At the point in Namesake where I’m almost caught up with the present day (about a year and a half/year back I think?) and have therefore read through the stuff I came in on.
And yeah, the Incredibly Long Day From Hell with the trial and Shadows almost eating Earth and the Reverse Utena Heartswap and the King of Crowns DOES make way more sense on reread, all at once.
(Also: Um.
Henry Jekyll shows up, per creator comments pre-One’d, in 1913. This is, of course, AFTER Dorothy, further underlined by the last page of that intermission. “Call Baum and his precious Writer’s Guild. Call them now.”
Emily’s story establishes that when she got back with Dorothy from the fairy world post-Emma Gale’s death, Henry Gale was already part of One.
And it is explicitly clear that Jekyll is part of the group, and the Shadow is Hyde, and he mentions this before Dorothy’s first trip to Oz.
SOME One’s been time travelling, hasn’t he? Which might explain a few things… while raising several more questions.)