Radiant Dawn's Story Was Going So Well... And Then Blood Pact *Minor Spoilers*

[ping]

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Per the wiki, Ashnard was the son of the King, but also "of a distant bloodline", so ?????. Seems irreconcilable to me - "distant bloodline" would imply that he wasn't directly descended from the current monarch, but instead shares, like, a great-grandfather with him. Maybe it was a mistranslation?

My initial thought was that maybe Ashy's father was king for a short time after all the nth grade cousins were dead, and until Ashnard killed him... but nope, since Ashnard convinced his father the king to sign the blood pact (otherwise, it shouldn't have affected all of Daein), that's not possible, either. ????? seems like a sensible conclusion.

...I can't believe the Blood Pact plot point becomes even worse when you examine it more closely.

[Acacia Sgt]

12 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Another crack theory incoming: the Blood Pact requires, well, the signer's blood. This implies that there's something peculiar about the signer's blood that gives it validity. Now, Pelleas' blood didn't change when he became King of Daein. It was the same DNA, same red blood cells, same blood type. So, how would the pact know he was King?

Here's my idea: it wouldn't. Actually, it would know that he was never supposed to be King. He doesn't have the royal blood of Daein, after all. So if Lekain tried to activate it, it would... do nothing. It would only affect the people whom Pelleas' blood has "dominion" over, which, being baseborn, is... no one.

Now, if Soren had been tricked into signing the Pact, then we could have a real problem on our hands. Thank Ashunera he's clever enough to read the fine print...

It's not a theory. I'm pretty sure the Extended Script does state it requires blood to be signed. Lekain even mocks Pelleas for not realizing that signing a contract with blood isn't normal.

As for how it worked... well, it's all what the contract says. If the contract doesn't say "King of Daein", but something more akin "Whoever rules Daein", then it still works, since Pelleas was still declared King, with official coronation ceremony and everything. Didn't matter if he didn't shared the previous royal bloodline. This is also how the curse bounces to Micaiah. As commander of the army, in absence of the King (Pelleas killing himself), then authority over the country falls on her, thus qualifies to be marked by the contract.