I’m coming back to Maeve’s comment about Rowaelin.
“You would have had a thousand years”
Maeve’s had to have seen the war with Erawan coming. She was a god, and she was there in the first war with Erawan, which means she must have known Aelin (AND/OR DORIAN) was chosen but...
“You would have had a thousand years”
Aelin and her court WILL beat Erawan because otherwise Rowaelin (AND EVERY OTHER MEMBER OF THE SQADRE [FIGHT ME IF YOU DISAGREE]) wouldn’t get a thousand years. The clues are everywhere. Sarah’s comment about Fleetfoot (precious puppy), Maeve’s “thousand year” comment. I won’t re-go into my first theory but I think that Maeve’s comment is vague but sure enough to tell us that the future for Rowaelin is good.
I truly think Oda could pull off making Shuggy canon if he wanted to. Like explicitly so. No other Shonen Mangaka could get away with it except him. Who is honestly going to stop him?
He already has so many canonical LGBT+ characters in the story. Why would it be so out of left field if he went "btw these bitches gay lol" like?? Would that not be such an Oda thing to do at the end of the series? This man has such a hold on the anime/manga space that not even homophobia could stop him.
my argument for canon shuggy under read more
I say Shuggy not because they're my favorite (ok maybe a lil bit) but because they have just enough missing from their characterization that you can't really make an argument against it.
Take Shanks for example. Man has had like maybe 8% screen time the entire series and most of it is spent being this greater than life hero for Luffy vs focusing on himself. The most content we get of Shanks being a character and not just a symbol is during the Roger Pirates flashbacks. And who is his most prominent relationship outside of Roger? Buggy.
Shanks' character is so unexplored that as long as people remember he has some mysterious goal inspired by Roger & he had a fallout with Buggy you can't really go wrong in the way you write him. It won't feel ooc because there isn't enough character to stray from. So why couldn't Oda reveal oh so casually that Shanks has been harboring romantic feelings for his childhood friend this entire time?
Buggy on the other hand has had way more screen time, but once again, his most prominent relationship— or lack of as of rn in the story— is Shanks! His feelings about Shanks are just as important as his feelings of inadequacy. In fact the two seem to go hand in hand.
The first time we even meet Buggy Oda makes sure to tell us these two characters have an old and pretty significant connection to each other. Even if they haven't spoken in years Shanks still occupies Buggy's thoughts.
He is one of the main reasons behind Buggy's trajectory in life. So why would it be unbelievable that maybe, just maybe Buggy's devastation at Shanks "betraying" him isn't just about him being angry about a friend spitting in the face of his sacrifice?
Maybe he pushed his own dreams aside not just because he felt he could never measure up, but because he started developing romantic feelings and wanted to be with Shanks more than he wanted to compete against him? Forever bitter at the man who essentially stomped all over the lengths he went to for love. That would certainly justify a decades long grudge.
Oda doesn't even really have to do much to the story to make it work. We already know Buggy has decided to go after the One Piece after all and it's pretty safe to assume Shanks is making his way to laughtale as well. An encounter on the last island is already a pretty safe bet to make, especially since it would finally fulfill the promise to go to laughtale together.
All Oda really has to do is add in a few lines of dialogue. Maybe give us another flashback of Kid!Shuggy where both of them are being blushy and awkward. Perhaps on laughtale they can have an emotional reconciliation where at the end of the scene they both make eye contact and a blush appears on both of their faces. Honestly he could even have Shanks straight up say "you know I've always kind of had a thing for you" and it wouldn't feel all that out of place in regards to them. It could be funny and awkward and come out of seemingly nowhere during a poignant scene and it would feel organic to their dynamic.
Then at the very end of the series when Luffy saves the world and becomes pirate king we can get a snippet of Shanks & Buggy. No longer bound by duty or boggled down by silly dreams of treasure In a peaceful world they decide to stay together. They're sailing the seas with each other and "hanging out" *wink wink*.
Perhaps Oda draws them on a boat together, arms around each other like old times, and big smiling faces accompanied by a blush. Maybe we can even see a bit of hand holding? Something subtle, but unmistakable.
If Oda is feeling brave he can do what he seems to enjoy doing for other couples and draw a wedding scene attended by each other's crews, Rayleigh, and maybe even a confused Luffy and the rest of the strawhats.
I dunno. All of these words just to say Oda has the opportunity to pull the funniest shit ever and I hope he takes it. Pretty pretty please?
But what if there was some way that Aelin could sacrifice Maeve for the lock? I know there's no backing behind it but it sure would be some cosmic justice if there ever were such a thing ...
Alright. So I was RE reading EOS when I stumbled across some text: Fenrys's eyes darkened. "Maeve does not share power. She saw Adarlan as an inconvenience. Still does." Aedion countered, "Everyone can be bought for a price." "Nameless is the price of Maeve's allegiance," Fenrys snapped. Aelin went utterly still at the warrior's words. ---------- GUYS. LOOK. 1. Maeve's price for ALLEGIANCE is Nameless. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Aelin is "nameless." Her price for allegiance is Nameless. in other words, Aelin is the price for her allegiance. WHAT IF, the fleet of ilken sent from Erawan was just so Aelin and the squadre would be weak so MAEVE can capture her. She would've contacted him ahead of time to do this and in return he would have her ALLEGIANCE. He would have her as an ally. All he had to do was help catch Aelin. Because Aelin=nameless and nameless is Maeves price. ------- BUT WAIT. THERES MORE. (this ones a long shot but still) 2. Aelin probably understood this being the smartass she is. NAMELESS is the price. She orchestrated this because she KNEW she'd be captured by Maeve. SHE KNEW that Maeve would want to ally with Erawan and in return they'd help Maeve capture Aelin. Aelin probably devised a plan so she can get into Maeve's system and DESTROY her from the INSIDE. She did this so she can get the information needed to defeat Erawan and any dialogue exchanged between the 2 sides.
Okay so I was just watching another review and discussion of empire of storms (by bookables on YouTube if you wanna watch it too!) and they mentioned the fact that Maeve basically wants to use Aelin as a weapon, but she also pretty blatantly said that she wants Rowan and Aelin to have a baby so she can use that baby to control the world... so, and this is just my random musings and terrible thoughts, what if Maeve had been monitoring Aelin, and somehow knew that she was pregnant and that's why she came and attacked when she did. So she could get Aelin when she was with child, in the hopes of breaking her, thus making the child belong to her. This may be stretching it a bit much, and since we know what happened to Asterin, i have a feeling SJM won't make anything bad happen with any more pregnancies, but who knows
Okay, so I was thinking about Aelin’s little problemo, you know, that little fact that she HAS TO DIE TO SAVE EVERYONE. Well, I was thinking there may be another (probably more painful) option, besides Dorian/Hollin. What if, by saying “every drop of you” has to be given up to forge the lock, the gods didn’t mean that she has to die, but give up every aspect of “her”. We all know what makes up Aelin, besides her personality: her friends, her family, her court, HER MATE, her magic (in no particular order). What if, by saying that, they meant that she has to forget everything and start over as a new person, with no recollection of who she was, who she loved, her suffering, what she’s done, good and bad. Not death, but maybe something worse than death, because she would lose everything she cared for, therefore giving up every aspect of “her”.
BUT on the bright side, if this is what happens, maybe SJM will pull a Cassandra Clare and find out some loophole to make her remember.
SO LIKE... WOW. JUST WOW. WOWIWWOWOWO. So listen up-Maeve said she saw Aelins future! And Maeve said she saw a thousand years-and more, for Aelin to be with Rowan. But she wouldn't have been able to see that if it wasn't true, right? So Aelin must not die! Listen, I JUST JUST JUST finished EOS. My mind is fresh and raw, and I'm putting this out there while I can. WOAH. WOWOWOW. If Aelin was going to die...shouldn't Maeve not have been able to see those 1000+ years? Just a theory.😏
