#character theory

[ladyginchio]

Myth Zombie Analysis

WARNING: THIS WILL TALK ABOUT SOME THINGS FROM THE LATEST MOTM UPDATE! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, I SUGGEST DOING SO BEFORE READING THIS!

Alright. Let's talk about these zombies.

So far, we have seen 4 zombies. Charly, Barley (in the back with his head on the line), one who I think is Edgar (it very well might not be), and the brute wolf/dog Bendy mistakes for Boris.

All of them have been horribly mutilated in some way, shape, or form. Charly is missing some limbs and an eye, Barley's head is held on by a string, and the brute zombie's chest and neck hacked open to show its bones. All quite gruesome to think of or look at. But this also bears another implication. That they have been experimented on in some fashion.

See, Charly's eye isn't just missing. It's straight up sewn shut. And the one that could be Edgar also has similar stitching on its head, right above its single eye. This isn't something they could do as mindless zombies. Someone had to try to stitch them up and keep them together. Additionally, they've been confirmed to be missing for years at this point.

I don't think they would randomly pop up after disappearing for years. Someone had to have taken them, and done this to them. Tortured them, experimented on them, and once their lives gave out, denied them even that. They now exist as mindless husks who follow whatever objective their given, or pursue any available soul they can get their mitts on.

I fully believe the current objective they have is to go after the bbros. When Cups and Bendy first see the Butchers, Charly gets in Bendy's face instead of Cups. This is despite the fact that a free soul is floating next to the demon he could grab at any moment. No, Charly is focused entirely on chasing Bendy over Cups. This is further shown when Charly manages to catch up to the two while their trying to pull their hands apart.

If you look at Charly's hand, it's aimed lower than Cups' soul on his person. Additionally, in the prior panel, Bendy was on the left while Cups was on the right. This means that Bendy was closer to Charly when he tried to lunge for them. The only reason Charly was unable to grab him was because Cups simultaneously pushed Bendy out of the way while putting himself between the two of them. This meant that Charly now had an obstacle to remove to get to his target. And that obstacle was something his body was lacking. A soul.

At that point, any commands that were lodged into his head flew the coop. Every instinct in his body would be screaming at him to fill the gap with whatever is available. And in this case, that would be Cups. It isn't just Charly who has this instinct either. The brute themself says as much when they encounter Bendy.

They are empty bodies just yearning for a soul to complete them. To give back what they have lost by being restored to unlife.

Now we come to the question: who tried to bring them back to life? Who would do something like this? And why? The way I see it there are two possible answers. One obvious one, and one that's a bit of a long shot.

The Mad Doctor, or Dandy.

The Mad Doctor is an obvious choice. It's in the name after all. But further evidence is Bendy stating that Charly and his gang disappeared in the war against the Doctor. It's possible that followers of the Doctor would kidnap toons and bring them to him for experimentation. No one could find them if they were behind enemy lines and they could never get to them. Jessica adds onto this with her statement that the Doctor is still at large. So it's possible that he's the one who let out these husks for a test drive. A little test for his latest batch of soldiers.

While highly probable, I still don't think the Doctor sent the husks after them. After all, why would he send the zombies into the forest when he could have sent them to the town to spread terror? It just doesn't feel like the right M.O. for a follower of Doom and someone who waged a war. So, that leaves the only other suspect.

Dandy.

Now, this is a long shot. But something I feel is likely. Dandy is stated to be the Star of Health, as seen with Dyle's introduction at the meeting. The Health department would have access to alot of medical equipment and technology other departments wouldn't. And, if we consider that the zombies were experimented upon, they would have the means to do so. Adding fuel to this theory is that Mickey and Dandy have an as of yet unspecified deal. Something that has to do with Gardenview. Something that has to do with unfiltered ink. This is something that Mario attempts to address in the meeting before he is cut off.

The moment Mario tries to talk about the ink waste, Dyle interrupts. The only reason he would do something like this is if Mario was about to say something incriminating to him and Dandy. So he cuts him off to avoid the other stars becoming suspicious of their activities. This only adds onto my suspicions that something shady is going on at Gardenview regarding the unfiltered ink and its use. This "ink" might actually be Ichor.

As stated in the Prologue, Ichor is what give toons life. It is the lifeblood of the planet that was then used to make them as well. So if you have the means to breaks through the surface, you can gain access to the Ichor and use it for your own purposes. To create, to build, to give life. But it can be dangerous. This inky essence is a living thing that can grant its own life if left unchecked. Hence, "Searchers" being associated with it. The best answer would be to destroy it or filter it to lessen the chance of a Searcher spawning. Unless, you can use it for something else. Like "Reanimation".

What happens when you introduce living ink into something already dead? What does it do to a body that has become empty? Something without a heart, without a soul? Would nothing happen? Or, would some semblance of life, return? Would the body walk again, even without a soul to pilot it?

My final evidence to Dandy being responsible actually comes from something Sheba said.

'butchers all over the forest after you heads'. BUTCHERS. Not bounty hunters. Not ruffians. Butchers. The name of Charly's gang. The name of the zombies if you look in the tags. This means when Sheba and Felix were in the forest, they saw the zombies roaming around. And they recognized them. They knew what they were. What they were there for.

This means one thing: this has happened before. Someone learned something they shouldn't have, and the butchers A.K.A the zombies were sent out to take care of the problem. Tear them apart before they could do anything about it. And at that point, only a handful of people knew they were out there. The cupbros, Felix and Sheba, and MICKEY. The mouse himself, who is shown to have some connection to Dandy. The person who most likely experimented on these husks. Who would be more then happy to help out a "friend" with his "problem".

And a final problem to puzzle out. How have these zombies not been seen by anyone? How were they not found after they went missing if Dandy had them? For the latter, no one would think to look to the Health department for missing people during a war. It would be far more likely that the enemy took them or they simply ran to a different town. As for the former, let's be honest. Who would believe them that the dead walked? That the missing had risen from the grave? And with the power they have at their fingertips, Mickey or Dandy could bury them before they got a peep out. Dead as the butchers they saw.

...OK, I'M DONE RANTING! WHEW!

Thanks you @flygutzz and @nortsauce for the amazing update! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! But man, I had alot I wanted to say about these guys and my thoughts on it!

[impish-ivy]

Do you think the reason Solomon isn’t able to tell that the people around him hate his food is because as he was growing up he perceived disgust as love?

We know he’s being genuine because he acts very shocked and hurt when MC and Asmo tell him the truth. I’ve seen theories that he fakes not being aware because he’s trolling and although that’d be hilarious, it’s not canon.

His friendship with Thirteen would only further to prove this belief. They both care very much about each other but they have more of a cat-mouse relationship. She regularly insults him and he always laughs it off or thanks her for her compliments.

The same way he reacts to complaints about his cooking.

The brother’s close relationship probably doesn’t help either. They’re constantly at each other’s throats but are praised for being close and loving each other so much. So when they speak about how shit his cooking is, he probably thinks they’re just doing their family banter.

And I think they’re all aware of this.

Not of his specific trauma, but that he has some. It’s why they never bother correcting him or refuse to eat his food outright.

It’s why he likes to cook for everyone so much, he feels so loved when everyone complains about his cooking.

This is the dude who canonically loves being scolded by MC, after all.

[tomato-face-xoxo]

okay you guys are gonna have to let me cook here

so gooseworx recently released more drawings of jax…

but looking closer you will notice something

progesterone? you mean

this progesterone???

is jax trying to mask her desire for tits by saying they help with gambling purposes???

but the plot thickens

these “issues” may be jealousy. jax wants to be a girl, and she takes out her frustrations on the other girls.

goosworx, a trans woman, relates most to jax. possibly because they’re both transgenders????????

internal issues? gender dysphoria.

now, you know how gooseworx posted that drawing of jax in a maid dress? i’m gonna go on to say that this secret thing she likes but doesn’t want to share is that she actually loves wearing maid dresses.

anddd that’s not even mentioning the fact that jax was originally designed as a girl! only now gooseworx has opted for the Girl With Extra Steps path.

and if you look at some of the earlier jax sketches you can see that jax may be masking some insecurity revolving around her masculinity. as she says, and i quote “I am the pinnacle of masculinity!!!” maybe this is just her way of coping with the fact that she is NOT the pinnacle of masculinity and is in fact the pinnacle of femininity!!!

EDIT: adding on something

what if jax isn’t thinking of tits here in the typical straight man way? what if jax is thinking about HAVING tits here????

tl;dr jax is transfem and this is 1000% canon okay bye.

[vanicrist]

i have a theory

someone on twitter pointed out eddie's face when chim said he was acting like buck and it looked a lot like he was REALLY happy to be compared to buck

so it made me think about 8x18 in which eddie says "Well, I thought if Bobby were here, what kind of crazy stunt would he be yelling at Buck for pulling?"

this, combined with the way eddie is acting as if now that chris is back home he can finally follow father brian's advice, makes me think that maybe he's pulling those crazy stunts for two reasons:

he still is grieving bobby;

he thinks that joy = buck, and he wants to act more like buck because he thinks that's the way he'll find HIS joy.

which makes me think: is it possible that through this logic, he will realise that buck is what gives him joy? (besides chris obviously) or at least think more about WHY he feels like this?

and yeah i know eddie did crazy stunts before, but i think there's a reason why chim needed to say he was acting like buck.

[muzetrigger]

Pluto and “The Black Cat”

I guess it takes a community event for me to actually write out that Pluto post I've been planning for *checks notes* 2 months.

So, let's talk about Pluto (finally)!

By the way, spoilers, so if you're not into that:

We're first introduced to Pluto during the Maze arc, where he's unceremoniously dumped on Duke and Lenore by the Posh Crew, which also includes his roommate Prospero.

At first, it's easy to write Pluto off as kind of an emo soft boi. And in fact, Duke even tries to ditch him during the Acrophobia Trial.

It's not hard to see why. Aesthetically, Pluto has a much darker presentation than the rest of the cast which gives him the impression of a gloomy introvert that won't really contribute anything to the team. He wears a grey turtleneck instead of a white dress shirt which marks him as a visual outcast; his slouching posture projects a lack of confidence; and his eye covering bangs actually do a lot of work to make him appear less communicative (windows to the soul, right?).

On top of that, Pluto's pretty small, a trait emphasized by his overly large jacket, which unlike other students, doesn't seem to be tailored to him, and his prickly personality don't earn him any teamwork points. I mean, just look at him:

The point being, Pluto isn't exactly the image of confidence that Duke and Lenore need in order to muscle through the maze.

That being said, like most great characters, Pluto almost immediately shows he has a lot more going for him than first impressions.

One thing that readers might have noticed is that because Pluto is pretty small and unassuming, he's great at sneaking around.

But since it's mostly played as a gag many people might have also missed this detail right after:

Pluto stepping on a branch isn't mindbogglingly important, but it does speak to his character in a really touching way. He immediately recognizes that his silence upsets Duke and Lenore and goes out of his way to make noise so they aren't startled by him, even though they really haven't been the nicest to him.

It's a small detail, but it shows that right from the beginning, Pluto is someone who cares about other people, which is further reinforced when he tries to break up Duke and Lenore during Duke's ill-conceived attempt to awaken Lenore's spectre:

The maze also highlights a few of Pluto's other positive traits. For example, he's surprisingly interested in etymology (what a dork; I love him), which gives Red an easy way to explain the Greek/Latin roots to the readers while also playing up Pluto's allusion to the Roman god. It also indicates that Pluto is fairly book smart, which is directly contrasted by Duke's street smarts in the Chronophobia trial and Lenore's... instinct? Let's call it intuition.

We also get a bit of foreshadowing for Pluto's spectre. One, he's actually pretty dextrous on a tightrope, and two, he can't swim, both of which are traits stereotypically associated with cats.

Speaking of which, Pluto's spectre:

According to Poppet, Pluto is a Crytid, a type of Spectre that manifests when someone had a deep-seated desire to escape social constraints, but somewhat paradoxically, Pluto is a cat, a domesticated creature.

I'm going to take a small aside to say that cats really aren't that domesticated. I mean yes, who doesn't love tea cup kittens, but cats can return to the wild and they still share most of their genetic code and evolutionary instincts with their untamed counterparts, which can't really be said about dogs.

Okay, back to Nevermore, except I lied, we're actually going back to 1845 when Edgar Allan Poe published "The Black Cat".

If you didn't know (but you probably did. After all, you're reading a Nevermore character analysis), almost every Nevermore character is based on one or more works by EAP. (You can check out their main inspirations in this other post.)

Post by @muzetrigger · 12 images

💬 0  🔁 4  ❤️ 32 · Nevermore Characters and their Poe Inspirations · It’s the winter solstice, so how about something special? I think every

And Pluto's story is "The Black Cat". It isn't one of Poe's most famous works, so you could be forgiven for not knowing about it, but if you have read it, you probably immediately recognized its influence on Pluto.

First, a brief overview of the story: (CW: animal abuse and domestic violence)

Like most Poe short stories, "The Black Cat" is narrated by an insane murderer (that's a tad hyperbolic, but you get the point). Unlike other narrators though, this narrator actually started out somewhat decent.

You see, the narrator used to be a loving husband to a woman that he married early in life. Both of them loved animals, so over the years, they cared for a lot of pets together, including "birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat."

This cat is, of course, the titular Black Cat and his name is Pluto. He's also described as being the narrator's "favorite pet and playmate."

Unfortunately, the narrator is also an alcoholic, and his addiction gradually turns him from a loving and sensitive man into a violent mess. He's able to stave off his alcohol fueled abuse from Pluto for several years, but eventually, Pluto ticks him off and he grabs the cat and purposefully cuts out one of its eyes with a penknife.

Understandably, Pluto (the cat) does not take kindly to this, and for the rest of its life tries to avoid the narrator, which the narrator takes surprisingly well.

At first.

Eventually, his alcoholism catches up with him and he decides that, for literally "no other reason than because he knows he should not" decides to hang the cat.

So, there are a ton of references to the short story in Nevermore. Pluto's dad is a physically abusive drunk who cuts out Pluto's eye, Pluto's name and spectre are inspired by the Black Cat, and the way Pluto unlocks his spectre mirrors how the narrator hangs his pet.

But there are arguably lot more allusions from the rest of the story. You see right after the narrator kills Pluto, his house burns down and there are two characters in Nevermore who are associated with fire:

Lenore and Monty, both of whom have a pretty interesting relationship with Pluto, especially when you line them up with Pluto's short story.

If you associate the narrator's house burning down as karmic retribution, then Lenore is a natural pick. After all, she not only burns down her estate, her presence in Pluto's (after)life is arguably what causes him to start standing up for himself more, and at the very least, her leadership is what gets him through maze for a shot at the second life which dovetails nicely with the fallout of the narrator's house burning.

You see, the narrator doesn't perish along with his material possessions, but one wall of his house also survives, and burned into that wall is the image of a hanging cat, a reminder of his sins.

Soon after, the narrator, still drowning his sorrows and guilt at bars, happens upon a second cat who is "fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every aspect but one." It's even missing an eye. The only thing that separates it from Pluto is a patch of white hair on its chest.

Now the concept of doubling is one of Poe's hallmarks, and it's mirrored wonderfully in Nevermore by the students' past lives and their current unlife as students, or alternatively, their human form and their spectre form, but it's also symbolically present for Pluto because by leading him out of the maze, Lenore also leads Pluto on the path to a second life in addition to inspiring him to be more confident, which is arguably the difference between his past and current self.

Based on Pluto's memories, it doesn't seem like his father thought of him as a "man" and given his character introduction, Pluto was a meek person. But after meeting Lenore and befriending Duke, Pluto does this:

One, it's hilarious that Pluto is talking about taking eyes, but two, Pluto is fully ready to kill Monty here and that leads me to part two of the fire.

Monty is a self destructive individual. He purposefully instigates fights, loves to stir up trouble for no reason, and suffers from trauma that arguably isn't his fault (not to say that dealing with that trauma isn't his responsibility).

In some ways, he's haunted by his religious upbringing as much as the narrator of "The Black Cat" is by his alcoholism. Both are aware of how much it ruins their lives, but they can't help leaning into those violent tendencies. The narrator even calls his alcoholism a "fiend".

And, they both wall up someone they're rooming with.

Because, there's even more to the new black cat than driving the narrator insane. In fact, the narrator goes as far as murdering his wife while attempting to kill the new Pluto (I can't believe she stuck around, the poor woman).

And like any Poe narrator worth his salt, "The Black Cat" narrator decides to hide the body by walling her up in a false chimney. This comes with the added benefit of scaring the new black cat away so the narrator can finally enjoy some piece and quiet.

Only it turns out this is a lie. Just like Monty narrowly avoiding Pluto's gunshot, the Black Cat's absence turns out to be the narrator's undoing because the narrator accidently walled up the cat with his wife's corpse, and it's the cat's screeching that ultimately unmasks his crimes.

Similarly, it's Pluto's belief in Duke that activates Duke's spectre, "freeing a corpse" and leading to the much needed string of chapters where everyone dunks on Monty. (Thank you, Pluto.)

I think it's really neat that Red managed to blend multiple Poe stories into a new plot thread, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she and Flynn have in store with Pluto because even though his inspiration story has been pretty much fully acted out, most of spectre abilities really haven't been explored.

For instance, while "unlucky" is a general description of black cats, Pluto's presence has actually been a major boon for the misfits, saving Duke, explaining the thalassophobia trial in the maze, guiding Lenore and Duke through Acrophobia, and also warning Lenore and defending her during the Manor arc. Maybe it's bad luck for his enemies or straight up luck manipulation?

"Blink" could be a reference to Pluto's dash attack, but Pluto also has an uncanny ability to disappear from people's perception as demonstrated during the maze and to a lesser extent when he hides from Eulalie in the forbidden wing.

For those of us into TTRPGs, blink is also sometimes used to refer to teleporting or the DnD spell of the same name with causes the caster to fade in and out of existence!

And finally, "evil eye" is a very intriguing ability. While it could just be a reference to Pluto's missing/remaining eye, as @takescrackseriously and other readers have pointed out, it could also be a reference to Poe's "Telltale Heart" maybe having the ability to drive victims mad, like Pluto's namesake (er, reincarnation?) does in "The Black Cat".

That brings up another question, which is why is Pluto still missing his eye? Lenore was also seriously injured in life, but she isn't crippled like she was post-Theo as a student. What injuries get to be healed and which remain in Nevermore?

I'm interested to see if, like Will's freaky blood wax clones, spectres' powers can develop and how far they can develop. After all, Pluto's power set seems fairly basic, and while I love underdogs (undercats?), ostensibly there's some kind of balancing system that makes traits like "blink" and "teeth" keep up with monsters like "fear itself" and "divine light".

Okay, maybe not given the ruthless nature of the academy and the Raven's comments, but narratively that can feel a bit unsatisfying, y'know? Because it would be such a waste for Pluto's development to stall here despite the amazing amount of progress he's already made.

Plus, aesthetically, I'm willing to bet Flynn is going to incorporate more white into Pluto's character design, because a considerable amount of detail focuses on this one difference between Pluto and the new cat in the short story. In fact, it seems to be one of the factors in the narrator's full descent into madness because he starts seeing the cat's white patch as morphing into the image of a noose.

And to close out this really lengthy post on a bright note, have some terrified Pluto:

What a cutie. We must protect him at all costs.

By the way, if you enjoyed my rambling, here are links to similar theory/analysis posts talking about Ada and Annabel!

Post by @muzetrigger · 29 images

💬 9  🔁 27  ❤️ 142 · In celebration of Nevermore S2, I feel the need to explain why I’m hoping for more Ada page time/development and why she

Post by @muzetrigger · 19 images

💬 2  🔁 2  ❤️ 70 · Nevermore Theory: It’s not about “The Tell-Tale Heart” · Okay, it’s time for another Friday night rant. Recently, I’ve be

[silly-logical-clover]

RADDY Could Be SUFFERING From RADIATION POISONING?!

Hiii cloverlings! So, a little context before we jump RIGHT in; In an episode from the ealier days of sl, Wenda Simon and Garnold all needed to be transformed in a way that would give them superpowers, yada yada. So, Garnold asks MFC if he's trying to give them radiation poisoning, since it was a radiation chamber. He says it is KIND OF poisoning, but it's in such a low amount that it won't hurt them!

.....Raddy has been transformed a lot. Sooo today I'm gonna count the amount of total times he's been transformed! Let me know if I miss any!

SPRUNKI: CHARACTER CREATION! - 5

Raddy was transformed a total of 5 times in this episode, including him turning back since he was thrown in the machine for that as well.

(Images above are from the GameToons Fandom Wiki!)

Next we haaave...

FUNBOT Takes Over SPRUNKI?! - 1

I totally forgot about this episode, I'm gonna count this as just once since he wasn't transformed back with a machine. But hoooly shit that electricity emitting as he turned back couldn't have not hurt, right-?

FunBot didn't even get the horns in the correct position, smh.

(Image above is from the GameToons Fandom Wiki!)

Next up!

SPRUNKI: MONSTER MAYHEM! - 0

I gotta say, this transformation is absolutely sick. Anywho, Raddy got turned into the weird thing with a curse, and he wasn't turned back to normal with a machine either. Still, cool transformation and I felt like I should include it.

(Screenshot!)

Though... I feel like the amount of times his collar shocked him had to do at least a little damage, right?

MR. SAD COMPUTER TAKES CONTROL! - 2

Yk, I think we can count this since there's a LITERAL WIRE STICKING OUT OF HIM?! He IS the machine. I'm also counting the second because in all technicality, he was turned back by a machine.

(Screenshot!)

Alright next up, we gooot...

HAUNTED by the SPRUNKI SLIDE EATER... - 0

We literally never see how he turns back, and he also does not turn into said slide eater with a machine, so I can't count this one. Can't even count the larger form because he got that by eating a lot of sprunkis! Though I will say this IS the ONLY sprunki eater episode I like.

(Screenshots!)

I like this ep for one reason in particular..... COUGHS

DROPS THIS RUNS AWAY GETS SHOT

And finally...

The episode which shall not be named - 0

You could've just turned him into a fucking table I would've been more fine with that. Please bro. Ple

He was turned into that thing from a curse, and turned back when there was a loophole found around said curse. Raddy for your own safety please stop going back to that park you might turn into a swingset or something crazy like that

I'm not gonna grab that form because fuck you now have a creature

(Screenshot!)

Total - 8

I now have a theory as to the reason why Raddy's been the way he is recently is due to radiation poisoning. Early sl Raddy and new sl Raddy are entirely different, and no offense to my lovely baby boy... but he's gotten stupider. Way stupider. To a concerning degree in a concerning amount of time.

GameToons, please. I beg of you. Give us an episode that acknowledges Raddy has radiation poisoning and that it is severely affecting his brain. Please let him get treatment and heal. Please let our old Raddy return after his recovery arc. This one request. Please.

Mentions; @generalanachorcollective @scallywiggles @itsgirlcraft @cfanatic2025 @wolftails-funkin-arts @your-local-bunni @kuikuikuikui1513 @multifan06

Hiii chat I put... a lot of thought and time into this... 🥺🙏

[multi-fandom-simp00]

So, we all know MCU Ultron is hot af, right?

Alright, listen, if you think about it, he designed his own body to inhabit, not Tony bc he brought the AI into existence

Ultron escaped through the internet and went back to that castle that was seen in the beginning of the movie, then started creating his army and whatnot

So the fact that he ended up looking like this

Then this when he was attempting to wipe out humanity

Which means, he designed his own body in the beginning and later in the movie

In conclusion, I believe he was intentional when designing himself like this (I get it's what the writers wrote, but bear with me here), but maybe he knew we, as obsessed fans, would get so obsessed with him bc of how he looked

Idc if he's a villain, he looked damn good being one