#rex manning

Happy Rex Manning Day!

GUYS, GO WATCH THIS MOVIE! I swear it's worth your time. It's just a fun, easygoing movie, and I love it. And if you've already seen it? Rewatch it! It's Rex Manning day.

"We mustn't dwell, no... not today. We CAN'T! Not on Rex Manning day!"

Spoilers for the other four books ahead

Flo anonymously feeds information to the Scoundrel’s Recistance

I will never believe that sweet, loyal and loving Florence Shekoni genuinely betrayed Skandar. Throughout almost the entire second half of The Skeleton Curse, we see her try to warn Skandar about Rex and the Silver Circle, begging him to be careful and to back out. Before the Chaos Cup race, she tries to tell him something he can’t hear, and after Rex fairly publicly tries to kill him, she arrest him even more publicly. He is officially the Commodore of Chaos at that point, and Rex Manning’s biggest political rival. Considering the support for Skandar, if the winner of the Chaos Cup turns up dead in the custody of his usurper rival, there would be an uprising.

I believe Flo did it to protect Skandar and to gain Rex’s trust so that she might become a high ranking official in his regime. This way she’ll secretly and anonymously feed information to people who are connected to Skar’s group, though not to them directly. I imagine she could potentially send unsigned letters to Ira Henderson.

I also noticed in my pre-Spirit War reread, Flo tells Skandar in The Phantom Rider that she’s afraid she’s one day going to be forced to choose the Silver Circle over him.

Skandar and Kenna create an army of spirit wielders

From all the way back in The Phantom Rider, we hear about the Silver Circle fearing that Skandar will use his Mender abilities to bond the lost spirit wielders to their destined unicorns and create an army of true spirit wielders.

I think Kenna and Skandar, potentially with the help of the Scoundrel’s Resistance, will break the lost spirit wielders out of prison and find their destined unicorns so Skandar can bond them. I specifically want to see Kenna bonded with the dapple grey unicorn, Tyler Thomson with Goshawk’s Fury and that boy from The Skeleton Curse who was denied a chance at the Hatchery Door bonded with his.

Bobby and Mitchell learn spirit magic

In The Unicorn Thief, instructor Joby Worsham tells Skandar that the spirit element is in every unicorn and rider, just like the other four. And in The Skeleton Curse, Bobby says she wants to learn spirit magic as well, though she’s shut down by Agatha on account of it still being illegal.

I want to see Bobby and Mitchell learn to use the spirit element, as well as the other riders in the resistance, hopefully Flo as well. I want to see Agatha instruct the riders just like she would’ve at the Eyrie, had the spirit element not been outlawed.

Mitchell gets a special fire wielder ability

When Agatha tells Skadar about Menders in The Phantom Rider, she tells him that some riders have special gifts unique to their elements, such as fire wielders having a strong sense of smell or water wielders being able to hold their breath under water for hours. When she says this, using primarily fire wielders as an example, Skandar wonders what Mitchell’s gift might be.

To me, it seems odd to add this line in if you don’t intend to do something with it later on, so I would like to see Mitchell have a special ability. It could also be somewhat vindicating to Mitchell, I think, to have a unique gift as a fire wielder when both his parents are water wielders and Ira feeling very superior about it.

This one is honestly just for me, I like Mitchell.

Scoundrel’s Luck betrays Skandar

In The Phantom Rider, the First Rider tells Skandar that the one he loves the most will betray him. In The Chaos Trials he thinks the First Rider was talking about Kenna, and in The Skeleton Curse he thinks he was talking about Flo. However throughout the series it’s shown over and over again that the one every rider loves the most is their unicorn.

The First Rider says “The one you love the most will betray you, Skandar Smith. Be wary. When it matters the most, they will turn against you.” I think that one is Scoundrel. Now, I don’t think it will be intentional or calculated in anyway, but rather a conflict of interest. I think the stress and the anger and anxiety will get to both of them and they will quarrel and the bond will become hard to control at times. I think at a crucial moment, when Skandar needs the spirit element more than ever, Scoundrel will suppress it, causing whatever situation to end badly.

This is clearly one of my more half-baked ideas, but I think after that there’ll be a clear divide between rider and unicorn, but ultimately they’ll learn to see each other’s point of view and be closer than ever.

Skandar will lose someone close to him

I have no particular reason to think this other than that I do. Whether it’s Agatha, Robert, Kenna or even Scoundrel’s Luck (though I doubt that last one) I believe someone near and dear to Skandar might lose their life.

They discover Flo’s secret

When they visit the Secret Swappers in The Phantom Rider, Moira says to Flo “You’ve surprised me with this one, silver girl.”

I think they’re gonna swap for Flo’s secret, either in hopes of getting some insight into why Flo betrayed Skandar or completely by accident in trying to get information on the Silver Circle. Either way, I think Florence’s secret might tip the scale in the Scoundrel’s Resistance’s favour.

Edit: in my reread of The Skeleton Curse, when the Silver Circle takes Flo back to the Silver Stronghold after Chaos Cup registration, Flo says to Skandar “[…] And if you ever need to make sense of things, go to the Secret Swappers.”

Amber and Bobby are in lesbians