here’s my horse race test theory and I want you to react to it.
This is the Possessed Knifemare/ Green Team Theory.
This theory states that Five Empty Bamboo transcended at the end of season three, hence them being red. They are also surrounded by elephants. (connection between 5EB and elephants)
Superstitional Realism loses a race against Nighttime Knifemare and is then eaten by an elephant. (I could be getting some details wrong)
Knifemare begins flickering red. The same shade of red 5EB became upon transcending. Also note that 5EB and Knifemare have the same shape. (Connection between 5EB and Knifemare.) My personal theory on this is that Knifemare is possessed by 5EB, who then let the elephants to the HRT World testing area.
Anyway, being eaten by an elephant usually turns horses into Abomination Nation. (Connection between elephants and Abomination Nation)
the Abominations are the same shade of green as Green. (Connection between Abomination Nation and Green)
So, I propose that the elephants obey 5EB, who in turn works for / obeys Green.
thoughts???
this actually made me go and double check the ending of season three to make sure i didn't get knifemare and 5eb's silhouettes mixed up because i could've sworn it was knifemare standing there during the ending
it is knifemare, you can tell by the little 3 branded on the side of her sprite. 5eb's sprite also has an open mouth and a horizontal tail while knifemare's mouth is closed and her tail is vertical.
that being said though, i could still 100 percent see possessed knifemare being a thing, just with 5eb's transcendence happening slightly earlier (likely between e4m16t2 and e4m16t3, after they get eaten by the elephant). it'd easily explain how they escaped from the elephant so quickly, especially when you compare that to fuzao needing an entire arc and outside assistance via knifemare at the last minute to escape. plus 5eb does have the bright red evil eyes. knifemare's notably not flickering during the s3 ending scene, she's completely red the whole time, so that would likely mean that she's completely under 5eb's control as opposed to later in world where she starts fighting off the possession (which would explain her suddenly stepping in to help fuzao, super, and the other nightmares escape the elephant).
it actually kinda reminds me of jovial. technically the sprite of jovial with green eyes isn't from an actual race (i could've sworn i remembered it being in ova2 but it's just a shirt reveal sprite), but we did see a flash of green in her eyes during her transcendence at the end of the tournament. and we've seen other non-abomination color changes being significant before in the form of happy cyan (i am eyeing horse team small suspiciously).
plus, them having some form of connection would help explain why the hell they look so similar. i know it's probably just the shared combination of pointy dangerous triangle shape language plus dark color scheme because they're both designed to look intimidating, but seriously the tail and the ears are like. the exact same, just posed slightly differently. it is so weird that 5eb and knifemare look so similar considering where knifemare came from. imagine a part of your brain splits off of you into its own person and instead of looking like you they're an exact spitting image of some random guy from another continent you've (presumably) never met before. that's what this is.
i don't personally interpret knifemare as being possessed (the two may be working together, but i figure she's definitely angry enough to do something like this willingly and she came to rescue everyone in the elephant once she realized this plan was mostly just getting the other nightmares eaten), but i do think it's a really cool idea. characters fighting off mind control always makes for some really interesting drama and with how knifemare's arc has gone since she was first introduced you could do some REALLY fun things there.
she felt completely isolated from the rest of the group for the entirety of season two but she still chooses to fight the mind control as hard as she can to try to stop what's happening!
she saw her other siblings dissolve in front of her, narrowly escaping the same fate herself, and now she's being piloted around as a tool to kill those siblings!
hell, it makes her stepping in to rescue fuzao because (even if it didn't stick in knifemare's case) fuzao in season three witnessed basically the exact same thing that knifemare did in season one! like, even if the other four nightmares came back, i imagine that just SEEING that happen was still pretty harrowing for her. plus she wasn't actually THERE in season two to see them come back, i'm realizing as i type this that world is the first time she's SEEN the other nightmares (barring garbage bin and amf) since this happened.
like this adds such an interesting dynamic to world, that is genuinely such a fun idea. extra conflict between knifemare and 5eb, extra weight to her, fuzao, and comely as the most important characters in season three, just so much to dig into here. very good theory.
