WARNING: Many spoilers are unmarked!
This takes place in the His Dark Materials universe
The Elktaur seperating his human and animal halves feels a lot certain spoily events in the series, plus Mrs. Coulter's self hatred. Both Horse and the pink alpaca centaur will each have a point.
In a silly place like Centaurworld, Horse will teach Wammawink and her friends the importance of being brave and taking things seriously when the situation calls for it. Meanwhile, Wammawink will teach Horse how to relax and enjoy life, thus helping her avoid the trope No Place for Me There that will come from ending the war in hers and Rider's world.The Artifact is a horseshoe.
Given its shape and the fact that it presumably sent Horse to Centaurworld, it only makes sense that it's something the most "traditional" idea of a centaur (half-horse) would wear.- It also fits with The Wizard of Oz-esque narrative they're going for about following a road to get home, with the Artifact being the equivalent of the ruby slippers.
The Artifact is powered by a powerful friendship or a strong bond.
As cheesy as it sounds, the artifact did start glowing during Rider and Horse's escape, lost its glow when Rider fell off, and gained power to teleport Horse nearly fell to her death. And the reason it doesn't work in Centaurworld (despite being rife with warm feelings is because it has to depend on strong feelings instead of being happy all the time.Horse will discover a dark secret about Centaurworld.
There will be a plot twist that the "group of invading warriors" that Glendale mentioned are the same ones who have been at war in Horse and Rider's world. The dark secret will be the the centaurs banished the invaders to Horse and Rider's world, effectively being the reason Horse and everyone in her world have had to go through heck all these years.- And if that's so, it will invoke an underlying theme that war and its aftermath can't be neatly swept under the rug without repercussions. Instead, sometimes you've just got to deal with it.
- Confirmed and jossed in the show proper. She finds a secret, but it isn't what said above. Centaurs as whole didn't cause the human world situation; only one Centaurworld resident is ultimately responsible of the war.
Horse would turn into a centaur if she stays too long in Centaurworld.
The same could be said vice versa, centaurs can turn into their original animal forms should they stay in the human world for far too long.- Jossed since even though Horse did turn into a more cartoonish appearance, she still remains a horse. And since Centaurworld and the human world seemed to be connected sometime in the past, as illustrated in the rift’s illustrations, it can be hypothetically assumed that the centaurs may also go through a similar transition, with them looking more realistic and detailed while still remaining centaurs.
The Mysterious Woman and the Nowhere King will turn out to be Foils to Wammawink and Horse.
- During the first episode Wammawink and Horse sing a song "Fragile Things" arguing between staing where it is safe vs. going on an adventure before meeting half way, the mysterious woman and nowhere king could have had a similar dynamic in the past but went in the other direction, taking Wammawink's and Horse's mindsets to their logical conclusion. Horse is initially put off by how cutesy Centaurworld is and how annoying the centaurs are and likes the adventure of her old world as bad as it is to the point of enjoying seeing natural disasters because they remind her of home. Now imagine someone like that going completely insane with how boringly safe everything is and how disrespectful of boundaries the locals are and deciding to make Centaurworld more "exciting" by becoming a villain. That would also explain why some of the shamans seem to want to release the nowhere king, they agree that Centaurworld is too idealistic for its own good and want to shake things up. As for the mysterious woman, she could be a deconstruction of Wammawink's overprotectiveness to her friends; she was friends with the future Nowhere King and tried to keep him safe and whether he wanted to or not resulting in him going crazy in the first place.
- Jossed in Season 2. There were other reasons for closing the Rift, namely that the Nowhere King became unhinged and started sending his minotaur troops to both Centaurworld and human world. His reason for getting insane isn't power hunger, but abandonment and a decade long imprisonment.
The Nowhere King was once the guardian of the portal to Centaurworld.
Hence his namesake, the King of Nowhere as it's the Void Between the Worlds where one can portal across from the Human world to the Centaurworld. He was once an deertaur and met The Woman and they became firm friends. But The Woman was unhappy with how wild, carefree and untamed the magic of Centaurworld was, and she believed it would ultimately threaten and destabilize the Human world if left unchecked. The Nowhere King saw nothing wrong in sharing magic freely without restraint, whereas she believed only she was responsible and should control this power alone. The two fought for control, and accidentally opened a portal to some other place, a vile nether realm filled with death and decay. The Nowhere King ends up corrupted, a shell of his former self - instead of spreading life, exists only to spread destruction. Horrified her Well-Intentioned Extremist ideology backfired, and she lost her friend, The Woman becomes The Atoner and the new guardian of the portal.- Many points hit the mark, but several parts got jossed in Season 2: Yes, the Nowhere King was a centaur, precisely an elktaur, and his relationship with the Woman was a catalyst to the tragedy. However, the conflict was of romantic nature, and the main opponents were the elktaurs own halves, the elk half and the human half.
The Mysterious Woman and the Nowhere King were in love in the past.
I mean, it seems pretty obvious, right? Her whole song is about how love is fleeting and the ones you love can hurt you, and the Nowhere King seems to trust her and show her a lot of intimacy when she hesitates to stab him with the key staff.- Confirmed in Season 2. The Nowhere King was part of the part of the Elktaur, who separated himself into a human half and an animal half in an attempt to make the Woman love him.
Season 2 will feature an episode titled "Holes, Part 1"
It'll serve as a Brick Joke to "Holes, Part 2", and probably be a Whole Episode Flashback revolving around the backstory of Judge Jacket, Comfortable Doug, and/or the rest of the mole centaurs.- Jossed, but there's a Holes; Part 3
The Nowhere King and The Mysterious Woman had EXACTLY Horse and Rider's relationship
They got separated across worlds in the past, with the nowhere king willing to do ANYTHING to return home; slowly becoming magically powerful and altered in appearance by that magic just like Horse did; slowly falling into despair just like Horse did. Only in his case, when they met again, they really didn't recognize each other, and really couldn't be friends again... Much will probably be made of how the herd really saved Horse from a dark path without anybody even realizing it.- Jossed. The Nowhere King was one half of the Elktaur, who was in love with the Woman. The relationship between Elktaur and the Woman does foil that of Horse and Rider, though, but not in that precision.
Zulius and Spendib are exes.
They give off very big ex energy, it does feel like it isn't just about backup dancers.- Season 2 further teases this, by Zulius and and Splendib reconciling. They look dreamily at each other, with Splendib saying "hey, I know you", and Zulius replyig, "I know you too", total opposite to their face-off song. Literal glitter flies in the scene. They then run off hand in hand and continuing running like that later too. Horse refers them as friends, while Wammawink oogles at the duo and wants to make a new magazine.
People in the human world no longer have names.
The war in the human world has been going on for so long that people have stopped naming their children because it would make the pain of potentially losing them even more. Rider and the mysterious woman aren't referred to as anything more specific because they don't have more specific names. The Nowhere King is the Mysterious Woman's son
The Nowhere King's song is like a lullaby, the fact that he gets rather pissed when he sees the mural of the centaurs and humans together, him blaming her for making him this way, and the fact that there's no explained origin of the minotaurs yet all can suggest that he was once a deer minotaur, and even the first minotaur created when the Mysterious Woman fell in love with a deer centaur. Due to belonging neither with the centaurs or the humans, he was probably mistreated by his peers and ridiculed as belonging nowhere, while being promised to be a great king; only to be denied that, which drove him to rage and vengeance. However, this excuse could only go on for so long as he became far more vile over time, forcing his mother to seal him away from either world.- Jossed. The Nowhere King was one half of the Elktaur that was in love with the Woman.
Mysterious Woman was in some position of power in the human world and Nowhere King was from Centurworld. They switched.
I subscribe to the theory that Nowhere King and the Mystery Woman are the two characters seen in the mural above NK’s throne and the picture just below it is either Mysterious Woman or one of her ancestors. The Mystery Woman was in a position of power from the human world (that palace NK returns to being hers) while the Nowhere King was a shaman/leader in Centaurworld.After whatever fallout the two had, NK took over MW’s army and devastated her world, leading her to eventually escape to Centaurworld, where she locked him in the Rift to spare both world’s of his destruction at the cost of ever returning home.- Both Mysterious Woman and Nowhere King are analogues to Horse, ironically: while Horse adapted to Centaurworld and found her place there, NK was corrupted and changed for the worst by the human world into the abomination he is now; the Mystery Woman meanwhile has been in Centaurworld for who knows how long and still looks angular and out of place in it. The Nowhere King was scarred by the human world and sought to conquer rather than adapt to it while the Mysterious Woman has sought to never change - which makes it kind of ironic that she preaches to the herd about ‘moving forward’ when she so clearly can not.
- Partially confirmed. The Woman was a princess in the human world, but the Nowhere King was part of the Elktaur, a centaur that was in love with the Woman. Their power struggle didn't cause the war; it was the conflict between Elktaur's two magically split halves (the General and the Elk) who both loved the Mysterious Woman.
The snake-man minotaur will be a character in Season 2 and have his own arc.
However/whenever he adapts to Centaurworld he’s stuck there as a POW which the show would tackle in its own incredible way. Bonus points for his being there adds to Wammawink’s character (her family was killed by minotaurs) and Horse’s (he’s part of the army she’s been fighting her whole life).- Confirmed in the Season 2 trailer, Durpleton carries him around in a pouch on his chest and he seems more confused by the herds antics than anything.
- Further confirmed and explored in Season 2 proper.
Johnny Teatime got his powers from the Nowhere King
Both characters' eyes glow green, and Johnny Teatime's magic is unusually violent and destructive for Centaurworld. If a centaur spends too much time in the human world, their body will change to better match the world like how Horse's did.
Glendale's voice is stolen.
In "Taurnado" and various other songs, Glendale has moments where she begins singing in a distinctly uncartoony manner. It's possible that her "normal" voice came from someone else and the other voice only slips out when she's not trying to be someone else.- Word of God says that Glendale speaks in croaky voice when she is anxious - which she is most of the time. A significant moment of normal voice appears in Season 2, when Glendale does an anxiety-management seminar to coldtaurs. She appears to be very confident there, further proving this.
Some/all of the centaurs in the herd were spawned into existence by a much larger version of themselves.
Everything in the world is centaur, from continents to bacteria, so who's to say that there wasn't a giant Wammawink, Durpleton, etc. who decided to make smaller versions of themselves from their hooves? (Perhaps it was even a tactic to create soldiers to fight the minotaurs in the war?)Ched is a Minotaur
Humans have a humanoid head and upper body attached to a humanoid lower body.Centaurs have a humanoid head and upper body attached to a animal upper and lower bodyMinotaurs from what we've seen are generally bipedal- an animal lower body, but a mixed animal/human upper body and a animal-human mixed head. Ched has two bird legs and two bird arms that double as human arms, but no separate human arms.- Jossed. Season 2 shows that minotaurs are explicitly artificial creature fusions made with the Nowhere King's magic. Centaurworld's natural residents are all centaurs no matter their limb count.
The reason for the Nowhere King's current monstrous form is the same reason Horse has become more cutesy
Just like her, he ended up in an alternate universe that altered his body to make him fit in. But while she ended up in Centaurworld, the King was sent a realm much less hospitable.- Jossed. Season 2 shows that the Nowhere King's transformation was due to excessive fusion magic use.
We will get a flashback to Rider's time without Horse.
Just to fill in the gaps and see anything important that might have happened.- Jossed in Season 2, unfortunately.
We will learn how the herd got together in Season 2.
Given how Wammawink and Zulius are from places far away from the Valley, it seems like everyone is from different parts of Centaurworld, which begs the question of how they all came together as a group.- Confirmed in Season 2, when the herd explores Horse's Backstory Magic, which allows her to see another creature's backstory by running at them head-on. Hilariously/Disappointedly, Zulius is super open to have his backstory revealed while others are hesitant (sans Wammawink), but he is the only herd member not to have his backstory explored. The only backstory seen is tied to Durpleton's one.
There is a chance for Season 3, and there are potential plot hooks for it.
- Rider and Horse going through a conflict, related to Rider's words of "you are just a horse" when she disbelieved Horse's revelation of the Nowhere King's identity. Rider specifically works through ingrained "humans are more rational than horses" attitude and feels ashamed of it, as Horse is her dear family member.
- Durpleton has hijinks with his multiple minotaur adoptees.
- Re-introduction of human and centaur societies, racism/Speciesm between humans and centaurs, Horse being in middle as she is neither.
- The next villain will be one of the General's men, who has come to blame the centaurs for the war and the General's death, and will make it his mission to try to exterminate them.
- More on the characters' backstories, particularly how Glendale got her portal belly (presumably from the actions of Elktaur), and Zulius of course.
- Rider, the Mysterious Woman and Becky Apples undergoing the same transformation as Horse and Stabby.
- More meddling with the Rift will cause centaurs and minotaurs to split into human and animal halves, also causing Horse and Rider to fuse into a centaur.
