About Bardo and the Second Dawn
Someone else has probably already posted this, but in the unlikely case it wasn’t, I’m just leaving this here:
I noticed (when watching 7x04) that the SECOND DAWN Logo is a part of the BARDO SYMBOL. The wings of the phoenix are the Second Dawn Logo upside down.
Bardo Symbol:
Second Dawn:
Second Dawn Upside Down/ side-by-side:
So for me, there is absolutely no doubt left that the Disciples are either descendants of OR are the actual Second Dawn Members. I just wanna know how they got onto Eligius III. We know Cadogan was on Earth when Becca came down, years after Eligius III departed Earth. So why is the symbol of HIS cult incorporated in the Bardo Symbol? Did the Second Dawn infiltrate the Eligius Mission? But why? Or, are we only supposed to think that the disciples are Eligius III members or descendants when they are not in reality? There is still the sixth anomaly planet symbol in the opening which is speculated to be Earth. If that’s the case, did the Second Dawn use the Anomaly AFTER they killed Becca? But that would mean Cadogan would have had access to the Eligius III Mission files AND know about the anomaly. We don’t even know IF Eligius knew about the anomaly though it’s very likely they DID know since all planets Eligius III was sent to had one.
I think it would be really cool if there is also an anomaly on Earth. The show could go full circle in the end. Remember, on Earth, over 100 years have already passed and maybe now something regenerated. If the show ended with, say, 100 people returning to a renewed Earth via the Anomaly, that would be really awesome in my opinion.
Question is, if there IS an anomaly on Earth, where is it? Why was it never seen? I think that if the planets of the Eligius III mission were chosen because of the anomaly then maybe Becca was somehow involved also in studying the anomaly. Maybe the anomaly on Earth was hidden somehow? Area 51 style. Still it probably needs to be somewhere in the vicinity of Polis, Becca’s Lab or Eden if we assume the Second Dawn used the Anomaly to travel to Bardo or one of the other planets. They couldn’t have made it very far in hazmat suits. My guess is, when Becca came down the survivors split into 2 groups over time. Those using Beccas Nightblood Serum to survive and Cadogan’s more fanatic followers who refused the Serum. I assume they refused it based on Becca’s death scene where she says, that she can save them with the Serum. This would make Becca a martyr in the eyes of those that survived thanks to her serum - hence her later being worshipped as Becca Pramheda - the first Commander. Her burning at the stake always struck me as a typical martyr death and martyrs are often worshipped as saints later on.
Meanwhile, Cadogan’s group cannot survive on Earth because of the radiation and their refusal to take the serum. If they somehow knew about the anomaly the may have used it to get away. Since the anomaly is shown as a kind of green fire storm I think that also ties in nicely with the whole phoenix “from the ashes we will rise” theme. A fanatical cult might actually think of a huge green fire storm as some kind of divine signal or something and rather run right into said green fire storm than get a shot of nightblood serum. Maybe the escaped Second Dawn met up with the original Eligius III crew on whatever planet they landed on. The knowledge of the anomaly being a bridge could come from the Second Dawn themselves! Gabriel had been studying the anomaly for centuries yet I don’t think he came to the conclusion that the anomaly acts like a bridge. It was just something people vanished in until Octavia returned. So, if Gabriel couldn’t find out the anomaly was a bridge even though he studied it for centuries maybe the Disciples only know it (and subsequently developed tech for it) because they had first hand experiences from the Second Dawn when they met Eligius III. The The Second Dawn would have told Eligius III what had happened on Earth and then started building a new society. We know from Mission team Alpha that the Eligius Teams were not overly big so depending on the number of people Cadogan would have had with him, it may have been easy to take control. Or it was easy anyway because if I remember correctly Cadogan was described as being very persuasive.
Anyway, all of the above is just my speculation which I think would be really cool, but I doubt it tbqh. I have a bad track record with speculations like this. XD
BUT I’m convinced that the Second Dawn and Bardo are somehow connected. I’m excited to find out how exactly. Also, I tagged this bellarke because I know there’s a lot of speculation going on in the Bellarke fam about a lot of stuff and also about the Second Dawn/Bardo connection which is why I wanted you guys specifically to see this.
