#red string board

Then you have Scratch and Lillith, who recombined with all the difficulty of hucking a stone through a portal. Scratch who had been separate for years, had a name, had a favorite. And yet, bim bam boom, Lillith restored, easy peasy.

Meanwhile the KiY tries it in the real world and can't, then brings them to the Dreamlands to try again.

But why? For one, why is Carcosa (and the King) in the Dreamlands? That's not their traditional location. Usually, they're in the real world, in the Aldebaran sector of space. It CAN be anywhere but that's not home base.

And for another: why did the King think he'd succeed in the Dreamlands when he didn't succeed before, while John and Arthur weren't even aware of the threat?

Then I was rereading The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and:

While other gods might have authority or access to the Dreamlands, Azathoth doesn't. Azathoth.

Azathoth, who is Nyarlathotep's father and boss. Who is Nyarlathotep's responsibility to keep asleep and keep happy. Who's dream IS reality. Who, if he wakes up, all of reality ceases to exist so Nyarlathotep has to keep him sleeping.

That thing whose being makes up the Stones. Those Stones that Kayne has had the boys find two of but doesn't seem inclined to let them actually touch.

Now, just a reminder: we've heard about three stones. And those three stones are the body, the spirit, and the soul. See where I'm going with this? What's missing? What do you actually need to dream?

A MIND. A consciousness.

ETA: I keep the text there because that is how I originally wrote it but more thinking has me thinking that no, John IS the soul of Azathoth. The one stone we haven't seen, that Kayne doesn't seem to care about finding. The 'fractured' soul, of course. Why Kayne said he had "too much soul" for the King in Yellow in EP 40. Why Noel had to go: because he saw what John projected out looked like and it wasn't what Yellow looked like. And I wonder if the reason John didn't have his memory to start but he kept it after the second jaunt to the Dark World is because his memories are in the Spirit, the Grey Stone. After all, how would you be able to know anything but by accessing the memory of Azathoth?

Why did the King flee the Dreamlands when that portal opened? He didn't. But Azathoth's soul consciousness, trapped in the Dreamlands where it could never return so Nyarlathotep could muck about doing whatever the fuck he wanted, ran for it. And the King, sensing he'd fucked up and not wanting to be on Nyarlathotep's bad side... tried to retrieve the prisoner he was supposed to keep track of.

And failed. So he dragged him back to the Dream lands, figuring he'd tame him again since he has no power there but it didn't work. "John" fought him. So he threw him back into the Dark World, assuming that would be safe. But John didn't forget and built a Kingdom there. And Kayne had a Problem.

What does Kayne do every time he talks to John? Belittles him. Makes him think he's nothing. Calls him names. Tears him down.

-The Fungi from Yuggoth: XXII. Azathoth

And the part that *really* gets me is Kayne's so caught on John and Arthur, that whole 'only has eyes for you' bit... Azathoth's other name?

The Blind Idiot God

You know. A God with his eyes missing. And what does Yorick call John?

Not the King in Yellow. Never the King in Yellow, nor Hastur despite calling out Lillith and Kayne's traditional names. He calls him My King. Arthur is master. John is his king. A being that sees through the eyes of others calls John his King. ETA: And the eyes are the window to the soul.

Kayne treats Yellow as 'his guy' but not John. The way you would if someone was doing you a favor for a while. And someone you might punish for fucking your favor up. Yellow, who has the traditional rotting and corruption of the King inside Larson that hasn't happened at all to Arthur.

Big G. Been bugging me since Season 1.

John has no access to Arthur's dreams. Arthur has to tell him about them. And the one time he slept (Horig), he didn't dream.

ETA: Not to mention that the thing they've been seeking for the whole time, the most common fandom trope, is John gets a body. What is the Blackstone, guys?

I can keep adding on. But I think you get where I'm going with this.

So TLDR:

I think John Doe is a John Doe, his identity still unknown... and despite intense effort from the King and Kayne, despite it being inconvenient to Kayne, *not* the King in Yellow. Never was.

Instead, he is entirely his own. The Consciousness Soul of Azathoth. His belief shapes him.

And everything else. And *that* is why Alia needed him to hope. Because as long as they believe in hope, there is a chance.

Whether Kayne likes it or not.

ETA the Second: As of the airing of 58 (well, earlier but I'm putting it here finally), I'm still going strong with this theory with some small shifts.

The King in Yellow wasn't Kayne's 'guy': he is just the Identity, the literal mask and robes, that Azathoth was using to go out into Reality, the sunglasses and mustache, if you will. It's the way that he can function there.

The King in Yellow is a TITLE, it's 'the Lord of All wearing his Yellow Suit', so to speak. Hastur is the name of the BODY just like the King is the name of the MASK. The mentioned 'fracture' was him cracking... and I believe it's because of the death of Shub Niggurath. Which was why he was 'rushing' out: because one of His *died* and that wasn't supposed to be possible. John ended up in the Dark World because that's where he *started* from. And he was in the book because he was looking for Shub. And the book is a vestige OF Shub.

And the reason why 'He Who Must Not Be Named' is because No Calling out Azathoth on his Glasses and Mustache. Cause he's not supposed to be here. Not Supposed to be Possible.

I do absolutely think at this point that he's Azathoth. This has no explanation otherwise. The fact that Arthur's sight was his gift, is the Deciding Factor, 'only has eyes for you', that whole THING... what do you get for the Blind Idiot God who has everything else, after all?

I also think that Azathoth was separated into stones by Azathoth: that's why he's the only one who can find them again.