“Razia’s Shadow” Theory: Barayas Isn’t Real
...I really can explain. I meant to tell you sooner... It's been gnawing at my brain...
I was listening to the "Razia's Shadow" album for the millionth time, and something slowly started to bother me the more times I listened... It was a line in "The Oracle", where Gargul says, "What a tragic mess you fools have made of this".
Well, first, it's clearly a reference to something Ahrima said in "The Missing Piece" about O, "What a splendid mess he's made of this, O the Scientist and his Genesis", etc... But... Who on earth is Gargul talking about there? One of the "fools" is obviously Ahrima, but who is the other? There's about three options, and each makes less sense than the last. 1. Nidria 2. O 3. Barayas
1. Nidria It's a huge stretch, but it can be taken as Gargul sort of blaming Nidria for not seeing the warning signs in Ahrima's sanity-slippage... But it really doesn't make sense, because it was very much not Nidria's fault for the land being scorched.
2. O ...As a pun on the aforementioned line from "The Missing Piece". But the problem again is, Ahrima gets banished to the dark just because of disobeying O, so why didn't Gargul get banished for calling O a "fool", if O IS the one being referred to here???
3. Barayas And here's where I started theorising. If Gargul is indeed talking about Barayas here (since it was the spider who instructed Ahrima to burn the place to the ground)... Then, tell me WHY:
A. How come Toba didn't know about Barayas if Gargul did? Toba does say, "So you're Ahrima, collusive dreamer/I saw the lamps fall, YOU pushed them over". No mention of Barayas at all.
B. And if Gargul knew about Barayas... ...Then WHY didn't they just SAY to O and the others, "Hey, Ahrima was tricked by an evil spider, please give him a second chance"???
C. And why didn't anybody give Ahrima a chance to explain himself?
BUT THEN IT HIT ME. I KNOW WHY. BARAYAS ISN'T REAL. No, seriously. Think about it.
Gargul never specifies who the second "fool" is. Toba solely blames Ahrima. Nobody gave Ahrima a chance to explain. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE.
BECAUSE BARAYAS IS A FIGMENT OF AHRIMA'S IMAGINATION. Like SOOO...
It was stated numerous time Ahrima had a special gift. And that gift was probably the gift of "creation". He helped O (and likely Nidria) create the land, and he built the lamps, too...
So, if his gift is the gift of "creation"... Perhaps he CREATED BARAYAS BY COMPLETE ACCIDENT, AS A MANIFESTATION OF HIS ANGER?!
This would explain why Toba never saw Barayas, why nobody saw/caught Barayas when fleeing the fire at the end of "The Spider and the Lamps", and why Ahrima was never given a chance to explain himself. Because there was no proof.
This also explains several of Barayas's lines, such as... 1. "So you're Ahrima, nice to finally meetcha/I heard so much about you, and I hope it's all true" That's why he comes out of nowhere and only when Ahrima is alone.
2. "I saw what they did" If Barayas IS Ahrima, then of course, he saw everything through Ahrima's eyes!
3. "You have a special gift, but they still treat you like you're a kid" He's spurting all of Ahrima's insecurities back at him. Everything that perfectly bothers Ahrima, because he SHARES HIS THOUGHTS. And this is mirrored at the end with Ahrima himself spurting this exact verse "back at" Barayas.
And most importantly: 4. "Bring those lamps back to me" ...What could a spider possibly want with some pretty lamps? Well, if Barayas WAS Ahrima, then it would make sense. BRING THEM BACK TO THE ONE WHO CREATED THEM-- TO BE DESTROYED. Ahrima's gift of creation also doubled as the gift of destruction!
And as soon as Ahrima calms down and realises what he's done, Barayas is no longer needed as an anger manifestation and thus disappears without a trace, leaving Toba to find Ahrima all alone. That also explains Toba's line about Ahrima's SOUL giving off a "foul scent", which Ahrima correcting, "No, a stench" because BARAYAS IS TECHNICALLY BOTH STILL PRESENT AND GONE AT THE SAME TIME.
(And this probably is just a coincidence, but it's funny how Barayas gets described as a "dinky, brownish spider" while Ahrima is just so happening to be wearing brown robes. ...Then again, so was Nidria.)
And finally, that gives reason to Gargul's comment about "fools". Both fools ARE Ahrima-- and that weirdness fits in perfectly with how the rest of "The Oracle" was so cryptic in nature.
