An Analysis on Those Who Slither in the Dark’s Actions in the Academy Phase (SPOILERS!)

[Kiran_]

39 minutes ago, Seafarer said:

Thales outright says "You must survive merely because there is still a role I require you to fulfill". He contradicts himself in front of the Flame Emperor later, saying keeping the secrets of their bodies was his only aim, then tells Kronya "I'm afraid you must remain, Kronya. There is something I need you to do." I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he saved her for Zahras, and lied about it to Edelgard to prevent her tipping Byleth off, seeing as there's obviously not complete trust between them.

I think it was probably both. He wanted to keep the secret of their bodies AND had a role for her to fulfill. So it was more of a not fully revealing his full plans rather than him outright lying to Edelgard, though I'm sure perhaps not revealing the full plan was either to prevent tipping Byleth off or perhaps just him keeping his cards close to his chest in a sense.

Though in terms of this theory, I do love the idea that they moved with more of a purpose than what is explicitly stated. I can definitely see their main goal being to kill Byleth purely because they hate Sothis, but also on a second part, trying to in some way derail their friendship and keeping them apart.

[omegaxis1]

6 minutes ago, Kiran_ said:

Though in terms of this theory, I do love the idea that they moved with more of a purpose than what is explicitly stated. I can definitely see their main goal being to kill Byleth purely because they hate Sothis, but also on a second part, trying to in some way derail their friendship and keeping them apart.

Exactly. Not to mention, Edelgard clearly holds strong feelings toward Byleth, regardless of path. But if Edelgard has BYleth join her, she actually doesn't do any of the harsh things she does in the other routes. And she's much more restrictive of the slithers. But the other routes has her rely on them more and more, which only makes them that much more dangerous.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

It's an interesting theory. I definitely didn't know what I was supposed to take away from them saying "we could have expiremented on any village" after what happened to Remire. I think the Slitherers should have been working to recruit Byleth, honestly. Maybe they were intimidated by how close Byleth is to Rhea, but with Edelgard and other spies feeding them info on byleth they'd know he has no connection to the Church or even any of the three nations. Making enemies of Byleth and Edelgard makes Byleth an enemy of them, by proxy. They had to have known Edelgard was starting her war in a matter of months. Just engineer a situation where Byleth would feel antagonized by the Church. Have Tomas kill Jeralt and then claim it was an order from Rhea, then warp away without revealing his identity.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Altrosa]

45 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

It's an interesting theory. I definitely didn't know what I was supposed to take away from them saying "we could have expiremented on any village" after what happened to Remire. I think the Slitherers should have been working to recruit Byleth, honestly. Maybe they were intimidated by how close Byleth is to Rhea, but with Edelgard and other spies feeding them info on byleth they'd know he has no connection to the Church or even any of the three nations. Making enemies of Byleth and Edelgard makes Byleth an enemy of them, by proxy. They had to have known Edelgard was starting her war in a matter of months. Just engineer a situation where Byleth would feel antagonized by the Church. Have Tomas kill Jeralt and then claim it was an order from Rhea, then warp away without revealing his identity.

Now see THAT would be an interesting story for the DLC to take. There is enough dirt on Rhea that writing in a path where you join the Slithers is pretty reasonable, especially with all the lies surrounding the church and noble system.  Maybe that could show us more of the past war between Nemesis, Seiros, and the “heroes” as we could hear about it unfiltered. 

[charcoalswift]

7 hours ago, omegaxis1 said:

They have missiles. XD

Then battalions can be scraped since missiles can probably destroy monster shields 😛

 

 

 

[Dark Holy Elf]

Neat theory. And it does explain some of the slitherers' otherwise extremely random actions (the Remire experiments in particular are whack and serve no narrative purpose unless they're trying to tie the Flame Emperor to something which would piss Byleth off, but Kronya's murder of Jeralt too).

Honestly it's a rare time I read anything about slitherer plot and find myself nodding with a "hey this actually makes some sense" so kudos.

[Ivan Tridelan]

I think that the Slithers working with Byleth is out of the question once the Sword of the Creator reacts to him. The Slithers UTTERLY LOATHE Sothis and want her dead, gone and all remnants of what she built destroyed. If Byleth has Sothis' Crest Stone, he must die. I agree everything they do past this point is for the purpose of killing him. The fact their actions create a rift between him and Edelgard is just very delicious icing to make sure she stays dependent on them and the already potential threat of Byleth doesn't also get inside info on them via Edelgard.

The Kronya killing Jeralt thing seems to be entirely spontaneous on her part, and Thales saving her works for both reasons already stated in this topic.

Edelgard is indeed likely supposed to be Nemesis 2.0 and I think they DID want the Sword of the Creator for her and created Aymr because they couldn't get it.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I love this theory tbh, because it makes sense. Recall how in the end of Crimson Flower, its stated that since Hubert figured out the Agarthans, Edelgard and Byleth go smush them. (They get inadvertently smushed in Azure Moon lol) It does seem they are definitely trying to remove Edelgard from the equation without it being obvious. 

[Dark Holy Elf]

23 hours ago, Ivan Tridelan said:

The Kronya killing Jeralt thing seems to be entirely spontaneous on her part, and Thales saving her works for both reasons already stated in this topic.

 

It doesn't really feel random to me. She chose to kill him in front of witnesses, completely blowing her cover which had been hard to acquire. I don't think she'd have done it if it weren't a major gain for her side. And she seems so damn smugly satisfied when she does.

If you think she's just a random loose cannon then the slitherers come across as completely incompetent for putting someone like that in a key infiltration position. I don't think that's the intent.