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#batman#dc comics#bruce wayne#dc#dick grayson#batfamily#batfam#tim drake#dc fanart




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At least these two fashionistas can recognize style when they see it! đ¤đš

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Chase and the Keyblings â¤ď¸
When you take the keys to the grocery story, they might ask you for a quarter to ride the Lady Lovalornâ˘ď¸ coin operated rocket ship. It is mandatory that you give them that quarter.
The keyblings houses
Now destroyed
Seeing this truly broke my heart because there's just so much history and care put into each one of their tiny homes.
Showing Bronze Silver's house was partly what made him begin to trust the humans, accept their help and offer his. Showing him the way it lit up with the star shaped little lamp was basically his first approach to modern technology.
Goldie's castle was made by Pru with so much care and it's just such a lovely demonstration of their adorable big brother/little sister dynamic.
And then there's Terrance... I really really hope that they can get Terrance back, but if that's not the case, I know we'll miss him just as much as Bronze will.
These were so important to each of them and were made and given with so much care, I'm not sure I can take this any longer.

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The Key, the Burglar and the Divine Fart âď¸đ¨
(a theory by four sleep deprived people)
Chat, there are many mysteries that plague the CB Fandom. But one stands above the rest.
Thatâs what this post will try to tackle. After months of research, analyzing, and the collective brain power of four people who stay up well past midnight, an answer has been reached. Thatâs right, this is a collaborative effort between @cookieboojar, @sketchingjuliet, (a secret member who wishes to hide in the shadows) and myself. I may be writing this theory out, but none of this would be possible without them. So sit back, eat a snack, and let this theory sink in (this post is a lot and will seem all over the place, but I promise this is a meal worth cooking, no matter the chaos).
Keep in mind that weâre not philosophers or experts in any way, so take everything written here with as much salt as youâd like.
One mystery haunts the narrative, that being âWhy was Buddy chosen to be the new Villain Key?â
However, when asking that, we flop into an even bigger question. Why did the Villain Key, Onyx, break in the first place? These two questions cannot be separated, because when discussing one, the other pops up. Considering both mysteries were introduced in the same arc, Little Shadows (keep that arc title in mind, I will come back to it), I donât think itâs a coincidence. Maybe the key (heh) to solving both mysteries is to treat them as a connected thread. An action, then a reaction. Onyx broke, and so he chose Buddy to fuse with, fixing him.
Out of all the Ex Libris Members throughout the years, why him?
It was theorized by Ex Libris that it was due to him committing a burglary. He embodied a villain then, yeah? So that mustâve been the reason. But was it? Actions and intent speak louder than words, especially in this series, and Buddy is as evil as a grumpy wet kitten.
How come no one in that cult got picked? They were treating the keys like crap their whole lives! Iâm pretty sure wishing selfishly and using the fog on the keyblings to force them to sleep is considered, âembodying the selfishness of a villainâ, in front of the Villain Key! Especially while opening said jar! Ya knowâ the same jar that holds both the key and the fog! Stealing silverware and a bedazzled candelabra because you're in debt pales in comparison to that junk.
It would appear that Ex Libris is bad at self-reflecting.
Clearly, committing selfish and evil acts while opening Onyxâs glass coffin isnât the cause. But maybe, to know what is, we should zoom in on the moment it all happened. The scene of the crime, if you will. All investigations start there. Letâs think like J.B Fletcher and look for the little things.
Kay, now that we have the crime scene fresh in our minds, letâs take note of what we know and see.
Our favorite thief broke in at night, and it seems Ex Libris had a curfew. So Buddy was the only human in the library.
The library was dimly lit. The only light source was that glass cicada.
The jar was kept in a cage-esque case, and the keys seem to have been kept on the shelf below it. The case was a deep blue with fancy gold decor, and a key was needed to open it.
It seemed Buddy was at eye level with the jar before âopeningâ the case. Since Buddy is around 5â9 to 5â10 (175.9-177.8 cm), the case was somewhere in the 6 to 7 foot range (182.88-213.36 cm). Itâs a fancy bird cage that's sparsely filled. Why get a big case if you're only gonna put a creepy jar and a box in there, for the dramatics?! This fucking cult, Chat.
The jar is fucking huge. Like, ew. Itâs like a human heart.
Buddy saw the jar, then said in narration, âIt felt⌠Like it saw me as well. Like it spoke to me.â
Bro then proceeded to pry apart the bars and grab it.
He knew he shouldnât open it, he felt it, but he did.
As soon as he removed the lid, a bright teal light engulfed him.
The jar fell to the floor with fog seeping out.
Buddy was nowhere to be seen, for the fusion was completed.
There are three elements of interest: Buddy, Onyx, and the cicada jar. The three interact and cause everything to unfold. Buddy said he and Onyx were aware of the other. He was lured in and compelled to open the jar because of him. Interesting assumption, but not one without any reasons.
Something was in that jar, that being Onyx. So, it stands to reason that he would be the one to choose Buddy. Since he was the Villain Key, the qualifications to enter a book were applied in Ex Librisâs theory. He chose Buddy because he committed a selfish act right in front of him, like a villain. Thereâs just two problems with that assumption that are actually one problem, but it branches out.
Onyx and the fog were roommates (Oh my god, they were roommates).
Boom! A fourth element!
It was established a little after the fusion that the fog puts keys to sleep. Now, Onyx snapped like a twig when he was forged, so he never woke up. He was then put into the jar so he wouldnât break further. The fog prevented that further damage. Onyx was engulfed in it. When Buddy was inside that jar, he couldnât see shit, and sleep would quickly befall him because the fog does that! ONYX WAS IN A COMA SURROUNDED BY HEALING SLEEPING GAS IN A DARK SPACE!!! HOW COULD HE SEE BUDDY IF HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD/ASLEEP?????
We know what happens to keys when they crack. It was established before we learned about their ability to make outfits. Silver couldnât wake up. She was only semi aware of being used in a book. But she was rusty and made this happen:
Beyond that point, she was sleeping beauty, and her injury was a crack. Onyxâs bottom half completely escaped the narrative at spawn. No amount of wishing or Narratonin could fix him.
Silver and Buddy were the first keys Chase ever met, and both of them were damaged. So I donât think itâs a stretch to consider Silverâs experience with cracking to be too different from Onyxâs. When keys break, they go into a deep coma, no matter the severity until they are fixed. Silver didnât know a human was around her until she was used for a book. Beyond that, she was asleep. There was no fog used on her the entire time she was cracked since Buddy and the jar were separated from everything.
The keys arenât all-knowing, unless in books, and I donât think Onyx could see beyond his coffin (yes, being in key form, the waking world can seep in, but Iâm referring to the jar). If keys go to sleep when broken, and the fog puts them to sleep, along with the jar being a dark void inside, then it stands to reason that our suspect couldnât have done it. Buddy couldnât see beyond the jar. He didnât know Violet was there until he was freed. Yet, we know that Buddy and the culprit saw each other before it was even opened. Onyx may have a motive, but he didnât have the means or opportunity to do anything. Bro was clocked out good. Unless he was a ghost, the evidence present doesnât line up. Buddy establishes moments after fusing that he couldnât see shit and felt like he didnât exist. Silver established that keys sleep when broken. Time flies for them, and they donât catch everything. So, by that logic, Onyx couldnât have picked Buddy. He wouldnât have known Buddy was even there. The evidence for that is far too high.
With this added information, weâve gotta ask the question. Who chose Buddy? Well, it canât be Onyx. So letâs take a look at his wispy roommate. Yes, Iâm dead serious. This fog is more mysterious than the keys themselves. We donât know jack about it beyond what it can do. But, if we look at how itâs presented and how Ex Libris treats it, certain things become apparent.
Itâs teal and glows.
Itâs kept in that jar.
It has an effect on the keys.
Ex Libris treats it carefully and doesnât like wasting fog.
This means that either Ex Libris canât make more, akin to how they canât make more keys, or it takes time to make. Itâs clearly connected to Narratonin, since itâs the same color. It has a healing factor at most, and a stabilization effect at least because it prevents Onyx from breaking further. So, itâs not much of a stretch to consider that the fog might be Narratonin as a gas. Considering how you can drink Narratonin, itâs a liquid. It acts like water to a degree. But it could be akin to a Noble Gas. The fog is magical teal Poppy Gas either way, except Iâm more concerned about the former because itâs eldritch in nature. It really feeds into my fear of the unknown with its association with the void jar.
But, now we have to ask, how did Ex Libris turn Narratonin into a gas? I donât think they did. Think about it, they treat this fog like expensive gold paint. They either stumbled upon it via magic meddling, or found it in their back yard and donât have a way to create more. If Ex Libris could make it easily, they would just use it all the time and never negotiate with the keyblings to turn into their key forms. Because of that logic, and how the keys react when in contact, I think the fog came first. Ex Libris, found this fog somehow, began experimenting, and the keys were eventually made after the fact. Theyâre also kept in the same case so, clearly, theyâre connected. Silver said in season one, episode nine: Silver, that Ex Libris discovered it.
So, it stands to reason that this fog was that discovery. They just couldnât replicate it with a snap, or maybe not at all. There would be more fog if they could.
Now, letâs address the elephant in the room. Is the fog sentient? Is there any proof? For starters, Buddy was just as confused as the rest of us, so it wasnât him. I already established why Onyx couldnât have done it. The fog is the only one not accounted for.
We can see a teal light emitting from the jar. It is ever present in the entire crime scene. Buddy saw a teal light, and was compelled to approach. We can see the fog in the jar, and since it's glass, it must be vice versa. The fog takes up the jar almost completely, thatâs why no one can look in or out.
The keys are very much sentient. So, itâs not out of the realm of possibility that the fog is sentient too. Or connected to something sentient. If books can be theorized to be sentient worlds, then so can the mist. We don't see much of it in the comic, but the little we get tells us how it works and acts. It seems to slowly accumulate more of itself, since Ex Libris has used it for years. Just keep it in the jar, use it wisely and rarely open it, and you wonât need to make more. The jar is like a terrarium. It keeps everything inside, building up condensation, and allowing the fog to build up its body after use. That would make Onyx the plants in this analogy, but thatâs not important. Iâve already shared how itâs similar to its liquid counterpart, so I wonât repeat them. But they are connected. With that in mind, letâs go into the symbolism of fog.
Fog is depicted in many myths.
The Mists of Avalon and FĂŠth FĂada are some of the most famous depictions of it. But fog is very much a recurring motif in stories around the world, because duh. Where there is water, there is a cloud. Itâs often depicted as a veil between worlds, a way to hide magical beings and gods, or a place for ghosts to chill. Symbolically, fog can represent the nature of existence, the unknown, and hidden paths to oneâs destiny. Itâs used so much in stories itâs often overlooked symbolically and historically to just be a vibe setter. But, considering what CBâs fog can do and its connection to Narratonin, itâs important. How important remains to be seen.
Now, I may joke about Onyx being dead, but he isnât. He just needs to be fixed, keys canât die. So I donât think his spirit is seeing through the fog, though itâs possible. But ghosts arenât the only entities to use fog as a veil.
This was a screenshot from one of the first trailers for CB. Itâs on Punkoâs Instagram if you're interested. Though many concepts have changed, that gold substance is still meant to be Narratonin. Punko changed the gold to teal. But the design still intrigues me, especially the center.
Now, call me a dramatic bitch, but those look like the eyes of an eldritch horror sent by a god. Biblically accurate Angel looking ass. And waitâ hold the fuck up, those eyes look like Buddyâs, similar blue and everything!
Wait-wait-wait, what did Buddy say he felt like during the crime? âIt felt⌠Like it saw me as well. Like it spoke to me.â
Chat, there was something inside that jar before Onyx, that something being godâs fart. âď¸đ¨
Now, Iâm not saying that the fog is a god, but a veil to look beyond. Fog in myth often represents the space between worlds, otherwise known as the Gray Zone. That could be why the jar is a void and nothing changes inside, itâs a liminal space. Since the fog is trapped, there isnât anything to travel to. All entry points besides the lid are closed off. Thereâs no room for inter dimensional travel. But that doesnât mean something canât look through it like a peephole. Two things can be true at once. A veil can be a way to hide and travel to other worlds, and a way to hide supernatural entities.
Letâs look at how the keysâ magic works: Touch a book, a keyhole appears, and both Keyholder and key can go inside. While the keys are in books, not playing a character, they can see the whole narrative. When a key plays a character, they can see the narration too. That is pretty omnipresent, godlike, if you will. Not only can they travel to other worlds by creating keyholes, but they can see that worldâs story from start to finish. If the fog is truly a space between worlds, and Ex Libris based the keys off their research on it, then that would explain how they got that power. Like the entity behind the veil, the keys can see all, and in certain cases, change the narrative. But only if they leave the space between Earth and the book and are fully immersed in the story. When the keys are in the book, they can only change outfits and canât see what theyâre Keyholder is doing. But, when they play a character, they canât make an outfit. However, they can be more active in the story. There is a limit to what they can do, but the keys are still OP. Even the Keyholders are akin to gods with this context.
All that junk was to establish that the keys are godlike in nature. If Ex Libris unknowingly tapped into the power of a god of sorts, then their abilities align with their origins. 1 + 1=2. If that fog was found first, and it's connected to a god of sorts, then itâs still connected to said god. Wishing and stars are also connected to the divine, but Iâll save that for a later section.
So, if Onyx didnât choose Buddy, the only other suspect is the fog. A.k.a., Godâs fart. If the fog chose Buddy, why? What about Buddy made him the chosen one? Bro was an orphan living on the streets. He used vulgar language (I say, like I donât swear or compare the fog to a fart), had no standing in society, and lived by stealing and fighting. He called himself a survivor, which is a perfect word for him. He isnât perfect, he just wanted to live when all the odds were stacked against him. He had no friends or family, either. Buddy has blue eyes, but that isnât uncommon. Black hair is also common, and heâs as white as a vampire⌠Same. Bro looks like a standard anime protagonist, or a Duke from The North in a Manhwa that lost his title. Heâs plucky, sassy, blunt and didnât like anyone until he met the keys and Chase. But he was and still is a great thief.
Okay, so bro had a lot of growing to do, but nothing about his past sticks out just yet. Maybe, we need to look at our favorite broken key. Why did Onyx break? Thatâs what started this chain of events. If he didnât break, none of this would have happened. So why, out of all the keys, did he not form properly? One out of twelve is quite a crazy percentage. Were the ingredients used to make him not up to snuff? Was the magic too much? Or was he missing some key (heh) component, unlike the others?
By looking at the other keys, we can see theyâre composed of three components:
Magic.
A unique metal for each key.
A unique gemstone each for their eyes.
In terms of ingredients, we know that Onyx was made with both a black metal, and onyx, hence the name. Besides there being a moon on his back, there isnât any proof that he has moonstone eyes. In fact, his eyes are more akin to onyx than moonstone. But letâs focus on the gemstone of the hour. The Mohs Scale of hardness puts onyx as 6.5 to 7, the highest on the scale is 10 for a diamond. Thatâs pretty low. If his eyes are moonstone, that doesnât help his case because moonstone is 6 to 6.5. Thatâs pretty damning if the gem is the reason. But if we look at Violet, that idea falls apart. Her gemstone is akin to opal, its hardness is 5.5 to 6.5. By that logic, she shouldâve been the one to break instead of him because her gem is weaker!
Now, we donât know the specifics of how the keys were forged, but something happened that made the Villain Key incomplete. Because if we look at his broken form, the bit that makes a key a key is missing.
Bro lost half of his body. Furthermore, we donât see his bottom half until after he and Buddy fuse. This indicates that he was forged and came out incomplete, meaning there was an important component that was missing. The other keys didnât have that problem, so why him? What did Buddy have that Onyx needed when the others didnât? What ingredient was he missing, because it was clearly something critical. Buddy completed the soup somehow! I guess sassy street orphan was the missing ingredient after all, Chat.
But seriously, the solution is probably in plain sight. Letâs look at the keys and how their magic works. Thereâs gotta be a correlation. We may not know all the roles of each key, but the few we do know could help us.
Little Silver: The Heroine. She allows her Keyholder to be the female lead. Her main specialty is undetermined.
Bronze: The Helper. He allows his Keyholder to be the sidekick/helper/guide. His specialty is unknown.
Big Gold: The Hero. He allows his Keyholder to be the main male lead, especially one with heroic attributes. His specialty is unknown.
Violet: The Villainess. She allows her Keyholder to be the villainess or mean girl. Her specialty is changing her Keyholderâs appearance.
Buddy/Nox: The Villain. If he could turn into a key, his Keyholder would be the main villain or male antagonist. He can break keyrings and chains.
Rose: The Lover. He allows his Keyholder to be any character with a deep passion for someone or something. His specialty is unknown.
Patina: Unknown
Ruby: Ruler (look at him)
White Key: Mother (look at her)
Blue Key: Unknown (wiseman or magician, probably)
Copper: Rogue (look at him)
Stripes: Jester (Fool or jester)
Besides Silver, Bronze, Goldie, Violet and Buddy, each key is an odd archetype. In the modern sense, having a Lover, Jester, and Rogue archetype is odd. But in the past, it wasnât. Words change over time, so these archetypes still exist. However, looking over the list, The Lover Archetype gives off Tarot vibes. The Jester too, to an extent.
A big factor in their magic is wishing.
The plot wouldnât be a plot without it. Stars are the biggest motif in this series besides the moon. What does one wish upon? A shooting star. Wishing in CB is done via a jar of Narratonin and the Twelve Keys. Wish upon the Twelve Keys with a full jar as an offering, and youâll get whatever you desire. Theyâre connected to stars with that logic, not to mention one key has a star on his back. Blue Key, our beloved. Also, the spell circle necessary to enact the magic has stars in it. Clearly, the keys are connected to stars. Tarot is too, IE, the Star Card.
Thatâs not their only connection, remember how Silver made Chase fall from the sky in the first book he went to? Well, she mustâve used a memory of hers to make that moment occur, since she was rusty and the environment doesnât match the book at all. That scene is akin to a meteor falling from the sky. If that is truly a memory, then Silver and the keys came from a meteorite that fell many centuries ago. Thousands of years, most definitely.
Interesting factoid about meteors, theyâre known as wishing stars when they enter Earth's atmosphere, because of their tail. If they hit Earth, a meteor becomes a meteorite. Furthermore, they are believed to be a reason we have water on the planet, creating life. Narratonin is akin to water, and since humans can naturally make Narratonin, we could assume that this meteorite had an effect on human evolution. Also, meteorites leave behind vapours on impact. They can even leave behind crystals like peridot, and metals like iron depending on the type. What are the keyblings made of? Crystals and metals. Remember, Ex Libris couldnât make more keys, they had no way to. What if thatâs why? They used up the remaining parts of this space rock after doing research on the fog, creating the keys as a conduit to collect more Narratonin once they had a base understanding. If the fog came from this meteorite, then by proxy, so did Narratonin and the keys. Everything lumps together in this one origin point. It all started with this special shooting star.
Shooting stars are considered to be symbols of hope, transformation, destiny and wish granting. They have deep connections to the divine in many cultures. They were seen as gifts given from above to guide humans to their fates. With all this fate and divine talk within this mess, surely there has to be a thread connecting stars and character archetypes?
WellâŚ
If we were to look into Jungâs list of archetypes, of roles that he believed were recurring in every story, weâd find that they fit surprisingly well with our keyblings. Especially since theyâre often connected to the Zodiac.
Now, most of these are very straightforward, they perfectly match the roles we know or suspect those keys cover. But then we see that Bronze is left with the role of sage, which can be perplexing at first but makes sense if we take into consideration both his wise and effective pieces of advice to Deacon and the trials he puts humans through to earn his wisdom. Silver is dubbed as innocent, which despite all her moments when she shows to be much more than that, still does very much define her as a character. Violet is the creator, which can fit if we consider her inventive spirit (sheâs the only key who has decided to consistently alter her appearance in some way, see the glitter treatment, and sheâs very particular about the outfits she makes for her holder) as her creativity.
And Nox being the regular person, or everyman, shows us exactly why the Jungian archetypes are vital to explaining how he became a key.
Now, there isnât a villain or villainess role in Jungâs list, on the surface. But they are present on the wheel.
There is a spectrum between good and bad within these archetypes. Theyâre more flexible and layered than they appear. Just like the keyblings. As stated earlier, Silver isn't as innocent as she appears. She lied to Chase when she could have been honest. Hiatus also showed that, given a chance and reason, sheâll commit a crime and frame it on someone else. In A Murder, Unfortunately, she was covering up a crime too. Considering how many times sheâs been dropped from a high place in this series, I think she deserves it. Furthermore, she cracked! Girl deserves a vacation! Sheâs been a victim to gravity far too much.
Violet watched as all her plans fell into ruin via Chase Hollow visiting the library (rip). She destroyed the old manâs plans by escaping, and broke a snow globe to steal a crown. Villainy is often associated with destruction and death, no matter the gender. She was fighting for Nox to be an immortal human so he wouldnât die before he revealed what he truly wanted. After that, she became a little more accepting of death, at least a little.
Bronze is wise, but he isnât quick to act like the rest. He is defiant and guarded, like Violet. Heâs often cryptic with his advice, but will be blunt when pranking someone. He goes for the gut when he wants to trick or get back at you. If there is a scheme going on, Bronze is nine times out of ten on the side of the schemer (or is the schemer). Heâs not really an elitist, but heâs definitely more than wise.
Goldie is dynamic and bright, basically a himbo. Heâs eager to jump into action and help others, but he didnât have a group to hang out with. Silver and Violet talk shop on outfits. Buddy, Bronze, Stripes and definitely Copper are always involved in some sort of crime. But in Off Hours (I), he admitted to Prunella that he struggled with the same things she did. Goldie struggled to make friends in the beginning, despite being The Hero Key. However, his emotional intelligence grew over time, and now itâs one of his greatest strengths.
Each key is connected to multiple shadows on the wheel. If Buddy is the Villain in the Shadow Archetype, that implies heâs on the outer wheel too. The moment his flashback started, we were shown which one. His past reveals this worldâs magic system all the way down to the physical and mental level.
The Everyman archetype has many names depending on which chart you look at, but they all mean the same thing. The Orphan, The Seeker, and The Citizen all imply being born, experiencing life, while also being of non royal blood. Each Key can fit their archetype without the need to have experienced life or have parents. But The Everyman? The Orphan? The Seeker? They have to seek belonging, lose parents, and be a regular person from birth. Buddy meets all these qualities down to the letter. Heâs low class, had no one, and needed money to survive. But more importantly, he wanted to belong somewhere, to someone.
This archetype needs to be human in nature. Because whatâs more human than wanting? To search for belonging. Buddy does all those things. Why no Ex Libris member was picked was because they didnât fit the archetype of a normal person. They were detached from ordinary human problems and couldnât (or chose not to) understand them, but Buddy wasnât like that. He was a human with flaws and only wanted to belong in a world far bigger than him. Thatâs all heâs truly wanted. He was an orphan who lived on the streets, he experienced life and just did his best to live. He was as grounded as one could get. He understood humanity on a personal level, he understood desire like how an average individual would. Not like how those rich fucks at Ex Libris did! For they had removed themselves from the âheroâs journeyâ, from the human process of growth they instead bypassed through wishes.
Thatâs why Onyx broke, there was a missing ingredient, and that ingredient couldnât be replaced by magic alone.
No, this ingredient needed to be a citizen, a seeker, an orphanâ a person who never had an easy way out. The Keys canât be orphans, they need parents first. They arenât human. They aren't normal citizens. They didnât seek for more until later in their lives because they belonged with each other. Buddy didnât have that.
The journey of the Regular Person Archetype is to find belonging. Thatâs been Buddyâs whole story arc. Bro was literally chosen because he was an orphan with no place to go. A street orphan was the secret ingredient!
The arc, Little Shadows, was telling us right in the face to look at Buddyâs shadow. Jung himself didnât create the concept of the twelve archetypes present here, a scholar who studied his work, Carol Pearson did. She made it to give a more practical explanation to Jungâs work that can be applied when writing characters. But his work still deeply applies here. In Jungâs Method of The Psyche, some of the original archetypes he came up with were made to help understand humanity in both consciousness and unconsciousness:
The Self: The unified mind of a person, both awake and not.
The Persona: The mask someone wears when awake in the world.
The Shadow: The repressed and sleeping parts of us, hidden aspects of our personality and what have you.
The Anima and Animus: The Anima is the unconscious feminine energy in men, and the Animus is the unconscious masculine energy in women.
In Little Shadows, we see how Buddy views himself, the mask he puts up, and what he desires yet surpasses. Through this revelation, we see Buddyâs shadow, his past. He holds multiple secrets at once and suppressed his desires while putting on a mask. His entire villainsona is a front. Heâs been told that heâs nothing but a villain, so he believes it to be true. But deep down, heâs deeply heroic and self sacrificing. It wasnât until he met Chase that the mask started to slip. By the time we reach Little Shadows, he doesnât want to follow through with Violetâs plan, he wants to help Chase.
But what are all these archetypes for? Why are the keys embodying them, and whatâs up with this parallel world of books anyway?
Jung made this whole theory as an alchemist. He saw there were recurring patterns appearing in myths all over the world, consistent character archetypes he then used as a tool to explore the human psyche and the inner world. Alchemy was considered science back in the day. It was the birth parent of chemistry and scientific study while also being philosophical, all in the pursuit of helping humanity and finding enlightenment within oneself. The perfection of oneâs body and soul through consuming the Great Work, or Philosopherâs Stone, was a way to reach that enlightenment through science.
The laws of equivalent exchange, a principle of alchemy, sound eerily similar to wishing in CB. Place a jar of Narratonin on a specific spell circle, state your desire, and youâll get that thing in exchange. Considering how Ex Libris even found this substance and a way to collect it, then made a spell circle to enact the spell, I donât think the Jungian Archetypes are a coincidence. Ex Libris were alchemists. Also, Jung himself mentions a different world, parallel to ours, that is connected to imagination and accessible through it.
Alchemy, otherwise known as âthe science of musicâ, âthe gay scienceâ, or âthe celestial gardeningâ, is a word shrouded in a veil of mystery
Now, imagine if said alchemists were to find a reliable way to open the door and get people into that world (which actually looks different for everyone) by entering someoneâs own vision of it. Imagine if someone writing a book, pouring Narratonin into it, could allow those with enough creative imagination (or call it mental fortitude) to get in there, and if they believe in it, treat that world as real, to take more of that Narratonin?
If we were to go deeper, that would also explain what exactly Chase is doing right to earn so much. Heâs treating the stories and characters as if they were real. But Iâm going off topic so letâs stop here.
I would also like to add that Punko has played with the Archetypes before in her comic, The Elephant Book. So this stuff is her cup of gluten free noodles.
To sum up this whole post, Ex Libris found the remains of an ancient meteorite. With time, they discovered the fog and Narratonin. The crystals and metals from the celestial body were forged to create twelve keys, not fully knowing what they were drawing from. All but one formed properly. Onyx, The Villain Key was missing a key (heh) ingredient to his being. Unlike the others, his archetype needed a mortal touch. So, Buddy was chosen by Godâs fart (the fog or a god looking through the fog) because he was that ingredient. Street orphans who seek belonging and believe theyâre bad are quite hard to find in a mansion full of rich cult elitists who study alchemy. The meteorite may have had a hidden effect on human evolution, making Narratonin, humans, and the keys connect to a single origin. Keys are people too, after all. So, it makes sense that a human and a key could fix each other.
Thank you, Tristate Area!
*Passes out on the floor* âď¸đ¨
They're gossiping đ¤đЎ
stargoth and keyblings honest reaction