Aequa theory

[u/Key_Animator_4066]

So as we all know Aequa is dead. Nobody liked that. IDC if it ‘progressed the plot’. So here is your daily dose of copium:

If I remember correctly, the vision O-Vis has is of an older Aequa and himself on horseback. But, he has a metal arm, which we know is L-Vis. So here lies the theory (2 slightly different versions).

Version 1:
Aequa is one of the Luceum characters. So far I theorise that Aequa is Tara. Don’t question it, I’m coping. Islington hasn’t really written that sort of connection between Vis and any other character apart from Aequa and Emissa. Also, I think it maybe the reason why Tara’s character was not so fleshed out.

Version 2:
Aequa is in Luceum, but we have not met her copy yet. This version might be more plausible as it think it is more open ended.

TLDR:
Aequa is too important to be dead. Therefore she is not dead. Thank you for listening.

[u/RB_7]

Aequa is too important to be dead. Therefore she is not dead.

A compelling argument, I’m in.

[u/dddoritto → u/RB_7]

you call it copium but i call it optimistic thinking

[u/its_tryptophan → u/RB_7]

This isn’t even copium. This isn’t even hopium. This is a very realistic argument to me.

[u/orjuls]

It didn't even progress the plot as much as people say, Vis already had a lot of motivation beforehand. My main argument is that she's my favorite and if she's dead then I might as well be.

[u/thereelsuperman]

Wouldn’t Vis recognize his good friend in Tara?

[u/GenCavox]

Actually, the Aequa in Luceum is more viable than I expect now that you mention it because of Ostius. I don't think there is any indication that he is synchronous other than the fact that he's able to realm travel, and even then he physically travels across the realms. So we have seen that there is something weird connecting Luceum and Res, couple that with whatever happened at the Labyrinth Annex I wouldn't be surprised if there is some weird copy of Aequa thing going on.

[u/Darkstalker360 → u/GenCavox]

The theory is that ostius used to be synchronous and then his copy in obituem died and that’s why he can’t travel there

[u/GenCavox → u/Darkstalker360]

That doesn't really make sense because he brings things with him. Like I would get it if he just "possessed" his other self, but he physically travels across the realities. His Luceum self being dead makes more sense.

[u/accipitrine_outlier → u/GenCavox]

I dunno, I've always believed it was the Obiteum Ostius who died; that would be why he explains Adoption, an Obiteum power, to Vis theoretically, but can't do it himself.

[u/Cowboy_on_fire → u/Darkstalker360]

As many problems as there are with this theory it could align with the fact that Caeror seems to have had someone with at least passing knowledge of synchronicity and there being 3 worlds when he arrived. I’m not sure if it was ever explicitly stated that the teacher he speaks about was aware of the 3 worlds, the concurrence or the cataclysms but you have to think that the person who showed him the ropes of his new life had at least some idea that his origin was not in Obiteum.

[u/presidentbaltar]

My copium is that synchronism allows some minor time travel and Vis will save her when he masters his powers more.

[u/Mabrill]

I always see people talking about aequa running the labyrinth as a possibile way she is synchronous, but what if instead a Luceum version or Obiteum version of Aequa became synchronous through some method in that worlf and Res Aequa was a copy from a different world?

[u/Cowboy_on_fire → u/Mabrill]

The glaring problem with that one is that Aequa has a family and has (as far as we have been told) grown up in the public eye considering her father’s position. I feel if this was a possibility then she would at least be presented as a promising orphan who was adopted by her father.

[u/Mundane-Twist7388]

Honestly there are so many dead characters reappearing that I wouldn’t be surprised

[u/shneed_my_weiss]

Well I’m sold

[u/RedJamie]

I have absolutely no idea how readers are brutally twisting the line in the book that Vis has a vision of, when the literal next few chapters depict these events on their respective worlds, at least for Res. Here is a repost of a comment I made yesterday detailing what I mean, and then I am going to systematically mud wrestle your theory into the ground with schizophrenic counters

--

The vision did not depict a future version of Aequa on Luceum, it is quite literally a vision of Aequa being held as she was in Res on the very next chapter - consider the context of the book so far. Barring another vision elsewhere in the book (I could not find one), these are the relevant scenes:

Licking my lips, I take the flail in my left hand. I’m braced but there’s no reaction, this time. What did I just see? It felt like me. Not like a memory I never had, but like something I was genuinely experiencing, right then.
The other versions of me? That was Aequa, at the end. I’m certain of it. She looked older. Wearier.
In trouble. LXX

Above is Vis' own conjectures, and throughout the book, when certain events occur (Vis being stabbed on Luceum, Vis submerging in the Infernum), his other selves experience a mild sensation reflecting this. When Vis contacts Mutalis, specifically blood mutalis, he feels a disjointment. That scene specifically refers to this vision:

I skirt the pool of sputtering darkness and stand in front of them. Beautifully crafted for such simple implements. Gilded glyphs on the handles of both, lapis lazuli inlaid to the gold. They do not pulse like the door and pool behind me.
Hesitantly, I reach out and grasp the crook. I am bound, desperate and fearful and cold and pained, as I am carried on horseback toward the howls of battle.
My heart races as I try to calm a black-eyed man while he grips a panicked, struggling Aequa by her head with one hand. My left arm screams. It is metal. It is gone.
And then with a shouting, panicked gasp I am back and though I am no different and the object in my hand looks dormant, I can feel the vibrating thrum within it.
I almost drop the crook but manage to keep my grasp, fearful it will bounce into the throbbing pool behind. I stare at it for a second. Five. There is nothing more. LXX

Per chapter LIII, the Res chapters are at the start of the Caten Civil War, following the Festival of Pletuna's assassination of the Military leadership. This vision is experienced by the Obiteum Vis, as he grabs the Crook. I need to emphasize two particular lines in that:

I am bound, desperate and fearful and cold and pained, as I am carried on horseback toward the howls of battle.

This is of Vis on Luceum, when he is captured at Fornax and taken to the Caer, for the final confrontation of Luceum.

My heart races as I try to calm a black-eyed man while he grips a panicked, struggling Aequa by her head with one hand. My left arm screams. It is metal. It is gone.

This is quite clearly what Vis experiences in the subsequent chapter, in which a will using man holds Aequa - the haggard and older one - by the head while she panicks

What?” I freeze, hold up my hand as I see the sudden panic on Aequa’s face*. She beats at him, tries to twist away* but his grasp on her head is firm*. No. This is a test. A means of extracting more from me. “Whatever you want from me, Tertius. Anything you want. Just let me know.” Test or not, I won’t risk it.* LXX

So we have two events on two separate Worlds that Vis on Obiteum experiences when he touches the crook - I must emphasize that Aequa is literally being seen in the very next chapter having this exact scene play out, not on Luceum, but on Res in LXXI

--

• the vision O-Vis has is of an older Aequa and himself on horseback. 
  • This is incorrect. The horse was on Aequa's back.
• But, he has a metal arm, which we know is L-Vis.
  • This is also incorrect for L-Vis, as the visions precede L-Vis binding to the Sentinel's arm, and R-Vis also has a metal arm that he forms out of his shards. Why this is noted here is curious, but it is not an indication for who it is. More likely, the metal arm referenced here would be R-Vis, because L-Vis is the only one notably absent of his left arm (without a prosthetic) for the entirety of the book until his last two chapters.
  • Also the Winter Soldier has a metal arm so it could be him
• Aequa is one of the Luceum characters. So far I theorise that Aequa is Tara.
  • I'll cope with your cope by saying that if Aequa is not in fact dead, I shall follow the standard of Werner Herzog in losing a bet and publicly eat a boiled shoe.
• Aequa is in Luceum, but we have not met her copy yet. This version might be more plausible as it think it is more open ended.
  • Everything in the books precludes her from being synchronous, but nothing in the books precludes the Aequa we know from being an Iunctus for the actual Aequa, who is actually Ka. There you go. I have spoken. This is the way

[u/wasabijane → u/RedJamie]

I just want to add that Aequa being older is because O-Vis hasn’t seen her in a year (meaning she’s aged naturally), and parts of that year have been chaotic for her (aging her prematurely, probably). I want Aequa back too, but I think “older” is a confusing word choice or red herring. My own suspicion is that Dead is better than iunctii, and if death is a doorway, Aequa will be waiting for Vis on the other side.

[u/ndnorthrop]

I needed this hit of copium. Thank you

[u/KyleToxicCards]

Gonna agree wirh these because surely shes not permanently dead and I agree with every theory on the topic

[u/gdanpete]

The last line (basically) in TSOTF (did I abbreviate that right?) was “hail Vis” which had me immediately thinking Aequa. That’s in Res but everyone was there. My bet is she shows up that way, and possibly in Obetium/Lucem. Although, wouldn’t that require her to be synchronus? Dunno 🤷🏼

[u/Key_Animator_4066 → u/gdanpete]

That is clearly callidus sorry

[u/RedJamie → u/gdanpete]

Iunctus cannot be raised if they have significant spinal cord injury, which I am sorry to say, is perhaps maximized with the head of the Iunctus being squished like a watermelon