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#i wonder if theyll address it this season
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I love how at this point, they’re just flat out giving interviews with only the crows. They know what the fans want...
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thornswoggled · 1 month
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on chises family, "a storm brewing in the east," and future arcs
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hello im back from two years of not posting on this sideblog to spitball a theory thats been burning a hole in my brain since i caught up with the manga. all loose speculation, id be extremely interested to hear thoughts on this
now that fumiki is back in the picture, id like to theorize that yuuki hatori will soon follow. for the purpose of this theory im going to skip all the reasons why yori is absolutely fumiki. imo theres no point addressing all the evidence here, but id be happy to summarize if not. more attention being paid to chises life in japan, chise wondering why her father "abandoned his role," and elias expressing curiosity over the circumstances that led her to meet seth are all hints towards yuukis story coming to light
one thing TAMB does that i love is how tertiary characters are facsimiles meant to help us understand our main characters. for example, all the "toxic" pairs we see in season 1 that we are meant to compare and contrast elias and chise to, all in various ways that help us understand the ways their relationship might evolve. these minor characters may seem unimportant, but are preparing us to accept developments in the main cast. i believe there are two characters in the college arc that are prepping us for yuuki hatoris story - seth noel and adam sargent
lets first address fumiki, who ill just call yori. yori seems to have mastery over his eyes, which "have the power to bind [fae]" according to gabriella. this is a power both he and yuuki have, which protects chise and chika for a time. however, chika implies in chapter 19 that he didnt always have this ability, or perhaps didnt have the sight at all until he became involved with her. which is strange, considering yori has a "family business" important enough to require he study abroad to train for:
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lets run with the idea that yuuki started off with weak or nonexistent powers. have any other men in this series been booted from their families because they lacked the skill?
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its possible that this "family business" (assuming yuuki didnt found it himself, and that yori doesnt just mean the church, which i dont think he does because he seems specialized in exorcism) eventually learned that yuuki acquired his binding powers, as well as a child with the same ability. again, are there are other men who are forcibly dragged back into their family, to the detriment of their young daughters?
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theres a few reasons why i think such care and time was put into the backstory of philomelas family. chise has done much of the character growth thats possible for her at this time, and attempts to "fix" philomela as a way of fixing herself. she projects on her, and for good reason too, since we are meant to compare them almost 1:1. i believe that the amount of time sunk into adam sargents story is meant to warm us up to understanding yuukis situation, regardless of whether we are meant to forgive him for his abandonment. seths story, too, introduces us to the idea of magical families booting their unworthy kin. which leads us to:
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going back to the screencap for the beginning, lets give yuuki the benefit of the doubt and assume hes being truthful when he promises hell be back for the girls one day. this phrasing is really interesting, and i feel like it implies yuuki knows the place hes going is too dangerous for them. assuming hes returning to his family, or to some sort of organization (which i say because yori is part of the conclave/church), perhaps hes afraid that theyll be taken advantage of. or... maybe he was just lying! there is very little we understand about the church, so there are all manner of reasons why yuuki and yori may have ended up involved with them
so, great, okay. fumiki is here, and yuuki may be coming soon. under what context might he show his face? i have some ideas, but this soon into the arc everything is too subject to change. im also not convinced any of this will be addressed in the fiendbane arc. after all, yori was first introduced at the beginning of the college arc, and is only now becoming relevant. so all of this may only be laying the groundwork for yuuki to return in another arc, if not this one, which appears to have a lot cooking already with the dragon, the new mage, etc. but then again, we get oberons little prophecy:
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i think we all understand this is japan, right. like, it has to be. it doesnt seem that oberons phrasing in the JP text matches what the great wall of china is called in japanese, but i dont think we are meant to interpret it any other way. what else could it mean, hadrians wall? cmon
all of this focus on chises family, past, and meeting with seth are perhaps warming us up to these people and places becoming relevant when the storm breaks. and i believe yori and yuuki will be the ones to involve chise in it all. now, at this point its clear yori doesnt know who chise is, and is just as likely to not know he had a sister at all. but i think this guy knows:
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now... i double checked, and im almost certain this is not seths bodyguard. they have similar hair and fashion, but seths bodyguard parts his hair to the side. its been so long since yuuki has appeared in the manga that its impossible to know for sure if this is him, and im not confident at all that he is. they share some qualities for sure, but that doesnt mean much in this medium. he certainly has yoris swooping hair, at least, so if hes not yuuki he might still be related to him. in the same family business, perhaps? all we know is that hes been here before, and may have been keeping tabs on them in the same way the church does
the use of "wrest" in the above panel is notable here. to wrest is to forcibly take something, and what kind of "blessing" would they want to seize from elias' possession? maybe a useful slay vega that yuuki failed to disclose? if, IF this is yuuki, his demeanor has changed much over the years, and perhaps he is more willing to put chise to use now that he knows where she is. its possible yuuki is making good on his promise, and really is coming back for his daughter like he said he would. we have, after all, seen in chapter 99 how liam and isaac are both unwilling to return to their homes, and the sudden development of philomela being taken in by the scrimgeours. again, philomela is meant to be a near 1:1 chise dupe, so its compelling that we are just now seeing her spirited away to join another family without warning. again, developments among secondary characters prep us for developments among the main cast
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again, too soon to tell, and the next chapter is coming soon, so theres a chance this will all immediately blow up in my face. however, we have already seen chise get scouted by another mage, and elias considers how frightened he is that chise will desire something "he cant provide." so how catastrophic would it be if she was also compelled to rejoin her family, searching for answers and closure in a way elias cannot understand? personally id love to see it, though itll be a long way off
do you think yuuki is coming back? do you think yori is a red herring? let me know. ill leave you with this
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booasaur · 4 years
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maya and carina were so sweet this episode. i second everything you said in the tags but i especially loved how cairna interacted with maya's mom. i don't watch greys so idk how she is there, but on s19 she seems very collected/not easily phased. i do wonder what'll happen when naya does eventually breakdown(because that's what's coming i assume). i keep thinking of her'i dont fix broken people' comment and if theyll ever address that. but so far she seems very willing to stick it out
I JUST had a conversation with my friend about tonight’s ep and basically said all of this! I super, super love Carina, which, maybe it’s easy to do because I’ve also mostly just seen her on this show and she’s only been allowed to be a supporting character and what’s not to love about an endlessly supportive upbeat sweetheart. Because yeah, even with the “I don’t fix broken people” line that seemed to imply she wasn’t going to put up with all this, she is putting up with a lot. 
And I love Maya too and of course she’s a victim and it’s super sad to see her be grateful to her abusive dad, it’s so hard for her to separate her achievements and identity from his abuse, obviously, this is a big, important arc for her, but they’re getting close to a line where it’s just Maya pouring a LOT on Carina and Carina just taking it with no other role in this relationship. Maybe there was meant to be a balance, with her brother, maybe next season, but I assume it’s actually going to be deliberate on the part of the show where Carina’s like, okay, you can’t talk to me like that. We’re starting to see Maya exhibit the same behavior her father did, pushy and bossy and I’m sure it comes from a place where she thinks that’s the best way to achieve success, but it was abuse then, and it’s just not going to get good results now. If Emmett is too scared to go back into the fire, fine, in the moment, deal with him quickly and effectively, but at some point, you have to get to the root of the matter, you can’t just give him an errand as punishment and that’s it. And in the heat of the moment or not, you can’t talk to a fire victim like that. 
The show’s being way too obvious about this arc to just assume it’ll be brushed away, things are going to come to a head, I just hope Carina and their relationship won’t be a casualty on the way.
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missing-my-griffin · 6 years
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“you will be happy.”
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced Jason was genuinely not baiting us in S5 and is sitting at home rn wondering why the fuck the fandom still doubts romantic Bellarke.
Pretty sure he didnt mean “you will be happy” as one of those disses thinking “Blorkes are so pathetic theyll be content with anything” but more along the lines of... I wrapped up this beautiful love story, had it directly addressed by the main characters sister, called them boyfriend and girlfriend by another character, literally separated Becho for 10 episodes, had B&C flirting not in one, but in TWO scenes in the finale and ended it all with Bellarke cuddling, crying and adopting a second child. I’ve made it so obvious you have antis admitting there’s been a shift. And then I say ambiguous stuff in ONE interview and THATS the thing you take from this season.
This whole thing reminds me of those action movies where some John Doe (us) asks “can you help me with this?” and the lawyer (JRoth) pushes over a napkin with a number written on it. He goes “puuh I really don’t think I can. Im sorry.” and John Doe is like. “Oh that sucks.” The lawyer raises his eyebrows and looks a little confused. “I mean, I just really really can’t”, tapping the napkin. John: “I know I got that.” Lawyer, completely exasperated at this point, leans forward and stares into Johns eyes; says through gritted teeth “I said I can’t.” while nodding intensely. This would usually be the point where a person would catch on and be like ohhh I get it haha. But metaphorically speaking, at this point the Bellarke fandom gets up, insults the lawyer, waves around the napkin screaming “and what the hell am I supposed to do with this??” and leaves.
Like.. Jason can’t say anything. He’s showing us. And he sneaks in words like “yet” and “at the moment” and basically winks so hard his eyes must be hurting. For crying out loud, he retweeted an article that called bullshit on his “non-romantic” statement. If I were him, Id just be like
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this isn’t meant to critique anyone at all I get if you’re all disappointed and have lost hope!! But if you take a step back and look at how we’ve been fed this season, this really is the only way it can be interpreted!
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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years
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RWBY Musings #64: A Squiggles Meister’s Views on the potential parallels between the RWBY V3 and V6 finales.
I’ve been saying this for a while now but I believe the CRWBY Writers might be gearing us fans up to have the V6 finale pay homage to the epic V3 finale or at least that’s my theory. So if I had to guess the parallels to V3 that might pop up during the V6 finale, here’s what I think they’ll be:
 Grimm Rampage through Vale ------ Grimm Rampage through Argus
During V3, the City of Vale got rampaged by hordes of Grimm including one colossal Grimm Dragon. I have been wondering what the point of the Wall of Argus was alluding to. I still stand by my previous hunch that something is going to come from beyond the wall to rampage the city. Either that’s the case or the one in my next parallel.
Grimm Dragon from Mountain Glenn ----- Grimm Hecatonchire from the Wall of Argus
A bit of a stretch but what if… there’s secretly a Grimm Titan like a Hecatonchire Grimm that’s secretly hidden inside the Wall of Argus. Since Cordo preached about her Atlesian ancestors helping to form Argus, imagine if those same ancestors put Grimm inside the Wall of Argus or built the city around one that’s been dormant for centuries just like the Grimm Dragon.
In the series, Attack on Titan, it was revealed in a later season that there were Titans in the actual walls that were supposed to keep humanity safe from the Titans. Imagine how cool it would be if a Grimm Hecatonchire suddenly immerged from the Wall of Argus in the same fashion as the Grimm Dragon in V3 and similar to its Dragon counterpart, it also brings forth legions of Grimm to prey on the innocent civilians of Argus, forcing the Argus Military to cease their pursuit of our heroes and take immediate charge to protect the citizens of Argus.
Huntsman vs Atlesian Paladins-----Huntsmen vs Atlesian Megazord
In V3, we got all the main huntsmen from different academies working together to defend Beacon against the swarm of corrupted Atlesian Paladins. Now in V6, it seems C10 set up out heroes who, may not be from different academies but represent the diversity of the kingdoms in a sense (minus Vacuo) going toe to toe against Cordo and her Atlesian Megazord.
Weiss Summons Armor Gigas against the Paladins---Weiss summon Armor Gigas against Cordo
In V3, we got Weiss summoning part of her Armour Gigas for the first time. Right now, Weiss’s trademark summon is the only thing that can grow to a size big enough to give Cordo’s giant megazord a run for its money provided she has the aura levels to do so. I’m sure if Jaune were to amplify Weiss’ aura, the same way he did with her last season and at the start of V6 with Ren, we could get our first ever giant robot vs giant armoured summon fight in the history of RWBY.
Velvet Weapon Reveal ----- Oscar Weapon Reveal
Need I say more? V3 was the first time we saw Velvet’s weapon and her semblance I think too in action. Who knows? If we play our cards right we might finally see what the Oz-cane can do at its true power because as a Pinehead, I have definitely been wondering what tricks to the Oz-cane Oz was talking about back in V5.
Cinder killed Ozpin ---- Neo kills Oscar
Now before my fellow Pineheads come at me with them pitchforks for daring to even theorize this, let me explain my hunch. What if…on the same level as Adam’s reappearance, Cinder Fall also shows her face in Argus and she targets Ruby as expected. So Cinder overpowers Ruby with Neo’s help and just as Neo is about the deal the final blow to Ruby, Oscar jumps in and takes it for her, right through the heart.
I have been hearing this whole thing about Neo doing something to make the fandom hate her going around for a while and I’ve even had one or two fellow FNDM come to me with the theory of Neo harming Oscar. Well here’s my rendition of that theory. What if…Neo goes in for the kill on Ruby but Oscar daringly jumps infront of Ruby to shield her and takes it. So Oscar is there on the ground on the cusp of death. Maybe to make the situation even more dramatic, he straight up does die in Ruby’s arms, shocking her and the fandom.
Then after Oscar technically dies, instead of going to the afterlife as one would expect or reincarnating, Oscar shockingly winds up in the Realm between Realms where he meets the God of Darkness, similar to how God of Light met with Ozma. To Oscar’s surprise, a reluctant Ozpin is also present. The God of Darkness then offers the two souls something neither could refuse. He offers them the chance to undo what his brother did centuries ago. As it turns out, the whole reincarnation thing was all Light’s idea because he still believed in humanity and that they could change.
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His brother felt the opposite but he did want to entertain himself a bit with his brother’s immortal pet. So he offers both Ozpin and Oscar the chance to undo his brother’s curse so that they may return to their normal lives free of having to be revived to continue his brother’s dirty work. 
But he only offers the deed to one. In order to decide who gets to return to the land of the living, God of Darkness forces Oscar and Ozpin to fight each other one and one to see which soul gets revived only. And to Oscar’s surprise, Ozpin actually wants to fight him so that he can finally be free. So the two souls fight. Of course, Oscar wins and gets to go back but this time he’ll be revived by himself as himself. No longer will he have Ozpin’s voice inside of his head. He’ll be his own person again. He’ll be…alone; a comment made by a grief stricken Ozpin.
It’d be interesting if we could get an equivalent of Oscar calling out Ozpin in the same manner Ruby did to Qrow in V6 C10. Oscar scolds Ozpin for his words implying that he’s never been alone. He’s always had his people. His friends and so does Oscar and so long as they accept him and wish to keep fighting, so will he until his dying breath. His last dying breath in his now only life.
The God of Light’s curse was bestowed so that Ozma was never alone during his cycle but Oscar would be revived as himself without Ozpin. He will be the last incarnate. The last life. The last Wizard of Light. So as Ozpin goes to the afterlife, Oscar returns to the real world where he returns as himself to continue the good fight.
This parallel will probably not happen at all. Definitely not. But as always, I wanted to toss it out there just to entertain myself at the possibility, y’know what I mean?
Team JNPR dies with Pyrhha ---- Team JNPR is reborn with Oscar
Ya’ll know I’ve been saying this since the beginning, right? Ya’ll know how much I want that Team JNPR Revival with Oscar replacing Pyrhha right? I feel like these past two episodes are slowly gearing up to have this happen. Though I didn’t particularly enjoy C9, it did give me my biggest indicators of Jaune asking Oscar to join JNR. 
That Pyrhha closure for JNR. Jaune mentioning in his own words how valuable Oscar is to the team. Bruh, at this point, I’m just waiting for this to come. I’m waiting on this conversation.
Cinder killed Pyrhha----Jaune kills Cinder
This one I’m a little iffy about. I know I’ve been waiting for Jaune to have Justice for Pyrhha moment with Cinder but after C9 I don’t think Jaune will be as angry to kill Cinder anymore. I mean, if Cinder turns into a Grimm monster or gets eaten by a Grimm only to fuse with said Grimm making her less human. Then I can see Jaune being the one to deal the final blow on Grimm Cinder. I’ve said this before too. If anyone deserves to kill Cinder, it’s Jaune.
I doubt the Writers will make him kill her as human but…if she turns into a Grimm then it’s a bigger possibility but that’s just me.
Adam vs Blake and Yang ----- Adam vs Blake and Yang The Remix
Duh. Just duh. This doesn’t even need to be on the list because it’s something the season has been alluding to all volume. Plus C10 already showed it happening. The only twist I can think of from this fight is if Adam dying at the end. I know some people like Adam as a character (like EruptionFang) but I really feel the Writers might be setting up for V6 to be Adam’s curtain call.
I can’t see Adam moving forward, not after the focus he’s been given this season. It’ll be interesting if Adam ends up dying in a similar fashion to Gaston from the Beauty and the Beast. Like he tries to stab Blake but ends up missing and falling to his death. Or maybe he ends up caught on the ledge and Blake tries to help him. Like I’m picturing Adam on the ledge with Blake offering him her hand only for Adam to refuse and fall to his death or something. That’s my hunch.
Then after the Adam fight is one and he’s no longer a thorn in their lives, the Bumblebee could finally have their closure with that. Who knows? Maybe they might make Bumblebee have a moment in the V6 finale. Instead of Blake crying over Yang getting hurt, it’s the two smiling at each other after being found safe together. Maybe they might even kiss, who knows? I’m not a Bumblebee shipper but if a kiss somehow happens between these two gals, I won’t be shocked. I can expect Yang to kiss Blake revealing she’s in love with her.
Again, I ship BlackSun but Bumblebee peaks my curiosity particularly with how Yang sees Blake. I’ve always viewed the Bees as being a ship driven by Yang mostly. Ironic since Yang’s motorcycle is also named Bumblebee. Any Bumblebee hints or vibes I’ve gotten throughout the seasons came mostly from Yang. I think Yang might care for Blake in the romantic sense. Blake I’m not sure about.
I don’t know if Bumblebee is in the cards. All I know is that I think the series has kind of dropped one or two hints about Yang’s true feelings that I’m waiting to see addressed in some shape or form in this remix rematch battle. If all the Bees do is hug then cool. But if they kiss, I’m just saying I won’t be shocked. But that’s just me.
 Arkos First Kiss ---- Renora First Kiss
Nothing serious, I just want to see these two kids kiss finally. And what would be great is if Nora and Ren kiss after the group save Argus. The Arkos first kiss was bittersweet because it was Pyrhha’s last chance to let the boy she loves know how she felt about him before she sacrificed herself. A Renora after battle kiss would mean hope and happiness. For Pete’s sake, it’s been six seasons, let these two kiss already you cowards!
Alrighty then, I think that’s all the parallels I have in mind. If I think of anymore I’ll add them to the list later. For now, enjoy guys!
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More Squiggles’ RWBY Content
~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)  
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head-and-heart · 6 years
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1-ive seen a lot of people that explain the underwhelming bellarke reunion we gotby saying that bellamys bottling up his emotions, that hes trying to "be the head" like clarke told him to, that it's going to boil over, etc but what if we're wrong ?Like this goes beyond wanting romantic bellarke, it just seems like their whole soulmate/co leaders/friends/caring relationship is gone, not just bellarke but all of spacekru ,and the theories just dont seem likely or maybe im not perceptive
2- (its likely tbh, hence why im asking for ur opinion) but to me it just seems like the show wrapped up the reunions and moved on to the plot for the rest of the season. If this it, then it’s shitty. bc why the hell spend 4 SEASONS setting up these wonderful friendships, princess mechanic, C+Monty,+Murphy, and BELLARKE (which, even if u dont agree is romantic, you can’t deny they have one hell of a connection) ALL of these fantastic friendships that are part of why I love this show, and you
3- and you just destroy them with a pathetic time jump that im really failing to see the purpose of, and you just make these characters suddenly not give a shit about each other anymore for no good reason ?And you make them care about some 2nd class antagonist more (again, not just bellarke, I was so salty when monty hugged *cho and not clarke) If this is where this show is headed (and it seems like it is) then fuck it, im not watching. Like monty straight up said, with B agreeing : “I miss
4-space"which I heard as “I miss being at peace while my friend who dedicated her entire existence to protecting me and the others and who sacrificed herself so I could live was struggling to survive on a barren planet and putting a gun to her head"You know shit is bad bc I love Monty and I a d o r e Bellamy but goddamit I can barely look at them and I legit enjoy Diyoza’s scenes more. (Im still waiting to see princess mechanic reunite but as I said it seems this show moved on and
5- theyll just pat each other on the back or some shit. Wow this is super fucking long im so sorry but I needed to get it off my chest and get a second opinion, I hope you don’t mind (if u do,ignore me uhyufgfeuhdjwis)
I hear you. I know that it is kind of frustrating at the moment, but I am hopeful that Bellamy’s story (and Bellarke’s relationship) is going to be a lot clearer starting in the next episode. 
Now that we have reached the mid-season point, things should start picking up - especially since it looks like Bellarke’s relationship is going to boil over next episode (whereas they haven’t had a reason to address any issues between them before now). I really think that the writers were playing catch-up and set-up with the plot for the first half of the season due to the time jump and now that all the pieces are set in place, things are going to really start taking off. 
What’s giving me hope right now is Bob saying that he understood Bell by the end of the season (whereas he didn’t at the start of the season) and him also saying that the latter half of the season has a lot of good Bellarke stuff. This suggests to me that we’re going to start seeing some development in Bellamy and the core of the show (aka. Bellamy and Clarke) will be re-centered by the end of Season 5.
I don’t really know how to comfort you beyond that, unfortunately. All of my theories rest upon how the next few episodes go and I can’t really predict anything beyond what I already have until I see more. It’s difficult to “meta” without the full picture.
But I do think things should start making more sense from this point forward! 
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mittensmorgul · 7 years
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not only MP, now also misha said that cas will be back but we must consider there are also alternate universes, this is making me more nervous I don't want an alternate cas , all the character development and his history with dean lost, it's so upsetting :(
Yeah, I’ve had questions along this line, but I haven’t been able to really answer formally. Along these lines and also in my inbox this morning: (AN: all things in italics are other anon messages… sometimes my inbox helps me out with anons sort of answering each other… Eldritch Inbox):
Hello, i’m sorry if you answered this already, but i do have a question about a certain theory going about about the idea of an au!cas (possibly the one who got killed?) I guess i’m kind of confused about it and was wondering if you’ve either already spoken on it or can expand on the idea? thanks :)
and
Im worried now theyll just exchange Cas for AU cas and think thats fine because we still have the same actor. The flash did the same thing had the character leavd and brozgh the guys alernative version to stick around
and:
While I can see them (hopefully) using AU Cas in good way for a few eps (tho it doesn’t make sense because there would be no reason for JimmyCas in the other world, but they often don’t address stuff that doesn’t make sense well) I don’t think they would decide to not bring regular Cas back. They have 2 seasons left. I don’t think they would get rid of 1 of the mains. 50% if you counted Crowley. Tho they did that with Angel and the relationship on that show in the last season. Hmm.
Okay, I really, truly 100% honestly don’t think they’re going to use AU Cas at all as a replacement for OUR Cas. If the show is going to open up more alternate realities, I can see OUR Cas (and Sam and Dean) meeting those alternate universe versions for an episode here and there, if only to MIRROR what our Cas is going through, but WHY would they bring Cas THIS FAR in his story, to the point where HE HIMSELF has developed and grown and learned SO MUCH ABOUT HIMSELF, and been prodded by practically EVERY CHARACTER EVER about WHO HE IS and WHAT HE WOULD CHOOSE TO BE if they were just gonna toss him out and bring in replacement copies with entirely different life experiences?
We don’t just love the concept of what would essentially boil down to a random character wearing Misha’s face, WE LOVE OUR CAS. Who we’ve watched struggle FOR NINE DAMN YEARS to get to this point in his understanding of humanity, his compassion, his sense of family, and his LOVE for the Winchesters… like two steps before he was ready to make some BIG FINAL CHOICES for himself… And I can’t think of ANY reason for the writers to just erase ALL of that and start over with a “blank slate” version of Cas. Honestly if that’s what they’re planning to do, I would forever be officially done with this damn show.
Talk about your Jump The Shark moments.
BUT! Considering the Cas we saw on screen looked identical to our Cas, down to the coat and tie, and the fact that the Apocalypse AU didn’t look like they had a Dillard’s, I’m assuming that we have not met a Castiel from that AU. What reason would he have for looking like Jimmy Novak in our Castiel’s outfit when AU Bobby looked the way he did, and when AU demons LOOKED like demons (not possessed humans), and when we heard AU angels were human-hating monsters too… Something tells me AU Cas would look NOTHING like Jimmy in suit and tie. It just makes no logical sense.
Even MAGIC in that AU didn’t seem to work properly. Crowley’s spell didn’t seem to be what closed the portal. It was the nephilim’s birth that closed it.
Which brings me back around to the beginning of the line (just like the structure of the episode, and the meta-ness of the title– a song that ends at the beginning…)
Kelly grabs Cas’s hand, after he’s seen the AU that the nephilim SHOWED HIM SPECIFICALLY, of what the world without the Winchesters would look like– remember in 12.09 when Cas was ADAMANT that the world needs every last Winchester? And he was willing to break cosmic-level deals to make sure the world could keep its Winchesters? To me, in this scene where Kelly needs reassurance about Castiel’s “vision of the future” the nephilim showed him, that is something that’s ALSO forefront on his mind:
Kelly: Tell me again. Tell me again what you saw.Cas: All right. I saw… I saw (he closes his eyes and concentrates on Kelly taking his hand in 12.19, exactly as she just did now)… I saw the future. (flashback to 12.19, with the nephilim’s power flowing through Cas and lighting his eyes up gold). I saw a world without pain, or hunger, or want. I saw the world that this child– that your child– will create. And it is a world without fear, and without suffering, and without hate. I saw paradise.
As he finishes recounting the memory for her, the lights flicker and we hear the Impala pulling up outside. Like the nephilim was alerting Cas to the Winchesters’ presence.
And then Cas learns that Lucifer isn’t in the cage. He can’t even believe it at first. So that’s something the nephilim obviously didn’t bother informing him about… Dean asks Cas if he’ll be able to torch Lucifer the same way he torched Dagon, and Cas attributes that 100% to the baby (who’s a little busy being born at the moment…). But in 12.19, Cas said it was a combination of their powers… so what’s the truth?
Even as Cas tells Dean that it was only the nephilim working through him, he heals Dean in a way that is VERY DIFFERENT from every other time in history. I’m not the only one who noticed. I refer you again to my inbox:
I think it’s interesting that literally seconds after Cas tells Dean he doesn’t have the nephilim’s power at his disposal, he heals Dean’s leg with the nephilim’s gold light. It makes me wonder if Cas has some of the nephilim’s power within him that could save him. OR when Cas healed Dean, maybe that power transferred to Dean. He seemed oddly invigorated after he was healed, ya know? Like more so than usual.
and:
Hi so when I was watching the second ep after Cas first left the alternate dimension I noticed he seemed a bit off. Do u think there’s any way that he was like possessed or something?
BECAUSE YES! HELLO! I’ve been saying that the nephilim has somehow been using Cas since 12.19. Maybe it’s not “brainwashing” or “mind control,” but I’ve been struggling to explain the nuance here. Maybe more like “infection?” or “poison?” In a similar way the Lance of Michael “poisoned” Cas in 12.12, But that’s not even right.
Like the Angel Tablet was able to direct Cas to protect it over everything else, even his relationship with the Winchesters, I think the nephilim has that kind of power over him. And that for whatever reason, he Chose Cas as his protector.
Cas also tried to prevent Sam and Dean from going out back and seeing the portal in the first place. And then he downplayed it while also being mesmerized by it. But he’s absolutely certain that Jack OPENED the door, and that he will close it too.
Cas then goes up to talk to Kelly alone, and she asks him what’s wrong… and it looks like he’s SINCERELY HAVING DOUBTS. While Dean’s downstairs telling Sam that he has faith in US… 
WE DO NOT SEE WHAT GOES DOWN BETWEEN CAS AND KELLY aside from him holding her hand AGAIN and sort of robotically saying, “Don’t worry, it will be fine. Remember, paradise.”
Did he tell her about the portal between worlds, and the horror on the other side of the doorway her child had opened? When Crowley showed up at the exact right moment, seemingly already knowing about the portal and exactly how to close it (in theory?) When Lucifer shows up out front (seemingly NOT already knowing about the portal?).
And Lucifer’s reasoning is the same as Amara’s was, and the same as Jack the Nephilim’s is– “I can do better than god, so I’m gonna burn the place down and start over to make the world just how I want it.”
Right before Cas attacks, Dean says, “See you on the other side, boys.”
THE OTHER SIDE.
The other side of the house… the other side of the portal.
THEIR PLAN, I CAN ONLY ASSUME, IS TO TRAP LUCIFER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PORTAL BEFORE JACK CAN CLOSE IT.
I think that’s what the nephilim WANTED. And also why he waited SO LONG to close it… because Crowley’s spell was never going to work there. But the nephilim wanted Sam and Dean and CAS TOO on THIS SIDE OF THE PORTAL. I think that AU was the nephilim’s solution to shoving Luci back in the cage. To send him to a world where his vessel bloodline is extinct. A world he can’t possibly destroy any more than it’s already destroyed. He wanted an apocalypse, that’s what Jack gave him.
Cas is knocked out in front of the house. I’m sort of enamored with the idea that he’s still unconscious out there, and the Cas we saw in the rest of the episode was nothing more than a construct– an illusion sent by Jack to act as a lure, for whatever reason. Because his actions after this are a bit confusing…
Sam and Dean lead Lucifer around to the portal and then cross over to lure Luci through. Dean plays bait while Sam and Crowley work the spell (why on THAT side of the rift? Why not on the “right side”?
Sam pulls Dean away to the rift as Crowley sacrifices himself, and for some reason they just stop there? They stand around watching Crowley’s demise. YET SOME VERSION OF CAS THAT DOESN’T EVEN RESPOND TO DEAN, JUST PUSHES PAST HIM AND SAYS NOTHING, just charges through the rift toward Lucifer, and then seemingly just– walks up to Lucifer, stabs him, and then turns right around and comes back out again?
All while Kelly DISAPPEARS ENTIRELY IN A FLASH OF LIGHT AS JACK IS “BORN?”
We see Lucifer completely unaffected by the bullets Dean shot him with in the AU, as if Cas hadn’t been expecting Lucifer to be able to follow him out for some reason…
Kelly’s body has mysteriously returned to the bed after the light flash, and Jack’s huddled in the corner of his nursery staring up at Sam with those creepy yellow eyes.
I think Jack’s been using Cas all along, ever since 12.19, and I have seen nothing to break me of that belief.
It’s as if every time Cas gets near Sam and Dean, Jack loses a little bit of that control though. But Jack understands that Dean is both necessary as a motivation for Cas (he does everything for the Winchesters, not for heaven, not even for himself), as well as a potential risk. It’s as if Dean is what’s opening up Cas’s “doorways to doubt,” that he told Dean about in 4.16, right after Uriel told Dean that he was Cas’s “weakness.”:
DEAN: What’s going on, Cas? Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?CASTIEL: My superiors have begun to question my sympathies.DEAN: Your sympathies?CASTIEL: I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You. They feel I’ve begun to express emotions. The doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgment.
Then in 4.18 Cas relents and gives Dean the nudge in the right direction he needs to stop Sam from making a deal with Lilith (which could’ve potentially STOPPED the apocalypse, but that was before we knew killing Lilith would START it… but feels almost like a test of Cas’s loyalty to Heaven as much as anything, because that entire EPISODE seems in retrospect like a strange loop of Chuck getting to know the players in his own game), and leads directly to him being dragged back to Heaven Boot Camp for reprogramming.
When Cas comes back at the end of the episode, he’s changed. He serves heaven again, not man, and certainly not Dean…
I think Castiel’s “death” in 12.23 is serving the same sort of function. I’m thinking of it as Jack’s answer to Heaven Boot Camp. I am still absolutely convinced that Jack has been influencing Cas’s actions since 12.19, and that Cas is imbued with Jack’s power (hence the golden light when he healed Dean). There is no other explanation for it. Why else give Dean that little cut on his face that we got to see healed with that weird gold light, if it wasn’t to tell us that it was Jack’s power that healed him? It wasn’t clear in 12.19 because Cas was healing an internal injury beneath Dean’s jacket. We didn’t see that healing at work, because we were supposed to be asking ourselves whether or not Cas was being controlled by Jack still… but NOW WE HAVE VISUAL PROOF.
Why would Jack go through all this trouble to keep Cas close while keeping the Winchesters away unless they (or Dean, really) were interfering with that control somehow? Like Cas and his doubts in s4? And even in s5?
Like every time Cas has been “programmed” in Heaven one of his primary objectives was to STAY AWAY FROM THE WINCHESTERS? Like in 7.17 when he was Emmanuel. One day with Dean and he remembered EVERYTHING. Like Naomi controlling him in 8.17, where one day with Dean and he broke free of her control, only to be ruled by the angel tablet and immediately feel the need to run away from Dean again.
We even learned that CROWLEY spent most of s6 trying to convince Cas to stay away from Sam and Dean. It was the foundation of his entire plan to crack purgatory for the souls… 
Instead of bringing Kelly back to the bunker in 12.19, KELLY (under the control of the nephilim already) STOLE THE IMPALA and ran away from the Winchesters. And then when Cas fell under Jack’s power he booped them unconscious and fled.
WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?
Because all of heaven, earth, hell, and purgatory KNOW that Cas needs to be kept away from Dean if they want to use Cas for their own ends… and that’s exactly what Jack wants. But how can he sever Cas’s connection to the Winchesters?
FACTORY RESET.
He doesn’t have a Heaven Boot Camp with the Dentist’s Chair of Horror.
My guess? The Cas we’re going to see in 13.01 is going to be disturbingly familiar to the Cas at the end of 4.20. Instead of serving Heaven, he’s going to be all aboard the Jack bandwagon. Because Jack still needs SOMEONE, but he needs someone whose faith in him is unshakable. And as long as Cas has ties to the Winchesters as anything more than a symbolic reason for following Jack’s plan for bringing “paradise” to the world, a symbol he’d been willing to sacrifice himself for, then Cas’s loyalty was always in jeopardy.
But resurrected as something NEW, bearing Jack as the source of his power instead of Heaven or God or wherever angel Grace is hooked up to as a power source, he may have much greater control over Cas.
At least, that’s how I’ve been thinking of it…
(and I suspect that Cas will be restored to himself by midseason, and Jack will have effectively moved into Big Bad territory by then…)
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