Onyx Storm: Mailbag #2 - Ridoc's True Nature, Tairn's Lineage, and Our Craziest Brennan Theory Yet!

0:17 Wow you have so many Dings. Sorry. It's OK, I. Don't know how to shut my, like, how do I turn off this without turning off my sound? Right. You have a Mac. You can't just go on like do not disturb. Sure you can. But I, as you know, have had a Mac for approximately 5 seconds. So here we go. Yeah, great. OK.

0:35 And we're loud. Hello. Hello. Hello. I'm Abby and I'm Ronnie. This is Dragons in the Details, where we pick apart our favorite fantasy series over the course of an undetermined number of episodes. I believe this is episode 12. I think. I don't know. I actually really don't know what episode. I think that's, I think it's 12, but I think we should stop saying the episode numbers because I'm pretty sure we said episode numbers and then we switched an order of episodes. So this is episode we're recording. Yes, and we're going to put a heavy asterisk that we can switch around the order and do whatever the fuck we want anyway.

1:12 All right, welcome to Dragons. In the details, I already said that this is a deep chive fantasy book podcast where we pick apart our favorite fantasy series. This season we are focused on the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yaros. If you have not read all of the Imperial series that is Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm, Stop. Go no farther.

1:33 We are. Do not do not collect 200. This is a very spoiler full podcast. Pause. Save the podcast, go read all the books. If you're like us, it will take you about a week. Come back, listen to the podcast, it will still be here. No pressure on reading books. However, whatever timeline you're on that works for you, the podcast will be here. The books be here.

1:55 We welcome you with open arms at any point that you may arrive. Second disclaimer, these are spicy books. This might be a spicy podcast. This podcast is not for children. Please do not listen to this podcast with your children. Each week we will dive into a specific topic in depth. We've been following that structure. Yay.

2:11 Go us. This week is mailbag #2 which we're very excited about. We did our first mailbag. We got a lot of positive feedback about it. So we're doing another one. I could see us doing another one on Onyx Storm before it's all over. Kind of a beginning, middle and end. So this one is entirely theories from you guys.

2:28 It's comments you've left, emails you've sent, DMS you've sent on both our TikTok, Instagram, I don't know, YouTube maybe, I don't know, but they're having some good comments left on the Youtubes as well. Yeah. So basically this one is powered by you guys. We're very excited. Only other thing, we come with receipts. So we always have quotes to back up our theories. So you can follow along if you're skeptical. Unless we come up with theories on the fly and then we don't have quotes, but we'll try to find them if we like. Make a social media.

2:54 About it or something. We try to find the clip, the quote to put in there. Ronnie, anything else before we dive into our mailbag episode? No, let's do it. Cool. All right. Do you want to start? You want to do the first one? Yes, I will start. The first one is just a little baby fun one from our friend Cheyenne Taylor on TikTok commented and it actually wasn't a comment on the video where we talked about this particular topic.

3:17 It was on a separate 1. And so I wanted to shout out and be like, you're in my head first of all. Yeah. What? You said our friend Cheyenne Taylor, but I just want to be clear, I don't know this person in real life. She's not really a friend. No, she's just she's a commenter. Comments on a lot of her tick tocks, no? OK, OK, OK.

3:33 I'm sorry Cheyenne, I am over personifying you. We do not know you personally, but you have commented on Trevor. Lovely. And we'd love to get to know. You. Yes, yes, yeah. We don't actually know you. So this was a comment on a post about about Dragons. She mentioned I think Kath might be an elder.

3:52 This was not on a post that mentioned I think we we talked about in a previous podcast episode that we think Kath might be really old. So for context everyone, Kath is Danes dragon, Kath is a red dragon. I don't know what his tail is off the top of my head, but Kath is a man. Kath is a man OK? I believe it. I just always thought of Kath is like short for I mean. Hold on, let's fact.

4:17 Check ourselves here. I think Kath might be a man. Yeah, Violet says. His teeth need to be checked. OK, Kath is a man. Kath Kath is a male. He's not a man. He's a male dragon. Sorry, he's a male dragon. He is a male dragon. The we know very little about Kath except for one that Dane gets a significant amount of power from calf.

4:39 That Dane has a lot of power per Sloan. Sloan touches him and says Someone Like You should not have this much power. And we know that Kath's breath smells really bad, which we're taking a quantum leap and assuming that means that he's old because why else would your breath smell terrible unless for some other reason, which would be actually super interesting. You're rotting from the inside out, and this commenter said. I think Kath is an elder.

5:01 I think now that we have the Arishan riot, I don't see why that's not possible. I think there's a lot to talk about here, actually. Right. OK, so if Kath was an elder at Baz Gaiath and part of the empyrean at Baz Gaiath, what side was Kath on? It has she has. Sorry. He my cat is definitely female. All right.

5:20 Oh this is so interesting. He's a red. Dane's whole journey with his dragon is interesting, right? Because. Like how has the dragon been changing his mind throughout this? Right. If Kath is an elder, then Kath knew about the Vennon the whole time. Was he keeping the Vennon? Well I mean, all of the Dragons know about the Venant really, right?

5:42 Like, so at what point did Kath? And that's what convinces Violet, right? It's Terran really convincing Violet that the Venant are real. Why did it take Dane seeing Violet's memories to be convinced that the the Venant are real rather than Kath telling Dane no, the Venant are real? Well, I would argue, I mean, Violet had the opportunity to literally see and hear about it from somebody else before confirming.

6:06 So I I think it's what's more interesting to me is like Dane being who he was and transforming to who he is. Like what side was his dragon on the whole time? Yeah, exactly so right. And and if Kath was an elder, was she was Oh my God, was he working with? It's just not gonna. Work. Was he? I don't know the commenter also yeah. Yeah, which which side was was Kath on? Yeah, because clearly now if Kath is an elder there, that Kath is in the Orician Empyrean, right? Yeah the commenter also mentioned and I wasn't able to find this myself but I I believe you and I'm sure if I reread the books I would find it that Taryn looks to Kath in certain moments across the series.

6:47 Like Taryn is always positioning himself in front of Kath, but like often refers to him in like troubled times or will like in battle like refer like look over to Kath for some reason, which I think is very much explainable by the fact that Dane becomes a wing leader. So like that like when you become a wing leader, I assume you're also attempting to dole out orders. I say attempting because like, does Terran take orders? Probably not.

7:11 Right. But it's mentioned that Taryn looks to him and so if that's true then maybe that's another case for him being an elder. Yeah, I haven't caught that, but I do think that's interesting. And I, I definitely think kind of regardless of whether or not Kath as an elder, if Taryn is deferring to Kath, Taryn defers to Noah, right.

7:29 So if he is like, what is it about Kath? What is it about Kath that makes Dane so powerful? What is it about Kath that makes his breath smell? What is it that makes Taryn defer to him? I don't know. I think that's now I'm intrigued. Yeah. Now I'm intrigued for sure, yeah. So thank you, Cheyenne. Thank you, our friend Cheyenne.

7:47 I appreciate you. OK. What's your first one? So my first one was on our clip about Riddick being betrayed or being the betrayer. And this is a theory I've seen a lot. And I mentioned to you previously, I think this episode is going to be a lot for me about debunking common theories because there are a lot of theories out there and I don't necessarily agree with them. So this theory is the is Riddick secretly a venom or a venom spy theory?

8:17 And the comment and I, again, I don't want to necessarily call this person out. I'm not saying they're totally wrong. This is just the comment that I chose to kind of personify this. They gave a good example of some of the reasons why people think Riddick is a venom. I'm worried about Khaleesi's dragon wrote.

8:32 I'm worried about Riddick betraying them too. I'm not going to lie. Riddick didn't bleed when he was almost killed. Who else don't bleed venom? And what did Zadon or Jack say? That the higher venom? Basically she said what Satan and Jack said is the higher up you are in the vet and chain. You never know that they were in the room again, not calling you out.

8:50 Khaleesi's dragon. This is common theory. A lot of people think this, however I have a couple arguments of rebuttal. I'll start with why people think this. So the first one is Riddick seemingly draining a Wyvern in in battle. So the quote is the Wyvern shrieks in a paler shade of grey spread along its scales, emanating from Riddick's hand.

9:07 The beast tenses, then ceases to beat its wings and falls directly towards us. So this is in the battle at actually I don't remember, is it? It's a Risha. It's the last battle in on a storm and Riddick touches of that and it seems to get grey. He's turning the Wyvern into ice guys like, yeah, he's not draining them, freezing them, which is exactly what we saw him do with the orange. So I don't think that's an argument in this theories favor. The second one that a lot of people reference is when he gets stabbed with a knife and doesn't bleed in Hidotis. Which I do think that occurrence is fishy, but I agree with where you're going.

9:44 OK. Right. People were like, he got stabbed and he's not bleeding. Yeah, OK. And and we're told it goes through his jacket. OK, He doesn't bleed there because the knife goes through his jacket. He absolutely fucking bleeds when he gets shot by two arrows climbing up the kick Cliff trailer. And almost dies. Almost dead.

10:02 Brendan has to literally bring him back from. The wreck, right? So for this theory to work, Riddick needs to have one channeled, risen to the ranks of Initiate and Asim, gotten to Sage and Maven without anyone noticing the physical characteristics that come with becoming a Vedin right? Needs to have risen up the ranks that high and then gotten so powerful that he has become a Maven and can just blend in with everyone else in the course of about four months. As far as I can tell, it's not possible. It's possible within this extremely unlikely, yeah. And like, so, OK, let's say maybe, maybe he was a maybe he, I don't know why anyone would think Riddick is that right? But let's say he channeled

10:49 before he even got to Basgaya and was like an initiate or an ace. And when he got to Basgaya, he wouldn't have bonded with a dragon like no dragon would have bonded with him knowing that he was a venom. Right, Right. Especially not like a young, impressionable dragon, right? So I just think there's basically no merit to this theory.

11:08 Yeah, I don't like it. The last point also. Fine when we're on the aisles, and if he were a high-ranking Venom, he would struggle with the loss of power. And he's so mad that Zayden a venom. Right. Yeah, yeah, like extremely betrayed and like, visibly surprised, which would not be if he were also a Venom. Right.

11:28 So the last the last two points here, he's very insistent and going on quest squad. Let's talk about a theory. I do like. I do like the theory that he does that because he promised Liam that he would protect the right. I like that. I think that's sweet. I think that works. I like that. And then the last one is that he seems to be getting very, very powerful, way more powerful than any of the ice wielders we talked about in our Cygnets episode that Violet seems to just be making everyone around her more powerful. I think that's what's happening here. I don't think it's I don't if Riddick isn't blaming that theory for his power and revel.

12:02 Yes, I am. OK. I think that theory holds water. I think it makes I mean, I brought it up. Yeah, I think hold enough water to bring up on the podcast. I don't think Riddick is a vetted. I do think it's interesting that he hates sewing. This has been been brought up multiple times. I have no idea where we're possibly going with this, but it has been brought up at least twice. That ridicate sewing.

12:22 Let's find out where that goes. Yeah, yeah, he keep I think there's there is a lot of interesting things to be said about Riddick and how he seems to keep cheating death like that is interesting to me. Like he doesn't really cheat death in the kitchen right? Because he was never really stabbed in the 1st place seemingly.

12:39 But like he does. He definitely got lucky that Brennan was able to save him when he had two arrows in his chest and he got lucky when the chef missed stabbing him. Like I think there's interesting things to say about Riddick. I don't think he's Venom. I think Riddick and his connection to Luck, absolutely. Love it.

12:57 Absolutely interesting and you know bad things happen in threes so like yes Riddick has kind of cheated death twice now. Will he make it out the next time? I don't know, I hope so but like is that what Rebecca's leading us towards rather than Riddick secretly of Eddon? I'd be sad if Riddick died, but I think it's way more likely that he dies than that he's been secretly of Eddon this whole time. I.

13:18 Agree. I agree. OK, All right. The next one that we have to talk about is from Crochet under score Ray. One, I need to subscribe to whatever you're posting if it's related to crocheting because I'm fascinated by topic. Second, this was on one of our clips about Dragons being killed with daggers. And we have that one example right of at the end of Onyx Storm, Berwyn stabs Panchex dragon with a dagger and that dragon shrivels and desiccates.

13:47 And Zayden in his POV is like holy shit, dragon just died via dagger. Like excuse me, what the fuck is happening? And we were like, what's different about this dagger that it killed a goddamn dragon or is anything different about this dagger and crochet Ray commented the ven and have been searching for asterisk something something from the start. And then they definitely stole daggers. I think this is what they've been after the whole time. And so I went back and digging because I had assumed 2 things. 1, I had assumed that most of the shipments being stolen that we learned about in Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were actually Flyers.

14:25 Yeah. Were stealing shipments because they needed to defend themselves from the Vennon. And so I thought that was just what that was. And two, I thought that if Vennon had been stealing daggers that it was more out of defense for no one else to have them so that nobody could could kill the Vennon.

14:38 But I forgot about the battle of Suniva, which was what resulted in the death of Queen Mariah. This was when Suniva got sacked. Mariah's dead. Yeah. They're in battle brief and Deborah's prompting them. Like I know this is really hard, I know you all had family here, but like you have to figure out what motivated them and why this happened or we're never going to be able to figure it out the next time. And Zaden jumps in and it's like what was in the Armory? It was 6 crates of freshly delivered aloe hilted daggers and yes the Venin took them all and they said why didn't Piromish forces use the damned daggers? And Deborah says because the damned daggers had only arrived a few hours earlier and the

15:17 Armory was their first target hit. Our best guess is that there was simply no time to distribute them. So you things 16 crates is an enormous amount like the outposts have like 2 at a time, right? So this was a distribution move and the venin we know have precog capabilities like they know when things are going to happen, like they they know when Violet. I assume this is a man on the inside situation. Oh really?

15:42 Absolutely. I think this is ages. Or Panjak. Panjak, Yeah, yeah. Either way, I think this points to which I didn't really think about. I mean, there's no reason not to think it now that I am processing this. Like I think it's the same daggers. Yeah, I think it's the same daggers. Or the men and are adding runes to them that make them particularly effective against Dragons.

16:03 But I'm now very worried that they have 6 crates of these daggers and we've only seen one dragon die at the hand of a dagger. Absolutely. We should be worried, we should be worried, we should be worried. Have you also? I haven't done much research into this but I have seen a theory that Melgren is the one who killed Queen Mariah because he I guess this would maybe be part of the Melgren is event in theory which as we know I don't subscribe to but Melgren is the one who sends all these like reinforcements.

16:31 Yeah, they sound like a few, few writers, right? A few writers, right? Yeah. And and she ends up dead, but I don't necessarily think there's much to go there to go on there. But isn't it interesting that Melgren did not see this coming? Yeah, and did the writers he sent have relics? Like what? I doubt it. Yeah, I don't know too.

16:48 And we are told, and this kind of bothers me like I have no, I cannot possibly make a prediction based off of it, but we know that one rider gets out one rider and two Dragons make it out of that battle. And we don't know who it is. And I want to know, I mean, they can't have been particularly valuable if we set them off to like certain demise.

17:06 I don't know, we sent them off to guard 6 crates of daggers. I don't know that is and to guard a queen. A queen. Yeah. Yeah. So we don't know who it is. Crochet Ray. Thank you for the comment. It inspired me to figure out who was actually stealing the daggers. And it was definitely not all Flyers. That battle of Suniva is very obviously Vennon targeting alloy hilted daggers.

17:29 So we got we got things to worry about. So now I'm wondering, we just recorded our history episode, our history Part 1 episode podcast Magic Revealed guys. And we talked about in that episode how perhaps the start, or at least the Battle of Gianfar we know took place in Orisha and maybe Tyrrendor was what the venom were really going for the whole time. Have the Venom known about the alloy killing Dragons for centuries perhaps.

17:56 OK, so this I think is fascinating. The daggers were not used until right before the rebellion. We're not used to kill venom like so this alloy like if the venom knew about it, then they successfully kept it a secret until the Tirish Rebellion, which was fairly recent because we know from Zaden was preparing a weapon and and explaining to Violet the imbuing A dagger. Like basically there's a rider pouring their own power into it. And Violet was like, have they always been placed in daggers? And he says no, that started right before the rebellion. My guess is Melgren had a vision of how an upcoming battle is going to go and these were central to his victory. Once Segal chose me at freshing,

18:34 we started to work to smuggle out a few daggers at a time to supply what drifts we could make friendly contact. With right, So what is that upcoming battle? And if Melgren is a yeah, if Melgren is a vetted, which again, I don't think he is, but if he's a Venom, is it a battle where the Venom use the daggers? And succeed, yeah.

18:53 And what upcoming battle involves these that doesn't have rebellion relics everywhere? Fuck yeah. Fuck. Yeah, so TLDR, Aloe hilted daggers are fairly recent. When we learned that they were recent, Zayden's hypothesizes, which is there's no way this doesn't mean something that Melgren had a vision of how an upcoming battle was going to go and these daggers were central to his victory. And then Zayden bonds Segal and they start doling out aloe like candy.

19:22 All right, Aloe hilted. Daggers going to kill some Dragons in the textbook. Also going to be pivotal to a battle that Mel Green can see the outcome of, AKA not involving rebellion relics. Damn. But it's still, it's still no, I guess it's fine. I was going to say like, why didn't Jack? Because Jack uses a sword to kill Bade, right?

19:42 Why didn't Jack use a dagger? Maybe he just didn't have. One didn't have any. I don't know. Maybe it's not as hard to kill a dragon as we think, but yeah. OK, cool. OK, next the next next theory I want to talk about is, is Terence secretly the first black dragon that bonded with a rider? So this was the clip about Seagal and Terence age and how they're lying and how they're probably much older than they say they are, Holla wrote.

20:08 I have a theory that Terence lineage is actually all of the names he's gone by in his life, not his ancestors, which would make him throw. I've heard the theory before people say this. Rebecca has said that the Dragons are lying about their names. So. Is it possible that everyone he's he's directly descended from Thoreau?

20:25 Is it possible that the names he tells to Violet when they're flying to the aisles are actually just all of the names he's gone by since he was Thoreau? My issue with this is Kodak right? So Kodak exists, Kodak is older. Kodak is also descended from Thoreau, like Taran calls him the oldest of his den.

20:46 I also was like, are they doing something tricky where Taran and Kodak could be the same dragon? No, Taran and Kodak exist at the same place at the same time. The same place at the same time. And Violet talks to Kodak and it's not. Right. So, like, I don't think it could be that Terran is the row. I think it could be that Kodak is the row, though. The reason I think that we know that Terran is used to fire the Arishan wardstone, but Kodak is used to fire Refire the Basgayeth wardstone.

21:14 Warwick's Journal is very clear that one dragon cannot be used to fire both wardstones, but it doesn't say that one dragon can't be used twice to fire the same wardstone. Wardstone. Yeah. So I don't necessarily think that I, I, I don't see how or it could be Taran. I definitely think Taran is older than he says he is. I think Taran is seen a lot more than he's telling Violet. I think Taran is a little bit sketchy and not telling us everything, but I don't think he's thorough. But I think Kodak could be thorough. Interesting.

21:40 Yeah, Is it? The other thing is the other reason I think Kodak might be thorough is that he knows that Aunt Dharna is an Irid, right? None of the other Dragons recognize her as an Irid or know that she's an Irid, right? So it's clearly not something that's like passed down. Does he know that Aunt Darn is an Irid?

21:57 Because he's. Seen them maybe, but it's said that the elders know. The elders know that she's in her own den so he knows that she's a 7th breed. They all do. Otherwise they would be like why? Never mind juvenile bonding. I thought Kodak knew but no one else knew. But yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, but Kodak is also the only confirmed elder that we know exists.

22:17 Yeah, it's like, who the heck are the other elders that still bothers? Me. Do they exist or is it all just Kodak? No, Yeah, I don't think that. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Again, it could just it could definitely just be him being sketchy is that he describes his entire history up to throw, right? And then the story is no longer interesting once humans get involved. So we're also assuming that every dragon breed was represented in the first sex, right? We're assuming there's one black dragon, 1 blue dragon, 1 red dragon.

22:46 I don't. I think that's actually said. It's definitely not confirmed, right? So there could have been 2 black Dragons. With the exception of I think the account of I forget where it's said and I can find it if we need to where the the six approach the dens. So like if the six are approaching the dens when they're approaching 6 dens probably and getting. Or they're just more than one.

23:08 I don't know. But we definitely know that all six Dragons confirm combined their hatching ground into one, which would make me think that, yeah. It's also like all the Dragons that were there except for the Earth, so. I do think Kodak, in the same way that we talked about Cath Oh, is such an enigma, right?

23:26 Like he clearly knows about the Irids, which means he clearly knows about the Vennon. So why isn't he going to try to fight the Vennon, right? Why is he going along with the lie? He's so strong. He's so powerful. Maybe Melgren is controlling him. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Melgren is a Vennon. Except that Kodak fires the the word stone. So I don't really think that's true. Yeah.

23:47 But we have no evidence of any animosity between Taran and Kodak except for the time when I think it's Riddick was like can Taran take Kodak and Taran is? Quiet, quiet, silent. So could Taran take Kodak? Has Taran already taken Kodak or is there something else weird going on here? I mean, I definitely think the silence implies that he could.

24:08 Whether he has, I don't know. Like if I were Taran, I wouldn't go around saying of course I could about my elder. Well someone also commented like what if they're brothers? Which I think makes. Sense, but I don't think that holds as much sway with Dragons. I also think they're just kind of all brothers. Like, if you're in it, then you're like, all interbred. Yeah, right.

24:27 Like we've talked about how your parents don't seem to determine the color of your scales. Yeah, they're also, I think, the only two black Dragons alive, except for those two hatchlings. Except for the two hatchlings, yeah. Yeah, which is like begs the question, like, are they just about to go extinct? Like hopefully one of those hatchlings is. Well, it doesn't matter.

24:45 That's what we're saying. Yeah, We talked about this. Yeah. Just kind of seems very weird to me. It just doesn't really make much sense. Yeah, I guess. I guess you're bored in a dead and then your scales turn a certain color and if they match the den you're in, great. If not. You have to go find your own way. Go to the other dense I mean.

25:03 And I assume there like was certainty when the dens were all living amongst themselves and now like who knows what happens? But I do think it's really interesting to think about the fact like that the black Dragons probably took a real hit basically every battle. And like that might be why there's so few of them is they are especially right if they're.

25:23 Then and are specifically going for the Talladium Yeah at. Arisha Yeah, the black, the black dragon done probably got fucked up. Right. No, I actually think that's a great point. Why are there so few black Dragons if they are these? Like if they are the most feared war machines, why are there not more of them? They're war machines.

25:42 I assume they're just like in the front lines of combat, but yeah. I think Taryn and Segal should get busy having a baby. I think it's Yeah, I. Think they need to do that? Yeah. Go lay an egg. Yeah, please. Yeah. All right. OK. The next one was on, actually a bonus post from TikTok about what were the Wyvern before they were Wyvern. So we, in a previous episode, had talked about a specific part of one of Violet's battles with Theophany. I won't rehash the barrier piece, but basically what happens is the often he's about to drain the ground, trying to convince Violet to drain the ground. Violet climbs up on a Wyvern over its scales and nestles herself in the meat of the Wyvern. Lots of movements you're doing

26:26 right. Now with those who are watching this, I am knuckling, she knuckles herself into the meat of the Wyvern and then the often is draining does not impact her. And so this LED us to ask what like if the meat of the Wyvern was what was repurposed? What were the Wyvern before they were Wyvern? We talked about that those possibilities being Griffins, which I think your go to was like, I think it has to be Griffins because they had encroached upon peromial and probably had a lot of Doug Griffins to repurpose. And I said maybe also Dragons.

26:57 B commented it's just B the letter B Oh, hey, B from Abby, because she commented. They they commented, I don't know who you are. They commented the. Letter. B They commented. Remember when the Flyers were joining the Oration riot, a Wyvern took a dead Griffin. Why they don't appear to eat? Did they take it for venom to create more wyverns?

27:21 So I went back. I see the puzzle piece puzzle look on your face. I went back and review this. OK, this is when Luella falls and a Griffin named Sibby CIBBE. No, Sibby CIBBE. Her Griffin dies. The Griffin is collapsing, his head is hanging over the edge of the Cliff and his cries grow softer. Marin is saying it's OK, you earned an honorable death.

27:44 Luella fell and the Griffin, The Griffin die when they're Flyers die. Another set of wing beats fills the air and I face the mist, waiting for Taryn's disapproving scowl, but I don't feel him any closer to them before Taryn says he did not ask me to fetch you. They have some internal battle, whatever. Then the mist parts like a scene from a nightmare, and Gray, gaping jaws fill my vision, opening wide to reveal dripping teeth that snap closed around Sibby's neck, snatching the Griffin from the ledge before falling back into the mist. My heart stops.

28:14 What the fuck? Sloan whispers. Wyvern. I managed to whisper, my head swiveling towards Marin and Cat. They're the only people here who have seen them. Wyvern, right? So a Wyvern came in and and grabbed this dying Griffin and took it away. I think that's it. I think that's it. I have another thought though, based on what we just talked about in the history episode.

28:35 OK. I'm curious whether it's my other thought, but go first, yeah? We talked about how there are many references to Venin stealing children in the. Fables of the any living beings meet that grows a Wyvern. I don't know, but could it be children? That'd be fucked up, man. That'd be really fucked up, that.

28:53 'D be like closer to horror and anything I'm ready for. Okay well there's that if we're on to something here and why bird in fact are made of other living beings that died like Griffins, then two interesting things. One, I think there is a resurrector on the venin side or some type of like necromancer or like imbuing combination that allows Wyvern to exist from resurrected materials.

29:21 And then we got another comment on the same comment from Boba. I don't again don't know what gender Boba is, but they said I think it's both. Note how they have two different fire colors and one is more common than the other. I know there's three. I already know whatever. 1 is more common has to be Griffin lessons Dragons.

29:38 My response is I'm not sure this checks out because there are three colors of the fire we've been introduced to so far, blue-green, and red. However, I do think that it could be that the fire is related to what you were before. Yeah, I like that idea. I like that idea because it's also. Thought about like, is it the colored dragon that they were? Because that all would check out. But if we feel strongly that Griffins are being used to recreate Wyvern, which I think we should based on that other quote that maybe it's related to what you came from. Yeah.

30:09 Yeah, because it's blue-green and red, and the red, the red burns the brightest. So maybe that was what the Dragons were. Yeah, the necromancer idea really, really lends credence to the Brennan being the Wyvern type thing theory. Yeah, which I hate. Well, not not necessarily though, right? Because like, OK, so so the Wyvern all have runestones in them and have been resurrected and are now these evil things.

30:36 Brennan may also have a runestone in him and have been resurrected, but maybe it didn't. Maybe it's just that like Naolan knew how to do it, but like, didn't need to, didn't make Brennan evil. I don't know. I have a hard time thinking. Brennan's evil. I don't necessarily think that Brennan is evil, but I have I have like a crazy idea.

30:56 And before I say it out loud, I'm going to say I don't think this is actually true, right. But if we're talking necromancers and Brennan and like repurposing of flesh to become other things, we know based on our history episode prep that Violet thought that Brennan knew old Lucera. She hands Zayden but works journal and says like that Brennan's gonna know how to translate this, go take it to him. Then, when she's with Brennan, Brennan says I don't know old Lucerish.

31:22 I only know Tirish. And he couldn't Brennan. He couldn't remember the details of the fables. Yeah, he couldn't. Like what if Brennan's just not Brennan? He's not Brennan. What if he's Naolan? Right. Or somebody from Tyrandor who knows Tirish and that's why he only knows Tirish. He doesn't know old Lucerish.

31:37 He doesn't know anything else he can't remember, like details of his childhood. I like that way more than he might be a Venom spy. This is actually really funny because I got Adm from a woman I believe named Ella Smith. Let me look it up and LL Smith, maybe Ellie Smith. And she said I would love to hear every your y'all's thoughts on like Brennan and his sketchy ass rune on his hand.

32:01 I'm like, oh, we've actually kind of already talked about that, but we're talking about it. Surprise full circle. So Brennan knows? Yeah, Brennan does not Remember fables of the Baron Violet thinks he knows old Lucerish, and then he doesn't. He knows Tyrish. And we're talking about beings being recreated as other beings. Is Brennan just not Brennan?

32:21 Is Brennan just not Brennan? Wow. We have to. I have to look for I might actually, as soon as we stop recording, I have to just go look for more evidence. I'll be interested to see what you find because that is crackpot, but. Here's Here's the thing though. Here's why. I think it might be that he's Naolan because he knows Baz Gai if he knows how to get around Baz Gai if he knows how to be a writer. But what about his dragon?

32:44 Which is dragon, not sense that something's different. Yeah, I don't know. And also like, if he's Nail and then Taran is his dragon, Yeah. So would be absolutely the craziest plot twist to ever plot twist. Which again, like, that's why I'm I'm not sure, but I think it's fun to piece those together.

33:02 I think there's enough. I think there's enough. Oh, fuck me. OK. Well, nothing I have can possibly top what we just talked about. I think I have something that might well, but I didn't think of that one beforehand. So I think maybe we just loop back to this on. I already know that I'm gonna want to do an omissions on it and go find other stuff. I'm sure you are too.

33:21 So maybe we just park this as our next OK omission for our next episode because I'm sure there's stuff we missed. Oh my God, what's your next one? All right, my next one is Lilith facing off with theophany. So this is also a common theory. I have a couple comments on this one, so I'm not specifically calling out anyone in particular, but we got a lot of comments on I don't actually, I'm sorry, I don't remember the clip. It might have been the de Dune cure theophany thing. There's a theory going around that Lilith faced off with theophany when she was young and channeled. She realized she couldn't beat theophany and that's when she channeled and that's when she became venom. And then she fled to the wards

34:04 basically for the rest of her life to avoid turning into the venom. The reason for this theory is because Theophany has a line that says your mother knew at your age that she was no match for me. That's why she hid behind those words. Perhaps you should have followed for your example. So I just want to I just want to break this down a little bit.

34:23 We talked about in the last episode that you think Lilith found out about the venom when she was like promoted to like general or Colonel or something. Not according to this quote, right? Because she says your mother knew what your age. Violet is a cadet. That means Lilith found out about theophony when she was a cadet, right? So Lilith has known about the Venom for way longer than we thought, right?

34:46 Okay, if Lilith did channel when she was facing off against the offering, that means all three of the Soaring GAIL children are Venom offspring, right? That means it's not just Violet. That means it's all of them. And it means Asher married her as a Venom, right? That doesn't mean he knew. But given that everything, everything that Asher knows, he probably would have known. And I don't know that he would have been, you know, super down with that.

35:09 Yeah, especially given. I want a novella on them entirely because I'm still gonna know what kind of couple they are. But I agree, yeah. Especially given how alarmed they are at the idea that Violet might turn Venom right. Like, I just don't think that that that adds up necessarily. There's two other theories on one Lilith might have channeled, right?

35:29 So 1 is when she was pregnant with Violet, and that's why Violet has the Gray hair. I don't think that makes sense. Violet has the Gray hair because she was touched by dune. The second one is the night when they are stationed at the outpost and she comes home with bloodshot eyes, right. So that would mean three potential times, but really two potential times that Lilith has channeled.

35:46 We also know they're constantly moving around and live on outpost towns a lot like I think it's unreasonable to think that Lilith would never have had to go out of the wards with her job. We you know that Zaden has to go out of the wards all the time, right? So I don't really, I just don't really think this theory holds water because like Lilith was in and out of the wards all the time unless unless she is super evil and she was actually a maven and just disguising it the whole time, which I don't really think that holds water either. So the last point here, and you've mentioned this like kind of the big red flag about Lilith not being venom. Yeah, the big, the biggest case for it, honestly. The biggest case against Lilith

36:23 being Venom is the way that she dies because she runs out of power. And if she were Ven and she would just channel and she would imbue the word stone, right? And the wards were down like the wards were down exactly right. So like I don't think that Lilith channeled to beat theophany, but I do think Lilith has known about Theophany and the venom for way longer than we thought.

36:45 I also have one follow up quote on this and this kind of actually does belong in an omission from a previous episode I was going back through because I was looking at the like what the priestesses said about Viola and her past. What Mira says is the priestesses spoke all cryptically but basically said if Violet chooses her future poorly she could still earn their mentorship but she'd turn right. So I thought that was crazy.

37:08 The priestesses are saying even if she turns venom we would still mentor her. Like, why would they say that? And who else have they offered that deal to, you know? Yeah. So I don't know. I'd. I still am of the mind that Lilith was not a venom. It just doesn't make sense given the world that we've felt here. And.

37:27 Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm anti Willis being Venom. I think that's like Rebecca's admittedly well placed red herring. I think it has driven a lot of interesting conversation, but. I just I mean. I can't get past her death. It's not to say that vennon can't exist behind the wards because like, we think that Atos is a vennon.

37:47 Yeah, yeah. And we think that Varish was a Vennon. And we're told in so many words by Jack that they could literally just be wondering, right? So. But I just don't think that Asher would marry or procreate with a Vennon. Can I bring up a mini comment actually that's related to this topic? Yeah, because it's actually one that I I went back and looked into and I couldn't find a great explanation for.

38:11 So I'm curious whether you have any thoughts? So Banani cake, I can't pronounce this handle because I can't tell what words are what, but it's it's spelled like Banani Caicos. Hi, you left a comment saying this got me. It was about Jack in his cell with the conduit, the piece of the alloy from the conduit that Violet offers him to basically stay alive.

38:30 This got me thinking though, Jack was in bizgayeth parens full of magic because of the veil. close parens. How come Jack had to drain from the aloe when magic is available everywhere? He was slumped on the floor when Violet visited him. Why can't he just touch the floor and the floor turns lava? Which is related to something that I had commented. Zayden had to drain the alloy and Devorelli because there was no magic anywhere else.

38:50 So I went back and looked at like what he drained it now that Jack is in Like why is he cut off from being able to stay alive? Because I don't remember him being in the ribostad chest. All I could find is that Nolan dumped serum down his throat and then took him down there. No, he has drained all of the magic from the cell.

39:09 There's a lot. So it's the wards that are around it because I also had that like there were wards that Violet had to step through to talk to Jack in the 1st place. So did you just drain the magic within the wards? I think he has just drained all of the magic in his surrounding area everywhere he can touch basically.

39:26 Like they say there is no color on the stones. Like I think there's a line that Violet has like the the stones are even pale or grey than when she was in there because it's the same cell she was tortured in. So like. Power based then because like when Theophony puts her hand on the ground, the ripple is massive. Probably, I don't know, maybe it is the words, yeah. I think it could logically also be the fact that he's on serum, but if he's on serum, then how would he touch the alloy and color would come back into it space? I don't know.

39:51 OK, if you had an answer, I was going to use it. If not, we can. I mean, my answer is he's, he's used all of the magic available to him in the surrounding area. And he can't expand the diameter of his draining to the extent that the often that's the often he can. Yeah, OK. All right. That's my answer. OK, so unrelated to effective words then. You're doing the next one, am I?

40:10 Doing my turn. OK yeah, yes. So this is my favorite 1. I don't know how you're gonna feel about it. So I don't even remember what clip this was comment on but user 59455459 7026 commented and I wish I knew your name because I love you for this comment genuinely like I went on such a journey with this comment in particular they commented Also have you explored bodies name choice parens Nirvana slash, completion of reincarnation and that his Dragons name is to sow or plant something in the earth.

40:42 So I went on. It is the short. Answer. Yeah, right. No, I said, Oh my gosh, we'll be digging into this. We'll follow up. So this is me following up. Bodhi's name means awakening or enlightenment. In Buddhism, it's synonymous with Nirvana. Basically. We have talked about this concept of magic being unnatural, synonymous with original sin. Humans who touch magic directly lose their souls. Dragons who touch magic live for an unnatural amount of time, and they're said to be demonized in the fables of the Barren. The Irids clearly think it's an abomination for humans to have access to magic at all since they don't bond and they called Satan an abomination for being Benin bodies. Signet is countering other

41:22 people's signets. He literally turns off their power and his Dragons name. Which is Kerr here. I'm trying CU IR it's to put or to place. And so is this Rebecca's way of hinting to us that humans should be seeking a Nirvana in which they don't wield magic at all, that magic belongs back to the Earth?

41:47 And can Bodhi play a role in turning off this power? What did the user 454609 say? Bodhi Cure meant something like dancing, right? They said his Dragon's name is to sew or to plant something in to the earth. I couldn't find that. I found that in Gaelic it means to put or to place. Maybe it's to sew.

42:08 I just couldn't. I mean, if it's to sew, that's really interesting, right? Because we talked about at our Cygnus episode the idea of Imogen putting magic back into the earth and this idea of like Brennan trying to heal the spot where, sorry, now my brain is just going down a Brennan rabbit hole. We'll get back to that later.

42:29 Brennan trying to heal the spot where? OK, sorry, I can't turn my brain off. I'm like, Oh my God. If he has Naolin and Brennan's power, trying to hear heal the spot where Zaden channeled and Bodhi is the counter, right? Bodhi is always the ballot. So is Bodhi gonna somehow have that power instead of Imogen?

42:48 Yeah, I don't know. I mean. If he's a Zen and now. I don't know what a reliable source of I know this is the probation is, but I did find a source that says to sow seed so plant. So I don't know, I think Bodhi could be asleep. I mean, we've discussed that Bodhi could definitely be like a sleeper. Super important character in all of this. Yeah, but he's definitely not married to Violet. He's definitely not married to Violet, but I love that his name means Nirvana and his power is disabling other people's power. I think that's no great.

43:22 I need to think on that one more. I didn't have a chance to think on that, so I want to think about it more. Thank you user 5945 54997026 for your comment. We appreciate you. OK, over to you. All right, for my last one, it's our girl again. Love bug 2110. Love bug. Let me make sure that's actually her. I might have skipped A1 or something. Hold on.

43:43 Love bug 2110. I don't know why you don't have your own podcast. You literally have the best theories ever like way better than ours. For those of you who don't remember love bugs theory on our last mailbag was that Berwyn is going to break the bond between Zadan. Oh, sorry and darn is going to break the bond between Zadan and Berwyn, which we absolutely love is a theory. I'm just going to paraphrase her theory this time because it's super long.

44:07 But basically it comes down to why the Ven and want Violet and the answer that sheath and I don't even remember what video this was on. I apologize. The answer is that because the Venin, as we just talked about with Jack, right, the Venin have a limited supply of power, but Violet does not. If Violet is wielding from the sky, she has an infinite supply of power, right?

44:27 So the Venin know that they're going to run out of power eventually. The ear is talk about this. They'll suck the land dry and then maybe their offspring will evolve, right? The Venin know that that's coming for them. And even Brennan says that the energy at the Veil could power them. I think he says for decades, which is really not that long since we're talking about centuries if not millennia, right? So like clocks ticking.

44:48 But Violet wielding from the sky will never run out of power. And she has the power to imbue, right? So this also gets back to the alloy daggers, right? Like she can imbue alloy. Basically the Venom could just hook her up to conduits. Just use her power forever. This is an amazing theory, but we also hit this.

45:06 In the previous, yes, we did. Damn it, we've done so much. All right. Well, we're, we're doubling down on it then. We're doubling down. No, I love it. Like, yeah, I do love it. We did it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, shit. Yeah, that's our theory. Case closed. No, I think, I mean to be fair to, to love bug on this, I think we were talking about how the Benin plan to survive within with a seemingly finite source of power. Like what is their plan?

45:29 Like if they're growing, if they're recruiting, like what is their plan for having enough power to support them all? And I think we like threw out the possibilities of and Dharna and Violet, which I think like love bugs theory is is more well formed because I think we came up with it on the spot.

45:45 But yes, 100% agree with you. Cool. All right, great. We have great theories. I didn't remember that, but we love love, love bugs. Theories too, and maybe we just didn't clip it. Yeah, which is possible. Please keep commenting Love bug, because your theories are they're so good. They're so good, they're so good.

46:02 OK so I have two more and 1 is like super baby like just I. I liked the comment so I wanted to shout it out, but the first was on our video about Asher dying from the consequences of using time travel. Which is admittedly very much a theory, right? Like I have. No leg to stand on here. This is the hypothesis Few Lizzy commented. That's really interesting.

46:27 That could explain why they haven't seen quote fire breathers for centuries. Maybe that doesn't include earrings? And dharna aside, maybe they don't breathe fire. It's what they were implying. I really like this because not only might it not include earrings because of their like pacifist not breathing fire mentality, but also because they can literally go unseen.

46:47 Like have the earrings been around the aisles this whole time? So I had this thought. I had this thought because I, as I said, I was rereading the passage where they talk where Mira is revealing Violet's like potential path to becoming a venin and Mira's like you were dedicated to the temple, like mom must have done it because dad loved you so much. And Violet says, no, Dad took me A, because it's in it's in Lewis Journal and B, because the people of the Isles haven't seen Dragons for centuries.

47:14 And in my mind I go Oh well there goes our our or Asher writing a dragon theory. And then the other voice in my head says no it doesn't because the earrings can be fucking invisible like. Literally. And it kind of shocks me. I think we have a moment where Indarna even gets mad because the either the priestess or the queen on umbrell is like this. You're wasting your time.

47:35 This island hasn't seen fire breathers for centuries and Indarna is like upset. And I'm like Indarna, your entire breed can camouflage with anything. Like they could have been here, totally could have been here. This we are not focusing. Enough on the fact that the earids are invisible. Are invisible are they on the continent like we talked about that too like they could be anywhere This also made me think about something admittedly like this is probably a long shot right but one thing I keep coming back to that just doesn't make sense to me Taryn and Sagal are bonded right mated sorry and bonded they have been around each other like they can't be apart for more than what is their limit 7 days well they're like pain limit is 7 days and

48:15 I'm like you know how long they could actually be apart and so Seagal bonded Zaidan 2 years before Violet arrives at Visgaya. It has been said in exact terms that Taryn went unseen for five years. How did he just how was he not seen? Like how is he unseen? Seagal has been around. Taryn is clearly there. I mean, I get that like if you're a dragon, maybe you can just like go away and no feel like you ever but. Yeah, there's a lot of Dragons that are unseen in the Veil, right?

48:47 Like no one ever sees like the hatchlings, no one sees the feather tails, feather tails, right? So I am sure that everyone assumed that Taryn was just hanging out in the Veil. I am also sure that that is not what was. Happening. That's not how he was spending his time. There's no way. If he just found out about the venom, he's not going to the veil for five years to lick his wounds, you know? I don't have an answer I'm just when we were talking about not things not being seen because that would also mean like that if if the queen on umbrella is actually correct and they haven't seen fire breathers for centuries. I'm like what is Taryn doing that he can just go undetected for well?

49:29 There's also a moment when they're attacking the Wyvern at night and Taryn basically. Says I'm like I'm the darkness or whatever. Yeah, I'm Batman, is what he says. You. Know literally that was a paraphrase, but yeah. He basically says and they basically sneak up on the Wyvern, right, because Terrence Black and he says something like, I have not honored the colors of my scales that way.

49:52 I want to find it because he puts a time period on it and I don't know if it's like years or months or. Hold on. Yeah, I've got it. Taran levels out and two wing beats later, I hear a thud between us. It's been ages since I've honored the color of my scale in such a manner, Taran declares with a pitch of pride. And Darna says you blended in with the night. Hardly an accomplishment.

50:14 I Yeah, OK, Ages does not a firm timeline, but yeah, I mean, that's a good, that's a good question. What was Taran doing for those five years? And why unseen just yeah, doesn't feel right. OK last baby one that was a comment on one of our gods and Isles clips. This comment was from GDW 22 and they said are the Isles and the continent the gods themselves?

50:38 The land is the source. The land are the gods. The lands are the. Gods I got a similar comment I think. It's it's from Instagram. It's the Instagram comment. I like this idea. I love this idea actually, because because the aisles are maybe a source of power. But I think what like what I'm stuck on is the aisles don't have land magic.

51:03 Right, right. I don't understand this idea at all. OK, here's how I understand the idea. Maybe we'll start there. Are the Isles and the continent the gods themselves? So like are the gods the land is Amari the continent like is is the actual land itself, like the life of it is the God. And therefore like Zahilma is Zenal.

51:23 And so like with with your theory when you were saying the dragon eggs are being taken to the gods, is each of those Isle actually the God? But Malik doesn't have a land. Malik doesn't have a land, but he has a Bay. Yeah, I guess I just don't understand the point of it. Like okay, what's the like are we saying they're literally physically the body of the gods? Like they, they are the embodiment of the gods. No, I want to talk about it because I feel like this is kind of what we got into in our Devorelli episode, which is when I was trying to like Wordsmith around what I believed. Yeah, like what do we think the gods are? Like what does it mean that the aisles are dedicated to the gods?

52:03 Like does that mean that each God has a favored aisle and it can change? Or like this is where this God like rules? Like it's a territory. I don't think it's like the aisles are like physically the bodies of the gods though. I think that's what this theory is, is like the terraforms themselves are the gods and like the power, like the magic within the land, there is the magic of the gods and it was taken somewhere by something and so now the power of the gods is just out and about.

52:36 OK, But for the continent, I guess like that, the argument is that that's Amari and that magic is still there. I don't know. I. Don't know, I don't know about that one. OK, alright. Did I respond to that comment? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you did. You said oh this is a really interesting idea and then someone else commented though there is a line when Vice says to Malik you can't take her and the sky darkened an acknowledgement which could hint at more elements being gods or being controlled by gods.

53:06 And you said I'm going to have to go back and see if there's other examples of this. Would it make sense that Malik's power is in the sky and the other gods power is ground based since Malik doesn't seem to have a territory? And then does that mean the origin story where one brother commanded the sky and the other the ground, really a war between the gods? OK.

53:23 Well, I think that's interesting. Obviously you think it's interesting because you said it. Because I am a Leo. But the other so like, I mean, that's still the same theory though, right? Like that the gods embody the land and then Malik is just the in between which makes sense for death right? Like maybe it's also the oceans. So our favorite friend podcast, Faithfully Fantasy, they talk about how they think the oceans have power, which I kind of totally buy because they talk about they're so colorful and there's a line about krakens and like other magical beasts that live in the ocean.

53:58 We know Dane was obsessed with piracy in the 5th century. It was a real problem. I do feel like we're being set up for some ocean based drama. Yeah, I agree. I. Just need to think about this one. All right, that was all I had on Mailbag, but keep leaving these comments because they're so fun to dig. Into them.

54:16 The mailbag episodes are fun and they lead us down Crazy Theory Rabbit. Holes. I know the prep isn't even that stressful because then we just get on the actual podcast and are like holy shit. Yeah, I think we should do one more of these for Onyx Storm. If we keep getting I think 3 mailbags for Onyx Storm makes sense. Are you reading?

54:33 Anything I've finished Crescent City so I guess like spoiler free review right? Because you are still actively reading this. I think this series is the most underrated Sarah J Maas series. Like everyone paints Crescent City to be the like later like kind of modern, like kind of weird. I don't know, not the biggest fan. I love it, love it.

54:56 Told you this. I was like, why? And if this is because of something that happens, don't tell me. I don't want to know, but I'm like, why are is there not more like fan art about hunt? Like why if I never heard of Hunt? I've heard of everyone, right? I've read I've heard about fucking like Chael. I don't even know how you pronounce his name. I've heard about I think Dorian everyone in powerless. I know all their names.

55:19 I have not read these books right? Yeah. I did not hear the name Hunt Athalar until I started reading these books and I don't know why I think. He's I definitely heard Amber Mortis, like he's described as Amber Mortis and a lot of fan art. I mean like I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but like I just think he's chronically underrated. Like he is extremely underrated in my opinion. Yeah.

55:40 And again, I think, I think this series tackles much bigger questions than ACOTAR tackles like ACOTAR. It's pretty like black and white, good and evil. This is what you should do. Like there's really no question about what the right thing to do is, and I think this series examines that. It really is just like a a much more grown up series, which I like.

56:00 I'm getting extremely frustrated with the fact that they haven't fucked yet, but like, that's on me. I actually so another spoiler free review item. Like I got to the point where where like every time something started, I was just fully expecting it to get interrupted. I was like, like, someone's going to fucking walk in.

56:19 So I'm not going to get too invested in where this is going. It's like almost a joke. It's it's like truly a joke. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I thought it was super underrated as a series. I think Hunt is super underrated as male main character. Like I think I struggled to relate to our protagonist or female protagonist early on, but I've grown to really like her as well.

56:43 And I'm just confused because like this series has been out for some time. And if you haven't read Sarah J Maas, she has three really well known series. Throne of Glass, which she's basically confirmed has been concluded. ACOTAR, which is not concluded but like the main plot line is. But she's still writing books.

56:59 And the more I think about it, the more I don't know if the main plot line is concluded. And Crescent City, that which is also not concluded, that the main plot line is. And so I'm like sitting here after reading. The main plot line of Crescent City is concluded. The books and in reasonable resolution the first three OK like think of it like at Qatar right I just.

57:17 Assumed there was going to be 4 because there's four houses. I think that's a fair assumption that we've not been told how many books they're going to be. She's she's still writing them, but she's her next one that she's going to release is a guitar. Anyway, so I finished this book and I'm like, this might have been, I mean, I have a lot of recency bias, but I like this one might have had my favorite plot. Like it's so layered.

57:37 There's almost too many plot twists. Like I'm kind of like, could we do like 1 less plot twist? But I really liked it. I definitely so Akasar. I feel like the romance was really front and center. Like at the end of the day, this is a story about people. It was a romance novel with with events. It was a romance novel with with fantasy.

57:55 This is not this is this is a political thriller. It starts as a mystery. It seems to be turning into a political thriller, revolutionary or tale with romance woven throughout. And I I really like it. I'm not done with it. So I don't want to like give any notes or anything or any feedback. Yeah, really. But I'm enjoying it A.

58:15 Lot she continues to be really great at making you invested in characters that aren't just the main ones. I love that about her writing. I feel that way about ACOTAR. And she basically caught on that that was the case and started writing about the other characters. And I'm like, I would take a book about every single person in this fucking series like I would.

58:33 And same with Crescent City now that gets more over the longer you read. But I don't have to just like flip through other chapters to be like what's happening with Bryson. What's happening? OK, I kind of feel that. I, I totally get why you're saying that with Acatar, but we sometimes we go to scenes with like Rune and I'm like, no, give me back to brace and hunt.

58:51 That's all I care about. Yeah, I do. The fairy and scenes. I'm just like, oh like get this, fuck around. Oh my God. I know, I know, I'm like, I don't care about theory, but I I'm still interested in what he's doing. But it's just because they haven't fucking had sex. Yet that I'm like, yeah, this. Just needs to happen.

59:07 Anyways, that's what I'm reading. I have a song Hold on. I have a song that I really like that I think you would like and maybe our listeners will like to hold on. Everything's being so slow. All right, so this song is called Hold on. It's going to start playing anthems for a 17 year olds. Sorry, anthems for a 17 year old girl.

59:27 And it it was a song that came out, I want to say in the early 2000s, I believe, by the band Broken Bells. Hold on. I need to look it up. Of a 17 year. Old Sorry by Broken Social Scene. So It was a song by Broken Social Scene in the early 2000s, came out in 2000. Two. I really like the Broken Social Scene version. Maggie Rogers and the girl from Sylvan Esso have done a cover of it and they just released it and I loved it. And I think you'll really like it. It's just very soulful and vibey and it's really easy to sing along too.

59:59 OK, cool. So I think you'll like it. I mean, Maggie Rogers can do no wrong Exactly. So I'm going to see Avril Lavigne. I saw that she was playing at Madison Square Garden. And I was like, am I gonna buy Avril Lavigne tickets right now? And it was like 11:00 PM and I was just like on my phone. And I was like, yeah, I'm buying Avril Lavigne tickets right now.

1:00:22 Nice. That's amazing. Hopefully she plays the entire Let Go album because that is the Avril Lavigne that I loyally listen to. OK, anyway, that's enough of us. Sorry, sorry. For real. I'm sorry for all of it. No, follow us on social media. We are drags in the details pod on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

1:00:45 We are drags in the details pod@gmail.com. Please continue to send us emails. We love it. We get we we're finally getting some emails, which is great, and we always answer them. At least for now, we do. Yeah. And that's it. Anything else, Ron? Nope. Thank you for listening. All right, love you. Bye.