SO I have a little theory of what happened to Salmon. I apologize if this theory is lower quality or shorter than others before, I have zero motivation and I'm really tired with school lol When you see '[next]' use the right arrow key, spacebar, or click to go to the next image. [next] Okay, to start off with something simple; I really don't think Salmonpaw is dead. Besides the fact she's already dead and several other factors, it makes so little narrative sense. Volepaw and Breezypaw have already been together for a long time and their relationship together is well known. Salmonpaw was the new variable, what made the trio's dynamic interesting. Besides, she is the lense in which we're seeing the world; it would be horribly boring to live in Volepaw's perspective and just know everything about everything. Besides, Fish seems to enjoy keeping EA very mysterious as to what is happening, why things work, and future plot points, which is why I can make so many theories. [next] Now, I'm all for killing off characters for other characters development, but I also don't see why this would happen in this case. Volepaw and Breezypaw have enough trauma we can utilize; they don't need anything on top of that. Okay, since we've gone over the fact that she isn't dead, what do I think happened to her? Well, first there are several important pieces of dialogue throughout the chapter that I feel are relevant to this theory. [next] First is in Goosestar's mini lore dump. He says Salmon will feel the same momentary pain most cats feel when entering Starclan and that she fell OUT of Starclan before falling back IN again. Keep these two things in mind, they are extremely important. [next] Next is a pretty small detail, but he asks if Salmon was the 'fish kid' who died recently. Not any other detail about her, but WHEN she had died. [next] Another vague hint we're given is Salmon's last line before poofing, which is "Why are the trees growling?" This is honestly what led me to the theory to begin with and tells us a surprising amount. [next] Now, though it may seem really small, but how Salmonpaw disappeared also tells us a lot. When Vole and Breezy do their little vanishing act in Chapter 8, they have a different style of disappearing with lines around where they used to be. I don't have the energy to read through every chapter, but I'm also pretty sure no cats have ever disappeared like Salmon did before. So, why does Salmonpaw poof into a cloud of smoke instead of anything else? Wait no, there's a better word for smoke... What is it? A cloud of steam? A cloud of mist? Ah, I remember the word now Fog. The Fog. [next] So, what do I believe that Fog has to do with Salmon's disappearance? Well, it's pretty common knowledge in Starclan at least that the Fog clears slowly as you are in Starclan for longer. This is why Goosestar was asking if Salmon was recently deceased, he needed to know if her Fog had naturally cleared yet. Now, getting into an arbitrary scientific metaphor, let's talk about fog and clouds. [next] Silly diagram yay. Fog and clouds are good at keeping heat and light IN and OUT of earth's atmosphere. As shown in the diagram, heat that is underneath cloud cover is reflected back to the earth and light coming from the sun to the clouds is reflected back out into outer space. [next] Now, if we replace outer space with the living world and the earth with Starclan, you can see where this metaphor begins to build. The Fog traps heat (spirits) within Starclan and keeps non-dead spirits (living cats) out. "But Goldy!" I hear you cry, "If the Fog is the only thing keeping spirits in, how come officials like Featherstar and Goosestar can have all their memories and remain in Starclan?" Good question my friend! To answer, lets add some silly little plants to this diagram. [next] There they are! Little bushes. Most people know that plants absorb light and heat as a way to make food for themselves, and I assume something similar happens in Starclan. Long dead spirits that have been bouncing around in Starclan for a while have been bonded tightly to the plants, keeping them in. This allows the fog to slowly dissipate, giving them a clear view of the living world while they can still remain in Starclan. I theorize that Vole and Breezy had been there a good bit before they completely cleared the fog. This could perhaps be why they have the flowers; part of the living world came into their spirits, but they weren't whisked out of Starclan. Salmonpaw's spirit is scarcely bounded to Starclan at all, which makes her Fog being cleared extra dangerous. This allows her soul to fling up out of Starclan and into the living world, causing her to poofy. [next] I understand that Redeye was the one that activated the cave, but now that the fog is cleared I think that Salmon will have full access to her own memories. (CONT in N+C)
Including the one of her dying. I think that her seeing this memory before she poofs is the most likely, since Goosestar mentions a cat feeling a 'momentary pain' like when they first entered the afterlife. I feel this is a good time to mention that when Salmonpaw came into Starclan in chapter 1, she said 'everything hurts'. Not my neck hurts. Not my chest hurts. But EVERYTHING! Wouldn't everything hurt only if something happened to your whole body? Blood loss? Being crushed? Falling from a tree? Ah, yes, I almost forgot. She was talking about trees right before she poofed. Many theories have claimed that she fell from a tree, and I feel that all of this evidence just solidifies that belief. [next] @lNFECT is an active theorist for EA, and has a lot of interesting ideas. The one that is most relevant to this theory is the one they gave under the EA asks and dares where they mentioned hubris pushing Salmonpaw out of a tree. In the N+C of Chapter 28, Meadow jokes that Adderpaw was Odysseus the entire time. I went into more detail into what this could mean in my (mostly outdated) Pride, Poison, and Adderpaw theory (https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1057326894/), but the gist is that Adderpaw's pride (hubris) will be her downfall. This makes @lNFECT saying that hubris pushed Salmonpaw out of a tree very interesting. This suggests that Adder??? purposefully killed Salmon out of pride... or a need for secrecy. [next] I don't think it's quite as simple as pushing though. Salmon mentions the trees 'growling' right before she goes poof. I did a lot of googling to try to learn about pre-death auditory hallucinations and if trees could make sounds audible to cats, but the answer to this question turned out to be much simpler. When trees are unstable and about to fall over, they make groaning and popping noises. I believe that Adder purposefully dug up the roots of a tree to make it when someone walked on the tree it would fall, and Salmon could have been lured onto that tree. Why? I don't know. Will we find out soon? Probably not. Will we find out eventually? Hopefully :D ... I don't have any better way to wrap up this theory, so thanks to @Meadowfoot_ToPH for art, characters and story.
