Both Mendoza and Leon are Horror/Makai hybrids.
When Leon has a dream about his mother being burnt at the stake, he sees her change into a skeletal monster at the end of it. We then see him covered in strange markings, which quickly vanish, in a manner similar to Horror blood from the original show. When Mendoza becomes upset, he also gains these markings. Anna was likely at the precipice of becoming a Horror when she gave birth to Leon for unknown reasons, leading to his hybrid status. The event that made Mendoza despise all Makai was likely a betrayal due to being a hybrid himself.- Jossed. See below for details.
Anna was the queen's cousin, or some other relative
The fact the queen had that emblem clearly means she has some family connection to Garo, I'd even have argued it mean that her line is the one which is meant to inherit the title, but instead Leon inherited it.- The kingdom was founded by a golden knight that clearly resembles Garo—enough so that Mendoza gets rid of the tapestry commemorating him when he gets the chance.
- Confirmed. The Queen was Anna's Sister.
By the end of the series Alfonso will have inherited the title of GAIA
- Unlikely, since the armors are passed down by blood.
- A counterpoint, while that's the way it seems to work there has to be some alternate system in place if there is no suitable heir. And if we're allowed to use examples from the other series then there is at least one case of someone inheriting the armour without being blood related.
- This anime does take place in ancient times. Who's to say that we won't meet an armorsmith skilled enough to *create* a new armor?
- Confirmed. While the series is not anywhere near over, Alfonso has gained the GAIA armor.
- Double Confirmed. While Alfonso takes up the mantle of GARO during Leon's Heroic BSoD, the latter takes it up again when Zaruba deems him worthy after some Character Development. Alfonso is later seen wielding GAIA.
Alternative to the previous WMG, Alfonso will wind up receiving the GARO title
Leon will accept that Valiante needs Alfonso to be the legendary knight, and will inherit the ZORO title.- Alternately, Leon dies and/or incapacitated making it necessary for Alfonso to assume the GARO armor.
- Episode 12 shows this indeed comes to pass: after Leon goes berserk as LOST SOUL GARO and destroyed Santa Bard, Alfonso is forced to take up GARO himself. Notably, the GARO armor becomes similar to the classic one we know of the franchise, compared to the seemingly-incomplete Sleep-Mode Size it has when Leon was using it.
Alfonso will gain a Different Armor
- Specifically....He becomes the first ZERO
- Jossed. Alfonso has gained the title of GAIA.
What does Mendoza have to gain from creating so many Horrors?
So here's what we know: Mendoza was originally a high-ranking Makai, but something happened to him that convinced him he needed to eradicate every last member of his kind. He did this by worming his way into the highest ranks of the Church and also using Horrors that he controlled through a special artifact to do his bidding. But almost all of the Makai in the country are gone, and he's pretty much in control of the kingdom. What else does he have to gain?- Mostly confirmed. He made a device to control Horrors using forbidden methods, and was excommunicated for it. The Makai Knights marked his bloodline to keep future generations of Knights and Alchemists from ever mixing in with his it again.
The Black Knight is KIBA
Except the armour isn't known as that yet.- Jossed, the Black Knight is called ZEX.
Leon is actually Mendoza's son. Somehow
Based on the revelations of episode 10 regarding Mendoza's backstory. Not sure how it fits given we know Anna was pregnant when she got captured.- No. All evidence points to him being in fact Germán's biological son.
The Bernardo who German fought against in the present is a Horror
He died that fateful day (what's with being burned into a skeleton and then re-fleshed), and Mendoza was actually converting him to a Horror (having Makai Knight-esque powers) rather than healing him. He may or may not know that he is a Horror to begin with; the whole 're-fleshing' scene seemed to imply that Bernardo's brain was relatively untouched. Additionally, Bernardo crumbled to dust when he is killed as Horrors are; he didn't even leave his weapon behind like GAIA did. With Leon losing GARO to Alfonso, the ancestral lines of the live-action series are likely established.
As mentioned above in the main page, Leon seems to harken Ryuga Dougai's hotheadedness while Alfonso seems to mirror Raiga Saejima's compassion and sense of responsibility. Is it not likely that, considering the Saejimas' relatively-Western aesthetics and Ryuga's seemingly-rustic background, they become their respective descendants, their bloodlines diverging further? Moreover, might it be that Zaruba's intiial distaste for Ryuga is not due to him not being a descendant of the GARO bloodline (he is, based on this theory), but because he's that part of the bloodline who seemingly sucked at handling GARO? (Note how Leon's version of GARO is somewhat incomplete/slimmer, somewhat similar to Ryuga's blackened GARO armor.) When Leon inevitably reclaims Garo it will be out of necessity rather than his desire
He'll have accepted he shouldn't be Garo and moved on (he's in the process as it is) but Alfonso will be taken out in a battle requiring his to step up. Before this happens, Leon will, at least briefly, inherit the Zoro title
The family that takes Leon in will most likely be murdered wholesale in a future episode, leaving only Lara (the daughter) to survive.
The ending credits for Episode 13 already suggest that Leon will be returning to his job in the future, with Lara by his side. Considering how the girl said she has no desire to leave her home as it is, something will probably happen which will force her to tag along with Leon despite his dangerous position.- NO ONE SURVIVED.
Before Leon inevitably get Garo back, something will happen and Alfonso and or Germain will try to make him take it up again.....
- Only for Leon to Refuse to be Garo again.
German takes up the job to help up Mendoza so he could personally kill him.
- Helping out a scumbag like Mendoza is totally out of character. The fact that he said "As a protector, it's something worth doing," could either mean that actually helping Mendoza out is worth something or that its worth doing this so he could personally take him out.
- Confirmed, among other things. Mendoza was summoning a BIG fish, possibly responsible for everything in the show, and German wanted to kill it.
ALL THE WATCHERS ARE CORRUPTED.
- Episode 24 had some disturbing implications: Mendoza successfully fused with a Horror Overlord and turned himself into an immortal - a nigh-unkillable GLOWING-WHITE floating self-righteous apathetic elf. The similarities between the final boss and the watchers is near-perfect, with the unfortunate implication that ALL watchers are in fact former humans / horrors who undertook titanic sacrificial rituals to turn themselves into gods, with varying results, and pretend to govern justly so that the Kishin Knights overlook their true enemy in plain sight.
- That actually has some startling logic to it, considering the Eastern Watchdogs in the first live season were corrupt and it might explain why they don't exist in the future-based Ryuga continuity.
Vanishing Line takes place in the future of Valiante's world.
- Might be a bit of a stretch, but Valiante has a lot of parallels to Inquistion-era Spain, as does Russel City to New York. Could be an alternate universe situation.
