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“Several human years ago, something fractured the gates of Hell. We’d been told it was part of a prophecy….Then [Pride’s] beloved wife was murdered.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, chapter 30, page 242.
Okay, so I was doing a reread of Kingdom of the Wicked when I noticed this little section. Now I’m wondering: what is the timeline for this story (in regards to the curse)? My first thought when reading that something happened to the gates was when Emilia held both Vittoria’s amulet and her own when they were eight. But considering the fact that Kerri seems to be leaning very heavily into the reincarnation route, and given Nonna’s POV in the prologue, it seems more likely that Pride’s wife and her sister had already been dead for some time. So were the twins being conceived/born what weakened the gates? Especially since as an immortal, Wrath’s line of ”several human years ago” could actually mean “almost two decades ago,” and his mention of the prophecy is in relation to twin witches being born. But something about that just doesn’t really click together for me.
“But yes, I was cursed by the First Witch….My penalty for not aiding her was steeper…” —Kingdom of the Cursed, chapter 33, page 404.
The craziest theory popped into my head as I read this line, and I just have to put it out there: what if La Prima helped kill her own daughters?
Again, I know this sounds wacky, but hear me out. Both in the prologue and in the line I quoted above, it’s clear the First Witch wanted Wrath’s help with something, yet it is never specified what she needed his assistance with. I think the prologue occurs either before Pride and his wife married, or shortly afterwards. Mainly because La Prima never mentions her daughters or their deaths, or even desiring revenge against any of the demon princes. She’s just angry that Wrath has continuously refused to assist her. So what if she wanted his help breaking up Pride and his wife? I mean, who better to ask than the devil himself, King of the Wicked?
Wrath does mention in KotW that La Prima kicked her daughter out of the coven after marrying Pride (I believe he says she actually ripped away her magic, but I’m going to have to double-check that quote). Anyway, if the First Witch was so displeased by one of her daughters marrying a demon to (possibly) rip away her magic, then what would stop her from either orchestrating her daughters death, or outright killing them herself? Especially since part of La Prima’s curse on Wrath promised to take away any sort of happiness he finds, and he does indeed seem to have been happy with Emilia’s previous reincarnation. I don’t think he would have taken Emilia to the Crescent Shallows in the hope that she might remember something if they were unhappy together.
TL;DR There is a good chance that La Prima killed her own daughters because they had both fallen in love with two of the Wicked, based on context clues and my mind going crazy trying to figure every part of this series out. (Also I’m super sorry if this seems messy, I just had this thought and wanted to get this written out before I forgot.)
Next up on my list of crazy theories: why Nonna is actually La Prima.
“La Prima, as you call her, commanded her daughter to give up her throne, and return to her coven, but she refused. The First Witch used the darkest kind of magic to remove her daughter’s power and banished her from the coven.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, chapter 30, page 242
So I was right, La Prima did rip away her daughter’s magic. Now the question becomes: did she do it solely because she was pissed at her daughter, or did La Prima do it in preparation of murdering her daughters (so they wouldn’t be able to fight back with their magic)?
(Also, my theory about why Nonna is the First Witch will be coming out tomorrow, if anyone is interested)
“But yes, I was cursed by the First Witch….My penalty for not aiding her was steeper…” —Kingdom of the Cursed, chapter 33, page 404.
The craziest theory popped into my head as I read this line, and I just have to put it out there: what if La Prima helped kill her own daughters?
Again, I know this sounds wacky, but hear me out. Both in the prologue and in the line I quoted above, it’s clear the First Witch wanted Wrath’s help with something, yet it is never specified what she needed his assistance with. I think the prologue occurs either before Pride and his wife married, or shortly afterwards. Mainly because La Prima never mentions her daughters or their deaths, or even desiring revenge against any of the demon princes. She’s just angry that Wrath has continuously refused to assist her. So what if she wanted his help breaking up Pride and his wife? I mean, who better to ask than the devil himself, King of the Wicked?
Wrath does mention in KotW that La Prima kicked her daughter out of the coven after marrying Pride (I believe he says she actually ripped away her magic, but I’m going to have to double-check that quote). Anyway, if the First Witch was so displeased by one of her daughters marrying a demon to (possibly) rip away her magic, then what would stop her from either orchestrating her daughters death, or outright killing them herself? Especially since part of La Prima’s curse on Wrath promised to take away any sort of happiness he finds, and he does indeed seem to have been happy with Emilia’s previous reincarnation. I don’t think he would have taken Emilia to the Crescent Shallows in the hope that she might remember something if they were unhappy together.
TL;DR There is a good chance that La Prima killed her own daughters because they had both fallen in love with two of the Wicked, based on context clues and my mind going crazy trying to figure every part of this series out. (Also I’m super sorry if this seems messy, I just had this thought and wanted to get this written out before I forgot.)
Next up on my list of crazy theories: why Nonna is actually La Prima.
“On this date—for nearly a decade now—the storm followed the same pattern….The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, prologue, page 1
Again, I was right, and the devil’s wife and her sister being dead must have happened very recently in terms of the story—either shortly after the twins were conceive, or right before they were born. For a bit more context, this is the night of Emilia and Vittoria’s 8th birthday, so they are nearly a decade old now.
(Don’t mind the whole devil demanding retribution bit, I’m also using this picture for my Nonna theory)
“Several human years ago, something fractured the gates of Hell. We’d been told it was part of a prophecy….Then [Pride’s] beloved wife was murdered.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, chapter 30, page 242.
Okay, so I was doing a reread of Kingdom of the Wicked when I noticed this little section. Now I’m wondering: what is the timeline for this story (in regards to the curse)? My first thought when reading that something happened to the gates was when Emilia held both Vittoria’s amulet and her own when they were eight. But considering the fact that Kerri seems to be leaning very heavily into the reincarnation route, and given Nonna’s POV in the prologue, it seems more likely that Pride’s wife and her sister had already been dead for some time. So were the twins being conceived/born what weakened the gates? Especially since as an immortal, Wrath’s line of ”several human years ago” could actually mean “almost two decades ago,” and his mention of the prophecy is in relation to twin witches being born. But something about that just doesn’t really click together for me.
Why Nonna is actually La Prima
Just a heads up, this post is going to be a bit lengthy, so I’m putting the rest under a “keep reading.”
Okay, let’s start with some surface level stuff before we dig deeper.
During the prologue of KotW, Emilia asks Nonna, ”’Where is the First Witch now?…Why hasn’t she been seen?’” This is the response: “Nonna thought carefully. ‘She has her reasons. We must respect them.’” —KotW, prologue, page 6
That is the most non-answer that I have ever read. And the perfect evasion so you don’t have to tell your twin 8-year-old granddaughters that you are the First Witch. Also notice how Nonna hesitates before answering. Likely trying to decide if she should give some sort of an answer, or just deflect the question.
What really sparked this theory in my mind is that Nonna and La Prima not only survive having their throats slit, but both also perform impressive feats of magic afterwards (La Prima taking away the devil’s wings and cursing him, Nonna sending Envy back to Hell)
Yet something struck me as odd, especially when I read this line Emilia has when she thinks back on the encounter as she goes to dine with Envy in his House: “I still couldn’t believe Nonna had banished him back to the underworld using magic I was unaware she possessed.” —KotC, chapter 15, pages 201-202. At first I thought it was the spell that was strange to her, yet going through KotW again, the spell is not only in the family grimoire, but Emilia helps Nonna recite the spell.
“Notes from the di Carlos grimoire.” —KotW, chapter 19, page 138
“A key and a full moon formed at the end of two branches. I suddenly knew exactly what Nonna was doing….feeding Nonna’s spell with my own power. ‘A dagger to kill, a snake to die.’” —KotW, chapter 41, page 317
So it’s not the spell that was strange to Emilia, it was just Nonna’s magic. And when you look back at the book, this is the only time we ever see Nonna use magic. The closest we’ve gotten is seeing Nonna make different colored candles for various purposes. So why was Nonna’s magic strange to her? Because Nonna is the First Witch, the daughter of the sun goddess and a demon. Of course her magic feels different.
As for how Nonna has managed to survive for so long: “We were told [La Prima] was immortal…” —KotW, chapter 30, page 241.
That immortality would also explain why the stories about the Wicked are so wrong. She doesn’t want people to feel sympathy for them. Yes, they are demons and have been known to torture and kill people. But they are also much more complex than that; they are more human than that. And who was the one who told Emilia and Vittoria stories about the scary demon princes? You guessed it: Nonna.
“Nonna feared [Emilia and Vittoria] romanticized demons too much. It was best, she decided, to remind them why they should be wary of beautiful creatures without souls.” —KotW, prologue, page 4.
Of course Nonna would believe that the Wicked were without souls. In her eyes, two of them stole and corrupted her daughters, leading to their deaths. In reality, both her daughters saw the humanity in Pride and Wrath, and fell in love with them, even going so far as to marry one and be banished from her coven for it. And if Vittoria and Emilia really are reincarnations of Pride’s wife and Wrath’s lover respectfully, then these stories are more than your average cautionary tale a grandmother would tell her grandchildren. She is actively trying to scare the twins away from the loves of their former lives. Make the twins hateful towards them, which does work on Emilia (to an extent). Either because she doesn’t want to take any risks in regards to the curse fully breaking, or she simply does not want to lose them again. Perhaps both. Either way, it’s not up to her what the twins do in regards to their sealed memories.
Now, I believe we all know this rather infamous quote: “‘There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life.” —KotW, prologue, page 5.
I know that there are quite a few theories about which prince means what, yet I don’t believe that anyone has really stated why di Carlos should only fear those specific four princes. Well, because it’s not that everyone in the di Carlos family should fear them. Only the twins have to fear them because they are reincarnations.
In Wrath’s first bonus chapter, as he remembers the murder of his sister-in-law and her sister, he specifically mentions two Houses that he believes were involved with their death: the House of Envy, and the House of Greed.
“When word had reached him, the devil almost razed both houses, searching for signs of their treachery….A message to the princes of House Greed and House Envy…” —Wrath bonus chapter
So Envy and Greed are the most likely candidates for “crave your blood and take your life.” I know most people would likely assume Envy is the one who took the twins lives, but I don’t think so. He seems to actually somewhat like Emilia, and I think he might want to be friends with her (I mean, he does joke around with her a little in KotC, when he tells her she could sleep in his bed and look at his nude portrait on the ceiling. That was pretty funny). Meanwhile, Greed is a prince that we’ve met in the first book, yet there’s only one interaction with him throughout both books. Even Gluttony and Pride got more page time, and we only just met Gluttony in KotC, and got one scene with Pride in KotW. I wouldn’t disqualify Greed from having been the one to kill Emilia and Vittoria in their previous life. We simply don’t know enough about him. (Which sort of ties in to my theory that La Prima had a hand in killing her daughters because how else would she know which demon houses killed them? I highly doubt she was on speaking terms with her son in-law).
Next we have “steal your soul and capture your heart.” Quite honestly, I think Pride and Wrath fit both. When Emilia is asking Wrath about the curse on Pride, she assumes that Pride must have stolen La Prima’s daughter’s soul. Wrath immediately corrects her, saying, “‘Pride didn’t steal anything. He didn’t have to. Her daughter willingly chose to wed him. They fell in love, despite who they were.’” —KotW, chapter 30, page 242.
But if we’re going off of La Prima’s POV—someone who clearly hates demons, especially the Wicked—then it would seem to her like Pride had tricked her daughter into marrying him, stealing her soul in the process. Yet “capture your heart” sort of sounds like falling in love to me. And both of La Prima’s daughters fell in love with Pride and Wrath, which is why I’m leaning towards Pride being the one to steal the twins souls, yet could honestly see him as the one to capture their hearts.
There you have it! My complete theory on why Nonna is the First Witch. If you have any thoughts or theories of your own, I would love to read them!
So, I’ve just been dragged back into the Kingdom of the Wicked fandom, and I obviously had to do a reread of the books when something caught my eye:
KotC, chapter 25, page 317
Does anything about this look familiar? Say, the handwriting?
“Notes from the secret di Carlos grimoire.” KotC
Yeah, Wrath most likely has the secret di Carlos grimoire in his possession (something to note is that Emilia found it in the Haven library, not his personal one). And this isn’t just a case of Kerri accidentally using the same font for two completely different things, because she has been consistent with peoples handwritings throughout both books.
Wrath’s note to Emilia in KotW, chapter 27, page 210
Another note from Wrath to Emilia in KotC, chapter 35, page 420
Same with Emilia’s handwriting:
Emilia’s notes in KotW, chapter 17, page 123
Emilia’s notes in KotC, chapter 8, page 106
Also worth noting is the fact that the writing for the secret grimoire is completely different from that of the snippets we see in KotW in the known di Carlos grimoire:
Chapter 44, page 337
Now I’m wondering why Wrath would have a di Carlos grimoire in one of his libraries. Is this actually the grimoire that belonged to Emilia in her past life maybe? Though the fact that it’s specifically cited as belonging to the di Carlos family and a secret instead of like “lost grimoire” or something makes me suspicious. And when Emilia flips through it, all it contains is mentions of lesser demons and how to identify them. Unless she missed something because it does seem like she was skimming through the book, but still. Something else is going on here.
(Just realized this as I was quickly rereading through the post, but Emilia was reading a passage about “Creatures made through primordial FEAR” in the first pic and how they crave life which basically equals the heart. And what did we have in the first book? A lot of witches being murdered by having their hearts ripped out. And the next book is called Kingdom of the FEARED. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!)
Going to leave you all with one last little thing I noticed that I thought should be it’s own separate post: I think the writer for the mysterious note Emilia finds in Wrath’s study is from Greed.
Again, this is going off of handwriting, but look at Gluttony’s note for Emilia:
KotC, chapter 27, page 343
Now look at the mysterious note:
KotC, chapter 7, page 100
I even looked up the names of the demons most associated with the 7 deadly sins, to see if maybe G was meant to be an abbreviation of their true name, but that didn’t check out.
Lucifer (Pride)
Mammon (Greed)
Asmodeus (Lust)
Satan (Wrath)
Beelzebub (Gluttony)
Leviathan (Envy)
Belphegor (Sloth)
It pretty much has to be Greed warning someone (possibly Wrath or one of the other sins) about the VIII being found. I can’t help but find it interesting that Greed claims that Vittoria willingly gave him her cornicello for safe keeping back in KotW, and it seems that Vittoria has some sort of connection to the Feared if her enchanted skull messages are anything to go by.
Just got into Kingdom Hearts (I promise this is relevant) and there’s this group of characters called the Foretellers and they are named after the seven deadly sins in Latin. Gula is translated to Gluttony; Ava is greed in Latin. So I may very well be wrong, and the G is for Gluttony, especially since there is a fair bit of Latin in KotW and KotC.
Going to leave you all with one last little thing I noticed that I thought should be it’s own separate post: I think the writer for the mysterious note Emilia finds in Wrath’s study is from Greed.
Again, this is going off of handwriting, but look at Gluttony’s note for Emilia:
KotC, chapter 27, page 343
Now look at the mysterious note:
KotC, chapter 7, page 100
I even looked up the names of the demons most associated with the 7 deadly sins, to see if maybe G was meant to be an abbreviation of their true name, but that didn’t check out.
Lucifer (Pride)
Mammon (Greed)
Asmodeus (Lust)
Satan (Wrath)
Beelzebub (Gluttony)
Leviathan (Envy)
Belphegor (Sloth)
It pretty much has to be Greed warning someone (possibly Wrath or one of the other sins) about the VIII being found. I can’t help but find it interesting that Greed claims that Vittoria willingly gave him her cornicello for safe keeping back in KotW, and it seems that Vittoria has some sort of connection to the Feared if her enchanted skull messages are anything to go by.