Another Mastermind of the Night of the Black Knives (A Discussion on Lore)

Another Mastermind of the Night of the Black Knives (A Discussion on Lore)

I’ve been thinking about the lore of the Night of the Black Knives all evening, and now I can't sleep. So, while I have a flash of inspiration, I'm writing down this jumble of analysis.

Because the lore is incomplete, as someone who wants to write a novel, I have no choice but to fill in the story's gaps myself.

A warning before you read: Please don't treat this as a completely serious or flawless theory. I only have a few clues to support this speculation, and none of them are decisive.

I'm writing this late at night, so the order of evidence might be chaotic. If you can, I hope you'll read it all the way through before going back to comment on specific paragraphs and contribute your own ideas. Let's brainstorm. (Whatever you do, please don't attack me. I'm very fragile, so please be gentle.)

First off, many of the old theories are no longer viable, including the idea that killing Godwyn was actually beneficial to him.

These speculations were essentially extensions built upon the theory that Marika was involved in the Night of the Black Knives.

Now that the DLC has fleshed out Marika's character, explaining her personality and image before she became a god, some of the old theories need to be revised.

When we talk about the Night of the Black Knives, we first need to establish one thing: Ranni was a mastermind, but she certainly wasn't the only one.

Even though she's my waifu, and she is an ambitious person, she clearly didn't have that kind of power.

For instance, where did Ranni get the Black Knife Assassins?

The text only says they are Numen, Marika's kin. However, we also know that the Numen are not uncommon in the Lands Between. Descendants of the Eternal City pop up here and there, quite a few of them, so we can't just assume all Numen assassins belong to Marika's faction.

Radagon, as her other half, is a Numen, right? The Carian Royal Family are also descendants of the Eternal City (their crest is just a modified version of the Eternal City's). The demigods are all of Numen blood, even if you don't count the Carian lineage, since they were all born of Marika or Radagon.

This means the Black Knife Assassins could have originally been a special unit of the Numen people. Their armor and invisibility could also be said to come from the Nox Dynasty (the "formless" aspect).

The Black Knife Assassins likely had several factions or masters.

For example, Marika had some, and they are still on guard duty. And perhaps the Two Fingers that Ranni wanted to kill also controlled a group.

So where else could the rest be? That's right, in Ordina, Liturgical Town, just outside Miquella's Haligtree.

I'll start with a very, very bold hypothesis. Of course, I might not even write this into my novel, so you can just look at the story flow and analysis for now.

My conclusion: The other party involved in the Night of the Black Knives was Miquella, while Marika most likely had no involvement at all.

Before the DLC, everyone thought Godwyn was Miquella's chosen one. But the DLC clearly tells us that Radahn was actually Miquella's chosen king, and this had been the case since childhood without change.

This being the case, Godwyn's position becomes very awkward.

In terms of both accomplishments and legitimacy, he was the prime candidate to become king if the Shattering hadn't broken out.

As long as Miquella wanted to establish his own Order—whether to fulfill his own ambitions or to cure Malenia—he needed to follow his own path.

But would "Godwyn the Golden" allow the Haligtree, or even Miquella's Order in the DLC, to replace the Erdtree?

From the main game's plot, we know that Miquella wished for Godwyn to have a proper death, but this doesn't clear him of suspicion.

Miquella is a character who could abandon the half of himself that represented his humanity. For the sake of his goals, what's killing a brother and friend?

And a body with a soul is gone—isn't that better than the tattered corpse Mohg ended up with?

For Miquella, it wasn't a problem at all that Ranni used a part of Destined Death. In fact, you could say this is where their interests perfectly aligned.

Ranni could slay her flesh to escape the Two Fingers, and Miquella could acquire a body. (Miquella surely wouldn't have revealed his plan to betray Radahn.)

Unfortunately, the Erdtree showed too much "care" for Godwyn, twisting him into a grotesque form.

To this, Miquella expressed his regrets for this brother and friend: (If I had known it would turn out like this,) I would have wished for him to have a proper death.

But the goal of removing an obstacle was still achieved.

It's perfectly reasonable if his regret wasn't for Godwyn's death itself, but merely because this method of death caused Godwyn pain.

And on the point of killing Godwyn, Ranni and Miquella's goals were aligned, as long as they both intended to forge their own Orders.

As for stealing Destined Death, assuming none of the demigods could defeat the Black Blade, there currently seem to be only three methods.

First, the wine from the scrapped content that could make even demigods drunk.

Let's not discuss cut content for now, though I might add it to my novel. And this item is related to Trina, requiring Trina's Crystal Ball to collect the Fevor's Cookbook.

Second, Miquella's bewitchment.

The Black Blade doesn't seem to have been bewitched. Pass.

The last method is Trina's sleep inducement. All three methods are related to Miquella or Trina. I really can't find any others.

Trina's nectar, even when merely prepared by an outsider like Hyetta, possessed the power to put an ancient dragon to sleep. If Trina herself were to use it, temporarily hypnotizing the Black Blade wouldn't be out of the question.

Another key point is that the mist Ranni uses to put Kalé to sleep at the beginning of the game is likely related to Trina's techniques. As a collaborator or friend, she might have learned a thing or two. After all, the only sleep-related abilities in the game belong to Trina.

Furthermore, is it possible that a Bloodhound Knight, who is said to never betray their chosen master (unlike Wolf Bro, who was controlled by the Two Fingers), was bewitched by Miquella and planted as a spy in Ranni's service?

When the betrayal was discovered, neither Ranni nor Iji stopped Blaidd, which confirms the betrayal happened. But perhaps Iji, remembering their past, felt that imprisonment was enough.

With Miquella's bewitching ability, it's entirely possible for a Bloodhound Knight who had already chosen a master to switch their allegiance to him.

Next, the Spirit Calling Bell Ranni gives us is said to have been entrusted to her by Torrent's former master. It now seems that Miquella was Torrent's former master, and Miquella can indeed summon spirits. Just ask Radahn, right?

As for Torrent being brought by Melina, I guess Miquella abandoned both the little workhorse and Trina, so they were delivered by Melina and Ranni respectively.

The timeline is a bit strange, but that's not a major issue, given that the DLC contains text that completely messes up the timeline, like stating that the boar knight and Messmer are both Radahn's elder brothers.

So let's set the timeline issue aside for now and wait for the lore masters to sort it out.

Ranni abandoning her flesh was to escape the control of the Two Fingers, which didn't affect Miquella's plan at all.

We don't know the situation with Miquella's Two Fingers, so we won't discuss it for now. But in the most terrifying scenario, it's possible Miquella's Two Fingers had already been bewitched.

And with his full plan not revealed, Ranni, Radahn, and Rykard posed no threat in Miquella's eyes.

Ranni and Radahn were already considered part of Miquella's faction. With two of the three siblings in the same camp, what would Rykard say?

Rykard: ...You know what I'm going to say. What can I say! Together!

Besides, during the Shattering, the Carian forces were likely trying to figure out how to put Ranni, Radahn, or Rykard on the throne. Who would have thought that Radahn had been targeted by Miquella?

One could even wonder if Rykard's rebellion against the Greater Will had something to do with discovering the "Finger Mother" (though this is unlikely for Rykard, it could be explained if Ranni wasn't in her manor, since it's full of Fingercreepers).

During the Shattering, the Haligtree and the Carian forces were in a full alliance, jointly attacking the Royal Capital, Leyndell.

In terms of success, they were on the verge of victory.

The only variables that emerged were the two Omen brothers. One held off the attack, while the other directly kidnapped Miquella himself.

Although Miquella immediately bewitched Mohg, it genuinely hindered the progress of his plans.

From here, the story can connect with the DLC.

However, the biggest problem with this theory is that it can't explain why Marika suddenly shattered the Ring.

The only explanation I can think of here is that at the moment of Godwyn's death, Marika suddenly discovered that the "Greater Will" was actually the "Finger Mother."

Or perhaps Radagon did something?

But these are not the main points for now. Let's wait for the lore experts to analyze it and stick to discussing the Night of the Black Knives.

If you don't find the direct reasoning very persuasive, we can also try to work backward.

Who were the characters capable of participating in the Night of the Black Knives? It's basically all the demigods, plus Marika and Radagon.

First, Radahn and Rykard never showed any connection to the Black Knives, nor were they master schemers (Rykard, at least, properly gathered an army for war, and was even the most vocal about it).

Messmer and Melina, as well as Morgott and Mohg, were all out of contact.

Marika, based on the personality shown in the DLC, doesn't seem like she would strike. She gave her blessing even to an abandoned child like Messmer and merely sealed him away with the Land of Shadow. If she really wanted to kill, she would have killed Messmer first.

Her own people were massacred by the Hornsent, and she gave birth to two Omen without killing them on the spot. Marika's temperament is actually quite gentle. Looking at Godfrey's attitude toward Morgott, although he was locked in the sewers, he was still treated as a son.

Godwyn, pass. The argument that Godwyn benefited from his death doesn't hold up at all. Death had already been removed from the Golden Order. He just needed to be the Golden heir, no reason for any of this.

Radagon, with his mind full of the Golden Order, would have been more than happy to have Godwyn as the heir to the Golden Order.

The only ones left are the two siblings of the Haligtree.

Only they had Black Knives under their command at the time, and they also had both the reason and the motive to be involved.

And that's it for now. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing late at night. I feel like I've used all the clues I can find, so it's time for bed. _( "∠)_