I wasn't aware until just now that Montresor in French ("mon tresor") means "my treasure". Is this a well known realization that I've missed?? Also, this means Duke knows (without actually knowing) what his mother called him.
A little while ago, someone (edit: piigeonss) posted a picture of the language of fans and talked about how Annabel held her fan behind her head in Ep 43 to mean "don't forget me." I really loved the post and have started working on a lil fanfic inspired by it, but found some more fan speak and thought I'd put it on here for anyone who's curious. Pictures and translations below the cut.
Letting it rest on right cheek - Yes.
Carrying in the right hand - You are too willing.
Carrying in the right hand in front of face - Follow me. / Open wide - Wait for me.
I'd like to point out here that Lenore did both.
After Lenore refuses to write the song. Open and shut - You are cruel.
Of course, the one pointed out by the other poster. Placed behind head - Don't forget me. Also! Fanning quickly - I am engaged.
Presented shut - Do you love me?
At first I wondered if the authors even did "fan language" on purpose, but there's no way they didn't know. It fits the unfolding of the story so well. Such a brilliant and subtle detail that makes me appreciate their work that much more. And bonus one, from a different list! (I'll put the lists at the end.)
I've seen a few people try to guess what Lenore's nickname for Annabel was in life, and I always enjoy reading those, so I thought I'd make my own.
In the stories I've written for them, I've been using "Ann" because it moves nicely with the flow of dialogue and I like the way it sounds, but I actually think it's "Annie" for a few reasons.
Firstly and most obviously, there's an EAP poem titled "For Annie". But going deeper into that poem, there are so many similarities to White Raven's themes. For one, the narrator of the poem spends a significant amount of lines discussing lying in a bed, no one wanting to look at them, and seeing Life as a plague. I think we can all see the parallel there. They go further and talk about how Annie saved them from this terrible, hopeless feeling, and gave them life even as others still saw them the same way. These are very common themes to Poe's writing, and even to the gothic genre in general, but the similarities. They haunt me. And I hope they haunt you a lil now too. But lastly, in case they don't yet, here is one more White Raven theme mentioned in the poem - flowers. Rosemary, rue, and pansies (the flowers of Annie) outweigh the sent of myrtles and roses ("old agitations") and allow the narrator to let go of past grievances, "forgetting, or never regretting". Annabel's flowers are peonies, sure, but several types of flowers - and even just flowers no matter the kind - have been used throughout the story to depict different stages of Lenore's mental health and the ways they perceive each other and themselves during the course of their evolving relationship.
I know this is very unrelated to the current episodes, but it's been on my mind a lot, so here you go. :)
vibrates Those sure are similarities, delightful similarities and now I'm almost convinced it WILL be "Annie" even as I personally prefer her doing away with 'Anna' and just calling her "Bell" because I'm a contrarian LMAO
but also it got me thinking, ya know. Annabel is so convinced that 'her' Lenore will return to her WHEN she says her little nickname/different name whatever. Which, like. Ya know it's an interesting conviction to have.
It makes me wonder in exactly what kind of situation Lenore called her that for the first time because it must be quite significant and very specific for Annabel to put so much emphasis on it. It can't just be the nickname itself, right? It has to have something to do with Lenore's state of mind/priorities whatever.
Perhaps she said it while they were burying a body and Lenore was being delightfully macabre about it—gets shot
Yes!! You make such a good point, I had to go back and reread those episodes for perhaps a little insight.
One of the things that stands out to me is that Annabel seems sure this nickname will come with Lenore remembering both who she herself is and what they were to each other in life. What first time things could lead to such a realization? Burying a body (you're kinda evil for that one, I love it). A first kiss (I feel like that doesn't tell Lenore who she was, just what they were). A first more than kiss (I don't know what I'm allowed to say on Tumblr, but I also feel like this is too obvious of a possibility). Or, I'm considering, it wasn't the moment that she says it for the first time necessarily, but everything that came before it. Annabel knows Lenore is remembering in chronological order from the beginning, so it's a fair guess that by the time they finally kissed each other in their past life, Lenore would have enough material to understand both their relationship and who she was without Annabel's memories tampering with that.
From a storytelling point of view, the nickname and the kiss both represent the realization of Lenore loving Annabel, so it would make sense for them to happen at the same time, at a moment when Lenore can't even get to Annabel to tell her she remembers, and then after whatever big thing goes down, she is able to greet Annabel with the nickname.
Why is Annabel able to withstand Ada's 'Fear Itself' ability, you ask? Well, YOU SEE
Annabel's embraced her fears. She's in love with her fears. She's kissed her fears on the mouth. She's definitely fucked her fears at least once. She almost married her fears—
I've seen a few people try to guess what Lenore's nickname for Annabel was in life, and I always enjoy reading those, so I thought I'd make my own.
In the stories I've written for them, I've been using "Ann" because it moves nicely with the flow of dialogue and I like the way it sounds, but I actually think it's "Annie" for a few reasons.
Firstly and most obviously, there's an EAP poem titled "For Annie". But going deeper into that poem, there are so many similarities to White Raven's themes. For one, the narrator of the poem spends a significant amount of lines discussing lying in a bed, no one wanting to look at them, and seeing Life as a plague. I think we can all see the parallel there. They go further and talk about how Annie saved them from this terrible, hopeless feeling, and gave them life even as others still saw them the same way. These are very common themes to Poe's writing, and even to the gothic genre in general, but the similarities. They haunt me. And I hope they haunt you a lil now too. But lastly, in case they don't yet, here is one more White Raven theme mentioned in the poem - flowers. Rosemary, rue, and pansies (the flowers of Annie) outweigh the sent of myrtles and roses ("old agitations") and allow the narrator to let go of past grievances, "forgetting, or never regretting". Annabel's flowers are peonies, sure, but several types of flowers - and even just flowers no matter the kind - have been used throughout the story to depict different stages of Lenore's mental health and the ways they perceive each other and themselves during the course of their evolving relationship.
I know this is very unrelated to the current episodes, but it's been on my mind a lot, so here you go. :)
The shortest possible version is: it's an extension of his boundary-testing behavior, in addition to testing the level of importance he holds in the clusterfucks. He was testing Annabel and Lenore both, with this, trying to see at which point either of them would snap and hit him (literally or metaphorically- he just wants to find that line)
The slightly longer version is:
We see this repeated boundary-testing behavior from Monty time and time again. Like a dog who's been kicked before, he has to know what territory is safe and where the 'hard' line is for what's "unacceptable". He pushes Lenore, invades her mind, tries to get her friends to kill her, because he wants to see when she shows her teeth.
He makes a show of wanting to torture (and actually torturing) Berenice and Eulalie, because he wants to see if that is where Lenore's line lies, or if someone will stop him then.
He makes Ada get on her knees and bark for him because he wants to see if she'll stick to her "we could work together" beliefs, or if she'll cave to someone dehumanizing her. It's a more assessing kind of boundary-pressing, but.. undeniably, it's boundary-pressing all the same.
He directly challenges Annabel's authority by suggesting something so patently ludicrous as murder- because he wants to see if and when she or Prospero will tell him 'no', if they'll actually follow through on any display of their power.
It's a very "me, who's been eating the chess pieces while they're not looking" attempt at assessing Annabel's power, granted- he doesn't understand his own sway in the group because he pointedly underestimates Will's devotion to him- but Annabel does, and knows that a direct "no" is an unwise move. She redirects- and that's not a 'hard' line, so.. Monty follows through.
He find's Duke's line, very clearly- and Lenore's and Pluto's, too. He gets what he wants from this: finding the hard lines of a majority of the people around him. Morella doesn't play with phonies, so he makes Annabel push her to (and over) her line; Pluto becomes brave to the point of willing to kill in the face of his friends in danger; Duke won't keep the peace if you try to kill him (..obviously); Lenore loses her ever-present sympathy if you go for her confidantes. And, he finds Annabel's line, in a way, too: she's not letting him act like he's entirely unaffected by his stunts anymore. She refuses to entertain his facade. If he wants to play his stupid games, she'll give him the prize he wants: a line that she refuses to let him cross.
The arc happens because Montressor is a deeply unhealthy person who copes supremely maladaptively with his own trauma. He forces the establishment of these hard lines because he feels more secure knowing where they lay- because The Line has to be somewhere before murder, and he has to find where that point is.
(We also see this play out in ch120- he's uncertain as Will moves the line, he doesn't know where his own lines lay, and when Will dies and comes back with seemingly no knowledge of the line he pushed, Monty is left shaken both by the events that just happened and the knowledge that other people mirror his unhealthy behaviors and boundary-testing)
Disclaimer: I have by no means read every post about these theories, so if any have been disproven, please feel free to let me know.
Anyways. On my first few reads through, I was dead set (no pun intended) on the idea that Lenore killed herself after Annabel's death, no matter whose fault it was. The lesbian tragedy of it all. Then, going through it again, one panel in the beginning of the story, when they were running through the gates of Nevermore, caught my eye:
This looks, to me, like the foreshadowing of her death: the shock/horror on her face, the blood splatter, and possibly most importantly the opposing color scheme to Annabel's death scene. We know they have reoccurring color contrast motifs, so what's one more parallel?
These images would imply that both were shot by someone they were facing, and (most important to my own previous theories) definitely someone else. Additionally, I saw someone mention that all the students so far have seemingly been killed in an act of murder/manslaughter, which even ties into theories on other characters' deaths. Pluto's potential hanging by his father, Morella's possible heroic death on Bloody Sunday or Bloody Friday, etc.
I don't think Lenore killed Annabel for many, many reasons. I won't go too far into that, because that's not my focus here. But let's just settle on: Trace and Flynn obviously wanted to paint it like that's what Annabel is assuming. The most horrifying thing your love could do, and you still trust her? Again, the lesbian tragedy of it all.
So, who did kill Annabel, and possibly Lenore as well? And did they die at the same time or not? We know time doesn't really affect when one washes ashore at Nevermore, since everyone's from different decades, so their close arrival could be chalked up to tRUe lOvE (or really deep, codependent, obsessive loyalty and the absolute need to follow each other into every realm of existence, but I digress). Perhaps Lenore died days afterward, having hunted Annabel's murderer, and they shot each other. While I like the idea that Lenore hasn't unlocked her Spectre yet because she hasn't felt that deep-seated drive for revenge, I don't think that's what happened. In the first picture (of potential foreshadowing/flashback), it's not just her head spattered in blood; it's all of her clothing, especially her boots.
So, lemme paint a picture: Annabel, Lenore, wedding day. Annabel is shot, her blood sprays everywhere, like damn that stuff's all over the place, and all over Lenore. Lenore's like "NO! MY WIFE!" and goes to shoot the killer, potentially on her knees next to her love's lifeless body, and basically gets put down like a dog for her "crimes." Her gay ass crimes.
Final point, who shot them? Who knew about the "crime"? I've seen lots of people mention the two most likely suspects are the childhood friend and the father, Ira. The friend could have been jealous, come to visit, blah blah blah. I'm sure you've read them; I have, and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Same with the Ira theories. BUT--why not both? Trace and Flynn went out of their way to put focus on Annabel's childhood friend, just like they painted a clear picture of her father before he was even introduced. Her friend doesn't seem all that important to her, so "betrayal" isn't quite right. But Ira also doesn't seem that suspicious--in fact, he seems overjoyed at the idea of them marrying. Finally! His daughter had chosen someone, and it's someone rich, well bred, and witty. What more could he ask for? But perhaps the childhood friend shows up, jealous, but not out of his mind. He does some digging, and here it is--his smoking gun (sorry, puns are fun). But he's a man from the 1800s, so he probably sees Annabel as property to claim; instead of going on a rage-fueled shooting, he brings his evidence to Ira, hoping he will get rid of Lenore and "give" Annabel to who's meant to have her. But Ira does not react calmly--Annabel is all he has left since his wife is out of the picture (institutionalized? dead? ran away?) and he is loath this evil lesbian ruin her life. So he goes in with a gun.
Lenore has also brought a gun, because she wanted to elope, but Annabel's stipulation for their marriage was that they don't leave behind the world like that; she's expecting the danger, but not for the danger to be Ira. Annabel's face portrays raw fear--she's begging Lenore not to shoot her father and her father not to shoot Lenore. Lenore hesitates, because her soon-to-be-wife always knows the best strategy; but Ira doesn't pause. Annabel steps between them, and we have our bloody, bloody scene from earlier.
Thank you for reading, input is appreciated. Also, I just learned how to screenshot Webtoon panels, and this so helpful??
EVERYONE SAY THANK TO @conscience-grim FOR SHARING THIS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL INFORMATION WITH US
Montersor very likely died and lived around the same time as Lenore, late 1800’s to early 1900’s, and during this time. Pretty boy was slang for a gay prostitute in southern America and north UK.
Montresor, is literally calling Prospero a gay whore in the scene.
This also makes the head canon of Annabel calling Lenore “pretty boy” SOOOOOOO much funnier, because Lenore likely knows what it means and Annabel doesn’t because she is aggressively, southern English, so she would use it in the same way that we use it today literally just calling someone a pretty boy. LENORE HOWEVER.
Annabel, lovingly stroking her fingers through Lenore‘s hair while she lays her head in her lap: Oh, look at my pretty boy <3
Lenore, flustered, abruptly raising her head: EXCUSE ME- HEY! IM- I AM NOT-…..
Annabel, oblivious, thinking Lenore is just being bashful: Oh! But are, pet! You are so pretty and your mine, therefore, you’re my pretty boy!
Lenore, fully thinking Annabel’s calling her her bitch: 
I want everyone to imagine Annabel saying this, while they are still alive at a party or something. The whole room stops and turns to see the most fashionable power couple that high society has seen in decades. Everyone is falling over this new, mysterious, dashing rogue like character, Leo vadernacht, nephew, and now air of the entire Vandernacht railway empire, newly engaged to the most, sought after bachelorette in the entirety of English and American high society, the most Lady like and proper Annabel Lee Whitlock. And she proceeds to turn to her fiancé and call him her gay whore lovingly. IMAGINE THE REACTION
And to add onto this, Montersor isn’t a cowboy. He’s heavily implied to be a horse breaker, which is basically a priest, who also doubles as a horse tamer, and only in the UK was this term known as slang, for once again, a gay prostitute.
So I want you to imagine Monty casuallymentioning he was a horse breaker while he was alive and Annabel FULLY TURING TO HIM LIKE
“🤨🏳️🌈⁉️”
SHE MUST BE SOOO CONFUSED WHY ADA’S STILL DATING HIM
Annabel: I went through so much trouble to make sure no one figured out that me and Lenore were gay, just for this bitch to come out and fully admit he’s a gay whore with little to no consequence.
y'all think if wravens secret was out annabel would make it her life mission to be all over lenore just to annoy miss fits bc she knows they don't trust her still
Headcanon where Prospero learns about Lenores hip injury and sneakily checks up on her after she accidentally dropped that it hurt during the maze trial
And him being a doctor, he can’t help it but also the fact that in a certain level, he has respect for Lenore
You can’t stop me with my prospero and Lenore sibling dynamics
I stg they have this look when they’re both together, if they both were to team up, imagine.
pixelskylines
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
kianamaiart
