- Uh, that's not Wild Mass Guessing. If you read the Book of the New Prince in the special edition, you'd know that's true.
- Cabadath WANTED to stay in Chzo's service according to the Book of the New Prince. And besides, Frehorn himself admitted most of what he wrote was gibberish, so it's not a stretch to say that the WMG is correct.
- I'm pretty sure the 'gibberish' part was the Book of the New Prince, which was dictated by Chzo rather than The Arrogant Man. He only *thought* it was gibberish because it "felt" different than the other books.
- Cabadath WANTED to stay in Chzo's service according to the Book of the New Prince. And besides, Frehorn himself admitted most of what he wrote was gibberish, so it's not a stretch to say that the WMG is correct.
- The Order had access to the prophecy; there isn't evidence that they were able to observe time nonlinearly like Chzo, The Tall Man, and The Caretaker.
- If the Company is a front for the Order, it would explain why they made Elizabeth Perota kill Dominic: so that she would undergo the Agony of the Soul.
It's been said several times that Chzo experiences time all at once, and past, present, and future don't mean anything to him except in reference to July 28th, when he can look down on the World of Technology, and the Tall Man, whose sense of linear time is something that Chzo presumably understands, but disdains. For him, all the circumstances leading up to his acquisition of the New Prince presented themselves quite conveniently (and instantly), and Chzo just helped himself to a New Prince.
Remember that John DeFoe's involvement as the Bridgekeeper was entirely orchestrated by the Tall Man in an attempt to prevent Chzo from using him as the Bridge, and from choosing a New Prince. This also applies to the foundation of the Order of Blessed Agonies via Jack Frehorn. The Tall Man's plan, not Chzo's, caused Theo DaCabe to experience the Three Blessed Agonies and become the perfect candidate. Theo really did only end up at the Optimology building through sheer dumb luck, it only looks like it was predestined because of Chzo's non-linear view of time. If it didn't happen that way, he wouldn't have bothered in the first place.
Jack Frehorn, the DeFoe Manor, and The Arrogant Man are all described as having known the name of the king, but they all lived past that description; to "know the name of the King" is to experience one's own personal ultimate suffering. For Frehorn, the ultimate pain was the unintentional murder of his lover, as even with his presumably very long and horribly painful life, he would keep coming back to Wilbur's death as the source of it all. The DeFoe manor knew well the name of the King because of John DeFoe's continuous torture, which meant his entire life was his ultimate suffering. Cabadath knows the name of the King first when he becomes the Prince and forced to abandon basically everything about his human life, and again, when he's forced out of his position by the New Prince and plunged into oblivion, when all he wanted was to remain Chzo's Prince. The fact that everyone else who died knowing the name of the King is just coincidence; their deaths were the finishing touches on some truly awful experiences.
- Jossed in the special edition commentary of Trilby's Notes: Yahtzee says that to know the name of the king is to die.
- No. He said to know the Name of the King is to experience a Blessed Agony, usually that of the Soul, but any will do. Also, "the house of the Child and his father already knew well the name of the King."
One, Danny is most likely set in its publication date, 1975 (the Baby Austin was built in 1933 and is "more than forty years old"). In the 6 Days Extras, Trilby's birthdate is revealed to be 1966. This would have made him the same age as Danny (nine).
Two, Art of Theft has Trilby mention that complacency cost him his father. Overconfidence and getting caught up in a brilliant plan without thinking things through properly are established as William's faults (seriously, it doesn't take five minutes to realize that sleeping pills aren't permanent).
Three, William coaches Danny to think of poaching/stealing as an art form, which Trilby does. Also, Danny's "Sleeping Beauty" plan that bypasses the greatest danger of poaching (dodging keepers) is a precursor of Trilby's problem-solving skills as an adult.
Four, Danny shows an aptitude as a mechanic at a young age, with William hoping for him to become a brilliant engineer. Trilby studied engineering in university (I don't recall if he dropped out or not) and is said to have a talent for it.
Five, the only really rich person Danny knows is Victor Hazell, who his father takes extra pleasure in poaching from due to Hazell's jerkishness. In Art of Theft, Trilby prefers to steal from people that deserve it in some way (i.e. uncovering Dominic Perota's peccadilloes), and cites breaking into random houses as "so... impersonal."
Six, they're both from England. This is not a very good point, I just wanted to have six points. (Oh, and Danny/Daniel could easily be his middle name that everyone who knows him uses. The only person with cause to use his proper name (Captain Lancaster) just says "boy" or "you there." His first name could still easily be Malcolm.
Think about it: the hand did look awfully pale, but more importantly, he turns up every time someone damages the wood that is his soul. Now, tell me: what's more damaging than getting chucked into a ship's engine?
- Jossed. It's Theo... Somehow. See the part near the end of this page for the relevant screenshots.
- Jossing subverted. The screenshot says Focus Theo.... I'm pretty sure the next line is something along the lines of It's not you. or You aren't doing this. It seems that the scene was supposed to show Theo absorbing The Tall Man's memories/experiences.
At the very beginning of the game, you run into A.J., would freaks out at the sight of you. When you later see the Welder, you find that Trilby look nothing like him... but in the scene with A.J., Trilby was a tall, thin man with a white mask.
- Actually, Trilby wore a black mask, but it still applies. A.J. saw someone with a featureless face.
Trilby is also supposed to be "the guide" but doesn't really guide much, he mainly just randomly stumbles into pan-dimensional serial killers and quips, whereas Malcolm is super floaty wise space prophet man, and arguably goes through all of the blessed agonies as well. Also, we actually see Malcolm stab and kill the Trilby Clone with Frehorn's blade, THEN receive "magical energy", THEN realize he has godlike powers. In that order. We never actually see him kill himself himself, he just opens a door, walks down some stairs gradually becoming bathed in blood and going bald, and then this whole business is implied to be a hallucination taking place while he is actually... you know... killing himself. We do however see the body. This theory could go either way.
- The "confirmation" of him killing himself comes when we go back to Theo's timeline. A slip of paper shows up which talks about Frehorn's blade, and states that theoretically one could exploit the "forever in the service of the one who wields it" loophole to become like the Caretaker. The line "none, however, have attempted this" makes sense when you consider that from the author's point of view it was true.
That aside, it's a reasonable theory, particularly when you consider what Trilby's actual name is.
In the entirety of 7 Days, you are first introduced to what the entire crew are in charge of and proceed to toss all that info out the window as you become the only one who is capable of doing everything everyone else was specifically hired to do instead. This is why you have an engineer that insists the psychiatrist on board checks out any bugs in the ship, a logical advisor who has as much logic as a forum troll, and nearly everyone else only remembering ship protocol to nag at you when you disregard it, among other things. This is also why nobody calls out Malcom on obviously not being the 65-year-old John Somerset his ID would have revealed, because by drawing attention to him it might risk the chance of the investigation uncovering their own false identities, if they even cared their fellow men were also fakes. Now how they themselves managed to slip under the radar without being caught is another story.
Possibly the only one who could be who they say they are is Barry (or not), and the reason why he can't seem to tell the difference between the real crew who were around his age group and experience (whom he would likely have served with at one point) over the handful of young newbs who wanted to go to space for lulz was either because they were all convincing enough to reassure him that they are who they are and leave it at that, or because this kind of thing happens so many countless times that he simply said "screw it!" and just let the ball roll where they may.
- Barry does seem rather inclined to be "screw the rules" guy at times, or at least bend the rules - he doesn't seem to buy into usual protocol (wanting to be known by his first name) and ignores a suggestion from High Command. He also says that he suspects Captains are retired because they realise the rules could use a little updating. All that considered, there's every chance that he'd turn a blind eye to impostors being on board. Although it's also worth mentioning that Serena and William are both known to be relatively new and the higher-ups consider the mission unimportant enough that it warrants a vastly outdated ship. Even they probably wouldn't have cared if the ship was full of impostors, were it not for the fact that Somerset murdered his father, the real counsellor
According to the chapter of the Books of Chzo quoted at the end of Trilby's Notes, Chzo feels love for every creature and turned Cabadath into the Prince with the power of its love. While it's arguable how well Frehorn understood Chzo, it is at least a possibility that Chzo just doesn't see things the way humans do, and considers its ministrations to be something benevolent.
- Well, the Tall Man doesn't want to leave Chzo's service and spends the whole trilogy trying to make sure he stays in it. Could be the ultimate expression of "love hurts", mayhaps?
Well, everyone in this series who has the same last name is apparently related, and they do look similar (black hair, etc.). Alternatively (because it's somewhat hard to imagine Trilby getting married and raising kids), Malcolm is the descendant of a sibling or other relative of Trilby.
- Trilby's real name is Malcom Somerset, so pretty much already confirmed.
Yes, OBA documents are very specific about when a Bridge opens; but the Order has been very wrong before. Theo was only chosen because he was the only one present at a Bridge Event who had experienced all of the Blessed Agonies, and was therefore most "qualified" for the job. Plus, Theo and the Trilby clone (and maybe Jim) were the only ones around whose disappearance wouldn't interfere with the "future" Bridge Events.
- The bridge was only open by the time of the destruction of the mind, not the body or the soul, as these events sent ripples through time that would meet in the middle, and thus at the time of the destruction of the mind.
He wants things to go more or less how they did. If they don't, he never becomes a Reality Warper. Malcom just wants to keep his superpowers. He claims otherwise, even when he's alone, because he doesn't want to face the fact that he's deliberately allowing people to die/be tortured/etc for his own gain.
After being cast down by Dacabe when he becomes the New Prince at the end of 6 Days A Sacrifice, the Arrogant Man Cabadath was exiled to the World of Technology by Chzo, who sent him back to the point in time right after his past self became the Old Prince. Due to the effect his dethroning and exile had on his mind, a little bit of the Guide Trilby's influence seeped in, causing Cabadath's outfit to change from a long black overcoat to a black suit and tie. For the rest of eternity he would be condemned to wander the world, claiming innocent souls—mostly those of children—in the hopes that one day he would gain enough power to cast down the New Prince and return to Chzo's side. Eventually, he would grow to be feared once more by the Men of Technology by their new moniker for him—the Slenderman!