Okay so! Since the marchenghast storyline is now canonically(!!!!!) tied to the sixth hammer and since i am the self proclaimed #1 Rosalinda enjoyer I need to throw out one more out-there theory before the Wednesday lore drop.
Introducing Chekhov’s mom theory
If a concept is set up in a story, it should lead to a payoff where the concept is brought back and elaborated on.
Abigail opens up to MC about her mother being a casualty in the witch-noble conflict. In another quest, she also says “Perhaps she was wrong…” without explaining who this “she” is. My current theory is that these two past-tense characters are not only one and the same, but that they are also Rosalinda.
Evidence 1: A satisfying narrative. We wouldn’t be so ambiguous about this mysterious “she” if we weren’t setting up for a reveal later. We also wouldn’t need to specifically mention Abigail’s mother it wasn’t going to be relevant later; Abigail could just talk about the “many losses” just like Margaret did. There aren’t many characters we’ve been introduced to who would both make logical sense in this role and serve as an impactful reveal, but Rosalinda does both. Just the fact that Abigail brought up the Sixth Hammer for the first time since it was introduced in the light ride quests already ties Rosalinda into the Marchenghast storyline.
Evidence 2: The timeline matches. We got a timestamp! Marchenghast is currently in 1823, 25 years after Rosalinda’s death. If Abigail was a kid when Rosalinda died, it makes complete sense for her to now be the young adult she is in-game.
Evidence 3: Family descriptions. In The Legend Awakens, we learn that Rosalinda’s family “was once one of the most powerful on Jorvik”. The Marchenghast family is described as “The once all-powerful Marchenghast family”. These descriptions feel just a little too similar to be incidental. It should also be mentioned that Mr Sands sits with Rosalinda’s mother and sister at her funeral, and that no father is mentioned. Considering what we know about how the dukes of Marchenghast worked together with the Sixth Hammer, it sure is interesting that Rosalinda’s father is completely ommitted from Mr Sands’ description of the funeral.
Evidence 4: Appearance. We know very little about what Rosalinda looked like; the only thing we know is that she had dark hair. In Darkness Falling, she is said to somewhat resemble Sabine. Idk about you but if I were to find one NPC with similar vibes to Abigail..
Evidence 5: Impact on the past and future of the main story. How would this twist recontextualise Rosalinda as a character? The only things we knew about her before were her role as a love interest and that she was curious and intelectual. If Rosalinda, a noble, was allied witch the witches and raised her daughter to believe that it was impossible to broker peace with the Marchenghast family, that gives her character far more agency and adds another layer of tragedy to the conflict. It also has some MAJOR implications for the main story because. Like. We know who the father would be in this case. Does he know? If he’s not dead from portal-itis, what would his reaction be to see his daughter and the rest of Rosalinda’s family alive? What does this say about the duke? If Rosalinda was a Marchenghast, is that another reason for the duke to keep the archive closed to Margaret?
From the minor details to the major story beats, this just feels like what they’re setting up. Maybe Im wrong, maybe Im right. What I do know is that Ive had more fun with thinking about Marchenghast lore than Ive had with any other recent questline, and I want to give major props to lead narrative designer Greg Moreau for putting so much care into expanding a story I care about in a meaningful way.
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