Your theory that R didn't want MC to search for the vaults at first is based on the Red Cloak messages, right? What if the Red Cloak in Y4 was not sent by R but by a different party/ person? What if those Y4 and Y5 attacks were done by different people? How does Pettigrew fit in? You also said that the Mysterious Voice MC heard in the vaults could be the father instead of Jacob. The voice told MC to go after the vaults though, so if R didn't want that at first, wouldn't that be a contradiction?
I actually considered such an idea about the Red Cloaks quite a long ago, and I even was returning to it a couple of times. I wanted to connect it to my speculations about the Cabal (more about the Cabal HERE). Unfortunately, I think it was always about R after all.
Y4Ch3:
Y4Ch15:
Y5Ch1:
Y5Ch3:
Y5Ch30:
All those events seem to be connected through some details. The most noticeable is the repeating phrase: “I told you death was coming”. And I think it’s pretty important because otherwise, why would the second Red Cloak be basically pretending to be the first one?
Admittedly, our first encounter does kind of sound like a genuine warning. Then, we could assume that it was simply someone very extreme about saving MC from their brother’s fate – to the point that they were ready to kill us at the end of Y4. But let’s say that it was still the same person at the beginning of Y5 (because again, they said: “I told you death was coming…”), but they wanted to warn us for the second time: that R is gonna kill one of our friends. The problem is that they also said then: “We still need you alive…” – and based on what happened with Rakepick in the Portrait Vault, we’re supposed to believe that R needed MC alive to open the Legilimency door. So… yeah.
When it comes to Pettigrew in all of that, I discussed his role in detail HERE and HERE. Sorry for sending you to other posts, but I just don’t feel like repeating myself in this matter, mostly because I still think that Pettigrew should never even appear in the game.
As for a potential contradiction about the Mysterious Voice, I actually addressed this exact problem in the first post I linked in my recent theory, so once again, I recommend reading it: “Rakepick’s character makes no sense”.
But just in case, this is the part:
Admittedly, we have a little conflict here with the Father telling us to find the Vaults in Y2 and then to stay away from them in Y4. But I suppose it comes down to Rakepick. Before she arrived at Hogwarts, he wanted to prepare MC, just in case. But once Rakepick was there, he was like: “Well, I have Jacob anyway, so it’s better to keep MC away from all of it, especially that Rakepick might use them to her advantage”.
Interestingly, in our vision in the Vault of Ice, the Mysterious Voice told us not to “let her get there first”. Perhaps the Father wasn’t expecting that Rakepick would actually come back to Hogwarts or it happened sooner than he was expecting. Oh, and by the way! I suppose it’s also possible that not all of the visions were sent by the Father. If you want to refresh all of them, you can check this post out. I talked about a potential distinction there, too.
In light of my recent post about Legilimency in HPHM, I made a more in-depth analysis of MC’s visions throughout the story.
1) The very first vision in the Artefact Room (Y1Ch4)
MC and Rowan were searching there for the book on duelling which was supposed to help them prepare to defend themselves from Merula. At first, MC heard only their name while Brother Theme was playing.
Notice that MC didn’t recognise the voice as Jacob’s - they thought it was Rowan. Then, at the end of the scene, MC had the first proper vision.
In general, you can say it’s a warning for MC about the danger to come.
2) After touching the Snowflake Door, optional (Y2Ch4)
It happened when MC and Rowan explored the Icy Corridor for the first time and if a player chose the option to open the door (locked with the courage attribute).
There was no voice and no Brother Theme (though I suppose it could be because it’s a fairly short AND optional scene). Still, it had a similar character to the previous vision: it’s a warning and a clue about what MC would have to deal with. Although, the part about Voldemort is a bit confusing to me. It’s obviously foreshadowing for MC’s Boggart. But if we assume that it’s indeed sent by someone like Jacob, there are basically two options:
Jacob is a Seer (or something) and predicted a form of MC’s Boggart,
Jacob actually sent his memory, meaning that Voldemort was also his worst fear.
Now, I know that You-Know-Who was said to be a common Boggart form during and after the war. But while I can kind of see how it could work for MC, it doesn’t make much sense for Jacob. He was already hiding from R by the time of the Vault of Fear, after all. Unless, of course, he thought that R might have something to do with the Dark Lord...
3) The Vault of Ice (Y2Ch10)
No Brother Theme was playing, and interestingly, MC identifies the voice as Jacob’s. But even though they’re both described as “Mysterious Voice”, it’s unclear to me whether it’s the same voice as in the previous year and MC had a sudden epiphany just now, perhaps the voice was clearer this time, or maybe it’s a different voice entirely. Either way, this “vision” seems to be odd in comparison to the previous two. For one, MC didn’t mention seeing anything - just hearing. And more importantly, the message was... oddly vague. We really didn’t get much to go by, and the whole “her” thing? Like, dude... if you want to warn your sibling at least use a FREAKING NAME! I can’t help but feel like it’s more of order with emotional undertone than a warning intended to be helpful.
4) The Vault of Fear (Y3Ch9)
Here, Brother Theme is playing again. I keep pointing it out because while it seems that the game is using it simply as a stirring melody recently, I don’t think it was always the case. The years 1-3 were created under the original team, so I want to believe that they weren’t using Bother Theme coincidentally. That being said, we’re also back to a warning character of that short message, or rather encouraging. Admittedly, no images are accompanying it, however, it’s implied that the whole final duel was happening in MC’s mind so it could’ve been interfering.
5) The Forest Vault (Y4Ch16)
No Brother Theme, no images. Ordering tone again, very vague information, playing on MC’s emotions. And notice that MC talks here about hearing while the first two visions were clearly about seeing.
Final thoughts
To sum up, we have:
the Artefact Room: little words, visual images, warning/clues, Brother Theme;
the Snowflake Door: no words, visual images, warning/clues, no Brother Theme;
the Vault of Ice: more words, no visual images, orders based on emotions, no Brother Theme;
the Vault of Fear: little words, no visual images, warning/support, Brother Theme;
the Forest Vault: more words, no visual images, orders based on emotions, no Brother Theme.
I’d say that we can distinguish two groups from that. The first one contains the Artefact Room, the Snowflake Door, and the Vault of Fear. The second group is with the Vault of Ice and the Forest Valt. Moreover, when you think about it, the first group is more like Jacob as presented before Y5Ch30: caring, supportive, worried about people, trying to help his sibling. The second one is vault!Jacob: referring to MC’s feelings and making them chase after him by not delivering any real answers.
I tried to collect information about all the Black Quills (and messages from R) that appeared in the story so far (until Y7Ch16). So, without further ado...
Black Quill #1 (Y2Ch3)
Finding this Black Quill was a process that started in Y2Ch1. MC and Rowan were searching for Ben in the Artefact Room when they found a coded note. Rowan pointed out that it’s a different code than in the room with the cursed ice in the previous year (the message there said: “The Ice Knight stands guard past the Vanished Stairs”). Interestingly, “Brother Theme” was played in that scene. A bit later, Rowan decoded the note:
When we finally found the Black Quill, the message said:
Also, Ravenclaws and Slytherins went to the Gryffindor Common Room while Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors - to the Slytherin Common Room.
Black Quill #2 (Y2, The Weird Sisters! TLSQ)
Found in the Artefact Room when we were searching with Myron for the props to use at the concert.
Black Quill #3 (Y3Ch5)
Jacob left that Quill at the Three Broomsticks when the Aurors took him from there at some point. It contained his notebook which also was written in code. Rowan at first got excited that it’s the same as the one used in the ice room, but they quickly realised that a lot of symbols are different. Here’s the part of the notebook (unfortunately, the only one we saw on the screen):
Fun fact: it seems that there’s a weird bug where the middle line doesn’t appear for female characters (no matter in which House).
Black Quill #4 (Y4Ch5)
Found in Filch’s Office when we were looking for a broom to sneak to the Forbidden Forest. The message is not coded, and neither is any other after this (possibly to simplify the narrative).
Black Quill #5 (Y4, Unleash Your Patronus! TLSQ)
Ben informed us that there must’ve been an intruder in the Artefact Room who left a mess behind. While checking the place, we found the Black Quill with a message:
Then, when Tonks was trying to help MC get in a better mood at the Three Broomstick, we found a note probably to R:
The sentence ended abruptly, so MC concluded that whoever left it must’ve been affected by their Belch Powder prank.
Finally, after MC defeated the Dementor, Merula gave us another note she had found nearby:
Black Quill #6... kind of (Y5Ch10)
This is a bit weird case. During our first trip to Knockturn Alley, we also visited Flourish & Blotts. We found there the book by Maerwynn Montfort - the author Jacob liked - but its pages were blank, so we had three options to choose from:
After using Revelio or the Revealer, the message was shown on the pages:
However, if you used Reparifarge, the book turned into a Black Quill. MC took the Quill with them, saying that they would return to that later, but as far as I know, they never did. In other words, either you know the message but you don’t know about a Black Quill OR you know it’s a Black Quill but you don’t learn the message...
Black Quill #7... kind of, again (Y5Ch15)
Found in the DADA classroom when we were following Fletcher’s attacker (as seen on the Marauder’s Map).
However, this Black Quill didn’t have any hidden message.
Black Quill #8 (Y5Ch15)
Found in Jacob’s room where we followed after Fletcher’s attacker. It contained Jacob’s notebook.
Black Quill #9 (Y6Ch17)
Found in Jacob’s room when MC looked for their brother after learning from Moody that he saved them from the wizard in white robes.
Black Quill #10 (Y6Ch26)
Found in the Boathouse after Duncan directed us there; left by Jacob.
Black Quill #11 (Y6Ch30)
Found near the Whomping Willow. It ultimately led us to the secret meeting where we learnt about a mole for the first time.
At this point, the Whomping Willow attacked, and Merula dropped the scroll. However, we managed to get it back and finish reading the message.
Also, Merula’s question suggests that the letter wasn’t directly addressed to anyone or signed by anyone.
Black Quill #12 (Y7Ch3)
Found in the Owlery, presumably left by Ismelda after we’d witnessed Merula Transfiguring a note into a Black Quill earlier in the Muggle Studies class. It turned out that the meeting was about Badeea tutoring Merula in Charms - or at least that’s what we’re supposed to believe.
Black Quill #13 (Y7Ch15)
We know about this one only from Corey.
Black Quill #14 (Y7Ch16)
Found near the Whomping Willow, shortly before MC and Corey were busted by Merula.
Bonus #1: The letter written to Jacob (Y5Ch7)
Found in Jacob’s room while we were searching for information about Duncan Ashe. It’s possible that it was originally sent as a Black Quill but Jacob left it in an Untransfigured form.
Bonus #2: The first White Quill (Y6Ch7)
Brought by Sickleworth. Probably it’s a feather from Rakepick’s owl. Interestingly, Sickleworth really didn’t want to give it to Jacob, who had to use force to get it.
It was the very first White Quill we saw in the game. Even though they were used in communication with different people, they were always Black Quills. Therefore, I have to say it again that vault!Jacob is full of bullshit with his claims that: “Oh yeah, R is using White Quills, too!”. I understand that he could’ve deduced that it might contain a message from R, but he was absolutely certain about it - and I just don’t get why he acted that way.
Bonus #3: The second White Quill (Y6Ch17)
In Y6Ch16, Talbott called for MC because he saw the white owl dropping some letters. One of them was in Japanese and supposedly contained instructions about White Quills at the Black Lake. MC and Talbott found one quill there.
MC assumed that it was sent by R, but if that’s the case, it’d be the first message from them NOT signed as “R”.
The final commentary
First of all, I just want to point out the Black Quills in this list which are NOT signed by “R” nor they mention “R” in specific: Black Quill #11, #12, #13, #14, and the second White Quill. In all of those cases, MC or Corey only assumed they have anything to do with R. And that’s exactly why I’m more and more certain that they have nothing to do with R. Merula is corresponding with someone else. I mean Corey even started pointing it out themselves: “(...) it didn’t say To R (...)”, “It’s not signed by anyone (...)”.
Also, in Y4Ch12, we were spying on Rakepick for Snape. This is when we learnt one interesting information Filch told Rakepick when she was interrogating him about the Gillyweed/Coral key:
As I said in one of my previous posts, I believe that one of those three Black Quills was the one with the letter to Rakepick (Black Quill #4). I suspect that the second one could be Jacob’s notebook about the Cabal (Black Quill #8), considering that Fletcher’s attacker was seen in Filch’s Office right before they went to Jacob’s Room.
What about the third one then? I assume that we haven’t found it yet, and I want to believe that it has some important answers - perhaps about the relationship between Jacob and Rakepick. Because even if the story from Y5Ch30 is true, there’s still a lot of unclear things. How did Jacob become her apprentice? What about Duncan and Olivia? Did Jacob think she’s R when they went to the Portrait Vault? Overall, it’d fit two other Black Quills because they should make us question Rakepick’s true nature: why R threatened her and why (and how) she saved both of the siblings in the past?
The House sigils theory (Nearly Headless Nick side quest)
This is a theory I’ve posted on Reddit months ago. Even though it didn’t come back in the game yet, I still think it’s interesting, and might be relevant to the plot. So I’m writing about it again here, adding details that came up since then.
Remember the sigil which we found at the end of the NHN side quest? Some of you probably know that, but the others might miss the fact that different houses have different messages in that part:
Gryffindor: “Even the brave must sometimes lock their fears away. Unfortunately, those fears propagate in darkness.”
Slytherin: “I cannot resist the power, though it may kill us all. I am the only one I trust to wield it and not succumb.”
Hufflepuff: “The students must be kept safe, though the dangers be great and deadly. I sealed death around the corner.”
Ravenclaw: “There is some knowledge too terrible for the wisest to have, and so I locked those secrets away.”
Now, to my interpretations.
I believe that each sigil represents one Vault. Of course, we have five Vaults and only four houses, but I assume that those are the first four Vaults. The final Vault will be sort of “collective one”, not mirrored by any house in particular. It would check with what the Mysterious Voice told us in the Forest Vault: Only the final Vault is real. The rest are distractions. Decoys. Traps.
The assumption above gives us also a clue to when the Vaults could’ve been created. It’s possible they were designed by the Hogwarts’ founders themselves, so each of them was responsible for one Vault.
So far, we’ve seen three Vaults, and in my opinion, the only sigil left is Ravenclaw’s one. Let me explain.
Gryffindor - The Vault of Fear: It seems the most obvious one. The brave house took care of the fears represented by the boggarts.
Slytherin - The Ice Vault: I believe the cursed ice is “the power that may kill us” since it’s rather uncontrollable and potentially deadly. Also, the second sentence might suggest that the Ice Knight could be somehow controlled? (It’s interesting how well this description fits the Chamber of Secrets. However, I hope they didn’t use it as one of the Vaults).
Hufflepuff - The Forest Vault: The death (the curse causing sleep-walking) had been sealed around the corner of the castle (in the Forbidden Forest). The dangers are all the creatures and beasts. When the death was released, it was luring the students out of the safety.
It would leave Ravenclaw - the current Vault (The Portrait Vault?). It looks like we should be dealing with a kind of knowledge and secrets. How does this relate to the portraits? Some time ago I had two ideas:
the locked knowledge is about creating other dimensions like the one where Bea is trapped,
it’s about travelling between the real world and “the portraits world”. In that case, it could be a bit similar to the Resurrection Stone - tempting people to bring back their loved ones. Of course, a portrait is not the same as a living person, hence it could be dangerous.
It’s still hard for me to say if any of those options are in fact possible. The only thing we’ve got since then, really, is the note left by Jacob at Flourish and Blotts:
If you ever find the vault portrait, destroy it. I begged them to, but they were too greedy. Too afraid. I have to see it through, but I’m the only one who recognises that none of us will ever truly be unburied.
So the knowledge might be related to that unburied part... Whatever it means. Except, Jacob perhaps discovered that it’s useless anyway... In other words, the fourth Vault still is confusing as heck.
Oh, and there has to be something protecting that Vault that could be potentially destroyed by the Erumpent Potion. That’s how Duncan died, after all.
Also, it’s likely under the lake. The Weird Sisters TLSQ mentioned the Sunken Vault which Kirley for some reason called “buried”.
