As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Jossed thoroughly.
- ... And the Jaal'darya held onto it in case Snadhya ever turned on them, essentially meaning that somewhere there's a third Sarghress sister out there.
- Alternatively it was a male...and that was why it was deemed a failure...
- Unless either Snadhya or Mel had a Y chromosome to throw into the mix or someone else added one (assuming drow biology works the same way) that would be next to impossible. Though maybe questioning the mechanics of Homosexual Reproduction is a bit of a lost cause...
- But wasn't Mel'arnach's egg used for only the second attempt? She recalls that Wi'am Val'Jaal'Daarya was the one who approached her for one of her eggs in exchange for a biogolem. Maybe Jaal'Daarya science is different but unless the egg split in vitro you need one egg for one child. I thought for the first attempt it was implied that Snadhya'runes had used another potential "father".
- This was discussed on the forums and the consensus was that she probably didn't take just one egg (it's not like Mel would have been in a position to notice the number taken), or that, again, the biology is different. It's also not specified what order the events happened in and if the first attempt did use Mel's DNA for it.
- This page mentions rumors about what the Jaal'Daarya do with their sons. Either drow biology is different, or it's not well-known enough for people to realize the crippling flaw in that theory.
- Unless either Snadhya or Mel had a Y chromosome to throw into the mix or someone else added one (assuming drow biology works the same way) that would be next to impossible. Though maybe questioning the mechanics of Homosexual Reproduction is a bit of a lost cause...
- The knight who fought demons until she became "a nether infested husk, guided only by her unbreakable will."
- Maybe she'll be able to open doors a bit later...or they'll free her when things get REALLY bad. Or someone tries to deliver some bodies...
- And, at some point, she'll call it 'my body'.
- Because when he takes it off at least one of the bystanders think so she is blushing and the others that react are all women not counting the only male who is preoccupied by something else.
- Sara'hilana Balvhakara seems rather taken by Baliir as well.
- Daydream isn't usually Canon, but considering we have a page with Diva'ratrika recalling her childhood and friends with a young Ash'waren corresponding to Faen, her Moon's Age pet feral to Melodia and her friend Blossom to Ariel. The implications are that each current character has something to do with the person Diva'ratrika is remembering-some type of ancestral resemblance etc. See Chapter 22 page 23
- Alternately, it's Zhor who's related to Blossom. He was a dark elf, after all.
- Blossom's red hair correlates more with the Sarghress. Zhor in the Daydream story originally had white hair as a Dark Elf. Although the above theory could be a possible Red Herring, as the character Naj'sera (one of the dark elven queens in Sharess' time) in personality is most like Quain'tana and was my original thought for who could be Quain'tana's ancestor.
- Blossom is actually a daughter of Haiarhyn, another dokkalfar queen.
- While its true that Blossom is canonically Haiarhyn's daughter, what the OP was suggesting was that Blossom herself might be the mother or grandmother of Quain'tana, based on the flashback from Diva/Liriel's transformation scenes. The three figures present, Ariel, Faen and Melodia are seen by Diva/Liriel as younger versions of Ash'waren, Blossom and Nana (the name of the feral Diva adopts in Goddess Knight). If however, the reader is simply going by eye and was only familiar with Daydream, judging by the personalities of the Dark Elf queens shown in the story, one could be forgiven for thinking that Naj'sera◊(far left, fourth panel) would be the one who's possibly an ancestor of Quain'tana.
- Word of God is that the Flower Queen seen in this story is Blossom, so depending on how this story unfolds this might or might not be Jossed.
Sure Nyo'ka makes herself suspicious after she killed one of the two Scourges and covered for the other, who rat out her partner in crime. But she didn't do it because she was involved in the assassination. It's because she can't afford to lose too many members of her group. After all there is a tough competition among the summoners and she needs every follower she can gather.
- From what I understand, all pure-blood Drow are born with white hair as a result of the whole biological shift caused by the caverns they live in. I think dyeing your hair in 'family colours' is just a ubiquitous tradition.
- For the most part the above is true, but second generation drow (i.e. the first drow born in the underworld to Dark Elf parents) tend to keep some hair color, only losing it after several generations. For example because their mother was a Dark Elf, all five of Diva'ratrika's daughters would be considered Second Generation drow, but only the first two display typical Second Generation traits, such as color in their hair. Snadhya'rune's hair color is natural and the same thing appears to be the case with Sarv'swati. Sometimes Second Generation traits can pop up in later generations of drow (e.g. with Third Generation drow like Mel'arnach, whose hair alternates between white and very light purple. It seems even the comic artists can't seem to decide which color she's meant to have. References to both colors have appeared in the main story.)
- On the other hand, now that it seems to have been decided that Sarv'swati's hair is actually purple with black tinted fringe and sidelocks, maybe Diva'ratrika had Sarv'swati with a member of the Beldrobbaen. It could be Sil'lice who's half Sullisin'rune instead, HEH HEH.
- That would add a whole 'nother layer to some of Mel's fake!Psycho Lesbian behavior...
- OR the father was actually Ashu'athama Sharen in a drunken one night stand. Quain'tana is so ashamed of this she has entirely wiped out the incident from her mind.
- God, if that's true, then the Sharen/Sarghress family tree is even more twisted than we thought...
- Take a Third Option: Maybe it was actually Rosof. Its not been specifically stated when Mel'arnach and Kel'noz were born and whether it was before the Sarghress became a Val clan or after.
- It actually has been said that when the twins were born the Sarghress weren't yet a Val clan, and it's been implied that they were already alive by the time Quain invaded Machike.
- After re-reading some of the earlier chapters, its also possible that both Mel'arnach's and Ariel's shapeshifting could come from a Beldrobbaen ancestor/mate of Quain'tana? Mel'arnach in Chapter 7 (?) when she shapeshifts to help Ariel looks similar to the Beldrobbaen manipulation of light and shadow by Waes'soloth and Naal'suul.
- The Daydream story about Mel and Snadhya's meeting implies that Khaless and Mel might be distantly related, since pre-possession Khaless had very similar abilities.
- As adults their ears grow to surprising lengths and unless its just how Kern likes his fae biology to work there is no reason why this should be the case. Most elves in fiction have their ears grow (albeit slanted) upwards rather than outwards. Its also surprising that during battles you never see drow or elves going for the ears they just seem to randomly be there. I'm guessing that there is some probable oomox going on here...
- There is a wallpaper of Mel and Snadhya where Mel is biting her ear, so this might actually be canon... not to mention that Mel nibbles on Ariel's and this later gets a call back...
- They also might indicate gender. Female drow do tend have shorter and thicker ears than male drow IIRC.
- Here is another page which is probably more conclusive than the previous link 19.10.2011
- If they turn out not to be erogenous zones, they certainly help to indicate the age range of characters. Adult drow (both drowussu and drowolath) have extremely long, outwardly extended ears, child drow have rounded, slightly upward slanting ears, teenage/middle youth drow have longer ears than child drow but not to the extent of the adults and are somewhat rounder in the face like child drow and unlike adult drow.
- It's also possible that fae ears keep growing, just check out Lioshi's ears, they're absolutely massive.
- Thus confirming that drow and elf ears are useful indicators of a character's age range; i.e. child, teen, young adult, old circa second generation aged adults etc.
- There is a wallpaper of Mel and Snadhya where Mel is biting her ear, so this might actually be canon... not to mention that Mel nibbles on Ariel's and this later gets a call back...
- So far there hasn't been a sign that Mel would leave Snadhya's side. If Kalki's going to betray her, she has to do it alone.
- Mind you, every time Snadhya has asked Mel'arnach to join her in her activities, Mel has either avoided the question or outright declined. This◊ has◊ happened◊ three times as of now. Maybe she secretly doubts Snadhya'rune's intentions?
- Even if the above doesn't happen, there's a good chance that Snadhya and Mel will fall out eventually, since its been stated by Mel that her desire is to live free on the surface and give birth to her future children there. Snadhya's main desire is to have "drow ruled by drow" and that means staying underground, unless she finds a way for drow children to be born overground.
- Jossed; Chrys'tel is now the overseer and spokesperson for Zala'ess. Shinae showed up in the main comic as a member of the Sharen-Nega loyalists' faction. She also gave birth to a stillborn, demon-corrupted baby. Gailen Val'Nal'Sarkoth is her mate. Whether Shinae betrays Chrys'tel after chapter 34 is yet to be seen.
- Makes sense. Especially since it's implied that Snadhya uses Orthorbbae as a recruiting ground and would know that some clans wouldn't accept tainted members.
- Confirmed by the appearances of Yuh'le and Cy'ril Illhar'dro in Chapter 44.
- Jossed by this page.
- Maybe not so Jossed, depending on whatever the hell happened to Shinae's baby.
- Whilst tainted female drow may have trouble giving birth to live young, was the same ever suggested for male drow with the Snadhya'rune's faulty taint? Since they just provide the sperm and do not carry the young, if they mated with an untainted female would the offspring be safe?
- Semi confirmed here with Sarnel, since their parents tried to set them up over the timeskip, but they decided to be Just Friends.
- Does anyone see something between Ariel and her squad leader Turgeis?
- The way Mana works is very similar to the Khala (I will admit that Protoss are more akin to reptiles than mammals, however). Maybe Fae are like the Protoss eqivalent of an Ourang-Outan.
- Pretty much confirmed as of this page, since that's Sal'bara, one of the proteges. Then we also see Yuh'le◊ later in-story.
- Further confirmed by the appearances of Tanavya and Elham. And both are pretty high ranked apparently.
- Jossed, and though he has returned, he's even worse than tainted, and to quote many, many people on the site forums, he's a DOUCHE.
- They know about her making summons out of teachers at Orthobbae and about her recruiting for Nidraa'chal members at Orthobbae, as well as her faulty seeds, and this is why they have resorted to extremism against all tainted, to throw her off the trail. If they appear to be indiscriminate when targeting tainted individuals they can detect actual Nidraa'chal agents within their target groups without being spotted.
- They also knew that the Dark Elves would eventually leave the surface for the underground due to the demon attacks, by using their farsight skills and the judicators (really Light Elves) are doing all they can to keep the drow underground permanently. This is also why they disapprove of half breed drowussu/drowolaths because the hybrids would hinder their plans for the vanir/light elves to return to power and subjugate their remaining enemies.
- Fridge Brilliance, in the new pages added to Chapter 9 in which we see how Chry'stel first met Shinae, the story Zala'ess may have been referring to could well be to Diva'ratrika's sixth daughter who was weak and could not survive without her protector twin.
- Also as seen in the penultimate WMG below, this daughter may have been the Sharen Val assassinated by the Val'Chaitoc clan.
- It's since been revealed by Kern via livestream that Diva did not just have 6 daughters and 1 son like shown, but they are the only ones to survive to adulthood or haven't died before the story began.
- Seemingly confirmed by Chapter 36. Word of God reveals that Lulianne is now completely taken over by Khaless.
- However the Lulianne personality seems to be influencing Khaless's actions. It remains to be seen if this will reveal that she has her own plans or if the Lulianne/Khaless sides will remain in conflict.
- Related to the above WMG, Snadhya'rune didn't just have Zhor returned to a new Dark Elf body for the fun of it. Perhaps she's hoping that he will provide a distraction for Mel'arnach whilst she is away plotting with her allies in Felde for her powerplay. If she gets them to mate and produce healthy offspring with unique talents then that would just be a bonus....
- Or she could be the daughter of Balsii...
- Probably not, or at least not publically. Sandaur seemed pretty sure that she would help him protect Nega'fanae, and if she was Balsii's daughter he probably wouldn't have expected her to help him. Plus it's implied she's Chelian-born since she has the Chelian skintone, and Balsii's attitude is such that she probably wouldn't go to Chel at all if she can help it.
A massive stab wound rendered Quain'tana sterile and barren. Seen here◊, here◊ and now here◊, the context seems to point to something beyond just Ariel. What else would Quain'tana want that Mel'arnach has?
- People are convinced that Quain'tana just wants even more potential heirs, in case Ariel dies or fails.
- Discordia. Discordia is said to be a shard of a powerful Demon God from the end of the Moon Age. And the picture of the Demon God includes a Suspiciously Specific Denial footnote saying that we're seeing Kiel's imagination, not how it really looks.
- Discordia's Old Enemy. That is, the demon Sene'kha wanted to summon using Discordia as bait. Who else could have destroyed the Demon God Discordia came from if not Sharess?
- Khaless. She is the most intelligent and poweful demon yet seen, and her shadow form's eyes resemble the markings on Sharess' forehead.
- Naal's Seed. Demon!Naal absorbed the Vel'Cahal doll, just like Sharess absorbed the spirit of the Vel'Cahal in Goddess Knight.
- Sha'sana's Seed. This one was mentioned above. Sha'sana plans to bring Sharess back. Maybe when she calls herself the last caretaker of Sharess' legacy, she's not just talking about Sharess' body...
- Both were using each other as a means to an end, when Sha'sana says that demons rarely go to plan, she refers to Khaless having her own agenda whilst seeming subservient to Snadhya'rune. The demon's plan is to bring more of its kind to the drow world and is using tainting as a way to access vessels for its demon counterparts. When the faulty seeds start to go haywire and Snadhya'rune makes her claim for Empresshood, Khaless will completely absorb her former twin.
- As good a soldier as she was, the real reason she got on so well with Quain'tana was because her latent empathy helped soften her mother's attitude towards her far more than otherwise. Her minor empathic abilities also helped her to be a good leader to her Fallen Legion troops.
- In a flashback, Kiel says that she talks to the audience. This was chronologically the earliest we've seen her do that. It's possible that she was talking to the camera for a later flashback. A few other possibilities:
- The author was watching her, but didn't actually put that part on the website
- Kiel is being watched by more than one person. The others might just not be making a webcomic of it, or they might be in another universe writing their own version of Drowtales.
- Kiel really is just talking to an imaginary friend, and the camera just moves where it is because it's the best view, like it did when she was actually talking to Naal.
- Kiel's childhood has been written about in the members only section, and I just don't know about it because I'm not a member.
- Jossed perhaps by Chapter 32. Naal was possessed by a glutton demon, demons which aren't considered as sentient as higher level demons such as Vel'akar like Umpus and Khaless. This is possibly why something of her still seems to exist and rationalise as if still a drow.
- Then we have the character of Zannah Sarghress- a drowussu/drowolath hybrid. Her mother was a Kyorl'solenurn Warden and her father was a Sullisin'rune nobleman. However she can apparently pass well enough for a drowussu that people don't notice- she got warden training and the symbol for this put onto her forehead. Yet she has a brownish skintone and straight falling hair, unlike the grayish skintone and curly/wavy falling hair of most drowussu. Zannah seems to lend credence to the idea that despite their cultural differences, Sullisin'rune are more closely related to drowussu and Light Elves than first thought.
- There's also the fact that blond/e hair (as in yellow, not white) is not a color commonly seen amongst drowolath. Its more of a drowussu trait. The only drowolath characters seen possessing this hair color naturally are Ash'mita Val'Sullisin'rune and Jiaan Sharen (note: their eyebrows are also colored blond/e unlike characters like Nishi'kanta Val'Sharen and her descendants who only dye their hair blond/e as shown by their eyebrows not matching their hair color). We don't even know if Jiaan is actually a Sharen by heritage or from adoption by way of being Yami'ni's mate.
- Jossed. She's still in Chel.
- Confirmed in chapter 46.
- It's my theory that Diva's sixth daughter was the Sharen Val assassinated supposedly by the Val'Chaitoc clan. And if her name was indeed Sae'ryne, then she may well have been the sister Sil'lice was closest to (or perhaps even her biological twin) and named one of her daughters after her.
- Originally suggested on the forums, but the whole "third eye" thing seems pretty fishy, and she's implied to have spent most of her time at Orthorbbae, aka Snadhya's Nidraa'chal recruiting ground. Add to that this ominous scene and there's a decent chance she's up to something.
- Though you have to remember that the drowussu section of Orthobbae is segregated from the mainstream Orthobbae community and given Snadhya'rune's public penchant for tainting students its unlikely that she and Vala'drielle would have seen eye to eye on almost anything.
- At least partially confirmed as of this page that Vala and Snadhya'rune are at the very least friendly with each other.
- The Daydream story, "Beyond the Veil," is non-canonical, but it may give hints about the dimension where most of Drowtales' demons come from. (After all, it presents a possible explanation for Fame's goat demons.) In this world called Elysia, Sharess' soul was fused with the Vel'Cahal's, and that of Elysia's goddess A'angha. This unstable fusion fragmented into several pieces. The stronger shards ended up devouring the weaker ones, and by the time of the story only a few sentient shards remain. Sha'sana is closest in memory and personality to Sharess. The Phoenix Queen is most like A'angha. The Minister of Songs, Huren, has a dragon-shard for an ancestor (who is afraid of the Vel'Cahal). And the Phoenix Emissary is most like the Vel'Cahal. The emissary proved to be evil and corrupted; he had killed and eaten the Phoenix Queen after she gave birth to their daughter. He intended to eat the dragon-shard as well when Huren summoned it to help Sha'sana's queendom. Sha'sana the shard, seeing the damage Vel'Cahal wrought, was forced to banish the emissary's soul to Chel. This demon later infected a drow, who was later captured by Kyorls. The vel'akar ended up telling the story to a Kyorl, while pretending to be one of Sha'sana's overseers (who the emissary actually killed). This demon eventually escaped the Kyorls, and it began its campaign of absorbing souls.
- ...is that it's impossible to consistently tell girls from guys. It's too awkward to ask people, so you just have to learn to stop caring.
- Or that it's their nature's way of controlling the drow population. If drow have a 50/50 chance of having a lover from the same or different gender then there is a 50/50 equal probability of getting or not getting pregnant. When drow do not want pregnancy to occur they take a lover of the same sex.
- Purely for the purposes of Dramatic Irony, when Quain hears that Mel has run off (again) she'll comment on this.
- See the WMG further up the page that Khaless will betray Snadhya'rune, and then add in Lulianne's apparent refusal or inability to reveal she's really Khaless, combined with Snadhya'rune's reaction, and this might be the first time something hasn't gone according to Snadhya's plans. Add to that the fact that some fans are still holding out hope that Lulianne had enough willpower to not be completely taken over and there's a lot of interesting potential.
- Because she seems to be enjoying a simple combing session entirely too much, and she's already proven her hair to be prehensile at times.
- It would be very fitting.
- Mind you this is less a WMG as most events in the main story seem to be leading up to this, especially as Snadhya'rune has now officially made her powerplay.
- No wonder she "snapped" after the original Khaless's accident. From reading main-story flashbacks, the Mel X Snadhya Daydream story and the general way she speaks to and refers to Khaless, there is plenty of fuel for this WMG.
- It's possible, given his age. Maybe this is why he knows about Snadhya's mental instability, apparently directly from Diva, who likely wouldn't share her doubts about her daughter with just anyone. And it's been confirmed by the man himself that he fathered at least two drow children before Ariel.
- And when you think the family tree couldn't get anymore twisted...
- Could also explain just how he ended up imprisoned in Orthorbbae where Mel found him, since if he was made into her guardian she may have unceremoniously dumped him down there when he caught onto her plans. Now whether Snadhya knows it's him is a good question.
- Would also put his comments about "letting go" into new context if that's the case. Maybe he realized at some point that he couldn't save Snadhya from her own madness. It's also entirely possible that she's the reason he wound up a spider in the first place, possibly because he found out too much. And seeing as she did murder her mother at least attempting to kill her father isn't implausible.
- Word of God states that Seers are basically a sort of twisted Empath. Maybe all the Mana in the world forms a sort of gestalt entity, which Seers are tapping into.
- Jossed. Word of God says that Seeing cannot predict the future at all, it merely sees through other peoples' eyes or their intentions.
- Hence the eyepatch; she's contained her taint but it's still visible in her left eye.
- Chiri and Shan noticed Liriel had a demon-like entity that wasn't a demon from aura alone. It's highly unlikely that an eyepatch would keep anyone from noticing Ky'ovarde is tainted.
- As mentioned on the Fridge Horror page, the fact that Quain apparently never attempted to have another heir through Laelle after her "accident" has some pretty horrifying implications, mainly the possibility that it wasn't an accident and was instead planned after Quain was made barren as an attempt to kill off the bloodline by doing something to Laelle that made her incapable of having any more children. And add to that how Snadhya'rune, the lover of Mel'arnach, the only person who would be capable of continuing the line after Quain and Laelle were removed from the picture is a known user of taints that cause sterility and you have a very disturbing possibility.
- ...was NOT a good idea, even though it is rather neat Laser-Guided Karma. When Ariel steals Kalki's left arm, Ariel's hair colour shifts to match her sister's...and, if that fifth panel with the enraged expression is Ariel rather than Kalki, Ariel's eyes have turned completely red. It seems likely that that panel is indeed Ariel, since although Kalki is angry, the expression is furiously determined — and Kalki's not up to that. She may be angry, but she's also crazy with pain. The final large panel of Ariel's/ Kalki's arm is also rather ominous. Stealing a limb from someone so tainted may have unpredictable effects, to say the least.
- Potentially Jossed for now. The very next page shows her shifting back to her normal form with her regular eye color, and if you look closely at the previous page both Kau and Kalki's tainted eyes glow in a way that Ariel's do not. Much earlier she displayed the ability to change her eye color to red, which would presumably work as a disguise on just an initial inspection but to anyone who can sense auras (i.e. Chiri) it would probably fall apart quickly. Now whether it has effects after this is another story.
- Just based on how she's behaved so far, it's likely that she's actually massively insecure. When Snadhya'rune tells her to Get Out! by saying "Go, before I find I no longer need you" it seems to hit a nerve, and the way she starts hysterically screaming that Ariel "can't take her place" also implies it. Given how she was born she might view herself as being just a tool of Snadhya'rune's, since it's heavily implied and backed up by Word of God that the reason Snadhya wanted Mel's genes was to get the Anti-Magic ability Quain'tana has, but Kalki didn't wind up inheriting it. Thus she may view herself as a failure and be extremely worried at the prospect of someone, in this case Ariel, replacing her.
- Confirmed by Chapter 46's epilogue. Snadhya flat out tells her that she was just a tool before cold-bloodily killing her.
- Two people, Ji'aan and Shinae, have gone through her ritual and come out of it with strong inclinations towards her. Snad also showed just a little too much confidence in Ji'aan's new loyalties, despite not being an empath. Since Snad has been the one to promote the tainting process and the ritual operates on Split-Personality Merge in the first place, it would make sense if Snad gains control by choosing demons with personalities already loyal to her.
- She's too proud to be defeated by any single foe or assassinated from subterfuge, but not afraid of wasting away pathetically to a slow-acting poison. That would explain her suicidal death-by-attrition; she doesn't want to be defeated but to die from overexertion, like a true legend.
- Her main strategy is to forgive sins that the church has decreed unforgivable in Sharess' eyes, up to and including treason. She specifically says "we can change the way of things [...] find back the path" instead of "we can restore our faith in the goddess and truly honor her".
- Throughout her entire campaign to become the Holy Mother and reform the Kyorls, she never mentions Sharess by namenote . Any requests to be forgiven by Sharess are automatically deflected with "look not to the Goddess for forgiveness, look within yourself / your own kin".
- During a pivotal controversy where she forgives the tainted for the 'crime' of being infected against their will, she never mentions how (A) Sharess could have been 'mildly' infected in the Nether but it hasn't stopped her and it shouldn't stop any faithful Kyorl, or (B) how Sharess valiantly charged into The Nether itself and went into a millennium of exile to save her people, and in her honor the Kyorls charged into nether-infested lands and risked infestation to seal demons. Instead, she quickly calls the rebel leaders out for their own self-absorbed hypocrisy and insecurities, indicating a need to redeem people's self-respect over their respect to their own goddess.
- During the climax, she does not perform a miracle to get the zealots' attention, preferring to oust the old guard by mass protest.
- She forgives the heretic Dutan'vir. As in, allows them back into the Kyorl clan with no lip service to Sharess.
- All of this implies that she is apathetic to the faith in Sharess and awed by the people who fight in Sharess' name.