/analysis] (note: as of 3.3, the spirithief has been explicitly confirmed through dialogue to be zagreus.) zagreus is incredibly similar to aha and the spirithief is incredibly similar to sampo. in my opinion, i think they are meant to stand as a narrative parallel to these characters, much as nikador / strife is meant to parallel nanook / the destruction. while the comparisons may not be 1:1, i do think we can glean insight from sampo’s potential situation through it. for example, the spirithief remarks on having a familiar relationship with zagreus, often quoting them line for line, describing how they felt about things, or recounting events that honestly seem more like individual memories. some of the spirithief’s exploits line up with the famous exploits of zagreus, and they seem to have memory/consciousness problems centered around the themes of betrayal and/or being “caught” or “trapped”. for example, the spirithief “jokes” that they once tried to steal something from the council of elders, only to realize it had been a trap, resulting in a frankly humiliating loss that accompanied a drastic reduction in power/ability. at first, it’s easy to write this off as a joke, but the spirithief actually validates this event offhandedly when reciting zagreus quotes for us as an npc, mentioning that zagreus once found themself in a trap set by okheman elders. in terms of the “grand lie” laid out in 3.3, this positions the spirithief as an extremely cunning individual who is capable of weaving lies and falsehoods for their own self-preservation, much like how they did in their prime as zagreus but now with the additional help of cipher’s current holding of the trickery coreflame.
i personally think these lines are incredibly important: “The talents that I have relied on over the years vanished in an instant. My once perfectly watertight handiwork was suddenly full of holes... It's like I wasn't even myself.” the idea of “not even being themself” sticks out to me, as it’s canon that the spirithief is a reduced version of zagreus themself, potentially being betrayed, trapped, or imprisoned in this new state. the accompanying struggles with falsehood, consciousness, and self, could align with the coreflame of trickery being reclaimed and currently held by cipher. in the case of sampo, it’s worth wondering why these parallels exist — the spirithief sure lines up with linguistic quirks like “old bart” vs. “old sampo” and constantly swindling, deceiving, or otherwise trying to steal from us — and it’s worth speculating on what exactly that parallel means given the canonical identity of the spirithief as zagreus.
(written before 3.3 but i still think this part slaps! i am genuinely surprised at how on the money i was) at the time of writing this, amphoreus has not concluded, so maybe we will get more light shed on this near the end, but i personally like to think the spirithief is a “shade” of former zagreus (who is known to be vanished/dead and their coreflame passed on), similar to cerces hanging around anaxa, who struggles with the memories and consciousness of their past life due to the betrayal or “outwitting” of a third party which resulted in them being overturned, usurped, or in some other way diminished. basically, the spirithief used to be zagreus and is, in a way, still them in terms of wants, desires, and passions, but is no longer in that position of power. they may be trying to simply survive, or they may be actively trying to cheat death, reclaim their power, or carry out revenge.
i think the spirithief-zagreus theory holds the most weight when transferring to sampo, as i can easily see him occupying a similar “usurped” position to spirithief-zagreus, potentially having been exponentially more powerful (emanator, aeon, or otherwise) before a betrayal ousted him and caused him to “fall” into whatever current state he’s in. in this case, most if not all of my theories about the spirithief and zagreus could apply to sampo and aha, including the aspects of zagreus’ lore describing the titan as “accidentally” being entered into the pantheon due to stealing another god’s seat, not being interested in fulfilling their divine duties, and being dual-sided as well as the god of the “poor and unremarkable”. the spirithief additionally hints at stealing an “unimaginable” secret too big for them, which likely has something to do with their current state. in my opinion all of these things can go into the sampo-aha pot, with the indication that both entities may be more connected than we realize.
— [simulated universe analysis] the aha stuffed toy occurrence has several links to sampo, and is my main point of support for doll theory, which posits sampo may be an aha stuffed toy created in aha’s own likeness to go out into the universe and cause mayhem. this theory likely includes some sort of creator abandonment, exploitation, or discarding on the part of aha. if sampo is a puppet, he is probably one who gained consciousness and subsequently caught his creator’s eye again, resulting in “promotion” within the masked fools or into emanatorhood.
— [penacony analysis] sampo and sparkle notably know each other directly and seem to have a long history filled with backstabbing. this seems to be something lighter or more in jest, although it’s always hard to tell with either of them. sparkle, for better or for worse, has been hanging onto the key and whereabouts of sampo’s “mask,” and is the one responsible for providing him with its location when he asks. the mask’s nature or power is unclear, so it could be anything from a regular masked fools mask (unlikely, since it had to be hidden) all the way to the mask of an emanator or even aeon. it’s possible that sampo “put down” his mask intentionally to accomplish a goal or otherwise live a different life, whether that be giving up the power of an emanator by discarding the object that bestows him that power or directly consolidating his aeonic power into a mask that he could then take on and off at will. the latter is probably more difficult to believe, since i’m not even sure aeons can do that — however if any of them were to be able to, i’d think it’d be aha’s chaotic ass. it is also possible that the removal of his mask was not consensual, and that he was betrayed, outwitted, or usurped in a major way that left sparkle in possession of it, choosing to hide it and only reveal the location when it interested her.
personally, i think sampo’s vibe in that conversation was of someone who entrusted his mask to sparkle for safekeeping, since she basically gives him the information he wants when he asks. this implies an intentional removal of status or power, likely to achieve a goal of becoming more inconspicuous or separating himself from the overwhelming power of elation. in my opinion, this finds a good balance at an emanator power level, although that emanatorhood could still be the result of a closer relationship with aha like being the silhouette, a stuffed toy, a previous consciousness, or someone who was simply inducted into the Aha Brain Zone upon becoming an emanator. however, i do have a soft spot for an unreachable aeonic entity not only finding a way to, but choosing to put down a vast majority of their power to carry out some plan — especially if that plan includes outwardly nonsensical steps like fucking around on an isolated planet, “coincidentally” running into the main character literally everywhere, and being chased around by local guards — so maybe aha!sampo’s still in the cards.
— [penacony analysis] the “clown’s items” sampo gives us on penacony during his part of the quest include moment of betrayal, cloud of doubt, and everlasting hatred. whether this is sparkle or sampo in the moment, i think it can still be taken as an indication of his character either as 1. how sparkle views sampo and how she would characterize his life/assume he would make a nod to it, or 2. sampo’s own attempt to indicate something about himself in a roundabout way. the themes of betrayal, doubt, and hatred line up with other things we know about him, such as his e4 eidolon mentioning “hate” and implications of a past betrayal/exploitation, such as natasha remarking that sampo hates “owing people things”. again, this betrayal, doubt, and hatred could be coming from and directed to many different places, and could encompass theories spanning emanatorhood, aeonhood, masked fools leader, aha stuffed toy, and more. however, i still like to think he was betrayed from some position of power, either from someone below him usurping his status or someone above abandoning him/casting him aside. hell, it could be both!
— [general] sampo is a tragic character. one of the most striking things i’ve found from my analysis, especially the new amphoreus material, is that sampo is likely a more tragic figure than anyone seems to believe. his base character includes heavy themes of warped love, betrayal, exploitation, abandonment, and even clinical depression if we account for how his nihility path may interact with elation, and links to zagreus/the spirithief imply struggles with falsehood, identity, and memory, including the idea that literally no one believes in him, trusts him, or loves him.
the further up the chain of divinity he is, the more this disconnection widens, because why would people care for an untouchable aeon? why would people care for the most annoying untouchable aeon? even on an emanator stage, sampo would be seen as above the common pathstrider, which may come with the double-sided trauma of both not being trusted/understood by those below him — perhaps even resulting in betrayal — and being exploited, manipulated, or lied to by those above.
the lower down he is on the chain of divinity, the more likely he is to be taken advantage of or be “the butt of the joke”. like the spirithief, he may have to use everything at his disposal, including his services and eloquence, to simply survive or stop himself from being killed/hurt. no matter where he falls, there is some sort of tragedy to be found since those themes are already present in his character, no matter what his true identity ends up being.
i personally think this may be why he’s so protective of belobog, at least on a more personal level, because people there actually treat him somewhat like a person. it’s not perfect, but he can feel like he’s making a difference, like he’s actually helping the underworld and creating connections with people like natasha and hook.
overall, yeah, this guy is sad, and all i can hope is that he doesn’t get sadder 😭
main questions:
these are the main questions that have cropped up for me as i have explored sampo’s material. i don’t pose them because i mean to provide a definitive answer, but rather just to open up the conversation and discuss possibilities!
what exactly is the relationship between sampo and aha? are they closely related (i.e. sharing consciousness, the same person, a reduced or expanded version of oneself) or are they more divided (i.e. creator and created, aeon and emanator, silhouette and masks)?
related: is aha an unreachable entity to sampo, such as a masked fool simply following the path of an untouchable god, or do they take a more proactive role in his life, such as bestowing path or emanator power directly upon him? are they an absent parent? a past or current self? an abusive partner? a convenient benefactor?
how close is the narrative of the spirithief and zagreus to sampo and aha?
can the spirithief’s “great lie”, consciousness, and past identity as zagreus/present identity as a “fallen” or “darkened” version of zagreus be mapped onto sampo? in that case, could the indication of “stealing an unimaginable secret,” being betrayed due to someone capitalizing on personal flaws and/or impulses, and having to lend out their services to others in a humiliating attempt to survive be related to sampo as well?
related: could zagreus’ lore of neglecting divine duties, stealing a god’s seat (resulting in accidental responsibilities), dual-sided nature, and being a god of the poor and unremarkable also map onto sampo and/or aha?
what is the role of betrayal in sampo’s life? is he the one doing the betraying, being betrayed, or both?
where exactly on the power scale does he sit — aeon, emanator, faction leader, pathstrider, just a guy? — and how has that changed over the course of his life? examples: an aeon or emanator who was outwitted and is now trapped in a powerless body; an emanator who set down their power to become a simple pathstrider; an aeon attempting to outwit the forces of fate and death by severing their power from their physical self; a faction leader, pathstrider, or follower who usurped an emanator or aeon himself and now holds that power; a powerless creation with an echo of aeonic ability who has steadily begun to claim more power for himself; a powerless thief who drew the attention of an aeon or faction and has now gotten more than he bargained for mask-style; etc.
theory time!
so, what are the main theories here? aside from my favorite theories post i made earlier, here’s a general rundown of possibilities:
sampo as a past, present, or even future version of aha. [generally, this theory relies on the instability of the elation path, and how aha seems to be a unique case among other aeons — think their closer relationship with mortals, their unpredictable jokes, their ability to take human form, their sharing of full path power with emanators, etc. — because my aha!sampo theories often view elation emanatorhood/aeonhood as flexible positions. this puts the elation, and by extension aha, in a unique position to be betrayed, tricked, or outwitted at their own game, and opens up the possibility that emanators or even aha themself could be a “revolving door” of sorts.] this includes potential betrayal from both sides, such as aha!sampo being outwitted and dethroned by another who took their place (a sampo who is no longer “aha”), emanator! or follower!sampo who betrayed aha and usurped their power for himself (a sampo who is currently “aha”), and masked fool!sampo who has a plan to take aha’s power for himself (a sampo who may be a future “aha”). this also includes theories surrounding aha entering a “diminished” or “darkened” state (which would be sampo), either intentionally or as a result of betrayal. aha may have chosen to “become mortal” for a variety of reasons, such as attempting to cheat death/fate, carrying out an endgame plan, or running away from divine duty. or, they’re simply just so interested in the trailblazer that they decided to astral beam themself to belobog to meet us. who knows 🤷
sampo as a part of aha but not the whole. this encompasses most silhouette / mask / dual-sided theories, where aha is a larger, collective entity that only includes sampo as opposed to fully being him. sampo could be functioning as an inhabited body, a puppetmaster, a puppet, a “dark” or “hidden” side, an additional form, or even an emanator with shared consciousness as part of aha’s “collection”. this can also run alongside abandonment theories such as aha attempting to cut off their silhouette or “dual” side, essentially trying to separate one part of themself from the other.
sampo as a past, present, or future emanator. similar to aha theories, this deals with differing levels of power and betrayal. sampo could have been made an emanator a long time ago or fairly recently, been in aha’s sights for a while as a potential future emanator, or usurped power from a previous emanator to become one. it is likely that aha at some point shared large amounts of path power with him (as they are known to do), but that power could have been given and revoked at different times. part of sampo’s betrayal could have included “falling” from emanator status as aha took it away on a whim, being the butt of cruel or personal aeonic jokes, or being abandoned in favor of another, shinier option. the betrayal could also be a future plan, such as sampo attempting to get revenge on parties who have wronged him (aeonic or otherwise), or something not yet mentioned. it is also possible that sampo gave up or repressed his emanator powers intentionally to accomplish a goal or cheat death, much in the same way aha!sampo might try to take mortal form to escape fate. it is likely he knows or has known aha personally due to their known interactions with others, whether he has currently been abandoned or not.
sampo as a creation of varying power levels. doll theory is the leading theory here, mostly centered around sampo being “created” by aha through aeonic means. sampo as a creation may view aha in a multitude of different ways, including resentment at an absent parent or complicated feelings surrounding being abandoned or discarded. he may be an aha stuffed toy who gained consciousness, or a body/receptacle meant to aid aha in misdirection or possession. his power level here may vary, as he could be a powerless creation trying to find meaning through the masked fools, all the way to an emanator or partially aeonic level of sharing consciousness with aha, if not being bestowed large amounts of path power due to aha’s renewed interest.
sampo as an outlier entity. sampo could also be a completely unique specimen within the universe, some unexplainable long-life entity who has become entangled in a web of different paths. with his parallels to spirithief-zagreus, he might even be a part of zagreus that managed to “escape” amphoreus! it is likely that aha recognized him as an interesting individual and either guided him towards the masked fools or, already finding him there, made him an emanator.
sampo sharing intense or obvious physical similarities to aha or aha’s mortal form. this deals not only with aeonic or emanator theories, but also creation theories and misdirection. whatever the case, sampo shares enough physical similarities as aha that the two could be mistaken for one another (leading to all the issues with the astral express). it could be that the reason for sampo looking like aha is because he is them in some way, or it could be that aha intentionally takes sampo’s form to cause trouble for him and mess with people, or sampo could have been created in the “likeness” of aha’s mortal form. it could even be an attempt at misdirection, as sampo may look like aha to divert attention from their real self.
inter-aeonic conflict. with all the paths at play in sampo’s character, it’s possible that there is also some path-melding, stealing, or inter-aeonic conflict occurring. the scope and nature of this conflict likely differs based on what sampo’s position or power level might be, but it could be that certain aeons banded together to “punish” aha by restricting them to a mortal form, or otherwise “steal” sampo as his own entity because he is important to the elation, etc.
varying combinations of multiple theories. many of these theories can slot into each other in different ways, like sampo being both a creation and an emanator, a part of aha who was cast out yet still afforded some level of path power, a former aha who was usurped and now forced to be an emanator for the new one against his will, etc. there are many ways these can intersect, and i find them all fascinating!
updated note: after seeing the teaser for planarcadia, i think these are some good questions and theories to have going into the next arc. the idea of a game where someone can “become aha for one minute” heavily supports the idea that elation’s aeonic power is flexible and subject to changing hands. aha!sampo betrayal theories could work well with the games, especially if this game was the scenario used to trick or outwit him in the past.
i hope you enjoyed reading through this! that’s all!
what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, theory crafting, elation!sampo and aha!sampo, continuation of amphoreus part one, author going bonkers fucking yonkers over the spirithief-zagreus reveal, and also crying, amphoreus as a microcosm of the wider universe, "the spirithief is to zagreus what sampo is to aha" ass thesis
word count: 6.8k
overview: an analysis update for amphoreus, focused on the 3.3 trailblaze quest, zagreus lore, and how they might relate to mr. sampo "i'm totally just a normal guy no don't look at my e2 named infectious enthusiasm" koski
[Written during 3.1-3.2, revised during 3.3, posted during early 3.4!]
I still recommend checking out these Wiki pages for dialogue and events:
Spirithief are a type of puzzle found in Amphoreus. After completing the puzzle, the player must speak to "Spirithief" Bartholos. Some of th
"Spirithief" Bartholos is an NPC on Amphoreus, located in "Eternal Holy City" Okhema. They initially appear in the Trailblazer's room in the
Zagreus was one of the Titans on Amphoreus. Their Coreflame is Trickery.[1] During the events of Trailblaze Mission Chest, Bear the Bygone D
*NOTE: Most of this was written pre-3.3 (up until I talk about the 3.3 Trailblaze quest), but I am leaving some of it only lightly revised because, for being written pre-Zagreus-confirmation, a lot of it lines up with what we know now!*
Just like with part one, I am leaving much of my rambles in lowercase because holy shit I wrote 6.8k words and manually capitalizing all this feels like a nightmare!
This analysis is predicated on the same analytical thesis as the last — that the Spirithief is meant to narratively mirror Sampo and Zagreus is meant to narratively mirror Aha, allowing us to gain insight and foreshadowing concerning the relationship between Sampo and Aha by observing the relationship between the Spirithief and Zagreus.
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Zagreus
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Zagreus themself is a major piece of connective tissue between Aha, Sampo, and the Spirithief. Here’s a quick rundown of important bits before I get into the details of Divergent Universe and other specific events:
Zagreus’ Current State of Being
the wiki states zagreus is canonically deceased prior to the game’s events. as i mentioned previously, cipher and zagreus are separate entities, with cipher merely possessing the coreflame of “trickery,” set to become the trickery titan in the next cycle. zagreus, however, is dead, presumably killed so cipher could take the coreflame from them. this means that it is entirely possible zagreus, as a manifestation of trickery itself, sought to find a way to survive or cheat death after their “death”. this is where we get the spirithief’s memory issues, zagreus lines, and diminished/“darkened” state.
if it is possible for cerces to hang around for a while with anaxa despite him possessing the coreflame, i think it’s possible for the vestiges of zagreus to hang around amphoreus (and cipher, as seen in the seal slammers event) doing little trickster things. this death was likely a result of betrayal or a “trap” to lure them out, which resulted in them having to beg for their life or otherwise lend out their services to survive. i do think this could be very similar to what has happened to sampo, whether that be on an emanator or aeonic scale.
Voice of Constellation: “Coin of Whimsy” Zagreus
zagreus’ voice of constellation at the vortex of genesis has a lot of details that directly line up with some of my sampo interpretations. namely — zagreus being the titan of “lies and fortune,” being “two-faced” or dual-sided, and being a god of the “poor and unremarkable”. zagreus also got entered into the pantheon completely on accident after stealing mnestia’s seat (disguising themself as mnestia) and does not want to fulfill their divine duties. their icon is two-sided and they are often depicted as both smiling and crying (remind anyone of certain masks?) — they like sowing chaos and disorder, especially among gods, but can also bring fortune such as appearing “in barren desert areas to provide people with unpredictable opportunities and change”. people both curse them and pray to them at different times, and as the entry says: “Nothing is perfect, and no truth remains eternal. Change and carelessness can be fatal, but they can also be a savior in a critical moment.”
this is actually SO in sync with my interpretation of sampo that for a moment i did think he might actually be zagreus himself who somehow escaped from amphoreus (even though post-confirmation that theory has a very low chance of being true). sampo has dual-sided motifs like “the stronger the love, the stronger the hate,” encapsulates both lies and truth, both steals and brings fortune, and has canonically had a hand in bringing change and unpredictable opportunities to a barren wasteland (belobog).
if you were to ask me what i want to be canon, i think the most robust and interesting narrative would be amphoreus simply paralleling the wider universe on a small scale, much like how strife / nikador is reminiscent of the destruction / nanook. in that case, zagreus / the spirithief could parallel aha / sampo (or even parallel an emanator version of sampo), leading to connections between divine betrayal, lures & traps, “cheating death,” stealing or discovering an unimaginable truth, and shirking divine duties.
i’ve always seen mnestia as paralleling idrila the beauty, which is interesting because idrila is currently missing / dead. if we take amphoreus’ titans as easter eggs, then that might imply aha somehow? stole idrila’s position as aeon by impersonating them and were then left with the burden of divine duty they do not want ??? either way, aha / sampo may not want to be an aeon (or emanator) and fulfill their duties, which could lead to a sort of “game” or plan to run away, which sampo may be carrying out by ingratiating himself with the trailblazer, sneaking down and away to live on belobog, putting away his mask, or all three.
Dual-Sided Zagreus
zagreus is seen as both smiling and crying (being dual-sided), and aha’s masks + sampo’s motifs reflect that as well. this brings in the theory of potentially two entities or bodies within one, that there might be a different side to trickery or elation from what we’ve seen. think of the hidden silhouette in aha’s splash art versus the masks, and the way the spirithief hangs around cipher. it’s possible that the spirithief and sampo are an abandoned, cast-away, or rejected side of zagreus / aha, the darker feelings or shadows that trickery / elation could not, by nature, be burdened with.
in this case, both the spirithief and sampo could be part of a larger divine body while still occupying separate forms. they’ve gotten the short end of the stick, though, easily being taken advantage of by their more flashy counterpart, which could lead to feelings of resentment, betrayal, or revenge. [NOTE: as of 3.3, this does not seem to be the spirithief’s case, but it could still be sampo’s!]
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Divergent Universe Lore
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There are three Zagreus-related lore writings in the 3.0 Divergent Universe update: “The God Who Fooled Divines,” “The God Who Teased Mortals,” and “The God of Displacement and Chaos.” Each has their own unique lore drops, and I’ll go through each one in order.
The God Who Fooled Divines
“Zagreus, the master of deception, the Coin of Whimsy, embodies duality — just like the body and its shadow, a smile with tears.” — a body and shadow! how interesting! just like masks and their silhouette, perhaps! also, the specific use of “shadow” reminds me of the spirithief, the shadowed, “darkened” form of zagreus.
“Indeed, they attempted to steal the colossal machine known as "Dawn," but their fragile shadow was incapable of carrying the weight of the world.” — since this is a more reliable source than the spirithief’s words, we now have confirmation that the spirithief’s assertion that they stole or tried to steal kephale’s dawn device is real, meaning they were zagreus when they did it. also, shadow again! the word “fragile” in particular reminds me of sampo’s “watch the face!” line too.
“They had to endure divine punishment.” — could be an explanation for why the spirithief is the way they are, or how the coreflame came into cipher’s possession.
“Therefore, Aquila closed their eyes. The omnipotent Kephale shifted "Dawn" to the world's edge, where in the darkness, only Zagreus's ever-reaching shadow marked the trail. The sinner's punishment lasted twelve days and nights, but would Zagreus' tricks truly cease? The Thief Star in the sky already told us. It lurks at the year's end, on the last day of the Month of Fortune. Once all Titans have departed, it secretly follows Janus, reversing the guiding paths.” — again, lots of darkness, shadows, and secrecy with this punishment. it reminds me of the spirithief’s dark colors (blacks and purples) and their reference to their “darkened” state in the seal slammers event. also, the twelve days and nights may imply a current punishment that is only temporary, or going back to sampo, an ongoing punishment that may be reaching its end. who knows?
“The thief's retribution. The gambler's rant. The swindler's complaint.” — mention of thieves and swindlers!
“The gods lost their way for a day, and the world fell into chaos. The calendar now has an extra, nonexistent "Spirit Day," a day of mad scenes such as insects devouring birds and dromases running madly in the seas.” — “spirit day” reminds me of spirithief.
The God Who Teased Mortals
“The fortune they bring to the world is like a coin — heads for luck, tails for resignation, reflecting the capricious nature of Zagreus. They delight in seeing the fortunate envied and revel in watching sudden misfortune bring others to ruin.” — more dual-sided motifs! also ties nicely into the help / harm duality of most paths, especially elation. while elation can delight or find humor in tragedy, it also can find humor in helping others or bringing fortune!
“No one truly believes in them. No one truly loves them. No one truly respects them.” — guys what if i cried. what if i actually cried. if the zagreus-spirithief situation is meant to parallel aha-sampo, i’m sad !!! what do you mean no one believes in them or loves them or respects them as a result of their path :(((
“Their lies could supplant the truth. Their fortune could corrupt the purest hearts. Their schemes could topple empires.” — reminds me of sampo’s back-and-forth between lies and truth, his name origins being related to fortune, and the way that man is constantly scheming.
“But who would place their trust in a schemer more fickle than the ocean? Fate has its Janusopolis, the lands have its Icatus, and even the dreaded Thanatos boasts of Aidonia. Yet Zagreus finds no welcome within any city-state.” — that is so sad ??? hello ???? it even says zagreus used to do benevolent acts but no one ever trusted or believed in them so they’re still not welcomed anywhere :(( wth :(((( reminds me of no one trusting or believing in sampo because of his scams when in reality he ends up helping quite a lot of people on the daily.
“Of course, the remarkable Dolos is an exception. Enthralled by the exploits of the Coin of Whimsy, they have been engrossed for generations in attempting to recreate grand deceptions.” — to bring in doll theory, this reminds me of the aha stuffed toys as this huge ocean of lookalikes that go out and recreate aha’s fun little acts. bonus points for them having the same color scheme as sampo, perhaps pointing more towards a “one of many” doll / toy / puppet theory.
“But does Zagreus truly hold any affection for us? If profitable, surely even the downfall of Amphoreus would not hinder their dealings.” — yeahhh they’re not escaping the “to betray my customers, i charge extra” allegations.
The God of Displacement and Chaos
“Why did Zagreus disappear without a trace when no blade was thrust into their Coreflame? Could this be merely a ruse, a fake-out death to avoid the battles amongst the Titans and the encroaching black tide, thus continuing to stir chaos amongst mortals?” — good question, and one i’ve been trying to answer with some success! we now have confirmation they just “disappeared” and are assumed to be dead because their coreflame passed on, but as of 3.3 we also know that yes, zagreus survived, albeit reduced to a smaller form — i have speculated before that death or “false” death may play a future (or past/present) part in aha!sampo or emanator!sampo’s story, but this is pretty on the nose! we still dont know for sure on sampo’s side, but it’s possible.
(3.3 NOTE: i think it’s important to bring in cipher here, since cipher and the spirithief are working together to “fool” everyone into thinking zagreus is dead, when zagreus is in fact the spirithief. while this could be a result of zagreus faking their death for other reasons, i interpret it as zagreus being backed into a corner so-to-speak, and cipher being sympathetic enough to try to help them find a way to survive. i think this could also point towards sampo being in a similar situation!)
“Their kin, the silver-tongued Spirithief Bartholos, still wanders. What secrets did the Trickery Titan confide to it before their fall?” “Zagreus' treasure. The insane truths of the Titans. Nothing but falsehoods.” — clearly cipher and zagreus are doing something right because even more objective sources are assuming the spirithief is just their kin!
there are then stories, likely peddled by the spirithief directly, that range from zagreus splitting their soul into the thief’s hands to be then put back together to resurrect zagreus, zagreus putting everyone under a dream similar to the order, cipher being the incarnation of zagreus, a thief (maybe even the spirithief) accidentally killing zagreus while trying to steal, or even roaming okhema’s baths to steal drinks. i say these are likely peddled by the spirithief because one of the blurbs directly has bartholos mention their name in the third person as always in an attempt to “help assemble” the thief’s hands to resurrect zagreus. all the way up to cipher being an incarnation is in quotations, presumably being spoken by the spirithief before they “depart” after. they also make a slip of the tongue and say “old zagreus” so uh. hey “old bart”. flying a little too close to the sun there.
“Legend states Zagreus' misdeeds could fill the seas. Legend admits these stories are spun by Zagreus themself.” — which brings us here. if legend admits zagreus spins these themselves, then we need to look at who is spinning them…. oh? most of them are from the spirithief…. inch resting……. also, notably among all the crazy tales (which admittedly are reminiscent of many of my aha!sampo theories don’t look at me 🫣) not one implicated the spirithief, almost as if they are trying to direct away from the real truth. by creating many falsehoods that do have inklings of truth to them, they are able to divert people from asking the real questions, such as “old bart, why do you know how zagreus felt about so many things?” and “old bart, why do your exploits line up with the exact same things zagreus did?” and “old bart, what are the secrets and plans and games you’ve mentioned, and why do you act so similarly to how the trickery titan would act?”
taking it back to sampo, this might be what he’s doing as well, using the masked fools and all his different aliases to “mr. cold feet” his way out of his duties, throwing all these stories around to distract from the real truth: that he is someone he doesn’t want to be. that he is someone no one trusts, and someone who, sometimes, just wants to save his own skin, even if that’s not what the pull of elation urges him to do. anyways!
Extra
yeah so uhhhh i fear the “outwitting” lines up with what the spirithief has said and implied, as well as the idea of punishment, falling, and/or being stripped of power. also “forcing zagreus to reap what they sowed” sounds INCREDIBLY ominous, as well as the “curse” on their coreflame. this links more directly to the “blue-haired curse” with sampo and that maybe the reason he has so many paths muddled in him (nihility, erudition, preservation, elation, etc.) is because the other aeons were tired of his shit and gave him a collective punishment 😭 “sampo” as a name would then make sense, as the punishment was always planned to be temporary, and at some point he will return to higher consciousness after “learning his lesson”.
however, the other legend may have credibility with the idea of zagreus turning into a snake and being able to traverse freely between life and death. this could line up with an understanding of the spirithief as a “living dead” zagreus, or at least a part of them, as well as sampo’s snake motifs and theories he may be attempting to cheat death.
imo, this can still work with 3.3, as if we take this story verbatim, it could simply be a past event that explains how zagreus has been able to worm their way out of being destroyed by cipher. it could also be read as a metaphor or fable, simply conveying to us the idea that zagreus is capable of walking that fine line between life and death. this still creates a precedent for the spirithief’s current situation by establishing that they have unique abilities concerning their own survival.
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Aha Dream Bubble Detour
(Star Rail: WORLD Event)
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[Non-Spirithief-related, but I wanted to make a note of this somewhere since it is technically new to the Amphoreus updates.]
Source: Star Rail WORLD guest occurrence (Screwllum’s Gift). Choosing “Dream in the style of Elation” has an option to “blow the Astral Express in half,” which then specifically says “So it was you. ‘The Worst Nameless Ever’!” — We know that Aha has blown the Astral Express up, and that the dream bubble’s perspective explicitly mentions “The Worst Nameless Ever.”
i had been a bit confused before on who exactly we are in the perspective of in the penacony astral express dream bubble, but the star rail world event has a line that confirms (or at least implies) the perspective is in fact aha’s — which does make sense considering we do not see them or hear their real voice for potentially spoiler reasons.
with aha being that perspective, i do think it adds to aha!sampo theories and theories that sampo is “made in aha’s likeness” or would otherwise be similar enough to make the audience go “😲🫵” if we were to see them.
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Chimera Event
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In this event we literally fight and beat up the Spirithief, which, if you’ve read any of my Doll!Sampo theories, very much ties into the idea of Sampo as an entity being very… well… beat-uppable by design.
I’m not completely joined at the hip to Doll Theory since it’s possible this whole motif could apply to many different potential plot threads, but it’s good food for thought!
The Spirithief does say some notable lines like “I’m getting too old for this,” reminiscent of sampo talking about his age, complaining about stairs, etc. and “Go easy on me!” and “Ow, why so rough?” and “Outnumbering me? So unfair.” — mostly I’m just sad because it reminds me a lot of how everyone is mean (both verbally and physically) to Sampo a lot of the time and he really gets no say in it :(( Don’t worry Bart I will hug you :3
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Seal Slammers
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Notably, the Spirithief appears in the Seal Slammers event alongside Cipher, and their seal’s dialogue line is “Even in my darkened state, I still have someone to protect” (much like Sampo with Belobog or even the Trailblazer). Bartholos even defends Cipher when she loses. I see this as akin to Cerces following Anaxa around, as we know the Titans can tend to linger after their disappearances or “deaths”.
Cipher and Bartholos actually remind me a bit of Sparkle and Sampo, with Sparkle being the more flashy, outwardly “powerful” one while Sampo is in the background like pleaseee don’t look at me I am just a poor con-man 🥺 I know nothing I promiseeee 🥺🥺
This could also be speaking around a backstory involving multiple people or gods ganging up on Bartholos / Zagreus and essentially dethroning them, thus creating those feelings of betrayal and revenge, or even be similar to a usurper of divine power for Sampo, either Emanator or Aeonic!
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Ode of Trickery
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Ode of Trickery is a readable you can collect in Amphoreus, and includes the song travelers sing in an attempt to keep Zagreus’s deception and pilfering at bay. I recommend reading through the text on the wiki here (or in-game if you have it), but I will still go over my main findings!
Ode of Trickery is a readable found on Amphoreus. During your travels, singing songs will repel Zagreus and reduce the chances of encounteri
this ode feels like a more “mask off” (pun intended) moment for zagreus and by extension aha — here, a fun, whimsical jokester of a god is referred to as “the coin of whimsy with two faces and bodies, the shadow of zagreus.”
i am, quite honestly, shellshocked at how blatantly this motif is expressed, likely because it is a readable and may be meant as a reward for those who go looking for it — i have posited for a while that both zagreus and aha may have literal dual sides, as in multiple bodies, faces, or personalities, but now it has been confirmed as at least a popular understanding of zagreus within amphoreus.
this makes sense, since we can see the former shade of zagreus (the spirithief) and cipher functioning similarly, with the spirithief as a “shadow” or darkened form of zagreus and cipher as the more active holder of trickery’s power.
mapping this onto aha, this fits in nicely with “silhouette” theories, like the ones i have posited concerning sampo as the shadow or silhouette behind aha’s masks — in this case (if zagreus’ lore does have something to say about paralleling aha in the wider universe) i would put my money on sampo being the shade or “shadow” to this dual-sided entity — the hidden face, the obscured body, the shadow behind the masks.
“In their hallowed temple, the position stolen by you, the priest deceived.” — likely referring to zagreus’ accidental entry into the pantheon by stealing mnestia’s seat.
“Two crimson shadows streak across the sky. / One is a shade that not even Mnestia’s wings can hope to catch. / One is a thieving star that not even Aquila’s eyes can hope to seek.” — i tend to believe the shade is referring to the spirithief and the thieving star is currently referring to cipher; however, with amphoreus’ cycles, this could be a revolving door of sorts, different people and entities occupying the roles of “shade” and “thieving star” respectively as the cycles continue. this means the spirithief was once the thieving star, with potentially a previous trickery occupying the shade.
for sampo, this also implies a flexibility in form, status, and power. mostly, it makes me wonder if sampo may be in a similar position, a similar ouroboros of being at the height of power, then being reduced to a mere shade, etc. this could be anything from having the power of a masked fool’s mask all the way to the aeonic stage — if aha has multiple sides, faces, or bodies like zagreus, then just how far has sampo risen, and how far has he fallen?
“Who pretends to be the traveler…” — interesting considering sampo often presents himself to be a humble businessman / traveler / etc. — this may not be 1:1, but he does like to pretend he’s “lesser” in power than he really is.
“The howling tides yet call out your name, giant waves ripping ships to shreds, yet the vessel stolen by you unseen.” — i really don’t know what to make of this. it seems like a reference to sampo’s namesake, given that the mythological sampo was fought over, stolen, broken, and eventually lost at sea. however, i am not sure if this is another parallel to aha, or if sampo is somehow directly implicated with this? would this mean, parallel-speaking, sampo is a vessel stolen by aha? or is this meant to invoke the mythological sampo and tie it to zagreus specifically? the world may never know.
“I will shove your trail into an amphora, and throw it into the vortex of glorious blooms.” — just a potential link to the spirithief’s (and by extension sampo’s) betrayal / “reduction” motifs, and the idea they may have been forcibly shoved into a vessel or current body due to usurpment.
“What are you waiting for? Why not flee with that Spirithief of yours?” — makes it clear that the common populace have completely bought the lie that the spirithief and zagreus are separate entities. in my opinion, this could be the case with aha and sampo as well, with everyone believing sampo is simply a follower or even emanator of the aeon when, in fact, the grand lie was to cover up that they are one and the same. i know trickery and elation aren’t the exact same concept, but i do believe they are similar enough to where this situation could occur! just a thought!
“Rolling gold coins become wheels, bandits hide their forms, gamblers go all in.” — some quick and dirty sampo connections: gold -> money, bandits -> stealing, “hide their forms” nuff said, gamblers -> chance and “how are you gonna win if you never take any risks?”-coded.
“The hapless Titans will not find out, boldly weave your games.” — just seems kinda aha-coded to me.
“Scoundrel, why do you escape your kindred so?” — gives me some very sad feelings about “escape” beyond zagreus just wanting to neglect divine duty; perhaps there is some deeper reason, limitations, or stale life that make zagreus feel out-of-sync with other gods, especially since they’re a bit of an accident. if so, again i ask the key question, how could this be related to sampo / aha? i’m not so sure myself, but i want to open up the floor for speculation!
“…and shackle you to a corner in the sky?” — a corner…. mayhaps like…… belobog……..
“Who listens to the songs till this moment, lurking amongst the catastrophe of conspiracy, / presuming some would laud your deeds in melody?” — if true, this is SO SAD. like, we know from the vortex of genesis that zagreus is an unloved and untrusted titan, so the fact that they might be listening to all the songs about them in the hope that someone, just someone, would appreciate them makes me emotional 😭😭 also: the idea of “lurking” amongst conspiracy does remind me of sampo as well.
additional mentions of revealing shadows, piercing shadows, false remorse, etc. — basically, zagreus is not having a good time! by god let them rest!!
“Are you waiting for me to expose you, my foot on your shadow, mocking your pathetic and laughable farce?” — DAMN. WHY IS EVERYONE SO MEAN TO THIS GUY. in other news, this ode has consistently made mention of zagreus’ shadow as being the one to be hurt, trapped, hunted down, etc. and if sampo is an equivalent shadow for aha then WOW. has this man probably been through some shit. no wonder he’s so guarded about himself.
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Divine Echo: Deception
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Divine Echo: Deception goes along with the Spirithief’s plotline and only appears near the memory shard concerning Cipher and the Spirithief’s final interaction.
notable line from the flavor text: “listen, the clash of two coins rings with the sound of lies” — this mostly ties back to dual-sided motifs that can potentially be traced back to aha; the idea of a more carefree or “fun” entity having more below the surface, a dual-sided coin, shadows to the light.
“Weaving a web of words, unlocking the doors of divergence.” — cool-sounding, and also reminds me of sampo’s “silver tongue,” so to speak.
“Hasten to conceal the edge of falsehood.” — links back to the spirithief and cipher’s “grand lie” as well as puts a heavy burden on the lie itself.
“So fools may do good, and the wise may pierce the veil of illusion.” — see guys i’m not insane for thinking trickery directly parallels the elation they LITERALLY mentioned the idea of “fools doing good” which in my opinion has been shown in the wider universe with! the masked fools (an elation faction) doing good in a roundabout way!
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A New Contender Emerges!
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as a result of everything spirithief-zagreus-amphoreus-related, i have started to wonder if sampo may somehow be connected to zagreus more directly.
like, i think the more potent narrative option is to go with a “spirithief parallels sampo” and “zagreus parallels aha” approach because it leaves the door open for future aeonic plot relevance, but damn zagreus just sounds SO SIMILAR to sampo for me that i can’t help but wonder if sampo somehow is zagreus, or a part of their shadow who escaped, or the spirithief’s exit plan, or a previous trickery incarnation that broke free, or something.
it would surely explain the dual-sided, betrayal, shadow, and “falsehood” motifs present in both sampo and zagreus’ storyline, as well as his non-existent footsteps like he’s in (or from) a simulation.
i’ve held off on truly going red-string-board on this because i really want amphorues to be its own neat little self-contained narrative that gives us juicy parallel tidbits for sampo/elation/aha, but, like, this is starting to feel like an elephant in the room!
in a way, it would make sense for sampo to seek out the masked fools if he broke free of amphoreus, because the elation is the closest to trickery the wider universe has. it would also make sense that aha may take a particular liking to him personally considering his unique circumstance as an outlier entity, and they may have some investment in learning about / tampering with amphoreus since it is intermingled with so many path and aeonic powers.
basically, sampo breaks out of the matrix, fucks around for a bit, then aha looks at him and goes “oh my god! look at this silly little guy! isn’t he just so neat!” and blasts him with the Path Beam™ so they can add him to their collection.
(i personally think this theory would be a bit weird since sampo — a finnish name based off a finnish mythological object — would then be from a greek planet (amphoreus) instead of the canonical hsr planet kalevala named after the finnish poem he gets his name from, which would just be an extremely strange writing choice, but who knows 🤷 maybe the writers would find a way to make it work.)
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Additional
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not amphoreus, but HERTA WDYM ??? sampo is SWEATING rn after saying his “whoah! watch the face!” line for the billionth time.
HELLO ??? HELLO?????
i see aha is not the only one cooking up puppets in this house. i wonder if they’ve ever collabed.
spirithief heart :)) much like sampo’s heart motifs!
the spirithief’s appearance may also tie into the dual-sided zagreus theories, since it almost seems like two entities in one — big round eyes on a more natural “face”, but a mouth lower down with metal that almost looks like shackles, and two holes that resemble eyes. they also have two sets of hands/arms, with the longer ones seemingly connected to the rest of the body/round face and the tiny grabby claws potentially connected with the mouth-thing.
we can see it a bit better in this picture!
the mouth seems very distinct in my opinion, and if so, which part of the body does zagreus inhabit? (i’d like to think they’re the main body, with the mouth functioning as a kind of shackle or binding similar to sampo’s winding metal motifs — potentially something restricting or something that can be broken to release the More Powerful Entity. but who knows? maybe it’s the other way around.)
also here’s the mouth performing very much its own mouth-thing. why are you sucking us in like that i’m scared.
in this case the hands seem almost more related to the head with the big long arms connecting closer to the mouth. very interesting stuff!
after 3.3’s quest, one of the new treasures has you fight three identical projections, which does lend credence to the idea that bartholos really did just leave behind a ton of projections.
the achievement for listening to zagreus’ echo is “speech in a rainbow of colors” and if you don’t mind me i am just going to go cry in the corner thank you very much.
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3.3 Trailblaze Quest
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To cap things off, I wanted to talk about the fairly large plot developments surrounding the Spirithief in the 3.3 Trailblaze Quest. Not only did we get confirmation of them being Zagreus, but a whole slew of relevant information, such as:
the “spirithief”s identity as bartholos is an intentional, collaborative lie between zagreus and cipher as a sort of “big last trick.”
this lie went on for a long time, about a millennium.
zagreus only blatantly reveals themself after cipher’s death, laying out the broad strokes of their plan to phainon before giving up kephale’s coreflame (which they had stored inside themself) in an attempt to achieve a “one-in-a-million” outcome — likely related to fate / chance — and essentially sacrificing themself.
So what does this mean for Sampo?
the spirithief / zagreus parallel is currently contained to amphoreus and has pretty much concluded, unless the current situation changes in 3.4 and beyond.
both fortunately and unfortunately, amphoreus is its own contained ecosystem, which does have implications for The Parallel. on one hand, it is a unique pet project between aeons with likely differences to the rest of the universe — thus, death flags for the spirithief may not neatly translate into sampo since amphoreus is predicated on, essentially, a “doomed cycle” unique to its nature of being. however, as its own entity, it may be serving as foreshadowing for the wider universe, implying that the aeons are trapped in a similar doomed cycle of “fate” as amphoreus. in this case, amphoreus would paint pretty glaring and unavoidable death flags for sampo, the main of which being “sacrifice”.
if we take the spirithief / zagreus dual identity to parallel sampo’s relationship with aha then it makes sense to also take the broad strokes of the plot too. maybe some details aren’t or won’t be the same — amphoreus is its own place, after all — but betrayal, godhood, identity-related lies, “one-in-a-million” chance, including sacrifice / death, are all reasonable conclusions to draw from the spirithief’s narrative.
and… well… if sampo really does have a similar story, such as being betrayed or ousted from godhood by those too fed up with his elated ways, binding himself to a darkened “lesser” form to obscure his true identity as a somewhat-former higher being of elation, and collaborating on an identity-related lie with another (like sparkle) to increase the chances of hitting a “one-in-a-million” outcome, then… unfortunately that would also mean his plan may or even already includes some kind of late-game sacrifice. a crucial one, for sure, and one that satisfies a thematic arc — the path others treat as unimportant or superficially frivolous being the one to save the universe — but as someone who generally wants sampo to be happy and alive and healthy, i’m not a huge fan of this outcome. like, great for him! does he have to die though?
my hope is that this is where amphoreus can diverge from the wider universe slightly. as a cyclical narrative, amphoreus is bound to less self-aware constraints than the rest of the universe — a game within a game. since sampo (and aha) sit above that level of power, not being a “local god” but rather of emanator/aeonic proportions, perhaps he has been able to become aware of this cycle — this “fate” — and is already attempting to subvert it.
as i’ve mentioned in other analyses, sampo does have certain themes of trying to defy or “escape” fate (this fate potentially being a sacrifice similar to the spirithief, or the death of aeons, or cyclical natures in general — it’s possible death through “sacrifice” is part of the cycle he’s trying to break in the first place — anything plot-related, etc.) and since the wider universe has canonically taken a more vested interest in trying to meta-break “destiny”, perhaps the combination of self-awareness and the pure wild card that the trailblazer can save his life somehow (i am on copium) 🥺 but like come on if the trailblazer is there we can’t let him die 🥺 stelle and caelus wouldn’t let him do that right 🥺 we’d break the rules for him cause that’s what we always do right 🥺 right 🥺
because otherwise, with no intervention, sampo may be doomed to follow out the same broad narrative as zagreus, and i will probably cry.
but hey! at least he’s becoming a specialer and specialer boy by the day!
[3.4 NOTE: A seed of hope from the 3.4 update! While the Titans are meant to parallel Aeons and Trickery is specifically meant to be Amphoreus’ version of Elation, it is canon that each “Path” within Amphoreus has been edited to fit the Destruction! As in, Amphoreus has essentially taken the Elation and warped it to always lead to Destruction — this means that, while the Spirithief and Cipher may always be doomed to a sacrificial narrative within Amphoreus, that is simply the Destruction at work in this specific, controlled environment! Thus, the wider universe’s “true” Elation, meaning Aha / Sampo / etc., would likely parallel certain aspects of Trickery while deviating from the endpoint of Destruction! We win!]
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Conclusions
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Overall, wow! That’s a lot! I’m not committed solely to one (or even two) theories, but mostly just like exploring the different options! I obviously want Sampo / Aha to be implicated in some way, but those ways can vary. Now that we know the Spirithief is, in fact, Zagreus, I feel like we’re zoning in on the potential relationship between Sampo and Aha. Zagreus could have become the Spirithief through betrayal, being trapped, being punished, or their Coreflame being stolen, or perhaps they are otherwise trying to cheat death — even all of it rolled into one. Their “one-in-a-million” chance likely resulted from them discovering the truth of Amphoreus’s cyclical nature, and the “lie” them and Cipher collaborated on could have predated betrayal / their Coreflame being taken, caused it, or been a result of it.
Additionally, this could be meant to mirror the relationship between Sampo and Aha — in whatever form it takes — implicating Sampo as being a betrayed / punished / trapped Aha, a part of Them severed from the rest, or even just an Aeon playing a fun little game of chance.
Sampo and Aha, if separate entities, may also have a fairly toxic or one-sided relationship that is the source of this betrayal or powerlessness, with Sampo still experiencing feelings of being cast out or abandoned similar to the dual-sided theory. However, I find this less likely if we are talking about the situation in conjunction with Spirithief-Zagreus.
I personally like the route Amphoreus has taken with the Spirithief in 3.3, setting them up as a diminished version of Zagreus after getting their Coreflame stolen, now doomed to wander in a state of semi-consciousness while trying to find a way to survive. Cipher carrying that altruistic motif present in Zagreus and Trickery’s lore is also a nice touch, especially when considering that she didn’t have to let the Spirithief exist, she could’ve just killed Zagreus like everyone else’s Titans — but she didn’t. A small bit from 3.4 that I will elaborate on in Part 3 also confirms Amphoreus as a self-contained narrative meant to mirror Aeons/Pathstriders, which adds a nice sheen of polish to the parallels I’ve already discussed.
All of these confirmations put Zagreus and Aha in a direct comparison, with the Spirithief and Sampo as a heavily implied one. As such, I believe it is plausible to interpret Aha as potentially being in a similar situation of betrayal / powerlessness and having similar feelings like wanting to run away from divine duty or being a god for the poor and unremarkable!
At the end of the day, I think “Old Bart” and “Old Sampo” speak for themselves as incredibly similar narrative characters, with the same going for Zagreus and Aha! It makes me very interested to see where Sampo’s character goes from here, because I will be looking out for certain markers present in the Spirithief’s narrative. Like, if Sampo starts talking about being “diminished” or darkened, or if he starts talking about Aha or a named Emanator in strangely fond, reminiscent detail, I am going to lose my mind! Anyways, that’s all I have for this update!
𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thanks for reading to the end! it feels nice to finally get caught up with all these amphoreus references after having them rattling around in my brain for months LOL
what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, theory crafting, amphoreus time >:), elation!sampo with a hint of aha!sampo for fine dining, author being unreasonably pleased at having accurately predicted the spirithief's plotline when they started writing this in 3.1, your local sampo conspiracy theorist is back baby
word count: 10.3k
overview: an in-depth analysis of amphoreus's new npc "spirithief bartholos," including treasure dialogue, npc lines, and parallels to sampo (and by extension, aha).
[Written during 3.1-3.2, revised during 3.3, posted during 3.3. Spoilers inbound!]
First, I highly recommend checking out these Wiki pages for dialogue and events I reference since I won’t be including picture references in the post itself:
Spirithief are a type of puzzle found in Amphoreus. After completing the puzzle, the player must speak to "Spirithief" Bartholos. Some of th
"Spirithief" Bartholos is an NPC on Amphoreus, located in "Eternal Holy City" Okhema. They initially appear in the Trailblazer's room in the
Zagreus was one of the Titans on Amphoreus. Their Coreflame is Trickery.[1] During the events of Trailblaze Mission Chest, Bear the Bygone D
This analysis will be in more of a list / bullet point format because good lord there are So Many Spirithief Treasures in Amphoreus! I also intend this to be more of a stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session pointing out certain lines of note — skimming the surface if you will — with more structured conclusions following up in Part 2!
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Spirithief Bartholos Treasure Voicelines
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*NOTE: I had to heavily edit this during the process since the Spirithief was explicitly confirmed to be Zagreus before posting, so a bunch of my Zagreus theory rambling is a little moot since we just know now. I’ve adjusted as much as I can, but there may still be pockets of theory. Just know I am aware of the current story progression!*
I’m fairly certain the Spirithief is meant to be a stand-in for / parallel to Sampo, given their voicelines and role within the story. They’ve been confirmed by the narrative to be Zagreus (who is already paralleled to Aha), have a similar penchant for half-truths / deliberately obfuscated information as Sampo, and even use specific linguistic quirks like referring to themself in third-person as “Old Bart” and others as “old friends”!
As such, I will largely be approaching this analysis under the thesis that Spirithief Bartholos is meant to be a narrative parallel to Sampo, including any additional narrative parallels between Zagreus and Aha. Aside from presenting evidence for this connection, I will attempt to glean certain details or foreshadowings about Sampo’s life and/or role in the story by observing how the Spirithief behaves, as well as creating connections between the Spirithief and Zagreus to simulate what Sampo’s relationship to Aha may be. Given Bartholos’ identity confirmation as Zagreus, this often enters Aha!Sampo territory to varying degrees, while also making room for Emanator and general Elation theories!
Housekeeping:
Lines spoken by the Trailblazer / others will be in italics, while the Spirithief’s lines will be in regular quotations.
Each Treasure encounter will have its own section, separated by bolded titles that give the name of the map/location and number.
I use “Spirithief,” “Bartholos,” “Bart,” and “Spirithief Bartholos” interchangeably, with “Zagreus” thrown in for good measure — all of it refers to the same entity.
Also, many of my dialogue-related musings will be in lowercase since I originally wrote them that way and oh my god, it would take me forever to go through and manually capitalize it all!
Okhema Treasure 1
refers to oronyx (a god) as “old oronyx,” similarly to how they refer to themselves as “old bart” — it seems they are personally familiar with other titans/gods
refers to themself as a “master thief” — you know who else was a master thief…… (zagreus :3)
“If you obsess over small losses, you are sure to lose sight of greater gains.” — basically a re-worded version of sampo’s “how are you gonna win if you never take any risks?”
Okhema Treasure 2
pretending to be an old man (and going by “old bart the porter” specifically) is a very interesting choice considering currently, you could say sampo is in fact an old man distributing/moving goods from one place to another on belobog. fairly inconspicuous role isn’t it?
trying to pass off looking “similar” to the spirithief as just a coincidence also reminds me of the way sampo treats so many things as “just a coincidence” LOL
for someone who “isn’t zagreus,” the spirithief sure seems to do a lot of tricking don’t they
Okhema Treasure 3
“It’s far too extravagant in here! The stench of its opulence and lavishness makes me sick!” — very reminiscent about sampo’s jabs towards epsilon and disdain towards vanity
“Is there any fairness in this world? Is there any justice? Are there no laws anymore?” — i know this is supposed to be a funny haha comedic relief but it feels a little too personal to ignore… bart who has wronged you and what are their street addresses……
“If you want to stay here, you can come whenever you please.” ➜ "Huh? Uh... Are you serious? I'm not so free and easy as to just... Wait a minute. Are you making fun of me? I'm the one that makes fun of others. No one has ever done it to me before…” — reminds me of how sampo hates to owe others things and seems generally uncomfortable with genuine expressions of generosity or care. going back to betrayal motifs, this could be because of past experiences that caused a cynical mindset to develop. there is also the direct idea of someone (either the spirithief with trickery or sampo with elation) who usually makes fun of others, yet finds themself at a loss when they themselves are the butt of the joke
Strife Ruins Treasure 1
“Hehehe... Even the great Zagreus wouldn't bat an eyelid at such a greedy attitude!” — although this is meant to be bartholos speaking about a seperate entity, it really has the same feel of a self-brag. with 3.3’s confirmations, it probably is!
“We haven't eaten for days. We're absolutely starving! This thing is a feast to us.” — noted use of third-person “we” pronouns. not sure what it means, but it sure is here
Strife Ruins Treasure 2
“I used to come here all the time when this place was all the rage!” — noted longevity
“Fine... I did take some creative liberty in the story I told you... It was actually me who opened the beast cage and herded the beasts into the arena. Then, I stole the gladiators' weapons while I was at it.” — probably referencing their past exploits as zagreus, reminds me a lot of aha’s crazy stunts and pranks they pull on others
“Although, it was a truly brilliant battle! The audience was packed with people all roaring and shouting... I bet that great buffoon Nikador enjoyed the show a lot, too.” — refers to nikador similarly as how aha refers to other aeons, like calling them names, etc. — implies a familiar level of power/longevity/interpersonal awareness. basically, parallel-wise, they are as familiar with the other titans as aha is with other aeons
Abyss of Fate Treasure 1
“Yesterday, when I left the house, I accidentally exposed my location for the first time ever.” — almost like they are hiding in inconspicuous places to protect themselves from something or to accomplish a goal… i wonder who else might be doing this……
“Rumor has it that there's a "master thief" that's been running recently around, whose reputation seems to be threatening my own. So, I decided I'd do something big and restore glory to the great name of Zagreus.” — hints at how the spirithief / sampo may be able to be lured out of hiding in an attempt to restore their own divine reputation (past or present)
“In an instant, seven or eight priests surrounded me, cursing me and covering me in ambrosia. They even struck me with brushes made from dromas fur! I was lucky to make it out of there...” — reminds be of the “blue-hair curse” and dromas who have the color palette of sampo’s outfit. it’s possible the spirithief / sampo entered a diminished state after a con/thievery-gone-wrong
“It was only later that I found out that these rumors of a "master thief" were just a ploy to lure me into making a move... When did these old crones get so cunning?” — introduces a potential situation where someone (or a group of people) takes advantage of the spirithief or sampo’s priorities — i.e. self-image / reputation — in order to trap or otherwise hurt them. this could tie into layers of betrayal, especially of others trying to usurp a position of power/divinity/literally just get rid of someone they find annoying
“Ah... I hope you never have to experience something like that. The talents that I have relied on over the years vanished in an instant. My once perfectly watertight handiwork was suddenly full of holes... It's like I wasn't even myself.” — NOOOO 😩 sampo is not beating the traumatic backstory allegations by association :((( but once again a motif of being caught or losing power in the face of a betrayal or something else gone wrong… food for thought
“Now, I can't even pry a single treasure from your hands... As I am now, I may as well jump into the Abyss, swim up to Thanatos, and let them put me out of my misery...” — this is when my spirithief zagreus theories (update: no longer just theories! thanks hsr!) really start to come into play, because now there’s a direct implication of a “diminished state” or dramatic reduction in ability. this situation could be interpreted multiple ways, but i tend to see it as zagreus doing the… well, the whole trickery thing and living their best life stealing stuff and being whimsical, only to be confronted by a situation designed to lure them out and catch them off-guard. as a result, they are in a slump of no longer “being themself” as well as losing most of their power. hell, this diminishing could even be a direct result of a ploy meant to take or “steal” the coreflame of trickery from them — it’s possible this whole situation even resulted in cipher getting trickery in the first place. the loss of self would make sense if the coreflame was taken, as now the spirithief would be left in a similar “faded” form as cerces (albeit with some additional wiggle room)
in fact, in the seal slammers event, we could see the spirithief collaborating with cipher as similar to how cerces followed anaxa around since he had the coreflame of reason!
the spirithief’s near-suicidal want to jump into the abyss also lines up with sampo embracing the nihility
if we were to map this state of being onto sampo, it would likely place him in a higher echelon of power, with enough status to be significantly rattled or diminished upon betrayal
“Hehehehe! That reaction of yours is a million times more thrilling than stealing some chest! Take it as a thank you for taking part in this little performance with me.” — i know amphoreus is the trickery zone, but man this sounds so elation-coded to me LOL. also, i find it interesting that the spirithief constructs these elaborate stories only to denote them as lies (or imply they are not truthful). despite saying “The Council of Elders' main hall doesn't even have a keystone!” this line could, in fact, still allow the rest of the story to be truthful in a way. for example, if the spirithief was lured in to steal something different, or if the same situation happened under slightly different circumstances, etc., there could still be major parts to them that aren’t entirely lies.
even with this admission of a false story from the spirithief, i am tempted to say there is some truth to them because they seem so personal, almost like the spirithief wishes to convey an emotional state or recount certain events but can’t do that fully and honestly because of their uncomfortability with genuine connection, or perhaps even some sort of “curse” or compulsion to constantly deceive. with the latest quest, it seems that the spirithief, in order to truly “fool” everyone, must deliberately keep anything tied to their true identity a secret. this would explain why their stories and memories often have “holes,” either out of genuine forgetfulness or knowing obfuscation!
as with most lies, it is likely based on truth. on a sadder note, i tend to see these “gray area” true-false stories as a cry for help
Abyss of Fate Treasure 2
“I always toy with the idea when my holiday is about to end...” — seems like a nod to what i’ve theorized before as sampo trying to run away or distance himself from work; in a way, his time on belobog might be seen as a similar “extended holiday” as the plot continues
“If you try it on yourself, you'll realize just how inhumane it is!” — who has hurt you my beloved :(((
“It's difficult to describe this feeling... I feel like a pair of gloves that has been washed and turned inside-out... My mind feels like it's been completely flipped around. The more I try to rush forwards, the more I end up going backwards. I want to swear at you but all my dirty words feel like they're rushing into my stomach instead!” — it almost seems to me like they’re describing a warped state of consciousness similar to what might happen if a titan found themself stripped of their power or otherwise “demoted” — the inability to reach for what was once so easy, the “inside-out” consciousness of no longer inhabiting a divine mindspace, the fear of realizing you can’t protect yourself like you used to. it must be incredibly dehumanizing and distressing to be put in situations where you can and are puppeted around, where you can’t do anything about it, despite knowing what it’s like to be “untouchable” in the past
I see this working best with either Aha! or Emanator!Sampo, including combinations of the two. If Sampo is or has been someone with access to large amounts of Path power, potentially being betrayed or having that power stripped away (temporarily or not) would likely leave him feeling unfulfilled, off-balance, and wrong, even if that power returns to him later. I could see his experience mirroring the Spirithief’s, with the idea of “being turned inside out” and an almost unexplainable surge of helplessness.
“I'll show Oronyx what happens if they play these games!” — trickery and by extension elation….. once again familiar with oronyx and by extension akivili…… fork found in kitchen,,,,,
Bloodbathed Battlefront Treasure 1
“I am Oronyx in the flesh.” ➜ “To have descended from godhood and possessed a mortal shell, it's no wonder I didn't recognize you.” — this feels so incredibly on-the-nose that i don’t know what else to say. you nailed the wording old bart, now tell me why you had that answer pre-loaded and why you seem so familiar with the concept of godhood-to-mortal consciousness (also: there’s the idea that descending from godhood could drastically change someone’s recognizability)
“If you're unwilling to reveal your identity, I would not pursue the matter.” — showing others the same respect they wish to be shown ueueueue
“You flatter me! I'm but an amateur thief, a far cry from the true masters of the craft.” — as i mentioned in one of my previous sampo analyses, downplaying one’s talents almost solidifies the implication of extraordinary abilities
Bloodbathed Battlefront Treasure 2
“It never hurts to be curious. When you see a treasure chest, can you suppress that rising impulse to open it and see what's inside?” — impulsive/compulsive motifs coming back into play. must be pretty easy to take advantage of if someone knew how to leverage it (i.e. creating a trap)
“You don't look like someone from Castrum Kremnos. Could you be a warrior here to participate in the festival?” ➜ “I come from the future.” ➜ “You could've just remained silent if you didn't feel like answering, instead of spouting rubbish! E—Even if I'm new around here, I'm not to be trifled with!” — interesting dialogue! i always assumed the spirithief existed outside of time and space (for some reason) since they seemed to manipulate space so easily, but if they are telling the truth here and it’s not just a farce, it seems they too are affected by the trailblazer going back and forth between the present and past. in this case, since we are in the past of castrum kremnos, we would be encountering the spirithief before they met us in the present, leading to them not knowing who we are. another interesting note is that the spirithief mentions being “new” around here — whether “here” is a place or a state of being i don’t know — and even stutters for the first time we’ve seen. it seems they are trying to get the hang of wherever, whenever, and however they are, meaning they are likely in a vulnerable position. this ties into theories i have about potential trauma / betrayal that may have happened in sampo’s past, particularly during a more naive or “new” time in his life, even if that “newness” has to do with being in a diminished state
Sanctum of Prophecy Treasure 1
“Hmm? What do you mean? Have we met somewhere before? Or am I losing my memory like Oronyx?” — again revealing that the spirithief is a linear, non-time-travel-aware entity experiencing the past like anyone else might. the mention of oronyx seems sad, and it’s possible the spirithief, as zagreus, would have seen this mental decline in real time. it’s possible that they are in fact losing their memories/self, albeit in a different way likely resembling the state of consciousness from abyss of fate treasure 2
“Y—you bet!” — another stutter, they are just a baby your honor
“Every sacrifice, even the briefest moment of life, carries meaning.” — okay trailblazer, in this context and with this character you are starting to worry me
“Hey, watch that attitude! The universe was young when I came into being a mud puddle — long before your great-great-grandparents were even a twinkle in the Cosmos!” — implies longevity
“Take this cursed gift, and you'll have the world's most annoying thief master on your tail from now on!” — another mention of a curse, master thief, and constant following, mirroring how sampo seems to show up so many places we go. mr. worldwide truly
Sanctum of Prophecy Treasure 2
“Well, well... Oh my... Outsmarted at my own game... how humiliating!” — perhaps we can gain some backstory insight with the idea of “being outsmarted at one’s own game”
[An enlightening section from the Wiki:
“Oh mighty hero — could I get your name? Spare me, and I'll tell everyone you're the best in the business... no wait, you're the legend itself!”
“Smart move. Know when to yield.”
“Most certainly! I, Bartholos, shall be your devoted servant! Simply name your desired treasures — let my hands do the work!”
“Oh? You crafty old devil…”
“Come now, such suspicion! I, Bartholos, am genuinely in awe — eager to serve at your command!”]
i believe this may mirror the spirithief’s past or even sampo’s backstory with the idea of being “caught” or “outsmarted” leading to becoming some sort of errand boy for someone else, potentially the current aha / trickery (cipher) / or other aeon/titan/emanator
in this case, we would need to take into account several possibilities for the spirithief, and by extension sampo’s, mode of past/present existence: 1. as a titan (zagreus) or aeon (aha), 2. as a powerful follower or emanator of zagreus/aha, or 3. just some guy having fun
NOTE: the spirithief being confirmed as zagreus seems to point heavily towards mode 1, although mode 2 may be possible depending on sampo’s specific situation.
mode 1 would encapsulate a usurper of divinity, of being lured into a trap that takes advantage of trickery/elation’s impulsive desires in order to steal power, likely a coreflame or aeonic equivalent (maybe even a mask). this results in the spirithief/sampo reeling from the sudden drop in power and consciousness, unable to do anything but save their own skin by making themselves useful as an errand boy or workhorse
mode 2 would be similar to mode 1, albeit occurring on lower levels and maneuvering between smaller gaps of power. a powerful follower or emanator existence may have led the spirithief/sampo to getting overly cocky and maybe even messing with the titans/aeons themselves, leading to an overreach where they are outsmarted, tricked, or punished for stepping beyond their station. again, the method of survival here would be to prostrate and become as useful as possible to avoid death
(likely not as possible with spirithief-zagreus confirmation) mode 3 would see the spirithief/sampo as a long-life, cunning being who simply went too far up the ladder trying to steal, and was subsequently caught and punished for it
either way, there is a major theme of survival through usefulness, with implications of biding one’s time until you can get revenge
i think this could be a solid contender for the spirithief/sampo’s backstory — regardless of the specifics — since it relies on the themes of betrayal and “falling” already present in both characters
Murmuring Woods Treasure 1
“Why are you doing this eternal cycle conspiracy theory?” — now that we know the chrysos heirs and titans are, in fact, caught in a cycle of godly becoming, it’s interesting that the spirithief peddles an “eternal cycle conspiracy theory”; very meta in the way sampo sometimes is, and alludes to the spirithief learning a secret truth about the world (mentioned in their later npc lines)
“But that's fine — I, Bartholos, love all uncertain things: The unknown treasures in chests, seeds that might sprout into anything, and that legendary cat that could be both dead and alive.” — this does feel like something zagreus or aha would agree with, as the conundrum of the unknown is likely the only true constant of excitement / elation out there. also! the reference to schrödinger’s cat is interesting considering my theories surrounding sampo as both a “dead” and “alive” entity, the ability of aeons or emanators to “die” but not in the way most people would comprehend it, and “falling” as an aeon being likely considered some sort of strange undeath or purgatory like ena’s dream. this does seem to apply to the spirithief / zagreus in 3.3! additional note of third person name reference, just like our good old mr. sampo
“As great Zagreus used to say... ‘Wisdom is the art of achieving what was impossible to you, and I hate games that are without wisdom.’" — this begins a series of bartholos reciting quotes from zagreus verbatim; these could be lies or fakes or mistruths, but if these are true quotes, i find it interesting that the spirithief can quote them in their entirety. they almost speak as if zagreus was a physical being they used to know and occupy space with, therefore hearing these quotes or speaking them themselves (update: yes past alex, you are correct! they probably spoke these quotes themself!)
“What exactly is your relationship with Zagreus?” ➜ “As a Spirithief, I, Bartholos, am blessed to call the Coin of Whimsy (Trickery Titan) both ancestor and friend. Rather obvious, no?” — the spirithief’s insistence on saying ancestor zagreus, great zagreus, etc. does feel like they’re trying to convince us a bit, especially since they refer to zagreus here as the coin of whimsy and the spirithief literally leaves behind a coin of whimsy when fleeing. like my guy you know when you double down on saying “no i swear they were just someone i knew we are NOT the same person” it makes you seem more suspicious right 🧐 anyways it reminds me of how sampo might talk about aha or certain elation emanators in the future, and i will definitely keep my eyes peeled for any kind of veiled self-talk!
“Legend has it that the other Titans tied a star to Zagreus to stop their pranks. Every time Zagreus escaped through the sky, the Thief Star would mark their trail. But here's the trick — Zagreus attached the star to a stone. So whenever they wanted to do mischief, they'd simply toss the rock! Hehehe! Sending the Titans on a wild chase after the Thief Star while missing what's right under their noses...” — this is a great example of what i just mentioned; bartholos is so committed to telling us zagreus was an ancestral friend, yet when actually talking about a story they seem almost personally reminiscent. the spirithief, as zagreus (or previously zagreus), is likely goading us on by mentioning “right under their noses” since that would be an accurate description of the role of the spirithief in the current plot (an inconspicuous and annoying little guy no one would ever suspect of being a titan). there’s also a good chance that cipher occupies a similar narrative role to the “diversion” stone zagreus threw out and her mischief is meant to draw attention away from zagreus themself, while also carrying out her own duties as the current holder of the coreflame. we could also see the spirithief as trapped in amphoreus’ cycle, doomed to become the stone-shadow for a new trickery holder when they themselves used to be in that position of power.
so what does this mean for sampo? taking into account the role of the spirithief as a likely parallel, there’s a good chance sampo could either be a diversion to take attention away from aha’s true actions, or is aha themself accomplishing those actions under the radar while using someone else (like sparkle, masks, or a current stand-in) as a diversion. i’m more tempted to say it’s the latter not only because of the spirithief explicitly being zagreus, but because of the lengths sampo goes to to stay inconspicuous, such as settling down on a remote planet (belobog), and only carrying out petty theft / transfer of supplies on that planet. sure, the silvermane guards know him well as a “master thief,” but the masked fools and wider universe likely have no clue, which is probably how he wants it. if sampo himself was meant to be the diversion, you would think he would be acting more like sparkle, getting up in our face, shapeshifting, and creating these elaborate ploys to draw our attention. instead, he simply shows up do get what he needs done and leaves. this could also apply to emanator!sampo, as someone who might take a “page out of aha’s book” so-to-speak, while still being his own entity regardless. there’s also the chance that aha and emanator!sampo could be working closely together and have similar throughlines or connections between each other due to a familiar relationship, leading to similarities in how they accomplish tasks or use diversions!
the cycle may also come into play here, because while it wouldn’t be exactly the same as amphoreus’ isolated time-bending, it’s possible sampo is still caught in that fall from power, forced to be the kind of diversion he used to use himself back in the Good Old Days
it could be true that it’s not time for the diversion yet and sampo is simply a stone-in-waiting, but there’s no way to know that for sure until we start getting more information on aha (how sampo acts during the future plot will shape how i view his identity. if he starts to go around like *throws ten billion cards into air* “you got me, it’s me! aha the aeon of elation!” i’ll call bullshit and probably settle on him being a diversion; however, if someone else does that or if sampo continues to try to be as inconspicuous as possible / has a hard time revealing anything about aha or their relation to him, only giving us vague information when pushed due to circumstance, i’ll lean towards him being the real deal. the only exception may be a situation where he is forced to show his hand, likely something to do with the vaguely referenced Threat to Belobog)
Murmuring Woods Treasure 2
“You're standing in a Titan's heart! Hehehe, if I could manage to steal that, I, Bartholos, would go down in history as the greatest thief of all...” — at the end of all this, the spirithief really does just wanna steal stuff LOL
“Speaking of Cerces, did you know they originally came from a strand Kephale’s hair...?” — could be false, but if true that is a very specific thing to know
Murmuring Woods Treasure 3
“Indeed, as I said, the tricks are under the Titan's nose!” — more “in plain sight” implications, as well as “tricks” being mentioned specially.. zagreus you are not slick……
“Fine skills and agility — the treasure chest stolen from under the Titan's nose is yours.” ➜ “Admitting defeat so easily?” ➜ “Of course, it's all part of the game. Tricks that go outside the game would be a problem.” — had to bold this because WHAT? the GAME??? something something sparkle saying sampo has lines he won’t cross and the spirithief being unwilling (or unable) to carry out tricks outside of “the game” something something aha or zagreus or higher beings of elation finding amusement in setting up their own rules, resolving to stick to their game and their game only regardless of what else happens,,,,
reminds me of the old dude from squid game season 1 frfr
“I, Bartholos, have a philosophy: Tricks taken outside the game would be a problem.” — worded differently, i find it interesting they refer to it as a “philosophy,” since that sounds similar to what sparkle may have been describing with sampo having lines he won’t cross
“Even ancestor Zagreus once said: ‘The ultimate meaning lies within the game. Only the game can make its meaning point back to itself.’” ➜ “Zagreus? That's profound of them.” ➜ “Of course! The Trickery Titan is a Titan, right? If they're all just talking nonsense, then how do Titans maintain their dignity?” ➜ “That tone doesn't sound like Zagreus.” ➜ “Hmm, maybe it wasn't what Zagreus said, but what I said? No... I, Bartholos, would never speak like that. It must have been what Zagreus said!” — this brings up the spirithief’s strange experience of consciousness again, especially as impacted by cipher’s collaborative lie. they seem to either have forgotten a large chunk of their life or been put into a state so mind-numbing it’s difficult for them to discern their memories. the back and forth between “i” and “zagreus” indicates either a difficulty to keep up with their own lies or a genuine sort of confusion, with the spirithief having trouble reconciling that they may have experienced part of their life as zagreus, as themself, saying those things. there is also something i’ll mention later about zagreus being “dual-sided,” and it’s possible this confusion is coming from the spirithief being a side of that coin that has been betrayed, cast aside, or abandoned. they do seem genuinely confused about who to attribute the quote to, almost trying to convince themselves of the separation between them and zagreus — “it’s not me who said those things, it’s zagreus, and zagreus couldn’t have possibly been me!” — in a way that makes me think the mind-warping effects of whatever state of consciousness the spirithief is in is really taking it’s toll. that, or they’re just really bad at hiding that they’re zagreus
relating to sampo, this could imply a certain disconnect between his understanding of “himself” and “aha,” even if the two were closely connected and/or existing as the same entity at some point
“… we’re old friends now” sounds a lot like sampo as well!
Dawncloud Treasure 1
“Sometimes I imagine myself as a butterfly… It’s not about how far you can fly — it’s about dancing freely through the air.” — lines up with later discussions of zagreus’s lore indicating they want to run away from their divine duties, likely creating a sense of wanting to be “free” and unconstrained. this is reflected in cipher’s dodginess, which is why i’d like to think cipher occupies the current position of having the coreflame + being in line for trickery and the spirithief as a faded remnant of zagreus (or perhaps one still running away). note: i still stand by this in 3.3!
“Notice that silent Kephale over there? That old fellow, so silent and dull… This world needs more than just plants growing towards the sun — we need some tipsy, unruly creatures too, don’t you think? So… we’ve got to be that pop of red in the sea of green, wouldn’t you say? Hehehehe.” — again speaking of kephale familiarly, reminiscent of how aha often calls other aeons dull or boring — the want for “unruly” creatures also seems to line up with what zagreus wants as a trickery titan, and the mention of red and green is the icing on the cake since one of sampo’s main outfit colors is red (and you could say his eyes are a shade of green too)
Dawncloud Treasure 2
“Every book old Bartholos steals, the scribe gets another commission — and we split the profit! We were just rolling in cash! A never-ending river of money!” — not much to say, only that this sounds very sampo-like with the focus on cash
“Just like venerable old Zagreus said: ‘Never let pilgrims off the hook, they’ve always got something in their pockets!’” — another zagreus quote, potentially from past memories or interactions. it’s also possible that the spirithief has some sort of lingering codependent attachment to their past self, and that’s why they repeat so many lines, as if they see zagreus as an almost separate, infallible version of themself
Dragonbone City Treasure 1
“I’m just a helpless Spirithief… with endless ambitions, but so little power to achieve them. In that case, only a real fight can make me feel alive again, hehehe!” — the spirithief plays down their abilities again, and there may be some truth to it. the idea of having endless ambitions but little power does line up with what we’ve seen from the spirithief so far, but the insistence on them being “helpless,” even if true at the moment, still makes me suspicious of whatever secrets they may be hiding. additionally, they say “make me feel alive again,” which implies a higher state of self-awareness and/or happiness in the past. this could be pointing to an earlier time of “newness” or naïveté, or the feeling of being alive that comes with being a titan who can essentially pull pranks whenever they want
“Phew… there’s something oddly satisfying about getting beaten up when feeling empty inside.” — i have posited for a while that sampo likely has similar feelings, especially when considering toy or puppet theories. he seems to get physically attacked a lot, whether that be topaz’s debt collection or other events like the hi3 crossover. for him, i think it would be a way to finally feel something, or activate the exhilaration of hormones/endorphins/etc. that may be the only way to make him feel better.
“This used to be a magnificent city-state, right? But with just a turn of the cosmic wheel, it all vanished in a moment.” — may be alluding to a fall from grace or zagreus’ “death,” and the idea something so powerful and grand could be destroyed in the blink of an eye
“So, your true identity is…” ➜ “What do you mean, my true identity? I’m Bartholos!” — the adamant denial of any other identity is interesting here, as dialogue options like these and bartholos’s responses really do cement the fact that they are fully committed to keeping up a conscious “lie”. there is also the possibility that the lie has begun to become “real” for them, causing some amnesia and/or mind-bending effects on their consciousness
they also mention “living dead” here, though not in relation to themself, but it does spark the idea that being both living and dead in this world is possible
“Ahem… What was it that ancestor Zagreus used to say…? ‘The world is a stack of recurring destinies. Truth is often less fair than trickery.’ … Hmm? Would they really talk so cohesively like that? Maybe not. It’s been so long. I can’t remember things clearly anymore.” — a callback to the previous mention of the spirithief peddling conspiracy theories about an eternal cycle, as well as them “forgetting” more and more of themself. once again, they have trouble separating them and zagreus, and their recollection of zagreus directly impacts how they see themself. they almost talk about both in the same breath, “would they really talk so cohesively like that?” “i can’t remember things clearly anymore”. either they are just having difficulty “playing the part” of someone separate from zagreus, or we are witnessing someone slowly forget the remnants of their past self until they don’t even remember being that person anymore. (i really hope it’s the former because the latter is… so sad.) i’m hoping any memory issues are contained to the spirithief’s situation and not something that sampo will have to deal with as well :((
Dragonbone City Treasure 2
“This huge raw stone was pilfered from the bottomless depths of the sea. Then, to determine if it really held a crystal filled with magical power, the stone was lifted to the sky to split it open and peer inside…” — reminiscent of sampo’s finnish origins and predictions he might break or be otherwise shattered in the future
“Stop it. You’re no Titan…” ➜ “Hey, if you can call yourself a Titan, why can’t I? Old buddy, let’s use some imagination here — I may not be a Titan in real life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be one in stories.” — “old buddy” is point 1274732 towards connecting with sampo’s dialogue quirks. also the talk of not being a titan in real life is tricky and goes along with the way sampo walks the fine line between truth and lies. yes, the spirithief is technically zagreus, a titan — so this would be a lie — but they are also not fully at zagreus’ power currently, having passed off the coreflame — so it is also a truth at the present. these lines honestly become more heartwrenching when you consider the fact that bartholos isn’t a titan anymore
[Continuing onwards are the new 3.3 zones, so these ramblings should be a little more consistent with the Spirithief-Zagreus canonization!]
Fortress of Dome Treasure 1
“I, Bartholos, can rest in peace…” MY BABY NOOOOOOOO
“Old Bartholos” again…. my heart…..
this entire segment feels like it could point towards sampo’s betrayal motifs
while the surface of this story seems to be the spirithief finding a way to steal away this merchant’s wealth, the phrase “preview of actual historical events” feels like it might have actual candid memory to it; as in, it might’ve been something that happened to zagreus — an assassination from the council of elders could link to bartholos’s previous mentions of being trapped or tricked by the elders in previous lines
in terms of parallels, the merchant’s “feast” sounds very similar to the masked fools, which i have already speculated aha may be involved with themself
overall, either this is 1. zagreus’s actual memory of orchestrating a wealthy merchant’s assassination or 2. a recounting of a betrayal / assassination that occurred to them, likely being part of the events that led to their weakened state, regardless of at what point in time they set their “plan” in motion
Fortress of Dome Treasure 2
“Guaranteed authentic or your money back tenfold!” — i swear this is something sampo has said near-verbatim at this point
“Titans are always like this, you know? Never straightforward, always making riddles to torment us. According to “Era Nova” theory, they were once human too, right? So why are they so utterly inhumane…” — i like how they almost refer to themselves as an outsider here; regardless of the familiarity they have with other titans, they still end up “relating” to humans more through the use of second person collective. pointing out the titan’s inhumanity also makes me think zagreus has been on the receiving end of some rather “inhumane” practices — which is to say this line is personal — and that lines up with the legends of zagreus often being divinely punished for stealing/tricking other gods
similarly, i wonder if aha feels the same way towards the other aeons. we know they are seen as the most “human” of the bunch, and that may be because they find themselves disconnected from other aeons, finding them cruel, inhumane, or in sampo’s case, potentially capable of scathing betrayal. sampo, either as an emanator or aha themself, may follow this line of thinking as part of the elation path, seeing gods and emanators and aeons as less endearing than their mortal counterparts, potentially finding more (ironic) relatability and comfort in those so different from him instead than his peers
“Would ancestor Zagreus be this indiscreet? Wait… that’s not right. Sometimes I can be extremely discreet! Hehehehe…” — this is just cute to me. like they’re trying a little bit but also not really, just enough to fool the higher cyclical forces of the world but not enough to leave us out of the loop 🥹
Lightless Chapel Treasure 1
this one just makes me sad i don’t like it :((
“I’m a Bartholos projection, and I’m feeling quite melancholic.” — links in a way to some of sampo’s “glitches” that i have speculated could be part of a projection before. in this case, it’s clear zagreus has moved on to The Plot and left these shades behind
note: these may be another form of “lies”, but after the ending of 3.3 zagreus would have to pull a real curveball to somehow make it back
“It’s nowhere and everywhere at one. It left in a rush — you might hear its final story from other companions.” — lines up with the dissipating of the spirithief’s body at the end of 3.3; in fact, you can even hear whispers of their voice / laughter when you open treasure chests in the new dawncloud / okhema zones :((
“Old Bartholos has few friends, but you are most precious to it.” — reminds me so much of sampo augh my heart hurts my heart hurts
“May the Coin of Whimsy ensure you meet again after Era Nova. Hehe.” — this seems like a standard sad parting, but given the little “hehe” at the end i am beginning to think zagreus might know something we don’t, such as future plot developments of the “returning” of the world/characters/etc. — essentially, the equivalent to rebirth and such. but that could just be copium
Lightless Chapel Treasure 2
pretty meta dialogue talking about “developers,” reminds me of sampo’s fourth-wall-breaking
“…corrupt good intentions into cruel jokes…” — how interesting….. good intentions……. cruel jokes…………..
bartholos also mentions that they are now a “book collection,” a receptacle of knowledge and a “genuine BUG” — the bug part especially reminds me of some of sampo’s “bugs” like not leaving footprints on snow. as for the parallel implications… i’m not sure. i’m not sure if this interaction is supposed to be detailing a future event in the wider story or something that has already happened, or a weird meta-matrix reference, or some combination. for now, i’d like to think sampo hasn’t reached this point with his character yet but who knows
Lightless Chapel Treasure 3
as much as i want to believe bartholos is pulling a lie on a lie and adding another layer to the whole identity crisis for self-preservation, the way these projections talk is so much more off and distant than before
like, as zagreus, the spirithief was always making quips and hinting at their identity but now the projections are essentially just a shadow of a shadow, not even stealing treasures but interacting with different mechanisms/items in front of us
that being said, the mentions of data fragments and being “torn between joy and sorrow” do remind me of sampo. i’m not sure what to do with these connections, though, because as of 3.3 all of these “projections” are just running around and i have no idea if it’s temporary or another lie or just permanent scattered consciousness 🤷 even if i did know, i have no idea at what point in the process sampo is at right now — is he currently more similar to the hidden and collected (former) zagreus!spirithief, or is he more similar to one of these digital afterimages nearing era nova? i have no clue 😃
Cloudedge Bastion Ruins Treasure 1
“Ahem, it’s you. Bartholos has spoken of you as it’s good friend… which means there will be a trial here.” — it’s just so clinical and sad :(( bring back my babygirl
“Well, if we ignore the whole identity issue, we’re all Bartholos anyway.” — a little brain-breaking, but could tie into the idea of multiplicity, especially with larger-universe counterparts like the aha stuffed toys. also, i think this analysis may well be my thesis on how i am incapable of ignoring the “whole identity issue”. like, i need to know !! how much of bartholos’ consciousness or personality really remains in these projections? is it simply scattered consciousness, something that can be combined or brought together again? or is it straight up echoes or simple afterimages that bear no weight to zagreus/bartholos’s true being? a shadow of a shadow? or nothing at all? because that drastically changes things!
“Bartholos assigned me a purpose.” — the idea of being left with a “purpose” could tie into sampo if he is currently akin to one of these afterimages, and if so i wonder what that purpose is!
“Time for me to return to my original form!” — hold on what does that mean? i feel like the implication here is either 1. a bleak return-to-nothingness that is probably, like, raw code / data or something, or 2. an actual “original” bartholos form out there, perhaps recovering or weakened or otherwise different now that 3.3’s story has concluded
Cloudedge Bastion Ruins Treasure 2
“Bartholos has spoken of you as its good friend.” — stop i will cry :((
“Am I Bartholos? Or am I not? I play tricks like Bartholos, so I am Bartholos. But Bartholos is too busy for games right now, so I am not Bartholos.” — this is actually an idea quite central to doll!sampo !! even though i’m leaning more heavily towards a direct spirithief-zagreus relationship for aha!sampo right now, it’s possible that sampo is in this position currently, being a shade or afterimage of aha that has trouble reconciling his identity with his “past” — even an entity or emanator made in aha’s own image. additionally, this could be foreshadowing for a future identity state sampo enters into
“What exactly is it busy doing?” ➜ “I wish I knew — I was going to ask you the same thing. It normally likes doing things itself, so making me play games in its stead is pretty rare.” — i feel like this could either be sampo’s role currently or in the future. aside from being a hidden aha himself, he could be a proxy or “projection” sent to do aha’s bidding in the first place. i’d like to think aha would want to meet the trailblazer in person from the beginning, but who knows? maybe they’re currently enacting the final stages of their whole 3d mind chess plan and need sampo to act as a middleman
“I do wonder if after its pool of gold experience, it’ll still brag about knowing everything… Hehe.” — this seems like a veiled implication but i could be reading too much into it. the specific idea of “oh, you’re not bragging now that [insert horrible experience has happened to you]” feels like it might point towards that betrayal / assassination stuff discussed earlier
Knowing Bug
accompanying the previous spirithief interaction is the knowing bug, which is relevant because it is this nymph specifically that the spirithief chooses to steal
before being stolen, it says “I know all the secrets under the sky. The line of people wanting to ask me questions could stretch from Marmoreal Palace to Castrum Kremnos. For a bit of peace and quiet, I had no choice but to hide. I don’t believe that anyone could track me down here…” — this reminds me of sampo’s inconspicuous role on belobog and the idea of him hiding from the wider universe, as well as the idea that he “knows” something important, plot-relevant, or controversial. this could also allude to whatever “truths” sampo / the spirithief has discovered, since it’s possible they found or stole something with enough knowledge to pass on
after being returned by the spirithief (and being thrown into the pool of gold), it returns blabbering about knowing and not knowing in what is potentially a mental break. the closest i could get to linking this to sampo is that, perhaps, as someone who may be an afterimage of aha, there are other afterimages that may know or not know (to varying degrees) of their previous life / status / etc. — in this case, sampo would probably be more self-aware than others, or maybe even the “one who knows they don’t know they don’t know” the bug mentions
also, the knowing bug being “stolen” by the spirithief is similar to the sampo’s mythological narrative
this also grants an achievement called “knowledge knows no bounds”
Fallen Twilight City Treasure 1
“Hehe, did you miss me? Unfortunately, I’m not Bartholos in person, merely a shadow it projected.” — very explicit references to shadows and projections here, and it’s honestly starting to make me think sampo may already be one of these. his nihility motifs and “glitches” such as leaving no footprints on snow seem to point towards shadows and projection already. even though i’m hesitant to think the hsr writers would let something so plot-relevant go down without us seeing or knowing, maybe aha really is already “dead” and sampo is one of the shadows left in their stead. even if they are still alive and kicking, sampo could be the “shadow of an aeon,” so to speak, if we’re talking about dual-sided aha and the masks vs. silhouette. at the very least, maybe this is just foreshadowing
“But Bartholos told me about the porter story and said it had a blast role-playing with you.” — oh… oh……. 😔 my beloved…….. this is very sampo-related to me, because as i already discussed the porter story is very similar to sampo’s role / job on belobog. the fact that bart had “fun role-playing” with us too feels like a nail in the coffin. bro i am so scared for sampo’s life right now it’s not even funny
“But Amphoreus is a tiny world, and even the tricky Bartholos ran out of roles to play. Yet you — one of their best friends — still enjoyed playing along.” — (on copium) but you see since the wider universe is not as small as amphoreus maybe sampo won’t run out of roles to play like bartholos on amphoreus or maybe he’ll even be able to find a new role or break out of the matrix or something :)) it’s all fine :)))
“This touched Bartholos profoundly, helping it face certain destinies with more acceptance.” ➜ “They truly are a special friend.” ➜ “Hehe, that would make Bartholos so happy if they heard you!” — mom come pick me up i’m scared. why are we talking about destinies and acceptance are we not supposed to break those. are we not supposed to break the rules?? anyways it’s sweet that we were one of bart’s only true friends, and tbh we could probably say the same for sampo
Fallen Twilight City Treasure 2
“Hehehe, now I know exactly how old Bartholos feels when you catch it! As you see, I’m one of its projections, but being somewhat kindhearted, I’m helping the chimera and baby seals escape. But since you’ve caught me, I must have done wrong while meaning well— I admit my mistake! Please, for old Bartholos’ sake, show mercy and spare me!” — this is one of those times where i really start to think this is just another layer to the falsehood onion, like, the spirithief pops out with another identity layer to keep on surviving. they refer to old bartholos here much like ancestor zagreus, and have a similar tone to them when speaking. also, “must have done wrong while meaning well” ties into previous discussions of cruel jokes and good intentions
“I must insist you remain silent!” — the onion……
Fallen City Recollection
[Very detailed major spoilers for 3.3!]
there is a memory fragment you can activate in the fallen city version of okhema that shows cipher delivering kephale’s coreflame to zagreus/spirithief
notably, the spirithief says it wants “no part in big troubles” and starts shaking after cipher reveals the “gift” she brought for them
the spirithief seems hesitant to accept it, saying “Why not run as far as we can?” and referring to them both as “two teeny thieves”, until cipher reveals the lie that okhema has been in evernight for centuries and that trickery has been the only thing powering the dawn device
cipher even says “There’s no way for us to come out of this in one piece” (clever nod at the many different “pieces” or afterimages of bartholos) and points out “Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, Bartholos? You are the weakest shadow, yet you now bear the only dawn of this world.”
at this, bartholos seems to become excited (or at least says so to explain away their trembling) and mentions this being their “final trick”
afterwards, the player can hear the divine echo of zagreus, which implies that yeah, this is pretty final
overall, what i glean from this is that the spirithief/zagreus’ arc follows a god who should have died long ago clinging to the vestiges of their identity in an attempt to, well, save the world and do some good. despite likely having different motives at different times, they eventually realize that although most consider them weak, cowardly, and powerless, they have the ability to change things for the better, and so they do.
i can see this mapping fairly neatly onto sampo, at least in broad strokes. if we take him to be a “darkened” or reduced form of aha (or even an elation emanator), i think his actions on belobog and what we’ve seen so far of his personality/goals could line up with the ultimate realization: that regardless of what has happened to him or how others see him, he can, well, save the universe.
and i actually hate how it creates a satisfying full-circle narrative because that means it might be more likely to be true. which means he might die :(( like, unless 3.4 spits us out new information where zagreus is “suddenly okay because they factored this into their plan and they’re so good at escaping death and don’t worry guys look they’re here and all good again after that brief wacky stuff” then… well the zagreus parallels are not looking too good for our friend mr. sampo koski
anyways. i cry
.✦ ── ✦.
Spirithief Bartholos NPC Lines
.✦ ── ✦.
About halfway through collecting Spirithief treasures, Bartholos appears in the Trailblazer’s room for a conversation. What follows gives some good insight into previously-discussed connections!
“All lines of work need ample rest.” — reminds me of sampo not really liking his job and wanting to take breaks LOL
“Our ancestor Zagreus once said: ‘One person is an entire world, one person's pulling means everyone's pulling.’” — another zagreus line for the books
“During this period, we should turn over a new leaf and find a proper job.” — reminds me of belobog and sampo trying to make a name for himself / do “another” job there compared to the crazy masked fools stuff
“Phagousa and I enjoyed great relations back in the day. At their banquet, my compliments had everyone roaring with laughter.” — if false, good one! if true, speaks to a time the spirithief was commonly interacting with other titans, and perhaps implies a friendly relationship between phagousa and zagreus. also,, Laughter,,,,,
“Crrrkk... They'd be blackout drunk every time, then I'd steal away a pearl from the crest of the wave. She never noticed, and even thought the wave was balding.” — this makes me think the story is true, because there’s a level of fond, reminiscent detail the really makes it seem like a memory
“Be a transport worker, Old Bart.” ➜ “You still remember that? It's just moving things from one place to another. I bet I'd be great at it.” — reminds me of what sampo does on belobog, often ferrying supplies from the overworld to underworld, or transporting goods through his business via stealing
“Our ancestor Zagreus once said: ‘The slightest thought is a sin on an idle afternoon.’” — good lord they know zagreus’s entire monologue… almost like…… it was their monologue…………
bartholos also tells a story about their most “harrowing heist,” where thanatos challenges them to steal georios’ & cerces’ secret fruit, only to say they infused the fruit with “core of death” and that “the seeds of death grow within you. Your pranks will upend the lands, and your tricks will wither all life. And all this will be in my service." the spirithief, of course, didn’t eat that part of the fruit and says we can take the story either as truth or a harmless tale, but i think we can glean some ideas from this. especially death, and the idea the spirithief is trying to cheat or find a way around thanatos’s mechanisms. if we were to map this onto the wider universe, the closest aeonic concept to thanatos/death might be destruction? or nihility?
the spirithief’s proudest feat includes stealing an “unimaginable secret” “which is also the reason why i’m standing here before you.” while we aren’t sure what the secret is, it does tie into sampo’s thievery and the idea he too may have stolen something with lasting implications, possibly a secret or truth about the universe. for all we know, the spirithief discovered the truth of amphoreus as a cycle or potential simulation, and, as zagreus, started to panic a little bit. the consequences of that could be as devastating as anyone can imagine. similarly, sampo / aha may have discovered a truth about the universe, such as the great tree or even meta game-related truths, and is now seeking to “cheat” their existence, purpose, or fate.
the spirithief also talks about memories, wisdom, and status as worthy things to steal, saying “Neither keys nor crowbars are needed to steal them. Sometimes all it takes is a glib word, a heartfelt gesture, to have them swoon for your earnestness.” — this also reminds me of the way sampo acts, literally having lovebombing motifs scattered across his character. also, stealing status reminds me of zagreus stealing mnestia’s seat, which i will elaborate on in part 2.
“Gosh, you wouldn't be one of those types, would you? Obsessively digging into one's past, picking out its shattered fragments, and then presumptuously asserting that the other party has been healing their trauma for their whole life?” — oh they got my ass 😳 although tbh i don’t think the spirithief has any right to be insulting someone reading into things when they literally have the themes and motifs of betrayal, degrading oneself to survive, and connections to being a literal dead god :/
“If you're thinking of pretending to empathize with me, then pretentiously persuading me to turn over a new leaf, you can save it.” — this is where their true mindset really comes forth, in my opinion. not to do the thing they literally just got annoyed at, but the phrase “pretending to empathize” says a lot about what they might have experienced. they don’t want to be truthful with us or allow us to dig into their past because they think any kind of empathy or sympathy would be “fake,” as if no one could truly care about them without wanting them to change or “turn over a new leaf”. jokes on you buddy, i accept you exactly the way you are, no matter how many people you’ve killed
“I have seen you in the past... It's very different from your present self.” ➜ “Crrkk, whose leg are you pulling? Me? Obsequious and earnestly polite? Curious and full of energy? Only unleashing harsh words in a fit of powerless rage after being bullied? S—Someone must be impersonating me! Or perhaps, it could be one of the steps in my plan back then... That must be it!” — if this relates to sampo, it does imply the previous period of naïveté or earnestness i speculated about before, especially the part about “powerless rage” after being bullied. sampo’s clown’s items and themes of betrayal, hate, and rage would line up with being hurt or taken advantage of during a previous state of politeness. also…. what “plan”??? i thought you were just a helpless spirithief 🧐 i’m not sure what the plan is — could be survival, cheating death, zagreus trying to reclaim their power/coreflame — but whatever it is, it’s clearly something the spirithief is musing on without trying to obfuscate it, almost like a slip of the tongue under duress
“You sound agitated... We're just chatting, don't get antsy.” ➜ “Am I? Nonsense. I am more than happy to acquiesce if you wish to speak on other things. But if you keep persisting on this matter, don't blame me for what happens next!” — dodging more answers and information, very much the behavior of someone with something to hide (like sampo)
“What else did Zagreus say?” ➜ “Ancestor Zagreus left many pearls of wisdom. Alas, people nowadays are selectively blind, only heeding Cerces' words — they can't even fathom that the paltry tricks of Cerces are all that remains after Zagreus stole everything else.” — hyping up zagreus the same way they do themself…. keep up the positive self-talk king
the spirithief recounts some more zagreus lines, but adds specific context like “Ancestor Zagreus said this after successfully deceiving Cerces,” “Ancestor Zagreus mentioned this after stubbing its toe while fleeing,” and “Ancestor Zagreus espoused these words when ensnared in a trap set by the Okheman Elders.” — again, very specific situations, especially with zagreus stubbing their toe. also, the “trap” mentioned here sounds eerily similar to the one bartholos (maybe) encountered with the council of elders during one of the treasure dialogues.
“‘Theft is but retrieving what belonged to you in the first place.’ That was ancestor Zagreus' first lesson.” — relevant considering thievery is the spirithief’s whole thing
And that’s all for the treasure / NPC dialogue lines! Apologies for lack of a conclusion here, but I will include a comprehensive one in the second part of these updates containing 3.3’s story!
𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thanks for reading to the end! i really didn’t think i’d be making another major sampo analysis until he was directly involved in the story again, but spirithief bartholos sure proved me wrong! the more i saw of this lil guy the more i was like… i’m not crazy right? this has to be some kind of foreshadowing?? and thus 10k words of analysis was born
Hello, I still exist. I'm still in love with Sampo as much as ever. Just haven't felt like posting lately, admin's health isn't the best 😅 I hope everyone's been doing well, tho! How about those alleged 4.0 leaks? 👀
Matching your freak is beautiful and all but what you really need is a boy who's infatuated with your freak. Down bad for your freak. Deeply intrigued by your freak. Eager to see more of your freak. Supportive of your freak. Gets bricked up witnessing your freak, even.
A bit out there, but do you guys ever think how The Sampo was gifted to a witch by Ilmarinen before getting lost in the sea? And do you guys ever think about how only Natasha has been referred to as a witch in the whole game?
prguitarman
jbbartram-illu
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