WMG / Arknights

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

H. P. Lovecraft or Cthulhu are here somewhere

With all the allusions to Cthulhu Mythos from the Aegirians to the Abyssal Hunters in Arknights (some can be read on this Character page), fans speculated that the writer himself or the infamous mythological creature play important roles in Terra.

• The H.P. Lovecraft theory actually saw a resurgence in the Reddit community when a Redditor pointed out that Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, which is similar to the protagonist organization (Rhodes Island) of this game. While Rhodes Island may have been named after the Isle of Rhodes which was occupied by The Knights Hospitallers, it might also be a double-reference to the state. Some of the most popular theories that were mentioned in the Reddit thread include the following:
  • He is the Doctor's real identity pre-amnesia.
  • The Doctor is an Outer God, or plans to defeat the gods in Terra. Oripathy is a gift to make humanity stronger in opposing extra-terrestrial threats that may arrive.
  • The reason why "Sanity" is used as a term for the game's stamina resource is because it's an allusion to how an individual loses their sanity once they become one with the dreamer, Azathoth.
• The Abyssal Hunters according to Skadi, are the secret armed force of the Aegirians, a society located wholly beneath the ocean that does not have regular contact with surface nations. The Aegir Region itself, is also thought to be a reference to Lovecraft Country or the sunken city of R'lyeh. A tag on Deepcolor's jacket also reads a word that is the pronunication of R'lyeh.
  • The name of the organization itself, "Abyssal Hunters", when taken literally, brought fan theories that Skadi belongs to a group that hunts creatures known as the "Abyssals", or that the Abyssal Hunters and the so-called Abyssals refer to different factions.
  • The Abyssals might be any of the Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, or Elder Gods. Cthulhu might be hiding somewhere in Terra and is hunted by Skadi's group given that the Abyssal Hunters' faction logo depicts a sea monster resembling it, being pierced by a trident.

Why Kroos has her Eyes Always Shut

While her Clinical Analysis states that "She presents no obvious external symptoms of Oripathy", Kroos states in one of her voice lines that she is always squinting because she doesn't want anyone to see her eyes. What would she possibly hide in this case? There could be something physically odd about them.

• Either one or both of her eyes could have been damaged, making her partially, or totally blind.
• If she's indeed blind, she might be relying on her sense of hearing to know where her opponents are.
• She could have Exotic Eye Designs, or could sport a Death Glare that might reveal something more about her.
• In her Halloween outfit, Kroos' right eye is covered in bandages, which makes the whole deal with her eyes even more suspicious.

There's a symbolism or reason why Rhodes Island's precursor is named Babel

Perhaps it's another allusion to a Biblical story much like there are symbolisms that parallel Noah, the Ark and the Great Flood. This time, it's all about the Tower of Babel.

• One of the background CGs that's used a lot in promotional materials shows Amiya and the Doctor◊ looking at a large reptilian eye in the window of a building. In the Github site that contains the game's files, this image is named "bg_0_babel2.png".
  • Maybe the organization's building is indeed a huge skyscraper so high that it touches the clouds above, directly alluding the Tower of Babel?
  • Maybe the reptilian eye belongs to Terra's equivalence of a god, or a powerful being that lives in the clouds? Or perhaps the reptilian eye obviously belongs to a giant dragon, because dragons are viewed as divine beings?
  • Another fan interpretation simply suggests that this reptilian's eye is a symbolism or a foreshadowing at what Talulah would do in the future (since her Mythical Motifs are dragons), or that Talulah had already achieved godhood, which explains her powers and feats.
• Amiya's Module explores the Civilight Eterna. Theresa may have named her organization "Babel" because the name itself is connected to the relic (e.g., the city that created it, the city that was formed to protect it, or even the city that was destroyed by it).

The Whale-like Skeleton in Rhodes Island

When clicking on the Home Menu in the UI, the background shows an upside-down skeleton of a whale-like creature◊. Various theories have spawned within the fandom trying to explain why a whale is involved in a large base and why its skeleton is still inside there:

• In "Darknights' Memoir", Babel moved a massive ship (Rhodes Island) to which Ines found a giant skeleton. Theresa implies that this ship is a relic of the past, and "Rhodes Island" might not be its original name, just a Line-of-Sight Name based on a record found on the ship. So far, this is the only explicit detail that reveals something about the ship's history, but it still led to even more theories.
• Some interpret that this skeleton belongs to a proto-whale, or a Mesosaurus's fossil.
• There might have been a large beast that took part in a war involving the Aegirians/Abyssal Hunters. The "whale" is probably the beast's carcass stored somewhere else, which ended up being Rhodes Island.
• Continuing with the Biblical allusions to Noah, The Great Flood and the Ark (as listed in the YMMV tab), or the aforementioned Tower of Babel, the "whale-like creature" might be Terra's version of the Leviathan, a multi-headed sea serpent. This creature only having its skeleton remaining might be a reference to Psalms 74:14, where God killed the Leviathan in order to feed its meat to the Hebrews in the wilderness.
• A simple, yet comical fan theory suggests that the whale's skeleton is merely a form of Take That! to the "whales" or heavy spenders of the gacha gaming community.
• In "Under Tides", Gladiia mentions she is searching for one of Iberia's long lost Golden Dreadnoughts, which were either destroyed or went missing in the wake of the Great Silence. What if the Rhodes Island landship is the recovered remains of one of these Golden Dreadnoughts? Especially since the whale skeleton implies a connection to the sea.

Reunion is being backed by another faction or nation

A possible explanation over how an Infected rights group turn into an Anarchist terrorist force with military grade weapons and equipment is because Reunion is being secretly backed by another faction for their own reasons. Possible suspects include:

• Columbia. Since it's one of the few nations that treat the Infected well, it's possible that Columbia citizens or it's government sympathize with the plight of the Infected Ursus citizens and are appalled by the mistreatment they get from their government, which leads them to secretly fund or aid Reunion with weapons, supplies and money to help in their cause, similar to how in Real Life Irish Americans help fund the IRA in Northern Ireland which led to The Troubles. Alternatively, it's the Columbia government that's funding Reunion as they see the Ursus Empire as a hostile power due the Empire's recent wars against their neighbors and a threat to their sphere of influence so what better way to destabilize the Empire by having it's Infected citizens rise up against their government, leading to a costly war for the Empire or a rise of a new nation for the Infected that is friendly to Columbia while also acting as a buffer against the Empire's influence.
• Laterano. W is hinted to have her own reasons of fighting with Reunion. Since she owns an assault rifle, it might be possible that W and her mercenaries are actually a Laterano black ops team since guns are only available to Laterano citizens or the rich like Jessica. W and her team are helping Reunion as they see the Ursus Empire as a treat to Lateranos growing influence so they want to destabilize the Empire by using the Infected.
• The Abyssal Hunters. Since Skadi and Deepcolor's background hints the Aegir want to conquer the surface world, so what better way than to use Reunion as a distraction so the nations of Terra will too busy focusing on dealing with them while Aegir prepares their forces to conquer the surface world.
• The answer, according to Darknights' Memoir and Birth of Tragedy; Reunion's militarization is sometimes used by multiple nations as a part of proxy war against each other. Known nations that use Reunion are Kazdel and Ursus (against Lungmen) respectively.

The Sankta and Sarkaz races are ethereal existences

In contrast to other Ancient races that contain the characteristics of normal animals, like birds or mammals, both the Sankta and Sarkaz are based on Biblical figures, specifically Angels and Demons. And they are certain aspects of their biology that are abnormal compared to other Ancients, with the implications that they are ethereal existences, not fully mortal.

• It is mentioned that the Sankta are not born with their iconic halo, but that they come in when they are toddlers and learning language for the first time.
• Laterano, the country of Sankta, is mentioned to be a Theocracy, and all citizens are heavily religious.
• While rare, there exists Fallen Angels, Sanktas with both their iconic wings and halo, and the horns and pointy tail of the Sarkaz. Their origins are unknown, but Mostima mentioned that she became one when she turned on her superior officer. Despite having fallen, they still retain their Sankta aspects, but those are shown to be noticeably dimmer compared to other angels. And the fact that they grow aspects of the Sarkaz, a different race, implies that the Sankta and Sarkaz, ie Angels and Demons are related, and further shows that they are not biological traits, but ethereal ones. Because of this, they are heavily monitored by the Laterano Notary Hall. Angels falling to become Demons are not a new concept in IRL mythology, with examples such as Lucifer the Morning Star, who also noticeably turned on his fellow Angels and God, and was stricken down for his betrayal.
• The fact that Amiya, a Cautus (Rabbit) has ties to, and is slated to be the heir to Sarkaz (Demon) Royalty as revealed in Chapter 7/Darknights' Memoir, further suggests that Sarkaz are not physical entities.
• Several Events implies that the Sarkaz were either the Precursors or their direct descendants, who possessed advance technology like A.I.s and were originally more human-like, the implications being that the traits the Sarkaz possess may not be organic.
  • The implication is that Sankta and Sarkaz are not animal traits to be born with, but ethereal concepts that must be earned, hence the Sankta being heavily religious, and why actions such as betrayal or mutiny can turn them into Fallen Angels, or into partly Sarkaz.
    • Partially Confirmed for Sankta. Several cutscenes in the Guide Ahead Event, along with the Laterano: Holy Spirit PV released during the 4th Anniversary all but confirm that Sankta were originally Sarkaz, but the discovery of something (heavily implied to be an AI or supercomputer) that would serve as the basis for their religion and later be called The Law changed them into the halo and wing baring Sankta we know today. Which explains why the Sanktas' traits seem so unstable, as they are not biological traits, but grafted onto them. Admittedly, the existence of Cecilia from the Guide Ahead event throws a wrench into things, as she appears to be a Sankta/Sarkaz hybrid whose wings and halos are deformed, different from a Fallen Angel like Mostima. Due to the fact that she can ring the Bells of Revelations, she's most likely the exception however.

All failed clears are just strategy projections

Using Drill Plans and Sanity is functionally the "same," but Drill Plans happens in the training rooms of the RIIC, Sanity is on the field of operations, where the tension is higher. As pointed out by the Fridge entry, a Doctor losing their Sanity would progressively slip back into the more ruthless strategist they were pre-amnesia, killing off Operators for the sake of clearing the operation, the progressive Sanity loss making them more willing to try out desperate strategies, not quite unlike the player.

• Final Fantasy XIV has a similar justification, players who get downed are really just "KO" and only full party wipes would result in deaths proper. It uses the player's God-gifted superpower, the Echo, which, among other things, lets them see the future, as a magic hand-wave of why the player can see cast timers, attack indicators, and why full party wipes don't result in permanent death: all wipes are Echo projections of a future that may happen, but hasn't yet.

There are several sub-races like vampires are for Sarkaz, but they are not always addressed.

Warfarin mentions that she is a vampire, and she does indeed bear several traits from this mythological creature. Her Elite 2 artwork and her Halloween skin also hint for a bat animal motif rather than a demon motif. Closure is similarly associated with bats. Despite all this, Warfarin's race on her official files remains 'Sarkaz' despite not being a traditional one.

Folinic is a mongoose, but yet she is under the same race as operators based on big and small cats. It is likely that the 'Feline' race is based on Feliformia instead of Felidae. Mongooses and hyenas are more related to cats than dogs this way. However, Spot, being a hyena, is named a Rebbah and not a Feline, likely for two reasons: the first being that the audience would be confused, and the second may be that the Rebbah are a sufficiently distinct subrace. The 'furry' operators (Aak, Hung, Waai Fu, and several other characters like Fumizuki and Wei Yenwu) may be part of an unaddressed subrace of the races given on their files (Feline and Perro, respectively) similarly to Warfarin.

The chances are big that Aslan is simply a subrace of Feline, and the reason may be that the Aslan have ties to the Victorian throne. This may be big enough to warrant its name.

The Doctor has the Healing Touch.

In a later chapter in Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, a character wields an artificial version of the ability and says it's also good for killing. The convenient slowdown when moving Operators into position might be the Doctor demonstrating an offshoot of said ability. Coincidentally, the two Trauma Center DS games also use touchscreen controls.

Leto is Infected

A pretty simple guess, given that she's sharing a dorm with Beehunter, who is Infected, and not Istina, Gummy, or Zima, all of whom are confirmed in their profiles to be non-Infected.

• Her and Beehunter's raucus was too loud for a nearby Mousse, who is also confirmed Infected.
• It's possible that she became Infected when she approached Mephisto (to ask for either food or freedom from the Peterheim lockdown); she was initially rebuffed by a guard because she wasn't Infected, but Faust let her through. A form of His Story Repeats Itself might have happened: she earned Mephisto's "respect" by voluntarily becoming an Infected.
• Jossed. Her Operator profile confirms she's not Infected.

The exact connection between the Doctor, PRTS, and Priestess (Episode 8 spoilers)

In Chapter 8, Kal'tsit has a significant reaction to the Doctor remembering Priestess. When Amiya introduces PRTS in the tutorial, she settles on calling it a "partner" to Rhodes Island, implying that Amiya isn't aware of it having a history with the Doctor. The memory of Priestess putting the Doctor in the sarcophagus makes Kal'tsit's explicit statement (that she put them in it three years ago after they became heavily injured) peculiar. Below are a number of hypotheses about the connection:

• Priestess put the Doctor into the sarcophagus long before Kal'tsit did (the device was only dug up by an Ursus mining company twenty years back).
• The Doctor and Kal'tsit met at the sarcophagus, and Kal'tsit learned Priestess's name there.
  • Alternatively, Kal'tsit might have been mentored by Priestess herself. This would also explain two details: the coordinates of the Rhodes Island landship that Theresa mentioned in her letter in A Walk in the Dust, and Kal'tsit's ability to operate the sarcophagus for the Doctor.
    • Stultifera Navis reveals that Kal'tsit has existed for at least 10,000 years, a possible period of time for her and Priestess to have crossed paths.
• The Doctor built PRTS using their memories of Priestess as a basis, and their Neurology degree may have had a role in it.
  • According to PRTS in Vigilo, the Doctor doesn't have the necessary permissions to view its very first video file. Perhaps Priestess was PRTS's creator (or at least its highest authority), and she changed the Doctor's permissions after putting them in the sarcophagus.
• When the Doctor asks Kal'tsit who Priestess is, Kal'tsit says that neither she nor PRTS can provide an answer. Priestess may have told Kal'tsit (and possibly PRTS) to not tell the Doctor about her for some reason, even though she told the Doctor to not forget about her.
• If the sarcophagus "reverts" bodies to a previous state, it's possible that any memories not registered to that state are permanently lost and that the Doctor's memory of Priestess was from their initial use of the sarcophagus.
  • Jossed in Vigilo: the Doctor has a quick memory flash of when they taught Amiya how to forage for food a few years ago.
• Alternatively, Vigilo implies that both the Doctor and Priestess built the Rhodes Island landship and PRTS together. PRTS' first recorded video shows both the Doctor and Priestess standing on the deck of the landship, which could have only happened prior to the landship's rediscovery in Rim Billiton and predates the creation of both Babel and Rhodes Island. In addition, both Kal'tsit and Closure mention they found PRTS with the landship when it was rediscovered, meaning both were likely developed together.

Sora is a Sankta.

Because Sora is proficient with Glamour, it's hard to determine which race she actually is. However, given several hints from the story, there's a great chance that Sora is actually a Sankta.

• In Elite 0-1, she looks like a Lupo, but she's a Cautus in Elite 2. This is because she's using her glamour to appeal to other people she has a fascination with. It is known that Sora has a crush for Texas, a Lupo, so she's trying to make herself attractive to Texas by looking like her race. Meanwhile, if she's promoted to Elite 2, that means the Doctor has invested a significant amount of resources in her and their dedication touches her. Her looking like a Cautus for the Doctor is because Amiya, the person most treasured by the Doctor, is a Cautus.
• In one of his lines, Executor mentions a relative who is both proficient with illusion Arts and has an affinity for music.
  • Additionally, Executor mentions in "Guiding Ahead" that he is pursuing an infamous Sankta criminal named Arturia, who happens to be a distant relative of his, thus implying that Sora may be or is related to Arturia, especially since much of Sora's personal background is kept secret.
• In "Code of Brawl", a bystander mistakes Sora for a Sankta for a moment when they bumps into her, before seeing her as a Lupo. This is likely either because Sora's glamour fades for a second when something unexpected (such as someone startling her) happens to her, or because the bystander got close enough to her to see past the glamour.
• Her first skill, Hymn of Respite, is a church hymn. She also mentions being proficient in choir. The Sankta is the majority race of Laterano, the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Papal State.
• She's jealous of Exusiai's skill, who is renowned as a prodigy in the Sankta's signature Arts.

Kal'tsit is downplaying the importance and strength of Rhodes Island.

Considering the number of operators in Rhodes Island's employ and their general over-qualification, it's safe to say that at least Kal'tsit is telling a half-lie.

• Rhodes Island is first and foremost a pharmaceutical company with the goal of helping anyone infected with Oripathy and conducting research for a cure. Their paramilitary section is meant for their protection and as The Fixer whenever force is applicable rather than science/research regarding an Infected situation, whether it's disaster relief or humanitarian aid. It is not there as a show of force even though the operators' qualifications say otherwise.
• Considering the Doctor's past during the days of Babel, Kal'tsit could've lied to the Doctor's face when she says Rhodes Island's paramilitary section is more of a scalpel than a hammer, for quick surgical operations rather than long sieges. It's most likely so the Doctor, being the head of the paramilitary section, doesn't get any funny ideas considering their past.
• Terra's Crapsack World status can be slightly attributed to everyone playing political games against one another. Due to Rhodes Island status as a neutral pharmaceutical company first and foremost, it is natural that Kal'tsit wants to steer Rhodes Island away from such political struggles and being under the radar as much as possible. She doesn't want the organization to have to take sides in any conflict or being exploited by someone in their political games like Wei Yenwu and give the general impression that Rhodes Island is beneath their attention being the weak pharmaceutical company it is.
• This is most likely why when Rhodes Island is forced to co-operate with LGD for the supplies and to handle the Infected situation, Kal'tsit states that Wei Yenwu's LGD could've wiped out Rhodes Island at anytime if he wishes despite having operators like Rosmontis, Hellagur, Skadi, Ifrit, Amiya, Dusk and just other generally overqualified combat staff within the landship. Also Kal'tsit concealed the fact from the LGD and Lungmen in particular that Rhodes Island possesses air crafts, further supporting this theory.
• Rhodes Island remains the only-known neutral organization to have their own landship. It isn't the biggest landship in the world of Arknights, but this is still a massive achievement in itself already, considering that most known mobile cities belong to a country one way or another or swore their allegiance to one like Lungmen.
• Furthermore, the landship is allowed to make port in most-well known cities and countries in the known world of Arknights; not to mention being a non-governmental NGO that provides free treatment most of the time, they need some sort of investors willing to collaborate with Rhodes Island for funding, besides selling gold to willing buyers. This implies the fact that Kal'tsit have a lot of friends in high places (she most likely is already, considering she knows a lot of influental people like Patriot, Theresa and Duke of Kaschey for example, not to mention most likely hiding more than a few things too)
• Finally, Rhodes Island potential true capabilities is lampshaded by Aosta's promotion line, who says outright that if Rhodes Island all gather together, they can easily bring down an entire mobile city.
  Aosta: Doctor, is Rhodes Island really a pharmaceutical company? I think, if the people here were deployed together, a city of Siracusa can even be taken down.

Amiya is Theresa (massive spoilers ahead!!!)

It's a running theory, but there are some facts that just adds up.

• The fact that Amiya of all people, a Cautus, is called Theresa's successor and the next Lord of Fiends is glaring enough as it is. How can a Cautus, even if she is a Chimera, be called a Lord of Fiends when it was supposed to be Sarkaz?
• It is known that the legit Lords of Fiends have the power to show illusions to their followers, visions of comfort as favors. Something both Amiya and Theresa exhibits.
• A shoutout to a WMG section above that Sarkaz might be an ethereal being hence why Theresa is able to live on in Amiya. An evidence to this is during Chapter 8, where Amiya accessed the power and memories of the Sarkaz Lords of Fiends of the past by breaking one of her rings to be able to use a facsimile of Chi Xiao against Talulah.
• Amiya and Theresa shows similar behavior and power throughout the course of the current storyline, here's the following :
  • Both shows power to pacify large amount of combatant on the battlefield. Amiya against Mephisto's herd and Theresa against quelling Sarkaz mercenaries during Babel days.
  • Amiya exhibits an unfailing amount of trust and loyalty in the Doctor when Kal'tsit shows distrust. Chapter 8 reveals that Theresa also shows absolute trust in the Doctor despite the fact that they are ruthless in the past.
  • Amiya and Theresa exhibits great amount of kindness and pity for both friends and enemies alike, and both can come off as naive in the world of Terra.
• Speaking of the Doctor, this certainly lead to a possibility of a motive for the Doctor murdering Theresa back in Babel days. Due to Theresis desire for the throne and a combination of the Doctor's ruthlessness, perhaps the latter saw a possible long-term plan in faking Theresa's death by actually ending her life then allowing her to live within Amiya.
• At one point during her dialogue voice-lines in her Guard class version, one particular line struck out as odd due to the pitch, making Amiya seems to have a deeper voice than usual. It's almost as if at that moment, she's a different person entirely.
• Theresis doesn't exhibit the same power despite being Theresa's brother. He also shows hint that he desire said power at Chapter 7.
• Duke of Kaschey's possession of Talulah using ancient arts shows that this is certainly possible. Let's not forget Ifrit as well; in Operational Intelligence, it's implied she also host some sort of entity within her. Perhaps Theresa still lives in Amiya somewhere.
• Surtr herself is another indication. If we submit to the theory that Sarkaz are potentially ethereal being and possession are already shown to be possible, then Surtr at one point perhaps suffer through something similar like Talulah; simply put, Surtr is in possession of the memories of people and places that aren't actually hers. Either she was host to different people's spirits at some point (or other Sarkaz if it's possible they are ethereal beings) or there's some sort of machine that allows memory transfer or it's just plain oripathy. Even if it is simply oripathy, don't forget that Amiya is an infected herself, and the full effects of it in her case are not entirely known.
• This image◊ of an older Amiya shows her with a white dress (which Theresa wore) and with an eye color that resembles hers. The background strongly resembles Theresa's signature white Arts - do note that Amiya's own Arts are black.
• The first part of Amiya's onboard line is 'I’m so glad that we’re back together'. The most logical view would be that it's said after the doctor wakes up and joins the ranks of Rhodes again, but when you take on this theory, it gets a deeper meaning - Theresa was once on your side, then she was killed, but is by your side again via Amiya. She also does not mention her (code)name in the line.
• More or less confirmed as of the second anniversary PV for year 3 and onwards, Theresa's voice is heard, and the trailer ends with Amiya speaking of herself in the third person with a tone and inflection nearly identical to Theresa's. This line is preceded by Kal'tsit bidding Theresa farewell. Previously in the same PV, Amiya answered a question of Kal'tsit's with identical words to Theresa, their voices superimposed.
• Amiya was never born a Chimera. In the last days of Babel, Theresa must have learnt that her brother was going to try and use force to wrest the Sarkaz Crown Of Fiends from her, and decided on a contingency plan to deny it to him. To do this, she hid the crown in Amiya using a blood and originium Ancient Sarkaz Ritual to pass her lifeblood and the Crown to Amiya. It's why Amiya wears the ten rings as limiters, to conceal the Crown's presence. It's why we were implicated in Theresa's death, out of contingency and desperation, we were forced to participate in the ritual which probably involved cutting or stabbing Theresa so she could give her blood to Amiya via the ritual. It's why Kal'tsit resents us, because she always objected to using Amiya this way and was angry that we let Theresa talk us into it. It's why W hates our guts, because she probably saw us with a knife buried in Theresa and her blood on our hands. As a result of this ritual, in addition to the Crown of Fiends, Amiya has a very strong copy of Theresa's memories dormant inside her connection to the Sarkaz racial shared memories since the ritual made her into a Cautus-Sarkaz Chimera. As such, when things come to a critical point, Amiya will let Theresa surface to have one more talk with Kal'tsit.
• To give further credence to this theory, the Concept Trailer 2 briefly shows a woman heavily resembling Theresa stabbing Amiya in the chest with a sword while cutting her own hand on the blade, thereby mixing their blood. There's then a brief shot of the irises of Amiya's eyes changing, similar to when she's using her Arts. While these scenes have not appeared in the final game so far, it does indicate what could have possibly happened between Amiya and Theresa.
  • This creates a possible alternate theory on Theresa's death, that the Doctor witnessed Theresa stabbing Amiya and not understanding fully what was happening, killed Theresa in response. It's already well established that even the pre-amnesia Doctor greatly cared for Amiya and undoubtedly would have protected her on reflex the same as the current Doctor would.

Related to the above: The homescreen music is actually Theresa's character theme.

It's a simple guess, going along with the fact that in an old promotion screenshot, the username was 'Theresa'.

The Originium ores we know right now aren't in their purest form (spoilers, beware)

• Why did the Sarcophagus accelerate Mephisto's oripathy? It's to the point it became so volatile that even without his prompting, it started introducing mutations to any living organism the particles made contact with near instantaneously. Did the Sarcophagus have some sort of special interaction with Originium that enhances it or did Sarcophagus do the job and reset the Originium into its purest state, when it's also the most volatile?
• Whichever the case, the Originium in Mephisto's blood clearly became more volatile. Simple Originium ores carry infection, that introduces crystallized cancer-like cells that slowly take over the victim then spread the infectious particles once it's done. What the mutated Mephisto did are almost the same, except the fact that the infection is greatly accelerated by itself without any outside factor.
• In real life, it's not entirely without reason that many ores may also contain many impurities, so the same can be said with Originium. Catastrophes introduce Originium into the land and disasters also carry many foreign materials, both microscopic and macroscopic. Perhaps as the Originium is formed in the land following the wake of a Catastrophe, many foreign materials are mixed in.

The mysteries of "W", W's predecessor

• He had a previous relationship with Ines (platonic or otherwise). Ines has a surprising streak of deflecting her concern for Hoederer and W, so her history with "W" would be three-for-three.
• He was a bootleg arms supplier. This would explain why Ines had an interest in his loot despite Hoederer saying that their squadmates had bigger hauls: "W" may have had unique blueprints. Passenger and Cannot are other examples of that kind of "self-made" man, and Adnachiel mentions that his hometown was "pretty good at making knockoff gun parts". W's grenade launcher may have also stemmed from her having access to "W's" personal stash.
• He was a Fallen Sankta-turned-Sarkaz. The gun he claimed from the Laterano he killed was his intended guardian gun, but he never got the chance as a Sankta to claim it and gain his wings before he became a Sarkaz. The reason he calls the day of that moment his birthday is that he finally got the one birthday present he was promised, even if as a Sarkaz he's no longer able to gain wings from it. If you read Hoederer's dialogue a certain way ("I guess they had some history between them, so he decided that day was his birthday."), he might not be referring to "W and the killed Laterano" but "W and his new gun". As for why he's not mentioned with a halo, possible guesses:
  • Sankta newborns gain their halo via their first word, so he might have been born mute. Hoederer remembers "his devil-may-care laugh" and that "whenever he spoke, you could tell that there was something more lurking underneath", but this is secondhand info. "W" himself has no lines whatsoever in Darknights' Memoir.
  • The full Sankta-to-Sarkaz transformation made it vanish. Guide Ahead reveals two things which might be related to said transformation: the halos of Sankta who fall are dim or shattered once they defy the "will of Laterano", and Mostima's Sarkaz traits came from the Lock and Key.
    • A related possibility is that the "will of Laterano" may have actively revoked his Sankta traits, just as it is implied to have not made Andoain or Pope Yvangelista XI fall.
  • It was either directly or indirectly hidden from his Sarkaz comrades. Sora having Cautus ears in her E2 art despite being a Lupo confirms the existence of illusion Arts.
  • His Sarkaz comrades intentionally omitted that detail of his appearance out of respect for his leadership.
  • His Mask of Sanity might have been a reflection of him having to adapt without the Sankta's racial empathy. Who else used to be a Naïve Newcomer to a non-Sankta society? Exusiai.
• He was the point man of Hoederer's squad, and his obsession with "falling into traps" stemmed from his constant brushes with death. Possibly a Challenge Seeker, A Father to His Men, or even exploiting this via Obfuscating Insanity (just like W).
• He trained the current W, and planned to have her take his identity in advance. Hoederer seeing W as "the same type of person" as her predecessor wouldn't be a coincidence if she knew his mannerisms firsthand. This could also explain why she only broached the topic with Hoederer several months after joining his group: she already knew him.
  • He may have been the mercenary described in W's "Mercenary's Bag" module (which would make him telling W "We make a good team" his only speaking line). This would put her scenes with Rublev and Andrey (the two Ursine boys in the epilogue of Darknights' Memoir) in another light.
• He might still be alive, just not as "W" anymore. In DM-8, Hoederer tells his "Sarkaz messenger" (Ines) that he prepared a communications station in an old bunker buried under "those ruins", the very place where "W" died, all those years ago (implied to be before his and "W's" squad got ambushed in the first place). It's possible that he and "W" arranged for the latter's "death" so that he can become the former's (coincidentally literal) "ace in the hole" in his long-term plan against Theresis. W took "W's" weapons, but she may have Never Found the Body under all that rubble since she had to tail Hoederer soon after. Ines will be quite surprised the moment she contacts that comms station.

Jesselton's fate is purposely ambiguous to gauge whether he'd be popular enough to join Rhodes Island as an Operator in a later event.

Possibly as another addition to Guardknights.

• This actually makes sort of sense, since from all the boss enemies faced in large events such as the one he debuted in, his fate implies that he remained alive in the end (as it's said that he was taken into custody). Grani and the Knight's Treasure had Big Bob who is still a beloved character in the fandom. Obsidian Festival, Originium Dust and Under Tides all featured a creature as boss, which is unlikely to ever be recruitable. Code of Brawl had the Rat King, who also still remains a recurring character but it is not likely that he would pledge loyalty to anything else than the Lungmen underworld. Twilight of Wolumonde had Mudrock, who became an actual operator. Darknights' Memoir did not feature a boss. Gavial the Great Chief Returns had Eunectes, who as a playable operator can actually still use the Big Ugly in battle. Maria Nearl had the two knights who were defeated fair and square by the Nearls and have little personality to them. Who is Real is a similar case, as Dusk (and by extension, her creation Free) was the boss, who is an operator. Walk in the Dust takes place in the past, so the boss from that event is likely dead.
• He would want to seek revenge on Anthony, and find out that he is in Rhodes Island in the process. He'd follow him into Rhodes, but find out that Saria is there as well, thus halting his plans for revenge. However, Jesselton isn't a quitter, and remains at Rhodes.
• According to the description of the South Prison Annihilation map, Jesselton was transferred there from Mansfield, confirming his survival.
• The CN 3rd Anniversary stream teased a Rhine Labs event, so Jesselton might get his playable debut there.
  • Jossed. Jesselton doesn't get a playable debut in Dorothy's Vision.

Projekt Red is an Artificial Human.

It would explain quite a number of abnormalities about her:

• Her unknown past and origin.
• The fact that all other Lupos feel that she's not like them and that there's something off about her. It is noted in her files that all records of this uncomfort need to be destroyed, probably in order to hide the fact that she truly is different.
• Her unique cognitive ability.
• Possibly, her (memetic) wanting not to scare other Lupos and simply wanting to touch their tails. She simply wants to see what she is supposed to behave like.

The Doctor is actually Gordon Freeman

Think about it. A mute Doctor who's also The Protagonist? Sounds like Dr. Freeman.

The Doctor is a human displaced 500 years from Earth

As players have found out here, a lot of the plaque furnitures are references to various fairytale literature. But the numbers in those plaques seem to represent years as well. For example, the "Foam" plaque, which references The Little Mermaid, has the number "1337". Add 500 to that, and we get, 1837, the year when the fairytale was actually published.

The above implication opens up theories:

• Some fans suggest that the Doctor is a human born 500 years ago, but was frozen in cryostasis, hence explaining why the opening scene of the game is the Doctor waking up from a coma, with no memories of their past.
• The in-game world of Arknights might be an alterate version of Earth, wherein the acknowledged time is actually late by 500 years. There could have been an event sometime in the past, such as a huge Catastrophe that lasted for 500 years, and has delayed humanity's perception or remembrance of the actual year.
• Partly Confirmed. "Lone Trail" reveals that the Doctor is actually at least 10,000 years and they are a surviving Precursor kept alive thanks to the Sarcophagus. In fact, the Doctor is actually ''older than Kal'tsit".

Lappland is Suzuran's mother.

Suzuran's mother is said to have gone to Syracusa to hunt down the mafia families that infected Suzuran and has never been heard since. This is because she's Lappland, and her Oripathy gives her an amnesia that causes a hyper-fixation toward the last thing she's been doing - taking revenge. Lappland is also known to hunt down mafia families and take their coat of arms as battle trophies. Her reason for doing so is not known yet, but Texas knows what it is and seemingly see her with some sort of pity or shame.

So what happen is Lappland was hunting down the mafia families for what they did to Suzuran, and in the fight, she gets infected. Her infection made her amnesiac, and the only thing she remember was hunting down Texas without remembering the reason for that. Texas has a My God, What Have I Done? moment and flees her mafia life to be a Penguin Logistics, only for Lappland to continue chasing her. Then the Penguin Logistics take contract from Rhodes during Chapter 3, and Texas realizes Suzuran is in Rhodes.

The one who warns Rhodes HR Department so Suzuran and Lappland never meet each other is Texas, because she doesn't want Suzuran to see her beloved mother has grown amnesiac and rabid to protect her.

• While a great theory, this is sadly Jossed since Lappland is a Lupo(Wolf) while Suzuran is a Vulpo(Fox).
  • In addition, it's pretty explicitly said in Suzuran's profile that Lappland was part of the rival mafia family responsible for infecting Suzuran with Oripathy in the first place, which is why it is advised that they both be kept apart.

"Earth" and "Terra" are not separate planes of existence; one is the other's future.

Possibly in a post-post-apocalypse world where almost everything about our societies has disappeared.

• All of the Challenge Mode plaques reference real-world works of music or literature, and these plaques often feature a number, which, appended with either 500 or 900, gives a year in the Gregorian calendar that is related to the work, likely its release year.
  • The name of Mizuki's character song, 'Y1K' supports this, as it refers to the Y2K millennium scare (that in the year 2000, all systems wouldn't be able to switch), which ultimately did not happen. The fact that the song is called Y1K and not Y2 K hints at that they're in the 1000's, and not in the 2000's.
• In the Rainbow Six crossover, Terran locals observe the language that the Rainbow Six operators speak together to be an antiquated dialect of Victorian — of which the Columbian Victorian dialect for American English has already been established in Mansfield Break.
  • Similarly, Tachanka finds reading Ursine difficult, despite the fact that it is clearly written in Cyrillic alphabet, and, presumably, some words are similar to Russian, suggesting it is a temporal evolution of Russian.
• It would explain why all the Terran countries are culturally cognate to a real-world country: they inherited some fragments of our culture, but migration and population dynamics have caused a shuffling of locales and cultures.
  • It would also explain why Istina possesses a book on Marxism-Leninism, of which the other explanation was that both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin existed as Ancients in the world of Terra.

The mental effects of Originium?

There are multiple hints that Originium has a 'voice' or mental effects otherwise:

• Ptilopsis perceiving 'that other voice' only after she has been infected, as per her module.
• Ifrit similarly seeing a horned entity in her mind (which also appears over her in her E2 art and when her S3 is running).
• Earthspirit's claim that she can hear what stones and minerals 'say', and that even the chunk of Originium 'speaks' to her.
  • It has been confirmed that Infected who die not only become new vectors for infection, but their soul is still in the Originium. Earthspirit hears those, and this is also where Surtr's memories may come from. Ifrit's entity however is not a person, so she may be something else entirely.

Kal'tsit being The Ageless has to do with Mon3tr.

Kal'tsit is immortal because she does not visibly age. She also has Mon3tr in her spine, who is linked to Terra's old gods. Thanks to Mon3tr's status, Kal'tsit has been granted some of its capabilities/nature. Moreover, she is an infected and Oripathy will inevitably get worse the longer the patient is ill. Notwithstanding Kal'tsit's own medical genius, for an infected to live so long as she does is borderline impossible, especially with all the wandering she's already shown to have done.

• Jossed. "Lone Trail" confirms Kal'tsit is immortal because she was specifically designed that way as an organic AI by the Precursors that created her.

Rhodes Island will play Kingmaker in the next major story arc in Victoria.

Theresis will be discovered plotting to put a puppet king on the throne of Victoria. To prevent him from achieving any objectives this would allow him to claim, we will end up having to assist Siege or Reed('s sister) in claiming the throne and blocking Theresis from whatever he needs out of the Victorian crown.

Platinum will receive protection when she finally makes her stand against the Armorless Union.

Several of her lines and details from her operator files indicate that she strongly prefers being an operator for Rhodes rather than to continue being one of the Armorless Assassins, with or without the Doctor. The progression of her plot and her preference for being one of our operators means that she will inevitably have to confront the Armorless Union in rebellion one day.

If she's lucky, she might even be able to get help from the Pinus Sylvestris knights and perhaps even the Followers, at least once she manages to convince them that her turning against the Armorless Union is legitimate.

• Zigzagged during Near Light, which is actually her backstory - She does quit the Armorless Union after finally being done with their forcing her to be their pretty-faced scapegoat, but gets bailed out from pursuit by Monique's kill team by Gravel, Hibiscus, and Touch, when she encounters Rhodes Island while on the run.

Patriot got it wrong; Amiya is not the threat in the prophecies he saw.

Theresis, with his long-term goal being to bring Kazdel back as a full-fledged kingdom, has plans to plunge the other countries into war to distract them from his movements, as well as to claim the Crown of Fiends from Amiya and Theresa.

• UPDATE: As of Chapters 11 and 12, it turns out that he really got the wrong Anti-Christ Sarkaz King, it would be the resurrected Theresa's Corpse brought back by the Confessarious who would kickstart the prophecy.

Rhodes Island is an actual Ark, meant to survive a cataclysmic collapse of civilization.

Kal'tsit recognizes it because she was once onboard it in the ancient times, just like the Doctor was alongside Priestess. The Chinese title of the game can be translated as "Tomorrow's Ark", which foreshadows some kind of mega-Catastrophe that will cause a great civilizational collapse. In the final arcs of the story, Rhodes Island will have operators and civilians of all the races on board, and some kind of Great Flood will destroy the current civilizations again.

The Rhodes Island landship is the body of PRTS.

Ines's Arts allow her to "get a feel for [people] by looking over their 'shadows'". This ability seems limited to living beings, and she saw a skeleton after initially calling it a landship. Vigilo reveals that the first video file in PRTS's record shows the Doctor and Priestess on the deck of Rhodes Island, with the latter wearing a jacket bearing the logo used by the current-day organization. It's possible that Ines actually saw the "shadow" of PRTS, whose presence could've easily been picked up by her Arts.

The Fiend Gang that worships an Archosaurus War Goddess is actually Estelle's fanatical fan club.

She is the spitting image of the horned War Goddess of the Fiend Gang, and her horns and strength are actually due to her being the living avatar of the War Goddess rather than an Oripathy-induced mutation.

La Pluma uses drugs.

Her E2 art shows 12 small flasks akin to those in a lab with a bright green liquid in them, with her holding some of them close to her face. Her talent stacks up to 12 times.

Several of the weapons Gavial uses as 'The Invincible' are leftovers from Big Ugly projects of Eunectes

Eunectes made some chainsaw attachments that were too small proportionate to Big Ugly's weapon mounts, but instead of getting scrapped, they were repurposed into weapons for Gavial.

• Confirmed - One of Gavial the Invincible's voiced lines has her reveal that Eunectes did indeed make her chainsaw-bladed axe.

Mon3ter is Kal'tsit's Stand.

Mon3ter is visible to non-Stand users because it uses the originium in Kal'tsit's body to fashion a physical shell that it uses to fight.

Myrtle is analogous to Aphrodite.

This probably sounds like an insane theory, but Myrtle shows a few parallels to the Greek goddess of love.

• They are both associated with a golden apple, while the Trojan War was said to have been started when Aphrodite won the golden apple from Paris.
  • However, Myrtle's Operator profile reveals that a golden apple is a common Arts conduit for the Durin. So how "special" the apple is for Myrtle is debatable.
• While Myrtle describes herself as a "generalissimo," her gameplay and story indicates that she's mostly a flagbearer who boosts morale for the team. This is emphasized further by her Epoque skin, which portrays her leading a marching band. This relates to a passage of The Iliad which depicts Zeus telling Aphrodite she isn't fit for war (despite archaeology pointing that Aphrodite is a war goddess in certain cultures like Sparta; this passage in turn is referenced by Pozymka treating her like a kid, which she naturally objects to.)
• Myrtle left an underground world full of inventors to go hang out on the surface world; Aphrodite leaves Hephaestus' forges in Mt. Etna to go on romantic dalliances.
• The myrtle is actually a sacred flower of Aphrodite's.
• Most damningly, Myrtle's E2 art is a reference to Sandro Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus.

The blind swordsman in Nian's Operator Record is the origin of the (Hateful) Avenger.

His words to Nian ("To save. To avenge.") hint at this. If so, his blade may have been the basis for the Blade Pennant furniture item, as it was broken when it was returned to Nian. "Operation Blade" may have also been about his revenge, and him fulfilling it in the burnt-out ruins where the broken blade was retrieved.

• As such, characters like Red the Redblade echo his legend, carrying similar curved swords and wielding blade Arts that light their swords on fire.

Columbia will nuke Kazdel or the Shard Tower and at least indirectly cause Theresis' downfall.

While Columbia hasn't done anything yet in the main story, Theresis' upcoming actions could cause them to react similar to World War II and go as far as to use an Originium WMD to defeat Kazdel, similar to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Shard Tower falling and Theresis dying alone in the Cyclops prediction could also relate to Dublinn being nuked and possibly furthering Amiya's powers while Theresis slowly dies from the Terran equivalent of radiation poisoning.

• JOSSED by Dorothy's Vision lore; the Columbian Government was terrified of the weapons the Kazdel Commission and the Victorian Army unleashed over Londinium during the Victoria arc and sought to develop its own superweapons to compete.

Pozymka's noble family is Old Money.

The conspiracy that orphaned her and left her to drift to Zeruertza was a reprisal by New Money nobles that was meant to warn the rest of the Old Money nobles to back off from attacking their interests and properties.

Whatever Priestess did to Originium, it prevented a bad situation from getting worse.

Lone Trail reveals that Priestess was doing some work directly connected to Originium itself that was somehow linked to Catastrophes (or Oripathy). My up-to-date hypothesis is that Originium's assimilative properties were originally even worse that what is seen today in Terra, and that Priestess was only able to blunt it and prevent a true apocalyptic situation in the vein of Terra being assimilated into a big black ball of originium. The Catastrophes that happen when Originium activates and vents its energy are actually a side effect of what she's done, as she could only stop it from fully activating and devouring the world ceaselessly this way, by forcing it to trip its own safeties, vent energy, and return to a dormant state.

The true nature of Teekaz is that everyone not based on animals (e.g. Durins, Elves) are Teekaz.

This WMG is based on the relation between the Beast Lords and the Elders and Ancients; in that there's implications the Elders and Ancients traced their 'ancestry' to the Beast Lords. This detail is connected to the Sarkaz's claims that the Elders and Ancients took the world from them. However, what about those who aren't 'beast'? What makes them different from the Sarkaz? Based on that, the timeline should be like this;

• Precursors terraformed the planet that would become Terra, and filled it with both artificial humans and animals. The artificial humans are Teekaz, and the artificial animals are Beast Lords.
• Disaster struck, and Precursors left behind their creations. Left to their own devices, the Beast Lords' descendants the Elders and Ancients, just like how the Feranmuts gain their individual sapience through interaction with humanity, slowly uplifted themselves into humanoid form.
• Many Teekaz, fearing this Planet of the Apes-style development, invoked What Measure Is a Non-Human? on the Elders and Ancients. They claim their right as the closest to their creator through the ownership of Civilight Eterna, which was the Precursors' heirloom for their descendants. The Elders and Ancients were upset at this.
• The conflict between them broke, and the uplifted animals overwhelmed the Teekaz through sheer numbers (cause animals spawn faster than humans). The Teekaz that gave up the conflict secluded themselves and maintained their autonomy. Meanwhile the Teekaz that prolonged it through their recorded memory in Civilight Eterna were dubbed Sarkaz.
• This is also the reason why the Sarkaz that 'gave up the conflict' later like the Sankta and the Anasa are pretty much no longer considered Sarkaz; they proved the end of their hostility through isolationism.

Chen's skin for her Holungday alternate form is a glimpse into future cooperation with the Nian siblings

The skin has her using her sword to flick ink swipes for her basic attack and then bringing out an ink cannon for her skills, implying that she'll get weapons from Nian that use the power of Dusk's ink at some point during her future forays into Greater Yan.

Sesa and Heavyrain canonically went to Sargon to participate in the Reclamation Algorithm mission(s)

One of the Ameer that the Sand Soldier was targeting during these missions was associated with the Columbian intelligence agencies that were responsible for the death of his professor. Kal'tsit knew that Elliot would eventually complete his quest for revenge and made arrangements with Sesa and Heavyrain in advance with the coin, so after they concluded their other missions in Sargon, they went to meet with Elliot and bring him back to Rhodes Island, as seen in the present-day portion of A Walk in the Dust. Manticore was not part of this mission because she had just signed up with Rhodes Island by following another operator squad straight back to the landship.

Predictions of future playable operators, their classes, talents, and skills

This WMG section is purely for predicting or speculatin on the possibility of NPCs being turned into operators at a later date.

• Viviana, Candle Knight: Being one of many non-antagonistic Knights who has been banished from Kazimierz, her connection to Leithania might see her rejoin Magaret Nearl in her desire to become a Knight like her. She will likely be playable as a Mystic Caster, with a skill that becomes stronger the more accumulated charges she holds when she activates it.
  • Confirmed with her becoming an arts guard in the 4.5 anniversary event. She doesn't use her arena techniques though, instead switching out for a less flashy but more efficient and easier to sustain fighting style.
• Dmitri, Bellone Mafiosi: He was wearing a band that could easily be swapped with a health monitor. Events might conspire to drive him to seek refuge in Rhodes away from the other Famiglia, where he might have a reunion with Vigil.
• Closure, Chief Engineer and future leader figure in Rhodes Island: If anything her popularity and fan demand will eventually encourage Hypergryph to release her as a Summoner supporter, with her army of bat-winged drones.
• Monch, Gnosis's ex: She might end up being drawn to Rhodes Island one way or another. Perhaps she meets Pramanix and Kjera and is encouraged to sign on. Perhaps Aurora or another Kjerag operator makes friends with her and brings her home. With her crossbow, she'll be another Sniper. She might need a makeover to prevent her from being mistaken for Angelina, though.
• Lemuen, Exusiai's sister: Hortus De Escapino has her recovering strength enough to get up from her wheelchair. One day she'll join up with Rhodes Island to help us, and catch up with her sister on the Landship. Her skill with her sniper rifle makes her a shoo-in for Deadeye or Hunter Sniper.

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