[What Came Before]

I tend to interpret the gods as Jungian archetypes (the Hero in this case, manifesting to Celmomas as his son).
Alternatively, this is reminiscent of Tirtirga's first apearance with the false sun.

Nau Catyuti himself seems to have definitely been exposed to the Inverse Fire or some other soul raping device within the golden room (as shown in Akka's AE dreams) and based on his state there I find it hard to believe he'd actually be zooming around the Inward spreading hope and wonder (remember the outside is almost closed when Celmomas passes) if these dreams are in  any way factual.

[What Came Before]

Wild speculation here:

I'm making some serious assumptions, that I don't really know if there is any evidence for, in a loose posit of the No-God's "identity/being".

When a human dies their soul is sent to the Outside, for damnation or whatever it may be. Whether beings residing in the Outside (Ciphrang, or Gods..) maintain a corporeal form or they only manifest one while in Earwa, I don't know. I'm going to assume the former for this theory. What if the Consult manage to destroy a God's body. Where would the soul of a being from the Outside go to? Perhaps they then trapped Lokung's soul within the carapace, thus his inability to self recognize. Not to mention, what better God to slaughter a world than that of the People of War. Might also tie in the belief surrounding swaszond, that the scars, in the case of the No-God at the very least, literally carry the souls of all those slain by the No-God, and the weapon races. If the Inchoroi have reduced other worlds the 144k and still failed to avoid damnation, and they seem to believe that this will prove otherwise on Earwa, then the No-God seems their key (I think we all agree on that in one way or another) to achieving salvation. Making me guess that difference here is that the No-God carries those souls, never releases them to the Outside, fooling the "world" into not allowing any more souls in.

Pretty crack-pot, could use some tinkering and polishing. Let me know what ya think. Massive disproofs are encouraged

[What Came Before]

It’s a good theory, one that requires some pondering.

About the 144k, i wonder what makes them feel so strongly that this world will be different.
Sorcery?.

[What Came Before]

Wild speculation here: Making me guess that difference here is that the No-God carries those souls, never releases them to the Outside, fooling the "world" into not allowing any more souls in.

Pretty crack-pot, could use some tinkering and polishing. Let me know what ya think. Massive disproofs are encouraged

Makes me think that if we posit the world as an entity with consciousness then the world has to have a circuit of watcher and watched.  If you were to neurosurgery the World's perception of itself, so that it was blind (in the neuropath sense of the word, meaning consciousness) you might get something approximating the No God.

[What Came Before]

It’s a good theory, one that requires some pondering.

About the 144k, i wonder what makes them feel so strongly that this world will be different.
Sorcery?.

Sorcery, and thus a connection to the voice of the God, might be the reason, but I was wondering if this wasn't just another instance of self-delusion. What if the only reason the Inchoroi and Wutteat declare Eärwa the promised world is because they can't get to other worlds anymore? The ark is dead and they don't know how to, or just cannot fix it, let alone pilot it. So they see something special or different about Eärwa, such as sorcery, declare Eärwa different, hope that they're correct, and go along with the usual plan.

Of course, if damnation is not local, and the Inchoroi were right about reducing the population to 144k, wouldn't it make sense to assume that the number applied to the entire universe? Maybe Eärwa is special because it is the last world.

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Thematically, I think there is something very human about the No-God. The books constantly talk about people being blind to themselves and mention several times how they need the judgment of others to know about themselves (I wish I had a direct quote for this but you can't ctrl-f physical books  ). Compare to the No-God saying WHAT AM I and YOU MUST TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE. Also in Kellhus's vision the figure is described as half divine and half animal. A good description for beasts who can apprehend the Logos, no?

Within the setting, a soulcatcher placed between the World and the Outside makes sense. If souls leaving the world get caught in it they will never reach the Outside and damnation and if a soul tries to enter the World it also gets caught in it and never reaches its body. Hence all children being stillborn.

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Kellus is the No-god .... or in some other way closely connected too it. Or he is the new No-God ... his manipulation of his followers is starting to become similar to the way the no-god manipulates the Shank.

[What Came Before]

Kellus is the No-god .... or in some other way closely connected too it. Or he is the new No-God ... his manipulation of his followers is starting to become similar to the way the no-god manipulates the Shank.

Is this why the Consult opposes him?  Or is just that the Consult do not know K's identity yet?

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So far Kellhus's manipulation has been less direct than the No-God's. Remember that the Sranc and other weapon races were custom made by the consult to be controlled. Kellhus uses things (like language, emotions, symbols) he found in the worldborn to influence them.

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But that begs the all important question:

Are the things Kellhus found in the worldborn--like language, emotions, symbols--the mechanisms of control that were custom built into humans by The God or Gods?

Perhaps humans are not so different from Sranc...

[What Came Before]

Is this why the Consult opposes him? Or is just that the Consult do not know K's identity yet?

I think all the consult know is that the no-god is returning .... but dont know how.

Of cause, this is just my guess but I expect some kind of major twist. However i have a feeling that the arc was sent back from the future (Kellus' time). the past and the future seemed linked in ways that havnt been fully explained yet.

The no-gods obcession that the people worship him as a god (as per the dreams of the mandate followers) seems remarkably similar to how Kellus works. Remember in one of Achamians dreams of the past, the no-god speaks to him by name. IF I remember rightly, it demands that he accepts him as god.

Perhaps humans are not so different from Sranc...

.. created from humans? .... maybe from Kellus' army. He become the no-god, his followers become the sranc. then through the arc, go back to the time of the no-men and eventually his defeat at the hands of Seswatha (or whatever he was called) .... man i need the new book.

Any idea when its out? was supposed to be last week but obviously it has been delayed.

So far Kellhus's manipulation has been less direct than the No-God's.

... but he has not become the no-god yet (if my theory is right) but the signs are there that he works on similar lines.

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We already know the Sranc are based on the Nonmen.

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yeah that rings a bell. Still think Kellus and the no-god are linked

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I had a crackpot theory back before TWLW came out. It was based on a passage from The Warrior Prophet and a dream sequence from the Thousandfold Thought.

First, in the scene where Kellhus is hung from the circumfix, he has a vision of the No-God and hears it speaking to him. Here is a quote:
   
     "WHAT DO YOU SEE?
      The silhouette stood, hands clasped like a monk, legs bent like a beast.
      TELL ME ...
      Whole worlds wailed in terror." (from page 540 of the Overlook trade paperback edition of the Warrior Prophet)

"worlds" is underlined by me. It's important to the theory.

Secondly, the dream sequence involving Seswatha and Nau-Cayuti in the Ark implies that the ship may have been alive. Seswatha tells Nau that the ship may have mothered (or fathered) the Inchoroi, if I remember correctly. If the Ark was alive, it is possible that it may have had a soul. So when the Ark plummeted to earth it died and the soul moved to the Outside (possibly).

The possibility that the Ark was alive and died, coupled with the mention of worlds (more than one world) wailing, I came to the conclusion that the No-God is the soul of the Ark, or maybe a collection of the Inchoroi souls on the Ark (less likely in my opinion since they are so concerned about damnation and I don't think the No-God is damned since the Gods are blind to it.

I liked this theory because it meshed with the idea that the No-God needed to be summoned (from the Outside?) as well as requiring the Tekne to exist (the Ark's brain or brain-equivalent?) It also explains why the Inchoroi didn't use the No-God in their war with the Nonmen. They were unskilled in sorcery and knew nothing about "summoning." It took the Mangaecca to discover a way to do it.

Now, I doubt this is the case. First, I don't see how it fits with some of the themes of the story, and plus I have no idea how the presence of a ship's soul could close off the world. And secondly, with the new revelations in TWLW it seems even less likely than when I came up with.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the thoughts. 

[What Came Before]

I'm not so sure you should discard it so readily.  The Soul-of-the-Ship thing fits with the Three Seas Forum postulate that the No God is an A.I.  And the use of the plural on, "worlds," fits with the revelations of Wutteat.  Does it fit perfectly post WLW?  No, but some of it seems to still work.