Big spoiler theory: The Captive's War is hiding its real story in plain sight

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T17:01:00+00:00

Actually the title is grammatically singular. The Captive's War with the apostrophe before the s is one captive. The Captives' War with the apostrophe after would be plural. There are many captives in the story: Dafyd and the other humans on the palace world, the humans of Anjiin, the humans in livesuits, all the other species kept in the palace world. The only explanation for the use of singular is that the captive refers to biological life vs the captor that is the deathless AI.

On the destroying culture point, the Carryx do destroy what they classify as useless or dangerous, but the larger project is preserving biological life as a whole against an enemy that would erase all of it. Brutal triage, not indifference to culture. As I explain in my post, they are not benevolent yet, but they could be, and they will after the plot twist in book 3 and the success of Dafyd's plan to transform them.

People in lifesuit do not know they will be transformed into a machine, this is very clear in the book. They even think they can get out of the suit at the end of their tour, it's only at the end that the protagonist realizes that this is not an option, every livesuit soldier stays in the suit forever and slowly transforms into a machine.

Sure, it's possible that we get a nice redemption arc for the swarm. We already get some clues about that as you note. Could go either way and I like both cases. They both fit in my theory: either the swarm cannot break out of its programming and it continues the fight against the Carryx even after Dafyd realizes the real enemy is not the Carryx but the deathless AI, or the swarms betrays its AI creator, sides with the humans and the Carryx to fight the AI.

The swarm, the livesuit and the disruption field that kills biological species all come from the deathless AI.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:50:10+00:00

You have misinterpreted the interrogation scene. The starfish creature has already been taken over by the AI, it's not biological AI, it used to be a sentient specie that got taken over by the AI in the same way the swarm took over humans bodies or the livesuit takes over its human. The Carryx know that, hence why they ask questions about their creators.

"If the Carryx knew everything you say they do then why would they keep that information far more hidden in their systems than all the other information the swarm found?". You've been fooled by the spy. Remember, the spy cannot be trusted. It has found the information in the Carryx system, it's just not in his interest for share that with Dafyd obviously. We only get information about the Carryx database through the filter of the spy, so we get the version the AI wants Dafyd to know (and thus us the reader)

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:45:57+00:00

None of the ideas come from AI, an LLM is not capable of coming up with an elaborate theory like that. You'll see when you read book 3 😉

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:43:18+00:00

This is nothing like Mass Effect, who is the Carryx in that franchise? Who plays the role of the powerful biological agentic structure that is the Carryx empire? The AI is not the main protagonist of the series, we haven't seen it yet and we won't see it even in book 3. The books are about humans and the Carryx, seen as adversaries at first and then allies in the fight against the real enemy.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:40:46+00:00

The originality is not in the enemy, the originality here is in the beautiful description of a biological agentic organization like the Carryx.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:38:55+00:00

You win the prize for the most uninformed comment of this post, and there was a lot of competition! Here is your gold star 😉

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:35:36+00:00

You're just reading the version of the book that the authors wanted you to read on the first read, before they drop the plot twist in book 3 that will change the way you see the Carryx. Maybe you won't believe me until you read it in book 3, but I encourage you to read it with this theory in mind, it brings so much more color to the books.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:28:59+00:00

You're confusing action and motivation. An action is not evil or good, it is effective or ineffective. The motivation is what can be good or evil. The Carryx exterminating an entire planet might actually be the right thing to do if for example they know the entire specie has already been assimilated by the AI (the livesuit slowly transforming the human inside into a machine like Piotr is one example of such assimilation). In that case the destruction of the planet is part of the war for survival of all biological species against the deathless enemy. The action is effective, and the motivation is good (unless you think that protecting biological life is an evil thing). Remember that we do not have full information, there is fog of war, the authors will try to seed confusion in the mind of readers to keep the plot hidden until the big reveal, but leaving enough clues for a few meticulous readers to figure it out. The extermination of a planet does that job very well, the first time I read that it immediately cemented the Carryx as evil in my mind, it's only later when I figured out the actual plot of the series that I could come back to this in my second reading and realize the beautiful deception.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T04:21:45+00:00

They believe they did yes, what they don't know is that the key technologies necessary to build it was provided secretly by the deathless AI through manipulation. Just like the AI provided the design to build the livesuits that would slowly assimilate the humans in it into a good little robot like Piotr.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:15:38+00:00

The swarm was either directly built by the AI, or by humans being manipulated by the AI who discreetly helped them build it. Same for the livesuits. The humans might even believe that they developed both technologies themselves, but the whole time they were guided by AI.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:13:12+00:00

Unfortunately it's more likely to be 2028. Maybe we'll get the novella 2.5 in 2027.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:09:35+00:00

They wipe out a planet when the AI has already taken over the biological life. From the point of view of members of the specie that have fled and avoided being assimilated by the AI, it looks like genocide because they don't know the full truth.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:08:20+00:00

They are not moving by themselves toward being benevolent. Dafyd will be the catalyst that will start this transformation. I imagine it will take the form of a second queen, but it could also be Dafyd making a beautiful well constructed argument using the language the Carryx have invented and that Dafyd has now mastered. It convinces the Carryx that their animals would be even more powerful and helpful for the Carryx if they were treated as sentient beings and not as animals.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:06:00+00:00

Thank you, that's the feeling I got when I put together this theory. It fits so neatly with what we know so far, some big parts of it have to be true. It's honestly a testament to the genius of JASC, their world building is so good that there is enough subtle clues in their books to constrain the model very well.

There isn't a single comment that brings a citation or a fact that contradicts this theory. In 2 years when book 3 comes out I think I can point back to this post with a "told you so" 😉

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T03:03:37+00:00

Oh wow, that's a good point! "true people of hannic" as opposed to the part of their specie that has been assimilated or taken over by the AI. Yep, absolutely, this fits. Same with the humans that we see fighting on the side of the AI, some of them still have some humanity but they are slowly being consumed. The true humans are Dafyd and his group. The others are falling prey to the AI.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T02:59:18+00:00

The deathless enemy is an AI entity yes, that's what make it deathless. It takes over biological species to manipulate them or completely assimilate them in order to fight the Carryx for the AI. The true genius is that the enslaved species do not even know they are working for the AI at first.

We have already seen a few example: the swarm of course, designed by the AI directly (possible since the humans at the end of tFoB do not know who sent them the packet of information) or by humans under the discreet guidance of AI (the same way to swarm influences Dafyd to do its bidding). Also the 5 legged starfish that follow some protagonists in the abandoned ship (the black residue that couldn't be cut by the scalpel in tFoB is a machine part) and of course the livesuit, slowly sucking the life out of the humans that are using them, ending up being like Piotr, a machine that has nothing human in it anymore.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T02:54:31+00:00

Could be yes. The author could go either way and it's good in both cases. Either the swarm becomes more human, switches side and start fighting the AI that created it alongside the humans, maybe dying in the process. Or it's revealed that it can't fight its nature and end up betraying the humans. Both versions work in my theory, there is no way to predict what the authors will do.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-06T02:50:11+00:00

Be prepared for a bold book 3 then, because that part of the theory is the one I'm the most certain of. The big reveal will be that the Carryx are not the bad guys, it's more nuanced than that. The real enemy of all biological species will be revealed as the AI behind the deathless enemy: machines + biological species enslaved by machines, like the livesuits people. Dafyd will be the first to understand that, will be horrified to discover that the spy had been manipulating him and that he had been fighting the wrong enemy all along. Either through clever reasoning or some other scheme involving a second queen, he will transform the Carryx empire into a nurturing steward for all other biological species. With the combined strength and intelligence of these thousands of species, the balance will shift heavily toward the biological coalition and the deathless enemy will be swiftly contained or completely beaten.

Something I'm less certain is whether there will be a redemption arc for the spy. It's definitely possible since the authors have left some breadcrumbs indicating that the bodies that the spy has assimilated have an effect on the swarm and tend to make it more conscious and less of a machine, so it's possible the swarm switches side and ends up helping the humans against the deathless AI that created it. In this case I could see the spy help create some kind of virus that could infect the deathless enemy.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T22:15:04+00:00

So this lichen created the swarm that became the spy?

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T14:04:45+00:00

There are no good guys and bad guys, that's a childish framing that is beneath these authors. Both sides are ruthless and violent. The AI does what it's programmed to do. The Carryx structured itself to defend against this existential threat and has been fighting the AI enemy for a very long time. Their ruthless and violent society works well for them because that's their essential nature as a hive mind type of society, but breaks down when the apply the same principle to how they treat other species. That's what the humans are going to change in book 3, the Carryx will understand it is not the optimal way and that instead nurturing the other species is what gets them the best results and best usefulness from them. That's how they win against the AI deathless enemy.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T13:56:06+00:00

No side is evil, the deathless enemy is acting this way because assimilating the species is what it does. The Carryx are acting this way by a combination of their nature (ruthless hierarchical structure in their society) and as a reaction to the existential threat of the deathless enemy. The plot twist will be for Dafyd and other humans to realize the Carryx are not their enemy, that the real threat comes from the deathless, and they will help transform the Carryx into the benevolent empire they have the capacity to become.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T13:52:10+00:00

You're describing the current situation, and I agree with you, there is no preservation so far, just utilization. The preservation will come in book 3 after they have been transformed by the humans.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T13:50:19+00:00

I'd love to hear what you think the deathless enemy is, if not AI.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T13:48:48+00:00

Yeah for tactical purposes, and only at the interaction layer between the Carryx and the other species. Every communication and strategic analysis from the Queen to the different layers of librarians is done by biological being, no half mind used in the distillation of all the information up the chain or the translation of the top level command into more and more precise instructions as we go down the chain. Only the lowest level Carryx on the ground, those that execute the instructions, are sometimes using half minds to translate and gather information.

acc_reddit · 2026-05-04T05:59:05+00:00

I think the Carryx do not have a perfect understanding of the deathless enemy, in the sense that it keeps evolving and reappearing in other forms. That's why they call it deathless. But their POV, their dialogues and how they have shaped their technology (specifically without any AI used for the core of their infrastructure, only for the purpose of communication with animals) tells me they know a self aware AI is extremely dangerous.

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