a thousand miles seems pretty far

got tagged by @elegantdeerbaran some time ago but i thought i was too basic for it, got tagged again yesterday by @darthdisasterous and now i feel i've got no choice lol

WILLS NAME WAS STILL THERE GUYS!!! (merit board screenshotted from ep 68- the mystery manor aftermath) It takes place after the maze flashback scene (ep 161- the one where monty and will meet and monty grabs one of the wills).

<— we dont know for sure if monty grabbed the real (was the real will even there? idk) will but the real will must have survived (right? right?) because his name is still on the board. unless the clones also count as the students??? (am i making sense? idk.) because will’s name is STILL there.

while monty saved one of the wills it seems unlikely that he saved the real will because there were so many (what were the odds? like 1/50 lmao.)

also i think that the will we see in the flashback with the missing jacket and the arm scar was most likely the real will (this post) because why did rnf feel the need to separate one will from the rest?

HOWEVER, that would mean the real will is definitely gone. but he’s not dead because (ep 45) poppet says:

(circling back to ‘unless the clones also count’ in p2) in ep 46 poppet says this after monty asks her about fatal injuries outside pocket dimensions:

if the real will was dead his name wouldn’t stay.

will’s clones only get bits and pieces of his memory (eg, in ep 160 when monty asks will what happened with the kiss and will was unable to answer). the clones melt and bubble when they get injured (eg, ep 160 and 120) while the other students bleed like humans. his clones aren’t real.

in ep 120, we see will killed by the stag. his body melts and he dies and unless the will monty saved from the maze somehow died before that it means that that will was also a clone. (and than will #2 shows up and hes definitely a clone <— backed up by ep 160 obv)

BUT, if the real will isn’t in nevermore academy (because he failed the maze test) he’s only in the land of the dead. and his clones are still here.

but none of the teachers ever specify (to my knowledge) that students sent to the land of the dead name’s disappear. only that poppet says students killed OUTSIDE the tests/lessons name’s are removed from the merit board. (take this with a grain of salt tho im probably missing something here)

BUT THEN,

YEARS?

ok ok so will only gets tiny bits of his memory right? what if will has been duplicating himself for so long he isn’t aware of how long its been? what if this is like the 236th clone or something and there were so many gaps in his memory he literally doesn’t know how long he’s been in the maze? it could have felt like minutes/days/years for him.

rnf answers PLEASE

And I would also object to the injuries of the clones: they don't melt immediately, they may well bleed. But considering how copies of Will grew right out of his blood and then melted into wax anyway... maybe it's same thing for him? It looks like they bleed first and only then melt.

I would also point out the students who went to the land of the dead are not supposed to be Nevermore students anymore. I would assume their names disappear from the board anyway, just because they no longer participate in the game. Although you are right, this is not explicitly stated.

If we take the theory that Will has been in Nevermore for several years, it would mean his name has been on the board all this time. Even at the end of the game, when there was only one winner left (assuming that's how the board works).