How well did the Rule of Two work? Was Palpatine more powerful than his predecessors? Was knowledge lost? Like surely with only two individual Sith, there is a huge risk that a Master could die prematurely.
Indeed whats stopping an Apprentice shanking the Master in his sleep before hes fully trained/at full power?
In Season 4 episode 18 we are told that a vampire and demon working together is an odd pairing and its supposed foreshadow what Adam is doing bringing the races together. That Vampires and Demons dont get on.
But we see and are told quite a different thing by the series. Whilst it can vary demon to demon, Vampires and Demons seem to get on OK. Spike is mentioned to have demons minion for him in the past, is casually friendly with demons after getting the chip and they generally seem to move in similarish social circles.
So do vampires and demons not get on?
Like to name their kid Ronald McDonald seems next level cruelty.
Lantern rings are technically works of science and technology right? So can geniuses like Brainiac and Lex Luthor build their own?
How control do the leaders of the Lantern Corps (Guardians, Sinestro, Atrocitus etc) have over the individual members of their Corps? Can they take their rings away? Force them to do things they dont want to do? Mind control them?
Or can individual Lanterns rebel? Like say can a Yellow Lantern decide they want to run the show instead of Sinestro? Like part of the Yellow Lantern Oath is basically swearing allegiance to Sinestro's Might.
Evil Morty's big plan was to take over the Citadel to create a rift to break out of the Central Finite Curve, the section of the multiverse Rick Prime walled off so he would be the smartest being.
But then he mostly just stays in the space/void inbetween. Hes close enough that hes still somewhat affected by some of the bigger events within the Central Finite Curve.
So why didnt Evil Morty go explore the wider multiverse?
In the tournament of Power universes with a high mortal level are exempt from participation. But Universe 7 has one of the lowest mortal levels. They both blame each other, but who is more responsible? Beerus the Destroyer, or Shin the Supreme Kai?
The Flash can think at the speed of light and perceive events that occur attoseconds. What do telepaths and psychics see when they read his mind? How affected is the Flash by psychic abilities?
In the series Bayaz is kind of the 'man behind the man' for most the Unions history as helped found it and puppet it for years via his bank Valint and Balk.
But in The Age of Madness he lost control of the Union, the North and has lost his long time and probably most useful servant in Yoru Sulfur.
What do you think was his biggest mistake? How could he have won? Personally I think not forgiving the debts the Union owes to Valint and Balk.
Bayaz already had the Union as a puppet. Forcing them to remain in crippling debt to his Union based bank was kind of just stabbing himself in the arm. If he had forgiven the debts maybe the Great Change wouldnt have happened or at the very least would have been mitigated.
But what do you think Bayaz's biggest mistake was? How could he have won?
Say one of Joker's goons wants out, they've decided hes too crazy to work for. Whats the best way out? Witness protection? Joining another gang? Going to Batman? Skipping town?
Glokta claims Bayaz basically stopped him and Jezaal from doing anything. And that his ownership goes all the way down to all levels of the Union through Valint and Balk.
But how much does he actually control/micromanage things?
Before the First Trilogy, it seems like Bayaz had basically abandoned the Union/politics in general and in doing so the Ghurkish had become a threat not just to the Union but Bayaz himself (if the Union had fallen those Eaters would have come for Bayaz next). If he was really controlling the Union to such a degree, why did he not do anything to try breakup the Ghurkish empire that Khalul was forming? Grind Khalul's expansion down by having the Union launch a crusade or something?
And how would he even stay contact with his agents in Valint and Balk? He must have some means of long distance communication? Otherwise Yoru Sulfur must be moving back and forth a lot.
tl;dr Does Bayaz control the Union to the extent Glokta claims?
In his youth Thaedus was apparently a fierce Viltrumite warrior and clearly worked his way up the ranks to some kind of council position. Presumably he engaged in the same stuff all Viltrumites did.
Yet he seems far more radicalized against his people and the Empire than Nolan or Mark. To the point where it seems his ultimate plan was genocide of them all (likely including himself). What happened to him?
Have they changed/evolved at all given that hes encountered actual gods? Has he encountered the Presence?
One thing that kind of surprised me is how well Bayaz handled losing.
At the end of the Age of Madness trilogy Bayaz has lost control of the Union which he has basically been running or at least majorly influencing since its creation. He has also lost control of the North which was a bit of a newer more temperamental acquisition. And almost as importantly hes lost probably his most loyal longtime servant Yoru Sulfur to Glokta's Eater allies (who are Gurkish and for all Bayaz knows might be working with MIA Khalul).
However you slice it, these are big losses that arent easily replaced.
But Bayaz hasnt given up. Hes frustrated and pissed sure, but hes already laying the groundwork for future plots and even seems to concede there are things he needs to read up on himself or outsource.
Granted there could have been some big offscreen temper tantrum, but I just think its kind of impressive that Bayaz is kind of like 'ah shit, back to the drawing board' and is happy to play a longer game to get it all back.
Superman has a lot of fine and conscious control over his powers. He can control his strength to enough of a degree that he isnt turning people 2D with a punch, he can turn his various types of visions on and off, he can focus his super hearing to specific frequencies and obviously he can choose when to use his heat vision and super breath.
But what about his invulnerability/durability? Can he increase/decrease it?
Most of Flash's villains (the Rogues) are actually relatively normal. Despite the colourful costumes/gimmicks, they are mostly out to rob banks and 1 up the Flash. They have a broad set of rules they all try to adhere to. They are fairly professional villains.
And yet basically all the evil Speedster villains are unhinged psychos. Why is that? Is the Speedforce making them crazy or something?
Like on a few occasions the mantles of major heroes (Batman, Flash, Superman etc) have basically been taken up by successors (Dick Grayson, Wally West, Jon Kent) temporarily. Do the villains notice?
Like does Joker realize Batman has changed? Does Reverse Flash recognize its not Barry? Does Lex Luthor see its not Superman?
Given where he was raised he should be Christian of some kind right? But why does he seem to occasionally thank or pray to Rao? Isnt that kind of contradictory?
Do you think its a case where 'all gods are equal' or there are certain gods who are stronger or at least more martial than others?
Like is every Prime equally as strong as each other? Every Betrayer the same strength as each other?
Do you think despite being outnumbered by the Primes the Betrayers are close to their strength? Would explain why the Calamity lasted so long.
Something interesting Ive noticed in the two animated series is the Dawnfather almost gets more emphasis. Percy's funeral is a Dawnfather ceremony. Jester's temple prank is swapped from the Platinum Dragon to the Dawnfather. In the animated version the Dawnfather seems more of a major god rather than the first among equals like he is in campaign among the Primes. Perhaps they plan to do something different or more with it?
I also could be wrong, but the vibe I get is the Dawnfather seems to be the more....controversial/disliked Prime Deity here? Really hard to gauge consensus on this.
In C1 his portrayal I felt was fairly balanced. He was sterner than the other Primes, but he was pretty fair and generally helpful in his interaction with Vox Machina. I thought the most interesting thing was he was only willing to destroy an obviously evil artifact (the Eye of Vecna) with permission from mortals due to trying not interfere with free will. Although he refused to help them use it.
In C3 hes seen as more of an authoritarian figure. With the debacle at the Temple, Aabria referring to him as the most 'Old Testament' god and the whole 'are you worth saving'. Although personally I found the Dawnfather in Ayden to be quite an interesting portrayal as a kind more hopeful aspect of the Sun god.
So how do you think the animated series will approach the Dawnfather? Hes likely to appear in season 5 of LOVM and any future C3 animated series?