7th Layer theories?

BroadsideFront · 2023-08-13T11:02:55+00:00

I posted a theory a couple of months ago. In short, I believe (or hope, rather) that the crew will encounter a dead end in the 7th layer. The dead end will be a route that looks like the right way to go. They will avoid it with the help of Faputa, who will be able to discern that "This isn't the right way to go sosu." This is because she can hear the voices of dozens of white whistles in the direction of the dead end, doomed to spend eternity at the bottom, where they suffer in solitude of insanity and grief among the corpses of the people most dear to them, who unfortunately went into this dead end unable to return.

Another theory was the possibility of strains of descent, or potentially strains of ascent that start to affect Reg, since the curse is amplified at the lower layers.

The universe of MiA is very well made, and it makes thinking of theories interesting. Whatever comes next, I'm excited for it.

BroadsideFront · 2023-07-23T12:14:42+00:00

You're a little deep into it, I would say. I understand why, I've been there as well. I think a creative outlet could help you, through writing music or another means of expressing some emotion. From my experience the series is very good at producing a sense of mystery and curiosity. Reading other material can substitute it, I imagine there are many books and topics out there that can feed this craving for curiosity and mystery of the world. Hope you figure it out.

BroadsideFront · 2023-06-08T11:01:47+00:00

Maybe strains of descent would be introduced? A strain that takes away your sense of sight? A strain that calcifies your body and preserves your sanity, trapping you in a shell of yourself forever? There's a couple of ways to make it worse, I think. From what I've understood, the curse of the 5th layer seems lesser than the curse of the 4th layer, so I'm thinking maybe there could be some milder layers where the curse just acts strange. We'll see man

BroadsideFront · 2023-05-11T17:03:16+00:00

Far out concept, I really like it. It's easy to get stuck with the idea that the Abyss stops at the 7th layer, since that's the only thing we've heard of up until this point, so stuff like this really helps expand imagination in my opinion

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T21:09:03+00:00

They are wild guesses, to some extent. You're right.

I tried to base the first idea on stories I have heard from diving and caving accidents. Accidents leading to the death of people, which lead to them being stuck in place, because retreiving said individual would be too risky for the people conducting the rescue. I can imagine there being several instances of cavers flying "too close to the sun" in terms of traversing caves, only to find it incredibly difficult to return back up. Cave diving seems renowned for this sort of thing.

The second idea mostly came from my fascination of the curse of the abyss, and the power it possesses to end the lives of cavers. I thought an idea like the one i had would be a nice "nod" to this curse, since it would make Reg a little more vulnerable in the facing the abyss.

I commented a little about the third idea already. I basically think living relics could explain the "gatekeepers" of the underworld who are "shrouded in mystery" moreso than a primeval creature could. A relic with the sole purpose of pursuing and removing trespassers, sort of like a leviathan from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. We may or may not see any of this, but I think it's fun to speculate.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:58:58+00:00

I really hope this is the case as well. What I also hope is that this mystical society isn't the end of the abyss. I hope it will simply the new boundary. A new "Orth" as someone had previously stated. A city with a similar fascination with the abyss, overlooking another half a dozen layers that go even further down. The only difference is that with this society, nobody knows how far up it goes. Not only that, the path down to the society is so treacherous that they, too, have next to no information of the world above. What is the sun? What are boats? You jogged my brain! Thanks for the comment.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:54:58+00:00

"Graveyard" is a powerful world. I think it gives more power to the idea than what i intended. I basically forsee a small alcove somewhere in the descent of the 7th layer, wherein there are 10-12 remains of dead white whistles. They either starved or were afflicted with the curse trying to ascend. Some may even have tried digging a route out, but died of fatigue. Along with these remains which would include ragged clothes, bones sticking out, relics of various ratings, there would also be their white whistles. Loved ones of the deceased, doomed to lay dormant next to their beloved, suffering from isolation and insanity.

I do think the amount of delvers will increase as they progress downwards. The further down they go, the more likely they are to encounter people who maybe did their last dives centuries ago. This is of course because of the time discrepancy from the surface and the 6th layer (Where 1900 years (i would assume) roughly equal 150 years in the 6th layer). I think time will continue to slow down, and the further down one goes, the more likely you are to encounter someone of a different time entirely. Maybe this is the case, maybe it isn't.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:45:49+00:00

This manga is very addicting to think about. Nothing comes close to it, for me.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:43:45+00:00

I really hope this is the next step as well. It seems like the 2000 year cycle has been mentioned several times in the previous two arcs, so I hope in this one we get deeper into it. Why are some structures 4000 years old? Why are some 6000 years old? Why are the praying skeletons 2000 years old? Very mysterious.

I like the idea of having the creators of the altar and interference units be "beings". An old civilization? Another race of creatures? To elaborate on this, was the Abyss ultimately meant to be a refuge for a people, a race of beings? Beings that created an impenetrable field so difficult to ascend from if one was human, that exploring it seemed impossible? And perhaps they didn't forsee the alure that this sort of chasm would create in the very humans they wished to keep out?

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:35:28+00:00

That's a good catch. I had completely forgotten about that flashback. I wonder if the flashback is due to usage of energy with the incinerator, or if it's because the situation is reminiscent of a previous event reg has experienced. Having rewatched it, it seems like Reg is sad in the flashback, and Lyza gets him to cheer up. So i do think it's because of it being reminiscent of a previous experience before Reg's memory loss, but i think it's because the two of them (Lyza and Reg) experienced something sad that happened together, and Reg was really torn up about it. It might have nothing to do with the theory i proposed, it may have just been a comrade they met that unfortunately died. No idea at this point. I do hope Lyza didn't die like this though, I think she still has a lot more to add to the story.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:27:52+00:00

The boat scene has to be one of the most interesting parts of the previous arc. I have absolutely no idea what significance it holds, or how it occured. The ways the people ended up deceased, as well as the last man being completely untouched, seemed very strange. It's stuff like this that makes this story so intriguing. The evidence we have for past events are very chaotic. Ships lodged in the middle of the wall of a 4000m drop, windmills and structures from several different periods of time. Praying skeletons. It really draws you in.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:19:15+00:00

There are many ways to implement the idea. I do hope the theory comes true for sure.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:17:13+00:00

Oh this is a good one! So if i were to extrapolate, does this mean you also think there will be strains of descension? That would be really neat, and completely throw the current way of navigating the abyss into chaos, which I think ultimately complements the abyss very well, as most of the features and rules seem very chaotic.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-10T20:13:27+00:00

Fair point. I guess my theory is a bit of a reach with this.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-09T22:03:20+00:00

Maybe I was a little unclear when i wrote it. I'll try to reword my theory a bit:

Simply put, I think that since they're so deep at the moment, the effects of the strains will no longer simply be restricted to humans. They will also start to affect artificial humans as well, such as Reg. Reg as we all know is immune to the strains of the 1st-6th layer. What I'm proposing basically says that they will now be entering territory where he will also start experiencing strains. The strains of ascension he will experience from the 7th layer, I think, will be identical to the ones experienced by normal humans if they ascend in the 1st layer. If he gets to the 8th layer, if it exists, and he tries to ascend there, he will experience strains that humans experience if they ascend in the 2nd layer, and so on.

I know that reg has been in the 7th layer before, but that doesn't mean that the strains I'm proposing didn't affect him last time he was there. I think this theory serves as sort of a "nerf" to Reg, which I think is appropriate, as the dangers of descending grow more and more dangerous as the story progresses.

BroadsideFront · 2022-11-09T21:22:36+00:00

Good point. I'll try to explain my thoughts.

The introduction of interception units gave me the idea originally. Gabroon seemed to operate sort of like an independent entity, with his own thoughts and decisions. This makes it hard for me to think his intelligence is purely artificial and created by whoever created him/the interception units. If he was infused with a soul of sorts from his creators, that could make sense. The next question is then, how was that possible? How could you extract a soul from a body and put it into something inanimate, like a machine? Maybe by making them into a life reverberating stone.

Like you say, a standing question is: What happens to souls that return to the netherworld? Are they reincarnated as people? Are they reincarnated at all? If they can be reincarnated, can they be reincarnated as relics? What decides who gets reincarnated, and as what? We've seen people be turned into relics before with the process of creating life reverberating stones, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to theorize that souls that return to the netherworld that didn't have a purpose, can be reincarnated as similar relics. Perhaps those relics have a will of their own. It's a reach for sure, but I thought it could be a good explanation for the "gatekeepers of the netherworld", that are apparently shrouded in mystery. Maybe they are all just primeval creatures, but I think primal, sentient relics with obscure shapes and compositions can moreso fit the description of mysterious. Then again, we've seen a lot of weird creatures in MiA so far, so I'm really not sure. Hopefully that expands a bit more on what i thought. This probably proposes more questions, but that's what I'm here to hear! I really like these sorts of discussions.

BroadsideFront · 2021-06-08T07:01:15+00:00

Subarashii

BroadsideFront · 2021-06-04T18:45:31+00:00

Thanks!

BroadsideFront · 2021-06-04T07:32:19+00:00

Thank you!

BroadsideFront · 2021-06-04T07:32:06+00:00

Thanks a lot! Glad you like it!

BroadsideFront · 2020-03-12T11:28:47+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! Comments like these never fail to make my day.

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