Abigail Brooks is a 30-something gal who writes speculative fiction, analyses and reads through stories she loves, and gets in over her head with video games. If you'd like to buy her a coffee, head over to https://ko-fi.com/abbrooks.
as a child there's nothing cooler than a kid who gets subjected to evil experiments and gains special abilities. it's even cooler if these abilities also cause unfathomable suffering to use/against others. children love stories like this.
The Harbingers. Episode 15. The Sound of Letting Go.
Out everywhere Thursday, June 4th.
BUT... if you want to hear the episode early, we are doing our customary preview livestream tomorrow night! Wednesday June 3rd, at 8:00 PM Eastern! Tune in, hear the episode with other fans, and be the first to know what happens when you let go.
Season One of THE HARBINGERS is almost over! Join series creator and writer Gabriel Urbina for a listening party ahead of Episode 15's premi
The Harbingers. Episode 15. The Sound of Letting Go.
Out everywhere Thursday, June 4th.
BUT... if you want to hear the episode early, we are doing our customary preview livestream tomorrow night! Wednesday June 3rd, at 8:00 PM Eastern! Tune in, hear the episode with other fans, and be the first to know what happens when you let go.
Season One of THE HARBINGERS is almost over! Join series creator and writer Gabriel Urbina for a listening party ahead of Episode 15's premi
The Harbingers: Not Running in 2032 and Other Sketches
I think this might be the first bit of fan art for Andrew Walker in The Harbingers fandom. Also enjoy an Adam Blackwell who has his priorities straight and a Claudia Skinner facepalming.
god i am so fucking insane about amy sterling and adam blackwell. they’re the same person. they’re polar opposites. she has the worst inferiority complex and he is the guy who always won. when faced with power, adam chooses to hide in the shadows while amy literally finds the nearest spotlight. they’re both so fucking annoying. the biggest hypocrites you’ve ever seen. i’m chewing on them gshskfisjdlemdjfg
A Little Data and a Whole Lotta Guesswork About the Rings and Their Magicians
Note: Everything in bold below are facts that we know about the rings and their magicians. Everything else is speculation from me and other fans. Some of what I’m theorizing I’m fairly certain is true, but much more of it is me wildly guessing by pulling together loose scraps of information from the show’s timeline, episode transcripts, and the Arcana posts. As such, skip this post if you don’t want any spoilers from the Arcana, and take my theories with many grains of salt.
Gabriel Urbina’s summary of what we know so far about the rings and their magicians, as of episode 14: https://www.tumblr.com/gabrielurbinatm/817286531163242496/hi-sorry-to-bother-you-but-is-there-any-chance-you?source=share
Completelyhopelessprocrastinator’s speculation post about the rings and their magicians: https://www.tumblr.com/communities/the-harbingers-pod/post/817724671483166721/i-absolutely-love-it-when-we-get-more-information?source=share
The homepage for The Harbingers, where you can access the timeline, the episode transcripts, and the Arcana posts: https://www.audaciousmachinecreative.com/the-harbingers
But First, Let’s List the Locations of Known Harbinger Empire Ruins:
Note: For the ease of your eyes, I won’t bold this section.
The City of An-Serith / the Robinson Site in Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica (episode 1). This site is in the Australian sector of the continent. The Ring of Movement was discovered here (episode 1). An-Serith might have been the capital of the Harbinger Empire – that would explain why most of the other ruins are in the southern parts of the oceans – but we don’t know this for sure.
There are “a dozen tombs, vaults, ruins, and landmarks” located across the southern reaches of the Indian and Pacific oceans (Arcana 6). There are also sites in Indonesia (episode 14) and in Oceania (episode 1), with one of the Oceania sites having carvings of the Harbingers’ version of coordinates (episode 12).
There are multiple sites in Atacama, Chile, in South America (episode 1).
The Lancaster Site on the Kerguelen / Desolation Islands, where the Chamber of the Seven Devils (Room A14) was discovered (episode 3). France owns this island in our world.
There are multiple sites in Argentina, South America (episode 5). One of these is probably where Damián’s ring was discovered.
The Petrie Site in Leitrim County, Ireland (episode 5). The Ring of the Mind was discovered here (episode 6). There are other sites in rural Ireland as well (episode 1).
The Anderson Site (episode 6). We have no idea where this is.
The Yuen Site (episode 6). We also have no idea where this is.
A site in the woods next to Wycliffe in Dorset, England, which was illegal for people to visit for 200 years, due the ruins being “haunted” (episode 11).
The underwater site in the Sea of Japan, where what is heavily implied to be the fifth ring was found by the South Korean military (episode 12).
The Shen Site (episode 12). We don’t know where this is.
Blackrock Isle, where the Childers Column – the best record archaeologists have of the Language of the Stars – was discovered (Arcana 6). This isle is located near Bouvet Island, so it’s in the Southern Atlantic Ocean (Arcana 6). Since Norway owns Bouvet Island in our world, Blackrock Isle might also be owned by them.
A site where the Restelo Tablets were discovered by Childers (Arcana 6).
The Furneaux Site in the volcanic slopes of La Rényon, an island in the Indian Ocean (Arcana 6). Also owned by France in our world.
A site with “an ancient stone building [that was] a cross between a temple and an ancient observatory” on an island in the Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic Ocean. This island is no longer able to be found (Arcana 6).
The Falk Site on Leeward Islands in French Polynesia, where the Falk-Becker tablet was discovered, which helped with translating the Language of the Sun (Arcana 7).
We can guess from this list that the French government has one of the rings, since a few of these sites are on territories they own.
As an aside, is it weird that we haven’t heard a single mention of a Harbingers site in North America and Africa?
Information and Theories About the Rings and Their Magicians in General:
Helgar III, the Magus King of the Harbinger Empire, is depicted in sculptures as wearing eight rings. From a meta perspective, limiting the number of magicians to eight would keep the cast size from getting unwieldy. Since the Magus King is wearing multiple rings, this also might mean that it’s possible for one of our magicians to wear multiple rings later on, meaning the total number of magicians could end up being lower than eight. Based on Urbina’s cagey response to one of our asks, it’s also possible that our magicians might swap their rings at some point.
There is a fringe possibility that there were 14-15 rings, 7 for the Guardians and 7 for the Challengers in Harbinger myths, with a 15 if they had a designated leader or a tie-breaker. However, this has seemed less and less likely as season one has gone on. That would also be a lot of people and powers for the show to keep track of down the line.
Putting on the rings makes someone go through “an explosion of the mind” (episode 3), a revelatory experience in which knowledge from the past and maybe the future is poured into their brain. This process is said to have driven some potential magicians mad. Those who aren’t broken are then gifted with specific magical abilities. While most of the revelatory knowledge appears to be lost in the immediate aftermath, the magician is given words that are pertinent to their specific magic and the moment or danger they’re in at the time. Hence how Adam knew the word for “ice” and was able to teleport tons of debris away so that rescue could reach him.
We also hear the sound of people speaking during the “explosion,” so there is a chance that spiritual forces are communicating with the magicians in that moment. These could the Devils/Angels or Challengers/Guardians mentioned in Harbinger myths, or, per Arcana 7, “imprints” left behind by people – maybe even by previous magicians – who have passed on.
As of June 2030, Adam considers all of the modern day magicians to be decent people, saying that the rings could have ended up in worse hands (episode 14). This might suggest that the rings, during the “explosion of the mind,” are also testing to see if the magician is worthy of wearing them. While I hesitate to say that the rings pick people who are morally good (after all, what did the morals of Harbinger society look like?), they seem to pick people who are suited their powers and aren’t inclined to abuse their magic. After all, Adam is usually painstakingly careful with his teleportation magic; Amy says she would never bend a person’s core nature, despite the temptation to do so; Damián rarely uses his magic, probably due to its destructive potential; and the Doomscroller never claims something that isn’t true. This could be a safety feature on the rings, so they don’t end up in the hands of someone intent on doing great harm to people or the world for their own gain.
Who gets the rings might also be chosen by fate or divine forces. Other people went into the tomb before Adam did, but he was the one the accident and miracle happened to. There are these lines from episode 3 to support this idea: “If the Harbingers had a concept of gods, we haven’t found much about them yet. But we’ve found a lot of records about their concept of the seven angels and a lot a lot about the seven devils. [ . . . ] Most of them talk about them as these... forces. Trying to reshape the world. And if they came to you, they could give you power. The power to change the world. The trick, of course, was to ask yourself... Am I changing it into what I want it to be? Or into what they want it to be?” So yeah, we can’t rule out the possibility that we’re going to encounter these beings at some point.
However, these beings might not be divine. We have this from Arcana 7: “Varen and Nyria [the shapers of the world in Harbinger mythology] are not gods, being depicted as neither all-powerful nor inherently divine. [ . . . ] They are doers of great deeds, certainly, but there is no hint that they are beings of a fundamentally different sort than their ‘creation.’ They are not inherently divine beings who create ax nihilo, they are orderers who work off of the prime materials that predated them. What gave them the ability to shape the world was not some divine spark or fundamental quiddity, it was discovering ‘the secret music that moved the storm.’ There is no mention of this music being above the ken of mere mortals, no firm, finger-wagging warning that pursuing this knowledge would be an act of blasphemy. Many creation myths demarcate a clear line between the business of the creators and the business of the created, but this fence is conspicuous in its absence from the Harbinger creation myth.” I interpret this to mean that Varen and Nyria, the original magicians, were just people, too. So if there are spiritual beings attached to the rings, I’m inclined to believe they’re the former magicians of the rings, rather than divine beings. They would then be the ones to test and choose their successors (humans judging humans, rather than gods judging humans). If they were able to glimpse the future in their revelations, they might also know who they’re looking for.
The rings are located around the world, likely due to the Harbinger Empire not wanting to concentrate their power in one location, and due to their empire being globe-spanning. We have two confirmed ring locations in Antarctica and Ireland. My guess is that there's roughly 1-2 per continent, but I get into more specifics in my sections on each ring.
Amy speculates in episode 12 that each ring has a primary ability and a mirror ability. In her case, she can read people’s thoughts, but also put thoughts into other people’s heads. In the Doomscroller’s case, he can discover any information he wants, but also hide any information he wants. Since Adam can teleport matter away, it stands to reason that can teleport matter to himself as well, summoning things from a distance.
The rings are being powered by…something. Leaving the “door” to or the flow of that power open for too long can, at least in Adam’s case, cause a room to shake and light bulbs to explode. However, Amy uses her magic for an hour or more regularly, seemingly without ill effect. So this might be a quirk of Adam’s magic specifically.
The rings have at least one protective measure installed. They lash out with their magics uncontrollably when someone tries to take them from their magicians, only calming when the person or people trying to take them stops. The magicians also can’t affect one another with their magic…though this may be an assumption we’re making, as Adam repeatedly points out. It could be that as the magicians grow stronger, their “immunity” to one another fades, like training wheels coming off. Alternatively, maybe the magicians can consent to being affected by one another’s magic.
Why these protective measures are useful: Besides protecting the magicians from covetous people, this would also hamper infighting among their number, especially when they’re just starting out in their roles. However, as they get stronger and get comfortable working together collaboratively, it would make sense for them to be able to aid each other with their magics. The Ring of Movement could teleport them all to a summit, for instance, while the Ring of the Mind could let them to have private conversations with each other, and so on.
Another potential protective measure: Tomb Traps. The rings might have a security measure placed on the ruins around them (or they place a protective field around the ruins), since there is a loose pattern of horrible things happening to those who enter Harbingers ruins and/or get near the rings. Perhaps this is why the rings weren’t found at seemingly any point in the last 6000 years?
A third measure: In addition to it being impossible to steal someone’s ring without causing extensive damage (a quality which might persist after the magician dies, given that no one took the ring off of Sarkor’s corpse. Someone had to have buried him, so the temptation would have been there. Though perhaps the Harbinger Empire gave up their magic willingly, hence why the rings were all so carefully sealed away?), it also might not be possible to give or throw your ring away without its approval. We never see a magician take their ring off (perhaps they’re compelled not to?), even though one ring is making its magician go mad. If I were her, I’d want to get rid of it. But if the rings stick to you like glue…well, what can you do? This could also be why Adam hasn’t given up his ring, despite his guilt over Boston (though he could also be leery of what someone else would do with it, given his own actions).
The First Ring Discovered: Shral Ta Keren, the Ring of Movement, aka Article Zero
And by everybody, I mean everyone in Boston. The moon might not have been haunted before, but it sure is now!
Discovery: Found by Adam Blackwell in Sarkor’s tomb at the Robinson Site / in An-Serith in Antarctica, on November 6th, 2025. Its discovery was announced to the world on December 14th, 2026.
Primary Ability: Teleportation, specifically sending matter away to another location.
Mirror Ability: Teleportation, but this time bringing matter from a distant location to where the magician is, essentially summoning it.
Magician: Dr. Adam Blackwell (he/him), Adjunct Professor at Sinclair University, age 32, U.S. citizen. Speaks English and Spanish fluently and is partially fluent in the Language of the Sun and the Language of the Stars (though he struggles with the subjunctive).
Previous Magician: Sarkor Der Rulan (he/him), the Distant One or the One Who Travels Distances. The inscription of his tomb suggests that he was a traveler or a diplomat. He was also called “first son,” so he was probably the firstborn son of his family. This type of magic could have also been useful for trade.
Tomb Trap: The lift that brought Adam down to the tomb collapsed, bringing with it tons of ice and debris. We hear it clatter before the collapse happens, so maybe the ring teleported a part of the lift’s cable away? Adam says in episode 3: “But I remember thinking how unlikely what happened to me was. And when I found out that Amy had a ring as well... The chances that there would be two of us, it felt... yeah, it felt kind of miraculous.” Maybe he’s right. Maybe the ring sensed that someone who met its requirements was within range and began its test. Or maybe it knew from ages past that he would arrive in this moment.
Alternatively: What if McCandless knew this might happen and sent Adam down there as an experiment? What if he even sabotaged the lift himself?
Other Thoughts: Adam is a stubborn asshole who likes to hide away in the ivory tower of academia, focusing on his research, rather than on the people and world around him. He’s reactive in nature, often needing to be pushed out of his comfort zone and into action by other people. And yet he has a ring that “wraps relativity around his thumb,” with his incantations having the largest impact on the world that we’ve seen thus far. So did the ring pick someone who is naturally cautious, given how dangerous its power is? And will Adam become more assertive and grow into its power over time?
The Second Ring: Shral Ta Siran, the Ring of the Mind
Discovery: The Petrie Site in Leitrim County, Ireland by Jerome Eckerberg’s team, sometime between December 14th, 2025, and Thanksgiving of 2026, when Eckerberg gave it to Amy. Its discovery was announced to the world in March 7th, 2027.
Primary Ability: Telepathy, the reading of people’s minds and emotions.
Mirror Ability: Telepathy, putting thoughts and emotions into other people’s minds.
Magician: Amy Stirling (she/her), Stage Performer, age 31, U.S. citizen. She speaks English fluently and is partially fluent in the Language of the Sun and the Language of the Stars (having a wider range of vocabulary and a better grasp of the subjective than Adam does).
Previous Magician: Unknown. You could do a lot with this magic, so maybe the Harbinger Empire had this magician work as a social engineer, an ambassador, or an intelligence operative? If you want to go dark, this magician could have also had a leadership role and used mind control as an administrative tool.
Tomb Trap: Unknown, but would Eckerberg tell Amy about any accidents that happened on site? Would she think to check his brain for that information? Given that this is a ring of telepathy, the trap might also not be physical. Amy thinks that the Petrie excavation was rushed due to the Troubles, but maybe the site exerted a pressure of fear and paranoia on the minds of the crew? Regardless, Eckerberg might not have wanted to risk his own mind by trying on the ring (although I think it’s likely that he did), but he’d have no qualms about risking Amy’s instead. After all, while she’s brilliant and brave, she was also a nobody at the time.
Other Thoughts: Amy desperately wants to change hearts and minds. Even before she put on the ring, she could use her big, round eyes to persuade people. So this magic is suited to her…but using it is slippery slope ethically. Amy can control people…and every day, she is tempted to do so, especially as the reaction to her platform turns violent. Will she eventually snap and try to bend someone’s nature? Has she already done so and is hiding that she did? As an aside, her being unable to change Adam’s mind, even now, is very funny (but also necessary for their relationship to have stakes).
The Third Ring: Shral Ta Veiren, the Ring of Divination
Discovery: Its discovery was announced on April 8th, 2028, so it must have been found sometime before then, but likely after Amy announced herself to the world (so between March 7th, 2027 and April 7th, 2028). I believe it is from an unknown site in or near Australia. Why? First, the Doomscroller’s diction suggests that he is from England or Australia. However, since the Ring of the Mind was found in Ireland and the Dead of the Dead might be in England, I doubt the Ring of Divination was found in the same archipelago. That’s too much magical power concentrated in one region, something the Harbinger Empire would want to avoid. As such, somewhere in or around Australia seems more likely as the location, which would also mean that the Doomscroller is Australian.
Primary Ability: Grants the magician information about anything they wish to know. Presumably this relates to information from the past and present, but it’s also possible that this magician could get glimpses of the future (so that the magician knows what dominos to push to reach a desired outcome).
Mirror Ability: Conceals information that they don’t wish for others to know.
Magician: The Doomscroller (he/him), fluent in English, most likely an English or Australian citizen based on his diction. That being said, we don’t actually know anything concrete about the Doomscroller. While he presents himself as an internet troll and anarchist, targeting powerful people with scandals of their own making, it is notable that his 100 Days of Terror cleared the way for Andrea Shepherd to become the nominee for the Democratic Primary in 2028, with her being elected president in November 2028. This feels like a very convenient outcome for a very unlikely candidate, which makes me wonder if the Doomscroller as we know him is a fabrication, and if the real person behind the name is completely different and has specific political goals.
Previous Magician: According to Adam and Amy, he was “an old... king? Or a... judge of some sort? It says he was able to conjure knowledge, knowledge about any subject, no matter... no matter how dark or forbidden” (episode 9). An arbiter or investigator feel fitting for the roles this magician could have played in the Harbinger Empire.
Tomb Trap: I have no idea what kind of trap this would have been, except maybe it would cause someone intense stimulation and/or disorientation by giving them visions of the past, present, and maybe even the future?
Other Thoughts: So far, the Doomscroller seems determined to use his magic to create chaos. I’m not convinced that’s really what he’s after, but if it is, sharing exclusively true secrets feels like an unexpected way to go about it.
The Fourth Ring: Shral Ta Roldran, the Ring of Sympathy
Discovery: It was found between April 9th, 2028 and December 23rd, 2028, likely at one of the sites in Argentina, South America.
Primary Ability: Unknown, though Adam thinks this ring’s magic has a lot of destructive potential (episode 12), while Amy thought it could be used in the ignition of Eckerberg’s fusion reactor (episode 8). While Eckerberg says that Adam’s magic is a better fit for what he needs, this implies that Shral Ta Roldran’s magic is related to manipulating physical matter or energy, rather than it having a mental magic like the Rings of the Mind and Divination. Fadingdeerentity theorized that this ring could entangle objects’ states with each other. For example, if you connected a candle to a piece of driftwood, lighting the candle would then set the driftwood on fire. Riffing on that, maybe this ring has transmutation magic. If it can turn water into wine or stone into bread – miracles that would resonate with Christians – that could be why Christmas Mass at Buenos Aires in 2028 had eight million people in attendance (episode 10).
Mirror Ability: Unknown.
Magician: Damián (he/him), age unknown. He is implied to be a Catholic priest living in or near Buenos Aires, Argentina, since he attended the massive Christmas Mass there in 2028. His presence and demonstrations of his magic were likely what drew in the huge crowd. He is fluent in English and Spanish, since he has a phone conversation with Adam in both languages in June of 2030 (episode 14). Amy says that Damián has a boss—possibly the Pope—whose goals might not align with Adam’s in the future. Adam says Damián has used his ring less in the time he’s had it than Adam and Amy do in a week. This could be because he doesn’t know the Language of the Stars very well. However, since Buenos Aires has a university that researches Harbinger ruins (episode 6), he would have nearby access to that information. As such, I think it’s a personal choice for him not to use his magic much.
Previous Magician: Unknown.
Tomb Trap: No idea, since we’re not sure what this ring does.
Other Thoughts: This dangerous ring is on the hand of a priest, who rarely uses it. But given that Damián answers to, presumably, the Pope, will he be ordered to use his magic to further a religious and/or political agenda in the future, rather than just use it to help people?
The Fifth Ring: Shral Ta Alevia, the Ring of the Skies
It’s technically not confirmed yet that South Korea found a ring, let alone this ring. However, for the sake of economic storytelling, they must have. Why do I think it’s the Ring of the Skies? Mostly I’m basing this on the process of elimination, since of the rings we have left, the Ring of the Skies and the Ring of Demons are the only ones capable of causing a submarine explosion (unless we stretch the mirror ability of the Ring of the Body, but that feels like a reach). Since I don’t believe the Ring of Demons is in the Sea of Japan, though, that leaves the Ring of the Skies. Plus, if the magic of this ring is gravity manipulation, I could see it (or a tomb trap with its magic) wrenching and weakening the other submarine’s hull, making it depressurize.
Discovery: Discovered by the South Korean military in an underwater site in the Sea of Japan on March 31st, 2029. Its discovery was announced to the world on May 10th, 2029.
A potential flaw with this theory: In an article published in March 2030, Adam writes “and most recently, the Ring of the Skies,” when he lists a few of the rings (Arcana 6). This could mean that the Ring of the Skies was found in the back half of 2029 or in early 2030. If that’s true, then the South Korean military found a different ring, since they discovered theirs in early 2029. However, Adam might have only listed the rings that manifest external, physical phenomenon in his paper, rather than the ones with mental or internally-focused magics. He doesn’t mention either the Ring of the Mind or of Divination, after all, even though both had been found by then. So I’m guessing this was an editing choice he made…though admittedly, I’m also guessing that because I have other ideas for where the Rings of the Body, of the Dead, and of Demons are.
Mirror Ability: Unknown. The opposite of flying is falling, but you don’t need magic for that.
Magician: The Captain (she/her), age unknown, who has “a 1000 lb military gorilla on her back” and is a South Korean officer.
Why am I calling her a captain? This is due to a line Skinner has in episode 12, where she says, “The US government had this before you - before the Captain and - Jesus Fucking Christ, Adam.” While this could refer to a U.S. captain that did or said something related to the rings, I think we’re eventually supposed to recognize who this character is and why they’re important. Also, Adam knows who Skinner is talking about from just their title, and he is infamously bad at knowing who people are, even famous people like Kris, if they aren’t in his circle. Perhaps the end of Skinner’s sentence was, “before the Captain announced herself or did that thing with her magic”? I also want to believe that we won’t have three U.S. magicians for the sake of a more nationally diverse cast. It would also make sense that an officer in the South Korean navy – perhaps the surviving submarine’s captain – is the one who “has the 1000 lb military gorilla on her back” (episode 14). She would be bound by the chains of command. Plus, Amy and Eckerberg both pointed out that the other rings weren’t likely to be found by academics, so at least one military officer wearing one makes sense. From a meta perspective, Urbina has also included officer characters in his audio dramas before, so this would be a familiar and fun place for him to write from.
Previous Magician: Unknown. Maybe this person acted as a messenger or a warrior in Harbinger society?
Other Thoughts: This seems like one of the easiest rings for a military to use for its gain. If this magician is a captain, then she’s beholden to orders from her superior officer. As such, how in control of her magic is she? For someone capable of flight, the ultimate expression of freedom, how free is she really, when she’s bound by the chains of command? And what does it mean for the world that a military is in control of this type of magic? Did the magicians of the Harbinger Empire answer to anyone in the same way, or – due to potentially disastrous results of their magic being combined with “just following orders” – were they autonomous instead?
The Sixth Ring: Shral Ta Juren, the Ring of the Body
Primary Ability: To cure people and “make things healthy.” There is a fringe possibility that this magic might also be broad enough to include shapeshifting the self and others, but this seems unlikely.
Mirror Ability: To make people and things unhealthy/weak.
Discovery: At the Falk Site on the Leeward Islands in French Polynesia by the French, sometime between May 11th, 2029 and December 31st, 2029.
Why do I think it was found here, out of the sites that the French control? Because in Arcana 7, there’s this passage: “In 1883, German archeologist Emil Falk carried out an excavation in what is now known as the Leeward Islands in French Polynesia. [ . . . ] Falk passed away in early 1883 from a sudden fever - probably bought on by an infected bite from the abundant wildlife on the island.” As soon as I read that, I thought, “Oh, so Falk was cursed for entering the ruins.” If there are tomb traps, I could see the Ring of the Body making someone it didn’t want near it – or who it rejected – lethally sick.
Related to this, the Falk Site is where the Falk-Becker tablet was found, and it talks about the Harbingers’ concepts of life and death: “In a single sentence, the Falk-Becker tablet lays out their concert of Argen - roughly “life” or “vitality,” our lifetime or the time we each get on earth - Suikan - “Void,” the shadowed place our spirits go to after our death - and Miran - best approximation there would be “impression,” a sort of… psychic imprint which our lives and actions left upon the world, which lingered long after we’d gone on into the void.” Wouldn’t it be fitting for this artifact to be found in the same place as a ring of life and death?
Magician: J.S.P.. I agree with ocean-lilac that this is Jacqueline Saint-Pierre, the richest woman in the world. I also think that she might be the French ambassador to the U.S.
Why am I arguing that this is her?
We know that someone with the initials J.S.P. has a ring by June of 2030, and that she may have been invited to the fusion reactor ignition, but Adam doesn’t know if she’ll attend (“who knows with her”) (episode 12). Perhaps she was invited due to being a magician, or – as one of the wealthiest people in the world – she could know Eckerberg personally and be one of his invites. If she’s the French ambassador, she could also be one of Andie’s invites.
There’s a line by Amy in episode 8 about the attendees at the Christmas Party: “We were all there. I mean, almost. Doomscroller being Doomscroller, he obviously wasn’t there [as far as she knows]. And our South American friend got held up with Christmas mass.” This could be referring to the people involved in the Boston Incident, but since Damián and the Doomscroller seemingly weren’t a part of that, I doubt it. What feels more likely is that Amy is referring to the other magicians here. Since only four rings were known to be found by then, that means that the others either didn’t have their rings yet, or they were hiding their rings. Still, anyone who attended this party could be one of our missing three. And Kris, notably, says he talked to “a nice lady that turned out to be the French ambassador to the US.” This could be a blink-and-you-miss-it nod to someone who will one day be an important character.
There are a lot of French-related dots in the transcripts and Arcana, so let’s connect them, shall we?
Saint-Pierres was originally a French surname.
French Polynesia, where I think the Ring of the Body was discovered, is an overseas collectivity of France, and thus falls under French control.
The French ambassador to the U.S. attended the 2028 Christmas Party. Kris chatted with her and described as “a nice lady.”
If she studied medicine or did medical work in her past, I could see both why this ring might gravitate to her, and why she might seek Kris out for a conversation. After all, he had a very well-publicized heart attack earlier that year. If she already had her ring by then, but was keeping it a secret, maybe she gave Kris a covert health check while they talked? That could be fun!
If I’m right, then J.S.P. is someone with both enormous wealth and political power. This would make her a candidate for the magician who is “the last person who needs more power” (episode 14). However, since Adam thinks that the rings could have fallen into worse hands, that implies that this magician isn’t someone obviously corrupt, like Walker or Donahue (episode 14). Adam, it should be noted, doesn’t think billionaires are categorically evil, so if Jacqueline is polite to him, she could get a pass from him. Meanwhile, Amy, who does think that billionaires are categorically evil, would be more critical of her.
In terms of who a government might pick to carry a ring that heals people, their ambassador to the gun violence capital of the world U.S. would be an excellent choice.
Previous Magician: Unknown. I could see the Harbinger Empire making this person an administrator of public health, or they could serve their leaders directly as a personal doctor. A darker option is that this magician could have been involved in warfare, healing their soldiers, making their enemies sick, or both.
Tomb Trap: A serious or lethal illness. See the above information about Emil Falk.
Other Thoughts: If this is true, then someone with “saint” in their name would be a magical healer (oh gods, what if I’m wrong and J.S.P. is a wellness influence? The horror!). I can also see the tension of Jacqueline, a very wealthy woman, staring down the fact that her magic, out of all of them, is specifically meant to help the needy and the vulnerable. She has been given the literal powers of life and death – she can save anyone less fortunate than her – but will she choose to do so?
The Seventh Ring: Shral Ta [Unknown Harbinger Word], the Ring of the Dead
That being said, I think this ring might be named Shral Ta Suikan, after the Harbinger word for the “void” where souls go after death, or Shral Ta Miran, after the “impression” – perhaps a ghost or a shade – that someone leaves behind after their death (Arcana 7).
I’m leaning towards the ring’s name being Shral Ta Suikan due to this exchange:
AMY STIRLING: All right, so... “in this covenant is granted... the... dominion over... issues -”
JULIAN MCCANDLESS: “- or matters -”
AMY STIRLING: Right. “... of the...” I don’t know “daionica.”
JULIAN MCCANDLESS: It’s a slippery term. Lots of double meanings. But generally... “distant place?” “Far off place?”
AMY STIRLING: So another ring related to moving matter? To… speed?
They have only two tablets left to translate by this point, so this passage refers to either the Ring of the Dead or to the Ring of Demons. But if this ring “gives dominion over issues pertaining to a distant place,” what place could be farther away than the Land of the Dead?
Primary Ability: Gives the wielder the ability to speak to the dead.
Mirror Ability: Lets the dead seek out and speak to the wielder.
Discovery: The site located in the woods next to Wycliffe in Dorset, England, with its discovery being announced sometime between January 1st, 2030 and June 1st, 2030.
Why am I arguing this? Because we have this history tidbit from episode 11: “on March 12th, 1652, the town council of Wycliffe in Dorset officially forbade its residents from entering woods next to the township, believing the ancient Harbinger ruins within were haunted.” There are a few options that come to mind when we think of a place as being haunted: that it’s filled with ghosts (which would correspond to the Ring of the Dead), that it’s filled with evil spirits (which would correspond to the Ring of Demons), or that it’s filled with poltergeists (would which cause objects to levitate, which would correspond to the Ring of the Skies). However, the Ring of the Dead feels like the obvious match. Also, the history tidbits usually preview something important that is revealed or discussed in the following episode, and of the rings that were revealed in episode 12, the Ring of the Dead carried the most emotional weight for Adam.
A potential flaw with this theory: This would put the Ring of the Mind and the Ring of the Dead very close together regionally, perhaps too much so. However, the wisdom of the Harbinger Empire in keeping the rings far apart from each other only holds up if its people follow that wisdom. Maybe this was a case where one magician wore two rings and passed them down to different heirs, one of whom settled in Ireland, the other of whom settled in England. Or maybe this was a case of two magicians growing close and deciding to stay near each other? Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m right about where this one is, so I think the close proximity between the two rings was a result of their magicians bending the rules. If the rings were sealed away voluntarily at the end of the Harbinger Empire, though, they also might have thought it didn’t matter at that point.
Magician: Unknown, but it's one of the unnamed she/hers. I completely agree with completelyhopelessprocrastinator that this ring is being held by “the one who’s losing her mind” (episode 14). If the ring lets you speak to the dead, its mirror power might let the dead speak to you. We’ve all seen the Sixth Sense – we know that won’t go well. Even setting aside the dead speaking to you, there would also be the pressure of so many living people wanting to talk to their loved ones again. If this guess is correct, then it would make sense why this magician doesn’t want to speak to anyone, and why Adam is hesitant to reach out to her. After all, this is the ring he would “burn down half the world” to find, due to his desire to speak with his late sister, Laurel, again (episode 12). Maybe Adam doesn’t want to add to the pressure this magician is under or be more tempted by this ring? As for why I think this was the ring found in 2030, we know only one ring was found in 2030 (so far), and of the remaining rings, this feels like it would drive its magician mad the fastest. So if she’s still partially sane, maybe that’s because she hasn’t had it for very long.
Previous Magician: My guess is that this magician would have had a religious role in Harbinger society, given that they’re dealing with the dead and, presumably, their mourners.
Tomb Trap: Hearing and possibly seeing the dead all around you can’t be good for your mental health. If that’s what people were experiencing in the woods near Wycliffe, then I can see why they were declared off-limits. Depending on what the ghosts said and what mental state someone was already in, an encounter like that could drive them to do something dangerous to themselves or others. Or, worse, maybe people were so drawn in by the ghosts that they let themselves wither away and join them.
Other Thoughts: I’m not sure what the tension for this character’s arc might be, since we don’t know much about her. However, there is a possibility that she acquired her ring illegally. Episode 13’s history tidbit says: “on May 7th, 2017, a large shipment of historical artifacts was dispatched from Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, headed towards the British Museum in London, where the pieces would have been on display for six months as part of a temporary exhibition. The shipment disappeared en route. None of the lost items have ever been recovered.” My guess is that someone stole the artifacts and put them in a private collection. It would be painful if this character stole the shipment, found this ring inside one of the artifacts, and now feels cursed by it. Alternatively, since that shipment disappeared in 2017, she could have inherited that private collection, and is now haunted by the person she inherited it from. That feels very English Gothic horror, doesn’t it?
As an aside, if any of the above is true, this could be a point in favor of the “rings won’t let you go” theory. If I had a ring that was driving me insane, I sure would want to give or throw it away. Let someone else deal with the dead!
The Eighth Ring: Shral Ta [Unknown Harbinger Word], the Ring of Demons
Discovery: This ring is currently still lost, but was briefly found by Desmond Childers on an island in the Sargasso Sea on or around May 1st, 1782. However, his crew members threw it into the sea thirteen days after he took it from the island (maybe he wanted to use it to support Britain during the Revolutionary War? That could have been the argument he made to get the funding he needed for the expedition). There’s a slim possibility that the U.S. and France are currently searching for this ring, since Andie mentions the following in episode 12: “I’m also waiting for a report from the commander of the sixth fleet about whether we’re about to have a fascinating real estate dispute with France over a chunk of the Atlantic Ocean,” which is where the Sargasso Sea is. This might just be a throwaway line, though.
Primary Ability: To summon monsters. Though would these monsters be used defensively, offensively, or both for the Harbinger Empire? Also, is this a nod to “Here Be Dragons” on nautical maps?
Mirror Ability: To…banish…them? Your guess is as good as mine for this one.
Magician: I don’t think this ring has a magician yet. Or at least I hope it doesn’t.
Previous Magician: This sounds like a ring you would use for war, both to protect your borders and to conquer other armies and lands. If the Harbingers had a powerful navy – which seems likely, given how many of their ruins are on islands and in coastal regions – then having sea monsters at their disposal would be incredibly useful. Also, the Harbinger Empire was an empire, so it must have had teeth. Amy suggests as much in episode 14: “But what you, my slippery friend, have never been able to grasp, is this little idea that [the Edwardian] colonial mindset might have been in line with the Harbingers’ own imperial attitude.”
Tomb Trap: The big fuck-off, “not a whale” monster that sank Childers' ship, pursued him and his crew in their rowboats, and only stopped attacking them when his crew threw the box with the ring back into the ocean (Arcana 6). It also only attacked them at night and may have been able to call lightning down on them. Incidentally, this monster, Falk’s death, and Adam’s experience in Sarkor’s crypt are my biggest points towards “those ruins and/or rings are trapped.”
Other Thoughts: This might have been the ring that “gives dominion over issues pertaining to a distant place,” since it was found in a difficult to reach observatory. Regardless, you know who it would be really funny to eventually have this ring? Kris. The guy who does dangerous shit in his free time to get himself out of his depressed funks. Maybe he learns how to scuba dive and goes down there to get it. Let him have a kaiju instead of a pet fish or snake, it would be great!
He vanished mysteriously on December 25th, 1782, and we know Urbina loves making terrible and dramatic things happen on Christmas in his shows. The current theory floating around is that Childers time-traveled forward (with what ring, though? None of them control time) and is actually Professor Julian McCandless. Their ages don’t quite line up to make that work, but they do, at least, share a passion for the Harbingers.
Setting that theory aside, Childers disappeared right before going on another expedition, so magic could be at work. What do you think happened?
Aaaaaand that’s all, folks! Thank you for everyone who read until the end. We’ll see if any of this pans out or if it all gets torpedoed by episodes 15 and 16 instead!
You might like my new fiction podcast, The Harbingers, if you like...
... Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
For Fans Of: rival magicians, conversations about the right and wrong ways to use magic, alternate magical histories, abysses that gaze back at you
... Battlestar Galactica
For Fans Of: genre shows that reflect and refract the modern world, series that are a little bit of everything, slow simmer relationships, badass women, mess
... The West Wing
For Fans Of: fast, snappy, stylized dialogue, smart characters doing their best with an impossible job, formally inventive episodes, stories with enormous heart
... Amadeus
For Fans Of: artistic depictions of artistic jealousy, psycho-drama, considerations of how divine forces from beyond this world make us their plaything, awesome hair
... The Wicked + the Divine
For Fans Of: meditations on power and fame through a fantasy conceit, modern stories with a BIG backstory, things that are music things without being music things, puzzles to solve as the story unfolds
... Hamilton
For Fans Of: people who don't throw away their shot, people who wait for it, people who are never satisfied, the intersection and collision of all of the above, duels
If any (or all!) of the above sounds like what you're looking for in your fiction podcasting right now, tune into The Harbingers!
The first three episodes are out now, and I guarantee that by the end of Episode 3 you will be hooked!
or to be a little less pithy, groundedness means a sense of internal consistency, the idea that events and traits of a story or world are grounded in a coherent set of logics.
while realism means--exactly that, adherence to the specific logics of actual reality and its physics, logistics, etc.
there is of course nothing wrong with wanting realism in a story, but 99% of the people who say they do really want groundedness. like the vast majority of dumb arguments about asoiaf/got are its fans saying "its realistic" when they mean "its grounded" and people ridiculing them because it is in fact not very realistic (and not just because of the overt fantasy elements)
In my experience, another big part of the problem with talking about "realism" in fictional milieux is the product of a specific Type of Guy employing the term as a sort of semantic bait and switch, sometimes without consciously realising that this is what they're doing.
There's a particular recurring discussion of "realism" in media that goes something like this: "okay, but realistically the heroes would always win because they'd just shoot the villain while they're monologuing" – while refusing to acknowledge the obvious follow-up question: "wait, but if monologuing reliably gets you shot, where do all the monologuing villains come from?"
i.e., what we're really discussing is not a milieu which has adhered to some notional model of "realism" ab initio, but one which was apparently governed by the conventional tropes of its genre right up until the moment the character the person framing the scenario wants to win walks into the room, whereupon "realism" asserts itself.
Heck, there were folks doing this song and dance in the notes of the post this one is following up on, trotting out hypotheticals like "in a realistic fantasy setting the twelve-year-old chosen one would always lose because experience trumps skill and the power of friendship isn't real", implicitly taking it as given that in a milieu where this is true, people would still be handing out magic swords to twelve-year-olds.
It's basically treating those silly "How [Media] Really Should Have Ended" YouTube videos as a legitimate critical lens, and in circles where this song and dance is common, it leads to a lot of people reflexively shutting down the moment they hear the word "realism" because they assume (often quite reasonably!) that oh great, it's That Guy again.
Been feeling nostalgic about Outer Wilds and realized I've never made fanart for it even though it's one of my favorite video games of all time. Finally fixing that!!
