Crack theory on Aric's dad (obviously contains spoilers) (part 1??)
Like said in the title, this I gonna be absolute chaos, and literally some of it (maybe all of it) might not make any literal sense.
As the SGE bookworms out there know, in book 6 when Sophie, Bettina, etc. were walking in that one wizard tree scene with all of those "flowers", one of them had urged Sophie to open it up, and as a reward, it would reveal who Aric's father was.
From that moment on, something automatically clicked that his father may actually be a big part in the plot of the series, since Soman can't possibly be stupid enough to just throw that question in out of no where.
It'll probably be revealed who it actually is further on in the Rise series, but I'm trying to collaborate why out of all people, Soman chose Hook to be one of the main character(ish) in the book.
It could be because it was later revealed that he was Hort's father, or it was just because Soman wanted some angsty tension between Rafal and Rhian.
I really don't know why yet, (it's 1am and I haven't read the series in a while, so feel free to cringe behind your scenes if I state something wrong all of a sudden), but he's obviously going to be developed as a character further on in Rise.
Aric's appearance and background
It was stated that Aric's eyes are (were *wink, wink*) a lethal violent tint, and he has spiky "raven-black" hair along with pale skin, all in reference to Lady Lesso's appearance too, so he obviously adapted her looks.
It's also explained how he grew up in Bloodbrook, which may I remind you, where Hort grew up in (is that where some pirates were too, or was that just Neverland? Cause if there were some pirates in Bloodbrook, that can also be more proof that Hook was Aric's father too *sorry, again I haven't read it in a long time*) 😅
I'm not saying that just because he grew up in Bloodbrook, it automatically turns him into Hort's step-sibling, because that's literally like saying Anadil and Hort can be SibLIngS too.
(Totally irrelevant, but Hort also had "Raven-black" hair. Prob one of the least important points that link back to Aric, but oh well, it's better than nothing).
Ever-never handbook hints
In the "frequently asked questions" chapter, there's literally a question of Dovey answering to literally "who was Aric's father?"
She answered with "a hulking, well-muscled man" had apparently come to the School's gates, asking for Lady Lesso, to which the Dean had refused to see him right after Dovey explained his appearance.
At the end, it said something like "he's out there in the Woods alive, just waiting," or something similar.
Seriously, Soman, how obvious are you willing to make it for the readers that we all already know his dad as a character, just not who he exactly is yet?...
Aric's relationship with Rafal
Sometimes I wonder how the hell these two came to be BudDiEs fOrevEr during book 3.
Was it because Rafal liked watching Aric pick on his mother as "revenge", or because he knew who his father was, and they had an unstable-but-okayish-sort-of-friendship in the past. (Maybe it did refer to why Rafal gave Aric the becoming the second dean, and I just don't remember lmao).
And besides, apparently those two even conspired to create uniforms together according to the Ever Never Hand Book💀
How on Earth can Rafal be "close" to the son of a woman we all saw he was annoyed at?
Linking back to my two points above, it was either because they bonded over the love of talking sh about Aric's poor mother, or Rafal knew who Aric's dad was all along.
And thus brings an end to this exceedingly long theory (remember, it's supposed to be chaotic, and I'm probably 90% wrong, but you never know...)
I'm tired asf right now, and it's exactly 1:39am now, (it really took me 39 minutes to write all of this, and it probably has errors everywhere, but oh well).