#lore research

I don’t think Danny would have a problem with Clowns. Sure when we think Circus they’re one of the main things we think of, but Freakshow wasn’t very… Clownlike.

Yeah sure this guy

Was what the Clowns of Circus Gothica leaned toward looking like. But those guys were just captive ghosts like him! We never even see him have to fight them!

Freakshow however was The Ringmaster. The Master of Ceremonies and very much enjoyed the limelight and attention. Liked putting on a show and the suffering of others for entertainment while looking like this:

Look and sound familiar?

So I propose that Danny doesn’t loathe the Joker because he’s a “Clown” but because he’s another pompous self important ‘Ringmaster’ who thinks he’s the main attraction of his own Circus.

Imagine how funny it would be to have people talk about “The Clown Prince of Crime.” “So that crazy clown broke out of Arkham again.” and Danny just be like

“Wait but Harley Quinn has been chill for ages now and is on a vacay with her gf? Also pretty fuckin cool too?” So someone has to correct him and Danny’s face scrunches up in confusion for a moment.

“Uh, no? He’s a Ringmaster not a clown.”

It’s a whole debate now especially if Nightwing/Dick is there. Until finally Danny huffs.

“Yeah no look I see the confusion, he’s managed to fool everyone into thinking he’s just part of the Act. But really he’s the guy in charge of the whole thing. Everyone else does all the work and he, what? Stands and walks around monologuing and giving orders?

So I love research binges.

And I Adore Lore.

So here's the WHOLE GRIAN TIMELINE FOR LIFE GAMES!!

(btw "HC S[X] E[Y]" translates as Hermitcraft Season [X] Episode [Y])

[[Also, small info insert here As Requested: EVO finished a little under 3 and a half years before the start of 3RD Life, the most interesting detail of which was Grian's HC S6 overlapped with EVO, the last two episodes of EVO [E50-51] overlapping with HC S6 E1-E12]]

[[Visually it's 49 1 - 2 3 4 5 - 50 6 - 7 8 - 9 10 11 51 12]]

[[[Other little detail Asked TBA'd: Demise appeared HC S6 E93-E106]]]

3RD LIFE: Overlaps with HC-S7-E75-77, aka the end of Hermitcraft Series 7, this is AFTER Mother Spore shenanigans (HC S7 E37-E60) and during those episodes, Grian is focusing on finishing builds, doing his last S7 Charity Stream, playing games with Hermits, accidentally dropping what Actually Happened with Mumbo in front of "Grumbot Prime" as they call him in that ep. Then featuring both Grumbot and Jrumbot in the cinematic shots.

LAST LIFE: Overlaps with HC S8 E16-E21, E21 is also the episode where Mumbo says "Grian? Is the Moon Big?", Grian acts like nothing happened in following episodes, even saying "We don't know how this is happening [...] is it getting bigger or closer?"

[100 Hours happens after HC S8 ends [HC S8 E27], Grian starts the world alone, but the others come in in their own time and, after a while, decide to try and make Grian fail, though Grian dies mid-way and pretends to be "Grien" until he dies again.]

DOUBLE LIFE: Overlaps with HC S9 E14-E15, nothing big happens but you do have the Rift starting to make Lotsa Noise [Though the Rift doesn't open until HC S9 E24.] Afterwards, however, Grumbot arrives in E17, which is also when Ren is Crowned King.... (coincidentally, again, E24 is when the Rift Opens after King Ren's Defeat....) [Crossover with Empires 2 is HC S9 E25 - E32]

LIMITED LIFE: Overlaps HC S9 E35 [REUNION: Mumbo and Grian Reunite.]

SECRET LIFE: Overlaps with two episode of Guess the Build, but happens just before Grian's final Hermitcraft Episode (HC S9 E50: FINISHED!)

[[[Demise (2.0) Occurs HC S10 E1-E6... I'm eyeing the E1-6.]]]

REAL LIFE: The First "Prank" Episode. Between Grian's HC S10 E12 & 13.

[Guess the Build & Build and Seek happen between HCS10 E13-25, but then Grian ignores HC in favour of Guess the Build, Pico Park, "Friends try to Break Into my Castle" and an episode of Among Us that itself has similar stuff on Two Much Grian.]

WILD LIFE: Comes out after the Among Us vid and overlays with not only HC S10 E26, but also the start of Impossible Craft, which itself overlays with another Guess the Build.

SIMPLE LIFE: The Second "Prank" Episode, gets followed by that "Visited Sweden for the Update" episode. Then HC S10 E32.

PAST LIFE: Starts after HC S10 E40, making HC S10 have the most Traffic/Life Series Seasons featured so far. There's one Guess the Build, like, 4 episodes before this; Grian has been Grinding [when not playing REPO]. The season ends before a Build and Seek, then HC S10 E41, where Grian repeats his grinding like back after 3rd Life, but rather than making it an hour long to play games and say goodbye, he leaves that for the two hour-long episodes after this, Officially finishing with HC S10 E43, where everyone is on the server until the last minute, the closest similarity being the group ending of HC S8, THOUGH GRIAN DECIDES TO GO OUT TRYING TO FISH FOR A MENDING BOOK LIKE HE DID AT THE START OF HC S10!!! The fact we never know the book he fished in that last second? Felt like the biggest Plot-Block I have ever seen, lol.

What if it isn't the Electricity Danny Remembers so vividly from the Portal turning on? After all, there are a LOT of instances of him being hit with Electric attacks of some sort, and they barely phase him. He's more irritated than anything.

Sure, he'll tell people that he died by Electrocution. But it's a false trail, a red herring. It's the easiest thing to deal with, bc it isn't a big deal.

No. The Electric Shock isn't the part he relives. There is no bone deep memory of charred flesh and his blood boiling beneath his skin.

It was the rending of his cells as the surrounding machine tore open a doorway between The Living Realm and the Space Between Spaces. His DNA unraveling as he's aware of every passing microsecond, the way it was rewound with something else, something Other sealing strands back together. His body being reformed around him and the feeling of being confined and too large for the skin he fit perfectly in just an instant previously.

Too Much and Not Enough all at once, as his Soul was given a protective shell in the same instant that it was shoved back into his Mortal Form and forced to confine itself to a vessel smaller than it desired because Danny was made for The Stars so Why was he being forced down by gravity and away from His Parent; The Infinite Expanse that called him Home only to be silent in the exact same instance.

Then it's over like nothing happened, and he's staring up at his best friends, it was just some hallucination from the shock, it had to be...

But then he sees his reflection. Then in a flash like the Novae light years away, Danny stands there with a beating heart and lungs gasping for breaths he has to take again.

He isn't alive or dead, he's something else, something new... For a moment, Danny thinks he understands why an Atom has such an explosive reaction to being split. He knows down to the center of his being what it feels like to be taken apart so completely and put back together.

To be everything at once and Nothing at the same moment, before both of these things are forced to exist within the same shell.

Sixteen-year-old Danny Fenton doing his own digging and going "Oh he's unstable, guess I'll have to do something about that." Danny just "I am uniquely qualified to help this baby and not even a murderous cyborg is gonna get in my way"

Consider the last time a Portal was created and Jack turned it on. Vlad was standing in front of the machine and both Maddie and Vlad were double-checking both the device and the calculations when he Over excitedly pressed the Activation Button.

Vlad was hospitalized for years and cut all contact with them.

Fast-Forward to the design of the Massively larger Portal to a dimension of the dead. Notice how activating the Portal involved Jack Plugging It In, and not, y'know, Pressing An Activation Button. This is important because One; Angst on Jack's part with the trauma from the last time, making a Button Activation something he actively designed into the blueprints to avoid. Two; Jack's impulsive and past events aside, Excited about the discovery, just like last time. He needed to make sure that all Safety Checks and Precautions were complete Before he could turn it on.

The inside button was a Designed Failsafe on Jack's part so that when Maddie, the most responsible and level-headed of them, completed double and triple checking their work could press the button and join him to plug in the machine.

So even if Jack jumped right to turning it on bc of being swept up into single-minded excitement, Maddie would be Safe.

Now, Either Maddie forgot to press the switch; OR Jack added it during the design and revision process and there was a miscommunication between Jack and Maddie.

Maddie either Didn't Know about the Failsafe Switch, or she Forgot to turn it on.

In their disappointment for it not working, Jack forgot to Unplug the Machine. Danny and his friends Likewise did not look to make sure the Dangerous Machine didn't have power connected to it.

In conclusion. The On/Off switch inside the Fenton Portal was a Failsafe designed from Jack's past mistakes in an effort to avoid the same Accident that happened to Vlad Masters.

The Fenton Portal opened into a section of the Realms that’s basically the equivalent of a ghost daycare because they [ghosts] congregate near those of similar age.

There is of course the exception of Nocturn, Pandora, ect but as ancients their view of proper socialization and handling on tiny babies is skewed. Also they only notice Danny after the whole Ghost King thing and if I learned that the infant that recently joined a Daycare overthrew the government practically single handedly I would be curious too.

Possible OLD ghosts are Spectra and Desiree both of which are introduced to the Amity ecosystem from outside. Spectra is implied to have been going school to school and didn’t come through the portal, possibly drawn in by the massive increase in ectoplasm. And Desiree was part of a market table at a fair.