Hello and welcome to my new text series: Over-analyzing Just Dance maps for lore until I lose my sanity and a sense of purpose.
Today's Episode: Majesty by Apashe
The map starts right after Locked Out of Heaven, to symbolize that it hasn't been long since Jack stepped out of the stage.
Each of the characters introduce themselves their own unique way. Jack doesn't even introduce himself, so I assume either Wanderlust already knew who he was or they went through the entire map without even knowing JR's name (lol).
The girls and Mihaly were already unable to trust Jack right away, so they kept their distance and let Wanderlust do the job. When Jack refuses Wander's hand, probably due to fear or lack of trust (since he and a bunch of strangers just busted into his room with no warning), they decide to do it the hard way with a light fight. It seems Jack is the one that initiates the fight, and Wanderlust still tries to get through him regardless of what Jack might do. Shows he has strong determination and most likely sees the good in everyone, due to naivety.
The stage rises, meaning that Jack’s show isn't over, and he still needs to perform his final song of the day. The crowd doesn't seem to be scared, rather surprised and excited. In-game, there's no implication of Wanderlust’s reputation in the Danceverses, so the crowd could or could not recognize him depending on their access to information (of lack thereof). For some reason, I always headcano-ed Eternyx to be distant from other Danceverses, probably due to it's population and the fate of the eternal night (Eter- Eternal or Aether, Nyx- Personification of the night). They would be sealed away (thus their illegal surprise participation in the Eurovision season), and most wouldn't know or care about information regarding the Royal Family since they allowed their people to be separated and entraped. Quick reminder that this is a headcanon of mine and not a true piece of lore.
Back to the map, Night Swan decides to intervene from afar by transforming the whole crowd and, by extension, Wanderlust into her swan army. Wanderlust’s transformation is slower, and visibility more painful. The hostages in Witch at least were stunned and probably wouldn't feel it physically, but Wanderlust could. It takes a few seconds in our pov, but I like to think it took much longer in Jack’s pov. Let's imagine it from his perspective: Your mom is a whore/j that dictates your every move, making you a pop star in a land of darkness and violence. It's all you've known, that's what "love" means to you and you hate it. Suddenly a bunch of people including the Prince of the entire goddamn galaxy breaks into your room and is like "hey, so your mom is kind of a douche and we need help from the person closest to her. I think you're the best person we can rely on.". 5 minutes later and that same person that trusted you, gave you love, is now writhing in pain, becoming something unrecognizable, as well as all of your fans that gave their hearts to you for years. Anyone with 1/3 of a brain would understand that this is inhumane.
While Mihaly and Brezziana are fighting, pouring their heart and soul to make these people remember who they are, Jack is furious at NS, arguing to her about how she could be capable of making several people suffer. I'll assume arguments like this between them are not frequent, so this would be a surprise to Night Swan, since her "perfect son" is now rejecting his perfection for the sake of an alien with a stupid crown (in her eyes /not ref). If he is going to be perfect, he should let her do her duty and inherent the army later on. And if he accepted he is, if anything, "worthless", he would get rid of her army and delay her conquering. Jack would rather be worthless with an actual good company than perfect with unwilling slaves.
Now this is the part Wanderrose shippers use to explain the ship (with good reason, I'm with you guys): The 'Save Your Tears' Gold move.
Hands held up like this has been a symbol of love and respect among coaches, as implied in Save Your Tears and Murder On The Dancefloor (and probably Don't Rush /j). And in general Disney fashion, the "true lovers kiss" is usually an archetype to give a quick but genuine solution to a curse given to the princess of the story. I'm not saying that the goldmove is the equivalent to a true lovers kiss, but taking the context into consideration (Wanderlust being a Prince and getting freed from a curse by a good looking man + Save Your Tears callback), it's hard to believe Ubisoft didn't take this into consideration. If they actually wanted to say "oh, its cuz they're brothers or something", it then they were terrible at conveying it by using the goldmove of a romantic map revolved around one of the characters parents.
The gold move itself, now excluding any ship implication and such, is Jack’s way of saying "I'm with you. I won't give up on you guys now.", making Jack Rose become officially a part of the Just Dancers (Resisdance is a better name, ngl).
Skipping to the outro, Night Swan bails like a chicken (not THAT chicken), and it has been confirmed that the place she teleported to was her place of origin.
Problem is: WHICH origin place?
There's technically 3 or 4 "origin places" for her: Her home on Earth, the Spacetime Hotel, the Prophecy room, and the Throne Room.
Assuming NS's backstory was already planned back then (98% sure it wasn't), saying she goes back to her origin place is a bit aimless.
This is the best pic I could get of the portal btw.
The silhouette at the back resembles Night Swan's appearance. The one place I could theoretically believe she went to was the prophecy room, probably to see if it changed due to her failure. She could've gone to the boat so that she could plan whatever the fuck JD24 was.
It doesn't look like the Spacetime Hotel, and Wanderlust would have most likely seen her during Canned Heat if that was the case, and she DEFINITELY isn't going back to Earth anytime soon.
What can we learn from this map??:
Jack Rose gay af i would've gone for Brezziana instead/j
Also, Wanderlust becoming that swan creature in front of Jack’s eyes would probably be Just Dance's way of preparing him for what's about to happen to his bff (cof cof Swan Lake cof cof).
Night Swan may be like Asahina Mafuyu's mom: claims she is the only one who cares about him and wants the best for him, but the moment he makes a decision for himself, she is already pissed for lacking control. Night Swan doesn't want recognition, neither perfection, neither anything, she wants control. She wants to feel like she can be in control of any situation just so that SHE could have everything she ever wanted, and follow the prophecy of becoming some sort of Goddess. Power combined with a wish of control and perfection is what corrupted her, not just perfection alone.
Damn i sounded smart, anyway uhhh this is technically my second over analysis since my first one was my theory about Scotty not being the coach of his own map. I also want to share my headcanons and ideas with you guys, and sharing a bit of it here might make me comfortable enough to share the rest.
As always, drink water, be happy, don't drink orange juice with toothpaste/ref, and have a good day ( • ⩊ • )
