The original KSBD is Cio's fanfic.
KSBD started as a thread on the MSPA forums
which is now only loosely connected to the final webcomic. Most of the things seen in the thread version wouldn't make a lot of sense in the webcomic. But they would fit if, in-universe, the forum version was Cio's work. It's a lot raunchier, sillier and full of fanservice...pretty much exactly the kind of thing somebody like Cio would write. Ys-Voya never died.
Ys-Voya did not die when the 777,777 gods created the 777,777 universes, because Ys-Voya is not a goddess but a flock of birds. Except when she isn't.- Word of God was that this was the plan in early drafts, with Ys-Voya's remains acting as the YIS counterpart to Metatron 1's UN-based views, but it wouldn't work because everyone would notice the imbalance in the Wheel caused by a universe that was never built.
Incubus will become an ally to Allison... In order to save his own skin.
The Prophecy of the Successor pretty clearly spells out certain doom for The Seven. We know that Incubus has been trailing Allison for quite some time, and that he's aware that Zaid was the intended receiver of the Key. But with the Prophecy thrown out of whack by Allison receiving the key instead of Zaid, Incubus has the opportunity to try and derail the outcome. By convincing Allison that she wants to keep the key and helping her with her journey to become the Successor, he'll try to pull a Screw Destiny, possibly letting her kill the other six, and possibly betraying her somewhere along the line in order to make a grab for her power uncontested. One of Abbadon's inspirations for YISUN was MANA-YOOD-SUSHĀĪ
To clarify: MANA-YOOD-SUSHĀĪ is a deity created by Irish writer Edward Plunkett, also known as Lord Dunsany, for one of his works, and later borrowed by Cthulhu Mythos, where it was a slumbering deity that would unmake gods and worlds alike if awoken. It has two notable elements that make it similar to YISUN: the fact that it's always written in all-caps and its name is six syllabes — Ma Na Yood Su Shaa Ii — much like of seven syllabes of royalty, only six are pronounceable. Could be a coincidence... could be not. Allison has dimension-traveling ancestors, and their family name is Kill Six Billion Demons
"Murder The Gods And Topple Their Thrones" is mentioned as the last name of Maya the beggar-knight. Maybe Allison's family has similar background; Same culture, or being knights too. The mysterious figure from the hidden panel in KSBD 4-79 is Meti, aka the original Kill Six Billion Demons.
Auntie Maya's name, Mathangi, holds a pretty long and verbose meaning, "Murder the Gods and Topple Their Thrones"; it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that the name of Meti, Maya's original mentor, may be the condensed form of a similarly long and impressive title. Given that Meti was considered the greatest swordswoman to have ever lived, has referred to herself as Royalty -one of the titles used to describe the Demiurges- in one passage of her Sword Manual is Meti, aka the original Kill Six Billion Demons., and taught an apprentice strongly implied to have been one of the Demiurges during Zoss' reign as king of Throne, it's quite possible that Meti was a Demiurge herself. Meti could likely have escaped being wiped out by the Seven at the end of the Demiurges' civil war, like Zoss and Maya. Meti doesn't appear to be a unique name in the setting, though- White Chain brings up the fact in Wielder of Names that "Metis" was also the name of the first human ever created- so rather than the Demiurge Meti being the Successor mentioned in Jadis' prophecy, she could simply be commenting on how she and the prophesized Successor happen to have the same name.- Meti's face is used for The Master class from the KSBD RPG.
- Mostly jossed. We later see and hear Meti's story from Maya, and she doesn't seem to have been a demiurge; we also find out how she died. Beyond that, it is more or less confirmed that Allison is the figure in the panel when she gets identical injuries later in the story.
Alternatively, the figure from the hidden panel is Future Allison.
She's answering to the title 'Kill Six Billion Demons', clearly possesses the Key of Kings, and the eye she has left is the same blue that Allison's is. The dark hair and skin is strange, but perhaps this version of Allison is a shade speaking from the Void.- Strengthening the theory is that Allison got scars in 9-114. It is almost identical to the ones of the person in the hidden panel, except there appears to be no lasting damage to the left eye, but the pattern is the same. A hint of things to come, hm?
Praman Nand mutated from a powerful but otherwise typical Gold Devil to the monstrous Sphinx he is now because he made a deal with Incubus.
It's hard to see, but in KSBD 4-55 and 4-56, Praman Nand is seen speaking to someone, and this has been theorized to be Incubus. The black and white flames which flank the prophesied king are Cio and White Chain
Since the prophecy seems to refer to Allison, it makes sense if her compatriots are the ones who will be with her until the very end.- That would explain why there is a picture of them there in that scene.
6 Juggernaut Star is a case of You Are What You Hate
When it confronts Maya on Mykos after the business at the Palace of Radiance, Juggernaut Star briefly reveals this face beneath its usual spiky skull visage. It would strongly seem that 6 Juggernaut Star Scours the Universe is more like White Chain and 23 Liminal Blossom than it would like to admit. Zoss is Zaid.
"My theory is that Zoss is Zaid. Indeed, after seeing Allison die while saving him, Zaid learns how to go back in time in order to save Allison from her death. He'll succeed in going back in time, breaching heaven and inheriting Throne. Then he'll craft the Key as the ultimate weapon and offers it to Allison, so that she'll be able to protect herself and avoid her death. Alas, having the Key, she tries to save Zaid and dies during the attempt. The circle. Pure. Infertile."The author cryptically commented on this.- This theory is common but bringing it up typically results in fan backlash, as it destroys Allison's agency even if Screw Destiny gets involved.
- A variation: Zaid is previous Zoss. As in: Zoss himself is a legacy character, and it is his successor each time who restarts Metatron's time loop and chooses someone else. But this time around he decided to act on his leftover feelings for her instead of original plan, and this in turn screws the destiny.
Incubus is the same Incubus from Zebra Girl
Think about it; ZG!Incubus made at least three different "Ebon and Ivory" half-demons for a reason. If that reason was, say, to replace him on the Seventh Throne when Allison eventually knocks down the seven Demiurges and puts her own tyrants on their thrones, having a curveball like Sandra and/or Jack could severely affect the overall outcome.- Also, ZG!Incubus has a weird weakness to getting flushed. KSBD!Incubus harvests power from blood farms. Do the math.
Alternatively, Zaid is a piece of Zoss.
Mirroring YISUN, when Zoss decided to enact his plan, a piece of him managed to land on earth as a separate entity, without any memory of his past. The cause for Himself's power
After being summoned, over time he severed all his names and discovered his Ebon name (which appears to be something all devils have from summoning but must be actively sought out). He then proceeded to shed even that name somehow, and make up a new one wholesale. Names have power over devils, and Himself's act of self-definition granted him power over himself, and now he's an Eldritch Abomination for whom the normal laws of reality have no hold.- Alternatively, he's the only (known) Unbound Devil in the multiverse who can think rationally without a mask or a name. Since he is effectively near-pure chaos given form yet sentient enough to control that key-like power, his only weakness would be binding him with a mask - but good luck even thinking about chaining an Eldritch Abomination consisting of the unchained primordial chaos behind all existence.
6 Juggernaut and Jagganoth are somehow connected.
I have nothing to base this on, aside from two things:1. Their names.2. Jagganoth became invincible because of nailing angel wings to his skin. What if he got the angel wings from 6 Juggernaut? What if he renamed himself in her honor? What if he wanted to destroy reality because that's what she would have wanted?- We've now seen what 6 Juggernaut looks like when unexpectedly pulled from her shell and she doesn't have wings but does have torn stubs where wings would once have sprouted from so...presumably they went somewhere.
- They're both 'disciples' of Metatron, the First Archangel. Any further connections are unknown.
Solomon David actually dies.
So far, all of Alison's encounters with the Lords of Throne haven't ended with one of them dying. What if in the chapter focusing on Solomon David, he's the one who actually dies first? It fits with his sin of Pride and how he thinks he has everything under his control.- Or he does die, but he planned it in some way to benefit him or his cause?
Each of the Seven has a secondary, non-obvious Deadly Sin.
- Mottom: Sloth (she hates her court, but doesn't tell them to shape up or PERISH)
- Incubus: Envy (he's willing to destroy the universe to prove that he deserves his Key)
- Mammon: Wrath (he cut through everyone, no matter how important to him, who stood in his way)
- Jadis: Pride (her current state is because she tried something that blinded a goddess)
- Solomon David: Lust (have you seen how many sons he currently has?)
- Gog-Agog: Gluttony (she is Throne's media mogul, and she still wants more attention - and victims to literally consume)
- Jagganoth: Greed (for a guy who wants to destroy the multiverse, he has a large collection of pillaged technology)
Alternatively, the current personal issues the Seven have are a metaphor for modern-day evolution of Old Testament sins
- Mottom's Gluttony originally stemmed from Worry but is currently fueled by Hedonism; Mottom took a key she didn't need after she murdered her abusive husband, and kept feeding his undead, ambrosia-bleeding corpse so she wouldn't have to dread growing old. But now, she's bored out of her mind, alternating between different ages, toys with nobles and commoners alike, and keeps overindulging because she doesn't remember what frugality tasted like. Once, humanity hoarded food from others because they were afraid it would run out. These days, they hoard because they don't realize or empathize with how badly others have it.
- Mammon in particular stands out, as he started the count from Obsession and ended it in pitiful Idiocy; he was originally an obsessive money grubber who would kill anyone, including his family, for one more sliver of gold, but by the time Alison meets him he's a senile old man who rules over wealth itself and can even create life from it, but doesn't remember what any of it means. Meanwhile, his second-in-command is effectively the new Demiurge, but she cannot bring herself to disobey a direct order from her deluded calculator of a god. Similar to a megacorporation and its shareholders, Mammon is hyper-efficient at collecting wealth but does not understand how he can use it properly and is blind to the suffering he causes, while 000001 has control over this wealth and can use it for her corrupt ends but cannot directly act against Mammon or redirect him from his more senile decisions.
- Solomon used to act from Stubbornness but has transitioned into Fundamentalism; he prides himself over persevering in his quest for vengeance for decades, murdering his enemies (mercilessly) no matter how godlike they were, and then ultimately turning it into 'justice' by restoring what his enemies destroyed. Now he thinks he's a superhero, a president-for-life, and a coliseum champion. He's constantly flexing his (overly-destructive) power to enforce his own set of rules on the rest of the universe for the 'greater good'. He's incapable of suspecting that he would be a villain in someone else's story - when earlier, he wouldn't CARE. From "Might Makes Right" to "My Ethics Are Right", similar to the transition of old mythology to comic books.
- Jadis wanted to know the Shape of the Universe, the secret equation behind everything, so she wouldn't have to exhaust herself researching every time she needed to learn something new (Stagnant). Then she discovered she didn't like the Shape of the Universe, even though it permeated everything (Nihilism). Now every second she has to live with the knowledge that she's in a Cosmic Horror Story is a second she just wants to turn her mind off; to her, not existing will be the greatest nap of all. The past was not known for exponential technological growth, but now that we have seen beyond the veil and found no purpose in the stars, it's hard to muster up the determination to build an empire of sand castles.
- Incubus originally lusted for the things his untouchable Caste wasn't allowed to have; a family, an education, a future filled with blood and glory. When he saw that Meti's would-be heir was squandering her privileges, he took action and stole her destiny as Meti's First Student by fulfilling her first uncompleted task, training alongside Maya and learning one half of Meti's Sword Law while Maya learned the other half, only to dispose of them both when a new opportunity to achieve a higher caste, godhood itself, arose. Now the rest of the Seven look down on him for cheating his way into godhood, and he has clearly been consumed by Entitlement, believing that the underhanded means he used to break away from his caste should be outweighed by the work he has put in, desiring praise he does not deserve.note The birth-caste systems may be discredited in our world, but the climb to the top of the political/corporate/media/championship ladder has taken its place, and every rung is increasingly toxic yet showered with addictive praise.
- Gog-Agog was originally the avatar of Jealousy; it took her hive mind eons to form true sapience from whatever writhing mass of primordial worms she burrowed in, and as suddenly as she became, over half the multiverse immediately wanted her exterminated for being an uncomfortable truth; that monsters may have the souls of men. Their religious purge of her existence lead to her bitter vengeance; if the gods would take her precious soul, she would take everything away from them first. Except afterwards, unlike all the other demiurges, she wasn't a single gigantic tyrant, but a collection of tyrannical mooks as a species of apex predators. Individually, each mook was still just an ugly, wretched, miniscule worm that wasn't even respected by its fellow sister-wretches. But then, they looked out at all the human bodies prostrating before them, practically begging to be Mimicked. What was once fear and resentment of being shunned or persecuted or killed for being different, has turned into a desire to become different yet look and have the same as everyone else, through plastic surgery, passing, or even identity fraud, consequences be damned.
- Jagganoth used to be a typical super-powered thug, driven by Fury; if he was not granted whatever he wanted, he would fight his way through heaven and hell for it, slaughtering everyone in his path. And sometimes, the slaughter was the want. When he reached the top of godhood, he realized that he could no longer enjoy fighting because there was nothing left to fight for; killing off the other Demiurges would just get him ugly land he didn't want or need and politics he religiously ignored. So he went in search of something to motivate him... and discovered the truth about the multiverse, of how it is a puppet before the master. It angered him so thoroughly that he is willing to destroy everything in existence just to get the Anarchy Is Chaos he craves, best shown by how he uses his dimensional sword to trigger a nuclear explosion, which is a chain reaction of near-unending blight and chaos, instead of fighting and mutilating each of his victims one-by-one for kicks. People used to kill each other over simple things, and in many cases they still do. But now they're on to those lurching at the top and hiding in the shadows, who intentionally pit them against each other to distract them from being fleeced naked by the economy, manipulated by sociopaths into worshiping / electing psychopaths, and taught to uphold and revere the system that grinds their very souls for power. They want the whole world to be free of this system - at any cost.
Allison is transgender, and possibly in denial.
- She's been shown to be confused about her sexuality (uncomfortable with her first time having sex, "it's complicated" situation with Cio) and her identity as a whole (dyed hair, general self-loathing issues), and it just fits so perfectly with her themes of self-doubt and self-acceptance. It's unclear whether she's biologically or mentally male, but it could go either way.
Incubus is only pretending to be weak in the Waking World.
- It makes sense since he thinks of all the angles. He's a schemer. What better way to make your opponent let their guard down by acting weak? The comic also reveals he's a disciple of Meti, so there's got to be more to him than meets the eye.
- Seemingly confirmed, as he manages to put up a good fight against Jagganoth while Solomon is incapacitated. While his body appears to be constantly on the verge of overexertion, he's capable of high-speed swordplay and evasion.
Maya is the true King of Swords.
- Incubus just took Maya's spot when she abdicated, after all. Who's to say that she wasn't/is/continues to be the real King of Swords?
YISUN is Himself.
- The fact that both are paradoxes, that Himself states that "I am that I am" as well that YISUN 'states' in the Song of Maybe that the universe is "Their Opinion". The cosmology makes this as uncertain as always, but the parallels are still there.
- It is already confirmed that everyone is YISUN. Himself just is just a mass of chaos that knows this more than most.
Juggernaut's past reincarnation (or current one) was in love with a past incarnation of White Chain.
- That's the cause of the obsession. Perhaps in killing or breaking White Chain, Juggernaut thinks it will revert Chain back to who she used to be.
Alternately, Juggernaut's current reincarnation was in love with someone in a way that was ruined by Zoss.
- The very start of the comic was Juggernaut botching the prophecy because "it" just hates Zoss that much. Juggernaut is feminine, but in severe denial. Zoss did something to her that caused her to abandon not only that, but her entire sense of self. Her hatred of White Chain is probably related to White Chain's character growth reminding Juggernaut of her past.
- It's possible that Juggernaut took on the appearance of someone they deeply respected, possibly even admired. Someone who was killed by Zoss.
Gog-Agog ate Nyave, Zaid, or both.
- "Nyave is worms" is a popular theory, as in a moment of willpower she flares her Atum the same shade of green and is in a position to influence Allison.
- Gog-Agog already has the ability to transform into Zaid...
There is some kind of Eternal Recurrence going on, with Zoss ruling for far longer than what is known.
- This is almost certain with both Zoss and Juggernaut Star commenting on it. However, while "the breaking and forging of wheels" is a theme, there has only been mention of the Wheel going around once so far, and 2 Michael's desire for an eternal and unchanging cycle was implied to be delusional.
Some Ebon Devils retire to terrorize an entire world each, becoming its Satan
For these worlds, it's Cosmic Horror Reveal at its finest; mortals are terrorized by an ultimate evil, and if they somehow manage to get the upper hand against an Apex Predator among literal chaos personified, they quickly realize that there are thousands of Satans and oceans of demons lording over billions of worlds, and there is no god watching over many of them... which is a good thing, because the gods are even worse. Meti started the Universal War
- In page 44 of the first book, when White Chain is telling how "the hunger of dominion" led to the Universal War, we are shown a figure that could be either Maya or a younger version of Meti. We know that Maya was born during the Universal War, but Meti may be old enough to have been there when it started.
- Jossed. We see her during the war in a flashback and she very much did not approve of it, nor does it seem like she was even a Demiurge.
Allison will use the Head of John technique to switch bodies with Incubus
The Head of John is a martial art school that allows its users to have indestructible heads that can survive decapitation. Incubus is a known user of this, and Allison is learning it. With her new body, Allison will become this figure
◊. Jadis returns as a corporeal body.
Thanks to the stakes rising and how everyone is dying, the force of Jagganoth's attack is so strong that it actually breaks Jadis from her prison.- Confirmed! Technically.
Solomon David wanted revenge against the Ki Rata masters for indirectly assisting in the destruction of Rabuya by executing its would-be heroes.
Basically, some of Rabuya's citizens had secretly learned the basics of Ki Rata by watching the masters from afar, but never used it for fear of being cut down. When the world was raided, these citizens decided the Godzilla Threshold had been crossed and began fighting and teaching their families to fight back. To their horror, when the masters descended, it was not to repel the invaders or even to negotiate a truce, but to mercilessly erase every man, woman, and child who had seen the dreaded techniques, even those who were thoroughly traumatized from watching their fathers explode from a misused one-point strike. Solomon lied about the soldiers killing his family - it was the masters who threw his wife and daughters into a fire for the crime of witnessing their friend attempt (and fail, no less) a Ki Rata breathing technique. Solomon declared Maya under his protection after Incubus killed her family
.The reveal of their backstories is too similar. Solomon's sexism would make this even more prevalent, as he'd consider this a complete failure on his part to prevent the worst failure of his life from repeating to a dear friend who, in his eyes, could do nothing but watch. Realizing that her plight is technically his plight, he indirectly declares war on Incubus by protecting Incubus' sworn nemesis. So while Incubus could easily crush Maya by attrition, he'd have to go through Solomon's empire first; something he's been focusing his plotting towards.Tragically, this also explains why Solomon refused to even consider retiring without a meticulously picked heir: because when Maya tried, Incubus hunted her down and ruined her new life, then messed up her empire. If Solomon tried, either his haphazard successor or the other Demiurges would hunt him down, either for power or out of a perceived betrayal for abandoning them. Gog-Agog, unbeknownst to even Jagganoth, is also surviving the reset of the multiverse
Her declaring that she'd "be fine" in Breaker of Infinities wasn't an arrogant boast. Through some unknown method, one of Gog-Agog's worms manages to escape the multiversal reset and gets subsumed into the fresh Gog-Agog hive mind, letting her retain some semblance of what is happening on a cosmic scale. Being Gog-Agog of course, she doesn't really do much with this knowledge.- confirmed, sort of. Exactly how is unrevealed as of yet, but Gog Agog remembers every single loop in even clearer detail than Jagganoth, and knows full well it's always reset before it's wiped out.
Jagganoth is Exactly Wrong
We’re initially told that Metatron created the Thorn Knights to destroy all of existence, but realized his error and now works towards saving it. Jagganoth later says that Metatron never actually gave up on this goal, even manipulating Jagganoth towards it and using Zoss to create a time loop. But if Metatron wanted existence ended, all he would have to do is like Jagganoth do his thing and maybe sabotage the demiurge’s attempt to replace the multiverse. Metatron is having Zoss reset time and pick successors because he ‘’is’’ trying to save the Wheel -Jagganoth.