BETA TOPIC: The Theory Compilation (Spoilers)

[Fredric]

It's likely that Rhue has been wandering The Way with the same shadow sword/illuminati for a VERY long time. The reason he never kills himself is because he constantly changes aura, so the bond between him and the sword never grows strong enough.
Also, I still believe it was the Phantom Slasher who stood for the save-the-day beam in the pits, stops Rhue from attacking certain people (Gaius) and everything else the sword has done.

[EmperorJeramyu]

Alustra... dude... you're insane. Ever heard of a metaphor? Or allusion?

Come on, you can't ACTUALLY believe Traziun is the son of satan...

[Dr. Casey]

Okay... Rhue apparently absorbed Jeruh or something. Why does he remember Serena, but nothing else from Jeruh's consciousness? If Serena went with someone other than Jeruh, why does Rhue remember going with her? Shouldn't he be completely ignorant of the event? I'm sure there's an explanation for that, and it's a pretty brilliant plot point.

[Alundra]

I told you it was pretty late, and I wrote that after a whole day of beta testing ^_^ can't blame me... but nonetheless... you can't deny that Trazuin has some pretty awkward powers, surpassing those of most wanderers... and I doubt that's due to a sword.
Besides, don't we all know that the way is religiously inspired? Frank (also know as fwacho) is a devoted christian. That might suggest his brother Luke is so aswell(Lun don't burn me if I'm wrong! Begging you!). Why wouldn't they write a story about satan's son? It's a battle between good and bad anyhow. It's just wrapped in a more unobvious coat... But nevermind that's just me.

BTW... it's AluNDRa not Alustra... that's my evil twin ^_^ I did like your brief appearance in the game Jeramyu! (and the others aswell). Did you make your own sprite?

What else do you think about the several theories I wrote? I am most fond of the one in which Kava and Kura are compared to Traz and Gauis.
Anyhow, I'm just guessing like everybody else here...so please don't flame me like somebody else would (cough Impossible ) Dr. Casey has a good point. It's worth digging into. Thanks to him there's one thing I've been wondering about, no actually two.

You see, we all think that Rhue absorbed Midian before he absorbed Jeruh... What if Midian was actually that bountyhunter we met on the bridge, the one killed by Slade...? True, the only connection they have is that they're both trained with the sword and are both looking for Jeruh. Why would Midian then attack rhue? Maybe he sensed Jeruh's aura inside Rhue(maybe sensing is some kind of skill that can be tought ?) Rhue could've absorbed him after 'Midian' fell into the river, even if his sword didn't kill him, that much is said in my previous post. He just had to be close by.
The only other arguement I have is that the other bountyhunter mistakes Rhue for Midian, again sensing the aura. But what I mean is, it's also a bountyhunter. Maybe Midian and this guy talked as "befriended" bountyhunters seeking for the prey 'jeruh' a while ago?
I know this is a farfetched theory, certainly if you think about the quote"I've been waiting my whole life for this day" which pretty much implies it's Midian speaking trough Rhue. But then again, any theory could be right at this point.

The second thing I wonder about is how people easily say KAVA KURA in one breath. As if both became one. It's pretty weird if you think about the theory that everybody in Dream Estrana is actually a shadow of a person, killed by Rhue's sword, or at least absorbed by it. That would mean that Kura killed Kava or absorbed his aura when Kava was killed by the Guided? It would makes sense in a way if you consider that Rhue is a bit of both characters. He's blinded by finding Serana back and won't be swayed by anything else on his path. (an answer to dr.casey's perhaps?) This might be Kava's influence. But Rhue is also a cold blooded, indifferent individual, mostly giving pretty harsh comments on others, and in the end he's only focussing on his mission. That would be Kura's influence. Both make up one being...

And then one last question from me: Episode 5 credits:
The one with Rhan and the 'you know who' and shadow walking in the snow... Wtf is that about? it has no specific meaning to it does it? I mean we all thought that was a major plot point but have I missed something?

Anyhow enough yapping from me... Don't worry, I stated once that I'd be stopping once I had 250 posts...

[Fredric]

Okay... Rhue apparently absorbed Jeruh or something. Why does he remember Serena, but nothing else from Jeruh's consciousness? If Serena went with someone other than Jeruh, why does Rhue remember going with her? Shouldn't he be completely ignorant of the event? I'm sure there's an explanation for that, and it's a pretty brilliant plot point.

The character Rhue that we controls only absorbed the memories of the imaginary person Rhue that Jeruh had created in his mind.

[Trihan]

Holy shit, Alundra...that makes sense! If the headhunter in episode 1 was Midian it would explain why he was looking for Jeruh (and we have to remember this wasn't far from where Jeruh was actually killed by Rhue). Headhunters can sense auras, it seems, so that would explain why he attacked Rhue...and when he died, Rhue's sword was near enough to absorb the aura! As you also said, that's probably why the headhunter on Marna Stretch thought he was Midian too.

This also brings me to another theory I have. If Rhue has absorbed the essences of BOTH Midian and Jeruh, this might explain why he comes to hate mirrors so much. When he looks into a mirror Jeruh sees something that isn't real, and Midian sees the guy he wants to kill. That would certainly invoke strange feelings in an individual, no? (This theory holds water because it's never established that Rhue hates mirrors until after the headhunter dies; it's entirely possible that this particular trait was not present prior)

[Alundra]

I'm glad at least one of my findings might be true ^_^ what you said indeed holds water... I've got some remarks, that I noted down, after starting to replay the whole series, bearing in mind what I know from episode 6 now:

*the famous ledge from the estrana forum: could be from where rhue spied on Midian and Serena watching the stars together?

*Rhue experienced the landorin massacre for the first time, along with us. He tries to piece back his memory just like we did. We make the choises in rhue's stead.Our choises do reflect what we look for in a girl too doesn't it? and it's probably affect by the way we look upon the heroines of the story of the way. That's probably what Lun intended. To make us feel like rhue. Maybe Rhue doesn't remember a lot about serena because the memories are just coming back to him... not the whole thing at once? As we know rhue had only been transformed a day ago when we first met him.

*There might be a reason as to why rhue mixes up the story of the landorin massacre: it bears the 3D tiles of the actual place where serena was killed, just up until you get to the point where the actual killing would take place. then it switches to the place that gauis said was the end of the way... couldn't it be that place is the spot where the guided massacre happened and that rhue rememberd the whole kura thing chasing lumia (and maybe kava along with it) and mixed the two stories to one?

*One weird thing is this: although we never get to see them:Rhue seems to know his parents well, cuz he keeps bringing them up again. his dad telling him about the swiftfoot, talking to his mom when he goes to work to earn money for the pendant.... (this has probably no relevance to the story, but I'm just trying to figure out if this too is a clustered memory)


*I've got plenty of evidence that gauis is in fact none other than the PS... I know most people think the PS is the swords aura, and I really want to believe that too... But there's just too much evidence pointing out that Gauis might have at least something to do with the PS...

-He's right behind rhue in the opening credits. Gauis would be there too!It would be obvious that gauis noticed rhue was gone and went looking for him...
-The PS follows right in Rhue's tracks after he spent the night with those people at the fire place.
-The PS keeps following rhue as he goes underground with trazuin. and moments later gauis appears...? 'sides gauis has the only key to advance so joining up with him is the only way.
-gauis mysteriously vanishes at lyrra's campfire and all of a sudden the PS pops up...
-Bandits (probably) ahead on rhue's path are clobbered and nearly burried... Moments later we stumble upon gauis who seemingly either fell in the trap of the bandits himself, or tried to rig the bridge (unlikely).
-Gauis notices that rhue's aura is muddled... but that's a good thing if he doesn't realises it what transpired. Gauis goes off to find something...
Could it be that he tagged along to hand something to Ballar? Jeruh's sword? Jeruh himself said that he didn't knew where it went... Who knows, gauis might have taken it along and asked KLOE to keep it safe.
Ballar might have spilled the beans to Cetsa, who was being trailed by Scatha...
-when the sword is about to be discovered, suddenly the PS appears near rhue... And a day later, gauis suddenly stands near a river bank
I don't know it seems connected somehow and maybe gauis IS the PS or at least a part of him... correct me if I'm wrong in what I stated here.

*Trazuin is somebody very weird too! I've tried to point out that he might be the son of the one below, but people don't like that view and don't wanna believe it... here's more evidence to something like that...
-Trazuin has a way with words, but there's gotta be a reason why he wanted rhue to join him. He was just sitting there all to awkwardly... he also wanted to go straight underground.
-I first thought that trazuin was the ps (when I played the way for the first time), but i compared their plunge animations and had to admit that it was totally different.However I'm correct saying that Trazuin is the son of the one below: He stated that he would go down there (pits underneat ballar's house) to find the sword if it was there! The being that we fought in the pits HAS THE EXACT SAME PLUNGE MOVES AS TRAZUIN.
Most surely this is enough evidence of trazuin being down there and changing his outside apperance?
(this leaves me to think that trazuin is in fact the mimic instead of rhue!)
-another weird thing is : I've compared the way trazuin's sprite sits there waiting for rhue to pass... It's about the exact way the person is sitting next to the dead body from which Jeruh gets the shadow sword.
This could mean that Trazuin was fighting with somebody over that sword, it got somehow taken by jeruh and now traz was trying to reclaim it...
-Final weird thing is this: Why does trazuin constantly wants rhue to compete in Plunges? He constantly pays in stead of rhue, just to be sure that rhue will enter. Isn't it more than just being friendly? Isn't it because trazuin knows rhue's the Paraphlyn and wants to bring that out by training him?


I was right when I said that the small campfire story held the hook for the whole tale!
MONSTER: Mwahahah!\|
I have locked Lyla's ability
to love others away in this (ability to love others... emm he's blinded to see anything but Serena?)
ancient artifact. (the artefact: the thing that jeruh cherished the most because he endured so much to give it to her is the pendant.)
MONSTER: I don't answer
questions.\| Only by defeating me
can you save your one true love. (by defeating the PS you can choose to stay with lexus, his own choise, not given by another aura inside him)
RHUKE: Well there's no way
that's going to happen.\|\| You're
much bigger than I am. (more then one aura inside him. too much clustered up.)
LYLA: No Rhuke, you can
do it!\| The power is inside you!\|(duuh he's the parahplyn...)
LYLA: You were born with
it Rhuke!
RHUKE: Are you saying
that I'm some sort of
"Chosen one"?
MONSTER: Be quiet!
You are a dead little
boy!(is that about jeruh? midian?)
RHUKE: You're standing
in a puddle of blood.(har har everybody must bleed! ^_^)
(yeah i know this whole story is probably just a metaphor... but i'm just adding this one for fun!)

[Alundra]

Just a few remarks but consider this:

"The first wanderer to reach the end of the way will become the new purpose."
What if this is what happens in that weird ending in which rhue goes flying off?
It might not mean that rhue became the paraphlyn as some people suggested, he already was that in dream estrana, and as far as i know I thought the paraphlyn was only a title given to the best plunge fighter around...
It might mean that rhue somehow became the next purpose, and that's why he said he is eternal...

Bout the end of the way not being there anymore?
Well consider this: the rolling mists are rumored to be at the very end and beginning of the way... if they move, then the last place they were isn't the end of the way anymore, it moved along with them. The mists have a weird byproduct too... they tend to show ppl images, as rhue saw in dream estrana... 'Visions' as that unknown man exclaimed. This is what's been discussed in the estrana forum. The mists make it so that everybody sees something different. (Rhue sees the landorin stretch where he killed all the guided being kava...?)

[Berserker]

about the two shadows who "give" the sword to Jeruh... (I hope noone has still remarked this) I think the catatonic one, that is the previous bearer of the sword, had just absorbed the last aura he could take before going insane. Maybe he could even have been Kalmar or Tetzel, but this is a bit far-fetched...

[Dr. Casey]

Speaking of the random comments Lun made...

Slade: I couldn't save a single one...
Note: That sucks.

XD

[DSOK]

Holy shit, Alundra...that makes sense! If the headhunter in episode 1 was Midian it would explain why he was looking for Jeruh (and we have to remember this wasn't far from where Jeruh was actually killed by Rhue). Headhunters can sense auras, it seems, so that would explain why he attacked Rhue...and when he died, Rhue's sword was near enough to absorb the aura! As you also said, that's probably why the headhunter on Marna Stretch thought he was Midian too.

This also brings me to another theory I have. If Rhue has absorbed the essences of BOTH Midian and Jeruh, this might explain why he comes to hate mirrors so much. When he looks into a mirror Jeruh sees something that isn't real, and Midian sees the guy he wants to kill. That would certainly invoke strange feelings in an individual, no? (This theory holds water because it's never established that Rhue hates mirrors until after the headhunter dies; it's entirely possible that this particular trait was not present prior)

Reading the threads here, I think people are totally barking up the wrong tree about Midian. My theory is that Midian is simply the protagonist. That's why the headhunter calls him by that name. Midian's aura is present in Dream Estrana because that aura is one of the many that is contained in the mess that reside within Rhue's sword. (The points is specifically made in the game that the sword does not have to actually kill somebody to interact with their aura. Moreover, not just people have auras. What is in Dream Estrana is every aura that has been "unhomed" in the presence of the sword: including people slain by the blade, people slain near it, Estrana itself, the older city of Janwen, AND Midian's aura, which was basically forced from its native body.) The original aura of the weilder gets a status that is roughly the same as that of the powerful auras that are absorbed by violence.

The objection one might make is that Midian, as he appears in the game, looks nothing like our hero. But Dream Estrana is just the perception that the hero has of the auras hiding in his sword. He can't have Midian look just like him, because that wouldn't make sense to him; but neither can he give Midian some other real person's face. So the form that Midian is endowed with is a cartoon--a ridiculous-looking, pink-and-spikey haired caricature.

[I don't think this counts as necromancy, due to the odd nature of this forum, as I have been here only a few days.]

[Culix]

Huh... Seems DSOK beat me to the punch on most of that point. ... By just over thirteen hours. ... Anyway, before checking the forums, I supposed that the person who became the Rhue we know was Midian. He was pursuing Jeruh for what happened so long ago (I'm not quite sure why Gaius was going along with him, though; the blue-haired one was sympathetic to Midian's story, mayhaps?) and finally found him. Afterwards, Rhue took residence in Midian's body, which is why Midian appears in The City: his aura was supplanted and had to go somewhere. If anyone wonders why he never goes into this, the reason is probably the same why Jed, for instance, doesn't remember that Rhue killed him.

This theory may not explain why the headhunter on Episode I's bridge asks about Jeruh like the 'said headhunter was Midian' theory, but it does do a better job of explaining the Marna stretch headhunter's words, in my opinion.

Also, about Rhue being the Mimic, while I consider that a very, very interesting idea that I'd not considered, somethings about that don't quite add up. If he was the Mimic, then presumably those able to detect auras would find something amiss about him. However, Gaius seemed to think nothing of the kind when he and whoever Rhue once was were traveling, but specifically mentioned that his aura seemed muddled in Lide. Also, according to Sacrifa, the Mimic was once a terror of the Way, meaning it isn't in the present day. Why would it suddenly resurface?

Then, there's another thing I noticed that I haven't seen mentioned: look in some of the battle events for Episode VI. Look near the end for something like 'Rhue=Scarred'. Apparentally, though I've never seen it, there's a 5% chance in every/some battle(s) of Rhue temporarily learning 'Soul's Despair.' It's described as the 'Ultimate Attack of Evil' and even exceeds the power possessed by The End of the Way. Has anyone actually gotten this ability?

And, recalling that the poems and Sacrifa's comments that the Lord Below was scarred, one might see this as a strange link between Rhue and the Lord of the Pits. Again, that's just speculation. I do wonder what it really means, though...

Anyway, just one last thing. Long ago in this topic, somebody mentioned that Lun probably hid some enormous truth of the Way in a raindrop. I don't think so. If Lun was going to hide something like that, he would do it in a place that our minds wouldn't think of searching because it would just be too big a pain in the ass. ^_^ Gentlemen, I propose that a secret or two is hidden on a dancer in The Scene.

[I don't think this counts as necromancy, due to the odd nature of this forum, as I have been here only a few days.]

Ditto. Also, DSOK, I was surprised to see you post here. I thought you'd posted on Estrana that you hadn't been confirmed an-- *thinks for a moment* Oh, right. You said you hadn't received your confirmation e-mail. Nevermind.

[DSOK]

Another thought on this just came to me. I haven't gone back and checked, but when the protagonist first arrives in Dream Estrana, he meets Midian, and I think Midian says something about him not looking the way he expected. I think that Midian is actually referring here to how he looks (spikey pink hair, etc.--not how Midian really looked), not to how "Rhue" appears.

Ditto. Also, DSOK, I was surprised to see you post here. I thought you'd posted on Estrana that you hadn't been confirmed an-- *thinks for a moment* Oh, right. You said you hadn't received your confirmation e-mail. Nevermind.

There is some problem with my spam filter or something, because Lun's e-mails about the beta testing never got through to my address. I only found out that I was a tester when he posted the list. Then I missed my assigned wave.....

[Teenr0cker]

I know this is a bit off-topic, but fuck damn.....It is FUNNY to read all of these theories in estrana now!

[EmperorJeramyu]

I know. There's page after page speculating on Rhue and Strata teaming up, or Rhue and Traziun fighting.

Ironically, when someone suggested the Phantom Slasher would be the final boss, everybody thought it was bullcrap. (Although technically you can't lose to the slasher, but whatever -_-)