What on Earth is a Torivor?

 The majority of this post is from my good friend Ryan Baker.  We have been tossing ideas off each other, and he came across a real break-through in the Mull-Tiverse theory as he was reading the third book of the Dragonwatch series.  After this paragraph, I'll be posting Ryan's words.  This one is amazing, and connects the Single-Earth component of the theory as it relates to torivors.  I will supplement with italics in a couple spots:

If all of Brandon Mull’s books take place in the same universe (or multiverse), then one of the

obvious connections between series to explore is the torivor.  Torivors are explicitly mentioned

in both the Beyonders and the Five Kingdoms, and they are clearly the same type of being in

both series.  Therefore, the Beyonders and Five Kingdoms take place in the same universe.

But do Kendra and Seth inhabit the same universe as Cole, Jason, and Rachel?  Are they all

from the same Earth?  I’m going to assume they are all from the same Earth . If they are all

from the same Earth, then a torivor might easily have visited the Earth of Kendra and Seth.

But there’s a problem.  According to Trillian, a torivor who goes to Earth would lose its powers. 

He even says it’s uncertain whether a torivor could survive such a trip.  That initially made it

hard for me to connect torivors to Earth.   I asked myself “why would torivors be powerful in

Lyrian and the Outskirts, but not on Earth?”  Clearly the torivors are quite adept at the “magic” of

the Outskirts (shaping), and although they don't seem to use the resident magic of Lyrian (Edomic),

they are still quite powerfulthere, and do seem to have at least some connection to Edomic (which seems to be involved in

Maldor’s control over them). 

I just finished listening to the audiobook of "Chasing the Prophecy," and a detail I had forgotten was that the torivors are able to use Edomic through Maldor (and vice-versa) as evidenced by their visiting Rachel in her dreams, which allows Maldor to communicate with Rachel. In this way, they are essentially being used as an Edomic router.

So why would they be powerless on Earth?  Why would they not have some access to the magic

present in the world of Fablehaven?  Well, maybe they do.

When Trillian said a torivor would be stripped of power, I suspect he was only talking about shaping. 

Trillian would not have been familiar with any other forms of magic, and when he sent his servant on

the Pilgrim Path, he probably only saw that his connection to shaping would be lost if he walked that

path.  He would not have been looking for, or even known how to look for, other types of magic.

And of course, losing shaping ability upon going to Earth makes sense in the Mull-tiverse.  After all,

Rachel was an adept at Edomic but could not use it at all when she returned to Earth.  It stands to

reason that something similar applies to shaping.

I 100% agree with this speculation.  The closes evidence I can think of to support it is the wolf-headed slaver in "Sky Raiders."  Presumably, this slaver is from Eloweer, and is unable to conceal his true form on Earth.

Ok, so that’s that problem resolved.  But there’s still the issue of a torivor’s ability to survive on Earth. 

Trillian makes clear that Earth could be a very hostile environment for his kind.  And that got me

thinking.  See, torivor’s in Lyrian have a very distinct form- they are essentially living shadows who

apparently cannot speak (except for in dreams, or in Rachel's case, telepathically, which is further evidence of their ability to use limited forms of Edomic).

That’s quite different from their form in the Outskirts.  When Ramarro finally escapes from his prison,

he is described as an albino man, and he does quite a bit of talking.

So if a torivor looks like a living shadow on Lyrian and like an albino man in the Outskirts, what on

Earth is a torivor?  I suggest that we’ve already met one.  Her name is Dezia.

Yep, I think phantoms are actually torivors.  In both Lyrian and the Outskirts, torivors arrived from

some other realm.  In the case of Lyrian, it seems they were summoned there and tied to the

Myrkstone.  In both cases, they had to travel through some sort of gateway to get there.

In book 3 of Dragonwatch, “Master of the Phantom Isle,” we learn where phantoms come from.  We

first hear it from Ronodin, who tells Seth “Phantoms are ethereal.  They have no tangible body. 

Nobody knows exactly where they come from, but they are born out of deep tragedy.”  We further learn,

however, that unlike many undead, phantoms are not a transformed version of an earthly being. 

Rather, Ronodin says, “The phantom is what fills the footprint of the tragedy.”  

Ronodin seems to think that the tragedy createsthe phantom, but Dezia tells us otherwise.  She says “Many years ago, fifteen firewalkers lost their

lives inside the volcano Baga Loa.  They are buried here under those coals I helped you cross. 

Their demise opened my gateway to your world.”  (emphasis added).

This suggests that Dezia existed prior to the deaths of the firewalkers, but inhabited some place other

than Earth.  She was able to come to Earth when a gateway opened!The same way torivors travel from their realm to Lyrian or the Outskirts.  Strangely, phantoms are

counted among the undead despite having never been a living, earthly being.  That seems to square

nicely with the questionable survival of torivors on earth.  They are neither fully alive nor truly dead. 

And phantoms certainly seem to be limited in their power.  They have some access to magic, but they

are confined to a limited space and bound to a token, just as torivors in Lyrian were bound to the

Myrkstone!  

The pieces seem to fit.  I believe that on Earth, torivors are phantoms.

What the Heck is Hank?

 I've started re-reading Candy Shop War and I am now even more convinced that the Vista Point Zoo is a magicians lair!  It only took a few pages before lightbulbs started flickering to life in my brain again: remember how Mrs. White says that children are her favorite "customers?"  And I can't believe I had missed this connection before, but through most of the book, Mrs. White is having the kids "work" for her--the tasks getting progressively more risky.  It just makes it all the creepier that Jason is working at the zoo when you think about it in this way, but it fits so well!

But today's post is going to focus on another aspect of this magician's lair: the animals.  I am still convinced that the animals at the Vista Point Zoo, at least some of them, but more likely all of them, are mythical creatures that the magician has started collecting.  If we are following the laws established in Fablehaven, the residents of Vista wouldn't know the difference unless they "drank the milk" of the appropriate creature.  This is possibly one of the things Nate hasn't encountered yet--maybe the owners don't trust him enough yet.  After all, he doesn't seem to be questioning his own safety as he works there--at least not yet.

The big question, though, is what do they have in their mythical creature collection?  Because it's in Colorado, I picture sasquatches that look like gorillas.  I also imagine they probably would be attracted to more dangerous creatures, so maybe an aviary with harpies and sirens or a reptile house with gorgons.  Maybe they have some griffins that look like lions (or eagles?).  But for the most part, we have to use our imagination because, even though it references how many animals they have, we only know of one animal that they have for sure: a hippo.

But what mythical creature would look like a hippo before you "drink the milk?"

Fortunately, we don't have to dig too far to figure out the answer to this one.  Galloran actually gives us the answer on page 82 of "World Without Heroes:"

"'I know how this sounds.' Jason shifted uncomfortably. 'I came here through a hippopotamus.'

'A water horse? Intriguing.'"

Now, I know that hippopotamus actually translates into "water horse," but Galloran could have just repeated "hippopotamus?" when Jason said it.  For that matter, he wouldn't have even had to say that.  He could have just said "Intriguing" and been done with it.  But he didn't.  He said water horse.

So I looked up water horse on Wikipedia.  From this, I learned that it could be a few different things: it could be a kelpie, a hippocamp, or another form of lake monster.  The article there goes on to explain that some use the term kelpie to mean both lake and turbulent water monsters, but others distinguish between still water monsters, like the famed Nessie, and turbulent waters--kelpies being the creatures that live in turbulent waters.

Further Google "research" indicates that hippos spend up to sixteen hours a day in lakes and rivers, that they can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes, and that the Greeks are credited with given them their actual name, which means "river horse."  So--it actually means water horse, but the Google search said "river horse," so we're going to go with that.  So Hank is actually a kelpie!

Not convinced yet?  Let's look at some of the other details.  Look at this passage from page 17 of "World Without Heroes:"

"Jason paused to stare over the railing at the enormous hippo resting motionless below the water on the floor of the tank.  Hank was the only hippo in the zoo, an adult male with his fortieith birthday coming up in the summer.  Jason shook his head.  The majestic hippopotamus--hard at work as usual.  They might as well replace it with a statue.  No visitors would know the difference." (17)

Hippos can hold their breath underwater for five minutes.  That's a really long time, but Hank seems to be able to hold his breath for a lot longer than that.  If Jason has been working at this zoo for a while, this probably isn't just a random thought of adolescent hyperbole.  He is completely submerged a lot.  In fact, when we see him again in the second book, he's completely submerged then, too.  The little red-headed kid wants his mom to "make him come up."

Additionally, hippos are social creatures, who thrive in family groups.  I'm not claiming that Hank is "thriving" by any means, but he is massive, as indicated in several parts of both scenes where he is featured.  But he is alone.  And kelpies are more solitary creatures.

But what about their magical abilities?  Galloran explains that Jason's arrival to Lyrian via the hippo is "the residue of very old magic."

So what magic do kelpies have?  An article on historic-uk.com says this: "Kelpies can also use their magical powers to summon up a flood in order to sweep a traveller away to a watery  grave." (https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/)

This one, admittedly, is more of a stretch, but think about this: Jason was a traveler (though not intentionally) who was "swept away to a watery grave."  Not his own, but that of the Giddy Nine.  And even when he comes back (this time as an intentional interdimensional traveler), Tark was on his way to the same watery grave before Jason rescued him.

Sure, it wasn't a flood, but he was sent to a river where people were about to die.

Considering that Jason is from the same Earth as Seth and Kendra, which means he lives in a world where mythical creatures are hiding, sometimes in plane sight, from human, it makes more sense that it was a mythical creature that brought him to Lyrian, and a kelpie comes closest to what would be able to do that.  Plus, it makes sense that those without access to the special milk or butter that allows you to see mythical creatures would see a kelpie as a hippo.

There's Something Weird About the Vista Point Zoo

 I LOVE the Beyonders.  It is an amazing series.  The wizard races are awesome, the adventure and the moral messages of the series are fantastic.  Most of the time, I had no issues with suspension of disbelief throughout the series.  But even early on, there were a couple things that just felt off about the Vista Point Zoo.

Here's a passage from page 16 of "World Without Heroes":

 "Although the family-owned institution was no match for the Denver Zoo, Vista Point held a respectable population, with more than four hundred animals representing almost one hundred and sixty species."

The zoo is family-owned?  Private zoos are not unheard of: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a privately owned zoo.  Even family-owned isn't entirely unheard of.  The book "We Bought a Zoo," by Benjamin Mee, is a true story.  But most, if not all, it's not that simple.  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was deeded as a non-profit public trust, and its founder, Spencer Penrose, was the founder of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society.  Even the Mees no longer "own" their zoo.  Eight years after buying it, it was donated to the Dartmoor Zoological Society, which is a charity.

Still, privately-owned, and even family owned zoos are not unheard of, so let's dig a little deeper. Jason is thirteen years old, and he's working... at a zoo.  It's weird enough that he's thirteen and has a job, but it's even weirder that his job is at a zoo.

Jason lives in Colorado, so out of curiosity I looked up the three zoos in Colorado.  In size order from smallest to largest, that is the Pueblo Zoo, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and the Denver Zoo.  All three require employees to be at least 18. 

To be fair, let's say there is a youth volunteer program at the Vista Point Zoo.  All three Colorado zoos have these, too.  in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, these programs are for fourteen and up, so Jason almost makes the cut... almost.  The Denver Zoo has a Teen Intern program, and participants have to be at least thirteen.  Sweet!  There you go!  But there's a catch.  All three of these programs are summer programs.  And Cole is working there in the winter. 

Even if you can shrug off the fact that it's family-owned and the idea of a thirteen-year-old working at a zoo, let's look at the display in front of the hippo exhibit.  Here's another passage from page 16:

"When he entered the hippo viewing area, Jason paused to admire a glass case on the wall labeled: MONUMENT TO HUMAN STUPIDITY.

"It contained various items workers had fished out of the hippo tank over the years: aluminum cans, glass bottles, coins, cigar stubs, two cigarete lighters, a dental-floss dispenser, a pocket knife, a tangled Slinky, a plastic wristwatch, a disposable razor--even a few rounds of ammunition." 

This, admittedly, is hilarious.  I love that they have a display labeled "Monument to Human Stupidity."  But it's a little on the nose for a zoo.  Zoos now days are all about conservation.  They take good care of their animals and use a lot of the money they make to promote animal conservation projects.  They are very friendly about it.  And their signage reflects that as well, often using the word "Please" or using gentle reminders that litter and foreign objects are not good for the animals.

Calling your guests stupid, as funny as it is to read about, is not great business.

And then there's the list of things in the exhibit.  Most are not too surprising.  But how many people floss while wandering around a zoo?  Or shave!  Or fire off guns!  Even the slinky is a little extreme, but maybe a little kid got it at the gift shop and dropped it in.

As hilarious as this passage is, it makes me wonder about the owners, and the guests at the Vista Point Zoo.

Let's look at the owners.  We know very little: they are a family, which means it's a private zoo.  Most private zoos are affiliated with a Zoological Society--conservationists and charities.  With Cheyenne Mountain, Penrose's personal animal collection was getting big, so he made it a zoo so others could enjoy seeing the animals.  Over time, it has evolved into an organization that promotes animal conservation projects, as many zoos do.  If we are drawing, or even jumping to conclusions about this, we can assume that the family who owns this zoo are animal enthusiasts who want to show off their cool collection.  Maybe they're affiliated with a charity, but most charities don't insult their guests by calling them stupid, even if it's an indirect statement.

At Dartmoor, the Mees wanted to save the animals, so they bought the zoo, and when it was better established, donated it to a charity that could do a better job of running it than he and his two kids could.  Benjamin Mee is still the CEO of the charity, and still lives at the zoo.  So maybe this family is more like the Mees.  They saw animals who were not being properly treated, and did something to solve that problem by buying a zoo and living on it.

Who else do we know of in the Mull-Tiverse that cares about animals and lives with a wide variety of unique animals... and creatures?  Hmmm... Wait!  What if the Vista Point Zoo is actually a preserve for mythical creatures!  I really liked this idea for a while, even though all the other preserves are on massive amounts of land... in remote areas... and most of the creatures roam free on the land, restricted by magic rather than physical barriers... and the caretakers do everything they can to prevent people from seeing the creatures they protect... okay, so it's probably not a preserve for magical creatures.

But then there is the connection between Fablehaven and Candy Shop Wars that magicians exist as "pretenders" and Wizards are actual magical beings.  So what would a magician, who wanted to have a collection of mythical creatures look like?  Well, they could never leave their lair--they'd have to live at the zoo.  And magicians don't seem to have any issue with people unknowingly traversing their lair.  Not only this, at least some of them have shows that they want people to come into their lair.  Why else would you make your lair a candy shop or an arcade?

This also would explain their lack of tact with the "human stupidity" display in front of Hank the Hippo's exhibit (if Hank really is a hippo... just sayin'...).  

And it could potentially explain the stupidity of some of the guests!  Maybe there's cotton candy that suddenly makes people obsessed with hygiene--they just have to floss... or shave... and don't even realize they're doing it.  Or maybe White Fudge is involved somehow.  It has always made me sad that Jason's parents were so inattentive to him, but not his older siblings, and this, while in some ways, could make it even sadder, also means that it really isn't their fault: if they are the victims of a cruel magician who causes them to neglect their son, who unwittingly is working for them around creatures far more dangerous than he realizes... at least it's not their fault.  See what I mean?  Way worse, but also... in a tiny way... mildly better because they're good parents, just not themselves lately.

And as the icing on the cake, it supplies some fodder to bring the Beyonders series more firmly into the One-Earth piece of the Mull-Tiverse theory!

I know this leaves a lot more questions, but would love to hear what other people think.  Is this too far fetched, or does it make Brandon Mull's books more enjoyable to read and talk about?  Do you have any other tidbits that would support the Mull-Tiverse theory?

And what kind of creatures do you think they have at the Vista Point Zoo if they really are mythical creatures in disguise?

The One Earth Theory

One of the things I've wondered about with the idea of the Mull-Tiverse is, how many "Earths" are there in it?  In other words, to Seth and Kendra, Jason and Rachel, Cole, and Nate, Summer, Pigeon and Trevor all live in the same reality?

In both Beyonders and Five Kingdoms, they reference the fact that nobody knows just how many realities there are.  That means there could be at least for worlds that are like Earth.  While I am open to this idea, though, it also feels like kind of a copout method of fitting everything into the Mull-Tiverse.

So I started to wonder: is it possible that they all live on the same Earth?

We know that some of them do.  The movie "Medal of Shame" tells us that at least the Sorensons and Cole are from the same Earth.  The job then becomes, how do the Earth as represented in Candy Shop Wars and the Earth as represented in Beyonders fit into this reality?

One of the first things I looked at with this was where each of them are from.  All of the main characters are from the USA:

Seth and Kendra are the most traveled on Earth, but they are originally from Rochester, New York.

Cole is from Mesa, Arizona.  Both of these are actual locations, so even if it weren't for the "Medal of Shame" Easter Egg, we could easily say they're from the same version of Earth.

Rachel is from Olympia, Washington.  Another actual city, but Jason is from Vista, Colorado--a fictional city.  So the Earth they live on isn't necessarily the same.

Nate, Summer, Pigeon and Trevor are from Colson, California--another fictional city.  So again, a different variation of Earth.  

Even before picking apart these details, it was clearly just going to be a starting point.  It would take more than just "fictional town" vs "real town" to figure out how many Earths there were.  However, it didn't do much good, even as a starting point because the two that are harder to fit into the same reality are also the two that use fictional towns.

I have to admit, I was stumped on this one for a while until Parley Eubanks made a comment on a Facebook page for Brandon Mull fans that helped me connect at least some of the dots in this puzzle.  So, if you read this, Parley, thank you again!  He pointed out a conversation between Kendra and Agad in "Secrets of the Dragon Santuary."  Here's what Agad tells Kendra on page 312:

"Very few true wizards survive.  Oh, you can find pretenders, magicians and witches and the like, but my kind have become an extremely rare breed.  You see, all true wizards were once dragons."

I was SO excited to get this reminder for multiple reasons:

1: Candy Shop Wars is the biggest stumper (for me) in terms of the Mull-Tiverse

2: This can be used to show that Fablehaven and Candy Shop Wars happen on the same version of Earth!

Agad points out that there are others who practice magic.  He calls them "pretenders," which makes me think that he has had contact with some of them.  Also, (and this is the point that Parley made) he uses the term magicians.

Magicians are the main source of magic in Candy Shop Wars!  So Wizards (true wizards, as in ex-dragons) and magicians both exist in the Earth of Fablehaven.  It may not seem like much, but it is definitely noteable enough for fans to take notice.

That means that only the Earth of Beyonders is left to make a connection.  This means there needs to be a way to connect Beyonders to either Candy Shop Wars or Fablehaven.  Or both.

Let's start with Candy Shop Wars: One of the rules of magicians in Candy Shop Wars is that they must stay in their lair.  Ms. White sends Nate, Summer, Pigeon and Trevor on all her dangerous errands because she needs to stay in her candy shop.

A lair can be pretty much anything: a house, a candy sop, an arcade, a baseball cap!  But usually it's a place.

They also seem to enjoy luring people into their lairs and preying on weak minds!  The white fudge makes pretty much the entire town of Colson into mindless zombies, and the games in Arcadeland seem to draw kids in and make them drones, too.

This also brings up another interesting point about lairs: others don't seem to have to know that they are magician's lairs and magicians tend to enjoy public places that people want to go to.

Now let's look at the Fablehaven side  of things:  Agad doesn't seem to have a very favorable opinion of magicians.  He calls them "pretenders," as I mentioned before.  But this implies that he knows enough about them to be able to say that.  SO... magicians and at least one true wizard have interacted.  The magicians probably wouldn't be too pleased with being thought of as "pretenders."  There is likely a rivalry between magicians and wizards.

While Agad is not bound by magic to his preserve, he is bound by duty.  Dragon Sanctuaries must have wizards at them to protect the world from dragons just like the other preserves must have caretakers to protect the world form the magical creatures.

It's funny, but early on in the releases of the Fablehaven series, I thought "how awesome would it be to be a caretaker to a preserve for mythical creatures!"  It would be amazing.  My only issue is, if I came in contact with any mythical creatures, I would be too excited to keep them secret!  I would want everyone to "drink the milk" and see the cool animals I'd found.

As I thought about the potential rivalry between magicians and wizards, I thought they might feel the same way.  Wizards want to protect the world from the dangers of these mythical beings, but magicians don't seem too concerned with that.  If a magician got a hold of any mythical creatures, they'd probably just hide them in a lair in kind of a mythical creature zoo...

I'll just let this thought sit here and find out what others think...

Where did Olloch Come From?

One of my favorite demons in the Fablehaven universe is introduced very early on in the series: Olloch.  He was so unique, and, lets be honest, more than a little creepy.  A giant frog with that many tongues and an essentially limitless ability to grow?  That is terrifying.  Nobody wants to see a giant frog with tongues lashing out in every direction, eating everything in sight!

There's a description of him and his connection to the Fablehaven storyline on the Fablehaven fan wiki here:  https://fablehaven.fandom.com/wiki/Olloch_the_Glutton 

I was reminded of Olloch while I was listening to the audio book of "A World Without Heroes" not long ago.

Here's a passage from page 333:

"Jason sat taller, scanning the water ahead.  Off to one side he spotted a fat frog squatting on a floating log.  Bigger than a rabbit, the frog bulged with warty bumps.

"'Big frog,' Jason said.

"Jasher snorted.

"'They get bigger?' Rachel asked.

"'Big enough to prey on men, I am told,' Jasher whispered."

Frogs big enough to prey on men?  You can see why this made me think of Olloch, and I'm probably not the first to make the connection.  It got me thinking: could Olloch be one of the giant frogs from Lyrian?

But they're in Lyrian, not on Earth.  And Olloch is currently a statue.  And they're frogs.  They only have one tongue--Jasher slices one off later on when one of the giant frogs tries to eat them.

So let's tackle this one piece at a time.  First off, the giant frogs are in Lyrian.  This one is actually pretty easy to address: Jason is from Earth and is in Lyrian.  He gets sent back to earth through water at the end of "A World Without Heroes."  It's pretty widely accepted that not all pathways between Lyrian and other realities are known, so it is pretty conceivable that another passage exists through water.  Possibly even in the sunken lands.  It makes sense that these passages wouldn't be known because nobody likes to go to the sunken lands.  It's not exactly an ideal vacation spot.  Nor is vacation really a think in Lyrian, travel being frowned upon and all that.

So it actually doesn't seem that far-fetched that an animal could "accidentally" travel through a portal from Lyrain to "the beyond" (I don't think it's ever an accident, even if the individual doesn't expect it).

Then there's the whole thing about Olloch taking the form of a statue.  Frogs don't do that.  There's no indication in The Beyonders series that these Frogs are part gargoyle and turn to stone at any point in time.  They're just frogs that can get really big.

Well, "The Caretaker's Guide to Fablehaven" actually has some answers for us on this one: "This froklike demon has been transformed by a spell into a polished, green-speckled-jade toad figurine." (page 72).

It was a spell that turned him into a statue.  Not part of his nature.  Someone, probably in an attempt to prevent Olloch from gaining any more power, cast a spell on him.  I know this description says "figurine," and in the fan wiki it explains that he is changed back into a larger version of the statue, but that's just a difference in timeline.  The Caretaker's guide was obviously put together before Seth awakened Olloch.  In fact, Seth and Kendra have both left additional notes about Olloch on that page of the Caretaker's Guide.  

That one is pretty easy to explain as well.  The piece that isn't is the fact that Olloch is a froglike demon, not a frog.  And he has multiple tongues.  The frogs in the sunken lands do not have multiple tongues, and as large as they can get, they are still just frogs.

To respond to this, I turn to the most recent addition to the Mull-Tiverse: "Dragonwatch: Champion of the Titan Games."

Near the end of this book, Seth has a conversation with the creator of the Titan Games, the demon Humbuggle (my all-time favorite of the demons).  Part of their conversation reveals the nature of demons.  It touches on the biggest theme of the entire Fablehaven and Dragonwatch series: good and evil is about choice.  

Seth asks of demons have children, and Humbuggle's response is awesome:

"Less frequently than you might suppose, but yes, some do... And the babies are not demons.  They must be trained.  They can choose to become demons.  But not one demon started out the way they ended up.  They grow monstrous over time.  Any thinking being can qualify.  It's why there is so much variety among demonkind." (page 511).

Any thinking being?  Hmmm... can frogs think?  Well, they can at least think enough to catch their prey.  And what does Olloch do?  He's called Olloch the glutton!

This passage from "Champion of the Titan Games" was enough to convince me that, yes, Olloch could definitely be one of the giant frogs from Lyrian.  But just to make sure, let's dig a little deeper.

The first thing Humbuggle says is that in order to become demons, the creature or being "must be trained."  Trained by whom?  The most obvious assumption would be by another demon, but there is no mention of any demons in Lyrian.  That's not to say they couldn't exist, but it doesn't help solidify our case at all.

But if we look at the broader theme of the books in the Fablehaven universe, it may not matter if a being was trained by an actual demon or not.  In the Fablehaven universe, there are no beings that are inherently good or bad--there is light and there is darkness.  Beings can change from creatures of light to creatures of darkness, or vice versa.  The first obvious example of this is in "Grip of the Shadow Plague," but the change can happen more gradually, over time as well.  There is a clear sense of right and wrong, but that is more a matter of choice.

While it looks a bit different in Lyrian, it is still the same case.  Look at Maldor vs. Rachel for example.  Odd comparison?  Maybe, but think of their interaction at the end of "Seeds of Rebellion."  Both are naturally gifted in the use of Edomic.  Both have the same power, but they use it very differently.  Maldor invites Rachel to be his apprentice and Rachel is tempted because she knows the power she has can be improved.  But that does not mean Rachel would use it for evil as Maldor has.  Not much later, she receivs a similar offer from the Oracle where she could use her power to help others.

Rachel would use her power to support others while Maldor would use it to support himself.  It's what he's done for years, back from when he and Orruck were fighting each other over who would gain control.  

And look what happened to Orruck for that matter!  He used to be humanoid, but his obsession with using Edomic to gain power transformed him into something that Rachel didn't even recognize at first--she thought his head was his entire body when she first saw him... He transformed... into something else... because of choices he made to use his power for evil... If that doesn't sound like what Humbuggle is describing, I don't know what does.

So we have an evil being who transformed over a loooong period of time into something completely different.  And he lives in Lyrian...in the sunken lands... where the frogs live... And his name is Orruck.  I know this feels like a stretch, but what if one of the frogs ventured far enough out of the part of the swamp they control in search of something bigger to eat and found Orruck?  I'm not implying that Orruck would willingly take on a frog as a tutor, but a frog, being a thinking being, may have learned a few things from watching this creature that was way bigger than he was and how he got so big.

As trivial as it is (because, let's face it, this is all trivial fan theory anyway), I also really like the idea that Olloch could just be a poor pronunciation of Orruck.  Perhaps from a being who is just learning to speak?

Here's what I think: Olloch wandered off looking for bigger food, found Orruck and though I want to be like that thing and observed, learned a few tricks and started to transform into something else because of Edomic.  Somewhere along his journey, probably while chasing after some food, he accidentally got transported into "the beyond," and ended up in the world of the Fablehaven universe and continued his journey to demonhood, already having been partially transformed beforehand.  

I'd love to hear input from other Brandon Mull super fans on if you think this is a possible connection in the Mull-Tiverse.

Hard Evidence: Why the Mull-Tiverse Works

 In case I wasn't emphatic enough about it in the first post, I LOVE fan theories.  They make books and movies come to life in a whole different way, and they get people thinking about subtext, which is amazing.

I follow the Super Carlin Brothers on YouTube whenever I get a chance, and my favorite of their posts are about the Pixar Theory, which, if you don't know about, you should look it up.  It's mind-blowing.

But this blog is devoted to the creative works of Brandon Mull.  I want to use it to explore the possibilities of a multiverse (or Mull-Tiverse, if you will) that connects the series that he is the sole author of.  He has done this himself, through his Five Kingdoms series.

Most of the posts here will be speculative, but I wanted to supply the foundation for the Mull-Tiverse theory first.

Five Kingdoms is what makes this theory a possibility.  Even if it weren't for the Easter eggs he drops in the series (and things that are much more obvious than Easter eggs... what would you call those?  Easter Bunnies?), the very concept of the series makes it a possibility.

In the first book, "Sky Raiders," the main character, Cole finds himself in another realm when he goes to rescue his friends from kidnappers.  The first person he meets there is a wayminder, who has the ability to open passages between the Outskirts (where they are) and other worlds.

Their first conversation contains this little snippet:

“You have crossed over to the Outskirts.”

“The outskirts of where?”

“A difficult question.  The outskirts of everywhere, perhaps.  Certainly the outskirts of the world you know.  This is an in-between place.” (page 31)

The use of capitalization in what the wayminder says and the lack of capitalization that Cole uses when he asks for clarification shows a misunderstanding on Cole's part.  The wayminder was telling him the name of the place, and Cole confused this with a description of the place they were in.  The wayminder could have clarified that the he was referring to the name of the place, but he doesn't.  Instead, he says, "The outskirts of everywhere."  This phrase opens the door to so many possibilities!  Too many, actually.  So we are going to take on one possibility: that the Outskirts are connected to any reality that exists in a series that was solely authored by Brandon Mull: the Fablehaven Universe (to include both series--Fablehaven and Dragonwatch), Lyrian from Beyonders, and the world of Candy Shop Wars.

At this point, you may be thinking, but you said hard evidence.  Saying "the outskirts of everywhere" isn't hard evidence.

You're right.  But in fan theory, you have to have a foundation, or something that grants permission for you to think outside the box--or the series.

Also in Sky Raiders, Cole discovers that it's not just people that can go from his world to the Outskirts.  When he arrives at Skyport and Mira is giving him a tour and helping him get the right gear to be a sky raider, he spots football gear and a T-Shirt from Earth:

“…we have a lot of this stuff.  Like that T-shirt over there.  It’s from a movie called Medal of Shame.  It doesn’t belong here.” (page 80)

A movie called Medal of Shame... hmmm... have any of you seen that movie?  I know I haven't.  Because it doesn't exist in our reality.  But do you know where it does exist?  The the Fablehaven universe!  Check out this excerpt form "Rise of the Evening Star," the second Fablehaven book:

"Case clapped his hands together. 'So what are we seeing?'

"They debated for a couple of minutes.  Case wanted to see Medal of Shame, about a serial killer addicted to terrorizing veterans who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor." (page 12-13)

This little Easter egg tells us that Cole comes from the same universe as Seth and Kendra.  This means Cole came from a version of Earth that has secret preserves for magical creatures!

If this isn't enough to convince you that the Mull-Tiverse exists, book two of Five Kingdoms, "Rogue Knight," introduces a new character named Trillian.  Trillian doesn't come from the Outskirts, and he doesn't come from Earth.  We don't know where he comes from, but we know what he is: a torivor.

You know where else we see torivors?  In Lyrian!  In the Beyonders series, Maldor has enslaved what many people in Lyrian call Lurkers.  What they are actually called is torivors!  In Beyonders, nobody knows where the torivors came from, just that they come from "the Beyond."

Not only does this Easter egg connect Five Kingdoms and Beyonders, but it leaves some possibility for another series down the road that features torivors more directly (Come on, Brandon Mull!  Bring it to us!)  It would be awesome to see a torivor show up in Fablehaven, but possibly even cooler to read a series about wherever it is they come from.

Trillian is certainly a stronger support of the Mull-Tiverse theory, but Brandon Mull grants us the biggest gift to allow us to connect the dots in book four of Five Kingdoms: "Death Weavers."

Some background on this Easter Bunny before I give the quote: Lyrian, the world from the Beyonders series, contains many wizard-created races.  Two of the most featured races are the Amar Kabal and Displacers.

Here is a passage from "Death Weavers":

“'Let me introduce a pair of echoes who didn’t live in the Outskirts during mortality,' Harvan said.  'This is Drake, son of Hessit, of the Amar Kabal.'  The man with long hair placed two fingers on his chest and gave a small bow.  'And Ferrin, son of Baldor, a displacer.' (246) 

I am not joking, I audibly gasped when I reached this passage my first time reading the book, eliciting a chuckle from the woman sitting across from me in the church lobby.

Since reading that passage, I have toyed with the idea of exploring what other connections I can find in Brandon Mull's books.  Years have passed, but with any luck, I'll find some more and be able to share them here.

Brandon Mull and the Mull-Tiverse

I love Brandon Mull's writing.  I know his books don't have the same wide-spread fan base as Harry Potter, but I am going to raise some eyebrows by saying I like his books more than Harry Potter.  Anyone who knows me knows what a big deal it is for me to say that.  For those of you who don't, let's just say that I am sitting here writing this blog post, wearing a Hufflepuff hoodie.

Brandon Mull books just don't have the same merchandise that the Harry Potter franchise has.  But if I could find a shirt that said "Drink the Milk," or "I keep waiting for things to get less weird and it keeps not happening," I would totally wear them every chance I got!

If you don't know, Brandon Mull is the author of some amazing series: Fablheaven, Candy Shop Wars, Beyonders, Five Kingdoms,  and most recently Dragonwatch, which is a follow-up series to Fablehaven, and I am SO excited for the final book to come out!  He also contributed to the Spirit Animal series.

I created this blog as a backdrop for something I have been wanting to do since I read the fourth book in the Five Kingdoms series: "Death Weavers."

Death weavers is my favorite book in the Five Kingdoms series for multiple reasons.  It was the one I was most excited about because it features Necronum, a kingdom that represents the space between life and death.  I have always been fascinated by ghost stories and the relationship between mortal life and life on the other side of the veil.

But on top of that, it is the book that made fan theories about Brandon Mull's books a reality.  I don't consider information about these books "spoilers" anymore because they've been out for several years now, but if you haven't read them and don't want the be robbed of the joy of discovering the storyline on your own, you may want to stop now and read the "Beyonders" series, and then "The Five Kingdoms."  Then you can come back to it.

In "Death Weavers," Cole meets Ferrin and Drake In the Echolands.  These two were some of my favorite characters from Beyonders.  I was sitting in a church lobby on a youth night when I got to this part in the book and I was so excited that I audibly gasped.  The woman sitting in the chair across from me chuckled and said, "Good book?"  Obviously, I confirmed that it was, completely unashamed of my geek-out reaction.

Since that day, I have been obsessed with finding other connections in Brandon Mull's books in a concept I have taken to calling the "Mull-Tiverse."

I do not claim to be an authority--I have never met Brandon Mull (although I think that would be awesome).  I am just a fan, who loves other fan theories and wanted to be a part of creating one.  It may not end up being a fan theory to the caliber of the Pixar Theory (which I also love), but I wanted to give it a go.

For this post, though, I am just going to do a ranking of my personal favorites in the series that make up the Mull-Tiverse.  For this, I am going to use series that are written solely by Brandon Mull, so "Spirit Animals" will not be included.  This list only reflect my personal opinion, and it is based on how well they support the Mull-Tiverse theory.

1: Five Kingdoms.

 It should come as no surprise, based on the criteria that I explained, that this is my favorite of the series.  Because the Outskirts is a "space between," it is what makes the Mull-Tiverse a possibility, and it is also the series that provided hard evidence that it is a real thing, that the author actually put thought into, which opened the door for fans like me to explore the possibilities even further.

On top of that, though, I love the way this series addresses real current issues with youth today.  Adolescence is an age of discovery, and it is, in may ways, a stage where youth feel like they are "in between," because they're no longer children, but they're not yet adults.  This makes the Outskirts a beautiful backdrop to address feelings of being "in between."

2: Beyonders

I go back and forth between this being my overall favorite of his series and ranking second to "Five Kingdoms."  For this list, I've placed it second because the Mull-Tiverse wasn't a reality when this series came out.  It is an amazing series with truly unique characters and beings, which is why I love it so much overall.  It took concepts of classic fantasy and opened up so many possibilities to young readers.  This series did for my son what Lord of the Rings did for me: it set a standard for good fantasy.

As far as its connection to the Mull-Tiverse, there are a couple things in "World Without Heroes" that, upon reading after "The Five Kingdoms" piqued my interest as far as connecting Fablehaven and Dragonwatch into the Mull-Tiverse.  Again, I won't go into detail here because I need content for other posts.

3: Dragonwatch

I place this one above Fablehaven because it expanded on the Fablehaven universe, opening up more possibilities to tap into the Mull-Tiverse.  In the Fablehaven universe, there are five crowns.  This fact alone taps into the theme of five we see in the Mull-Tiverse.  They are: Fairykind, Undead, Giants, Dragos and Demons.  In Dragonwatch, we learn a TON more about the nature of these five groups.

The history of this universe is expanded even more with "Legend of the Dragon Slayer."

4: Fablehaven

I bought Fablehaven as soon as it came out.  I was SO excited for a new author in the realm of YA Fantasy, and it did NOT disappoint.  I was in college at the time, and was in a YA Literature class.  I did a book talk on Fablehaven for one of my projects, and everyone in the class agreed, Brandon Mull was going to be big.

The only reason I rank it so low is because Dragonwatch does more to support the Mull-Tiverse theory, even though they are part of their own universe together.

5: Candy Shop Wars

This series still stumps me a bit.  I like it, but don't hold it on the same level as the other books.  This is also probably why I haven't been able to make any connections with it in the Mull-Tiverse theory.  I am still including it, though, in case there are other fans out there who have seen things that I've missed, and also because I am determined to connect it somehow.