When you see '[next]' use the right arrow key, spacebar, or click to go to the next image Sorry I haven’t made a theory in a while lol I got really busy when school started. This isn’t the one I was looking at all the background characters for, that will be my next theory. [next] One of the big mysteries of EA is what, or who, the wolf is. Many people (me included) think that the wolf could be Adder, and though I think this is possible and I myself made a theory about it, there are a few holes in that logic. Why did she turn into a wolf after death? If Adder is the wolf, then why does the song Jinny Bigham’s Ghost describe her as someone who came to Shadowclan when she lived in Shadowclan all her life? Why would Feather try to hide and feed something that (presumably) was responsible for her death? Well, I decided to discard the theory of Adder being the wolf for proof by contradiction. If no other characters could reasonably be the wolf, then either one of the three characters we haven’t met or Adder must be the wolf. Well, even though I was pretty confident in my answer, I found one character that makes almost as much, if not more, sense than Adder when it comes to being the wolf. [next] Most of the information I will be going over will be reliant on this theory: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1057234768/ This may come as a surprise, but Cobweb makes a lot of sense. Besides the fact that she likes Hazepelt and isn’t seen in Starclan chapters (which I consider the baseline for being the wolf) she also fits the lyrics of Jinny Bigham’s Ghost a lot better than Adder does. The line ‘Once she was a fresh-faced lass, from Kentish Town she came’ from the first verse goes along well with her character. Cobweb obviously isn’t from the clans and probably came from a long way off given her southern accent, which makes this line accurate. (minor juice warning for next image) [next] In the art for ‘Love is the Cure’ Hazepelt is shown to be lying in a puddle of her own lime-juice, indicating she probably died that way. The title including love makes me think of Cobweb being somehow responsible for her death, and Haze could perhaps be one of the killed lovers mentioned in the song Jinny Bigum's Ghost. I personally don’t think that Cobweb would have much of a stomach for violence though, so I think that instead of her killing her lovers herself, OJ does it for her. Cobweb doesn’t directly order these murders, but she might say something indirectly bad about her partner like “We got in a big argument yesterday :(” and OJ would be like “Say no more” and the cat Cob complained about would be dead by morning. Cobweb might not suspect her mother figure as the cause of these disappearances and just feel horrible that everyone she loves seems to die. This would explain how she ‘kills’ so many people in the song but is still very empathetic. Another thing about this song that fits is Cobweb getting away with the murders even when the townspeople find her responsible. If ???star is the leader of Shadowclan like I theorize, then he would of course dismiss his boss’s daughter in a court case, especially if he was ordered to. The song also includes Cobweb dying, which would be necessary for a theory like this to function. [next] The next plot hole that Cobweb fixes is that, since Cobweb comes from far off and probably from a very different culture, it makes sense she wouldn’t believe in Starclan. I think that this would be a very interesting dynamic between Cobweb and Hazepelt too, as one could be an atheist while the other is similar to a priest. This could be what Meadow was hinting about in their comic about emotional discourse between Cob and Haze. This probably won’t happen, but I think it’d be fun if Cobweb and Haze had a Lion King Simba, Pumbaa, and Timon moment where they’re stargazing and Haze is like “It’s so comforting to think all of our warrior ancestors are looking down on us.” Then Cobweb would look at her and be like, “No, those are literally all just glowing orbs in the sky.” [next] The important part of this is we have literally no clue what happens when non religious cats die, and I think it’d be really interesting if they turned into animals. This could be a Harry Potter animagus thing where whatever animal you turn into would most represent you, and Cobweb fits the mold of a loyal, strong, and graceful wolf who can’t stand being without their pack, so to speak. What evidence do I have to support that non-believers become animals after death besides a hunch? Well, I do have a bit of evidence. The owl shown in Chapter 11 is the only other animal we see in the forest besides the wolf, and for the two frames we see them they seem to have a human-like reaction to Volepaw pretending to be them. Compared to the mouse in Chapter 5 which spawns in the bonds of Starclan (presumably for the sole purpose of feeding the cats there), the owl is extremely expressive. (CONT)
[next] Another thing is when Hazepelt first got her blue ear, Cobweb was sharing something with her. Want to know what happens again when the wolf shares with Hazepelt? Her ear turns blue. I have absolutely no clue why this is, but it could have to do with some fun memory shenanigans. [next] Now, people that have read all my theories might be confused that I’m contradicting what I said in an earlier theory where I assumed the forest was the Dark Forest (this one: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1050492742/), but now that I’ve come up with theory, I have a different proposal for the woods. The diagram on screen is a nifty tool for what I’m talking about. In the middle is Starclan where healing is so strong that injuries practically do nothing. Around it is the non-believer zone, where healing is like the real world. After that is an infinite expanse of the Dark Forest where healing doesn’t work at all. [next] Pulling a bit from my older theory, the light could get gradually less and less the further you get from Starclan, making the Dark Forest in complete darkness. This could be where Adder and ???star reside if they’re both dead and would explain the pitch black background for the sneak peak. Perhaps Haze somehow stumbled into the Dark Forest? [next] Okay, last plot hole that was in the Adder wolf theory, why is Featherstar feeding the wolf? With Adder it makes little to no sense to make someone who has killed cats stronger, especially since they’re a more powerful creature now. For Cobweb though, I could see a few strategic reasons to feed them. She could reason that Cobweb could turn over info on how to defeat OJ, that Cobweb could turn against her mother figure, or that they could ease Cob into a sense of security then take her hostage. It would also make sense to send Haze to feed the wolf instead of Golden, since Haze was Cob’s girlfriend and they were both fond of each other. This would also act as a reason that Feather didn’t tell Haze that the wolf was Cobweb, she wouldn’t want Hazepelt getting too attached again and ruining the plan. If she got info from the wolf, then she could send a prophecy to Shadowclan to help them defeat ???star and OJ. [next] Kay, despite the many plot holes that Cobweb fixes, this theory has a few issues of its own. One is that in the original Eternal Kit refs Cobweb is listed as still living. This was an early prototype of the comic though, and many things have been changed, such as Redeye’s eye color, Goldencloud and Hazepelt’s names, and Volepaw’s entire appearance. This change would be a pretty big one compared to those though as it massively affects the plot. [next] The second thing I would consider a plot hole is that the songs ‘Bite of ‘87’ and ‘The Cave’ work much better with Adder as the wolf than Cobweb as wolf. For ‘Bite of ‘87’, I presume that Violetant could be the one to point a finger at Cobweb for murder and then ???star could be judge, jury, and executioner. Then the song would be her testifying, but I still don’t think it fits as well as with Adder. The Cave honestly just falls apart when I apply Cobweb instead of Adder. There aren’t a lot of reasons that Salmon would get involved in all the Cobweb wolf shenanigans besides curiosity, and I don’t see a lot of reasons she’d stay in the drama once it got out of hand. Here are some ideas I played around with, though. One, the prophecy I mentioned Featherstar sending would go to one of Salmon’s family members. Since Adderpaw was working with OJ, her family would be at least slightly off limits for random murder, which would give one of Salmon’s siblings a bit of leeway for working on how to take down a government by using the same government’s protection. This would also be a fun way to connect the present EA timeline with the Starclan and past. Two, Cobweb could possibly be responsible for her mother’s death. Salmon could be working against the wolf and Featherstar as a way to avenge her mother’s death. Three, Cobweb could be responsible for her mother’s death, but Salmon sees the logic in Cob’s statement and works with her to seal Adder where she belongs. Yea, not much else to say. This is a really long one though; typed it in Google Docs and it’s like three and a half pages lol Art, Characters, and Story(?) by @Meadowfoot_ToPH
