I've noticed quite a bit that I haven't bothered mentioning because there's nothing to be gained from doing so.
All the pony speculation - has anything come of it? Anything at all? No. Does it matter? Not that we've had even a shred of evidence of so far.
The only thing about it that is even relevant is that the most powerful force in ponydom is the power of friendship, and considering our ability to make friends and the fact those friendships have been shoved in our face, I hope the importance of that to everyone else is equally obvious.
But I still don't know what to do about it.
This, this here. Wonderful point. That's probably one of the best arguments against the pony theory- it hasn't given us anything useful, and if we make assumptions on it that could end poorly. If we assume withers is berserkershy, then maybe someone will come up with the bright idea to try and befriend her while she's murdering around, instead of running.
"Would you like to be my friend?"
"NO!" *stab*
I'm not a fan of the pony theory, either. Even if it was 100% correct, what do we get from it that simply knowing the characters as they are wouldn't?
It's better to know and not know what to do with it than just never mention it. What
has been relevant or important on its own so far? The fact that we might be the Nerevarine? The fact that we may be from Earth? The rise of Clover? The construction of new guild holdings? Caius leaving? Dagoth Ur's machinations?
If you just shrug at everything and say "this isn't helpful," you're not going to have as much helpful stuff in the long run because you never bothered to accumulate it. It's like finding a LEGO piece, glancing at it, saying there's not enough here to build anything with, and tossing it aside.
IronyOwl comparing screenshots to see that the dunmer who walked out of the census office in Episode 5 has the same face and hair as the dunmer who slaughtered the guards in episode 44. That's information that's been avaialable to you for a long time, but nobody put it together until recently.
I thought we knew that already, although nobody explicitly compared the pictures. We had already discussed it and decided that Balmora Butcher and Census PC were the same people.
We
assumed it, but AFAIK nobody ever officially went back to check, or if they did they never reported it. That turned out alright because it turned out to be correct (or as correct as we'd have gotten out of that information), but it's still a relevant gap to point out. What if she
hadn't matched? We might have spent a massive amount of time assuming two different people were the same. Or not knowing haircuts were a thing here.
I am almost positive that we discussed the whithers thing months ago, to be fair. That doesn't negate the fact that we have missed a lot.
Or, the realization that the withers is a part of a horse. The name SexyWithersXOXOXO was first mentioned in episode 40. That was August of last year. So it took ~8 months before somebody noticed that.
Again, I thought this was discussed earlier. Certainly before that long hiatus that you just broke.
As far as I can tell (a search for "withers"), my post on it was the first time anyone pointed it out.
I think the werewolf deserves quite a bit more thought and discussion by the way. If it is Imare, my suspicion is that LB might be using her as an avatar for Azura, or perhaps a pony with quite a bit more control over Michael than the others. Read the werewolf part again, she literally can read Michael's "thoughts", or text thinking. Deathgrip, puppy dog eyes, and I think at least one other thing. Also, this pretty much confirms that Michael is related to the ponies in some way, as she seems connected with Maximus and Michael.
I wouldn't think Azura would be that manic. I'm not really familiar with her, and Daedric Princes probably aren't the simplest of beings, but it still seems weird to have the goddess of dawn and dusk bounce up to us and tell us she loves us in werewolf, which is altogether distinct from dinosaur.
As for the "connection," that's harder to say. Pony Pinkie Pie is very, very friendly; in fact, she makes a deliberate point of being friends with literally every pony in town. Running up and hugging us while calling us by name might not be
as significant as it sounds.
Then again, of course, she managed to
reach us. If she's bearhugging everyone she recognizes that'd probably slow her down pretty severely. Maybe less so in woofmode because everyone screams and attacks or flees in fear when they see her, but still.
we want to leverage our friendships to gain info which we trade for other info which we can, at one point, maybe, trade in for something that will make us genuinely more powerful
i think
Well that's rather sociopathic. What's wrong with making friends for generic friendmaking and vague potential future gain if they happen to be able to help?
@Irony owl: I don't think you can assume that the voice at the start is anything right now. It could be Azura, or someone else entirely. The "We" thing could mean it was an actual group of entities. Bear in mind that we ourselves are voices, and often use "we" whether referring to ourselves or Michael. Did we kidnap Michael? If you want to look at it like Vivec, he is here because of us, in a meta way.
This is my new favorite theory. SORRY MICHAEL SEEMED FUNNY AT THE TIME NO HARD FEELINGS ABOUT THE CLIFF RACERS RIGHT?
Fair point for the rest, but I still think it's important, and I think it's more likely to be Azura or Luna than most other options. Remember also that Michael stated that he can sort of tell the difference between us, so you would think a collective like that would sound more discordant and less obviously female.
Other reasons that I don't think the pony theory is accurate:
I doubt LB would use it, for one. All this game had when it began was "Morrowind!".
i wouldn't dare call friendship relevant, as bucketkins might've pulled it from dozens if not hundreds of other series or just be making up this whole game from scratch (i mean it's a fairly common trope yo)
Ah, but that's where you're wrong. It's true that he
might have pulled all sorts of inspiration from all sorts of places, but ponies have a special narrative justification: Not only is Michael a brony, but the fact that he's a brony is one of the first things, and one of the only
specific things, we ever learn about him.
Reread the first update. We find out that he's a "liberal arts college freshman" who tested into a basic algebra class. We find out that he doesn't play "sports." And we discover his hobbies are limited, but include such highlights as "internet," "games," watching My Little Pony, and reading the occasional on Equestria Daily, your premiere source for MLP fanfics.
HMMMMMMM.
If it
wasn't for that, then yeah, okay, ponies would be kind of out of left field. Still not out of the question, but it'd be kind of a dubious narrative decision because it'd rely on recognizing the inner source material to fully get the outer source material. MLP is still fairly widely known and LB in particular is known for it, but I could get the innate skepticism from suggesting that this whole thing reeks of Warcraft or League of Legends.
But ponies? Ponies have been canon since day one.
And that my biggest argument against ponies is "I dislike ponies".
I get enjoyment from reading the story, but I'd lose a little of it if it turned out that the ponies theory is correct. But that's just me, and I understand that people have the opposite opinion.
Ah. Sorry. :x
So, yes. Both some cackling and facepalming. You guys have a lot of information to work with and it's clearly not trivial to sort out the important information from the coincidences. And from the deliberate Red Herrings.
So, there's red herrings? That hurts the pony theory more than it helps, IMO, because it uses several small, lone clues. Like "withers". Or that nord guy.
The threat of red herrings is almost always going to hurt a theory more than help it, because it is by definition the threat that some of your information is misleading. Unless that happens to be the exact information getting in your way (like with "Withers" getting in the way of your "not ponies"
theory hope), that's obviously going to make things shakier rather than more certain.
*Checks user stats page*
Huh. You are japanese. Never would have guessed.
sukoshi hanashimasu demo dame desu ne. GM desu kara. yare yare. suiseiseki ga youni kikoeru desu. desu kara desu.
I-I wasn't talking about the language, baka.
But as long as I'm here:
: "Also they say boobs."
: "Boobs are nice, yes."
As you can see, even benevolent god-kings agree on certain universal constants.
You reach for the phone to show him but he yanks it away from you.
: "No spoilers!"
He immediately begins mashing buttons with an index finger.
: "The best way to learn about potentially dangerous alien technology is ALWAYS to madly tinker with it until something happens. You are an alien, aren't you?"
Final survivors of ancient and mysterious races (also) agree on others.
: "I don't know her name. Never felt the need to ask. She's kind of loud and demanding, it's kind of annoying. Try asking Edwinna. She's the head of the guild here. I assume she's renting the room from her."
: "Well, to answer your question, no...sadly that particular pile belongs to SexyWithers, who is not nearly so quiet, nor I'm guessing...as studious, as Clover."
: "SexyWithers?"
: "SexyWithersXOXOXO, actually."
: "Again, just in passing. So she's renting the room upstairs then?"
Edwinna's eyes open wide as if in sudden realization.
: "Yes! Renting. She's renting the room. Yes. Why do you ask?"
You're not sure what to make of that reaction but clearly there's more that she's not telling you.
You step out the door and-
: "CITIZENS OF BALMORA BEWARE!!!!"
You duck back into the door and crane your head into the air just in time to catch what appears to be a female dunmer carrying a massive sword leaping from the roof of the building.
She hits the ground running. No armor, looks like. Just clothes and a big sword.
: "THE DOOMPOCALYPSE IS UPON YOU!"
A couple guards are trying to chase her. With great difficulty, as she seems to be wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed.
: "HAVE AT THEE, VILE VILLAINS!"
Which she uses to dart in circles around them before promptly one-shotting each of them.
: "HA HA! THIRTY POINTS!!!"
: "I wouldn't exactly call her hot, though. She was more of a cool, dangerous kind of sexy. 'Hot' is a word I'd use to describe a tall girl with big boobs and wide hips. I like the voluptuous look. Did I mention I like big? It's a dwemer thing. Whoever made that phone of yours had it all wrong. I just don't understand the miniaturization aesthetic. If you saw a floodgate that was two inches by two inches, and a floodgate that was two miles by two miles, and they both did exactly the same thing, which would you be more impressed by?"
: "Well, I suppose you might say she wasn't the most refined lady I've ever met. Maybe even a bit socially awkward. And kind of loud. No indoor voice."
Didn't Edwinna say something about Sexy being loud?
: "Kind of got the impression she'd spent too much time alone as a little girl. Never learned proper social graces, never learned to connect to anyone on a personal level. And I'm being generous because I'm a gentleman. The girl was a borderline lunatic, really. Definite anger issues. Kind of flat chested, too. Definitely not the biggest breasts I've ever seen, and trust me, I've seen some huge breasts. Have you ever seen a female ogrim? Can't say I recommend it, actually, but they're definitely above average in the breast department. Though ogrim men tend to have big boobs too, which is kind of creepy, if you ask me. Especially with those piercings."
Lunatic describes the Balmora Butcher well enough, so that's probably her. Didn't someone in the Wolverine Hall mage guild say she was rumored to be in the mage guild, but also a member of House Telvanni?
: "Still, she had that forbbiden fruit kind of appeal I just can't resist. Imagine if the big-boobed hot girl had a younger sister. You know you're not supposed to touch her or else she'll beat you up, but you still want to. That was SexyWithers all over."
Aaaaaand everything I'm aware that we know about SexyWithersXOXOXO. Definitely thinking it
could be Luna, but I'm nowhere near certain.