breathe

That each of the people who died were all the game masters whose players “failed” their quests to ascend. Maybe game masters of the advanced levels have their own quests. And their players have to succeed but if they don’t, as an alternative way to “ascend”, the game masters have to drink the cup with the cyanide.

Like the warden marked Archie. Meaning he was the target of his quest. Warden was the one who instructed Joaquin to shiv Archie so he was Joaquin’s game master. And they showed the “kill Red Paladin” card so maybe the quest was to kill Archie and he/Joaquin failed that. So he drank the cyanide.

Then what if Featherhead’s quest was to form a new group of players and make an Ascension party where one of the kids had to drink from the cup as well. And since Alice didn’t do it, he also failed that quest.

Then in episodes back, it was Ethel who was game master to Jughead. And maybe her quest was to get Jughead to drink the cyanide cup and she failed. So she drank the cyanide.

But it gets tricky when we get to the first episode. What if Ethel was game master for Dilton and Ben? This would mean either of them was the sacrifice because they were both found in the woods. They must have been tasked to drink from the cups and Dilton was the one that chose the one with the cyanide.

Why did Ben fall out of the window though? Could be that his quest involved flying? And he took it literally.

But conversely it could be, maybe their players “failing their quests” actually means them ascending.

Maybe each game master has a sacrifice.

If the chosen sacrifice doesn’t die and stays alive (Jughead drinking from the non-poisonous cup, Alice not drinking at all, Archie surviving a shiv), technically, they “ascend” and they beat the game master. So the game master’s option to Ascend now would be to be the sacrifice himself.

Idk. I’m in too deep with this game.