Did you not get the same merlin I did? Boi was drooling from the get go
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@Bratlin but I need more attention from Merlin tho 
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snickers lets switch merlins mines at like 80% id rather him at 0
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@Bratlin I can’t believe I ran out of likes from this conversation 
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Lol! Well, it did go from zero to WTF?!? In less than two hours!
Which means it’s “oh, crap, I have to be up in five hours” time for me. Goodnight yous! 
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Oops my bad guys
Good night
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Can I just say that I greatly saddened by the fact that Adrian is genderlocked 
. As a single straight man I would love nothing more than to have a stalker.
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Red flag alert 
Don’t we all want a personal stalker 
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After replaying the game no less than 7 times and forcing two of my friends into it, I return with MORE evidence and theorizing! Upon reflection I’m a lot less sure of Lancelot than I was before. I think I’m more firmly in the Gawain camp now.
Spoiler Talk
So, the chances of Adrian being Galahad are extremely low. Upon rereading Merlin’s 600 page long lore dump, I remembered that Galahad shouldn’t be possible because he was the first Greater Circle’s mentor, in the same vein as Merlin is to us.
“Hmm,” Merlin hums quietly to themselves. “The successful Grail Knight. That shouldn’t be possible. Galahad never died… in the end he was taken body and soul off to his fate. To his preordained destiny.” And there’s a sharpness to the mage’s smile.
“At the conclusion to the Quest for the Holy Grail,” Adrian mutters. “Death or ascension, the stories never could decide.”
“Ascension,” Merlin confirms. “My sight reveals at least that much. And so Galahad should still be alive to this day as he was back in Camelot. Well, not exactly the same, but no reincarnation for that one. And in truth… I suspect he was the leader of the First Greater Circle in 2000.”
According to Merlin, Galahad shouldn’t even be up for reincarnation, because this is the version of Galahad’s story where he became immortal at the conclusion of his quest. This allowed him to guide the First Greater Circle in their quest to prevent the apocalypse like Merlin is guiding us. I understand that the author has raised the possibility of Merlin misdirecting us, so we shouldn’t take their word 100% as gospel, but I’m more inclined to believe them on this.
BUT… This got me thinking… Adrian doesn’t seem very shocked by this revelation, does he?
“Really?” Adrian’s tone remains subdued. “What makes you think that?”
In fact, he’s seemingly going out of his way to sound as nonchalant as possible regarding this. For a person who is as invested in Arthurian lore as he is, you would expect at least a little more interest in this subject, but Adrian acts as if he already knew this.
So then I started thinking. Well, the theories are as follows:
- Adrian is an early reincarnation of the First Greater Circle in 2000 (30 years ago)
- Adrian is a surviving member of the Second Lesser Circle in 2020 (10 years ago)
- Adrian is secretly Asher Goldman, and is the reincarnation of Gawain that one of the second Circle members had tried to find in 2020.
…Who’s to say these theories are all mutually exclusive? What if Adrian’s past incarnation was one of the first Circle members who died in 2000, reincarnated 5 years later (therefore regaining his memories and developing certain imbalances, such as deja vu-induced migraines), and ran away from home to join the second Circle as a teen, but was too late? With that in mind, the timeline would be as follows:
– Gawain’s reincarnation was part of the Greater Circle of 2000, but died and reincarnated again in 2005 as Asher Goldman. Merlin wasn’t awake at this time, which would explain why Merlin doesn’t recognize him.
– Reincarnating early, Asher had managed to regain his memories much quicker than normal harbingers, thus was able to recognize the threat of an upcoming second apocalypse. This causes him to run away from home to try to join the Second Circle of 2020 as a young teen.
– For one reason or another (he was too late, he got cold feet, etc.), Asher never actually made it to the Second Circle on time. Thus, they were all wiped out without him. Asher is wracked with survivor’s guilt over this event, and blames Merlin for being unable to protect them all.
– Asher, understanding that the Second Circle had failed to fully prevent the apocalypse, returns to America under the pseudonym of Adrian Benoni to avoid being found by his father, trying to track down one of the possible harbingers before the third apocalypse. This is what leads him to MC, and is why he is as hellbent on protecting them as he is.
There’s a couple of things I think helps to support this theory.
1: Adrian is already weirdly prepared for the apocalypse.
The MC is shocked to find out that he’s as physically fit as he is. Literally able to fireman carry them over his shoulder, even if they’re twice his size. He keeps all of his personal belongings in the backpack he carries with him at all times, almost as if he’s anticipating an emergency event. He’s knowledgeable in little survival details, such as sleeping in his regular clothes in case the RV needs to be evacuated at night. And above all else, he already knew exactly what was going to happen when him and MC found themselves in the time bubble.
2: Adrian’s mysterious disdain for Merlin.
I noticed something in one of my replays that I think explains why Adrian distrusts Merlin so much. I think Adrian blames Merlin for the second Circle failing. If my theory is right, then he was there in the first Circle, when Merlin was still asleep and Galahad was in charge of guiding them to their goal. Then, when he reincarnated and regained his memories, he frantically rushed to assist the Second Circle, only to find out they were all wiped out. In Adrian’s mind, he blames himself, sure, but he might also think Merlin is at fault because those kids were all supposed to be under Merlin’s custody. (Or maybe Adrian knows something about Merlin’s involvement that we don’t? 
)
Merlin continues, “I will, of course, provide advice on what you should focus on as well as holding a few trial runs ahead of time. In the end, you don’t have to worry about doing anything so much as merely being there. I - as the leader of the Circle - will be taking on most responsibilities.”
“Of course…” Adrian’s green eyes narrow in thought at the mage lounging before him. “The responsibility of being in control of the Circle.”
“Such a position holds its own dangers as any backlash will hit the leader the hardest of all,” Merlin calmly explains. “But as it is, I’m the only one with the knowledge to perform the ritual. So, indeed, it must be me.”
“And yet you’re also the only one who survived the Second Circle?” Adrian asks, a faint demand underlying his tone. A faint accusation.
3: Adrian’s interlude just blatantly fucking tells us this no I’m not joking.
I literally can’t even begin to explain with this one. Just… do me a favor and go back and reread his ch2 interlude with this context in mind and I promise you it’s like everything will just click. It’s almost embarrassing.
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You have it backwards. Gareth was actually looking for Gawain, not the other way around.
“Back during the Second Circle, Gareth’s reincarnation thought that he’d managed to track down Gawain’s. I don’t suppose you were near Cape Town in 2020, were you?” Merlin’s eyes slant sideways towards you in consideration.
“So Gawain might still be around?” Adrian finally asks.
“Perhaps,” Merlin simply says. “If Gareth was correct. If the sabotage and backfiring of the Second Circle didn’t kill him off. We’ll keep our options open when it comes to Gawain, shall we?”
I also think the “there will be more left than ash” line aligns better with the Adrian having been part of one of the failed Circles than it does an outright reference to his incarnation. Keep in mind, Merlin basically says that it’s possible for your Camelot self to have been a virtually entirely different person than you, so I feel like it makes more sense for our characters to have some sort of emotional divorce between their current life and their past life.
i didnt mean to delete my reply rip
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The game takes place in the year 2030. The First Greater Circle was 30 years ago, in 2000. Adrian is 25, so it lines up.
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Yes. Merlin says so in one of your replies regarding their encyclopedia.
If the soul remains willing and developments are dire enough to warrant it, it’s quite possible to reincarnate in a shorter span of time under certain circumstances. Generally not a recommended option, as such a soul is rarely properly ‘cleansed’ of its previous karma that way and suffers imbalances because of it.
As I pointed out, it makes sense in Adrian’s context. It would explain him having full access to his previous memories, as well as why he suffers from such intense migraines when he’s put in a situation that could cause a flashback to a past life.
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None of this contradicts what I said haha. Merlin said Galahad led the Circle in 2000, and that Gawain was suspected to be found in the Circle in 2020
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Sorry maybe I’m jusy having trouble this moring with english but I could have sworn I read Gawain as the circle leader among other things. Ok I give up, I can’t english today, my apologies for being dumb 
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Omg you’re fine hon. I understand completely lol
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I wanna be Lancelot
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My stats!
Blobbed: Yep
Bold : 224 Sweet : 32 Sassy : 145 Optimist : 9
Health : 99 Mark Status : Healed Merlin Healing : 2 Merlin Forced Healing : 0
Caution : 21 Will : 13 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 40 Silent : 9 Curse Level : 4 Fear Level : 1 Corruption : -2 Mute : false Mindcontrol : false
Downtime : Had Breakfast | Snarfed Sweets | Shower |
Route : Went into Store & Fought (Shots Fired) |
New Inventory : Matches | Expensive Lighter | Sweets | Shower Mat | Emergency Blanket |
They Know : false | It Sees : Masked | You Replied True (Work) (Friend) (Spam) (Direct) (Neighbor)