DOES ANYONE KNOW THE DATE WHEN NERO'S FIRST APPEARANCE (IN THE MAIN STORY) RELEASED
It would make SO much sense if he appeared during the Duanwu festival... hear me out.
Valko is the wolf, yeah? I was looking at Chinese wolf symbolism and there was a duality between that and the dragon. It was very Calebmc-esque. Also about protection, and we just got the mugwort decoration in the mail and the redeem code DUANWU right before Valko's PV livestream dropped.
So the Duanwu event is where dragons are on the river.
Dragon coming down to earth, in wolf form, from the sky (Skyhaven).
We have seen Valko in before, always as a hunter. First, as a wolf (in sheep's clothing,) in Linkon. We saw him as Nero. He wears a Hunter's Watch and has extreme social anxiety.
And we've seen him in his dragon form!! We saw him in the sky as Viper. And he's always hunting someone down. Caleb in Linkon, or MC in Skyhaven. He's scoping them out. I also believe the mysterious figure in the beginning of the To Our Yesterday main story update is most likely Caleb (his infections) or MC (sounded like mine's voice, at least) or Valko (as Caleb's sleeper agent?)
What else these 3 all have in common - the way that they dress. High neckline, lots of black, they're both described as having their faces half covered in the World Underneath notes (and the cover of which they appear with a light). Valko appeared with half of his face covered! And the moon was half full!!
Valko is chasing darkness. We heard his voice about a Hunt when MC sold herself into the N109 Zone. The eye was there, that she drew with Nero's pen, and he called it beautiful.
Viper and Nero were always chasing a light. Lumiere and Father/Professor Lucius. The moon reflects light. It's half in shadow.
And the moon phases -> shedding season...
Nero in the Alpha office is also interesting!! Alpha?? (and MC being Gaia's Unicorn, and then on the Hunter's Association's UNICORN...)
The biggest difference between Nero and Viper is the eyebrows (Valko's are a perfect blend of), body modifications and his chin. But we know that he had access to prosthetics. Their noses and eyes and ears being so identical, the layers around the neck...
Valko's nose is the biggest difference. He has the gold eyes. His hair is the opposite color I was expecting. But it seems like a blend of biomedifico evolver, Alterum influence, and mechanical enhancements — his metal evol would make SO much sense for Viper. As a child, his fingers were repeatedly cut off. He just wanted to avoid pain and went to Lucius easily. Dog-like to trust someone so quickly and loyally... and to lose his claws. and screaming in pain was a luxury. To find his own light (his eyes glow now!!) and howl and... I bet it feels so good.
Valko might be the integration of Viper and Nero. Like Caleb, I think he's sort of a shapeshifter. Always Caleb's foil. And honestly I have a lot of thoughts on their relationship and working together... (the world underneath update shows that Caleb has a private medical facility. I think his black hole executions were warnings to not visibly dissent, a way to uphold his image, and transport the dissidents via black hole to his medbay).
long-hidden wolves. DID is the hidden disorder, which I've believed Caleb/MC and Viper/Nero/Valko have.
Valko as Viper and Nero... need a master post on this but there's so many notes and too many images to fit so. I'm sorry I might be able to link more, I've been trying to gather it all into a doc and my hands stopped working 😵💫
disorganized posts that I would like to rewrite with some corrections / updates on, but may provide some more details/context for now:
back when I predicted Viper/Nero as the 6th Li (as Caleb's foil)
why Caleb/mc are such a great representation of DID
