True King of the Darklands

Small theory about the King of The Darklands and Darkly prophecy (i’ve yet to finish AMFOM and haven’t reread so pls forgive if I get some things wrong).

*TLDR: The King of The Darklands could also be the Child of The Ancients

We know “Darklands” is what the Faceless Ones and their worshipers call Earth and the wider universe, and the True King of The Darklands is presumably the Child of the Faceless ones.

But this also made me think of The Ancients. They too were worshippers of the Faceless Ones, so what if they also referred to Earth as the Darklands? (We know Cyarrnaroh described it as that to the Ancients).

After rebelling and exiling The Faceless Ones, it stands to reason The Ancients took over as Rulers of The Darklands. (Generally, if you overthrow the monarchy, your family becomes the new royal family).

Since they had a civil war and destroyed themselves, the logic follows The Last of The Ancients became King of The Darklands.

So perhaps the Child of The Ancients is a descendant of The Last of The Ancients. Along with the CoTFO, the CoTA is a candidate. Whoever wins becomes King of the Darklands.

Two bloodlines with a more or less equal claim to sovereignty.

Since the Unnamed being a fraud should mean the Darkly Prophecy is unfulfilled, and the Child of the Faceless is the presumed King of the Darklands, Augur may be a descendant of the Ancients, as has been heavily speculated.

As I see it, these two plot-lines have to be linked. Augur being prophesied to defeat the King in his seventeenth year (age 16), Cadaver saying Malice turned 16 and killed the CoTA.

From how events transpired in Cadaver’s timeline, perhaps the Darkly prophecy is fundamentally inaccurate. Malice was the “chosen one” all along, and the CoTA she killed was one of the Darkly twins, seizing the King title in the process.

If this theory holds true for the new universe, then in Alice’s 17th year she’ll kill Augur (the older of the twins so the one that’d become the King of the Darklands), leaving Omen as the sole descendant of the Ancients.

This could make for a really interesting dynamic because Augur was actually The King in the prophecy the entire time, and The Unnamed was a usurper he and Omen killed, indadvertedly claiming their birthright. Then Malice kills Augur, claiming her birthright.

Darquesse (Valkyrie) - Obsidian (Augur)

Alice - Omen

I believe in Cadaver’s timeline, Omen did indeed die but Augur became the Child of The Ancients. Things may turn out differently in the new timeline though.

(There’s also the possibility The Last of The Ancients is still alive and the Darkly prophecy was referring to them the whole time.)