Ash is/was a nice guy who didn't have much experience with girls. He has trouble going from telling a girl that he likes her to the stage where he does something about it. Thus, all the girls he goes out with will have to take the more dominant, ie 'male' part in the relationship. Look at Ash's past relationships: With Missi, even Ash was aware that Ash was the 'girl'. After Emily groped Ash's boobs, we saw Ash have a private 'Girly' reaction, while there was no matching scene of Emily. Plus, in the Misfile comic posted July 7, it's clearly Emily who's pushing the relationship to sharing a bed with Ash.
Ergo, Ash had better learn to accept it and, if Emily and Ash have a lesbian wedding, Ash should just accept the fact that Emily is the one people will be expecting to wear the tux. Besides, I could totally see Ash in a lacy / sexy wedding gown Ash's mom selected for 'her'.
- No, Emily would be in the dress because she has no problem with wearing dresses and wants to think of Ash as a guy so she can get used to her attraction to him. Most likely she'd want him to stay as masculine as possible. Doesn't mean she won't be the more dominant one, though.
- Ash only behaved "like a girl" then because he was afraid of the changes he thought he is going through, and thus became too passive. It's likely that he will be able to take the initiative when he acknowledges that having a female body does not change who he really is.
While 'gay' doesn't necessarily mean misfile (some would argue that Emily is lesbian, bi, or 'ash-sexual', Kay may have been misfiled from girl to boy by someone (likely Rumisiel since he is the only clerk in his part of the depot. During the Model Party arc, in response to him finding Ash was looking at other girl's boobs, he agrees to keep it a secret, however he states something along the lines of "Trust me, I'm the Secret King, I'd say I was the Secret Queen, but that would sound like I was trying to hide something" which the queen part might have been a joke only he would have understood, or he might suspected that Ash was a little unusual from than other 'lesbians', and might have been fishing for information. Also, Kay is a gender-neutral name, and I believe Ash's is too. It would also create an interesting comparison in the series. Ash had to masquerade as a girl to keep his cover, while Kay would have needed to masquerade as a guy. Kay's back story might have been that he had woken up one day as a guy, but without an angel to explain his situation, or someone is a somewhat similar spot (like Emily for Ash) he/she had to fly solo, and had to learn the ropes of his/her new reality by him/herself, though he still was curious to find out how it happened. Since it happened way before Ash and Em's misfile, their memories were of Kay as a guy because while they were misfiled at the same time, thus keeping their memories of each other status quo, Kay happened years earlier, both explaining why they remember Kay as a guy, and why Ash didn't suspect anything, as Kay would have had to acclimate to his/her new environment.
- I would like to note two things: 1, Kay could have been misfiled as little as ten minutes before Ash and Emily, and they wouldn't notice the difference, because they were properly filed at the time, they would be updated along with the rest of the universe. 2, following from the first, if Kay was misfiled, his memory wouldn't have been affected by Ash and Emily's misfile, meaning he would be really confused about how his friend Marie was suddenly talking about her daughter, rather than moping over an estranged son.
- Or maybe, instead of taking a direct path to solving the problem, God has decided to do things indirectly for the fringe benefits, such as rooting out corruption in the ranks, reforming Rumisiel from a pot-smoking slacker into a competent angel, and dealing with a number of supernatural disasters all at once. He probably set it all in motion by causing Cassiel and Rumisiel to meet fifty years ago as a random coincidence.
- Alternatively, perhaps God has grown bored with running the universe for all eternity and just doesn't care anymore. He's just leaving the angelic bureaucracy to do all work for him.
- Even more alternatively, you can consider the idea that God is generally defined as an entity who possesses unlimited power over the beings within the universe he created. In other words, the author is God. I think it should be obvious why the author hasn't just magically fixed things yet.
- Note that since God knows everything, it is logically impossible for him to execute a Gambit Roulette since there are no factors he couldn't predict.
- Maybe God is just altruistic. He doesn't want to trap Ash and Emily in their misfiled lives, so he doesn't tell the angels about the mistake. However, he also wants them to meet each other, grow from the experience, and ultimately be able to choose which life they would rather live, so he doesn't prevent the misfile before it happens. Although he probably wants to stop whoever is killing the angels, he has provided that entity with free will, which he wants to allow that person/angel/whatever to express.
- Why is everything always a prequel of Doctor Who?
- Why isn't everything a prequel to Doctor Who?
- Because somethings have to be a prequel to Neon Genesis Evangelion. If you can work out a theory on how Ash is really a reincarnation of Shinji and Rumisiel is Misato please post it. Actually...
- Other way around makes a good bit more sense.
- Why isn't everything a prequel to Doctor Who?
- So "Boy"Ash never existed, and Ash has been brainwashed into believing that she Never had boobs and always had a penis. Makes perfect sense.
- Well, if you look at by Occam's Razor, this actually makes more sense. A whole lot fewer assumptions are necessary to accept that just Ash and Emily's memories were tampered with rather than assuming that the entire universe has been rearranged.
- The entire universe was not rearranged. I can say without a doubt that if one of your friends was the opposite gender, you'd treat him/her differently. That's exactly what's going on with Ash.
- I think I see what you meant now, after some thinking. Ash only "remembers" being a guy because his/her file says "male." So hypothetically speaking, Rumisiel erased the fe- from "female" and put it back in the right cabinet, creating a new set of "male" memories for Ash.
- This is what happened in the genderbending anime Cheeky Angel...
- Unsurprisingly enough, this question has already been asked to Ash himself. And yes, she just knows he was a boy...
- Ash was always a girl. Just a different girl. And now she thinks she used to be a boy.
- Maybe with blond hair instead of red, or something similarly minor.
- Word of God says this is Jossed.
- I doubt this is the true case. Ash and Emily seemed to have been acquainted with each other before their misfiles, so wouldn't Emily have pointed this out if it was true? Finally, why would Rumisiel have been messing with the insides of the file, he said it himself the reason Ash is a girl is because he stuck in in the 'human female' cabinet in a mad dash to avoid being caught by his bosses. Here is the big one, there would have been no reason for Rumisiel to erase the 'fe' in 'female' from his file, A couple of Emily's pages were removed likely because he was checking her files before the incident which caused the misfile. If you don't answer the any other part of my reasons, please explain why Rumisiel would have erased the 'fe' in female. In fact, using Occam's Razor like another poster suggested, since Rumisiel's story of his mad dash is simpler than him messing with the file, Ash's body simply being changed in effect is supported by Occam's Razor rather than his memories being changed.
- Or Ash has misfile once before and the angel who did it never tried to fix. This would of happen before Ash knew of differences of boys and girls like 2 years old explain why she does not remember and why her male side seem weak(she the girl in relation to Missy)(the world say she male so she make a male persona) and why the female side appear so quickly(it only a month and she ask for ice cream the female drowning your sorrow aid).
- This is a weak argument, and is ultimately pointless. If Ash had a magic sex change when he was young enough to not remember it, and thus developed a masculinr identity there would be little if any difference between that and just having always been male. Also none of what you said has anything having a "weak male side." Ash was actually very disturbed by Missy being the sexually aggressive one, and doesn't actually feel better from chocolate binging and only does so because he thought it would help. Even if it did, that would be more a reflection of sex than gender.
- I doubt it. Don't forget, even though Ash is really a boy, his biology has caused him to have a few odd reactions. For example, Ash had a swoon reaction in the hallway a few moments after Emily touched his boobs since she didn't know he was just giving her a hard time. Though he realized realized that he had a girly reaction, he did still do it. This show that like he fears, he is not completely able to suppress certain parts of his new form. If Ash was bi, then he would mention that he had feelings for guys too, and even if he was too embarrassed to discuss it, he would have at least been shown trying to rationalize it in his head.
- It doesn't work that way. If anything, getting the file replaced, yet unaltered, would have Ash remember everything that happened, since the soul was left uninterrupted. If the missing pages are destroyed, everything gets retconned to the new Emily's life. I think that either way, fixing the misfile—whether by changing the current data to "correct" or putting things back the way they were—messes up the memories of the misfile. Although, since their memories would be the only ones tampered with, it would stand to reason that if both of them were to stay in their new states, everyone else would remember that the two of them had been hanging out together quite a bit, so that might actually be the better solution
- Ash would be the only one that would remember the misfile. Emily would believe that she was always a year younger than Ash rather than a year older than him/her; however, the events that occurred during the misfiled time would, presumably, still happen, albeit with slight variations. Best case scenario, it's kind of like the difference between Ash's memories of his last night with James before he went off to college and James's memories of his last night with her. Problem solved.
- And putting Emily's files right wouldn't kill her off. That only would've happened if she'd never been misfiled in the first place. The event has already passed, you know?
- Don't the files work retroactively? If Emily's files are replaced, it's as if the misfile never happened thus she never became friends with Ash and she would have always been in the car accident and thus killed or severely injured.
- It doesn't work that way. If anything, getting the file replaced, yet unaltered, would have Ash remember everything that happened, since the soul was left uninterrupted. If the missing pages are destroyed, everything gets retconned to the new Emily's life. I think that either way, fixing the misfile—whether by changing the current data to "correct" or putting things back the way they were—messes up the memories of the misfile. Although, since their memories would be the only ones tampered with, it would stand to reason that if both of them were to stay in their new states, everyone else would remember that the two of them had been hanging out together quite a bit, so that might actually be the better solution
- The real question is, do they get a choice? Rumisiel says early on that if the Misfile isn't corrected, then bad things will happen when/if it is discovered.
- The reason that she wasn't in the accident wasn't Ash. It was a pre-college party, so Emily wouldn't have been there, even if Ash and Emily had flew solo. It also sounds logical to me that that what Em would stay, Ash would revert. If it wasn't then the story would have made a bigger deal out of Emily's "I think I'm supposed to be dead" and " I choose to stay " statements, and there would be an 'Ash's needs versus Emily's Needs' plot element.
- You missed a turn back there: If it weren't for the Misfile, Emily could have remained Molly's best friend and would have been a graduating senior and probably would have been invited to that party. But whether or not Emily actually would have been riding in Molly's car and thus killed in the crash is less important to Emily's choices than what she believes, and Emily appears to believe she has dodged a bullet if only to help rationalize her desire not to be restored.
- Confirmed for Emily. While in the Fifth Branch's filing room, Emily finds the missing pages and decides to destroy them.
- Confirmed for Ash but with a twist. Ash's file is located and put back in its proper place, but not before Rumisiel makes a copy of all of its contents, edits out any and all references to Ash being male, before placing that edited file into the female cabinet. This allows both original!Ash and milsfiled!Ash to exist together as twin siblings.
- I thought Egypt myself, could be anywhere really no shortage of heavnly fire in the bible.
- That leaves the question of why would the archon come to his town.
- Maybe Evil Vash sent some kind of distress signal to call him down personally.
- Actually, Vashiel could not be responsible for any Biblical smitings. He was just earing his sword during Rumi's childhood.
- It was London, 1666! That would fit Rumsiel's apparent age when he got the sword if the angels age roughly the same relative rate as humans.
- No that fire was caused by some aliens fighting with the Doctor.
- Alternately, it was a different "Vashiel," who had his mind wiped and status revoked. Good Vashiel is so good at what he does because Not-so-good Vashiel is egging him on from his subconscious, to take over once he gets within range of anyone important enough (or close enough to realizing the mindwipe wasn't completely effective) to risk blowing his cover.
- Fixing the misfile won't kill Emily. The flow of time does not work in reverse. Restoring those files would not magically change where she was at the time that the car crash happened. Presumably, things would return to normal for Emily, and she'd already be at Harvard.
- If she'd "already be at Harvard", then that means that fixing the misfile WOULD put Emily in a different place (i.e. Harvard), doesn't it?
- Moreover, the flow of time does work in reverse; girl Ash contacted her mother and later visited her, while boy Ash never did, and remained in Tempest.
- Fixing the misfile won't kill Emily. The flow of time does not work in reverse. Restoring those files would not magically change where she was at the time that the car crash happened. Presumably, things would return to normal for Emily, and she'd already be at Harvard.
- How could it be an all or nothing proposition? If only Ash changes back, then Emily will have still hung out with him, and thus she would be either his girlfriend, or if 'Past Emily' had still vehemently refused to be the girlfriend, the best friend.
- If you mean he's Aziraphale, I just can't picture Aziraphale as a teenage Bishōnen and Vash hasn't been near a book, nor does he call anyone "dear", although he isn't trying to calm any nervous teenage girls and Crowley isn't around. But still. Oh, and Aziraphale is an angel. Not a pushover.
- Don't forget, Ash wants to get back to normal, but Emily wants to keep her new life. Relationships are two sided, so even if Ash is written back to normal and Emily isn't, Emily will have hung out with Ash, likely as the girlfriend, but since it isn't said that 'Girl-Ash' and James weren't a couple, just still best friends (even if they did go for it), she could have just been the best friend (since she may have still vehemently denied being the girlfriend in 'Guy-Ash' reality), while Ash would have paired up with Missy, who Ash would have had no reason to break up with. Long story short, I support this theory, but I'm just pointing out that that your 'benevolent angels' theory isn't the only way it could have happened.
- Possibility: Ash has a sex-change operation.
- So would all the yaoi magazines Ash found under Female Ash's bed have just been compensatory cover since she was a lesbian in denial?
- Considering how androgynous most boys in yaoi manga are, it's possible - she could've been lusting over their feminine features, but been convincing herself that since they were actually male, she wasn't really gay.
- It isn't unheard of for straight girls to buy fanservicey games like that.
- There's no reason that the filing system has to use modern western definitions of sexuality, and as a system around from before the fall of Lucifer it probably wouldn't. Ash's file could list him as being attracted to women, rather than straight/gay/bi, and thus straight male Ash was misfiled into lesbian female Ash. Note that despite doing various 'girly' things since the misfile, he's only been on one date with a boy, and that only to make a point, whilst he's still seemingly as interested in girls as ever. In this case, James would probably be girl Ash's attempt to 'prove' she wasn't into boys, but she never told him she wasn't into men since he left soon after.
- Emily first noted things might not be ideal with turning back at the accident where her alternate self would have died. Since then, her family life has been better, and she's had more options like actually figuring out what kind of college she wants to go to. Not to mention, she's realized how shallow her friends were, and now that she's changed a bit, her old friends have grown more likeable too (one of her friends helped her sneak out to a race).
- Ash has a girlfriend and a boyfriend, and Emily wants to be her girlfriend too. She has had a closer relationship with her mom, thanks to a nice female Ash sent but male Ash never did, she has a closer relationship with her dad because she decided to cheer him up as a tradition, and gets to keep her racing dream. By all implications, this means as a guy, all that's waiting is racing.
- So then why is Kate's sister Angelica still dead? If Rumisiel had misfiled Angelica to have survived, then Kate wouldn't have gotten possessed and gone nuts, she was the cause of several injuries, such as Aiden's, and had caused people to quit racing. Also, wouldn't it have been easier to simply give Molly the same misfile as Emily so neither would go to the party rather than turn ash into a girl. Sure Molly would be pissed off at Rumisiel for altering her life, but I think she would eventually come to like the misfile for giving her of what she would likely call "two more years of parties and dating"
- Angelica fits into Rumi's plans by being dead, and getting exorcised, after knocking Holy Avenger-sword-wielding big brother unconscious!
- How else is a filing clerk angel going to get his hands on a Sword Of Power without people noticing?
- With other people still racing, the dynamics of racing on the mountain get changed, perhaps to an "official" social club, not just high school kids having fun. If the mountain racers became a club, surely Kate and Angelica would wind up running it, which doesn't fit "The Plan".
- Would Kate seek love in Harry's arms, with her sister around and without a boyfriend? For that matter, did Harry like Angelica better?
- Just to wrap up...I LIKE this WMG, and see "wheels within wheels"
- I don't know anything about either school, but your description seems plausible enough. It also helps since when Emily and her mom went to look at colleges, Emily's Mom said they would also touring MIT, so it probably means that as long as its prestigious and while Harvard is the best case scenario in her mind, Emily's Mom would be willing to compromise, though they would likely argue about Emily wanting to go into a career involving cars.
- Actually, this is already being discussed in-universe and there is a good chance Emily will do it.
- Emily dreams this in Misfiled Dreams, along with other relationship developments that do come true, so this may be fanfic Fanon.
He's either trying to tempt Rumisiel into messing up so he never goes back to heaven, because he knows about the misfile, and it's crucial to his plans. Or he knows nothing about the misfile, and is simply luring Rumisiel into a false sense of security so he can be killed just like that other angel, either because Rumisiel has a bigger part to play than would seem, or because Rumisiel's death would significantly traumatise Vashiel, who obviously would have a big part to play.
- You mean Xaphrael? Ramael is sort of suffering a case of being dead and disintegrated
- No, Raechiel is the dead one. Ramael is Vashiel's "old friend."
- I hope you're right.
- Confirmed! It's not deeply explored and fixed with rousing speeches, just one line, but she's strongly implied to have some security issues/an inferiority complex regarding her brother. Subtlety for the win.
- Hah! I don't know why it would have happened, but just the thought that Missy might have groin kicked a devil makes me want to laugh.
- This could explain why he lets Rumisiel stay around even though he's a bit of a leech. He thinks Ash may be transgender or a lesbian. If she has a boyfriend and he encourages it, she might be coming out of a phase or 'cured' (I apologise in advance to all LGBT people who may be offended by that). He may not be homophobic, but it is true a lot of people are fine with homosexuality except among their family. After all, his hopes the pair of them are going to get married some day is pretty clear he's willing to accept any guy his daughter likes.
- If Rumisiel comes out as god, then Ash will have a crowning moment of funny when he finds out realizes he had slugged god about fifty times throughout the series. But this is a bit implausible, simply because if he wanted to slack, he would have created a few gold bars, sold them for cash (or create it), and spent a few centuries vacationing around his world. Alternatively, he could have made an island paradise only accessible, or even visible by him, and stayed there.
- Would seem a bit lonely and/or he would spend all his time being stalked by various angels.
- That brand of being proactively altruistic is way out of character for Rumisiel. The guy is a slacker, an ex-pot head, had no qualms of dating Lucifer's niece for fifty years when his father disapproved, a perv, gets drunk, and has nothing against cheating using his angelic powers. Also, how would he know if their life would improve or not? Its revealed in a flashback that Rumisiel is an underachiever during his school years, so thats a strike against obfuscating stupidity, so he is likely not a hidden super genius. Also, if that is the reason why he misfiled the two, wouldn't it make more sense to misfile Kate's sister, Angelica, so she didn't die and Kate wouldn't become the broken bird? By the same token, a more obvious approach to improving Ash's life would have been misfiling his parents so that his mom wouldn't have move away, or his dad wouldn't have made the comments that caused them to.
- If she is a manifestation of the misfile, then what would the cause for her manifesting be.
- The timeline is messed up. The present is well, the present, it hadn't happened before the Misfile. Emily just got jumped back three years (without jumping everyone back three years, which would make an anomaly, this means she must've been born three years later). Which explains why at the time, Emily is so worried about that car accident, it's in her future.
For instance, Missi's frustration with her parents paying more attention to Tom even though he was getting ready to leave for college at the time and based on what little we've seen they don't seem to neglect her any. It could also explain her random insistance on a Halloween party and seeing large breasts as an all-powerful force; her shocking sexuality swerve, her seeking out Ash as soon as she could, and her instant hatred of Emily daring to be Ash's friend too can also explain this nicely. She could've agreed to try the dating thing in the first place due to being able to tell that Rumisiel is an angel combined with a lack of proper understanding of sexuality, while she could have sought out Ash because she saw or heard about him when younger and had learned of the sudden gender change. The Emily hatred is just simple childhood jealous and a "You can only have one best friend" mentality.
As for the thing about Missi being a car mechanic? She was lying. We've never seen her bring it up beyond the one time, and Tom claimed to handle it himself - just because he's a dick doesn't mean he always lies.
This also conveniently explains the Fridge Logic of why Ash and Emily's files were out and why Rumisiel had to rush to hide them - he had messed up on a file from the same town somehow, and he was looking through theirs while trying to find and fix it.
- Heh, that plot twist would be made of win. It would also explain why as of yet, despite being an important character in the story, we haven't seen her interact with her parents: because the same awkwardness, shock (there's got to be a few things pre-misfile teen Missy might have done that kid Missy wouldn't have), and other issues that would have been comparable to Ash interacting with his parents. However, its been recently proven that Missi does have the skills she claims to have when she made Ash a knight costume (although the same plot holes could be a child prodigy (or teen genius if you want to refer to her current form instead), perfectly acceptable in Misfile's insane universe. But even a child prodigy would have issues in school after instantly jumping 7 grade levels due to a misfile.
- Makes sense, though it seems like it would be a case of cranking up the age and just not adding any events (or the opposite, whichever works) labeling her to have the age of a teenager, but with the mentality of a little girl. Depending entirely on what decides what.
- Also, remember Rumi's first line? "Oh no, I went and aged a girl to puberty overnight!" Why would he come to this assumption?
- One thing people forget about the files is that (according to the supplementary materials), most people CAN'T read the codes in the files; only a few higher-ups can. Rumisiel can't really change the files beyond moving them around.
- This is a THEORY? I gave this much for granted ever since the whole deal with Kate's dead sister...
- It wasn't a date, Ash himself said he was trying to prove a point. (And he failed...)
- Except there's more to it than just covering it up to their bosses. They likely don't want anyone on Earth to know about them, so having people with memories of their lives being screwed up would be inconvenient.
- My theory is that the files list people who would be attracted to Ash, or could grow an attraction. Say, in Emily's file it says "If you hung out with Ash Upton for a few weeks, you'd want to date him.' This also explains Missi, who admitted she never even considered the possibility of being attracted to girls until Rumi said Ash was interested in her. However she was probably bi or just very open since she went for it almost right away. Also, Emily has never shown any attraction to other girls and is squicked out by the idea of being with Ash in his current body.
- Alternatively, he'll be friendzoned.
- Alternatively, she was pushed to Ash's subconscious and that's where the girly impulses come from.
- Word of God confirms f-Ash never existed, she's just a false memory in everyone's minds. Though there could be an alternate universe out there somewhere where this happened.
- He is certainly aware of Logan, and has acted to protect him.
- And here, Rumisiel confirms that while angels aren't born, they can have children with humans.
- Alternatively, Ash has a much more macho opinion of himself and being constantly on the look out for warning signs of growing accustomed to his new body, he finds his old behaviors to be girly and 'unlike him.' Telling himself he would have punched Tom when in reality, it could have been that as a boy he would have done the same thing.
- Or alternatively, this is going to answer the question of what her relationship with Girl Ash was that was so different to her relationship with Boy Ash. Maybe Ash herself took the photos.
- Confirmed that it was the ex who she broke up with unpleasantly's doing.
- Not a penis. The penis is a primary sexual characteristic; breasts are secondary. They would either correspond with upper body muscles, or just wouldn't have a male equivalent.
- Or heaven could be using the Saint's Row 3 "sex appeal" system. I kind of doubt that they would be bound by human systems of logic and science.
- Not a penis. The penis is a primary sexual characteristic; breasts are secondary. They would either correspond with upper body muscles, or just wouldn't have a male equivalent.
- Not to mention that the only reason Kate didn't crush and probably cause Ash to fatally crash during their first race was because Ash was a girl at the time. She wouldn't have been so lenient if Ash was a boy!
- Confirmed.
- Potentially this will be reflected, when the misfile is corrected, with boy!Ash having been obsessing over Real Men Wear Pink.
- Ash and Emily have tried and failed three times to take their relationship to the physical level. Ash can't even get herself off in the shower. It just ain't happening, folks.
- Well until it did happen. Thanks Valentine's Day
- Wasn't that one already confirmed by Word of God?
This would also mean that Ramael, far from being the killer, is a vigilante trying to stop the killer because he knows what's going on. He turned up in Ash's life because he expects Rumisiel will be on the target list if Ash becomes pregnant. He may or may not be Logan's father but Logan does have a father who knows a lot about angels.
The only real thing I have to go on is that their hair is shaded the same way, implying the same color. You can see it best here. We don't really know any details about her dad - what he might look like or what kind of person he might be, but Oscar looks to be about the right age.
- Ash seems to think Oscar kinda looks like a male Emily, so there's a definite possibility.
- Except that he said he has never had even a date.
- Jossed. The resolution results in both original!Ash and misfiled!Ash existing simultaneously as twin siblings.
First of all, Aiden and Carly's folks don't seem to be suffering. I mean, the place is called Anhedonia, but they are having wild hot sex, never get sick, and they die only to come back later. The one hurt by their death are Carly and Aiden, not themselves. The same is true of the loud and raucous sex itself, it is so bad they have to leave the house. The one that get to eat grey sludge instead of food are the kids. The adults don't seem to mind this. Nor do they seem to mind adding to their sentence buying clothing, but the realization that even buying clothes adds to their parents suffering is designed to instill guilt.
It's entirely possible that the kids (even the demons) are former souls who died and were reborn in Hell and the only error was Nil getting found here. And the "damned" are actually professional tormentors. The reason the kids age naturally is because the term of their sentence is either 18 years (if they pass) or a lifespan (if they fail). And passing might not be graduating but actually figuring out the truth.