(Note: This post was originally published on Reddit. I have republished it here for archival purposes. You can read the original post and comments here.)
After extensively studying the Fever diaries like an absolute nerd, I am left with many questions:
Who is Bobo? Why did Jongho remove his gas mask in the trash cave? How were androids getting drunk off of smoke? How did Yeosang send a drone into another dimension while he was trapped in a glass case by the Guardians? Seriously--who is Bobo?
But, my number one most pressing question is what happens to Halateez?
In Hongjoong's entry in the pt. 3 diary, Halajoong, who is trapped in a glass case and appears to be losing energy, tells him, "Listen, we called you here. . . somebody has to do our work." Then Hongjoong and Halajoong place their hands on either side of the glass case, some energy happens, then Hongjoong is suddenly wearing the black suit. (We can assume all the others are suited up as well?) After this, save for a brief mention of Halajoong delivering the Cromer to Hongjoong, we don't hear anything else about the Black Pirates until the very end. Yeosang, trapped in his glass case, hears the trumpet and sees in the other room "Men in black fedoras were fighting with Android Guardians." Of course, we all recognize this as the events from Answer: Ode to Joy. However, at the end of A:OtJ, both the men in black fedoras and the white Android Guardians have fallen.
But then, after the battle, Left Eye who seems to be running things in the resistance hideout (the fact that there's still a resistance tells me that the Guardians were not entirely defeated because we don't actually know who the final boss is. I have theories, but that's not important now) receives a message in Morse code. Everyone cheers "Black Pirate!", but the message Left Eye receives is "SAY MY NAME. ATEEZ." To me, this suggests that Ateez have taken the place of the Black Pirates and are out having adventures. Maybe they're looking for a pirate ship because they're tired of traveling by Cromer? (Can you imagine? You're just trying to hop over to the grocery store but you end up in an alternate dimension 500 years in the future. Cromers just aren't reliable.)
Now, please prepare yourself for my latest half-baked theory. It includes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban spoilers, so. . . proceed with caution, I guess.
You know how in Harry 3, Harry and Hermione use her time-turner to go back in time and save Buckbeak and Sirius? They accomplish this by helping from behind the scenes--tossing pebbles to get their other selves' attention, running off with Buckbeak when no one is looking, Harry summoning his Patronus to save himself and Sirius across the lake, etc. They never fully confront their past selves because of time imploding or something. (The time loop theory is also beautifully illustrated in my favorite Doctor Who episode "Blink" but it's way too complicated to explain here. Just know that this episode is why I am afraid of all statues.)
I think that all the appearances of Halateez in the Treasure series might actually be Ateez as Halateez post-Fever. This is where the time loop theory comes in. Perhaps Halajoong knew he needed to deliver the Cromer to Hongjoong because he had been to the future and seen that he needed to get Hongjoong involved in Strictland's struggle for freedom. So, when he gave the Cromer to Hongjoong, he set off a butterfly effect of changes and created the time loop.
Let me explain my thinking on the time loop. Imagine that the first timeline is like a film reel. Now imagine that you take a second roll of film and lay it on top of the original and play them both at the same time. The original is still there, but it's being affected visually by the new film on top of it. So the time loops aren't brand new timelines--they are all the timelines happening concurrently. (Does your brain hurt? Mine does.)
I think Treasure shows the original Cromer-less Ateez who would have failed at. . . whatever they're trying to do. . . had Ateez as Halateez not stepped in to help out (for instance, guiding them out of their dream in Illusion). Therefore, it's possible that Answer is the first meeting between original Ateez and Ateez as Halateez.
So this brings me back to my question, if my theory has any merit, what do you think happens to the original Strictland Black Pirates? Have they been turned into zombies by the Guardians (this is the fate of many of the resistance members, which means we could totally get some zombie action in future MVs, I'm just saying. . . ). Do they just fade away? Did Hongjoong et al. release them from their prisons when they rescued Yeosang? Do they die in the battle against the Guardians? Or are they still alive living their best lives out there somewhere? Do you think future eras will circle back to them or have they served their purpose?
If the OG Black Pirates are still alive, and if my crazy Harry Potter time loop theory is correct, that means we have not two but three Ateezes. Will we end up visiting other dimensions with new versions in the future? Are we just going to keep collecting various versions of Ateez until it looks like that one Spider Man meme?
Maybe, somewhere out there in one of those dimensions, there's a San that never cuts his hair or plucks his eyebrows. Maybe in that dimension, Atinys know true peace.
Maybe they also know who the heck Bobo is.
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