Details on how this theory is broken can be found below the cut.
Submitted by Voidu-kun on 3/14/2017!
One of the questions that have plagued the kiseki fanbase since its reveal has been one of the biggest ones we have so far when it comes to Sen no Kiseki 3/Trails of Cold Steel 3,and that question being this “Who is behind Rean in that teaser image?” One of the many theories was that it was just Rean’s back, but subsequent news has shown us that is not the case as such many have taken to saying that it’s Crow and he will be revived. I’m here to offer my own theory on this matter, and on who I expect our mystery man is.
Broken Theory Notes (Added by omgfloofy) (8/14/2017):
Though Falcom has quickly updated the information since then to hide this again, Dengeki released images of a t-shirt from Sen no Kiseki III listed as ‘Rean and Crow,’ instead of the ‘xxxx.jpg’ that Falcom used on the Sen no Kiseki III website.
Beware!
Let’s start off then by me saying who I think it is. I believe that XXXX-kun (the name of the file when checking the Sen 3 site’s source code and my little weeby addition of kun at the end) is Rean, plain and simple.
“But wait didn’t we already establish that the jackets are different?” True we did however how does that strike out the possibility of him being Rean? There’s also some striking details when it comes to the apperance of XXXX-kun that I’m sure most have noticed by now that make me believe that it is indeed Rean. First off the hair, that’s Rean’s hair, down to every strand but what’s this? It’s white? Simply put, our dear Rean Bean Machine is in Ogre/Oni mode. Now I’m sure you’re asking,there’s gotta be another reason right?
Well yeah but in not sure you’ll be satisfied with it. Simply put, Blue Destination and the way that it was used at the end of CS2. I believe that the way that a theme with the same leitmotif as Decisive Collision and other songs associated with Crow is now being used with Rean is no coincidence, no this is a passing of the torch, a carrying out of a legacy, a finish to what was started. The downfall of a certain man, a man we all love to debate about on whether he’s truly evil, a fascist, a dictator and whatnot, that’s right the Blood and Iron Chancellor himself, Giliath Osborne.
“He’s gonna kill his own father?!? ” -not kill but rather stop his plans in their tracks. “But why? ” Well, originally I had no idea why he would and as such my theory lacked something to hold it together, and then Falcom blessed us with more news and oh was it a doozy. Osborne had annexed North Ambria and there was a war…. one that Rean himself was a part of… many things can happen in a war and perhaps whatever happened in North Ambria, Rean deemed too far. After all, he stopped using Valimar and I believe that the same war was the first instance of his Ogre/Oni form be coming “Unstable” (I’ll come back to this later).
So what exactly does this have to do with Rean being XXXX-kun? Well its something that most people have been noticing for a while, “Hey doesn’t that look like Crow?” and yes indeed it does but what if I told you that rather than it being Crow….. it’s Rean masquerading as him or rather doing what he did, a taking up of the mantle of sorts. “What? But Rean and Crow don’t-Oh” yep, have you ever noticed the visual similarities between Ogre Rean and Crow? White hair check, Red eyes check and a theorist before mentioned how Crow and Rean’s hair, while not identical, were very similar. Its almost too perfect wouldn’t you say? Everything is set up for Rean to be able to do this, motives being to end what he sees as Osborne’s reign of terror, appearance to be able to fool those who were aware of Crow including Osborne himself and give the public a hero and the weapon.
A recent variation of said teaser revealed something very interesting in XXXX-kun’s hand: a gun. And you’re all well aware that anyone can learn to use a gun correct? Crow used a gun, two to be specific but still that’s enough to provide mystery for himself. The public is aware of the Azure Chevalier and his weapon, so using his weapon would, while not only being incredibly hard to master, would also give it away as to who this is and we can’t have that can we? A national hero going against the Chancellor? No Rean wouldn’t want to sully the name of Crow like that, though it could be that Rean is dressing up like him so as to make Crow seem even more like a hero. Though bear in mind while the public knows who the Azure Chevalier is, they don’t really know what he looks like do they? Now on the topic of Rean’s Ogre/Oni mode being “Unstable” I have two theories on what that means:
- It’s a lie made up by Rean to give a reason on why he wouldn’t use his Ogre/Oni mode and to only use it for his subsequent actions as Crow. After all Osborne should know how afraid of his power his son is.
- Rean’s Ogre/Oni mode has developed a separate consciousness, and it truly believes that it is Crow and is carrying out the actions Crow did as C and is working towards the goal of eliminating Osborne.
So that’s my theory, or rather theories. In essence this would be a “revival” of Crow like many are speculating, just not in the sense that everyone is thinking.
As such, Revolutionary C is reborn!……. or rather…. Revolutionary R is born.