u/FallenWarriordotcom

This is a continuation of my last post. The TLDR of that post was that both the Aether and DA storylines are one giant cycle, stuck in a chicken and the egg paradox. The events that happen within each story directly lead to the creation of the other. There’s no beginning, no end, just one giant loop.

The Summoning Key is described as being the oldest known Artifact in the original Aether storyline, being used by “the first one” to create all the dimensions, life etc. But if my previous theory is correct, then the Summoning Key had to come from somewhere. It was destroyed at the end of Tag, but its “essence” very well may have been banished to the Dark Aether like everything else.

We now know that Samantha did indeed die when she went to imprison the Forsaken inside the DA, but we also know that her “essence” took another form, the newly introduced twins.

What if the power of the Summoning Key never faded but was reshaped… and became the Shadowsmiths.

The Shadowsmiths are the creators within the Dark Aether. They are what make everything, and the Warden is trying to implement “order among the chaos”, which dravakar tells us is going to lead to the end of everything.

One of the ways that could potentially fix everything, other than removing the warden from power, is for the remaining Shadowsmiths to put all of their essence into one device, the Summoning Key. A bootstrap paradox. Neither the Summoning Key or Shadowsmiths came first, but they are one and the same.

The key would then go on to be used to create the OG Aether timeline, which means that we may find out who “the first one” actually was.

Gonna start this by saying I highly doubt we’re ever going to see the Great War map… but there’s a chance.

The Dark Aether works differently from regular reality. As per a radio in Totenreich, it’s a collection of memories from what has already happened, and what will be. Past, Present and Future of every universe that has ever, and will ever exist, intertwined.

The hopium in me truly believes that the DA story is a PREQUEL to the original Aether storyline. Yes, the ending of Tag Der Toten seemingly was what created the Dark Aether, but what if it was a sort of a chicken and the egg paradox?

The whole story, both of aether and DA are built from the foundation with one key thing in mind, loops / cycles. But in bo4, the cycle was broken because for whatever reason, the crew were going to get the blood vials like they have an infinite amount of times before… but on one occasion they teleported to the wrong room in Alcatraz island, causing the break. This then directly causes the events of Tag to occur, creating the DA. But if this happened, surely the entire timeline would break…

The events of Revelations would never happen, the crew would never be sent back to the Great War, therefore from that moment onwards, the timeline would be entirely different where the apothicons ruled.

So how can we fix this issue? The BO7 crew.

What if in order for the OG Aether storyline to exist, the new crew that we have in bo7 actually are the ones that end up fighting in the Great War.

I truly believe that both stories are intertwined in a whole series of cycles. In a way thats similar to the bootstrap / chicken and the egg paradoxes, neither the Aether or Dark Aether storylines can be seen as the “beginning”. They both need the events that happen within them to bring about the creation of the other. There’s no actual beginning or end, only one giant cycle.