Something occured to me (of all times) late last night just as I drift asleep, that one of the more significant times we saw Trace "battle" the evil smoke hallucination
he was quite skeletal. Seeing him now back there
ribs exposed and all, the inky black drippyness seems an all-too appropriate evolution from the sooty blackness. I do not like to believe this is coincidence.
Rather, is this possibly a sign of progression of 'ol smoky gaining form and influence as the plan coalesces AND is it possible evidence of greater dominion than just of Trace's mind?
Only other interpretation I have is that it still is more of a visual manifestation of Trace's closeness to eventual madness, that happens to be paralleling the strain Trace is experiencing from the revelations unfolding, but... nahhhhhhh.
Bellhead wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:59 pm
MuonNeutrino wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 9:56 pm
Bellhead wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:56 am
And judging by the transcript, Rose said those words in red, lending credence to the idea that they're two entities. Or she could just be a split personality now... I mean, we have a clue what dark magic infection does to the mind of the caster when used, but what about if it brought you back from the dead?
The other thing I will point out is that the blue-green text Rose that was talking last comic strip seemed to have access to all of her memories up until and including the group's arrival at the mansion, because she was explaining things to Trace in a way that wouldn't make sense to do without knowing that Trace had lost his memories. This is significant, because the Red Text Entity seems to *not* have access to all of Rose's current memories, because in
comic 1092 it was surprised at Maren's presence, which was something that Rose already knew about. This is another indication that Red Text is some separate entity from Rose.
That's a fair point... If that's the case, the two entities may well be Undead Rose with her personality and memories intact, and Duplicate Shadow Trace with Dark Trace's paranoia, memories and desire-to-kill-all-in-his-way intact.
And if that's the case, I'm jumping on the bandwagon for Shadow Trace vs Undead Rose, because there's kinda no way that won't happen if that's what's going on now.
I... I think I'm developing a theory here, and it may be flawed, but it's creepy. Ohhh is it creepy.
There's a saying that,
"We live on until the last person that remembers us
forgets us."
What if those that ROSE remembers and has met personally can be resurrected by Rose's recollections
AND what if Trace
knew this. She, essentially, being an involuntary vessel exploited by oldTrace not only as a continued servant but also kept alive as a mere... backup medium... for a version of, if not the real thing, but an acceptable enough spectral simalcrum to continue on his work to enough capacity to execute this current plan. Living - just like in her mind - as a parasite or a virus among the estate along with Rose, as a shadow of her former owner personified and able to continue working and tormenting Rose keeping her to her toils. Maybe even MORE EVIL (
le gasp), being shaded by Rose's own perceptions.
"EVILme wouldn't do that, but EVILEVILme would."
It could also explain the disjointedness of personality that the entity exhibits being
pieces of Rose's experience and understanding of Trace.
That, by extension of the theory also applies to OTHERS Rose knows, Saria included, who supposedly she knows even better. Maybe... almost like the REAL THING.
"These memories you cherish, they're
mine now."
Oh dear diddly gosh darn dag nabbit.
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, "I hate you for just knowing you"
The only thing I don't like about this theory is the lack of intimateness of knowledge Rose would have about magic that Trace was capable of or how enough, like how would a memory of a person possibly also come with their skills and whatnot, so that to me seems a bit of a stretch but, either way, wow.
TheMasterOfOats wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:51 am
So this is a bit off topic, but I was reading the previous chapter and I noticed how cryptic Rose sounded as she said Raine “had potential”.
Knowing now some of the weird crap Rose gets up to, I wonder if she’d use Raine as a host body. She has the knowledge and the equipment Trace used for the Saria/Maren swap (assuming it goes through). She could theoretically put her soul in Raine; she’s the perfect host body, and it’d be a great “screw you” to Euchre.
I'm not quite sure this is it, but I do think Rose is serrupticiously plotting something.
Though... Raine having a Youngtani-esque sub-personality mentor Auntie in her brain does sound pretty adorable.
"S'okay hon, I can play your wolf side for you till ya get comfortable"