Okay, big spoilers for WBN: WWWO : Ep 33 : The Witness ahead. Only click past the cut if you want spoilers and wild theorizing
There were a lot of big bombshells dropped this episode but I think one of the biggest is that the Stranger is the defacto ruler of Rhuv.
All of the Chalices are sworn to him, through his various guises
The monarchy is “negotiable” according to his lover talking to Ame, at very least implying that it existed only as long as it served him
That same lover stated the mission was “to bring humanity to heel” not just the Citadel or the Empire
Three of the Witches of the Elder Coven have sworn to serve him, we’ll see if that lasts only until the Citadel is uprooted
Wren has long stood in the way of the coven serving The Stranger.
these are all facts from the episode.
Now for some historical facts:
• Eioghorain was at least part of the leadership for a revolution in Gaothmai
• Both Grandmother Wren and Soft and Stone took measures against MiB specifically
• Soft and Stone hunted the League of Whispers
• Stone was loyal to “magic itself”
• Soft freed wrongly imprisoned spirits
• No one has memory of the attack on Suvi’s parents, except maybe Eioghorain
• The Stranger has been “moving upon the world” since the 1650s
• the summer of 1656 was when Suvi’s parents died
• Eioghorain is half spirit
• The curse on Ame smelled of Eioghorain
• The curse on Wren came about from an attack by the Stranger
Now for Wild Speculation™️
Eioghorain has been forcefully possessed by the Stranger since he, along with Soft and Stone, were ambushed in a trap with the purpose of guaranteeing the necessity of destroying the Citadel through war and uniting the world under The Stranger
Wren has long been the holdout, the thorn in the side of unanimity for the Elder Coven swearing allegiance to the Stranger, believing that a peaceful solution was possible. Soft and Stone were her best chance at having this come to pass. Powerful/loved leaders that respected spirits and magic itself.
Civil war is inconvenient for outside wars. The leadership of Gaothmai wanted Eioghorain out of the way.
The League of Whispers were supposedly working to destroy the Citadel. It is just as likely that they served The Stranger, considering the sad state of the Antivolists as described by Tefmet
My theory is that Eioghorain’s half spirit nature made him the ideal vessel for The Stranger to walk the world (which started in a window of time that covered that summer) and that Rhuv offered to help the Gaothmai leadership remove the largest internal threat to them, and allowed so many factions to take out the two biggest obstacles to a peaceful resolution (or revolution) for the Citadel
That’s why the curse smelled of Eioghorain. His body cast it, if not his will.
Soft and Stone, dead. Maybe at his hands, maybe not (i’ve got a different essay about geas and modify memory and Steel) But the blame on him. Drives another wedge between the Citadel and the world. Gives Steel a reason to never stop the war. And gives the Stranger a body to work his will on the world.
And maybe, to take it over
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