Names are not simply powerful spirits
At first it seems like Names are powerful entities, the spirits who learning their individual name is worth your time. But the thing is, the occult terminology is often incredibly literal. King Crucible is a Name of the Forge of Days... meaning that King Crucible is, in fact, an aspect or avatar of the Forge of Days. Becoming a name means literally becoming part of an Hour. The Malachite is another face of The Witch-And-Sister
Based on the strange situation where The Mare-In-The-Tree "has sometimes been the Witch's sister" and that she and The Malachite have their forbidden affair much as The Twins did when they were mortal.- Expanded theory: The Witch's another form (the Malachite) is a Wood-Hour, the Sister's another form (the Mare-in-the-Tree) is a Nowhere-Hour, and one of the things that the Twins represent is unity between Nowhere and this world. This will give a new meaning to "the Twins unite, the Horned-Axe divides." The Horned-Axe is the deity in charge of holding off the Gods-from-Nowhere; maybe the Twins have the opposite function.
Applebright is another name of The Malachite
The Ring Yew is renewed, and Applebright promises that the apostle who completes the Vitulation will see life again. Also the name is thematic and has the same aspects as The Twins. Douglas isn't Long, but he is something strange
After all, there are infinite Douglases (Douglii?) that spawn opposing you as Weary Detectives. Obviously Douglas isn't Long but he is Deep: something about the Histories ensures that he always exists in some form. Much like the player character is always an Alternate Self, even when they are playing Apostle. In the Third History the Worms were stopped by the Hooded Princes
We know that in the Third History the Worms took Europe, including Vienna, but there are supplemental materials that come from the Third History past the end of the Worm War. This implies that England managed to hold out, and that other powers across the world united to contain them. The Hooded Princes would be especially effective, considering that they have used the powers of the Wood against armies in the past. Kerisham keeps shifting between Histories
The reason Kerisham can only sometimes be found, despite being a place like Vienna that always exists, is that for some reason which History it was founded in keeps shifting. Sometimes it exists in the player's, but the rest of the time it is Ret-Gone. In Vienna you can reach other Histories, including the parts of it where the Worms won
Vienna is always Vienna. But it's different than Kerisham, because all the Viennas are connected. There are sealed doors throughout the city, marked with the sign of the Horned Axe. If you manage to cross them you wind up in the parts of Vienna that exist in The Third History, which is a very unpleasant fate. Escape is unlikely. The Colonel taught The Lionsmith The Great Secret of Betrayal
This is a simple guess based upon three crucial factors. First, The Colonel has a Lantern affinity and thus the associations with knowledge and it's consequence. Second, that the person who told the secret is only described as a king of some sort. Both anonymous and a role that is softly associated with The Colonel. Lastly and most importantly is that this created a perfect rival who could not usurp his hourhood. The Lionsmith is defined by his rebellion and will always be so. Thus it becomes ever more difficult to remove them as they are both intertwined into the Mansus and it's histories. The treaty between the three goddesses was a win for all of them
The Grail "destroyed" the Ring-Yew's lover Thunderskin, which satisfied the Horned-Axe as a restitution for the Lithomachy. The Grail herself benefited from it, as she got him to be reborn as a Heart-hour under her thumb. So why did the Ring-Yew agree to it? Maybe she was afraid of the Crime of the Sky and wanted Thunderskin dead (similarly to the Forge's motivation in the Intercalate). Victor and Rose don't actually follow an Edge Hour
Instead they are mostly dedicated to The Twins. Their work with the Colonel and Lionsmith is more of a professional relationship. The Colonel is fine with such a mercenary arrangement as long as it is held to. The Lionsmith isn’t… but he finds the idea of them against the world in an unnatural union too charming to hold it against them. The Exile is responsible for WWII
When you complete an Exile ascension with the Wolf, Colonel or Lionsmith, it seems to imply that you will bring about the end of the world, but given that the game is implied to take place in the 1920s then the destruction and fire engulfing the whole world mentioned in the endings isn't a fictional Ragnorok situation, it's symbolic of the world entering the 2nd world war.- With the Wolf Divided, specifically, sponsoring the Axis in general and the Nazis specifically as an embodiment of nihilistic destruction and hate.
- The Second Dawn is prophesied to come after three great wars. World Wars I and II almost certainly qualify. If the War of the Roads also count, the Second Dawn could come with the war's nuclear end. Especially since the site of the first nuclear blast is Trinity - for the Sun In Rags, Meniscate, and Madrugad - and ends in the ultimate defeat of the Axis sponsored by the Wolf Divided.
