You know after reading your theory,it struck me with possible parallel between the two.We all know based on the concept art that silent salt was originally going to have much stronger ant theming.
And we do certain species of ants and butterflies do have a give and take relationship but thats not what I want to focus on.
It suddenly hit me the possible symbolism between the two. Elder faerie is a butterfly, butterflies being known to be colorful and unique meanwhile ants don't stand out from each other, if one goes another will take its place.I kinda find sad even if the SS is EF theory is wrong, Elder faerie being a butterfly is extremely ironic in this case since he still adopts this type of thinking for the sake of cookie kind.
(Apologies for not replying to this until now)
Another interesting thing about Elder Faerie being a Butterfly while Silent Salt at one point was going to be based on an Ant is that some ants have wings.
Specifically, a queen ant that's hasn't mated yet and fertile male ants. Queen ants rip their wings out after mating while the males just straight up die.
These wings aren't colorful like a butterfly, as they mainly serve a specific purpose (the Nuptial Flight) and are then discarded once that purpose is done.
The concept art heavily implies that Silent Salt was initially planned to be female, but at some point during production was gender swapped. So due to his status as a former Virtue now Beast and the fact that he should have minions, he was most likely supposed to be a Queen Ant.
Meaning that, at least in the concepts, it's possible that Silent Salt could have had wings at one point. Maybe prior to corruption? Kinda like how Burning Spice, while he was still the Herald of Change, had two extra sets of arms.
But also, the thing with the insect themed concept is that you can still see bits and pieces of it in the Beasts.
Mystic Flour was based on a cocoon, and there's still plenty of cocoon imagery with her
Burning Spice was a centipede and like I said, he had extra sets of arms prior to corrupting
Eternal Sugar was a moth, and her legendary costume replaces her angel wings with butterfly/moth wings
So if Silent Salt still has any aspects of his concept art, it could be that he had wings. And it could also imply the possibility that some of Silent Salt's minions (both NPC and playable) could have Ant-like wings.
Which, if that does happen, could lead to an interesting scenario. Imagine the Silver Knights mistaking Silent Salt's minions for fellow Faerie Cookies.
if Silent Salt did used to have wings, and there really is a connection between him and Elder Faerie, then it could be a tragic link between them AND White Lily.
Because while Silent Salt lost his wings, Elder Faerie kept his, and White Lily eventually gains her own pair.
And while butterflies are colorful and tend to stand out, and in some ways that's true for the Faerie Cookies, but also not really if that makes any sense?
Cookies from the Faerie kingdom aren't really that colorful. Silverbell has a pale blue color scheme, Mercurial Knight is greys and silvers, and while Sugarfly does have a vibrant color scheme, it's hard to say how much of is her actual colors or how much changed thanks to Eternal Sugar.
Sugarfly herself mentioned that her wings used to be dull and colorless, and since they are attached to her head, it's possible that her hair was also the same.
In fact, Only the NPCs who aren't knights have some variety of color, but mainly in their hair.
And you said that ants don't stand out and can be replaced if one goes, but isn't that more or less the same for the Silver Knights? Outside of Silverbell, Mercurial Knight and Sugarfly, the Silver Knights end up looking the exact same due to being Blessed by Silver. So if something happens to one knight, another can take it's place.
Which does kinda give the Faerie cookies an ant vibe. Hell ants are one of the few species to make a sort of graveyard and we know that the Silver Tree Knights have a memorial room to honor the dead Knights.
Heh, imagine if, depending on the connection between Elder Faerie and Silent Salt, there's a plot twist revealing that the Faerie Cookies are actually ants.
... That last part was just a joke btw I don't think that'll happen. Would be interesting if it did though.
