Nevermore Luca & Duke theory.
Okay so I’ve been thinking about this and I think that honestly Luca had probably tried to get Duke into that water magic box way before they went on scene. Why? You may ask.
To argue properly for my theory I’ll have to bring some proof from the comic itself.
Here have I collected every single of the vast sea of expressions that rich people can afford expressed on Luca’s face.
Which lwk you got to admit that he was totally right for. Because as it turns out Duke had no shame in flirting with him in a public server in a time where being a little bit of diva wasn’t appreciated much.
So connecting all the dots, there’s only one piece missing for all of this to make sense to you.
We have to go back so far that the artstyle changes as well.
Here we can see Luca genuinely believing in his best friend, in the man he loves most, telling the crowd to applaud his performance, and in a twisted way it is the only way he can in just a small way show his love for Duke publicly without ending up on the gallows or at Prospero’s office.
The thing is that you all were mistaken.
Luca did this on purpose.
Yeah I know. You may think be insane. Why? Where’s the proof? Am I really to advocate against his last gentle smile that he sent towards Duke before dukes demise? Am I really to go against yaoi because the comic is about lesbians? Am I like those anti Willtresor 14 year olds?
Luca never wanted to kill Duke, no, he wanted Duke to finally confess, to finally reveal the secret he’s kept for so long. The reason why Duke could stand there, all rizzlingly leaning onto the wall, hands behind his head, mustache basking in the glory of Luca’s brightness that didn’t fall into the extreme of gingerism a settling sun and Morella could envy, as Luca threw knives at him.
The true reason was hinted at the very beginning in the maze episode where Duke gets dragged under the water. Notice how fast and strongly he swims? How it’s a second nature to him?
Yeah, well, that’s because water for Duke is like air for us.
Some may look at this and say ???
But let’s be so for real. Luca saw him and he knew, he knew that that diva had to be part of H20 the last drop of water ahh. He’s clearly connected to Cleo.
He knew his boyfriend couldn’t tell him about his but whenever there was a water shortage in their French city and they should casually bath together, Duke had to deny and Luca knew why but he didn’t want to cross the boundaries and press Duke about it.
But at some point it finally started taking a strain on their relationship and financial stability. Bathing in the river wasn’t fun for Luca because people thought he was poor.
Going on the beach was a bother because his bf wouldn’t come with him and everyone took him for a straight man. Not to mention that being a amateur magician doesn’t make THAT much money, and with Luca dragging Duke down by not dressing up in the usual magicians helper costume lwk made it harder for Duke to do the tricks since there was no hot baddie to distract the audience from him pulling cards from his sleeve.
So he for SURE tried to get Duke to go swimming w him or smth, like yk, subtle hints for Duke to have a chance to reveal himself on his own.
But Duke denied. And denied, and denied. Like a lesbian woman married to a man.
Ngl not shocked Luca broke down. I’m pretty sure that’s why Dukes og spectre form was a mermaid with a carp tail, and why Luca’s og last name was fisherman. I’m 99% sure that rnf changed it to not make it tooo obvious and leave that as another funny quirky nevermore mystery that we allll so love.
Either way thank you for reading this theory.
