As Hawk Moth, Gabriel takes advantage of people (especially kids and teenagers) when they’re vulnerable, exploiting them emotionally and using them for his plans. Every time he akumatizes someone, he isolates them, forms a false bond, validates their emotions, and makes them feel understood so they’ll trust him. Once he has their trust, he manipulates them into giving him what he wants: Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses.
This is especially clear with two of his favorite akumatized victims: Chloé Bourgeois and Lila Rossi.
In Volpina, Gabriel sees Lila completely emotionally destroyed after the humiliation she suffers at the hands of Ladybug, and he takes advantage of her vulnerable state to get something out of her. He even calls her “his perfect prey” before akumatizing her.
The way he convinces Lila is simple:
He gives her back the sense of power she lost after being humiliated. When Lila is defeated, Hawk Moth says it won’t be the last time Ladybug sees her and he’s right. Gabriel keeps exploiting Lila’s resentment toward Ladybug to achieve his goals.
He makes Lila believe that she can trust him because they both “hate” Ladybug. Because of this, helping Hawk Moth and being akumatized becomes something comfortable for her, the result of the false emotional bond Gabriel builds each time he manipulates her. But in reality, he’s only using her. Both as Hawk Moth and as a civilian, he actively encourages her problematic behavior: he hires her to make another teenager’s life miserable (Marinette) and brings her into the Agreste brand… only to discard her without remorse the moment she’s no longer useful.
And now.. let’s continue with Chloe…
A similar pattern happens with Chloé, especially in the season 3 finale. Since the episode Miraculer, Gabriel had been planning for Chloé to betray Ladybug and join his side by exploiting her insecurities: feeling useless without being Queen Bee, and her desperate need for validation from Ladybug and, above all, from her mother.
Gabriel uses all this to isolate Chloé emotionally. He convinces her that he actually sees her “potential,” and that with him she can be Queen Bee as much as she wants because she’s part of his “chessboard.” Eventually, Chloé is fully convinced to switch sides. His manipulation is so strong that, even when she isn’t akumatized, Chloé claims that Hawk Moth isn’t her enemy, he’s Ladybug’s enemy. From that point on, her behavior worsens dramatically, fueled directly by Hawk Moth’s words.
You can also say that Gabriel “groomed” Adrien in an emotional and psychological sense. Adrien (besides being a sentimonster) grew up in an environment where having a cold, absent, controlling father was normal. Isolation, lack of freedom, and pressure to obey were part of his everyday life.
Any attempt to challenge Gabriel’s authority terrified him. Adrien constantly justified his father’s behavior using the excuse of his mother’s death, because that reasoning was likely repeated to him by the adults around him (including his own father). And since children are conditioned to love their parents no matter what, Adrien struggled to question anything that might threaten his father’s control because of that reason.
And let’s talk about how Gabriel manipulated Marinette in the S5 finale.
The final disturbing act of Gabriel’s happens right before his death. In his last moments, he asks Marinette (his son’s girlfriend) not to tell Adrien that he was Hawk Moth and not to let him find out the truth. With that, he dumps an enormous and deeply unfair responsibility onto her.
Then he dies, avoiding all the consequences of his actions, while Marinette is left carrying the weight of a massive lie. Confused, terrified, and emotionally shut down, she doesn’t know what to do, all because Gabriel used his dying breath to manipulate her and leave her holding the burden of his crimes.
Adrien's "Clue Collection" To Figure Things Out On His Own from Every Episode of S6, Interesting Observations From "Lady Chaos" and Possible Identity Reveals Coming Soon? (Season 6 Synopsis)
Okay I need to get this out before 'Heartfixer' cuz I feel like that's gonna be a big turning point for him and possibly where they reveal wether or not these observations are correct (unless it's in the finale, which Is also possible, ep 20 is too early and things are still hidden in ep 22, betting on the finale)
I'M GONNA REWRITE/EDIT/UPDATE WITH NEW STUFF OFTEN and I'll Continue To EDIT It Whenever I Notice Something Else and When New Episodes Come Out!! Come Check This Post Every Now And Then!⚠️ [If it's a reblog you're reading, it could be outdated, so open my og post instead!]
I'm even expecting either s7 to be a reverse s6 that shows us what Adrien's truly been up to this season or have a single episode that covers them all like "Intuition" in s5, cuz I think he's been doing stuff we haven't seen yet (or like "Destruction" where Mari explained her treasure hunt). Same with Lila/Crysalis, I belive there's gonna be at least an episode revealing what her and Adrien have been doing all this time, that we weren't shown yet). Or it could be those famous 2-parter episodes that are gonna open s7 and "will make us want to rewarch s6" as it was said...
______
HINTS THAT HE SUSPECTS MARI IS LB OR THAT THEY'RE SOMEHOW RELATED and/or BOTH KNOW SOMETHING HE DOESN'T:
Collection of things I or other people noticed while watching the episodes as they came out... Some are a bit of a reach, but the thing is that ALL of them are tiny details he may or may not notice at some point.. (mostly the first half of the season, then they start becoming a lil more evident in some late eps)
Especially since Marinette herself has been dropping hints of her identity the whole season, he might catch and put together once he's collected enough clues and they pile up enough! Before they started dating he might've had trouble noticing some of these things, but now that they're glued to eachother 24/7....👀
---
Episodes where he only Subconciously 'knew', but hasn't made the connection yet (cuz the hints are so little he can easily think of them as a coincidence, or little things he might do on instinct, without thinking). He doesn't yet know what the Secret might be about (?). He's focusing on himself and starting his new life:
-Climatiqueen (ep1): The face he makes when Marinette leaves him alone with Aglae to go "rescue her stuff before it gets hit by lightning", he picks LB up like that even if it's unnecessary when she slips on the ice, he talks about his passions as ChatNoir even if LB doesn't know what's he talking about (could simply be cuz he's excited he realized it in that moment, but I'm still adding just in case);
-The Illustrhater (ep2): He notices Marinette is stressed and, when she randomly disappears all the time, Ladybug appears instead, who behaves and acts unexplicably stressed just like Marinette 2 seconds earlier with similar mannerisms (which he's grown to know about Mari for a while), the face he makes after she's done 'helping' Polymouse get the ball for the kid, the small talk questions he asks LB while she's picking the trashcans (he asks how's the "Love department" going mostly). Maya gives LB a drawing he might find at some point.
-Sublimation (ep3): He knew Marinette had been following Sublime around (he knows her antics so well and he was chill about it), unexplicably not long after, her mother gets akumatized because Ladubug caused an accident (only at the end when she does the MiraculousLB he saw what it was) and Sublime said it wasn't Marinette's fault as she only wanted to be her friend (CN was listening to this)
-Daddycop (ep4): nothing here I think🤔
-Werepapas(ep5): I think this episode has a hint for his search of the truth about his father, cuz of what his grandparents were saying.. Everyone panicking about the rings getting lost to the point they start yelling and insulting eachother (part 1, next time in ep13). He was a bit reluctant to say he wanted to stay with Nathalie at first. He was trapped in the trophy during the battle, but he could see what was happening outside, he might've seen LB hesistate for a while and look towards him before she broke the rings. [I think we'll see what happened to him inside the trophy at one point. I'm betting on: LB cracks the rings, he feels a striking pain to his chest that makes his knees weak and he falls to the ground, as he tries to get up, the Miraculous powers restores him, the trophy disappears and we see him mid-getting up in the shot LB saw] -> Speaking of, in 'Representation' Felix said he realized his connection to the ring only when his father cracked it by punching the wall and he fell to the ground... What if Adrien realized/will realize a possible connection to the Twin Rings when LB cracked them while he was in the Trophy and this is why we didn't see what happened to him yet?!?
-Sleeping Syren (ep6): He calls LB Bugaboo, she has unexplained sudden beef with Kim/KingMonkey he asks about;
-El Toro De Piedra (ep7): He sees Marinette holding his photo album upside down, later he finds her suspiciously talking to Nathalie in his father's office with the lights off about a letter he does see and point out (he might recognize it later if he sees it again), we don't know how long he's been standing behind the door. She ditches the concert when the akuma attack happens. Ivan reminds him:"your father was a hero-" and Adrien looks down with a sad face (but we know this bothers him in other eps too).
-Vampigami (ep8): He notices LB was shaking of fear while they were fighting, she was denying to be scared just like Mari was doing earlier about the horror show, he calls her Bugaboo again. "The only thing that would disappoint me is if you feel you can't be honest with me and force yourself to do something just to please me". Marinette says she's going out not to leave Rose alone, but when he transforms and breaks everyone free he meets Rose but Mari isn't with her.
AFTER THIS POINT THERE'S HINTS THAT ADRIEN MAY HAVE STARTED SUSPECTING MARI & LB BOTH -still 2 different people- KNOW STUFF HE DOESN'T AND THAT MAYBE THE SECRET IS ABOUT HIS FATHER (?) (he's unsure):
-Mister Agreste (ep9): At the start of the episode he reveals that he feels like LB isn't telling him everything about the final battle against Monarch, Marinette is jumbling her words again, she suddently starts praising Gabriel anxiously, she tells him "there's nothing you could've done" that are the same words BugNoire told him in the London Special when she came to free him, he answers "how would you know, you weren't there!", she's about to say something but she looks behind him and she does a worried face and stops her words, Nathalie is there. When they get home Mari shouts at the door "I can't do this anymore!! We have to tell Adrien the truth!", he definitely sees angered Nathalie dragging Mari outside as we see him standing on top of the stairs when they come back (he was waiting?), when Nathalie tells him it was about the scooter keys he just nods and leaves...
-Dark Castle (ep10): Marinette was suddently contageously ill she couldn't come to the party right when Alix gave the Rabbit Miraculous to someone else to guard time for her and the next day she was probably fine (+ her parents thought she did go to the picnic-> mismatching information if he does ask them about it. Their line was repeated twice between the last scene and the post-credit), Bunnybug's almost-kiss he seemed not to notice (we don't know where his eyes were looking at cut his face was cut and if time was paused or not), she refuses to disturb the Miraculers at Alix's party, we also don't know what Bunnynette did in the burrow. There's some hints that she did change something afterwards we don't know yet (as I said in other posts, I'm expecting a "Intuition-type" episode that shows what we haven't seen here or what I said at the beginning of this post). Adrien and Aglae are missing from the Endcard and there's Bunnybug depicted as "jumping out of the Burrow", when she never left (could just be aesthetic, but why are both Aglae and Adrien gone?)
-Revelator (ep11): In the opening we see he trains the other heroes level up their powers (so he probably knows everyone's ID now, I feel like this is imporant, cuz before he only knew some of them, but now he sees it's litterally all his friends, especially Alya, whose ID he learned in s4). Rena getting insanely mad at LB after she looked in the orb, he initally thought the sphere revealed her identity, but after seeing how pissed she was he probably understood it had to be something else, cuz why would Alya be mad discovering LB's identity? He, in fact, says:"You lied to me too?"
-WrecklessDriver (ep12): Marinette makes an excuse to go chase after the akuma with a bike, he stares at her leave, confused, and goes hiding, Plagg says:"Don't tell me, you wanna play Chat Noir and go rescue your girlfriend, don't you?" Adrien answers: "Precisely!!" and he does go down the street looking for her from the rooftops, but she's nowhere to be found (we have two scenes of him running and looking around), until LB calls him, he takes one last look and only now he spots the car sprinting by (he wasn't following it, he saw it by chance and he was ahead of LB!!), he rescues the civilian who just got caught (distracting him from his search of Mari) and finally reaches LB when the rest of the team had already arrived (he was late even if he transformed before them). His fear of revealing his identity detected by the akuma seems unusual for him (could be a reference to the ending of 'Representation' where he was about to reveal to Mari but his nightmares stopped him) it seemed like he was scared to reveal to LB specifically, cuz he didn't look like he was going to tell it to the villain herself, as he only started yapping when LB arrived (is he scared of what she would think of him? If she would change her view of him? Be treated differently? Being Gabriel's son?). He tells the therapist:"There's something strange about my father." (This scene connects directly to 'LadyChaos's opening, meaning it could be set in the same day! -just the endscene, not necessarily the whole ep-)
⬆️In these episodes he questions her excuses to go transform, he tries to convince her to stay somehow and makes excuses himself to go transform too.
⬇️In these episodes he doesn't question her excuses to transform anymore, on the contrary, he lets her go pretty fast and doesn't go look for her even when she litterally says she's gonna chase after the akuma.
AT THIS POINT MAYBE HE CONCIOUSLY SUSPECTS MARINETTE MIGHT BE LADYBUG AND HE INVESTIGATES (when possible)? He tries to get more proof about it by paying attention when she leaves(?):
-Yaksi Gozen (ep13): Felix and Kagami are in Marinette's room (whom he knows both are holders), why was she hiding behind them? Why are they looking for some random rings so anxiously, panicking, making excuses that don't exactly match? To the point they yell at him? (part2, first time in ep5). When Yaksi Gozen arrives he doesn't seem worried that his GF stayed behind while everyone else ran away from the paralyzing laser of the akuma. Adrien transforms as soon as Kagami runs outside and closes the door, but he disappears for a bunch of scenes (after both Kagami and Marinette had transformed and the battle has already begun, even if he was behind the door last time we saw him). He then appears out of nowhere, unclear from where exactly (Mari's house was cut in half and she transformed in her open room, behind the divider btw)
-Grendiaper (ep14): He called her Bugaboo again!!
-The Ruler (ep15): Maybe nothing, as he doesn't get to see LB has a cold cuz he gets mind controlled by the Ruler pretty early. He might've seen she came from the school after Mari left but mehh, no evidence I remeber rn. (Where was he before showing up outta nowhere, btw??)
-Noe (ep16): Marinette was talking about her secret out loud to Tikki when he got up to get Icecream (in the beach scene), she seems to take at heart and very seriously the new movie's script (just as much as him), when in other seasons she often tried to make it look like she didn't care about the superheroes that much (esp Ladybug). She fakes her foot being hurt to be left alone, he leaves pretty fast nonetheless. She says out loud:"I hate lying to Adrien" and transforms immediately after he left (did he hear her??). We see him calmly walking in the street afterwards, he didn't run off quickly once he got down the stairs (did he stop behind the door??). During the fight with the Mime he says "Seeing you tends to make me speechless M'lady" (it's not that deep but it's a bit flirty lol). In the endscene when they both go back at Mylene's house, Mari is standing up and walking perfectly fine, even if her leg was 'hurt' earlier, he looks at her walking away when she goes get a glass of water in the kitchen. [Unrelated, but as proof our boy pays attention to details, he recognizes immediately Noe's Logo on the script after seeing it earlier on the contract]
-AFairyGoodNight (ep17): Ladybug didn't wanna call Pegasus into battle because she didn't wanna wake him up or whatever. Adrien knows Max is Pegasus and he knows he's staying at Marinette's.. Ladybug wouldn't know, so why is she worrying about waking him up all of a sudden?
-The Dirtifiers (ep18): Nothing here I think? Adrien wasn't in the ep. But the Ladynoir was Ladynoir-ing more than usual! They were so in sync!! (Kinda like how they're gonna be in ep21 when they'll swap Miraculous?👀) [Side Note: the questions Kagami asked in the fight scene with scene Tomoe are something I'm expecting Adrien to ask himself once he discovers about his origins!]
-Riginarazione (ep19): Marinette says she wants to follow her grandparents to see where they're going (Akumatized!!!) and Adrien is like: Oh yeah, sure dw about it, go!!!🥰("Okay, be careful, Marinette! >:)" ) And takes his sweet time to go transform afterwards (Sabine didn't need him to be there to put TinyTom in the baby box, once the villain left) by saying "I should go see if Marinette needs any help" (Marinette.. LADYBUG! he doesn't go look for his GF this episode either!) Also, judging by the joke he made when he turned back normal after the MiraculousLadybug, it seems he remembers his time as a baby (so does Mari, maybe he didn't have full control of himself, but I'm mentioning it cuz he took off her earrings lol).
IN THESE EPISODES HE GETS CONFIRMATION MARINETTE KNOWS A/THE SECRET (?) (& extra proof she could be LB?):
-Heartfixer (ep20): He does see the letter again and Marinette avoids the topic when he asks; He 'forgives but doesn't forget' as he mentioned Nino's crush on Mari from s1 during his crashout. He knows she's hiding something she's really worried about telling him (something that isn't her cheating with Nino at least lol) and he knows it's written in that letter, because when he asked at the end of the ep she confirmed it does have to do with what she's hiding. They now both know she might get akumatized again if they breakup.. Instead WE know he's willing to reveal his identity to protect/save her! The way she moved swinging that Purse as Heartfixer might remind him of LB if he thinks back at it (but she isn't the only akuma who does it, like Sublimation swinged her medal like that, so idk)... I realized that at the start of the episode they mention how in 'Grendiaper' he sees the message the bullies wrote and he didn't doubt her one second, but this time, in contrast, a Secret was involved and he immediately got nervous, he stopped thinking rationally not even 2 seconds after seeing them together the first time! (almost as if he thought he finally discovered what she's been hiding lately👁). LB hides the letter in the YoYo, but there's very ominous music playing (foreshadowing?)
-TheChainedTitans (ep21): We see Adrien's amazing acting skills when he gets the phone call from Alya and he tells her he's scared of being a superhero, he's very proud of his performance too. When Nino comes in, he looks so surprised as if he wasn't warned beforeheand at all. Even if he and Mari acted like inexperienced heroes he will probably keep this experience in mind (they were also so in-tune that they finished eachother's sentences and communicated their strategy with their eyes, they've been doing this job for ages. Plus they both could use their powers multiple times and not detransform after 5 minutes even if they're "new heroes"). When he meets with LB later he says "A mission last night, another this morning. We've become inseparable, Milady!" (Possibly irrelevant, but they were together 2 seconds earlier lol) At the end of the episode LB tells him he can have a stand-in and he answers he doesn't want to burden anyone with it (Is he acting here too? Or is there's something deeper he's hiding? He never saw it as a burden before s6, in 'Climatiqueen' he even said he loves being CN, cuz he feels the most like himself and now it became a burden?! We know he's been worried about his powers since he accidentally killed Uncanny and hurt Monarch, plus in 'Wreckless Driver' we learn he also has fear of revealing his ID... What do you know, Adriennnn!!)
IN THESE EPISODES HE FIGURES OUT SHE'S (likely) LADYBUG?! ALSO HE GETS CONFIRMATION THE SECRET IS ABOUT HIS FATHER (?) (I'm unsure to which extent):
-Lady Chaos (ep22): We discover he was the one who destroyed the Alliance statue (pre-s6 flashback), so he's been cultivating this anger since before the season even started. Imma write a separate paragraph below about the rest of this one, since it has to be analyzed a bit!
-Sadnansi (ep23): Adrien insistently asks for the Gabe portait and Marinette makes up excuses while getting increasingly nervous "It's so wonderful that the person I love the most can recreate the image of the Secret Hero my father really was!" (Adrien, if u actually know what you're saying & to who, ur a lil sh*t, I adore you). He sees Ladybug very distracted and upset during the whole fight and then crying once she told the Nora about secrets being difficult to tell. Later, Marinette is crying when she comes at his house claiming she has to tell him something important. He seems pretty 'calm' for someone who's seeing his GF show up outta nowhere in the late evenining, with a distraught face like that... (Could be just me, but- Was he expecting her to show up eventually?)
-QueenOfTheDreadzone(ep24): Nothing?There wasn't much Adrien screentime, but Ladynoir were so sweet and supportive the whole episode!🥺
-Secret Protocol (ep25): not released yet
-Nemesis (ep26): not released yet
_____
HINTS IN LADY CHAOS
For starters, we shall suspect Marinette's Monologue, because while we could say Adrien might've not followed her since he was with Nino in his room and that was the first time she left to warn the interviewed person, we don't know if they did hear any of it from behind the door (but it doesn't seem like it tbh, at least Nino seems normal the rest of the episode, if he had heard it he probably wouldn't have stayed so calm, that's a pretty huge confession so the ep would've gone completely different)
Now to more possibly relevant details:
Someone noticed that "Ladybug" (fake one) called Nino to battle when she isn't supposed to know Mari and Adrien are aware of his secret identity... Why is this relevant? Well let me break it down for ya:
It's a tiny thing they split in 3 parts:
-Marinette gestures towards Nino so Alya would call him to leave for the fight;
-Alya says "Oh right, Nino" and she makes the Ladybug illusion call him "Carapace"
-Alya and Marinette meet on the rooftop and she asks if she did a good job at making Nino leave them alone.
So much emphasis on this little detail, it seems to be pointing out that this is something the viewer should keep in mind... This might be a tiny slip-up detail on Alya's part that might help Adrien figure out this was an illusion at some point, especially if we combine it with... This shot!⬇️
In the scene when Adrien transforms to go fight Lady Chaos, after Marinette leaves his room, there's this shot of him pausing the video in his phone and telling Plagg "The Editing will have to wait".
I did notice the angle is weird, the scene is suspiciously long and it's interesting he was messing with his phone for so long even if he was in a hurry (with two whole scenes in between), but I initially didn't rewind to see what was up with it until I read a comment about it, so I checked it out myself...
It's interesting that, before we finally get this scene of Adrien, we get Mari's transforming first, then they put the scene of LB and Rena talking on the rooftop and only at this point they finally cut back to Adrien pausing the video on the phone. This shot didn't need to exist if it wasn't important.
The phone was still recording and it's pointing at the roof Rena Rouge was hiding behind! Earlier in the scene, Rena exposed herself to look at Lady Chaos approaching when she heard a noise, so it's possible that he's going to rewatch the video once he's alone and see Rena peaking out from behind the chimney because of this!😮
I also saw someone belive the questions he asked during the interviews were a bit suspicious... It's possible he was less interested in the interviewed person's answer and more on their reaction, maybe Marinette's too... (esp cuz he already knew some of the stuff they said as most of it is, more or less, what LB told everyone in the London Special in interviews and Mari barely let anyone speak at all)
To me, the fact Adrien was 100% unbothered (unlike Nino who, in contrast, gets annoyed) when she kept interrupting all the interviewed people, especially Amelie, even if she kept twisting her words and finishing her sentences the entire time, could be a clue he's been collecting hints for real... Bro has all their face expressions and words caught on camera, he can look at them as much as he wants. Let's interview Ladybug now!!🥰
M:"Come on, not Ladybug!😩"
A:"Why not?👀"
[Mari says they don't have a way to contact her]
A:"You're right...😔" *gives up* (knowing very well both he and Nino do have a way, in fact Nino does offer to call her himself) "You'd do that?! Thanks, Nino!🥰"
Also, at the end of the episode he asks Marinette to draw a portrait of Gabriel (which we saw in 'Sadnansi'), VERY interesting quest you got there for her, all of a sudden, after seeing her act like that the whole day, Adrien.👁👁
____
"SEARCH FOR CLUES" WHAT'S TO COME?
With all these clues combined, he might've noticed she's been acting way too weird whenever his father is mentioned (since 'Mister Agreste' at least) and that Ladybug is doing the same, with similar mannerisms too. Once he discovers the Truth later (and possibly LB's ID?) or it's revealed that he's finally puzzling all the pieces together (betting on after he starts editing the documentary's recordings), these might be the hints he's been secretly collecting for a while👀
There's been hints all season, as I listed above, but DEFINITELY in the Finale something will change, Timeline Reset or Not, especially if he uses the Miraculous ChatNoir to erase memories (so far it seems the cat holder is almost completely immune to his own attacks, from what I could tell with ChatBlanc and ClawNoir), it's possible he's going to be forced to erase everyone's memories to prevent Crysalis from discovering something.
We can't really be sure he's actually doing this and it isn't just me overthinking stuff.. (tbh, this mindset of mine has had me predict, multiple times, entire scenes this season before they got released, so maybe overthinking is the way🔥)
I think he may have noticed that his father is the reason Marinette and Ladybug get upset lately. At the point of 'LadyChaos' he might've figured this part out and that's why he's making a documentary; the way the interviews went might've confirmed his suspicions (he doesn't know what it is but he knows it's gotta be about Gabriel?).
However, What if in 'LadyChaos' the interviews did make him more suspicious, but at the same time he also gave up? (possibly when he interviewed "Ladybug" and she told him his father loved him) Considering his room's wall became completely white in 'Sadnansi', maybe he really hasn't noticed Rena in the Recordings yet or he saw her, but he hasn't figured out she was there because LB was an illusion and he might've thought they were on patrol together instead? Could this have thrown him off Mari's ID tracks too last-minute..? According to my observations he may still suspect Mari knows the Secret, so he wanted to prove that one at least? The Portrait being his last attempt? They're definitely cooking something for the Finale, that's when stuff's gonna happen!!🤔
He's testing his theories.. Bro is plotting, bro is scheming, bro is observing people, bro is yearning for the truth!! (Or maybe he's just a silly lil guy who trusts his beloved ladies blindly, as usual :3)
Btw can't wait for a possible flashback scene of Adrien throwing his old orange shoes (with the butterfly logo) in the trashcan in a future episode, fr, I feel like that's gonna be another hint to what he actually knows/suspects already!!
___
EDIT (After "Sadnansi" & "TheChainedTitans")
DO Y'ALL SEE WHAT I'M SEEING?!?
THERE'S NO WAY HE ISN'T TEASING HER!
Look at this scene from "TheChainedTitans", BRO IS SO GOOD AT ACTING AND PRETENDING TO BE CLUELESS. Nobody would ever suspect a thing.
He's been doing this for ages!!
He's a master at acting, so much nobody ever (unironically) suspected his secret identity on both fronts (except Gabriel in "Gorizilla" and in the alt timelines), nobody ever questioned his excuses to go transform, nobody knows he's litterally hiding half of his personality, nobody knew he hated modeling, nobody knows he's been fake-smiling in public since season 1.
He has done it before when he knew Marinette liked him and he teased her about it a bunch of times to see her reaction, in s2-3 (before he decided to do nothing about it, cuz he loved LB and picked Kagami as rebound, not to risk his precious friendship with Mari)
He has done it in the 'ChatBlanc' timeline when he didn't tell Mari he knew her identity since even before they started dating (they had been a couple for a Year and she had no idea until the day he transformed to cataclysm the akuma!!)
He has done it before when he knew Felix put cheese under his pillow and pretended he wasn't aware of it cuz he knows how his cousin is.
He has done it before when he was being nice to Lila, pretending he didn't know she's a manipulative liar.
...And he never does anything about it, he always waits for the person to out themselves on their own, over time, due to the consequences of their actions (unless things go too far, ex: when he threatened Lila in "Ladybug"s3 cuz she got Mari expelled; when he roasted Felix in his debut cuz he got his friends akumatized & almost kissed LB and when he yelled at him in "Emotion"). Do you remember what he said in "Chameleon", s3 about Lila when Mari was gonna out her?
A:"Are you gonna tell everyone? [...] She's a liar. I know. But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her she'll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer never turned them into a good guy."
M:"So are we just gonna stand-by and let her lie?"
A:"As long as you and I know the truth, does it really matter?"
This is how he thinks: he believes exposing somebody who does bad things will hurt them more than letting them realize on their own that what they're doing is wrong. Because this realization, if it happens, will make them understand their mistakes and grow from them. Maybe he wants to do the same with Maribug. He knows she's a good person, so it's possible he wants her to realize what she's doing, so he's limiting himself to teasing her with stuff like that line from 'Sadnansi', the Gabriel Portrait and the interview to Ladybug in 'LadyChaos'! (And not only because he's unsure!)
Him acting clueless when he's told the Alliance Statue was destroyed: [Pic Link]
__
CALLING IT NOW (before the last 3 episodes are released). I think he might know:
-The Secret IS about the final battle. He litterally knows this, we know he does as well, he even said it in "Mister Agreste" (LB kinda implied it in the London Special's Endscene, then he had more proof throghout this season)
-The Secret is about his father. He might've figured it out over the course of the episodes and he may be pretty confident about it, he's putting his focus on his father because he needs to understand what it is about, the single puzzle piece he's missing (interviews in 'Lady Chaos', his own experience, therapy, how LB and Mari act when he's mentioned).
-Marinette may know what LB's Secret is. He's suspecting it, so he's been testing Mari in the last few episodes to see if he's right, by involving her in stuff about his father ('MisterAgreste' he made the connection?, 'Heartfixer' he confirmed she's keeping a secret, 'LadyChaos' he checked what's up with her behaviour during interviews? 'Sadnansi' he was trying to see if she would manage making the portrait? As final test?)
-Marinette might be Ladybug. Connecting the other points together and also his previous guesses from older seasons. I think he's unsure about this, cuz there's evidence against it being true (ex: interview in "LadyChaos"... but he got the recording of the rooftop, so it all depends on if he checked the videos already before/after "Sadnansi"). It probably still makes sense to him, considering all the lil details he might be noticing about the two girls. He just lets both LB and Mari be, to see if they actually drop clues of them being the same person for real or not.
-He might be connected to the Rings. This one is super uncertain, it all depends on what happened to him inside the trophy in "Werepapas", cuz if he did fall to the ground like Felix in his backstory in "Representation" and then he connects everyone obsessing over those rings (his grandparents in ep4 and Mari, Felix & Kagami in "YaksiGozen") he might actually suspect something's up with himself & the rings.
It's gonna be funny if it turns out he suspects none of these things lolol
___
IDENTITY REVEALS: SEASON SYNOPSIS
Here's an interesting thing about season 6's synopsis, I'll compare it with the other season's (if I found them in the right spot?, correct me if these aren't the seasons synopsis lol), be patient and hear me out..
S1 SYNOPSIS:
"Marinette and Adrien, two Parisian high school students, receive Miraculouses that grant them unique powers to protect the city. Disguised as Ladybug and Cat Noir, they join forces to stop Papillon, who seeks to steal their Miraculouses and spread chaos."
S2 SYNOPSIS:
"At school, a new student named Kagami catches Adrien’s attention, which Marinette is quick to notice. However, Marinette herself meets Luka, who may well sow confusion in her heart… She also meets the Guardian of the Miraculous, Master Fu, and learns about the existence of other Miraculous. Thanks to them, she will be able to occasionally enlist the help of other superheroes of her choice for particularly difficult missions. Finally, she finds out that Hawk Moth has a dreadful plan that he has been working on for a very long time and that he is determined to implement to defeat Cat Noir and her! How will Marinette and Adrien deal with all these new emotions? And will Ladybug and Cat Noir manage to stop Hawk Moth from going through with his evil plan?"
S3 SYNOPSIS:
"Over time, Marinette and Adrien eventually became close friends. But Marinette learns that it is not any necessarily easier to declare your love to a friend, especially with Kagami becoming ever more present in Adrien’s life. And on top of that, Lila is back at school, still lying through her teeth, and she finds out that Marinette knows the truth about her. Lila decides to get rid of her, at any cost! Added to this already hectic daily life are increasingly dangerous adventures. Sure, our superheroes have new powers and teammates to help them, but Hawk Moth is stronger too. He can call on Mayura, a new villain who gives akumatized people allies. Will Marinette and Adrien manage to keep their private lives from influencing their superhero adventures?"
S4 SYNOPSIS:
"Not only is Marinette Ladybug, the superheroine that protects Paris from the attack of villains, but she’s also now the guardian of the Miraculous. This means that not only does she need to keep her identity hidden, but also the existence of these turbulent, magical creatures, the Kwamis! Marinette has a lot of pressure, not to mention her school and love life! Now she has less time and opportunities to tell Adrien her feelings..."
S5 SYNOPSIS:
[Ep 1-9]
"Ladybug has lost the Miracle Box and its kwamis. She no longer has possession except her Miraculous and Cat Noir with his. Shadow Moth, who now calls himself Monarch, has never been so close to victory. He can now give his akumatized victims Miraculous powers and create super ultra-powerful villains. But, again as a duo, our heroes will be more united than they ever were. On the heart side, it's the waltz of feelings! Marinette, who lost the Miracle Box because of her love for Adrien, decides to turn away from him and begins to take an interest in Cat Noir. At the same time, the latter doesn't feel the same interest in Ladybug because Adrien now recognizes his romantic attraction for Marinette. Will Adrien and Marinette finally succeed in declaring their love?"
[Ep 10-26]
"The end of the year is approaching and Marinette, the class representative, is mobilized to communicate to the class council the students' orientation wishes. But she'll have to face up to Chloé and Lila, who want to take her place and discredit her. Distraught by Gabriel Agreste's cold attitude towards her, she plucks up the courage to have a heart-to-heart talk with the father of the boy she's in love with... Will she manage to be accepted by Gabriel Agreste? Will Marinette and Adrien finally be able to love each other freely? On the danger side, Monarch's days are numbered since Cat Noir cataclysmed him. He devises the ultimate plan to finally seize the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses and make his wish come true. Will Ladybug and Cat Noir be able to repel his attacks?"
And Finally: SEASON 6 SYNOPSIS
"Ladybug and Cat Noir must face a new enemy – mysterious, worrying, elusive, and yet close to them. Very close, but they have no idea. Marinette and Adrien too have never been so close to each other, but that does not necessarily make their everyday life a bed of roses, for they keep secrets from each other. The biggest secret being that they still do not know that they are Ladybug and Cat Noir. In a new and exemplary green Paris, in the heart of a new and revolutionary school, our heroes are about to experience a school year full of emotions and revelations."
__
As you can see (if I did my research right), no synopsis has ever pointed out that they STILL don't know eachother's identities. Yes, they have mentioned the double lives weighing on them and how they're going to have to learn to manage the two identities (which we've actually seen happen in the episodes), but this time it's presented as an obstacle between them and their relationship, while before it was more of a personal-growth thing or an obligation. Here it's in a sentence on it's own, they don't even mention the Lie about Monarch which seems to be the main plotline of the season, as we've seen so far.
Why is this "The Biggest Secret" when it's not a huge problem between Ladynoir anymore and Adrienette is way more burdened by the Lie instead? It's been 10 years, do we need a reminder that they still don't know? They wouldn't have written it if it wasn't important, to the point they didn't mention the Monarch Lie at all, very interesting👀
Also, this is what Astruc said last time he was asked if there's gonna be an identity reveal that isn't reversed at the end of the episode is:"I'm not authorized to say"...that's suspicious too..💫 (Link)
Another thing he said is that once s7 comes out, we're gonna want to rewatch s6 to notice hidden things in the episodes... What hidden things..? Only finding where Crysalis/Lila is hiding in the episodes? Or the Lie & Identity Clues they've been scattering around everywhere for Adrien to find? Both?!
This ties back to what I said at the start about s7 (or some eps of it) possibly being a parallel to s6, showing things from Adrien and Crysalis's POV instead of Mari's and resolving the Lie Plotline that might get out in World during the s6 Finale🤔 [What if this season was just a "what would've happened if Mari had lied?" And s7 is basically her fixing her mistake and time-traveling back to when she made the choice or something!?]
And Marinette's desire being she could let her team (mostly CN I'm sure) know her identity in 'A Fairy GoodNight'?! She thinks it's impossible, very likely due to the fact she tried to reveal twice with CN and they had to reset the timeline both times (+ Master Fu's teachings). She doesn't know the real problem was Gabriel all along!
In 'Revelator' she said she doesn't know who CN is, so she doesn't wanna tell him about Monarch cuz "Idk who's beneath the mask, what if he tells Adrien the truth?" Which is similar to what Bunnix let her belive in 'ChatBlanc' to derail Marinette from guessing his ID ("maybe Adrien told someone and the word got around until it reached CN"). "The best kept secrets are the ones you never share", after all!! [Line they mention in both episodes]
Also are we not going to mention RainPiercer & SunHeart's reveal in "The Ruler"?! Do we truly think this was just about the Marcaniel reveal at the end of the episode? With these designs?? With them talking about how they changed the ending and they're not gonna lose their Powers anymore?! (Like Mari maybe not losing her memories as a Guardian) With all the Miraculers saying "it's Our story!" ??? (It was a weird line.. but what if it's like that cuz it's foreshadowing!)
EDIT AFTER "SADNANSI": Marinette said she doesn't want to Lie to Adrien ever again. I feel like if she truly and fully wants to keep her word, from the depths of her heart, and never have to Lie to him again at all, she's going to need to tell him about Ladybug too, otherwise...
___
WHY REVEAL IN THE CRYSALIS ARC?
Personally, I think they need to know eachother's identities to defeat Crysalis (unlike with Gabriel, who lived in the same house as ChatNoir), because that's how they've exposed her before in other seasons as Lila, as Adrienette👀
They were the only ones who knew the truth about her being a liar, so they teamed-up against her, knowing not to trust anything she does or says. I think they need to be completely transparent with eachother this time, because she's going to use any secret against them.
Like, in "Volpina" she made an Illusion of herself kidnapping Adrien, making Ladybug chase them down into her trap and almost give up her earrings to protect him. Later, she made another illusion of Adrien hanging from the Eiffel tower and LB panics again. If she had known he was actually next to her the whole time (as ChatNoir) she wouldn't have fallen for any of it in the first place!
Luckly he was present to dissolve the illusions, but if he hadn't been there she would've really given her earrings to Volpina...
Now Crysalis is likely planning to isolate Maribug from all her friends, so she's going to be vulnerable and subject to believing her manipulations and illusions (Like it happened in 'Heartfixer'). Knowing ChatNoir's identity might be the key for winning this time, so they can expose her as a team like they did in season 5!🤫
____
WHO'S GOING TO KNOW FIRST?
If Adrien's figuring Maribug's Identity, I'd say it fits into the "Realization Theory" where one of the two (if not both) of them slowly put the pieces together and Realize the other's identity over time. It's more likely to happen now that Adrienette is canon, than a simple Reveal (which instead is more immediate, like the ones in the "What If" episodes that we're more used to)
Tbh, until these last few s6 episodes I was expecting Marinette to learn he's Chat Noir first (in the canon timeline):
-Cuz more internal drama with the lie;
-Cuz it takes longer for her to process it;
-Cuz Adrien used to be immediately super in love with her and accidentally mess up cuz he left clues that his father caught up to and it ended in disaster twice, while for her, the turmoil mostly remained in her head;
-Cuz of the "Wall Between us" song they wanted to use for the movie, but scrapped, that has some lines that feel like Marinette knows his identity while he doesn't know hers yet...
HOWEVER‼️
Where we're currently at a point in the Story, unlike other seasons, where there's some big differences from the erased timelines, so it makes just as much sense for Adrien to discover it first (like in ChatBlanc, he didn't tell her he knew her ID since before they started dating):
-Adrienette are already a couple, so it won't change their dynamic in a way people would notice easily;
-Cuz of the conflict he's having internally he's not gonna be as much crazy about it unlike before, he's gonna be more careful cuz he knows she's hiding something... (Could he be scared of revealing his ID cuz he knows he isn't supposed to know LB's identity since he's ChatNoir??)
-Since his father is dead, he can't be taken advantage of;
-He also is wearing his own amok rings so no one can force him to accept akumas and follow orders;
-Marinette has too much going on in her head already, if she learns he's ChatNoir they'll need to walk all over her corpse and she still won't reveal a thing, cuz that makes it insanely worse than her lying to her civilian boyfriend;
-Chat Blanc parallels everywhere (there's a fan theory that says all the things that happened in the CB alt timeline are ment to happen in the canon timeline, but differently and with different times, so I've made a list of things that happen in that episode to check and then I marked them with the "canon version" of those events, I must say over 90% of the stuff has happened in both timelines right now, If I didn't reach too much. I'm waiting to see if "Heartfixer" contains some of the last few things. UPDATE: It did! AND even the offical MLB account posted a reel with said parallels!)
+ Marinette has a picture of Master Fu next to her bed, Adrien is the only other person in the world who knows who that dude is💀
____
If they wanna go for drama and angst, this is the BEST and WORST moment possible in the entire series so far to have them discover eachother's identities.
Worst cuz Adrien is gonna be rightfully PISSED at both Marinette and Ladybug, cuz he knows it's the same person, so he's going to distance himself from her on both identities, he's going to feel absolutely lost (unlike before when they were just silly cuties being happy bbys), he's going to lose both of the most important people in his life, to him, and he'll be more alone than ever (but he'll survive because he spent the whole season building himself a new support system to help him through harsh times).
Best because, if he knows the two people he loves the most in the world is actually one and he realizes that he has known 'both' of them as much as he does, they've been through so much together, that he knows for sure she doesn't have ill intentions and that she really cares about him for real and he really cares about her back; after some time away (where he's gonna need some space to process what he just learned), knowing that Marinette is Ladybug and Ladybug is Marinette might help him think back and, after a bunch of episodes of them being apart, It'll lead to their reunion once the steam has cooled off (Adrien is very Emotionally-Intelligent, he'll understand)
[another season worth of juicy content and drama]
Also cuz Gabriel was the one who wanted to split them, that's likely why he told Mari not to let Adrien know about him being a villain. They shouldn't let this man win again, Crysalis wants them apart too.
Well, there were definitely Better moments than this one before, but those were in a "Happly Ever After" type of 'good'. A way that would've been more "end of story/conflicts" kinda thing. I seriously couldn't imagine, as much as I tried, a lot going on after the Reveal, even if there's many adventures our MCs could still experience, cuz a Reveal would've solved most of the issues between them that existed before the end of s5.
However, since they're planning 14 seasons of this show and since the story is where it is right now with the Lie plotline, this is actually the Best moment so far, in the long-term narrative and character-progression type of 'good', in a way I finally do see things continuing to happen and conflicts still existing even if the Wall Between Them (the masks) has been finally torn down, cuz there's gonna be a New Wall to replace it (the rift caused by the Truth coming out).
It finally makes sense for it to happen now in the Story. While before it was more like:"it'd be nice if it happened!", but it would have been a bit random at the same time (narratively). If they've been keeping it for this long it means they want it to be meaningful. Dropping it in a random season would've ruined it (and they showed us why in the "what if" episodes y'all hate so much). For this reason, I don't mind they still don't know eachother's IDs yet. I don't mind if it takes another season either. They're gonna know for sure eventually. They must. They have to. "It makes sense".
Yeah this might be it...👀
[If you still aren't tired of reading, there's a cool conversation in the comments⬇️]
Oh Yeah... Noe's Giving Vibes He's Going to Backstab Audry For Sure
Man played his sister like a fool and can be very much doing the same with his mother.
A manipulator who talks people up, makes it seems like he cares only to think the opposite. It wouldn't be much of a stretch if he was just using his mother because her connections to the kingdom and her status.
If Noe is in fact not a senti, or an advanced robot like Uncanny Valley, (don't mind that random theory that just came to my mind by this point I wouldn't be surprised) then I can see him totally backstabbing Audry once he's done using her to push himself even higher up in status for the public and the kingdom.
How? Ruin her reputation... All Audry has is her reputation and her fashion empire. Ruin that, heck even throw her under the bus to have her arrested and she can't recover. She'd have to deal with the mocking and scoffs and people ridiculing her for the rest of her life. Essentially what she gave Andre, Chloe, Zoe and anyone else who worked under her.
And if people connect Noe is Audry's son... he can play the "Poor son who never would have thought his mother was a terrible person all along!" act with a single tear going down his face. We've seen in Revelator if done well enough the public can be manipulated and tricked into things that aren't true.
And what would that do? Be a mocking reflection of someone like Adrien who truly went through that pain so now you have him as an enemy in that sense manipulating the public into thinking that.
Audry actually gets consequence for being so cruel all these years, Noe proves himself to be quite the sneaky manipulator and a force for be reckoned with, and Adrien may gain his own sort of antagonist he feels personal anger towards. (It being the older brother of his childhood friend on top of that)
I keep getting spiraled on the motives of Gabriel writing that letter and his final moments. He obviously wrote it after the whole alliance ring shtick began, after he was hit by the cataclysm. My immediate thought is that he wrote it right before he shipped Adrien off to London, since it was inside a photo album inside a box for furniture to be moved, which implies it was when they were moving away his things.
I can only imagine that he wrote that as a "If everything goes to shit this is my back up plan' which is fair tbh. Maybe his plan wouldn't work 100% and the cataclysm would get to him before he could revive Emilie. Since he accounts for Nathalie also still being in the picture I imagine he didn't think she'd die so... Fast? Suddenly? Maybe he thought she would still be weak and frail and sick but alive to guide Adrien after he found the letter.
So far this is all well and good but now when it comes to his final scene with Maribug and him asking for her to not Adrien know the villain that he was, I'm of two minds about it. The first one is that, somewhere deep deep down in his rotten pathetic weak little heart, he really meant it and hoped Adrien wouldn't find the letter and he'd get to die and be with Emilie in the afterlife. Which is. A fair interpretation but you'd need to pay me a lot of money to believe Gabriel Agreste has any actual remorse for what he did lmao.
My second interpretation is that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. It's not that he 100% wanted to control the narrative of how Adrien found out his misdeeds (though I think that's a valid interpretation), but in my head he just thought like-
"hey, I have an emergency plan in place with that letter right? Might as well go out faking a sacrifice and guilt trip this 14 year old girl, gaslight my son's memories and later down the line if he finds that letter, my chances of him actually bringing me back are way higher! Win win!"
In other words it wasn't a selfless sacrifice (obviously) but more so a, "I'll do this good deed so I might get something better in return later down the line" deal. Which I think fits his overall character narrative imo.
This was a detail about Adrien and Félix that I just sort of assumed was canon after what we found out in Representation, and it has only now come to my attention that this was in fact never canonically stated and no one else seems to think this is the case.
It made sense to me why Adrien looked the way he did, because Emilie created him out of her love and desire for a child, so of course the senti created from those emotions would basically be a gender bent carbon copy of his Mum. Félix however was not created the same way. Colt did not create Félix out of love and certainly wouldn’t have created him with the intention of looking like Amelie, so the explanation that Adrien and Félix look the same because of their Mums being twins doesn’t make sense. Not genetically and definitely not character wise.
Félix was created out of Colt Fathom’s jealousy and anger. He was jealous that Gabriel and Emilie were the ones that got to have a child, while he and Amelie were the ones actually staying loyal to the Graham de Vanily’s and continuing on their legacy. To Colt, it wasn’t fair that they got a child and he didn’t. And when that jealousy took shape, it didn’t create a carbon copy of his wife, it created a carbon copy of the child he was jealous the Agreste’s had. Félix looks like Adrien because he was created from jealousy, not because Colt wanted him to look like Amelie.
It seemed like such an obvious thing to me, and I just sort of assumed that was the canon explanation. It never occurred to me that this was something that would technically be classed as more of a theory because it just made the most sense to me. Genetically, Adrien and Félix have no reason to be identical, even identical twins don’t look exactly the same, but it’s a kids show so whatever. But then it also didn’t make sense that Colt’s child would look so much like Amelie if Félix was created from his desire to have a child. So the only remaining explanation was that Félix is a copy of Adrien, the child the Agreste’s had that Colt felt he deserved.
I don’t know. This is just what I assumed to be the case and I thought I’d share it.
Ladybug is putting him on secret missions to find out who the new Butterfly Miraculous Holder is in terms of location via him sublimating Invisibility or Flight. Inspired by Monarch's frequently benefiting from that power.
I can see it conflicting with his relationship with Nathaniel (leading to a compromise in the plan) since none of the Miraculers would be in the know about it. Not even Alya or Chat Noir akin to that of her Rena Furative stint but with more powers for spying. Marinette would get use out of a friend she doesn't often have one-on-one friend time with.
so I could talk about Lady Chaos, but…I’d rather talk about Heartfixer + my predictions
so, I 100% believe Marinette is the one who gets akumatized (outside of the Chopped Trio)
my main reasoning being the buildup of Lila thinking that Mari is Ladybug; if she can get her akumatized, then Ladybug would have to show up to help, but if she doesn’t, then that helps strengthen Lila’s argument
how I think the episode will play out:
Marinette feels guilty about not telling Adrien the truth about Gabriel, and plans to deliver the letter to him before they head to school
She ultimately backs out; my guess is that Adrien will tell her about the progress he’s made through therapy, and she doesn’t want to set him back to square one (Adrien is aware of the letter; this will be relevant later)
Lila (or whatever name she’s going by atp) is helping the Chopped Trio; my guess is specifically with Nelson. She’ll record Alya and Nino, and encourage the trio to attempt to break them up
I think she’ll take them to the library, and pass off the phone, and akumatize them; I think Lila may tell them to aim to break up both Alya and Nino, and Mari and Adrien
The Trio look like Marinette, Nino, and Prem, and go around trying to cause problems
Adrien knows Marinette and Nino, so he doesn’t buy it; he sees the akumatized Trio heading back to the library, and follows. He watches them exit, and he knows the truth about it
Adrien then goes to find the real Marinette, who may be crashing out a bit because the guilt of lying to Adrien is consuming her, but she still believes she’s protecting him by lying
He then goes and asks her about the letter from earlier, and she panics and proceeds to tell him that everything is fine and that he doesn’t need to see it. He knows she’s hiding something and is getting upset
Marinette gets akumatized; the letter is the akumatized object, and is resting in her purse. Idk what her power would necessarily do
Lila is even more convinced that Marinette is Ladybug; Ladybug never shows up to help fight, and it happens to be the one time Marinette actually gets akumatized. (WHICH MEANS CHAT NOIR CONTENT LETS GO)
my guess is that Mari is deakumatized, and Chat asks to see the letter; Mari/Ladybug feels guilty for not even letting Chat Noir know, and lets him see it, on the condition of not telling Adrien
Chat is hurt by this (that one scene from Vampigami about Mari not being honest being the worst thing), but agrees, and reads the letter
He’s shocked. He’s hurt. He’s confused. Not only is Marinette trying to hide this from him, Nathalie was Monarch’s accomplice; he truly has no one now
idk either he uses Miraculous Chat Noir on himself in the moment, or he waits before he gets home. Maybe he uses it on Marinette, and she completely forgets about the final battle as Ladybug