“Serpent will strangle wolf. Lion will battle lion. Darkness will battle light. Sister murder brother. Son murder father. Father murder daughter. This is what the fire told me. All I have seen has come true.” - Dark Age, chapter 45
I want to take a moment and try to analyze Ozgard’s prophecy. This paragraph is very ominous, but also quite uncharacteristic of the red rising saga. We all know that Pierce is prone to changing his outline based on how he feels and what he thinks works best in the story. Writing an explicit prophecy on page is very limiting for him: now he has to fulfill - somehow - this promise made to his readers. And the prophecy is also quite explicit too. Some of its point have already come true by the end of Dark Age:
Serpent strangles wolf —> the fall of Mercury, Atalantia the serpent vanquishes Darrow the wolf
Lion will battle lion —> Virginia vs Abomination
Darkness will battle light —> Society vs Republic
Now we got to the part that has not yet happened. While some of these can be open to interpretation, only very few option can fit certain parts.
• Sister murder brother —> Virginia vs Abomination? Probably the most obvious interpretation and the one I am inclined to believe. The only other living sisters with living brothers in the series are Lyria (with her brothers still stranded on Mercury) and Electra: if we interpret sister/brother figuratively, Pax is a brother to Electra. On this train of thought, this could also concern the Obsidians: sister (Volga) will murder her spiritual brother (Pale Horse or Valdir) to steer Alltribe towards the republic. The same applies to the Howler: a female howler (Rhonna?) will murder a brother (Sevro?).
• Son murder father —> unlike the previous point, very few options are available. Ajax and Atlas, Pax and Darrow are the only two who can fit. I really don’t see how any of both could work: Pax is on Mars while Darrow is confirmed to travel to the Rim dominion. I see no way these two can be close enough to interact, least of all for Pax to kill Darrow. Even symbolically, it wouldn’t make sense: Pax has forgiven Darrow, even if there’s still a trace of resentment in Pax, he doesn’t seem willing to “kill” Darrow as his father. He misses him more than ever. On the other hand, Ajax barely considers Atlas as his father. Atlas hated the child from the moment he was born, can he really be considered “father” when he was only a sperm donor? Maybe Ajax’s wrath for being unloved will burst and set him against Atlas, but, as far as their relationship goes, it wouldn’t have much impact without a proper build up.
• Father murder daughter —> there is no escaping. The only fathers with daughters we know of or Kavax and Sevro. As much as I dislike the “brainwashed Sevro” theory, it would explain this part of the prophecy. After being liberated, Sevro goes home only for one of his girls (probably Electra) to trigger something in him and he snaps. I find it however highly unlikely: based on LB arc reviews, it seems Sevro will be nowhere near Mars, therefore robbing him of any opportunity to harm any his children. Kavax seems as unlikely: unless he somehow gets captured and tortured, there is no way that man would ever hurt his children.
We are left hanging with many questions marks above our heads. Unless Pierce presents new characters in LB (which he will 100% do, as his world is magnificently vast), these are the viable options to complete Ozgard’s prophecy.
It could all be simply me reading too much into it: outlining is not really Pierce’s style, and payoff is not always granted: he himself said he plants many seeds (emblematic of the Falthe girl) but not all of them will bloom. Maybe Ozgard is just mad, but the serpent bit makes me doubt this theory.
