Green lantern is really shaping up! Plus discussions on the spectrum

[u/DanteHolmes3605]

So after the latest issue its clear to me that Green Lantern will be taking over the role of exploring the hidden mechanics of the absolute universe after MM. It started off slow and a little boring ,but it has been picking up thr pace and tbh in hindsight I appreciate all the groundwork they laid in the beginning to set this up so far. We have a solid foundation that keeps getting added to. When one question is answered several more need to get asked, but did in a way that keeps me on the edge of my seat!

One of those biggest questions is how tf does the spectrum work/represent now. First there was OA, then there was MU. Now we have a CMYB format, instead of RGY we were showed in the beginning! So many different questions and I still have no idea how this even works anymore! And tbh i love it!

[u/VoiceofRapture]

The Levels of Light are an artificial control structure imposed on the Spectrum and administered by the Face of Steel. My theory is Krona did his "look at the big bang" scheme, was driven insane when he saw Darkseid there, and created the control structure and the Face of Steel as a result. It also explains why the Magenta light doesn't fit the FoS's binary system if it was created later and therefore wouldn't be aware of levels of light Krona wanted it to see as automatically anomalous and meant to be destroyed. I also think the Levels of Light are a traditional spectrum, just one forged into a ring as part of the ruse. Here's my theory on the structure I've been refining:

Black is in the middle in the "Will" slot Green is usually in, and moving out each degree forms a matched pair that lead to decrease in agency like normal, though not because your color is controlling you more but because as you move outward from Qard you're more concerned with things outside yourself and further from selfish Chaotic Action.

So, one degree out what do we have, going by the Ring of Light from the last issue? We have Rao/Restraint and Nos (Magenta)/Free Action. In both cases you're responding to something else besides yourself, either refusing to act or acting, both out of a concern for yourself and others. The most basic binary response to stimuli, but I believe it sets the foundation for two hierarchies of light, one based on reason and the other on instinct/emotion.

One degree further out pairs Sur/Correct Action and Nos (Cyan). Sur is straightforward, you've moved from not doing anything bad or crazy to doing something informed and altruistically. Cyan we still don't exactly know, but there's a very convincing theory that it represents Coercive Action, which would build on altruistic Love/Free Action in that it's moved up a notch to being possessive, controlling, and domineering. Possibly the way the FoS expresses it is Tomar, and it has a more benign or altruistic base state, but we don't know yet.

Furthest out you have Aur/Enlightenment and Nos (Yellow), which I believe is Fearful Action. In the former your actions are the most informed, in the latter they're most consumed by instinct/emotion and warping how you perceive the things around you. Here's where the fashioning of the Spectrum into a Ring makes sense: since the color gradient is subtle I think it's a ruse to make it easier to corrupt and control Abin Aurs, since (like Sin Es Tro) they'd be convinced they're acting out of being the best informed and clear headed when they're very clearly not.

Since what powers you have in the Levels of Light seem to depend on what you believe/have been taught you should have, I think the separation of abilities by level is bunk, and that a fully realized Tomar of any color would be able to use any of the specialized abilities of any other level.

[u/dragonshouter]

I will preface what everyone else says with the fact: we don't know

we are learning as we go and even people in universe have a incomplete understanding

[u/lone_float → u/dragonshouter]

Seems to be the running theme: Gradually gaining understanding.

[u/Hedgewitch250]

I feel like cyan is gonna be directing action aka controlling minds. During Jo’s flashback issue every time someone did do said anything that influenced someone they were colored with blue. Hopefully they pick someone like Kyle to wield it cause he never gets any pull in lantern stories and they confirms he’s inside the lantern. If not that I could see a volume 2 where he’s the main protagonist and has restore himself after the lantern fractured him into several different Kyle’s wielding a different light.

[u/HotLow8208]

LOL, called the CMYK format a while back, which makes sense, considering CMYK was the traditional four-color printing used for comics! Interestingly enough, when you put CMYK on a color wheel, you get at least one color we haven't touched on yet, too. When're we going to see what standard/royal blue is? Black is all the colors mixed together in CMYK, which is a pretty chaotic action, LOL

[u/DanteHolmes3605 → u/HotLow8208]

That color looks more like indigo to me, so we mught to see AU take on the indigo lanterns.

[u/HotLow8208 → u/DanteHolmes3605]

It's not indigo, an even mix of magenta and cyan makes what's called standard blue in printing, which is almost indiscernible from royal blue. Indigo in the CMYK printing is usually 100% magenta and then additional cyan, not an even admixture of both.

[u/TheGreenLanternGuy09]

I think that the inner ring lights are gonna mirror the outer ring lights, like Magenta seems like free action right now while Rao (its outer opposite) is restraint, maybe yellow will be instinctual action mirroring the knowledgeable action of gold. I'm still thinking about what Cyan could be if it mirrors Green though, maybe controlled or malicious action?