So could this be a noark origin story? A scorned survivor of past revolutionary corps. Then the child they had with them survives, grows, learns the truth of the empire now royal family continuing the revolution.
When Bjorn returned to this world after going back to his, the witch said something like, “in the end you made the same choice as us…”. I think she may have been referring to choosing a fabricated world you can control vs fixing problems in your original world…
Some of Zephyros's story seems like propaganda mixed in with truth, as we also have the perspective of the witch from the basement rift – seeing they did go to the great demon realm, and the floor lord Silliot did try to save the witch… but we saw that the witch had little control of her powers, and that some monsters were able to resist their basic nature and try to help her.
I hold onto my original hypothesis that the witch's curse was actually caused by someone else… maybe the empire or some other 3rd party, and the witch got sacked with the blame… also Karui and the dark priests and mages took advantage of the chaos to convert key people into monsters (though the empire was into this too, apparently).
Not everything makes sense yet though. The witch appointed the Lords as guardians of the power of origin in the labyrinth within the labyrinth, perhaps in the effort to prevent the end of the world? Maybe the empire was secretly the cause of the curse after using up the power of origin? Maybe Karui was the one who made the power of origin available, knowing it would bring about the end? Maybe Bjorn helps save Ormi, and he starts the Ormi Revolutionary Army which eventually founds Noark?
Or maybe the labyrinth within the labyrinth is an echo of memories from the world that just won’t die, and explorers will learn the truth as they progress further. Maybe that’s one of the reasons the King doesn’t want explorers to reach the top floor? Or perhaps that’s where the power of origin lies, and that gives control of the rules of the world (the outer labyrinth)… curiouser and curiouser…
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So could this be a noark origin story? A scorned survivor of past revolutionary corps. Then the child they had with them survives, grows, learns the truth of the empire now royal family continuing the revolution.
So many thoughts…
When Bjorn returned to this world after going back to his, the witch said something like, “in the end you made the same choice as us…”. I think she may have been referring to choosing a fabricated world you can control vs fixing problems in your original world…
Some of Zephyros's story seems like propaganda mixed in with truth, as we also have the perspective of the witch from the basement rift – seeing they did go to the great demon realm, and the floor lord Silliot did try to save the witch… but we saw that the witch had little control of her powers, and that some monsters were able to resist their basic nature and try to help her.
I hold onto my original hypothesis that the witch's curse was actually caused by someone else… maybe the empire or some other 3rd party, and the witch got sacked with the blame… also Karui and the dark priests and mages took advantage of the chaos to convert key people into monsters (though the empire was into this too, apparently).
Not everything makes sense yet though. The witch appointed the Lords as guardians of the power of origin in the labyrinth within the labyrinth, perhaps in the effort to prevent the end of the world? Maybe the empire was secretly the cause of the curse after using up the power of origin? Maybe Karui was the one who made the power of origin available, knowing it would bring about the end? Maybe Bjorn helps save Ormi, and he starts the Ormi Revolutionary Army which eventually founds Noark?
Or maybe the labyrinth within the labyrinth is an echo of memories from the world that just won’t die, and explorers will learn the truth as they progress further. Maybe that’s one of the reasons the King doesn’t want explorers to reach the top floor? Or perhaps that’s where the power of origin lies, and that gives control of the rules of the world (the outer labyrinth)… curiouser and curiouser…