Warden Inheritance Theory has first been developed by FourSevensRueful, but other contributors are welcome to edit.
Overview[]
Qualities of Canon Wardens[]
The canon wardens that are currently known to the public, Florian and Ada, follow two patterns that may make it reasonable to believe that future wardens of the Storm, Fire, Water, and Astral elements would follow the pattern.
- They are of the same race or species of NPC of those that previously possessed the displaced warden keystones before they were returned to the Academy by the player for the elements that these wardens represent.
- They are of the opposite binary gender (in self-expression and in binary gender-assigned pronouns) of the NPCs that guarded the keystones for their respective elements.
- Florian uses he/him pronouns because Flora uses she/her pronouns.
- Ada uses she/her pronouns because Bok uses he/him pronouns (or, canonically, refers to himself in third-person while Noot assumes he is male).
If this pattern continues, the trend will look like this:
- The Storm warden will be of the humanlike Engineer race and will use she/her pronouns.
- The Fire warden will be of the Slime race and will use she/her pronouns.
- The Water warden will be of the humanlike Pirate race and will use he/him pronouns.
There is no warden keystone for the Astral element that is currently known, therefore the displaced keystone's guardian doesn't exist. No predictions can be made for the Astral Warden's race or pronouns using this pattern.
Noot, the current tutorial for Prodigy gameplay, promotional videos that may currently be outdated, public webinar broadcasts for Prodigy development let's plays, and other sources have concurred in the following generalizations made about the current canon wardens:
- They are skilled in casting their element's magic in spells, performing skills laymen do to survive using magic from these elements, and receive great power when in close proximity to their respective keystone or other power source as long as they are not sapped of energy from Shadow magic.
- They are benevolent and continue to support education on proper use of magic and mathematics within the Academy. Founding wardens created the Academy for the benefit of wizards, specifically young ones and specifically the humanlike wizards the protagonists have become.
- They do not see animals, buddies, or monsters with the ability to communicate as equals and may choose to subject them as pets. This opposes the clear presence of monster bounties (criminalizing behavior of monsters), the Monster Note (which shows that monsters have at least one written language), the behavior of old versions of monsters where some could play baseball and some could play musical instruments, and that Winston Von Loot pays his Batterbots to be his grunts and bodyguards.
Possible Inheritance of Warden Status[]
There is no public canon history of wardens stepping down, being fired, sharing their warden status with other people simultaneously, or transferring their wardenship with an element to another entity. However, there may be requirements for that to occur. These, of course, are completely fabricated and not part of Prodigy canon.
- Because keystones have direct ties to the location of the Academy and to at least one known individual per keystone (where wardens are provided additional strength by these stones), however, passing on wardenship may involve the keystones.
- Magical rites and rituals may have to be performed in the presence of the target warden keystone, all five known keystones, or all keystones to transfer wardenship with the target element amongst individuals. Example: Florian may need to pass on wardenship to Flora and he would have to retrieve the Earth Keystone to give up wardenship to her.
- Wardenship with an element may be completely shallow and not more than a cushy status within Prodigy Island; not even The Ancient seems to care about or mention the wardens at all. This may be because of the unknown founding date of the Academy and The Ancient could have been deeply asleep without waking up to see its founding or any later history, but the power the wardens have appears subordinate to that of The Ancient themself.
- There are no known deaths in Prodigy besides that of terrible dragons, so dying in office may not be an official method of passing wardenship to someone else.
Regarding the Shadow Element[]
There is no evidence in the current canon plot that there is or ever has been a warden to represent the Shadow element. If it were true that there is a surviving, existent Shadow warden or retired Shadow warden, the Puppet Master and/or Pippet may be likely candidates. They are not known to be constructs and, therefore, have at least some autonomy and personality that allow them to function more easily in the social society of Prodigy, although not very well. They are the main antagonists of the plot and appear more two-dimensional than well-rounded; this may be fixed upon further plot developments or their personalities may remain flat so as not to confuse the very young target audience of Prodigy.
The Puppet Master possesses great power that has adversely affected the setting and its inhabitants. There is little to no up-to-date, canon knowledge on any relatable reasons as to why he behaves the way he does other than what The Ancient claims is his desire for power and control. He does not plan major decisions properly and minor moral errors are stoppable by the player. So far, as known in the plot, he:
- Actively generates a massive negative presence that Noot can detect using an unspecified, presumed sixth sense
- Bars access to locations using large, purple locks and chains
- Closed most accesses to the Academy by sealing off entrances
- Creates and summons malevolent constructs that perform all actions they can by his request
- Restrained The Ancient by using seals that prevent them from reducing his influence
- Is a member of the Order of Influence, although his leadership in it is not yet confirmed
- Uses mind control to passively manipulate monster and construct behavior without his confirmed direct input
- Exits without fleshy extremities that are visible through his cloak and telekinetically controls puppeteering crosses instead
- Significantly weakened five wardens and held them hostage, trapping them in their own offices in murky bubbles
- Teleported and redistributed warden keystones to areas outside of the Academy
- Wears a talisman-themed cloak covered in unintelligible script
Pippet is the villainous sidekick of the Puppet Master, but it is not known if he himself was a construct. His priority is searching for a missing final warden, the Astral Warden, that is not yet in the main antagonist's control. He is notable and only notable for his fierce loyalty to the Puppet Master, but does not show much personal concern when his master is upset, crying (the Puppet Master cries tears of yellow light in cutscenes, although that might just be a form of artistic expression), or pensive. As a jester, however, it is assumed that Pippet can be comedic. Pippet may be powerful in the Shadow element because:
- He frequently survives flipping into the air to travel somewhere else (presumably miles away) after being defeated
- Can cast Shadow Shock
- Produces double the amount of stars a normal monster produces upon defeat
- Possesses many copper coins and may be of high socioeconomic status as a result
- Can hide his health bar, adventure level, and elemental nature although it is confirmed that he is of the Shadow element
- Wears clothes that people employed to perform magic and emotionally manipulate others wear
There are candidates that may appear to relate to the Shadow element or devious, amoral deeds that are less likely to be a Shadow warden, if any exist.
- Mira Shade is an Astral boss. Although she is powerful and can cast spells of various elements, she is incapable of casting Shadow spells.
- Constructs and summons made by the Puppet Master and Pippet, such as Titans, the Stubborn Shadow, bosses, and Shadow bosses, have less sentience and a less intelligent AI than human, real players.
Again, there may or may not be a method or presence of a Shadow warden or more than one Shadow wardens in Prodigy. It would be unusual to consider the presence of one to have ever existed in Prodigy or in its scrapped development.
TL;DR[]
Canon Prodigy wardens Florian and Ada are of the same race as the previous protector of their respective elements' warden keystones, Florian's sister Flora and the owl-loving yeti Bok being these guardians. They both also follow the rule that they identify as the opposite binary gender that is exuded from these warden keystone guardians. Although it cannot be confirmed, there is a great probability that other wardens, at least those of the Storm, Fire, and Water elements, will follow suit. The rest of this theory has less founding on deductive reasoning and states that new wardens are chosen by previous ones and are induced into their position by magic rites.
References[]
Other Contributors[]
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