Submitted by Catasplurge
This theory is based on the idea that the fire and water sept-terrions are in Erebonia, with Testa Rossa acting as a link between the two.
Note: Some of this is based off the revelations made in Cold Steel 2’s NG+ quest.
Before the main meat of the theory, a little setup is needed.
So the Divine Knights are beings that are said to be fragments of the Great Power which, as per the Black Records, come from the two gods that were in Erebonia that are speculated to be the two Sept-Terrion. I propose that the Divine Knights are actually split between what I’m presuming are the fire and water treasures, coming to seven in total between them.
Now the fire treasure seems pretty obvious for Erebonia but why water exactly? Well for one thing there’s the water and fire duality in the Sen II cover art for the OST. There’s also the black records saying that the two gods of opposing natures. I have a few other points on this but before that lets talk about Testa-Rossa.
From what we know in the Black Records, Testa-Rossa was a Divine Knight that became the Crimson Calamity after being infected with the blood of the Dark Dragon. Hundreds of years later, during the War of the Lions, Prince Orhtros awakened the Vermilion Knight through unknown means turned it into the Vermilion Apocalypse. So what I think happened here is Testa-Rossa was a knight for the fire treasure, and then Orhtros somehow gave it a part of the other Great Power, the water treasure, effectively making it a knight for both of them plus having the Dark Dragon’s crazy powers.
Now if we look at the Vermilion Apocalypse’s boss fight, we can see a few more things that could possibly hint towards water. First off, the music. The first phase of the fight plays “Heteromorphy”, which based off a simple definition search, talks about different stages or forms through life in biology, which could be talking about Testa-Rossa’s different forms throughout the years. (Note this song also plays during the Grianos boss fight where he goes from a small to big bird). The second phase plays E.O.V which based off the original Japanese name for the Vermilion Apocalypse. This song very clearly has a duet between a male and female voice, and if we take a look at the artwork from Ao showing the Sept-Terrion guardians…
Wouldn’t you know it, the guardians depicted for the water and fire septs are a man and woman! This is probably the strongest hint towards water I’ve found, as the last phase of the fight just plays Blue Destination where we can just make the obvious connection between blue and water here.
For one final thing, if we look at the background during the fight here there is what seems to be a literal “sea” of fire, with wave motions and everything.
Now for the final part of my theory I think the fire Sept-Terrion will be somewhere on the east side of Erebonia and the water Sept-Terrion on the west side with 3 Divine Knights for each on both sides, and Testa-Rossa as an in between holding parts of both of their powers in the middle of Heimdallr.
Vita’s plan to make the azure and ashen knights duel could start to make more sense if they’re knights from separate sides of the great power, though I’m still not completely sure what the purpose is yet. Another thing to add to the laundry list of things Sen 3 is suppose to tackle I suppose.
I had a similar idea, but more than each side with 3 knights and one with both, I always preferred the idea of each Divine Knight having both fire and water. Thus the curse “perturbed” the initial equilibrium (and Vita wanted to avoid VA at all costs because it would muddle the data from the experiment). Still, well elaborated.