#fandomtheory

Why Buck Buckley and Benedict Bridgerton Are the Same Man Waiting for Their Sophie

Two Men, Two Universes, One Emotional Blueprint

Here’s a theory that has been living in my head for a while now:

Buck Buckley and Benedict Bridgerton are essentially the same character.

Yes, they exist in completely different worlds — one in a modern emergency drama like 9-1-1, the other in the Regency romance universe of Bridgerton — but if you strip away the setting, the clothes, and the time period, the emotional structure of these two men is almost identical.

And the more I thought about it, the more obvious it became.

The Man Who Watches Everyone Else Find Their Direction

One of the most interesting things the show has done with Benedict Bridgerton is portray him as someone who has never truly had a direction.

Around him, everyone finds their path.

Daphne finds love. Anthony finds purpose and partnership. Colin finds identity through travel and romance. Francesca finds her own quiet version of belonging.

Slowly, the circle closes.

And Benedict is left standing in the middle of a room where everyone else has figured it out.

Buck exists in almost the same narrative position.

When Evan Buckley joins the 118, everyone seems to eventually find their person or their stability:

Hen and Karen already have it. Chimney finds it with Maddie. Bobby has Athena.

One by one, the people around Buck move forward in their lives.

And Buck is left wondering where exactly he fits.

Family Is Loud, Loving, and Not the Problem

Interestingly, neither of them lacks family.

Benedict has the chaotic, affectionate Bridgerton household.

Buck has something very similar — just chosen rather than biological.

Maddie. Chimney. The entire 118.

For Buck, that firehouse is his real family. It’s loud, protective, messy, and deeply loving in exactly the same way the Bridgertons are.

So their emotional problem is not loneliness.

It’s direction.

Everyone around them seems to know where they are going.

They don’t.

The Stage of Life Where “Knowing Yourself” Feels Like Enough

Right now, both characters are in a similar phase of life.

Benedict has discovered his sexuality, embraced it, and lives it freely without labels or shame. For a long time, that self-discovery becomes his center. It’s enough.

He convinces himself that the life he has — art, freedom, lovers, exploration — is perfectly fine as it is.

Buck has gone through something similar.

His journey toward understanding himself has been long, messy, and emotional. But now that he has begun to understand who he is, there is a moment where that realization feels like a destination.

Like maybe that’s the point.

Maybe he doesn’t need anything else right now.

And in both cases, the characters settle into a kind of emotional plateau.

Not unhappy.

Just… floating.

Why Sophie Changes Everything for Benedict

Then Sophie appears.

Sophie Beckett/Baek is powerful as a narrative device because Benedict is not looking for her.

He isn’t searching for love. He isn’t chasing a relationship. He isn’t trying to settle down.

She arrives unexpectedly.

And she completely dismantles his sense of stability.

What makes Sophie different is that she doesn’t treat him like everyone else does. Benedict is the charming Bridgerton bachelor — people flirt with him, admire him, orbit him.

Sophie doesn’t.

She challenges him. She calls him out. She tells him when he’s wrong. She sees the parts of him others don’t confront.

And that unexpected honesty becomes irresistible.

Suddenly, the man who was perfectly comfortable with his life realizes that something fundamental has shifted.

The Kind of Love That Rearranges a Life

There are moments in Benedict’s story that show this transformation perfectly.

He stops chasing pleasure the way he used to. He stops drifting from party to party. He becomes focused.

Not because he decided to change.

But because Sophie quietly changed the gravity of his world.

That’s the key to why their story works.

If Benedict had consciously decided to become a different man, it wouldn’t have happened.

But love — unexpected love — reorients him.

Why Buck’s Story Is Missing That Piece

This is where the parallel becomes fascinating.

Buck hasn’t had his Sophie yet.

And that’s why his arc still feels unfinished.

Many people argue that the answer for Buck already exists in the show — that the emotional resolution would be a romantic relationship with Eddie.

But narratively speaking, that dynamic is something Buck already knows.

It’s familiar territory.

And Sophie was never familiar territory for Benedict.

She was unexpected.

She was someone he would have never crossed paths with under normal circumstances.

She disrupted his life.

That kind of narrative disruption is exactly what Buck’s story still lacks.

The Love Story That Changes the Direction of a Character

Buck doesn’t need a relationship that fits neatly into his current life.

He needs the opposite.

Someone unexpected. Someone who challenges him. Someone who forces him into emotional waters he has never navigated before.

Someone who arrives when he isn’t looking.

In my own fanfiction universe, that person is an original character — Elara — someone Buck rescues during an accident who ends up temporarily paralyzed and with nowhere to go.

Buck offers to help her.

Everyone tells him it’s a terrible idea.

Not because it isn’t generous, but because it’s a huge emotional responsibility.

And yet he does it anyway.

Because that’s who Buck is.

And in doing so, he slowly finds himself transformed in ways he never expected.

That kind of arc mirrors exactly what Sophie does for Benedict.

The Difference Between Safe Water and Deep Water

There’s a metaphor in the Bridgerton story that perfectly captures this idea.

Benedict once says he prefers shallow water.

It’s warm. Comfortable. Easy.

Sophie replies that deep water is cold at first… but once you get used to it, you might discover things you never would have seen from the shore.

That metaphor applies beautifully to Buck’s journey.

Safe, predictable relationships are shallow water. And now Buddie it is.

They’re comfortable.

But real transformation often happens when a character dives into something unexpected — something deeper, colder, more uncertain.

Because that’s where the real discoveries lie.

Sometimes characters feel like they belong to different stories.

Different eras.

Different genres.

Buck Buckley and Benedict Bridgerton live in completely separate universes, but emotionally they are walking the same path.

Two men who thought they had already found themselves.

Two men who didn’t realize their story was still waiting for one final, unexpected chapter.

And if Buck ever meets his Sophie?

This is the first time I do a “meta” about BNHA, but I thought I needed to explain some things now that we have more information.

Yes, I am, with no shame, a DabiHawks shipper (Dabi stan and Hawks stan too). And, yes, I never believed in those theories from the start.

I’m here to explain why.

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the most recent leaked chapter, 291.]

The Doors Weren’t the Afterlife: The School Spirits Finale Just Opened a Second Limbo

Okay… we need to talk about the finale of School Spirits.

Because honestly?

What did we just witness.

This show keeps getting better in a way that reminds me of the first time I watched Being Human. That same eerie balance between supernatural mythology and emotional storytelling.

And what impresses me the most is how carefully the series treats the paranormal framework behind its story.

Yes, it’s still television — obviously some things are dramatized to serve the narrative. But the core concepts about energy, liminal spaces, and the veil between worlds are surprisingly aligned with real-world paranormal theories.

For someone like me who follows ghost-hunting research quite closely, that level of care is genuinely impressive.

When a Show Isn’t Writing for Fan Service

One thing that becomes very obvious watching School Spirits is the difference between writing driven by story and writing influenced by fandom pressure.

School Spirits has eight episodes per season.

But every single episode matters.

The narrative is tight. Nothing feels random. The mythology unfolds slowly but deliberately, and the writers clearly know where they’re going.

There’s no pandering, no shortcuts, no last-minute fan service.

Compare that to some mainstream network shows where audience expectations sometimes start steering the ship, and the difference becomes even more striking.

Ironically, I’m almost glad School Spirits isn’t massively mainstream yet.

Because it allows the writers to keep building their world exactly the way they want.

The Finale’s Biggest Twist: The Doors Aren’t the End

For the longest time, we assumed the mysterious doors were the way out.

The final step.

The moment where the trapped spirits finally move on.

But the finale completely flips that assumption.

Instead of leading to the “afterlife,” the doors appear to lead into another liminal space.

A second waiting room.

Another layer.

Which means the place where the ghosts were trapped before might already have been just the first level of something much larger.

And that’s where the show introduces one of the most fascinating concepts of the finale.

The Ley Lines Theory

Janet refers to the phenomenon as Ley Lines.

If you’re familiar with paranormal or esoteric theories, you probably recognized that term immediately.

Ley Lines were first popularized in 1921 by Alfred Watkins. Originally he theorized they were ancient pathways connecting landmarks used for navigation.

But over time, the concept evolved into something much more mystical.

Many researchers now believe Ley Lines are energy currents that run through the Earth, connecting powerful energetic locations across the planet.

Think of them as the energetic circulatory system of the Earth.

Some famous examples connect sacred or historically powerful locations — places that seem to share unusual energetic patterns.

And if School Spirits is using this concept, it changes everything about how their afterlife system works.

The Veil Between Worlds

In paranormal theory, increased energy activity along Ley Lines can thin the veil between dimensions.

Which means the barrier between the living and the dead becomes weaker.

This actually mirrors something many paranormal investigators claim to observe: that communication phenomena appear stronger now than decades ago.

School Spirits seems to be playing with that same idea.

The boundary that once trapped the spirits inside the school has now broken.

They can leave.

They can move.

And that suggests the Ley Lines are acting as corridors between different states of existence.

Not the final destination.

Just another passage.

The Forest Limbo

The forest sequence might be the most important clue in the entire finale.

Across the river, we see peaceful figures — including Simon’s mother and the pastor with the children.

They look calm.

They look… complete.

But the ghosts cannot reach them.

Dawnn warns that if you cross the river, you return.

At first I assumed that meant returning to the school world.

But now I think something more complex is happening.

Crossing the river may send a spirit back to the entry point of the Ley Line network.

Which explains why Dawnn says it’s incredibly difficult for spirits to find each other there.

The forest isn’t the afterlife.

It’s another liminal maze.

A transitional corridor.

And somewhere beyond that river might be the real “beyond.”

The Possession Twist

Then the finale drops another bombshell.

Van Aight is now inside Maddie’s mother’s body.

Which raises an enormous question:

Where is Maddie’s mother’s spirit?

The most logical explanation is the hospital scene.

If the possession happened there, then her spirit might now be trapped exactly the way Maddie once was.

And if that’s the case, there’s one very interesting implication.

Xavier might be able to see her.

The New Ghost Team in the Forest

Right now, the forest limbo contains:

Dawn

Janet

Wally

Maddie’s father

That combination alone suggests the next season could explore a completely new supernatural layer.

The show already expanded its mythology this season with the introduction of the Forgotten, and the explanation that if the place of death disappears, the door may never appear.

But the finale suggests we’re only scratching the surface of how this system works.

Are We Heading Toward the Final Act?

The biggest narrative shift is Van Aight.

This season introduced him as a mysterious figure pursuing his own goals.

But now?

Those goals are gone.

The protagonists ruined his plans.

Which means his motivation has shifted.

From ambition…

to revenge.

And in storytelling terms, that usually signals something important.

When the central villain moves from long-term plotting to personal conflict, the story is often approaching its endgame.

That’s why I suspect Season 4 might be the beginning of the final arc.

Maybe the last season.

At most, I could see the show stretching to a fifth.

But the story already feels like it’s heading toward its ultimate confrontation.

A Dark Possibility for Maddie

And here’s the theory that keeps haunting me.

The most logical ending might actually be tragic.

What if Maddie dies?

Not in a meaningless way — but as the final step in resolving the entire liminal system the show has built.

It would be heartbreaking.

But narratively?

It would make sense.

More Questions Than Answers

The finale didn’t just close a chapter.

It exploded the mythology.

Ley Lines. Multiple limbos. Possession. The forest maze.

We now have more questions than ever.

And honestly?

I love that.

Because if this finale proved anything, it’s that School Spirits is playing a much bigger game than we originally thought.

Your Turn

So now I’m curious.

What are your theories about the School Spirits finale?

What do you think the forest really is?

First, thanks Winter and Skyewardlight in the Discord Theories chat for the pictures.

So, I saw that a lot of people are talking about the faces on the Thumbnail, so we went to some editing programs.

The process was: 

- Cut the image in 3;

- Pick up the main image, and take out the opacity of it;

- Put above the other faces and compare.

That was the results:

Left face? The same.

Right face? The same too.

...But there’s a little thing in Jack’s left eye in the main image:

It’s raised a lot of ideas/theories about what’s going on. To me there’s several possibilities who the people in the end were.

First the guy with the lighter:

Evidence for it being Jack:

“I remember what he did to me.”

This could be Jack exploring after having woken up from his coma or whatever he was in after the events in “Kill Jacksepticeye.” This could just be his honest to god bewilderment as to what happened while he was gone

Evidence for the lighter holder being Chase:

CHASE HAS KIDS

In the video you can hear screams from kids in the background. That could be either someone doing harm/scaring the kids OR reproducing that sound to lure Chase there. Chase asks “Where are they!?” In a frantic tone.

The other way this points to Chase is when he asks “What do you want from me!?”

Maybe someone’s holding the kids hostage??? It’s a bit of a stretch, but a theory nonetheless.

Onto the mystery man:

The obvious guess is Anti. I mean, come on; it’s the typical style for him. Black t-shirt, creepy aura around him, twitching all over the place…it’s all pointing to him…

Or is it?

Remember how Anti talked about everyone being his puppets? Maybe this is one of his puppets doing his work. Think about it: there’s three egos we haven’t personally seen yet in these new developments:

Marvin

Jackaboy man

Jameson Jackson

I have a good guess that if any of them would be Anti’s puppet, it’s JJ (I’ll abbreviate it as that)

JJ has only been in one video where at one point he switches to Anti. And also, how much do we actually know about this character? How do we know to trust him or not? Also the figure we see says absolutely nothing. What other ego says absolutely nothing that we know of AND has glitched around before?

Jameson Jackson

The third theory I’ve heard floating around is that the glowing green eye means this guy is the personification of SepticEyeSam (Personification or persona is a human-like version of something)