#kyklos

Have you ever downloaded any text file in Japanese but when you opened it, they're all garbled, undecipherable text? That's most likely because the original JP text is encoded using Shift JIS and your computer couldn't read it一as most non-Japanese device do.

Kyklos' lines in Japanese are actually the result of an SJIS (old, deprecated) decoder trying to read a UTF-8 (modern) encoded string thus, it resulted in a garbled text. All you have to do is convert them back into the UTF-8 encoding and it will be readable. Here is the result, courtesy to Fujino-san:

English translation:

Guider: Oh, dear Master ......Can you hear my voice? I have brought you the Queen.

※ I translated 案内人 directly as it is but I'm not very sure if I capture the nuance right. "Guider" here is as in a navigator, an escort, the person who can guide you from one place to another.

Fujino-san had also confirmed that the displayed text on the English version is simply the result of trying to open an SJIS encoded text on a non-Japanese PC. So it's not the result of JP text → EN translation → garbled text, they're both actually encrypting the same Japanese text! Simply put:

JP → UTF-8 encoded text being opened as SJIS

EN → opening an SJIS encoded text on a computer outside Japan

Below is my personal thoughts regarding this revelation:

All this time we all thought that Kyklos is the last boss. That she is THE Big Bad and, in a way, MC's "goal". But now that we know she's basically just an escort and there's the existence of a "Master", this opened up to new possibilities. We used to wonder why would the Kyklos cursed MC in the first place and now we have a tiny bit of light to this. The Kyklos is working for someone else but... just who is this entity that the Kyklos refers to as her "Master"?

The way the shadows started clapping at MC's arrival, how the Kyklos spoke as if addressing a royalty... How is MC the "Queen"? Who (or perhaps "what") is supposed to be her subjects?

After recontextualizing the situation, I thought the cut off word is "She"一like when you capitalize the pronouns of higher/divine beings. But the cut off JP word is "シ" (shi, in Katakana) and I'm not sure if "Here stands She" is correct grammarly anyway so I think I was off base. Still, due to the capitalization in English, I'd like to think that it either stands for a name or perhaps a title.

To end this post, I'll bring up how Fujino-san pointed out that some of the compounds of the garbled text could form the word "Kusanagi" (highlighted below). It's probably just a coincidence一as Fujino-san admitted as well一but it's still quite an astonishing coincidence if true. Just as astonishing as how the date when MC were cursed is also the night of a new moon.

I wasn't sure how to make kyklos a cat so I made a few different designs

I liked the Sphynx cat version the best

+ speedpaint

With whatever suspicions I have, I think we would have to assume that MC’s initial encounter with the Kyklos on the train was not a random occurrence, but rather that it was calculated/premeditated, and the Kyklos chose her for some reason.

Other than the Kyklos having the ability to reproduce by cursing people, its other abilities are still unknown, from what I can remember. The thing that kinda gets me is the text conversation with Mina and the phone call supposedly coming from Haku in the latest episode…I don’t know if the Kyklos has the ability to manipulate technology or create illusions, but I just can’t imagine the Kyklos directly sending a text lmao. Keep this in mind, because I will come back to it later.

This goes into why I am very suspicious of the shop attendant from Lockburn Castle, Erika Minamino. First of all, Mina is in her last name, which HAS to be intentional. Not to mention, it also just sounds like a made up name to me lol (technically it IS made up since this is a game, but I digress). I think I possibly saw someone guessing that Robin and Erika are the same person, but I don’t think so, since the mice surely would’ve recognized her while running in the shop, unless they were working together. I also saw someone suspect that Robin is working with the Kyklos, or that she IS the Kyklos and can shapeshift into her, like how she turns into a bird. I’ve also seen the theory that Robin is the girl that’s been missing for two years, which sounds very plausible. Maybe the reason she wanted to “leave this world” was so she could return to her family? If they are the same person, I’m sure she was homesick at some point. I know the origin of the denizens has yet to be fully unraveled, but I don’t really think they came to the Hidden World of their free will. I’m not exactly sure where I stand on who is who, but I do have other thoughts about the Kyklos that I would like to return to.

Back to the thing about the text conversation on the train and the phone call with Haku…what if the Kyklos hasn’t been working alone? What if someone else is a gatekeeper/gateway/lure to the Kyklos? What I mean by that is, what if it was someone else working with the Kyklos on the other side of the phone? Erika having Mina in her last name made me suspect that she could be working with the Kyklos. Now, how that would have come to be in the first place, I don’t know, but I’m just trying to connect some dots. It makes sense to lure a human with humanity, Mina connecting with MC over text because they “liked the same band”, and her being tricked into thinking she was talking to Haku, a close friend. But this could be bullshit, and it’s all solely the Kyklos’s doing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What would also be crazy though is if Erika and the Kyklos are the same person. Regardless of any of this, I truly believe that the “flower witch” that Humpty Dumpty mentioned is the Kyklos. That makes the most sense, but then again, sometimes they try to misdirect you with the answer that makes the most sense. And every theory I came up with in the last episode was disproved, so I truly could not tell you what was coming next when I was watching it.

Kyklos means “cycle” in Ancient Greek, and with all of the time loop theories, I’m curious to see how the meaning of the name comes into play. Maybe it also has to do with why Taiga was the only ghoul to face the Kyklos in the prologue.

I wonder if this encounter with the Kyklos at the beginning of Act II is gonna be a, “Your time is almost up, the clock is ticking”, type of interaction, and then the Kyklos disappears. What else is the Kyklos gonna do? The goal is to reproduce, so I don’t think the Kyklos would try to kill MC. And she’s already cursed, so it’s not like she can be double cursed.

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Nevertheless, there are still a lot of questions unanswered:

1. How did the Kyklos catch on to what MC and the ghouls were up to at Lockburn Castle? It makes me think the denizens may be behind it and are in communication with the Kyklos.

2. What is Haku up to? I ask myself this question every time I see him, no matter the episode. Also, where was he, and what was he doing, during the cliffhanger of the latest episode? If he’s really the spy, I REALLY hope he’s being blackmailed, because if he’s doing this because he wants to, it’s gonna break my heart :’)

3. What did Rui notice at the end of the last episode that made him act weird and run off? He knows something.

4. What does Taiga know? Just like with Haku, I ask myself this every episode where I see him. He always knows something, but he doesn’t give up information unless it’s on his terms, which is usually at the very last minute. *throws arms up in exasperation*

5. What role does Robin play in all of this? Is she still alive?

6. Are the denizens working with Robin, Erika, and/or the Kyklos? I’m still suspicious of that spider.

7. What role does Erika play in all of this? We know she saw the mice, because she yelled first and then apologized, saying she would report it to her supervisors right away. If she’s connected to the Kyklos somehow, then this incident with the mice could’ve been strategic, or she could’ve reacted to the mice instinctually and tried to cover for herself.

8. Are Taiga and Haru still on the train with MC and the Kyklos? God, I at least hope that Taiga is.

9. Maybe someone can actually answer this one, but why can’t the ghouls get cursed by the Kyklos? Why MC, and not Taiga? Does the demonic pact prevent them from being susceptible to the Kyklos curse? Or does the Kyklos have to lock in on a specific target, which makes all others around unaffected? This leads me to the last question.

10. Why was MC the victim? This is one of the biggest questions in this series that I have wanted to know the answer to this whole time.

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Bonus:

I am calling this a bonus, because this is me building off of a theory someone else started. A lot of this is such a long shot.

I saw someone on Reddit post a theory of MC being in the time loop (which she has to break) AND being the Kyklos AND the One-Eyed Sleeping Beauty. In addition, the other part of this theory is that the Kyklos curse could’ve happened to someone else before and caused The Clash, but everyone’s memories got wiped, and the loop started again. I can’t give proper credit to the user that posted it, because where the username would be, it says, “[deleted]”. Their post is not very long, but I’m going to attach some screenshots of parts of it and will try to build off of it.

We know that “kyklos”, means “cycle” (or “circle”) in Ancient Greek, and the spider lily is associated with death, rebirth, the afterlife, and reincarnation. The Kyklos curse could technically be considered a reincarnation curse (forcing death —> rebirth into a new & corrupted form). What if another ability of the Kyklos is time/memory looping, trapping people in repeating scenarios, and/or resetting events to an earlier point in time? If the Kyklos can manipulate time, then fate manipulation also makes perfect sense. The spider lily curse mark on MC could allude to her being doomed to be reborn (her Kyklos transformation), die, return, and repeat the cycle until it’s broken. And if there are copies of the Kyklos out there, it could possibly be a collective hive consciousness.

Another interesting little thing I found out is that “cyclops” is derived from the Greek root of “kyklos”, and the Kyklos has one eye.

If the Kyklos can erase memories, it’s very paradoxical that the key to breaking the curse is to erase the memory of its eye. It’s almost like mirroring the enemy or cancelling it out to undo it. The survival tool it uses (memories) can ultimately be its defeat.

The Reddit user also mentioned that there are some bridal themes around MC; Hera’s VEIL turned into a RING and chose her (more Greek references here as well). This also makes me think of the wedding SSR card series. Something else I just pieced together that I want to point out is that the Kyklos is depicted in a white dress…

If we keep this theory in mind, and the opening scene of the game is a true foreshadowing of what is going to happen, then maybe this cycle has repeated with different ghouls? This could be why each one has its own cutscene, and I really don’t believe this simply has to do with just the initial character selection. Maybe a certain ghoul has to be a sacrifice/martyr to break the loop, or at least whoever is jumping believes that is the key to breaking it??? Again, this is really a long shot. Taiga seems to be the only one catching on to what’s going on due to his stigma, and with his significance in the plot and in the game advertising, it makes me think that he’s going to be the one trying to break the loop, or he is at least the biggest part of it out of all of the ghouls. This makes sense with him also being the leader of the Kyklos Combat Crew.

However, I believe that MC is ultimately the only one who can break and rewrite the loop. Through her resisting Edward’s compulsion, she’s already displayed great willpower, even against supernatural abilities. Whether that’s linked to the Sage’s Ring or not is debatable, but I’d like to believe it’s just her as a person. Even this close to the one year mark of her first encounter with the Kyklos, MC is not showing symptoms of her transformation other than her growing curse mark and her anomalous floral smell. What if that is not the case with other humans cursed by the Kyklos if there are others out there? MC has retained her individuality this whole time, so it makes me wonder if her willpower makes this curse affect her less or differently than it would others.

Adding to that, here are Taiga’s lines in the opening scene: "Gyahaha! Time to cash in your chips! Guess this whole thing was just a busted flush, huh? Tell me something, would you? What could I have done different to change this outcome?"

While a busted flush references attempting to have five cards of the same suit but failing to complete the set, if applied figuratively to a real life situation, it would basically mean, “This had the potential to work out, but it was unsuccessful.” THE LOOP CAN BE BROKEN. It would make sense to me if Taiga knows the ultimate outcome but maybe not the “how exactly did this happen” or “how to prevent this”.

Speaking of opening scene, I looked up pictures of all of the ghouls in their opening scenes and noticed that they have different expressions while falling. Instead of looking upset, angry, or in fear, I was surprised to see that some of them seemed to be smiling (Edward, Rui, Haku, Zenji, Haru, Towa, Tohma, Sho, & Yuri)…almost in acceptance, like they felt like they were doing the right thing, or maybe like this sacrifice is reparations out of guilt from their own betrayal (HAKU MOST LIKELY IF HE IS THE TRAITOR; but he has one of the most unique and somewhat confusing expressions out of everyone other than Yuri, and I can see multiple arguments about what emotions he’s showing).

***(Cropped these for people like me who have a fear of falling^)

Almost all of the ghouls look like they’re reaching out to us while they’re falling. Why do you think that is? Instant regret? Fear?

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