25 replies to this topic

[Mizura]

Spoilers for the raws for 2-147.
 
I've gone back and gathered most of Asha's flashbacks. As you can see, we may be able to judge the order of most of them thanks to the state of her clothing and hair:

• Prior to N5: she took the magic exams at age 7, in N2.
• Asha in a clean dress. In most such scenes, she's with Mirha.
• Asha in a dress, bloodied but otherwise whole. This includes the scene where she's holding a head, and the scene where she encounters Visnu.
• Asha in a bloodier dress with torn sleeve. This is the case in the scene where she's stabbing something, and before and when she cut her hair.
• Asha with Rao Leez. She now has short hair, and seems to have new bloody clothes.

Extra scenes:

• More scenes of Rao Leez
• Mysterious woman telling her to be happy because a useful function has been added to the most useless pawn
• Asha begging her mother to wake up (Asha not shown)
• God Kubera striking someone (I'm pretty sure it's an adult figure, by the way)

So we get this:

Spoiler

 
The above is my theory on the timeline for N5:

1. Asha, an orphan of unknown origins, took the magic exams at age 7 to enter the Magic Academy. I suspect she met Mirha then, and they took the exams together, hence why Mirha knows her. Asha couldn't get into the Magic Academy however and took a scholar's path.
2. Theory: Asha's mother doesn't acknowledge her for whatever reason. Asha mentioned that they'd miss even her "frigid attitude" once she's gone (ch. 2-24), and I suspect she's speaking by experience. She wants her mother's approval, so she tries hard to enter a magic academy in a city but fails.
3. Theory: Between N2 and N5, Asha researched all sorts of obscure knowledge, including things about Kali and Chaos suras (her mother may have been involved in some such things and she may have been aware of the fact), And I suspect she came across things regarding the Power of the Name. She may have learned then that killing those named Kubera would grant her power, Or that killing all of those named Kubera would [insert whatever outcome].
4. In N5, a huge attack devastated the entire city, and Asha may have lost her arm then, while Mirha lost her legs. I suspect it happened at night, so both Asha and Mirha were wearing their pajamas and barefoot. Theory: I think the one who died back then may have been her father, not her mother, and Asha may have been closer to her father (well hey, makes sense, she must have a dad somewhere...) She then found Mirha, who was probably devastated from the carnage that just occurred, causing her to probably lose all her classmates (I wonder where Lilia was) and then some. Asha takes the grateful Mirha with her.
5. Mirha just keeps smiling. Frustrated, Asha finally leaves Mirha behind (maybe with others, she didn't necessarily dump her in the middle of nowhere).
6. She may have gone to find her mother then. However, she arrives too late and sees God Kubera killing her mother. She begs her mother to open her eyes, then picks up the severed head and swears revenge.
7. Visnu then appears before her and offers her power. Theory: Shuri came along with him. What she said in the water channel (ch.91) actually refers to Asha herself, as this useless 'pawn' had gained the useful function of hoti visnu, and perhaps magic in general.
8. After that, Asha goes to hunt down name holders. Somewhere along the way, her sleeve is torn, and she becomes more bloodied. She decides to cut her hair, maybe after her first kill.
9. Rao Leez eventually comes across her and helps her. She has short hair now and a different set of clothes. She doesn't stop her murder sprees, and even gets caught by Rao Leez once, but he's willing to see it as a mistake. I think Rao Leez was gathering the Carte survivors. He also evidently told Asha about the daughter, whom by unlucky coincidence, he also named Kubera.
10. Eventually they all head to Willarv. I suspect Rao Leez summoned Vayu, who gave him the Neutral Bow then (we'll know for sure when we see more flashbacks of him, including whether or not he's holding the Neutral Bow).

 
Anyway, lol, Asha is insane. All evidence points to her starting her killing spree at the age of 10. And Rao Leez. Maan he fucked up. He probably didn't realize what she was up to and just told her that he had a child named Kubera, convincing Asha to go after Leez. She'd have gone after Leez anyway to at least kill her, but maybe it'd have been a happier outcome for Leez then.

 

Now, there's another possibility. Asha's mother was killed before Asha met up with Mirha again. And either:

• The scene of God Kubera killing a woman (her mother?) occurred earlier (so she really is angry because she lost her mother)
• or the severed head she's holding is not the same person, but the head of her first victim. I'm not sure about this, since the long hair is similar.
• It could be that the person God Kubera was shown killing has nothing to do with Asha's mother. Asha just witnessed the scene and realized what's going on (or at least, that God Kubera was involved). After that, she approached the head and swore revenge.
• There's also the possibility that the whole bloody scene occurred before she met back up with Mirha, and she used hoti visnu to clean her clothes, but that'd be weird.
• Or the one Asha called 'mother' may not have been her real mother.

Someone also pointed out that Asha must not be good at magic yet, since she's using a dagger.

 

What do you guys think?

[rojo]

Someone also pointed out that Asha must not be good at magic yet, since she's using a dagger.

 

I think that was me, lol. I posted a while ago that since she had like no divine affinity at first, she probably used the dagger until she had killed enough people to have a high enough DA that she could actually kill people with magic.

 

My thoughts:

• If the woman Kubera killed is her mother, it's possible that her mother was one of the people named Kubera, and that's how she knows about the Power of the Name business.
• Alternatively, she could have learned it from Visnu. It's possible he offered her to ability to use Hoti Visnu as an exchange for killing people named Kubera.
• I think that the woman Agni was looking for was Asha's mother.

[Blunt]

 

I think that was me, lol. I posted a while ago that since she had like no divine affinity at first, she probably used the dagger until she had killed enough people to have a high enough DA that she could actually kill people with magic.

 

My thoughts:

• If the woman Kubera killed is her mother, it's possible that her mother was one of the people named Kubera, and that's how she knows about the Power of the Name business.
• Alternatively, she could have learned it from Visnu. It's possible he offered her to ability to use Hoti Visnu as an exchange for killing people named Kubera.
• I think that the woman Agni was looking for was Asha's mother.

 

 

I don't think these two theories are mutually exclusive. In fact, I think they work very well together. 

[Mizura]

Oh yeah, I forgot those 3 points. I used to think that Asha's mother is the one Agni is looking for, which accounts for why she's so angry at him and other gods (because he didn't show up when her mother called out for him), but it also seems like Agni has been searching for a very long time. So either Asha's mother is a god (in which case can she really also be one of the Kuberas?), or she's a reincarnated human who retained her memories, or she isn't Asha's real mother. I do think Asha and her mother or whoever else originally lived in hiding though, like the Kuberas, which is why her origins are unknown.

 

Oh and, in the book version of Kubera, when Agni thinks of the one he's looking for, we actually see the back of a woman with long, light-blue hair. The thing is though, she has wavy hair, not straight like the cut-off head. So that's kind of weird. (I have a policy against scanning the books, so I apologize in advance in that I won't upload the scans)

 

It is interesting to note though, that we don't see any fire around here. Agni could show up immediately if there was a fire around, but since there is only desolation there, it wouldn't be surprising that he'd have needed time to get there.

 

The strangest part about the timeline, to me anyway, is that according to the state of her clothes, Asha got angry at Mirha Before her mother died (assuming the head she's holding is her mother's) and before the Visnu drama. So, it may be that Asha progressively became more twisted as Different events stacked up.

 

It sure makes me glad that Kubera didn't start when Leez is an adult though, and we have to piece together what happened when she was younger. That'd be a huge mess. xD

 

By the way, I also suspect the flashback in ch.25 was Asha in her academy days (the one where other kids are jealous of her better test scores). Well, they're probably all dead now. xD

[microlm]

I thought Asha got mad at Mirha after her mom's death since she brings up the fact that Mirha still has a parent left, so I thought that meant Asha was already an orphan by that point.

 

Well this is getting off topic but, wow the woman Agni's looking for has blue hair? Lol wouldn't have expected it since he seems to hate the color blue so much and I assumed he was in love with her, so he'd associate that color with her or something. 

[Nestrior]

First the off topic: He could associate the colour blue with his loss and since Gandharva has lost both his wife and his child, it's kinda similiar and a continous flashback. But I could be wrong.^^ Very likely so.

 

But the point you make about Asha being anorphan by then is valid. Why else would she be "jealous" of Mirha? The problem with the woman Agni is looking for being Asha's mother is this: at that time he sould have been with Brilith's mother. At least he was summoned by her, so it would be kinda bad if he looks after pretty women. Though we don't know when Brilith's mom summoned Agni and when we went, it was long enough for her health to detoriate considerably. So we can pretty much rule out that possibility. Not to mention both were on different planets back then.

 

I still hold firm to the theory that the easiest way to get knowledge of the forbidden clan and other heritical knowledge is to live in a place where such knowledge is known and/or accessible. Obviously that wouldn't be in an academy or school in a city as they are associated with the Gods and any such knowledge would be as good as a death sentence. So it could very well be that Asha ran away/was sent to a city in N2 in order to escape a death sentence when it became common knowledge that they were heretics.

Still Asha holds few affections though she doesn't show them through her cold and logical mask (which would become her usual attitude later on), so of course she would be furious when she encounters a possibly bloodied Kubera in the ruins in her village. And Kubera is powerful enough for there to be "colleteral" damage when eradicating a heretic village close to a city. And by then he even had his items, wonder what happened that they would end up in the Temple of Earth.

 

The scene from chap. 91 likely means his child, and also explains Asha's apologizing. She knows that only bad things come from it for Leez when she learns magic, so Asha wasn't all so enthusiastic to teach Leez, thinking of the person the admires very much. Yet I believe that Rao knew a considerable bit about Asha and her goals: "You live for the dead.". As straight forward as it could be, when you ask me. He knows about Asha's quest for revenge and possibly even knows that it is led against Kubera ("It's my victory, Kubera" - Season 2 Preview), since Rao was on the planet for 5 years by then, and when a village gets destoyed most of the surrounding area will know of it. His believe that it is still possible for Asha to go back to the "right" way, is most likely voiced when he still didn't know about Asha's goal. He knew of the destruction of the village, but didn't know that Asha was from that village, so he tries to correct her. And after learning of the fact he admits that he can't bring her to another path and mentions how he lives his life to show that Asha can change on her own.

[rojo]

We know now that the woman Agni was looking for wasn't Asha's mother, in 2-148 he says it happened over 1000 years ago. 

[Nestrior]

Can one finally read it? Last time I checked, the overlay wasn't there yet,

[rojo]

Yep, it's up.

[Horseshoe Crab]

We know now that the woman Agni was looking for wasn't Asha's mother, in 2-148 he says it happened over 1000 years ago. 

 

And on top of that, the blog entry for that episode says that they never had a child.

[rojo]

Looks like we're going to have to reconsider this. Asha met Rao while she still had her long hair (and, from the looks of it, both arms?), and was going to leave for Willarv with him.

So something must have happened after that which resulted in Mirha and Asha losing limbs and Asha swearing revenge.

[Mizura]

Yes, this needs to be revised. Spoilers for 2-158 ahead.

 

The sequence involving the robe should probably not change, because I don't see why Currygom would make her change into the same dress in-between. So that means... *squint* I just realized that the clothes in 2-128 aren't new clothes, but her dress underneath with a jacket on her.

 

So the revised timeline should be (actually, many parts would remain the same):

1. Asha and co. are traveling (?) with Rao, or perhaps Rao showed up to save their group.

2. At one point, something happens, and Asha and Mirha find themselves outside in their pajamas. Not sure where Rao went.

3. Asha meets Visnu, kills someone, and becomes all bloody with her clothes in tatters.

4. Rao finds her again, puts a jacket on her, and tell that he believes it was a mistake.

 

The scenes I have trouble placing are:

- The God Kubera scene

- When Rao tells Asha that she's living for the dead

- Stuff relating to Asha's mother

 

Huh, random thought. Did Asha try to summon Visnu? Maybe to revive her mother? Is that why she has a short lifespan? (Leez has a short one too though)

 

From the scene shown in the latest raws, it seems like a group of people either traveling or out on some sort of expedition (looking for someone perhaps?).

 

But anyway, it means Asha started killing people (and since Maruna saw her several times, she must have killed several) After Rao first came across her. Something feels weird to me, and I really need to try to sort the sequence out.

[Nualie]

So we know that the last flashback happened before the kills- So should we assume all those corpses are the people in the background's ? Maybe sura/emotional resonance attack happened or something... While Rao wasn't there, probably. 

 

I wonder if Rao played Saha while on Carte. I doubt all planets have righteous people to lead them- Imagine if Willarv's leader was a Claude...

[rojo]

Given the state of Carte in the flashbacks so far, the fact that the transport ship Asha and Rao were on, and the sura were active on other planets, this is my current theory:

Carte was very heavily affected by the Cataclysm. Maybe they weren't able to summon a god, maybe the suras were much stronger, but for whatever reason it was rendered basically uninhabitable. So, Rao, who was already there due to a previous mission, helps gather up the survivors and relocate them to Willarv. Five years later, the very last refugee ship is set to depart. Rao, Asha, and Mirha are all among those gathered- along with a Kubera (perhaps her mother). The sura attack them to kill the Kubera, which is how Mirha and Asha get seperated from the rest, and injured. Her mom dies in the attack and she swears revenge. Sometime after, Asha gets approached by Visnu, gains the ability to use hoti visnu, and begins her murders. One is witnessed by Rao, who assures her it was just a mistake. The "living for the living" scene may have occured around this time, or on the way to Willarv.

Edited by rojo, 12 October 2015 - 07:41 PM.

[Nualie]

But there's still trees (first panel)... And we haven't heard of any other transport ships from Carte. Hmm.

[rojo]

I don't see any trees....

[Nualie]

I don't see any trees....

The first panel... on the right... doesn't it look like a tree to you?

[Mizura]

The thing is we know that things happened over a certain amount of time. Maruna met Asha several times, and we know he only showed up in N5. Basically, the implied timeline is really weird to me:

- Gathering that includes Rao Leez, Asha and a bunch of other people

- Suddenly a bunch of people are dead, and apparently only Asha and Mirha survive?

- Asha goes around killing people. Plays hide and seek with Maruna.

- Rao finds her Again, and a whole bunch of people eventually head to Willarv.

 

Like, what? Why did Rao disappear for a while anyway, in a way that lots of people died in the meantime?

 

It's possible that Asha only wandered off for a while, killed one guy, and Rao returned very soon afterwards. But then what about the implied multiple encounters between Maruna and Asha? Did Asha periodically sneak off on her own to kill folks, or what? I have trouble grasping the 'image' of what went on.

[Blunt]

Something I just think is odd: why would Vayu give him a god-level item specifically crafted for him if he was just going to die anyway? Surely Vayu's insight could see a few hours into Rao's future that the summoning or something during the transport would kill him? I think it adds fuel to the theory that Rao isn't actually dead. 

[Nualie]

...Or maybe, Rao wasn't supposed to die but Maruna/Gandharva attacked... Wait... nope, not possible; Gandharva and Maruna's conversation in early season 1 would make me think they hadn't met a god yet. 

 

So I guess we can assume Vayu wasn't summoned to fight them off. Maybe Carte was on the brink of collapsing or something?

 

Also, wasn't Maruna's skill supposed to be powerful enough to blow up planets if he could handle the vigor?