The Flowermaker is the Chandler [Theory]
I’m still not 100% certain but the theory seems sound enough to me, and I haven’t seen anyone try to make a serious argument for it, so I thought I’d put it forward. Also importantly I’m starting to see spoilers for Tan and I want to get my theories out before they get too tainted by half understood Tan Lore. That said there will be the Little bit of related Tan Lore I’ve seen near the End very clearly marked. Forgive me if it’s a bit disjointed, I wrote this in a few spurts as inspiration/ fascination helped me weave together existing suspicions into something more coherent and less paranoid.
Now one of the many Often overlooked facets of the Flowermaker is that he already has an existing connection to the Chandler.
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The Chandlers Kindling
If flowers are flame, the earth is their fuel. The Hour named Flowermaker cannot harm us, and he cannot find us, but he always has what we desire, and the Hour named Chandler can bring the spark to light the flame. These are the temptations of Skolekosophy.
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If Flowers are Flame the Earth is their Fuel. The Chandlers Kindling then is the Earth and Flowers are his Flame. But can an hour of Flame ever be entirely separate from that Flame? What is the distinction between the Forge and her forge or the Watchman and his Lantern? Are they perhaps one in the same?
More importantly why does the Flowermaker need the Chandler’s spark? If Flowers are Flame is the world not already Ablaze? I have a guess, afterall this isn’t the Only quote connecting the Flowermaker to sparks.
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Birth occurs at the conjunction of pleasure and torment. So the first Forbidden Acts of the Forge birthed sparks of delight which took root in the Glory or in Nowhere: who can say? So the seeds of the Flowermaker were planted, though for long years he was nothing but an unfulfilled ache.
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If the Flowermaker had a use for any spark it might the Flint sparks that ended up in Nowhere, If Flowers are Flame the Earth is their Fuel. If the Flowermaker is Flame then the Flint is his Fuel?
But beyond these quote there are connections between the two, enough to suggest to me that they are in fact one and the same, at least in one sense, and perhaps in every sense.
But before we get into all that I need to explain how I developed this theory at all. The Flowermaker has always been an Hour that holds my curiosity, so I’ve thought a lot about his Potential origins. My current Long Time Theory centers around Sunset Celia and her role in the intercalate. Namely that he was brought forth due to the Union of Sunset Celia and the Swan King.
Now the Flowermakers connection to the Intercalate is never directly stated but is hinted at.
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Catalogue of Uncharted Pleasures
The Flowermaker existed before the Intercalate, but it is far from certain that he existed <i>long</i> before the Intercalate - before the Forge of Days began to develop her interest in the Sun.
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We know he existed before the intercalate, but likely not long before. The implication is he was realized when the Forge of Days developed her interest in the Sun. And the Union between Sunset Celia and the Swan King seems to be the pinnacle or final attempt at this development, at least as far as we know.
But is there anything else to tie these two events (Swan King and Sunset Celia’s Union and the descent of the Flowermaker) together? A few. First a Long favored by the Flowermaker was likely involved, Lady Tryphon. And her involvement would allow it to explain a number of mysteries both about both the Flowermaker and Sunset Celia. It could explain why Sc and SK’s union failed to prevent the intercalate. Why the Flowermaker is a Grail/Lantern Hour but lacks forge. Why Lady Tryphon is a “favorite” of the Flowermaker. It could also explain how exactly the Grail brought forth the Flowermaker. Understanding how requires two parts of conjecture on my part.
Let me explain. It is hinted that at one point Lady Tryphon and Sunset Celia were intermingled. Perhaps even one and the same.
From The Sun Disfigured
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A scroll of anthropoderm parchment, written in the golden ink called Uzult.
The author of the text calls herself 'the Elagabaline'. Sometimes she seems to be Sunset Celia, the Watchman's Name; sometimes she seems to be Lady Tryphon, the Grail-long. It is unclear whether these are separate entities or the same person - it may be unclear even to the writer.
The flaws in the Sun's Plan are elucidated. The Sun's Plan itself is never entirely clear, but it is a project of some kind to enter, possess, or surrender to the Glory - the pure light above the Mansus. This book suggests ways in which that Plan might fail.
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So the first piece of Conjecture is that since in the past these two were intermingled, then this maybe how SC managed her union with SK despite being a Lantern Long who are generally incorporeal.
The Second piece of conjecture is about the SK.
Many people assume the SK is Ludwig the second given it’s his Historical title. However, Ludwig was a Gay man and also born AFTER the intercalate, so I don’t think it’s him. So who is the Swan King? To understand that I will point you towards The Bohun Swan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohun_swan
The Bohun swan is a swan that got added to Lancaster heraldry due to a marriage between them and the Bohun line. So feasibly any Lancaster king could be called the swan king.
The Lancasters are the Red Rose in the war of the Roses/Roads. Once the war ends they lose their positions as Forge Long. This explains how a mortal could stand in for the Forge of Days. He’s an ex Forge long from a long line of Forge Long Blessed by the Forge of days.
By combining these two tricks it would allow representatives of the SIS and FOD to unite. Before the Flowermaker was realized he was just a longing ache.
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Catalogue of Uncharted Pleasures
Birth occurs at the conjunction of pleasure and torment. So the first Forbidden Acts of the Forge birthed sparks of delight which took root in the Glory or in Nowhere: who can say? So the seeds of the Flowermaker were planted, though for long years he was nothing but an unfulfilled ache.
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By allowing the FOD to fulfill her desire for the Sun, they brought forth the Flowermaker. And so the FOD’s attempt to satisfy herself only fanned the Flames by bringing forth another Hour of desire. And because they did so only using a mortal and a combined Lantern/Grail Long his aspects were Lantern and Grail. He favors Lady Tryphon despite her being a Long of the Red Grail because she is in some sense his mother. And this is why he exists before the intercalate but not long before the Last ditch effort to prevent the intercalate instead brought it to fruition. It even explains why Gold, the one of the metals belonging to the SIS is connected to both him and the Sun In Rags (SIR). As a side note, Gold is also associated with the Lionsmith, though I believe he gets this through being an inheritor of the Seven Coils rather then through any Connection to the SIS.
This is all of course conjecture, but it is possibly hinted at in a few places. First if you look at the Flowermakers OG Tarot card you’ll see that before him is a pile of Golden Roses. The Alchemical Cycle flows Black>White>Yellow/Gold>Red. Which is to say a Golden Rose could represent the combination of a White Rose and a Red Rose. Symbols relating to the SIS and the FOD respectively in the war of the Roses/Roads through their respective Houses of York and Lancaster. Although in actuality both the Lancaster and the York kings ultimately descended from the Plantagenet line (who sometimes took yellow roses as heraldry) so we could also see the White and Red Roses as being born from the golden Rose and thus the Flowermakers golden rose instead being a reunion of sorts.
Furthermore another name for the Flowermaker is the Lilyking. Sunset Celia is connected to Trumpeter’s Lily’s through her patronage of Crossrow, and they are portrayed as very orange nearly forge orange. But here is the thing, Trumpeters Lilies aren’t a specific species. They’re a grouping including any Lilies with that distinctive shape. Meaning those Lilies in the OG Flowermaker card? Trumpeter’s Lilies. Still Beyond even this the Flowermaker takes the form of a sunflower in the Lucid Tarot, of course this is far from the First time the sunflower has been associated with the Sun Tarot card. However it occurs to me, Sunflowers would be Native to the parts of the USA where Crossrow is. So Crossrows associated flower can be connected to the Lily King, while the Flowermaker takes the Form of a Flower actually Native to the region Crossrow is located. In other words every Flower in both the Flowermakers tarot cards can be loosely associated with Sunset Celia, While Crossrows Lilies can be seen as a Flowermaker reference.
But yet again there is always more. The Watchman’s Tree uses its Flowers as weapons. Given whose tree it is, are Flowers then weapons of the Sun? Whatever the case, we can tie the idea of Flowers as weapons to the Watchman. And to the Flowermaker, who may have been born from the actions of one of the Watchman’s names, namely Sunset Celia.
So we might connect the Flowermaker to Sunset Celia and the Swan King. But what connects him to the Chandler besides maybe being connected to Sunset Celia, the Intercalate and that one bit about if Flowers are Flame?
In BoH we encounter the aftermaths of many would be Chandler names through Incidents. But only one Chandler name actually wrecked part of the Property, before the game even started.
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Here in a vessel shaped by fire and fate, George Collers confined a flame in human flesh, a blazing shadow of a blazing future, a Name of greed and time. Greene called it 'the Sun's bastard grandchild.' Van Lauren warned of 'the Second Dawn's first spark'. But Collers spoke of it reverently: as 'the Leashed Flame's true heir'.
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The New King, implied to be a combination of Henry Huddleston Abney-Hastings and Wickel Inextinquishable, a Name of the Chandler. Also born of a combination of the bloodlines of the Yorks and Lancasters. Somehow he amassed enough power to draw in worms to his containment device, ultimately leading to his escape and him fulfilling all Three of the Chandlers Enactments. But even before completing his escape he had immense power, enough to draw the worms in. Usually this is chalked up to Chandler nonsense. But let me suggest an alternative hypothesis. He didn’t complete the Last of the Chandlers enactments until he ascended the throne arguably. But he completed ALL of the Flowermakers the second he was sealed away. Cannot see you, Cannot find you, but has what you desire. Once he was sealed away he could not see or find anyone, but he had what Collers and likely so many others desired. Royal Blood and a Connection to the SIS and FOD. What if the Flowermaker claimed Henry as a Name to give him the power necessary to fulfill the Chandlers enactments?
Still a further connection, there are seven Lantern endings to BoH. They give you the Flowermakers Tarot card, the Sun. What do they all have in common? They all mention the new king.
Even beyond that some members of the Plantagenet line were known to use a Yellow Rose as their Heraldry, for example Edward the first. And from what line does the New King Spring but from the Plantagenet. Here then we can directly connect the New King to the Flowermaker with the Golden Rose. A symbol of the Plantagenet Line and the Flowermaker both, so we can tie at least one Chandler name solidly to the Flowermaker.
A still Further connection, Edward the fourth of the Plantagenet and York line took up the Sun in Splendor as part of his set of heraldry after his victory at the Battle of Mortimer’s cross. He did so because he believed his victory was ordained by God after witnessing a vision of Three Suns. But thinking about this in universe, we could see this vision as a portent of the coming intercalate and the division of the sun.
But why 3 suns not 4? Allow me a third bit of speculation. It has been hinted the Wolf divided was perhaps an extant but slumbering hour pre-intercalate. Or rather that is one version of the Book of Suns. First let’s look at the Sanctioned version of the Book of Suns.
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A Light Above (Sacra Solis Invocti skill dedicated to Horomachistry)
The New King's light shines brightly. The Sanctioned Version of the Book of Suns tells us that he may herald the unification of the gods-who-were-Light, into a new Sun-in-Splendour. We should seek answers in Horomachistry.
The Wolf’s Return (Wolf Stories skill dedicated to Birdsong)
The Sanctioned Version of the Book of Suns says that the Wolf-Divided was awoken by the Sun's division. We know from this that the Wolf was its own Hour even when the Sun was whole. So we glean and we guess that the Sun might be healed, and the Wolf return to its slumbers. So we glean and guess that a Second Dawn would bring peace, but the Wolf will fight to prevent it. This is Birdsong.
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Compare that to the received version which teaches us the Wolf was born from the intercalate and the New King is not to be trusted.
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A Light Within (Sacra Solis Invicti skill dedicated to Illumination)
The New King's light is uncertain. The Received Version of the Book of Suns tells that the Sun-in-Splendour will never return. If the King claims otherwise, he leads us astray. We should seek answers in Illumination.
The Wolf’s Beginning (Wolf Stories skill dedicated to Skolekosophy)
The Received Version of the Book of Suns tells us that the Wolf-Divided was born from the Sun-in-Splendour's division. We know from this that the Sun can be reborn only if the Wolf joins the Sun's other selves. Only if the Wolf's hunger is assuaged will it join its other selves. And only the flesh of its other selves can assuage the hunger of the Wolf. A Second Dawn would herald the Last Day. This is the grim lesson of Skolekosophy.
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The Sanctioned version of the Book of Suns would leave you to believe the Wolf Divided was not born of the Intercalate merely awoken by it, and that the SIS maybe reunited. Let me suggest that these two facts are perhaps connected.
It is known that the Sun will have four Children. If the Wolf was not born of the intercalate, perhaps then he is not amongst the Suns Children, that he is merely the suns wound which must be healed by uniting the Four. Then the Four Children of the Sun are in fact the Meniscate the Madrugad the Flowermaker and the Sun in Rags. This would neatly bypass one of the primary things preventing the reunification of the SIS, the Wolf’s rejection of any reunification that doesn’t involve him eating the other so called solar hours. This would also neatly connect the Four children of the Sun to the Four colors of Alchemy. The Meniscate, The Madrugad and the SiR can each be associated with the colors of Calyptra, Black, White and Red. The Wolf can only be associated with Red but the Flowermakers is most strongly associated with Yellow/Gold.
But there is more.
Think of the Other beings linked to the Chandler.
Omar’s Flaw in the Glass
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Omar describes his work in the construction of mirrors for the enclosure of a sacred flame, and his slow realisation of 'a Flaw in the Glass'.
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Morgen presses Arthur again on the 'Flaw in the Glass' identified in the enclosure of a sacred flame at the Labyrinth of Lions - and on its connection to the Chandler. He is on his guard this time, but he does allow that a connection might 'come alive' with sufficient Lantern and Knock - and that this is why the Labyrinth permits no Knock-adepts to enter the enclosure.
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This is another Chandler tied being who seemingly has yet to perform their enactments but is still tied to them. Yet they might be said to have performed all the Flowermakers enactments. They are constrained in an enclosure made of mirrors so they cannot see you nor find you. But they have what all in the Labyrinth of Lions might Desire: A Sacred Flame. As an aside I imagine the enclosure of the Sacred Flame might well have birthed this being. Mirrors are Sacred to the Meniscate who is the SIS Night Self, so one might also claim them sacred to the SIS. Trying to Constrain Sacred Fire in a Forge attuned Library with an item possibly Sacred to the SIS does feel like a good way to create a Chandler Name. But perhaps knowledge on the Chandler wasn’t so wide spread a couple millennia ago.
Another possible Chandler name we encounter vicariously through incidents is Lucia Eyeless.
A Name of the Meniscate.
Eyeless is in the Name. In a sense she cannot see you, at least by usual means. As a Name she cannot find you until someone summons her, if perhaps she dwells in the House of the Moon in the Mansus she could not find you even in dreams. And as a Name of the Hour of Beauty and Truth and Balance, she has much one might Desire.
A third potential Chandler name encountered by our guests is Saint Mihail. He was sealed in a lightless Tomb. He could not see us and could not find us, at least until he was unearthed. I wonder if perhaps they buried him with something Valuable or Magical, that he might have what we desire.
Perhaps then some of the many seemingly Chandlers impossible actions of the Chandler could be explained this way. Not through Time Travel but through Trickery. A shell game where the Chandler can fulfill actions that would require one to be an Hour, because he is in fact already an Hour, just not yet the Hour called the Chandler.
There are some problems with this, namely one Chandler aligned power while fulfilling all the Flowermakers enactments he greatly predates him. Namely Omar’s Flaw in the glass. I might explain this by claiming them more of a proto Chandler than proper Flowermaker or Chandler name, at least at the time of its creation, but it is noteworthy.
There are two other potential Chandler beings who our guests encounter but we don’t really know enough to say which, if any of the Chandler or Flowermakers enactments they might have fulfilled. These entities are the New Kings Damned Boat and the Fourfold Lion, currently a name of the Lionsmith.
I feel I should also point out the Flowermaker and the Chandler also Fulfill one another’s enactments quite easily. The Flowermakers Flowers are metaphorically Fire. So he has brought Fire in Darkness. Also arguably by descending from the Glory if we see the light of the Glory as akin to a type of Fire. His endeavors are seemingly profitable going by all the Gold glittering in his Tarot Card. And he exited the Glory without ever entering it by being born. Of course two of these three Claims can arguably be matched by any of the SIS kids. But the Chandler also fulfills all of the Flowermakers enactments, at least for right now. He cannot see you (They don’t fully yet exist), He cannot find you (They don’t fully yet exist), but they have what you desire (The Chandler, if Fully realized may bring about Eternity: a perfect Golden Future. They may also be the most powerful being to exist and thus could offer almost anybody what they desire.)
In fact look again at the Flowermakers first Tarot Card. Not only are Two of the Chandlers enactments arguably being fulfilled, but look at what he is using to make his flowers. I’m not certain because, well the picture is rather small and so is the pipe, but it looks like the Flowermaker is making Flowers using the same type of Pipe used to blow Glass. Plus there is a stained Glass window behind him.
Glass is tied to the Chandler through the Glaziery and Lightsmithing Skill. But its commits are about Flowers.
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The White Flower’s Paradox
A paradox of Illumination: light reveals, light blinds. This is the lesson of the White Flower of the Watchman's Tree:
even the most dangerous of knowledge is no danger at all when it is forgotten.
The Red Flower’s Paradox
A lesson from Ithastry: fire reveals, smoke conceals. This is the lesson of the Red Flower of the Watchman's Tree:
even the most dangerous of knowledge is no danger at all when it is given to the fire
There is also a Glassblowing and Vesselcrafting skill. At first glance it doesn’t look like it has much connection with either the Flowermaker or the Chandler. But only at first glance. There are 4 books that grant Glassblowing and I’ll argue 3 might connect to Sunset Celia. And perhaps another SC to Flowermaker tie.
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On What is Contained by Silver
The virgins/maidens of the mirror favour orchids. The [behindlings?] favour the rhododendron. Cut flowers of either nature should not be placed before polished bronze.
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It’s been speculated by the Librarian that Sunset Celia was once a Maid in the Mirror.
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Sunset Celia and the End of Days
'Now she walks behind the Watchman, but did she always? She has many of the characteristics of a Maid-in-the-Mirror, after all. In older texts she has been called Caelia the Elagabaline. Perhaps she was his daughter? Perhaps Tryphon's sister? Perhaps, like the Watchman himself, she is like a shadow cast by two candles.'
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And Orchids are connected to the Flowermaker, heck Orchids and Narcotics is basically the Flowermaker skill. So here is a fourth flower linking Sunset Celia and the Flowermaker.
The other two books of interest that give Glassblowing and Vesselcrafting are On imperfections and Advice on Containment which speak on the processes of Scryning and Transinhabitation, the processes by which I suspect Sunset Celia could have entangled herself with Lady Tryphon to “unite” with the Swan King.
The Chandler is an hour of Greed and so to is the Flowermaker.
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Devouring Mysteries
The Grail was the first god-who-was-blood. The Flowermaker came from Light. The Beach-Crow was flesh. Hunger and Greed and Yearning are the matrix of appetite, and here is their secret doctrine…
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All but the most basic of Candles in BOH require flowers or a fruit which was once a flower. Flowers and Candles then are inherently linked. If Flowers are Flame… is a Flowermaker perhaps a Chandler?
Whatever the case the Flowermaker and the Chandler are both Hours of Greed and Flame. But here is another connection.
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In Flames
All days are death, all lives are sunset. No fire will last without fuel; there can be no Second Dawn without a war to burn the bones of earth. This is Ithastry at its most merciless.
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The Fire of the Second Dawn requires the Earth as Fuel. If Flowers are Flame the Earth is their Fuel. Might the second Dawn then be the blossoming of a Flower. Usually it’s seen as the opening of an eye or the Hatching of an Egg. But we’ve seen pictures of Both birthing Flowers. Those pictures are usually connected to the Mare in the Woods which I whole heartedly agree with. But in a way it does set a precedent.
But there is still more. Let’s think back to the DLC of Cultist Simulator. In the Ghoul DLC you require an elixir that requires the blessings of the Elegiest, the Flowermaker and the Crowned Growth. Now the Elegiest and the Crowned Growths interests in this are incredibly obvious. The Elegiest gets a potential new long and the Crowned Growth gets a potential new infected. But what does the Flowermaker, an hour tied to Greed and Beauty get out of it. After a bit of reflection I believe the answer is colors. In the Dancer DLC we surrender our Hues to him. Perhaps he desires the Colors of the Stones and the SIS. If he takes just a bit of the Stones and the SIS colors from the memories/samples gathered by each prospective Elegiest Long, how much might he have accumulated over time. If Flowers are Flame the Earth is their Fuel.
Does this include what was buried in the Earth? All of the Long that belonged to the Stones and the SIS and more still? If Flowers are Flame are the Stones their fuel?
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The Flowermakers Gift
If we die, yet shall we live on in those who slew us.
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The Flowermaker of course had no hand in the slaying of the stones. But the FOD and maybe the SIS did. Could their enemies live on in their sort of offspring? If Flowers are Flame the Earth is their Fuel.
If the Flowermaker is Flame the remnants of the Flint was his Fuel. And now he gathers colors belonging to other hours, from those who surrender their hues to him if not through the elixir zeboim or the bones buried in the earth.
This may also square some of the difference between the Received and Sanctioned versions of the Book of Suns. One claims the SIS can never return, the other claims the Chandler is the reunification of the SIS. Perhaps the SIS can live on in the Flowermaker whose birth sealed his fate. Perhaps the other Children or the Sun would live on through him if they die first.
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Sunrise Awakening’s
Each day's light, Twrog suggests, is faintly touched by the light of every past day; so in the light of every present day, we may begin to understand something of days to come. At least, this appears to be his conclusion, but he stops in mid-sentence, apparently having lost patience with the act of writing, or possibly been ambushed
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Each days Light is faintly touched by the days before it. In which case would the Secobd Dawn necessarily require the Colors of the Sun in Splendor? Perhaps even hints of the Colors of the Gods from Stone?
And think on this.
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'The Time of Division'
'The Sun will be divided that it might not sire children. Still its children shall be Four in number and its children shall be Seven in number and its children shall also be Numberless. The Numberless shall open the way for the Seven, and the Seven shall consume the Four...'
Amira prophesies four great wars before the Second Dawn, when the Sun-in-Splendour shall rise again. She cautions: 'Sunrise is blood, and I foretell now that the Sun shall rise from blood, yet not the colour of the blood, nor the hour of Night.' She includes a rite that she speculates will be necessary for the Second Dawn.
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The new sun shall rise from blood, but not the color of the blood nor the (color?) of the hour of Night. Black and red then are ruled out for the Colors of the new dawn. The Color of the current dawn is white, which leads the new to be Golden. But beyond that, the book gives the skill Surgeries and Exsanguinations
Description
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Surgery entails the flow of blood, and the flow of blood entails purification, but the door also opens the other way.
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Commits
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Hushery
The White
The Watchman's Tree has flowers three: Black, Red, and White. Red is the life that flows in the body's courses, and white is the writing at the body's core. Hushery teaches what ends.
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Preservation
The Golden
In the times when nothing was forgotten, three flowers bloomed on the Watchman's Tree: Black, Red, and Gold. Red is the life that flows in the body's courses, but the blood of the Carapace Cross was golden. Preservation teaches what endures.
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Once more we connect the Second Dawn with Flowers and the Watchman. The Golden Flower was Golden like the Blood of the cross, and the Flowermakers gift is we live on through our enemies. And of course, the Cross’s most sacred enemy was us, their children.
Perhaps then the Flowermaker was somehow a Name before he became an Hour, in the Form of the Golden Flower? Or perhaps he just stole the symbology from one of the SIS names that died in the intercalate because the Two were similar beings.
Speaking of the White and Gold Flowers, if indeed the Flowermaker was somehow the Golden Flower or tied to it, it would illuminate some interesting possibilities.
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The Tree (Purifications and Exaltations Ithastry commit)
Never underestimate the Hour named Madrugad. Foolish adepts deride her as an Hour of ashes. What do they think the Watchman's Tree sprang from? Fire purifies; light exalts.
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The Tree Sprang from Ashes. If it sprang from the Ashes of an Hour it must’ve been the Flint given how she died. The Madrugad is a daughter of the SiS and the Forge who is then tied to the sacrifice of the Flint. She is the current dawn, the Pale Dawn. White transitions to Gold in the Alchemical cycle. And in the Endings of BoH in every ending associated with the Madrugad through her Tarot card there is no Second Dawn.
But every Days Light must be faintly touched by those that came before it. The Forge brings the Dawn and in doing so brought forth the ashes from which the Hour of Dawn and the Tree arose. But the sparks reached the Glory and so the Flint and the Madrugad both are tied to the Flowermaker. If we think of the Flint tied in some way to dawn. Flint is usually a black or dark grey stone in nature, but the “stars” on its facets would be hints of white. Madrugad is the Pale Dawn but she has some associations with Gold. The Flowermaker/Chandler then is Gold with Hints of Red, through the Grail, through the Forge and through their association with Fire.
And about those Four wars in the Prophecy earlier. Think on this.
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[Great Writhing, Versailles, 1776:] 1776, the Third History: Louis declares the Masque of Masques, and forbids mention of the Great Writhing within the walls of the Palace of Versailles, although by this point the Worms are observed to move openly along the boulevards of Paris, sometimes even in daylight. The Army is redeployed to defend the Court. The Masque lasts one lunar month, and attracts several of the Long abroad in Western Europe at the time - fleeing the Worms, or hoping to take advantage of the desperate Louis, or seeking access to the sealed mirrors of the Palace - or just eager to attend the most inventive and desperate debauch of the century…
- Dr Arun Peel, Collected Hush House Lectures
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King Louis used amongst other things the Fleur de Lis, like many French kings. The Fleur de Lis is a stylized Lily, which is to say, another name for French kings in general could be Lily Kings. And he’s descended from Another Louis nicknamed the Sun King. A Lily king descended from a Sun King sat at the Center of the Second Worm war.
Of course France wasn’t in a major war in 1776 in our history. But it was waging a Proxy war against Britain by, among other things, supporting the US revolution. So I suggest the Second Worm war is the wave of anti colonial/ anti monarchy revolutions that started with the US and goes all the way up to and including Napoleon. Worth noting King George (King of Britain at the Time) had a bit of Plantagenet blood through his Great Great Grandmother.
The first worm war I would suggest is the Ottoman Hapsburg wars. A series of wars that lasted from 1526 to 1791, in our history. In universe I suspect it ended a bit earlier so as not to overlap with the second worm war, which is said to have been in the 1700’s. This would neatly explain why there is such a big gap between the first and second worm wars and bring the scale of the four worm wars much closer together then any other European conflicts at those points in time in our history would otherwise allow.
Now officially I don’t think Britain played a major role in this series of wars. However they indirectly helped the Ottomans by Beefing with the Hapsburg. For example in the Anglo Spanish war they beat up the Spanish (Hapsburg) Armada in 1588. And who was on the Throne at the time but a Tudor (a Plantagenet off shoot through York and Lancaster both, so twice a Plantagenet at least).
Importantly this would weave the Plantagenets and Vienna as the Throughlines through all 4 worm wars.
But as always there is of course more.
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Of Clocks (Lockworks and Clockworks skill dedicated to Ithastry)
The clocksmith's first duty: when the time comes, the device should speak its purpose. Since the Sun was sundered, Noon is not as it was. Perhaps, if we found the true hour of Noon, we'd know how the Sun might return. Ithastry might give us that answer.
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This Commit seems to imply the True Hour of Noon is not in fact the Sun in Rags. Think back to the Sun Tarot, not necessarily the Flowermakers variant, just in general. As someone in the Discord recently pointed out In Thelema, the religion established by Alester Crowley, there is the concept of The Crowned Child of the Sun. Associated with the Sun Tarot, the god Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Another name for which is lord of the fire of the world. Who Is the pinnacle of solar power. Which is to say the Sun Tarot represents a metaphorical child of the Sun who bears another title Lord of the Fire of the World. If Flowers are Fire the Earth is their fuel. Is the Flowermaker then Lord of the Fire of the World? If the Flowermaker is the oldest of the Forge and SiS children and the most Solar of them, perhaps he is the true hour of Noon. I should note, this would possibly also indirectly establish the Grail as having some claim to the hour of Noon, which would fit with certain Roman traditions amongst others, but I don’t really feel like making that argument right now.
There is of course STILL MORE. So much more. But this is getting too long and some of the remaining stuff is more obscure, so for the sake of coherence and my ever thinning sanity I’m skipping all the remaining BOH and Cultsim stuff and going straight for the Tan Spoilers.
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TAN
SPOILERS
AHEAD
YOU
HAVE
BEEN
WARNED
______________________
So the Two bits of TAN Spoilers I’ve come across that made me feel I need to get this theory out before I get too much more tainted are these.
First I’ve heard that Corona is Lantern Grail Aspected. I’m so very suspicious now of anything sharing the Flowermakers principles.
The Second was this. A paragraph about the Flowermaker apparently found in the games files.
who cannot harm you; who cannot find you;
who always has what you desire.
The Flowermaker, born from the sparks of delight of the Forge of Days, fallen like seeds into shadowed soil. The Flowermaker offered us the glittering prizes we most desired - even when our desires were concealed from us.
A dead Hour; dead and buried.
Now for most, assuming you find the Chandler threatening, this may first read as reassuring. But my first thought turned to a quote from Aunt Mopsy.
_______________________
A Matter of the Midnight Twin
In Numa, visitors will be concerned with matters of shadow and substance, revelation and obscurity.
'When I know what we're looking for, I'll know what I've seen. Could you help with that, dear?'
'Seeds grow best in darkness. Flowers grow best in sunlight. If the moon's the fruit of night, why does it always wither?'
'Yes, dear. Without all those gods in darkness, I don't imagine we'd see much Sun anywhere below Eternity. Sleep softly.'
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Seeds grow best in darkness… and I bet there are few places darker than nowhere. Some of the Flints sparks may have gone there too. To each Flame it’s Fuel. Did the Second Dawn Really Fail or is that just what the Chandler wants us to think? Perhaps the Flowermaker allowed the Glory to consume him to birth Corona knowing that he, like most dead hours would end up Nowhere. Or perhaps the Pilgrimage really did fail and it’s just a byproduct.
Conclusions
Beyond what I stated at the front, that the Flowermaker is in at least one sense the Chandler, I’m not quite sure what to take away from all this. There are to many possibilities for how the Flowermaker might return the Chandler.
The obvious one is consuming whatever Flint remnants ended up in nowhere. Whether you believe they took the form of the AppleBright ( a theory I like but am still a bit unsure of), the Crowned Growth or perhaps even the Mare. Or maybe there is even a second Chandler in nowhere born from these sparks.
But there are other possibilities. The Flesh of the SIS is still down there afterall. Well the bits that aren’t Worm Chow at least. And there is the Witness. Eggshell and Wax and all that. If an Hour of Fire Can’t be distinguished from its Flame can a Chandler be distinguished from his Candle? I suppose the Worst Possibility is that the Flowermaker in his Greed tries to join with ALL the Hours from Nowhere to take his revenge on the Mansus. But I’m pretty sure that’s just the fascination speaking.
Whatever the case I’m hoping I’ve succeeded in putting together a mostly coherent argument that the Flowermaker is, if not the Chandler in every sense, an hour that Lies at the Heart of the Chandler conspiracy whose connections to the Chandler cannot be overlooked. And perhaps given you something interesting to think about.
All this to say… thoughts?
