As of 2022, the identity of the canon Astral Warden is not known. Like the other wardens besides Florian, the Earth Warden, and Ada, the Ice Warden, the Astral Warden has no confirmed NPCs to fill that role. The first two Wardens were designed out of nowhere using the same species and a different gender identity of the guardian of the Warden Keystones (for more information on how the wardens' are projected to be, view the Warden Inheritance Theory).
Whenever the term "headcanon" is used, it simply means that the following statement in reference to what is headcanon is not currently confirmed within the canon of the Prodigy Universe but is still widely accepted by the fandom.
What's the big problem?[]
Because there is no Astral Keystone and no guardian to said imaginary keystone, there can be no projected species or gender identity assigned to this Warden. This increases the chances of the person having already been introduced in the Prodigy Game series and not just being thrust into the Prodigy Game Universe (PGU) by developers that want to work their character design artists to death. This allows speculators to address which canon characters are decent candidates to the job.
Can the Astral Warden be just one of those other "thrust-in" characters?[]
So far, yes: the Astral Warden can be a new character completely made up by Prodigy Math's developers. There is no reason that the developers are intelligent enough to work with what lore they already set up for the Astral Warden and twist one of the characters in a way that will allow them to be the droid we are looking for. Given that they do not listen to their most hardcore fans and claim to want to never complete the game's main storyline, they are unlikely to make a twist supporting protagonist--or even a twist antagonist that those proposing "Noot is secretly evil" believe.
If this were the case, however, it would take Prodigy a lot of time to make a character that fits the constraints that they prepared for the Astral Warden. According to the lore, the Astral Warden went missing immediately after the siege of the Academy. There are currently no characters that appear to be hiding their Warden status from the wizard.
What are all of the known requirements of the Astral Warden?[]
Astral Magic[]
The Astral Warden was originally designed to be the master of the Astral Tower and would have had to be very powerful in Astral magic. The Astral element is not one of the five primordial elements to have existed in magical and/or physical form in the beginning (whatever that implies). Rather, as explained in the Harmony Island Origins, it occurs naturally whenever the five elements converge in balanced and equal use. This element is used as an effective tool to rectify wrongs caused by those willing to use any singular element, which is either any of the five primordial elements or the Shadow element.
While this suggests that the Astral element can only be used when the elements are upset, it is headcanon that the Astral element is used for magic outside of the times when they are not in balance. The Ancient, of course, is an entity that possesses the Astral element and is in constant watch of the elements even while they were completely unharmed. If the Astral element is omnipresent through the omnipresence of the fundamental five, the Astral Warden has a constant job of leading or even directing the education of minds that have the capability of learning Astral magic.
Being in Hiding[]
The Astral Warden has been referenced by Pippet to be in hiding and finding locations to stay so that they are not nabbed by the Order of Influence. It would be expected for a Warden that cannot fight evil head-on to run away and preserve what little morally-justified magical influence is left. Having been hiding away in an area that is never the location where Pippet is found, they either have an algorithm for staying away from the line of sight of the Puppet Master, have taken residence in a place or different places that is/are not an elemental location, were already caught by the Order of Influence to Pippet's lack of knowledge, or they have died on their own. It may be sad to hear, but people do die if they go missing.
Colored Marking[]
Florian and Ada both have a colored streak in their hair that were either used by the developers for some character design "pop" or to imply that there is an outward sign of an inward change caused by becoming or gaining the ability to become one of the Wardens. As enlightened as they are, they are also skilled in the magic associated with their element and have strong influence over their element, whether the strength is derived from innate magic or by learning it. It is headcanon that all Wardens have a streak of elementally appropriate hair coloring or have markings on their head that are the color of nature created by the controlled element. See the fanon characters The Instigator, who is a steward of the Nonmagical Element (fanon element) with scalp markings, and Alyss Flameheart, who is an Ice Warden that has pale blue hair.
Which characters are candidates to be the Astral Warden?[]
While it may not be the canon characters that we should be looking for, it is a good idea to vet the characters we do have for these qualities. Since the last one (Colored Marking) can be ignored because it is mostly headcanon (and no characters even have a semblance for colored streaks besides the Ancient), we will only need to look out for who we currently have on our roster.
Noot[]
Noot is a character that remains with the wizard for a long time and has largely hid from the Order of Influence besides with his standoff against the Puppet Master immediately before the Shadow Blast was cast. Noot originally had damage resistance magic, healing capabilities, and the ability to summon and carry around a Storm-element scarecrow in earlier versions, and he currently has the ability to sense the presence of Shadow magic.
To his credit, Noot is a good fairy and has made clear stand-ins against the Order of Influence in a way so genuine that it would have to be a grand illusion that would make Noot being evil logically sound. However, his lack of Astral-based magic is concerning at best and disqualifying at worst.
Mira[]
Mira, the keeper of the Dark Tower, stays far away from Lamplight Town and out of reach for most small wizards. However, to the prodigies that dare to challenge her prowess, the journey of beating her is often only two days of work. She would not stand a chance against other Wardens, especially since they hold themselves to such a high standard that it would be rude to ask for a magic duel.
She has made it clear that she has disdain for the Academy and all of what it stands for after she either was completely self-taught or dropped out by her own choice. A person that has skill in the Shadow element would be suspicious for being in such high esteem as to have Astral Warden status, anyway. This completely disqualifies her as being one of the wardens, at least in a conventional sense.
Prince E. Spell[]
Prince E. Spell is the new wizard guardian of the Arena and has a staff that brings authority to him. Just like the other wardens, he carries a long weapon and has a marking on his head (more specifically, on his forehead). He has great knowledge of The Ancient and appears as wise as he is old, meaning that he must be powerful in Astral magic.
However, the Astral Warden must be in hiding and should be out of Pippet's reach. This does not appear to be the case, for he advertises himself way too much in commercials to be considered "in hiding."
What can we confirm about the Astral Warden?[]
All that we can do is claim that the Astral Warden is in hiding, has been considerably weakened by the Shadow Blast, or is much weaker in confidence over defeating the Order of Influence than we would like. No gender, no species, no extra can be certain about this mysterious character. Us loyal Prodigy Math fans will have to wait until the developers are ready.
References[]
- The major source of all information in this theory comes from the canon wiki's content articles.
- This provides much of the juicy elemental lore that was needed to explain the relevance of the Astral element.