#speculation is fun!

Hello, shes, hes and thems of Tumblr. Welcome to tonight's insane rambling theories, tonight we will be discussing Nace and the themes of love and fear.

(Thanks to the fun influence of minimally medicated ADHD, my brain is perpetually unorganized and scattered, so apologies if this is all over the place.)

So, I was watching clips from 3x13, as one is wont to do, and the concept of fear comes up a LOT here. Actually, not just here, but it's a central theme.

Ace tells Nancy there is nothing to be afraid of. Nancy says the same right before they almost kiss.

And then Ace says this in his monologue:

Centrally, what is keeping them apart is fear. Ace's fear that Nancy sees him as lacking, Nancy's fear that she'll hurt him.

And that makes you wonder if that has any curse applicability. Nancy held herself back for a solid month out of fear, and still did when she told Ace. He himself calls her out on pushing him away out of fear.

I've theorized before that maybe they already did break the curse, or the curse isn't what we think it is. If you're Temperance, you're in this to torture them. You're in this to be psychologically three steps ahead of them.

Nancy fears for Ace's life more than most people. But Ace doesn't fear for his own life near as much. So if he could convince her to try to break the curse, fear of losing his own life wouldn't stop them, and the curse ends there.

So Ace doesn't fear for his own life, but he fears for Nancy's. The torture on both of them is greatly prolonged if he is the one to say no. If they play on his fear. And it is especially profoundly terrible if there is nothing supernatural holding them back. Just the fear of each other's deaths. If they lose each other not because of anything supernatural, but because of fear. And by weaponizing that fear, Temperance did damage. She took away the fundamentals of their relationship. They can't be there for each other like they want to, they're not understanding each other, they can't be around each other, they can't talk. That's some grade A psychological torture.

But that's where the concept of love comes into this. Temperance is a soulless monster who by the show's own admission, never felt love. Not for her daughter, not for anyone. But one of ND's central themes is the power of love.

George: "You suddenly realize that love is the most human thing that humans can ever human."

Temperance isn't a human. Temperance exists to manipulate for her own gain. Much like the Aglaeca, the thing she hadn't been able to predict was the effect of love, and that is how I think they'll defeat her. I have long thought they may have to activate the curse to destroy it. ND loves its time crunches. It's also why I think Nace have never said "I love you" flat out to each other. That feels intentional.

Also, Temperance said that had blind spots, and we can take from that she meant Ace, and Ryan, and her love for others. Oddly, this could be Temperance's blind spot too, albiet in a different way.

(Character: Lily, The Lily, Timeframe: Dawntrail (possibly?) Mentions of @terminuspride Arianell)

The ground crunched under the Au Ra’s feet as she stepped into the forgotten ruin. The humid air of the jungle gave way to a cooler interior. The Lily carefully approached the wall, with its intricate linework and depictions. Taking a parchment and some charcoal she took an impression of the wall, carefully stowing it in her bag.

She had been on Tural for what, a few months at this point? While the important people of Eorzea ran around for the Tuliyollal government, people like her were able to slip into the wilds with ease. She was originally so excited, a chance to explore a full new world. She couldn’t let that go by. So she left her Aria a note and a kiss goodbye and stowed away on one of the ships heading west.

Thinking on that, she was pushing her limits staying as long as she did. Her Aria had patience, but not infinite patience. This was to be the last ruin before she boarded a ship back to Eorzea.

So she delved deeper. Her torch showing the ancient stone to be as magnificent as the entrance. This appeared to be a mausoleum, if the layout inside was to be believed. Some crypts in Eorzea were similar. 

The Lily dropped down into the central chamber, lightly hitting the ground. Dust flew everywhere, cause the Lily to cough and wave her hand in front of her face to clear the air. Once it was clear once more, she looked in delight at the tombs in front of her. She carefully approached one, taking her parchment and charcoal and getting an impression of the symbols carved into its side. Something to translate later, the Lily thought. 

She looked over the stone tomb, looking for a means to open it. As she did however, a noisome stench took over her senses. She turned to see the cause and saw a loathsome beast silently approaching. It seemed to glide over the stones, its rotting fur and flesh silently sloughing off its form. 

Upon her noticing it, the creature let loose a horrifying screech, chilling the Lily to her bones. Taking a peek inside would have to wait, likely for eternity, as the Lily leapt backwards and made a mad dash for the inner wall. The beast also picked up speed, its flesh slapping against the stone floor with a terrible squelching noise.

The Lily got a hand hold in the stone bricks and started to haul herself upwards. Not a moment too soon, as the beast slammed into the wall with a sickening crunch. The Lily was certain that several of its bones were broken on the impact. The cracking and crunching of the bones continued, with the Lily sparing a glance downwards, seeing the beast reforming before her eyes.

With a quickened climb the Lily crested the top of the wall as the beast itself started to scratch into the walls with a screech. She could hear the sound of its flesh hitting the ground as it climbed to catch her. Taking the Allagan tomephone that she had stolen long ago, the Lily took a quick picture of the beast, before leaving it and the tomb behind.

15 to 20 years in the future...

It was a rare moment of deferential silence from the group gathered.  The young adult’s eyes bright with anticipation as they waited, attention fixed upon the docked airship before them.  The group was a motley bunch, xaela and miqo’te and hyur and various mixes of that and more.  Some were older in their mid 20s while some younger, just moons past coming of age.  They were standing further back than was needed just in case everything went sideways, they’d learned that lesson years ago the first time they were gathered to witness a dream coming to life. 

A problem - admittedly one of many problems - that a lot of people have with Zi-O is that “the world ought to be conquered 19 times over if the riders have been removed from the timeline.”

But that’s not actually possible, as shown in episode 5. When Sakuma (Another Rider-of-the-Fortnight number 3) becomes Another Fourze, Gentaro is fighting a Zodiart in the background.

This is the only time thus far (9 episodes in, for future record) that we have seen an Another Rider get their powers in the same location as the Proper Rider loses them - all the others have been in different locations, and thus technically cannot be judged simultaneously.

Gentaro’s transformation into Fourze fizzles out and so does his opponent. Gentaro’s still there, but the monster isn’t.

Kamen Riders always, always share an origin with their enemies. Whether the rider was created by their enemy and then turned against them (as with most Showa riders), or worked with members of the same group/species as the enemy (Den-O, OOO, what I understand of Kiva, probably a bunch of others), or manipulated the technology/source of the opponent in order to fight them (nearly all of Heisei Phase 2 - Drive is pretty much the only exception, and that’s because the Roidmudes came after Krim developed the tech)

(okay, okay, J doesn’t have the thing going on, but apparently wound up in a ‘I saved your life now use these superpowers and kill these aliens for me’ situation? The nineties were a strange time overall, weren’t they?)

But they keep saying that Zi-O is taking the Rider’s Powers. What if that’s not quite true? There are no reliable narrators in Zi-O - history is told by the winners, and two of the three factions are trying to change who the winner is.

The RideWatches are taking the powers, yes, but they seem to be taking the source of the power itself.

The Riders themselves still exist; albeit with an ambiguous form of amnesia that I’m not convinced is only reverted ‘temporarily’.

But I think the enemies are being written out entirely. (Ankh, Chase, Poppy, nooooo!)

Remember these two posts? I wrote them when we only had four episodes. and that one line I gave to Sagara / The Embodiment of Helheim / Mr. Murder Forest...

“If they come for Gaim then they technically come for ME”