#merloo

So i was going through old SPM art and found this post again, and decided ya know what? WHAT IF I DESIGNED THE SAGES. So uh. I did. And Now i miss my wife (spm is my wife. i miss her, guys)

If you wan like. Ask me questions about the designs I can give you my thoughts. Assuming I have any thoughts.

Argument 1: Merloo's window in the Mirror Hall features a representation of the Sun, and Merlee's Japanese name and magic are both drawn from the Sun. This same symbol is also seen on the doors of Merlee and Merluvlee's locations in Flip/Flopside. Argument 2: In Merlee's Mansion, one of the pictures seen in the hallway depicts an eye symbol also seen in Merloo's window, providing another symbological connection between the two figures. Argument 3: Merluvlee possesses the ability to see into the future, something which Merloo was also capable of. Merlee also mentions that her ancestors have prophesied supplementary details to the Light Prognosticus regarding the four heroes. Argument 4: Also pictured in Merlee's Mansion are Merluvlee, who is known to be a relative of hers, and Bestovius. This may suggest that Merlee and Bestovius share an ancestor. Bestovius is noted as a master of dimensional magic, an area of expertise that Merloo shares, so if they do share an ancestor, that ancestor being Merloo would explain those parallels. Argument 5: In the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials, a presumed ancestor of Merlee who was trusted to guard the Yellow Pure Heart is depicted. As this Merlee ancestor who lived contemporary to Merlimbis is very similar in appearance to the Merlee of the current day, the likely candidate for the other ancestor would be the one who closest resembles her. Merloo, whose hair style and color are the closest to Merlee's among the Sages, fits best in this regard. Graphic created by the fantastic General Donitsky:

Does the theory pose that Merloo IS the son of the Master Magician if Dimentio is Merloo, if that's the case, wasn't the son not heard from again after the accident? The usage of "some say" presents the survival of the son is ambigiuous so...Wouldn't the people know that Merloo is the magician's son if he is presented as important enough to get a stain-glass window?

Is the prognositicus directly stated to be difficult to decipher? I understand that the Light prognosticus would be difficult to transcribe as it was activley written. But who actually wrote the dark prognosticus? And when was it actually made? "But no person after obtaining this amazing book ever found happiness". The fact that obtain is used here possibly suggests to me that anyone who had the book in their possession never found happiness and to me that implies that there isn't an "old language" barrier needed to be crossed for the Dark Prognosticus to be read. The Light prognosticus was written by the ancients to counter the prexistimng Dark Prognosticus, so to me it makes sense that the Light Prognosticus would need to be deciphered to understand, but not the Dark. I may be missing something though. 

This would imply to me that Dimentio still could have stolen the Prognosticus when the count wasn't looking, even if he wasn't Merloo, and still would have been able to read it. 

(I wouldn't be surprised though if the writer (Co writer Merloo) who wrote the light prognosticus by using the Dark Prognosticus this measure likely DID go insane having to read the Dark Prognosticus and transcribe it in his language thoughm, the hypnotic - And that does make me ask why Merlumina didn't go insane if she ALSO contributed to the writing of the dark prognosticus but this is a bit off topic-)

If none of the ancients in the bridge between Flipside/Flopside are alive anymore, only their descendants, is there direct evidence of the lifespans that could dictate that could Merloo still be alive? You make the point of "the public had have had no way to know of the Pixl Queen until the uprising of 1,000 years later". Please can you explain the evidence of this towards the ancients being able to live at least 1,000 years? I probably missed something when going over Carson's dialogue- You also mentioned that the apprentice had lived for at least 1,000 years. Is there direct proof of this within the game?

Is there much direct symbolism between Merloo and Dimentio? As you touched on in the Lore wiki, the visual ties and pallete are very weak, and symbolism across the type characters in that respect doesn't seem to viable. Even though the painting has Dimentio's colours, the painting also has other colours in the background that aren't affiliated with him. Had Merloo any symbol of a diamond, or any design connection of the sort, I think the connection maybe be a little bit stronger?-

"Oh, and some say the son of the magician miraculously recovered from the accident. If so, the bloodline of the magician could endure... Did they find happiness? Or otherwise..." Was this line different in the Japanese verssion to refer specifically to the son finding happiness? Doesn't this alter the meaning of the line quite a bit? 

I think that the theory is a unique and interesting approach to Dimentio's characater and makes him seem far more interesting, and honestly I'd love to see it being official lore for the character, though, when comparing how the rest of the game presents its lore, the theory seems a bit...farfetched, even with the abundance of evidence provided. 

When looking at how lore is generally presented in the game, the lore seems a bit...Scattered..outside of Count Bleck and Timpani's as well as some of the direct lore you can find in locations like King Crocaus's castle detailing the stories of his family tree and the glass window section of Flipside's main Co-founders/contributors. The rest of the lore practically comes exclusivley from Carson and is relativey... Easy to put together, so to speak. 

I have no doubt that the writers wanted to tie in Dimentio with the Magician son part of the theory, as the term "magician" has been used to describe his character and I certainly agree that Merloo is connected to his character a least in some way as he also uses dimensional magic and has the key word "magician" to determine him and as there are no descendants of Merloo present, but that lack of really any noteworthy visual connection and the way the other lore is generally presented  is one of the few reasons why I think him actually being Merloo might not have been the intention despite how good the theory is?

Apologies for the ask and I hope that you have a nice day!

Dimentio in an ancient-style fit (Mermentio? Mertio?) + 12th pixl

in my lore post, i talk about how i think dimentio was merloo’s mentor. I like to imagine he was very lowkey and his presence was lost to time, deliberately overshadowed by his student. He mentored merloo so as to get him to write the light prognosticus as a means of countering the dark one and creating a vulnerability in the prophecy for him to exploit later in the events of SPM. I additionally talk about dimentio's mask originating with the dead pixl who died during the events of the pixl war. these are just designs going off ideas from that post

Design notes under cut

I just stumbled upon your profile, and I gotta say, I'm absolutely impressed by your in-depth SPM posts ! Being a huge fan of the game myself, I'm loving your lore insights ! Now, your Merloo=Dimentio theory got me thinking : What's your view on Dimentio's backstory ? Is he the Master Magician's son or a descendant ? The fandom's pretty divided about it, so I'm curious to know your thoughts.

(Also, any cool stuff about him in the Japanese version ?)

Firstly, thank you so much! (And sorry this took so much longer than I meant it to, this project really fought me every step of the way!) This was such a nice first ask, and it's something I've been meaning to put my full thoughts on in one place for a long time!