#theorising

[transandrobroism]

really cannot emphasise enough that "All Men Bad" and "masculinity is inherently violent, dangerous, and evil" are load-bearing pillars of radfeminism and these ideas cannot have a place in any truly progressive queer theorising.

[tetralea]

okay, so Mack protecting Will and Will protecting Mack, or at least trying, but what do we think, what if they played against each other? What if next time Mack is team canada and Will is team usa and they play against each other? all the other delicious rpf narratives aside, what happens when Will is hit, maybe hurt? does Mack defend him? does his brain go full instinct and habit and tries to protect Will? does he have the presence of mind to keep it down and only fuss around Will to see if he was okay, then question his teammate? how does Mack respond?😬

[residentyoufanatic]

does simon have some sort of pre-existing connection to the afterlife or to the forgotten and that's why he was able to see maddie in season 1??? idk where i'm going with this but white eyes having his rosary beads that were supposed to be given to him after his birth mom died and being obsessed with trying to show him all these memories must mean something. that or i'm post-episode delusional theorizing. or both. porque no los dos

[hiya-im-mary]

Soooo…I found some new images on the NSR Instagram and…I WENT NUTS!!

I saw this room…and I looked at what lined the walls!!! So I started labelling things!!!!! YEAH,LABELS!!!!!!!!!!!!

There’s pictures of the NSR-tists lining the walls!!! I think DJSS is the most easy to recognise,the others were hard to decipher with how low quality the image is!! I figured the picture next to DJSS’s photo could be Eve,if you look hard enough. But now that I’m looking,I think it might also be a picture of Yinu and her Mama???

And the other image,I have NO clue. Not a single one. Maybe Tatiana herself,since some of the pixels look like her new molten rock hairstyle? Or maybe that one is Eve? This is the clearest image I could get,but with DJSS being shown in picture form,I think we’ll see the first game bosses again!!!! WAHOOEY!!!!

ANYWAY!!!!! What else does this mean? Where are Mayday,Zuke and Casey running around in to begin with?

I think that they’re probably in either the main NSR building we see in the plaza or the NSR tower. I figure maybe the latter however. NSR Tower looks a lot more fancy on the inside than this. This just looks like a straight up IRL image place you may visit for work

I’d imagine this is near the beginning of the game,possibly the tutorial. Perhaps this is an inverse where instead of leaving the NSR HQ,they travel towards it for whatever reason,and it will kick off their new adventure!!!!

[plague-carrier]

Sadeas is Worse than The Lord Ruler (or at least he could be)

So, hot take on the Cosmere villains poll but I think Sadeas could be worse than the Lord Ruler and just happened not to have a Shard. The Lord Ruler did create a caste system and subjugated the majority of the human race on his planet for a millennium. He's not a good guy - him stopping Ruin for that period is literally the only good he did for a thousand years of rule.

But don't tell me that Sadeas wouldn't have done worse with the same amount of power - he fully buys into the Alethi idea of war as the ultimate virtue. He's bored by the petty squabbling of the lighteyes not because it's petty but because he doesn't think it lives up that ideal of war. So don't tell me if he got the right shard (maybe Odium or Ruin) he wouldn't have plunged the world into a never-edning war with him as one of the generals.

[kaniks-with-brain-damage]

AN EXPERIMENT 2 HAS RELEASED AND IT FIXES THE WHOLE TIMELINE!

Okay, so, An Experiment 1 & 2 fixes the whole Madness Combat timeline. They likely take place between episodes 4 and 5, with Tricky's appearance in Project Nexus 2 being the only unaccounted-for plot hole. In my interpretation, the events go as follows, with explanations provided afterwards:

Hank explodes in episode 4

Sanford and Deimos are sent to observe and investigate an experimental facility by Doc

They revive Hank using the chamber

DISSENTER happens

Doc meets with Hank (invoking that one Nexus flashback)

Hank, Sanford, and Deimos sabotage the Nexus Training Project

Hank does some research on where to find Jeb and the Nexus Core to shut it down

Hank, Sanford, Deimos, and Jeb kill Phobos and shut down the Nexus Core

Hank goes rogue at the end and is left wounded

Depredation happens

Sanford and Deimos intentionally show up looking blank so Hank doesn't recognise them in case he's still angry from being stopped after going rogue

I'm interpreting Hank as being the person who gets revived in An Experiment 2 because of its final scene - an open vent cover. I know the evidence is flimsy, but hear me out; we know about Hank's affiliation with vents from throughout Project Nexus 2, meanwhile a MAG or half-MAG wouldn't be able to fix through a vent like that. Hank is the only character we know actively uses vents.

Sanford and Deimos are captured at the end of this episode, which obviously indicates that An Experiment leads directly into Project Nexus Classic. The flashback from Project Nexus that I invoke is the one where Doc discusses his plans with Hank and Jeb, after Doc likely sought the two of them out for the task of stopping Phobos. For my interpretation, DISSENTER takes place at this same meeting location.

The entirety of Madness Combat 5: Depredation seems to show Hank at his most uncontrolled and violent, slaughtering his way through a facility for no known objective. Hence why Sanford and Deimos, after having brought Hank down at the end of Project Nexus 2, would want to look like unrecognisable Grunts to him; Hank is on an active killing spree, and probably wouldn't hesitate to have his revenge on the duo.

Sanford and Deimos still have to help Hank by arming him in Ep5, because Doc understands his importance towards future events. Likely needing Hank to either defeat the Auditor and reclaim Nevada, or for some other plot point driven by The Machine itself.

[flouia]

Deltarune (Kris's backstory) Theory MASSIVE, ABOMINAL SPOILERS AHEAD!!

It is 2am. i am not thinking. if this is not readable i apologise.

Now- this is mostly stolen from a video i watched while half asleep but if it's true the game is going to take a DARK omori-like path.

The theory basically is that;

Due to multiple flavour texts and small conversations between characters (Refer to bottom of text for reasoning) it is suggested that Kris at some point (before the game begins) witnessed, or DID, something that really, really screws them up. It is constantly reiterated they have blood on their hands they can't wipe off, that they're guilty of something, that they have done something they are paying the price for. (Very likely the price is being paid to Carol Holiday - as it is confirmed that the person kris is speaking on the phone to is her.) It is suggested Kris was perhaps put in a mental ward once, or atleast restricted and contained for a while during a period of intensive thoughts they had. Clearly, as they are free to move around, go to school, they've gotten better and been granted the ability to act as a normal teenager. If anyone would like to hear more about that feel free to ask. Now - I have a personal theory that is a small stretch but still interesting. What if Carol- or a similar entity (the knight, GASTER) inflicted the SOUL having control over Kris? Now, hypothetically, let's say Kris and Dess along with the rest of their crew as kids are hanging out. It is suggested that pre-chap1 Kris and Dess wanted to have fun- break some boundaries- and i believe it is implied that moment is when the aforementioned "traumatic event" occurs. If Kris was responsible, hence their "promise" and "responsibility" to do what is clearly not their primary goal by the hands of Carol (or the knight), Maybe simply promising to help them fulfil their task wasn't enough- and they are the cause behind us /the player/ taking control of Kris most the time. This theory would make more sense if, as the fandom likes to believe, W.D Gaster has something to do with Carol. Gaster is known (primarily in undertale theories) to have experimented on human souls. Lo and behold, Kris is the only human we see in game and has a human soul. It would make sense that perhaps gaster has something to do with it. It is interesting he has been *allegedly* proven to not be the Egg man though. Over time i think we will slowly capture glimpses of what happened, or it will be a very hidden side plot like the egg man stuff. It is very, very possible in my opinion that the event had something to do with Dess's death, Kris taking responsibility whether it was them or not and getting blamed, Dealing with significant trauma from it, Carol not being able to let go (she has a 'preserving' motif), and her wanting to try and bring back - no matter what it takes- Dess. In order to do this, she takes newly gullible and traumatised kris and forces them into a deal to help her, manipulating them into a pawn. I think Asgore may also be in on this. (due to basement text and his owning of a black shard) A possible way carol may be able to bring back dess is through the night. The knight could be dess's rotting corpse. Visually it has a rotting skeleton esq figure, antlers, so it's possible. And a pretty common theory is that the knight is dess anyway. We've seen that dead lightners can be - atleast partially - brought back to life through the dark world through gerson, as his ashes and hammer become him in chap4. Carol may be aware of this, and perhaps with the help of Gaster, trying to bring back Dess through this, with maybe something going wrong explaining why "dess" is acting so strange.

Knowing Toby fox is friends with the creator of Omori, inspiration could definitely been taken. And vice versa as the games have been in production at overlapping times.

References as to why kris may be traumatised include the receptionist asking how kris was doing after an event - The "Egg man" (or Forgotten man) revealing cutscenes about kris going to 'Art therapy' and supposedly 'doing that instead of killing eachother' - along with multiple statements about previous intrusive thoughts they've had along with how they've gotten 'better' before not acting like themself (when the soul takes over) Thankyou for listening to my tedtalk. I am not expecting anyone to entirely read this, i am just yapping. interesting though nontheless

EDIT: "you are greeted with yet another prison like area. You wonder why your adventures seem to feature so many of these"

DID KRIS GO TO PRISON/JAIL IN THEIR PAST??

[secondmoonrise]

This might be a bit of a hot take but I haven't seen anyone talking about it and its been just bouncing around in my brain for the past few months but, why isnt Grand Mother Silk a silkworm??

Stay with me here. I have no qualms about the charater design of hollow knight characters (though i do think theyve trended less buggy as we've gone on), and GMS very obviously mirrors the radience in importiant ways so I see where TC's coming from but the OPPORTUNITY is completely missed to have an incredible revelation.

thoughts below:

Imagine the story with this change: As Hornet, we are moving our way through a kingdom that centers weavers as almost deific (if long-gone and forgotten) bugs, their strictures and tech are more advanced, and one the focal themes of the whole story (song) is utilized to its fullest in their weavenests -- and we find out that they aren't even the ones fully in charge! some, like widow and first sinner have obviously been punished by something even more powerful.

silk is an integral part of this kingdom and the reason for its haunting, and we've only ever associated it with weavers in any major context (silkeaters ill get to in a bit and styx i think just gathers it like we see other bugs in that same area do so he doesnt count). we assume that whatever's controling the silk must be an even more powerful weaver (in the real version, this is kinda the case, or rather GMS is pulling a kind of genisis with lesser bugs and silk-born creations that shift closer into her image). but even before the GMS bossfight, there are hints to something more interesting -- the way the silk reanimates the bodies of dead pilgrims a la the infection, but it doesnt spread like one, nor is it an internal thing that turns you though dreams (showing a lack of access or connection to that higher realm), but rather externally though strands of silky influence less alludes to the radience than it does a higher being like the pale king.

the pale king "redeemed" base instincts and "tamed" the bugs of hallownest into thinking creatures (with the help of masks, something also present in pharloom). we have no real idea of how this process happened, though his depiction in the voidheart cutscene might imply he "radiates" higher conciousness (???) and that would make sense given how the radience herself choses to gain followers. additionally, all the higher beings we have encountered bar the white lady, who might have shared her influence with the pale king, have worshippers, followers, devotees, etc. (higher beings who are not the pale children nor hornet, mind, though an interesting point to note is that hornet's "red maiden" nickname by sherma has the potential to allude to her wyrm ancestry but not her full pale being status) this is also shown to be the case for GMS (who's status as a higher being is implied but never stated in the game to my knowledge, and who i think is supposed to be on a level similar to grimm -- not a full-on god like the radience, but more powerful than the weakened form of the pale king) through the obvious pilgrimages that funnel followers into her citadel.

my take is that we should have had the expectation of fighting a bigger weaver (one that shares a few attacks with the first sinner -- something of her make -- and the radience, who she parallels), and instead be hit with the revelation that no, the maker of silk is not a spider/weaver, it is in fact a silkworm. this would play with our understanding of the difference between what creates silk in the game and what creates silk in real life, while still making sense narrativley.

worms (and caterpillars) in the series have a few varying depictions:

in hollownest, there is a difference between a worm-like bug like bardoon (who looks like a real life maggot/gub), a grub (who look like real life caterpillars/inchworms), Marmu (based off the puss-mouthed caterpillar), and the cast-off shell of the wyrm pale king (both forms are more remenicent of parasites, with the sharp teeth-like crown indicating this, though the shell might just be inspired by dune) -- both the pale king and the grubs via grubberfly's elegy implications have wings (and even Marmu's lore implies some knowledge of flight), I should note, which might imply that the radience might have been a wyrm (or some other worm creature, i stipulate wyrm because it distiguishes power from other moths who are obviously not pale beings) being long ago and changed into a moth creature (as per the lifecycle of moths in reality).

in pharloom, there are less importiant wormy creatures, the relic-seeker being the only one with dialouge i can think of that might be, but id wager that she and Vaultkeeper Cardinius are the same species (which i dont think are wormy but rather centepide-like due to their segmented body plates). rather, the silkeaters (who i do think are supposed to be the game's silkworms, but i raise you the stag in hollownest being a rhino beetle instead of a stag beetle, which yes also irritates me a bit, and shows that they dont have to be the only depiction of silkworms), and the allusions to worms int the area name wormways (with perhaps some enemies in there under that umbrella term), are the only real references to worms, the muckmaggots are their own thing and are not considered here. caterpillars have even less representation (i can only really think of the smaller enemies like the mossgrub, which might become the moss mother in time, with a middle stage being the flying variant, but somehow i doubt this.

why is this importiant? because if we encounter what is essentially a giant cocoon made of silk (called a cradle, which really solidifies both that this being is dormant and in its infancy), one that has been seemingly controling the minds of the pilgrims as of late but obviously had a following before its dormancy, and we can extrapolate that higher beings can change form and grow into something more powerful (grimm, the radience via clues, the white lady is shown to grow and shrink depending on power, and the pale king grows weaker as a fun turn of events). you wouldnt think "weaver but an ominous woman now", you'd think Silkwyrm attempting godhood. which is what we should have gotten and would go even further to parallel the radience, because what do you get when a silkworm contiues its lifecycle? thats right a moth, one that looks suspiciously like the radience btw.

tldr: for a lot of lore and parallel theme reasons, GMS should have been shown to be a silkworm-inspired bug i dubb the Silkwyrm, and be in the process of reaching godhood status when we break open her cocoon.