#aether theorizes

Okay enough preamble, I can’t shake this feeling that Dawnlight Rythian either will not get his memories back or that if he does he will be significantly distinct from blackrock Rythian (more so than had Blackrock Rythian just had the same experiences that Dawnlight Rythian had).

Thematically it seems like Dawnlight is interested in accepting loss. The loss of one’s home (Kirsty), the loss of one’s community/place in it (Briony), and the loss of one’s sense of self (Rythian). Although it is very early and this could change, at the moment I don’t see a version of this story where Briony returns to her people and reclaims her place there but now with new experiences. Dawnlight feels like a story where she will be changed by all that she sees and will have to deal with no longer being the person she was beforehand, maybe returning home to realize that there is not a place for the person that she has become.

With the little we know about the destruction of Peony, we know that people think there were few to no survivors. This is not a situation that Kirsty has the power to change. She must accept what happened and learn to live with it (and with themself if you think that they blame herself for its destruction).

With this context I don’t see Rythian going back to who he was before or even becoming the same as who he would have been had he kept his memories throughout the series. If he regains his memories at all, he will be someone new, distinct from who he was before in meaningful ways.

In this way, the logs of Blackrock Rythian are bittersweet because they are the last records of the person he used to be, the last moments that that version of him existed and will ever exist.

This will be all the more complicated if/when Zoey is introduced because, assuming she has also not lost her memories (again), she would heighten the conflict within DL!Rythian. Someone who knew that version of himself gives him something to compare himself to and there is a chance he doesn’t identify with the version of himself that exists in Zoey’s mind.

Especially with the egg symbolism of his arrival, this is a literal rebirth for Rythian. He lacks the iconic design elements of his Blackrock self (the mask, cape, and hair streak). He is also visually a completely new character. There are the scars (and the likely magic origin of his blond hair) which tie him to his predecessor, but in a way that gives him a sense of autonomy that would fit him being, in many ways, his own character.

The themes of the cycle of violence also continue with this interpretation with DL!Rythian paying the price for the actions of (functionally) another. The traumas that molded and shaped BR!Rythian do not suddenly disappear with the death of she who caused them, they continue on in how she impacted the world itself.

There is also a deep sadness with this interpretation in that it means that BR!Rythian did not survive confronting the manifestation of his trauma. That, for whatever reason, the only way to protract others from his tormenter was to die, was to sacrifice himself. Although this is a very bleak message, BR!Rythian as a character never developed any healthy coping mechanisms, he constantly relied on violent ideation to feel a sense of control and that reliance caused (arguably) most of the conflicts in Blackrock.

Blackrock ended up being a story about second and third chances at life, a series of ‘what if everyone lived’ after tragedies, but if Rythian was never able to apply what he learned from his mistakes to his oldest trauma, then it would thematically work for him to die as a consequence. In resorting to killing the enderdragon as a first resort (implied), he could have been unable to stop Endfall. Maybe there would have been a better solution had he approached the problem differently. And maybe he still would have needed to kill the enderdragon dragon, but letting his automatic response to his trauma dictate his actions would likely not have ended well, even with the support of others.

Rythian’s tattoos existence and insistence on finding the journal make clear that either as part of the plan or as a known side effect, DL Rythian would lose his memory. What is most striking about this to me is that *he couldn’t read them* (unless there is some big twist later on about him hiding how much he knows). 

If you are physically tattooing instructions on someone’s body so that regardless of what happens, they have access to them, you would obviously choose a language they know.

With Rythian nearly getting himself killed in chapter 2, you would think if pre-DL Rythian understood just how vulnerable he was going to be, that more precautions would be taken, and maybe they were but something went wrong. Maybe the egg wasn’t supposed to crash, maybe something went wrong when he received whatever power has led to the change in eye/hair color, maybe something else entirely. 

Again and again in Dawnlight we see that Rythian remembers basically none of the knowledge of his past life, only really maintaining some muscle memory and a strong sense of intuition (with his description of every feat of ‘knowledge’ being that ‘it felt right’). He felt that the darkstalkers are dangerous and shouldn’t be in the nether. It felt right that the flame he can produce would be able to light the portal, etc. If they knew that this was going to be the case, his tattoos wouldn't have been in a language he can't remember (they could have been in a more normal code that takes time to crack so only the person with the tattoos has access to the code for long enough to crack it or something).

Furthermore, the logs for the black box are scattered and potentially damaged. The homing on the blackbox makes sense, but either you trust that whoever has it is who is supposed to and you put the logs in one stash or you don't. Scattering them separately strikes me as unusual. It is possible that they were scattered in the crash, and in that case, how log 24 ended up in a cave is concerning for the safety of the main trio.

As a character, Zoey has very strong feelings about the way things should be/behave and this extends to her outfits. she always styles herself to mirror what she thinks someone in her role should look like/how they should dress. She added embellishments to her shirt and added shades when she was an interior designer/fashion icon, she gave herself a tattoo because she thought ‘that’s what rebels do’, and she gave herself a cyberpunk inspired look because after getting her prosthetic she began to see herself as a cyborg. It is with that understanding that we turn to her Dawnlight design.

Although some changes could have been made to what happened after the end of Blackrock, we can reasonably assume that Zoey still learned of her role as the the princess of the Twilight forest, a place described by Briony as a "place of verdant growth". Nothing in that conversation would align with the underworld/necromancy/Lich aesthetics that Zoey's new design leans into, so (if not her role as twilight princess) then what are these elements alluding to?

There has been much discussion about how Dawnlight!Rythian is sun coded with his crash landing tearing a seam of "golden light" into the night sky, and with eyes and hair of a similar hue. The hair is more expected with heavy use of end magic causing his ever-so-iconic blonde streak in Blackrock, but his eyes now turning golden instead of the rich purple they had under previous use signals an important difference in the magic at play here. Additionally, with the difference between seasons 2 and 3 of Blackrock being less than a month (in which Rythian's eyes had already begun to noticeably return towards their original blue), the lack of change in Dawnlight hints at the consistent presence of high levels of magic. The exact timeline of Dawnlight is not explicitly clear, but based on vibes and the amount of change between episodes 3-5, enough time has likely passed for this analysis to track (as always ignoring real world reasons for not changing the skin).

This association with golden light, and by proxy the sun & growth (the realm of Dawn) and Zoey seems to be the moon to his sun, representing darkness, death and the end of things (the End). Both representing the opposites of the realms they were raised in and aligned with in Blackrock.

This could be interpreted in many ways such as Zoey having forsakes her role as the twilight princess and her look is a reflection of that rejection of her position and what it stands for.

The thematic connection between Rythian and Zoey in their designs could, instead of being parallel journeys, be two halves of a whole. We know from the princess’ backstory that channeling the magic of the end through a single person is what led to her transformation into the ender dragon, so perhaps Rythian and Zoey split the power between them - half that is closer to the death and darkness of the end and half closer to the brightness and life of the realm of dawn.

It, then, begs the question if they choose who got what half or if it was beyond their control. As much as Rythian is often framed as violent and Zoey as a pacifist, Rythian actively avoids violence while pretending to pursue it, and Zoey often seeks it out while pretending to hate it - repeatedly asking Rythian why they can’t get revenge sooner as well as often making remarks that hint at a casual relationship she has with violence (which isn’t surprising considering she was raised in a nation under siege).

If the split was intentional, perhaps it was Rythian fearing the influence of the End’s magic on him, or Zoey’s connections to the anti-End magic field of the Twilight Realm (and potentially the ability to seal it in someone/something as well as out). This would mark a rejection of some magic by Rythian and an embracing of it by Zoey which has a lot if interesting implications for their dynamic/characters moving forward as each of them gets a more complex relationship with magic. It would also make sense that Zoey would structure her identity/design around holding that power because it is something that she, uniquely, can do while also being something she actively chooses herself.

On the other hand, if the magic itself chose, in a manner of speaking, then perhaps it aligned itself with the character that better embodies it, Zoey’s lack of value towards life without a name and Rythian’s true desire being a simple and peaceful life would make them good vessels for each half of the magic.

Rythian getting more in touch with the realm of Dawn is also deeply symbolic for his journey as someone who was damaged so much by the End. As he learns to heal from his traumas (by getting to live a life not defined by them), he carries the embodiment of the healed/pure version of that realm within him. As magic is often given some sort of pseudo-will or personification, perhaps the Twilight realm felt a sort of kinship in Rythian.

Zoey, on the other hand, fits the impulsive and (often unintentionally) destructive nature of the End while not having dangerous ambitions like the Dawn Princess did. Without the great destructive force of the end focused on any specific goal, it is rendered largely harmless to the broader world and the place of death/endings is placed back into equilibrium in the natural cycle.

Characters:

Briony:

We learn the least about Briony this episode, but her frequent usage of humor and comfort (snacks, blankets, etc) as a way to try and regain a sense of calm and control over the situation says a lot about her as a character. Combined with her usage of defensive magic in the fight against the Darkstalkers, she is a peacemaker who seeks to avoid tension and conflict. This is interesting in the group dynamic with both Kirsty and Rythian being more high strung, and it thematically fits well as a bunny person.

This more passive response to conflict and her misleading the others about the true context of her quest sparks a lot of questions about her past and what caused her to go against the solitary culture she grew up in, even if that meant friction/conflict with the elders. I am really interested in seeing where her character goes and how she continues to navigate (what are likely to be) increasingly stressful situations where cookies and tea stop being helpful, pushing her to other coping mechanisms.

Kirsty:

There are a lot of little telling character moments for her this episode. Her initial standoffishness after the recording finishes quickly melts away, calling for cooler heads to prevail - suggesting they go over the tape at home. Combined with apologizing for her initial tone, she is much more in tune with her emotions than characters that fall into similar tropes with her. This gives the vibe that she has experience with very stressful situations and/or conflict resolution in a trained capacity (more so than the average person at least). 

Furthermore, she suggests that Rythian might have been fleeing from the curse, which (in my opinion) she doesn’t have any evidence for with the content of the log. This makes me think that she is projecting, and that either she would run away in a situation like this, or that she did in the past. She also suggests that someone sent Rythian, before adding on that he could have sent himself, and (again) besides Zoey, who she could have named, there isn’t anyone else referenced in the log to give evidence to this idea. Again, this suggests that she would either need to be sent or that she sees things of this magnitude through the lens of power structures (and that someone important, like the throne must be behind the mission at hand). 

All of this feels like it fits with the guard idea, but I came up with that idea really early on, so I am not confident that it is correct, but I am not sure what else it would be. I need to take a step back and try and ignore that idea to get more perspective, but for now it seems to fit.

Rythian:

Obviously with much of this episode being the audiolog, we learned the most about Rythian (or the Rythians depending on how you want to think about it). I could write an entire post going through the log line-by-line (lmk if anyone would be interested in that), but I am going to focus on the few things that stuck out the most to me. 

This version of Rythian is much more in touch with his emotions than we saw him last. With location of “he propaganda I’d been told, lies to make me a dutiful soldier. It took so long to change all that…” in the audiolog, this is heavily implied to be after the death of the Ender Dragon, but before they learned about “Endfall”. This fits so well for his character because only after the Princess is dead, only after there is nothing else he can do to ‘easily’ deal with his emotions, does he turn inward. After there is no more violent ideation left to be had, he is forced to face the fact that violence was never going to free him from his trauma. That killing the attacker, does not heal the wounds (a sentiment echoed in the failure of curing the endfall at the source). 

Rythian starts out somewhat optimistic, talking about slowing the spread as the only option “for now”, implying that he remains hopeful for a different plan in the future, but as the log goes on, he loses confidence and begins to catastrophize, as he so often does, ending with the unstoppable nature of entropy and death. 

Zoey:

I am very curious what the “figurative and literal” power she has entails, because it is clear that the increased power will be from the throne/her position in the cosmic order as the Twilight princess, so is it political power that is figurative? Is it an increase in confidence/knowing who she is? Like the general meaning of the statement is clear, but that figurative power throws me a little bit because everything is so closely connected, that if it is just related to the power boost attached with her role, the phrase would not be needed. I am curious if there is something else that this is referencing, or if it is just looking to communicate that she has more than one type of “power” at her disposal.

The World:

Endfall, or “TEEF”, as an entropy field is a really interesting concept that partially mirrors the damage done by nukes (this is a problem caused by magic explained by scientific terms compared to a problem caused by science that mostly impacted magic). Considering that there was an attempt to stop it at the source, that says that it is emanating from somewhere (the ender dragon’s corpse, the end egg, potentially the location of the ritual that turned her into the dragon) and that it was possible to try and attempt to cure it without instantly dying. This communicates that it acts as a corruption of the realm (which would lead to there being no food and thus everyone dying) rather than creating a zone where you instantly die when you enter. If it acts like the latter, then there is at least some way to shield oneself from these effects, for a time. 

We also don’t know where the borders of this field are. Seemingly it is a threat to every realm, so it can travel between them, but if it is in the end, between realms, or started in the end but has started spreading beyond it is not clear at the moment. We also don’t know what the corrupted areas look like. With sand and the flux existing as other contagious corruptions, it will be interesting seeing how TEEF compares to them. 

Also, calling TEEF the “death curse” stuck out to me because the obvious interpretation is ‘a curse that kills’ but it could just as easily be ‘a curse from death’. This could be that it was a deadman’s switch of sorts, a deterrent against those who would try and kill her, or it could be that it was a consequence of her dying because of how her actions corrupted the magic of her realm. Curse also implies a level of intentionality, so if this was the case, then perhaps there were other ways things could have gone upon her death, but she chose TEEF over the other options for whatever reason. What we know about her as a character is very limited but her actions on this matter would say a lot about who she had become. 

The Series:

The story is setting up the gang to go to the Twilight realm next episode, and considering that the plan being executed is Zoey’s idea*, the episode calling attention to the fact that “Log 24” means there are other logs out there is interesting. You would expect Zoey to have the most important information contained within those logs, so finding them wouldn’t be a big priority after finding her, since they are mostly referenced as a guide for post-fall Rythian to follow the plan. 

This could imply that either they are stopped from finding Zoey in the Twilight Realm, or that she is not there. We don’t know what her part of the plan entails in the long run and with the heavy death/lich theming of her design, it is entirely possible that she is elsewhere. Alternately with the “don’t let them know who you are or what happens” in his tattoos, that could refer to the people of the twilight forest and not letting them know he is the Enderborn. If this is the case, there are multiple ways they could be stopped from seeing Zoey, and would therefore need to return to the journals for more information before being able to meet her.

This is interesting because the series had set itself up for a while of page hunting/trying to understand what they mean before pursuing Zoey/anyone with more information about the situation, so actively deviating from this is an interesting narrative choice and I can’t wait to see where it is going/what is in store!

As far as I can remember (and please correct me if I am wrong), the only major character that has a named homeland is Honeydew (and I haven’t kept track if it has been kept consistent over the years). Being five episodes in and already having multiple conversations about people’s homelands, heavily suggests that this is going to be an important part of the story/the characters of Dawnlight. Rythian, although he doesn’t have a named homeland at the moment, does have a life from which he was taken as a kid (yes it is funny that having canon parents is a rarity, but that is par for the course with mcrp).

Rythian’s current arc focusing on his lack of memories could place him as someone who doesn’t have a homeland because they have no memories/connection to it, and that would still fit well within this theming, but the theming is not the only reason to think we might learn more about Rythian’s pre-end life. 

There is definitely a version of this story where Rythian never gains his memories back, but (admittedly based on just vibes), I don’t think that is the story that is going to be told. In a version of this story where Rythian gets his memories back, regains that bit of connection to his homeland, you could continue that theme with having him interact with the loss of his homeland. The Capital need not be destroyed for this, but if the End has time distortion like the Twilight Realm, then everyone Rythian knew as a child is likely dead, and that kind of loss of a home (that it is still physically there but everything that made it home is now gone), really rounds out the different lenses the theme is examined through. 

Beyond the theming, language Rythian’s arm tattoos are in is a coded and archaic version of the language of the Capital. Physically inscribing instructions into your skin (and acknowledging the state of disorientation Dawnlight Rythian is in within those instructions) shows that whoever wrote them knew Rythian would likely lose his memory. If you are going to leave instructions for a person with no memory, you would want to do it in a way they can understand. Had Briony not been there, Rythian would not have been able to read his tattoos.

To me, this feels more like something has gone wrong with the plan rather than an error in the language chosen for the tattoos. Under that assumption, it is a language Rythian *should* have known.

Potential End time distortion, would explain why Rythian’s tattoos are specifically in an archaic form of the language. If the narrative purpose of it being an older form of the language was to mess with the translation, that could also be covered by it being in code.This implies that it is an older version of the language for a different reason. Admittedly, it could be an older version of the language to make it more mysterious/because magic is often associated with antiquity, but for the sake of this argument, I am working with the idea that it was done for a more specific reason.

It is also thematically satisfying for Rythian as a character to explore his backstory with the plot centering around ‘endfall’. Although we don’t know exactly what it entails, its scale (“everyone and everything” will die) leaves no room for further, higher stakes conflict involving the End - making this functionally the end (no pun intended) of the End plotline. Since Rythian’s involvement with the end began when he was kidnapped as a child, it also makes sense to return (literally or metaphorically) to that place when dealing with the final manifestation of his original trauma.