Erased generation of heroes, Rock's "family business" and why Nine matters, actually.
Aka "Nine Inheritance theory".
Brought to you by: My sleep deprived ass running on nothing but tea and spite.
Okay, so i was thinking about Nine and his possible relevance to the story, as one does, and i realised that... we actually don't have much.
From the things we know for a fact, the only one that makes Nine relevant is the fact that he's acquaintances with X. Nothing more and nothing less.
We know nothing about his motivations, ideals, circumstance or even HOW he managed to get to know X and TG.
And the things that we know about him only end up raising more questions.
Why is he rebelling against the Commission?
Why don't they have information on him, despite seemingly having several paragraphs of description which likely includes biography?
Does he know the Commission's secrets?
How did he find out about them?
Why is he so cheerful amidst all that?
How come his design looks like it came from a completely different series?
Why are his powers so OP?
Why is his name like that???
Why haven't we heard ANYTHING about him outside of the DOS conspiracy board, despite him supposedly being around the same level as top 15? (Wreck, who is on the same level as Nice, was ranked as an "A" in terms of power, where as Nine got a higher rating of "S-")
So i did a bit of digging and analysing and came up with something that would answer all of those questions and give Nine some much needed plot relevance.
So we all know how in canon heroes are roughly seperated into two generations.
But i also noticed something interesting... Hero names change from generation to generation as well, not to mention the scope and specifics of their powers. This serves to showcase what is used to define them too.
Old generation heroes are more often than not named after their powers with characters like E-Soul (electric soul), Blazing Fire and Matchstick and even Vortex having their names be basically an explanation of their powers/gimmick. There is also not much personality attached to the names. Only powers.
Which is a BIG contrast with the newer generation, where names would often be much more personal and only tangentially relate to the powers of a hero, if at all. Prime examples of it would be The Johnnies, Ahu and Loli, who's names are literally just their names, or Queen, Ghostblade and Dragon Boy who's names are only somewhat representative of their powers.
And yes i can already hear you screaming about Nice, but he is a wholly fabricated image, so i'm not counting him.
The powers also change from generation to generation. From simple stuff like fire, electricity and aerokenesis, to more abstract and restricted "setting rules", "return to sender" and "knife proficiency".
With all that being said, there are a few who don't fit this narrative. Their names give you absolutely no information about the persom bearing them and/or their powers. Three, to be more specific. Zero, X and Nine.
And since X is somewhat understandable, his name is because no one knows his true identity, hence they cannot connect him to anything, and his powers suppousedly stem from the viewers. We'll disregard him for now.
Zero is one of the original heroes, yet his name gives absolutely no insight into what his powers might be. And from what we saw his powers have something to do with the sun, given the imagery associated with him. An abstract concept, opposing the old generation's specificity, as broad as it is. But yet a limitless one, opposing the set rules of the newer generation.
Nine is young, clearly being from the newer generation, yet his name is in no way connected to his personality or identity. And his power of creation is basically only restricted by his imagination, not to mention that you can hardly get more abstract than "creation".
AND both of their names are numbers. Do you see how they're awfully similar in the concept?
So i raise you... What if Zero was an experiment? Not necessarily an artifically created human(probably not), but a child who was used as a test subject. We already know that Zero was 15 when he became a god. And accumilating people's trust takes time, meaning he most likely became a hero the same year trust was discovered, when he was 13.
No kid would be able to do something like that, unless they're actively guided into HOW. Which is where Rock's father comes into play. (Guess grooming children runs in the family-)
He's referred to as the "person who made Zero". An interesting turn of phrase isn't it? Almost as if Zero was never really seen as human... As if the whole image was a fabrication from the very beginning.
But here's a thing. Experiments are never done on just one subject. Especially if we're talking about early experiments with something that had JUST been discovered. So it would make sense that Zero was one of a whole line of those "numbered" heroes. Children who were used to observe how Trust affects humans.
The true first generation of heroes, that had been lost to time.
It would make sense that the Commision would want to erase the fact that there were experiments on humans. This isn't just a bad look for the Commission that needs people's trust more than any hero does, but also just think what would happen if people found out that there were more heroes like Zero. People are already terrified of him alone. I can't even imagine the sheer amount of fear that would appear if there were more like him out in the open. The Commission wouldn't be able to afford that.
It's fair to assume that most heroes of that first generation were either cast aside or rebranded to cut any connection with the experiment.
But i can already hear you say "Wait, but Nine is YOUNG! What do you MEAN he's a part of the first generation!?"
How does Nine fit into that narrative???
And yes, Nine is indeed young and CLEARLY doesn't present himself as someone who was present to be traumatized by the Dawnfall.
So how can he have the same powers and name as a hero of the first generation?
Well, i think the answer lies in the first two arcs of the series.
Lin Ling was able to inherit Nice's trust value because he adopted Nice's identity. He was still a different person, but people didn't know that.
And Yeng Cheng inherited E-Soul's trust value because that's who people associated him with, meaning that, even if there is a clear distinction between two heroes that bear the same name, their trust is still shared. And we were shown that ALL of og E-Soul's trust was transferred to Yeng Cheng after the duel because at the end of the day they both had the same name.
So... What if Nine we know went through something similar? Except in his case it was a voluntary passing on of the legacy from OG Nine.
Zero was one of a whole line of "numbered" heroes, that served as test subjects in research of trust value and its effects.
Among those heroes was Nine, who survived the Dawnfall, but was cast away since the Commission aimed to bury the past.
But something so fresh is not so easily erased from people's memories. Nine retained a certain amount of trust value, now staying more on the subconsious as opposed to active trust. (Like Smile was before the incident)
Nine has their own reservations about the Commission after being cast aside, so they shared the story with present Nine.
The relationship can be either a familial one or simply a mentor/mentee. All that's for certain is that OG Nine trusted the kid enough to open up about their reservations. (i personally lean into the idea that Nine was taught about the Commission's wrongs from childhood, because changing the world seems to be more of a subconsious motivation, than an active pursiut, hense affecting his action in indirect ways. But any interpretation is valid until proven otherwise)
OG Nine steps down from the position with our Nine fully adopting the persona. The reason for the stepping down can be age/illness/loss of motivation/death.
Regardless of the reason as to why OG Nine stepped down, one thing is for certain - our Nine took on the role willingly and knowingly, making this his first step in rebelling against the Commission.
Nine becomes active and it takes time for the Commission to realize that it's a different Nine from the one they know, hence having an understanding of his powers and background, but no understanding of the actual strengths and weaknesses of this new Nine. It also couldn't have been too long since he started to be active, because the Commision still lacks information about him by the time X makes his first appearance
TG probably seeked out Nine in order to join forces. Some time later she also seeks out X and arranges a meeting of the two, kickstarting their relationship and cementing the rebellion.
Nine could've been how X gained a deeper understanbing of the state of the world and grew more interested in the truth beind all of it, pushing him to explore the posibilities of his own powers in order to gain more insight.
It's only after this that X makes his appearance in the tournament
This idea would explain all the questions posed at the beginning.
Why is he rebelling against the Commission? Does he know the Commission's secrets? How did he find out about them?
He knows what the Commission is hiding, because he was told about it by an eye witness of what happened back then.
Why don't they have information on him, despite seemingly having several paragraphs of description which likely includes biography?
Because they had information on OG Nine, but not the new one. They could make conclusions as to how Nine got his powers, but they couldn't possibly know about the physical abilties of the new guy.
Why is he so cheerful amidst all that?
Nine was most likely told about the Dawnfall's story ever since he was a little kid. While those stories affect your worldview, they rarely affect your actual personality. For him the Commission hiding stuff is just the truth of the world, not a revelation.
It would also make sense that OG Nine wouldn't have dumped ALL of the information on a fragile mind of a kid using something like "I'm just too old to do something about it" as an excuse as to why they couldn't have done anything personally.
If you tell a kid who looks up to you that you can't do something because of "age" they will get motivated to do that thing in your stead. Hence taking on the persona later in life.
How come his design looks like it came from a completely different series?
Because the identity that he bears quite literally DID come from a different era, making him look distinct when standing next to modern heroes.
Nowadays heroes' outfits are heavily "designed". They all carry a certain concept to them (Queen being a "Valkyire", Johnny's "catboy" thing and Cyan's "Lucky Angel" idea), where as older heroes (specifically ones from E-Soul PV) were often shown wearing outfits comprised largely out of something that can be found in a closet. Not tailored outfits.
(The person on the left is literally wearing sneakers and what seems like sweatpants or jeans.)
((We are not talking about the body bag on the right-))
Why are his powers so OP? Why is his name like that???
Because they came from a time when heroes were still an unknown force and had no limitations on what they might be. He simply took on the identity.
Why haven't we heard ANYTHING about him outside of the DOS conspiracy board, despite him supposedly being around the same power level as top 15?
Because he's unaffiliated with any agency OR the Commission at large, bearing trust that is still holding on from the people who survived the Dawnfall and those who have seem him act in present day. NOT from publicity.
I find this theory to be a great way to deepen the world's lore, give Nine some much needed plot relevance and motivations, as well as explain why he would become friends with X and TG. Not to mention the fact that this would also give more insight into Rock's past and why he considers what he does to be normal.
With that being said, i am fully ready to be proven wrong by season 2 or to hear any opposing opinions and have discussions.
But for the time being, this is my theory about Nine and Zero's lore, based solely on what was shown by the end of reason 1.
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baratheonpilled
izzy806
origamiaround
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
turnnoffyourmind
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