Tag Archives: Grandfather Spider

The Absence of Being

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Hello, I’m Fable Finder.

The Third Arc is about a conflict between Grandmother Raven and Grandfather Spider. Both of them posed a threat to the Spiral during this time. They are finally reconciled at the end of Empyrea, and lock themselves in the Primordial Forest. After this, our Wizard returns to the Arcanum to bring everyone up to speed. When we arrive, we receive a cryptic prophecy from Sybil, the Tree of Knowledge in the Arcanum.

[…]

This is an essential scene that must be understood when trying to predict what the Fourth Arc will be about. Since all lines of dialogue in the game have been choreographed, they were all put there for a reason. Thus, interpretations of this scene will be assessed based on how well they abide by the following rules:

Rule One
The threat we will face in the Fourth Arc relates to the “Nothing” Sybil spoke of, so understanding what that means is paramount.
 
Rule Two
Observe what Ione said in response to Sybil. This is a hint that the threat of the Fourth Arc will arise as a result of thwarting Raven and Spider.
 
Rule Three
Ione’s response was also a hint saying that the threat of the Fourth Arc will be much, much worse than the threat of the Third Arc.
 
Rule Four

Sam Johnson, KingsIsle’s Lead Creative Designer,  stated in an interview that he wanted the Fourth Arc to be “fundamentally different” from the other arcs in structure.

Apocalyptic Interpretation

This interpretation is the simplest and takes what Sybil said at face value. If the Spiral got destroyed, it would be replaced by “Nothing”. Thus, the “Nothing” Sybil warned us about is the aftermath of the Spiral’s destruction.
 

How well does this interpretation abide by the rules? While this interpretation could potentially fulfill Rule Two, it violates Rule Three. The threat of the Third Arc was the destruction of the Spiral, so facing the threat again would be nothing new. For the same reason, it also violates Rule Four.

False Security Interpretation

I came up with this interpretation. What if the “Nothing” Sybil warned us about is the appearance of nothing?  When the Fourth Arc begins, it will seem like there is nothing to be afraid of. We will have a false sense of security. However, there will be a traitor in the midst plotting something sinister, and we won’t find out until later.

How well does this interpretation abide by the rules? Well, this interpretation is yet to be complete.

First, how will the threat of the Fourth Arc arise as a result of thwarting Raven and Spider?  Raven and Spider were thwarted when they reconciled and locked themselves in the Primordial Forest. Therefore, the threat of the Fourth Arc will arise either as a result of Raven and Spider reconciling, as a result of Raven and Spider locking themselves in the Primordial Forest, or both.

We must remember that the Cabal is still in play. We have yet to enter the “Cabal Room” in the Arcanum. KingsIsle would not have put that there unless we were going to explore it. 

Second, while some members of the Cabal may have given up after the reconciliation of Raven and Spider, it’s entirely plausible that some of them would stay loyal to the cause. In fact, wouldn’t you think that the reconciliation of Raven and Spider would anger the Cabal, and make them even more determined to achieve their goal?

The first possibility is that as a result of Raven and Spider reconciling, the Cabal is angered and becomes more determined.  Whoever the traitor is, most likely an important character from Ravenwood or the Arcanum, they will be in league with the Cabal. Either they were in league all along, or the Cabal turns them to their side. The Cabal will use the traitor to try and achieve their ends. How well does this possibility abide by the rules? Well, it violates Rule Three and Rule Four.

The second possibility is that Bartleby is the traitor. Bartleby being the traitor doesn’t violate Rule Three since Bartleby wouldn’t be challenged by anyone of equal divinity like was the case with Raven and Spider, however, it does violate Rule Four. Plus, Bartleby has no motive to betray us.

Nihilism Interpretation

I’ve been thinking about philosophy a lot recently. One day I thought of an interpretation of Sybil’s prophecy that makes the most sense. Nihilism comes from the Latin word “nihil”, meaning “nothing”.

So what if the “Nothing” Sybil warned us about is referring to nihilism? Well, what even is nihilism?

“That there is no truth, that there is no absolute state of affairs—no thing-in-itself. This alone is nihilism, and of the most extreme kind.”

–Friedrich Nietzsche

Nihilism asserts that there is nothing beyond our direct experience: no truth, no God, no meaning, no morality, no consciousness, and so on. However, this interpretation is incomplete, and it needs something to build on top of it.

Neverending Story Interpretation

Sarai Willowbreeze proposed this interpretation.  The Neverending Story is both a book and a film, and it follows a mystical world which is under a threat from a dark force called the “Nothing” that is threatening to engulf it.  KingsIsle obviously likes to make references, so the Fourth Arc taking inspiration from The Neverending Story makes sense.

AwesomeTheSauce pointed out in a video that the Third Arc takes inspiration from the Earthsea Cycle book series. One comment on that video pointed out that Mirage takes inspiration from the book Dune. Lastly, it is evident that Empyrea takes inspiration from Star Trek.

This interpretation successfully builds onto the Nihilism Interpretation. In fact, the Nothing in The Neverending Story is a metaphor for nihilism. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia page of The Neverending Story:

We’re making progress, but this interpretation is also incomplete. We have yet to know how it fulfills Rule Two and Rule Three.

The Theory

Meaning is incredibly important. Meaning is what gives us a reason to live. Meaning is how we derive our happiness. This is why nihilism is so destructive. The nihilist has no reason to live, and no way to derive happiness. Doesn’t that sound like torture? If you were experiencing nihilism, would you not prefer destruction? Clearly, the threat of nihilism is worse than the threat of the Spiral being destroyed.

How can The Neverending Story Interpretation fulfill Rule Two?

To answer this, we must recall the events of Briskbreeze Tower.  The story began when Sergeant Muldoon asked for our help in finding Lieutenant Culpepper, who had gone missing.  Our search lead us to Kirby Longspear, who said that Culpepper was investigating the presence of Undead in Colossus Boulevard.  Kirby then told us that Culpepper went into Briskbreeze Tower after hearing there was Undead in there.  AwesomeTheSauce can take it from here.

All the threats we have faced so far have come from inside the Spiral. However, the Nothing, by necessity, must come from outside the Spiral. We don’t see any traces of it inside the Spiral anyway. AwesomeTheSauce mentioned in another video that he thinks Sybil’s prophecy and Orrick’s prophecy are connected, and I agree.

Furthermore, in the Briskbreeze Tower video, AwesomeTheSauce points out that the Arcanum is outside the Spiral and brings to our attention the black hole that we see from the Arcanum.

What else could this black hole be besides the Nothing from the Neverending Story?

So again, how can the Neverending Story Interpretation fulfill Rule Two?

Well, as I said earlier, the Cabal will undoubtedly be involved in the Fourth Arc. I suspect that as a result of Raven and Spider reconciling, the Cabal will be angered and become more determined to achieve their ends. Because of this, the Cabal will somehow be responsible for unleashing the Nothing onto the Spiral.

If this is the case, it would suggest that Orrick Nightglider is a member of the Cabal.  If Sybil’s prophecy and Orrick’s prophecy are connected, then Orrick has been planning to unleash the Nothing onto the Spiral for ages, either because he wants vengeance for something, or he is experiencing nihilism and wants the whole Spiral to suffer as he does. 

This means he probably would have infiltrated the Cabal in hopes of eventually influencing them to help him unleash the Nothing.  If this is the case, it’s possible that the bone key he drops in Briskbreeze Tower will be the key we use to unlock the Cabal Room in the Arcanum.

Additionally, there is a book called the Lathe of Heaven.  A side quest in Empyrea suggests that the Fourth Arc will also draw inspiration from this book.  The plot of the book is about someone who can dream things into reality, so it’s easy to see how this could be integrated with The Neverending Story.   

AwesomeTheSauce was the one who brought this to my attention in the following video:

In conclusion, my prediction is that the threat we will face in the Fourth Arc is the Nothing from The Neverending Story.  Orrick Nightglider will manipulate the Cabal into helping him unleash the Nothing upon the Spiral.  As a result of the Nothing being unleashed, the residents of the Spiral will slowly lose their sense of meaning, and this will torture them.

What do you think? Does my theory make sense to you? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below.

Fable Finder

A Tale of Three Scions

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Hello, I’m Fable Finder. In the middle of Empyrea, the game reveals that the main hero of our story is the Scion of Bartleby. What does this mean? On the surface, it appears that this is simply a replay of the Chosen One trope. This is true, but it’s not the entire story. When you critically examine all the facts that we have been given, we are left with more questions than answers. Let’s start with what we know.

Main Hero’s Backstory

In the video “Making of Wizard101 ~ Part 4” published on KingsIsle’s channel in 2010, the person who was the Creative Director at the time, Jeffrey Todd Coleman said: “When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was climb under my bed or in the back of my closet and find a portal to a magical world. I think that’s pretty much what every kid wants, and it’s effectively what we’ve created.”

 

It’s clear that Coleman’s idea was implemented into the game. For example, during character creation, Merle Ambrose says the main hero is from a different realm. More recently, during the quest “Only Mostly Dead”, Zander says the main hero is from Earth.

We can infer from this, that the main hero started off as a normal kid on Earth. Merle Ambrose was obviously casting some sort of realm-searching spell to find someone of great potential. For some reason, Merle’s spell chose the main hero, and created a portal somewhere in their house. Then the events of the game began.

This leaves us with some questions. Why did Merle’s spell choose the main hero? Why didn’t the spell choose someone who was already a Wizard, and even better a powerful one? Why did Merle Ambrose even need to find a Wizard? There’s tons of experienced Wizards all around the Spiral, couldn’t Merle Ambrose have gathered some together and chased down Malistaire?

Scion of Bartleby Lore

Let’s see what Merle Ambrose has to say about the Scion of Bartleby.

If a test is required, that means nobody knows who the Scion of Bartleby is, not even Bartleby himself. So what determines who is the Scion of Bartleby? Bartleby couldn’t have chosen his Scion, because then he wouldn’t have needed a test. But, why would the Scion be some random kid from Earth? There is undoubtedly more to this story that we don’t know.

The Answer

What does Scion even mean, anyway? Let’s take a look at Merriam Webster.

We can tell from this definition that this word was chosen by KingsIsle with careful thought. After all, it’s plant terminology, and Bartleby is a tree, so this definition certainly applies here. And that sounds a lot like what Mellori is, doesn’t it? Mellori was born when Raven broke off her love for Spider. This would make Mellori a detached, living portion of Raven, or in other words, the Scion of Raven.

If you are a child of an entity, you were simply born of them. Scions, being a detached, living portion of an entity, are also born of that entity. So not only is the main hero the Scion of Bartleby, they are also the child of Bartleby. Mellori is the same way, but for Raven. This answers all the questions we had asked previously, but there is one more. Mellori is the Scion of Raven because she is Raven’s love for Spider. So what makes the main hero the Scion of Bartleby? This is where we enter the territory of speculation, but I would speculate that the main hero is Bartleby’s hope. When the titans broke up the First World, he probably lost hope. And Bartleby was pretty melancholy during the first and second arcs. He only started being more positive when he found out that the main hero is his Scion.

What about Zander saying the main hero is from Earth? About that, it seems odd to me that Spiral beings would be unable to enter the Astral plane, but for some reason Earthly beings, who are non-magical, would be able to. Zander clearly has special knowledge somehow, so he probably knows the main hero’s true origin story. I suspect the real reason that the main hero was able to enter the Astral plane is because they are the Scion of Bartleby, and Zander made up a fake reason because he wanted to keep the knowledge of the main hero’s true origin story from the rest of the scholars. However, we can tell from the tutorial that the main hero did start off in another realm. The main hero’s being could have simply manifested on Earth when they detached from Bartleby.

What about Spider, does he have a Scion? Let’s ask him.

Pay attention to the wording. Spider said Bat was his only dream. A dream is a happy thing, and Spider’s only dream ever created Bat. Based on this, it’s reasonable to assume that Bat is the Scion of Spider, specifically Spider’s happiness.

It is unlikely that Rat and Scorpion are Scions. When a Scion is created, the entity loses something. Raven lost her love for Spider when Mellori was created. Nothing about the personalities of Rat and Scorpion suggest that Spider lost anything from their creation. Rat and Scorpion are bitter and hateful, and so was Spider. Second, Rat and Scorpion were created in Spider’s nightmares, and Spider having nightmares was not a unique occurrence. Again I stress that Bat is unique because he was born of Spider’s only dream.

In conclusion, there are three Scions. The main hero is the child and Scion of Bartleby, Mellori is the child and Scion of Raven, and Bat is the child and Scion of Spider. This also explains how they were able to combine all their essences to create that overpowered Divine Paradox transformation that the main hero transformed into to defeat the Aethyr Titan. The Divine Paradox transformation is the unification of all three Scions.

What do you think? Is Bat really the Scion of Spider? What does determine who becomes the Scion of Bartleby? We want to hear your theories in the comments below!

Shoutout to Saffron Life for helping me synthesize this theory.

Fable Finder

Wizard101 Theory

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Hello, I’m Fable Finder. Have you ever wondered if Sylvia Drake actually died of a cold? Why did the Coven want to unleash the Everwinter on Grizzleheim? Does being the Scion of Bartleby actually mean anything, or is it just a replay of the Chosen One trope?

All stories each have their own unexplained mysteries. Something I have always enjoyed on YouTube is the theorizing genre, where people try to explain these mysteries with theories. Theories have been made for a vast array of movies, TV shows, and video games, but the theorizing genre has barely been touched in Wizard101. It’s time to change that.

I introduce to you Wizard101 Theory. The goal of this series is to come up with theories that explain the mysteries of Wizard101. It will maintain a reasonable standard of evidence, and where evidence lacks, logic will be used. There are already posts in the making on all the questions I brought up in the first paragraph. But first, I must explain a theory that builds the foundation of all the other theories to be made: Who created the Wizard101 universe?

We could reasonably assume, using Occam’s Razor (1), that Grandmother Raven created the Wizard101 universe. The problem is that Bartleby said it was another entity. In a Wizard City side quest called “Old Men”, Boris Tallstaff asks you to interview Gamma, Ambrose, and Bartleby. When you go to talk to Bartleby, the first thing he says is this:

Did you catch that? Bartleby mentioned an entity called “The Creator”, independent of both himself and Grandmother Raven. What if the Creator is Grandfather Spider, though? After all, he wasn’t mentioned in that sentence. There are a few problems with this, however. First, I don’t think KingsIsle had even created Grandfather Spider’s character yet. Second, Grandfather Spider clearly has equal power to Grandmother Raven, which wouldn’t be the case if he had created both her and Bartleby. Finally, Bartleby clearly states that both him and Grandmother Raven were created. Since Grandfather Spider didn’t create them, he must have been created too. So someone must have created them all.

That still leaves one question unanswered, however. How did the Creator come into existence? Well, an entity that exists outside of time and space would not need an explanation for their existence. After all, things can only begin within time and space. We can assume the Creator would be outside of time and space using Occam’s Razor (1). If the Creator was not outside of time and space, we would have an Infinite Regress problem (2). If things within time and space need an explanation for their existence, then Grandmother Raven, Grandfather Spider, and Bartleby need an explanation for their existence. All three of them clearly exist within time, based on how they act throughout the story. Combining that with the fact that Bartleby told us that a separate Creator exists, we can conclude it was this Creator that created the Wizard101 universe, as well as Grandmother Raven, Grandfather Spider, and Bartleby. 

So, there you have it. From this foundation we can begin to answer all the unexplained mysteries of Wizard101. The topic of the next installment will address what it means to be the Scion of Bartleby.

(1) Occam’s Razor is a problem-solving tool used in logic that says the explanation with the least assumptions is more likely to be true.

(2) An Infinite Regress is when someone tries to explain an event with another event that would also need a cause, then tries to explain that event the same way, and so on. For example, if you ask me where I got my robot, an Infinite Regress would be me saying that the robot was created by another robot, and that robot was created by a robot, and so on.

Guest Author Fable Finder