Before S4 aired and all we had to go off of were the sets, I ended up having this theory that the cultists we saw were being possessed by the spirits of the Anacondrai through their remains. It was my explanation for why these humans were sometimes referred to as Anacondrai in set descriptions, as well as Kapau and Chope apparently becoming actual Serpentine named Kapau'rai and Chop'rai, respectively.
With the prominent bone motif and Pythor's presence in one of the sets, I speculated that Pythor went back to the Anacondrai Tomb and gathered the remains of his tribe, who were haunting their corpses and could possess anyone who wore their bones (In this case, humans that Pythor kidnapped).
The Anacondrai Blades would've been carved from the spines of dead Anacondrai, and a lot of the bones used in the vehicles could've been Anacondrai; Either they were leftover bits, or you had Anacondrai ghosts possessing machines. Some Anacondrai used multiple bones to possess a human, others used only one, possibly due to incomplete remains. Pythor's plan was to resurrect his tribe fully, possibly by fusing the living human hosts with the Anacondrai bones to create new Anacondrai bodies (although the presence of human DNA led to these newly-reincarnated Anacondrai lacking the usual markings). Kapau and Chope werenβt humans, they were Anacondrai ghosts possessing humans through their skulls and other bones wielded as weapons;
In the end, Anacondrai remains DID factor into the plot via the Jadeblades, as well as Pythor's essence being necessary for the spell. Humans became Anacondrai. Not to mention Anacondrai ghosts being an actual thing, which would set up an entire season around ghosts and possession before we got the summer leaks! So I was pretty off the mark, but also not? In hindsight, I wonder if the writers brought back Pythor in S3 just to set up the Anacondrai storyline of S4, and if Pythor was originally supposed to be the mastermind behind the plot, as some speculated, and/or working alongside Chen. I guess all of this could make for a fun AU where the Anacondrai themselves have agency as villains, rather than allies; Or I could salvage this idea for my own original story.
