Theory about the real Big Bad of TKWNKM (Warning: the post contains SPOILERS and is VERY long so please don't click if you haven't finished reading TKWNKM or like long posts).

I don't know if anyone made a similar post but I've had a theory about the true villain of TKWNKM brewing in my mind that I can't just let go. Maggie states that Latour would place seemingly random scenes or tidbits throughout his story, which would later be important in the story.

IA does the same (e.g. Reynald telling Maggie that she looks good in green only to reveal later that he is Everard). How does this relate to my theory of the true Big Bad? I don't think it's Sauven or even the Crimson Empire who are the villains of series.

I believe the true villain of the books is the unnamed usurper mage Ciste-the mage from the garden who controls the pretty but deadly golden butterflies-mentions when he talks about the origin of the lugur campur or the life chain (i.e. the magical slave contracts Hreban possesses).

For those who don't remember the scene with some parts cut for the sake of brevity:

I pushed the contract toward him. "Can you tell us if there is a spell on this contract?"

He passed his hand over it and stared at the paper like it was a snake about to bite him. "Burn it."

What?

"What is it?" Everard asked.

"It is lugur campur*," he said.

"A life chain?" I asked.

Ciste narrowed his eyes. "You speak Sareso."

...

"What does 'life chain' mean?" I asked.

"When you sign this contract and seal it with your blood, you will be bound to it. If the contract is destroyed, it will kill you."

...

"This a vile thing born of the Crimson Usurper and his death mages," Ciste said. "It is made with blood and suffering, and it's been outlawed for three hundred years."

I think the Crimson Usurper returned. I believe that his death mages (at least those who escaped persecution after his fall) might have found a way to resurrect him.

I don't believe the Crimson Empire knows he is back either since he is also hiding from them because even though, the Crimson Usurper is most likely from the Crimson Empire...don't forget...his own people probably hate him as much as the Rellasians, judging by the fact that they also outlawed slavery (which is why I separate the Crimson Empire from the Crimson Usurper).

Three hundred forty years ago, a usurper mage claimed the throne of the Crimson Empire and unleashed a cult of his death mages on the continent. He reigned for almost three decades, bringing war, slavery, and mass sacrifices everywhere he went until he invaded Rellas, and his legions fell before the meat grinder of Rellasian knights. In the final battle, Romel Savaric sang his way through the Usurper's sorcery and personally cut off the dictator's head

The Crimson Usurper is basically the series' version of the Bloodstone Emperor from ASOIAF (association with the colour red, usurpation, slavery, sacrifices, dark magic, necromancy, and who knows what else).

I think that the Crimson Usurper is in hiding, secretly gathering power and amassing a large, well-trained army while also slowly weakening Rellas by wearing down their defenses with constant skirmishes. He is biding his time, until the right moment presents itself where he could safely reveal his return and take his revenge on the Savarics because he learned from his mistakes (i.e. underestimating the Rellasians).

Further, I think there might be some more hints of the death mages in the book - or at least there are indications that there is something far worse (that being an ancient malevolent evil/evils).

For example, the temple that Maggie and the others visit when they were trying to find Isadau.

The street opened into an oblong plaza. An ancient building rose on our left, a dark five-story ruin peppered with alcoves. Elaborate carvings, smudged by time and the elements, decorated the facade: grotesque monsters twisting, people with contorted faces, strange symbols...

In the center, colossal stone gates stood slightly cracked, the six-foot gap between them lightless like a bottomless pit.

It felt incredibly dark, ancient, and malignant. A place meant to be timeless that hadn't endured. It had fallen to ruin, but the power inhabiting it was still there.

Dread settled over me. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose.

Evil.

I couldn't explain how I knew. I felt it all the way in my bones.

"What is this?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

"A temple," Darotha said.

"To whom?"

"Nobody knows. Many dead are buried here. Walled in."

I believe the land on which the temple was built had once belonged to the Crimson Empire before Rellas took it from them (remember these two countries are always fighting so the borders might have changed over time), therefore the temple might have once belonged to the cult of death mages.

The people with contorted faces might be the poor souls who were sacrificed (or rather a representation of them). And the dead that are buried in the temple? Most likely, the death mages who were caught and killed by the Rellasians and the surviving victims of the Crimson Usurper and his followers, their bodies entombed and-I'm making wild assumptions here-their souls imprisoned.

Again, this is only an assumption with little to no basis but the strange symbols mentioned are probably the magical wards that keeps the mages walled in to prevent them from coming out.

It would explain the presence of "the power" that's still in the temple (though, the power could just as easily be the death mages themselves or whatever else is buried there).

Another reason why I think that there is death mages in the temple (or something worse) are those terrifying giant hands that appear while Maggie casting a spell to free Isadau and is never explained.

The scene below with parts cut:

"Osor dor mi Damaes!"

Magic clamped me. Each syllable was an effort, as if I were hitting a wall made of rubber as hard as I could, and the impact of it reverberated through my body.

Something stirred in the temple, deep in the primordial darkness.
...

An enormous hand*, each finger as tall as me, reached out through the gap and grasped the side of the stone door. It was* translucent and black glyphs slid over it, like ghostly tattoos.
...

A second hand stretched out of the darkness, then two more, another pair, another*...They grasped the doors, sliding over each other...*
...

The phantom hands pushed. The stone slabs of the door slid a couple of inches. Something in me knew that if those doors opened all the way, an unimaginable horror would seize all of us and pull us into the darkness. I had to finish it. I had to do it now.
...
The light hit the temple doors and slammed them shut.

Those huge hands might be part of the spell but that's unlikely as Isadau breaks Damaes' spell on Hreban's vault and those hands don't appear either. Granted, they were in a different location but I also don't believe Damaes would be stupid enough to mess with the dead or eldritch horrors as those in the temple (who knows though...he might actually prove me wrong).

I believe those hands appeared because they sensed someone very powerful (i.e. Maggie) and were trying to get her. Moreover, I think they sensed one of their own.

I have theories about Maggie and her family potentially being related or connected to either the Crimson Usurper or his death mages but this post is getting way too damn long.

If you've read this far, thank you for your patience and sticking till the end. 😊