Like I think the thing is that Wizard101, at least in arc 3, (and a bit of arc 2,) subverts the classic destiny trope in a way that actually just warps around to playing the trope sincerely.
We’re told multiple times that things are decided and foreseen: by Raven, by Bartleby, by Spider. But then, every time, that destiny is fulfilled by a “mortal” character’s own power, or the way that destined conclusion is reached isn’t what people assumed it to be.
Morganthe’s prophecy was always going to be about Spider’s freedom from his slumber. The Wizard wasn’t able to stop that prophecy from being fulfilled, but they stopped Morganthe. They couldn’t stop destiny, but they could interrupt people’s relationship to that destiny.
And I think this is consistent with arc 3! We see with Bat that Spider did, at his core, always want peace with Raven and the Spiral to survive. Despite all he does to Bat, Bat fulfills what he was “created to be” and brings Spider back to his heart. In that situation it was Bat with the power/awareness of destiny. Spider had created a “fate” by total accident, and he was entirely unaware that he had until he reconnected with his heart and realized what he’d truly wanted.
And I think this is what Raven unknowingly did with Mellori.
Mellori was created from Raven’s heart, specifically her love for Spider. She believed that if she extracted that love from herself and distanced herself from it, she’d have the strength to do what needed to be done and keep Spider locked away, or destroy him if needed.
But in the end, she believes she needs Mellori and her powers to destroy him. That she and her heart must end Spider and, when that doesn’t work, destroy him and the Spiral to create something new.
I have a small theory that Raven’s increasingly insane actions over arc 3 are a result of her disconnection from her heart. Her love for Spider isn’t an isolated emotion, that grief is what informed her love of the Spiral, her desire to care for her brother.
But still, her first action when she distances herself from her own emotions are to give those emotions a will. There’s zero textual implication that she had to make her heart a sentient being. Why would she do that if unless, on some subconscious level, she didn’t truly want those things out of the world?
If you believe the biggest danger lies in you getting soft for Spider, why in the world would you externalize those feelings into a demigod child, give that kid to Baba Yaga to raise, (rather than eat, I guess,) make the demigod child part of this grand prophecy, try to recruit her into the fight against the guy you’re trying to hate, and call her your daughter?
Just like Spider was blind to Bat’s true part in fate, Raven was blind to Mellori.
But in both cases, those prophecy children fulfill their roles, but not in the way their parents expected. The truth of what is meant to happen— Spider is freed, he regains his heart— comes to pass, but the fear and destruction around it is dispelled. Nobody has to die for everyone to get what they want.
This pattern is probably the most obvious with the Wizard’s relationship to Bartleby. There’s a few ways you can interpret the Scion thing, but what’s clear and canon especially as of Darkmoor is that Bartleby knew his eye would be taken, and knew the player character would be able to act in his time of blindness and both restore him, and fulfill the ideal outcome for the threats the Spiral faces while he can’t see.
Even Bartleby himself, his omniscience doesn’t allow him to see the absolute perfect outcome. It allows him to see the best outcome, and those timelines converge when everyone acts at their bests, including him. While we can walk circles all day about how Bartleby does or doesn’t still manipulate those outcomes and pieces, the truth remains that “fate” isn’t some binding thing by His Will. The Wizard wasn’t destined to defeat Malistaire because the Great Tree Willed It— they were destined to defeated Malistaire because they could do it. All he and Ambrose did was open the door for the Wizard to be able to walk down that road.
And I think, really, that’s part of what destiny is in the Spiral. The gods can’t just force things to come to pass. They think they can, and Bartleby might have some more awareness but now we can even see that there’s ways to subvert him, because he’s not exactly willing new things or outcomes into existence. It’s always just been the people who are already there on the board.
So I’d make the argument that in arc 3, specifically, destiny is two things: what people think is going to happen and the anxieties that stem from an unknown future, and people acting at their best to prevent those anxieties/awful things, which reveals that their real fates were always going to be just them acting at their best.
Mellori doesn’t fulfill what was asked of her by Raven, but she does right by her in every way. It’s her who leads the charge into the Husk, it’s her that keeps fighting and insisting even when she’s objectively reduced to a lamp.
She doesn’t do what Raven made her for, but she does what Raven made her to do.
Obviously this all remains fully removed from how Mellori feels. It’s clear that she has a complicated relationship with Raven and doesn’t exactly want to be seen as “the Ravenchild”— but still! We see her in Selenopolis fully comfortable with her own abilities. She’s a Ravenwood professor teaching how to defend against Shadow, something she’s naturally skilled at as a being of Light. Those skills are her own, and she maintains ownership of them. She’s proud of who she is and what she’s accomplished, because she knows that in the end, her destiny was always her own, and what people imposed on her wasn’t the truth, it was only their belief about what was “supposed” to happen.
