#mother of olms

Olms and Divine Right

So one thing i noticed about the way Mother Olm speaks about the powers of the Calamity gems, is that she, and by extention the Olms as a whole has a somewhat contradictory view of them.

On one hand, she basically says that her kind basically believed the gems shouldn’t be used at all if possible, while condemning the other races for using them for conquest.

But at the same time, she makes it perfectly clear that as far as she is concerned, the powers of the Gems and by extention the Music Box, rightfully belongs to Anne, Sasha and Marcy, and that Andrias has “Stolen” them.

And she encourages Sasha to obtain and use those powers as well. Because it is her “Right”.

By what? By destiny and divine mandate, that’s what.

Andrias has lost his divine right to the powers, and by extension his right to rule. And here comes 3 new chosen ones to wipe the board clean to allow a new and better Amphibia to rise.

One thing i find interesting though, is that it’s not hard to figure out how the Olms probably helped lay the groundwork for the Amphibian Empire of old.

On one hand, the Olms believe that the Gems powers are better left alone. But at the other hand, they very much belive that the people who master them and prove themselves worthy, has a “Right” to use them, a divine mandate to do so.

These two ideas are not compatible.

The olms didn’t want anyone to use the gems if it could be helped, but at the same time they preach that it’s wielders have a right to do so.

The Olms in the olden days would have promoted this idea that the users of the stones powers had a divine mandate to use them, which not too surprisingly lead to them actually do that very thing, which lead them to becoming a real powerful force on the continent.

Which for better or worse is the logical endpoint of the Olms stance that the gems wielders have a right to make use of their powers.

The olms were probably very hurt when the Amphibian empire began to expand beyond to other worlds, but at the same time, assuming they were big advocates for the sacredness of the gems, and the people who were worthy of using them, they no doubt played a massive role in the rise of the empire, by being champions of the calamity users “Right” to use their powers as they saw fit.

It’s a delightful, but very believable contradiction. These powers are sacred, holy, and should be left alone. But if you DO manage to master them, they are YOURS by RIGHT to use as you will.

I rather hope this contradiction is brought up and called out in the show, because the Olms believe in the Divine right of those wielding the stones powers, just as much as Andrias forefathers did, they just didn’t like the way the people with that right utilized it.

They weren’t wrong about that path mind you, but it’s very clear that both these two groups sprang from a shared belief in that those who had obtained these powers had a right to use them.

Hmmm… So Mother Olm isn’t the only one of her kind that can see if this image is to be belived.

Whereas Yohan’s corpse has the regular eyes of Olms, but also glasses, so clearly he had sight.

Also, despite clearly being an adult, he was way, way smaller than other olms. A crossbreed with one of the other races mayhaps?

So just a small, symbolic detail i really liked about the mural.

Looking at the pattern, the crack that goes through the 3 girls originates from Marcy, symbolizing how she was the one who got the whole mess the three girls found themselves in Amphibia Rolling in the first place.

However, while that part of the crack is broken wide opened, Anne’s part looks more like a healed scar, with the crack looking like it closed up after having been broken.

Meanwhile, Sasha’s part looks more like Marcy’s, except for the top bit, where it meet’s Anne’s part of the crack, where it also looks like it’s closing up and “Healing” just like Anne’s part.

All 3 girls have their own issues and has suffered their own emotional damage, but Anne has mostly healed and has grown into a much stronger Person, while Sasha is still on her way to doing that, and now that Anne is back, she can finally start taking the last few steps she needs to do it to truly heal.

Meanwhile, Marcy hasn’t healed at all from “True Colors”, and in fact has not only been completely separated from her friends, but has reached the absolute nadir of her life. Hence why her crack is completely busted open and broken.

“We believe that you three was summoned to save us from what we’ve become. The worst versions of ourselves.”

Man, everyone really has become the worst of themselves haven’t they?

Even when at it’s height, when Toads, Frogs, Newts and Salamanders were all completely united as one overarching people, working under one banner in the days of the Empire, Axolotl’s and Olms were missing from that unity.

The Olms didn’t like the way the nation was going, but rather than try and fix things, and try and steer the nation away from the course it was going, they instead isolated themselves in their own city, far, far away from the troubles of the world, hoping it would never reach them.

Thus they became the first part of the nation to segregate themselves from the rest, while putting their head in the sand.

Then after the fall, the Newts, under the leadership of a Salamander instituted the caste system, with themselves at the top.

They isolated themselves in the wealthy and prosperous capital, while hoarding what remained of the technology of old, and caring little about bettering the lives of the other parts of Amphibia.

The Toads, though not the ones who instated the feudal structure, took their place in the new age after the fall, and became little more than Robber Barons, where they were encouraged to embrace their absolute worst impulses if they wished to advance up the ranks, while being expected to make lives miserable for everyone else.

Meanwhile, the Frogs became the peasant farming class, with all that comes with it for good or ill. Creating thousands and thousands of isolated, well knit communities, that nonetheless are distrustful of and hostile to outsiders as such communities tend to be.

This has also lead to several communities of frog Cannibal serial killers being well and active.

As for Salamanders and Axolotl’s… I have no idea. We have no idea why they are so incredibly sparce(With Andrias and Valeriana being the only two we’ve seen), and how that would relate to them “Becoming the worst versions of themselves”(I guess Andrias represents the race as a whole which is… Kinda unfair to be honest).

And then there is Axolotls who aren’t as rare, but other than Salamanders, they are the rarest of the species of Amphibians.

I have no idea how they have apparently embraced the worst parts of themselves.

Y'know I really like how one of the most lore heavy episodes is one I PHYSICALLY CAN’T WATCH 80% OF BECAUSE IT’S SO GROSS.

I just can’t get over how they handled the reversal of Anne’s friendships.

How in the beginning, it was Anne, Sasha, and Marcy. But things happened, and Sasha disappeared to rage across the countryside, and Anne and Marcy were all who remained.

When Anne was new to Newtopia, it was Marcy who was by her side, asking her to trust her, leaping into the mouth of a dangerous insect in order to save her friends. It was Marcy who explored the basement of Newtopia, navigating mirrored hallways and fighting off Shadowfish with her. 

In Wartwood, it was Marcy who fought hard to win the approval of the citizens. It was Marcy who flew with Anne to take on the temples, and Marcy who stayed by Anne’s side through any type of trial.

While Sasha was being a jerk and suffering the consequences, Marcy was everything Anne wanted.

But Marcy had made one mistake, one horrible mistake that loomed over her head. And when Andrias found her, scared of the same thing she has always feared, he encouraged her to take on another mistake.

So then we all know what happened. Anne found Sasha, they hugged, they fought and made up. Sasha made her second mistake, the one to supplement her first, and she got away with it. Marcy didn’t, no, she got stabbed through the heart and lost everyone she ever loved.

Then Anne is back in Amphibia. She’s back and there’s Sasha, promising that she’s done with it all, done with the mistakes, and ready to be a better friend than she was before. A slight mention of Marcy, that she’s alive and somewhere out there. That’s all.

They take on a possessed centipede, and it’s Anne and Sasha, and sure Marcy’s memory is there too, but is it really? Sasha can use a grappling hook like Marcy can. She can save Sprig from the stomach of a giant bug like Marcy can. She can hold Anne by the shoulders and cry out that she doesn’t want to lose her again. She can hug her tightly and fall to the ground and watch Anne laugh because she can’t believe she’s still there, still alive, still fighting to be with her.

Then they search for the Mother of Olms, and it’s Anne and Sasha, with the Plantars there too. They don’t even mention that they need Marcy, only that people deserve to be given a second chance after making a mistake, that they should come together. And then Anne looks at Sasha and sees this girl who has fought so hard to better herself, and she starts to take on a different shape in Anne’s mind, like she’s highlighted.

Well then it’s their actual meeting with the Mother of Olms, and it’s Anne and Sasha and Anne and Sasha and you hardly notice that Sprig and Polly didn’t have any lines. Traversing the Olm’s brain, it’s the same thing as going through those mirrored tunnels, a dangerous adventure where the two of them fit together so well, and they find what they’re looking for. 

And sure, maybe there’s something missing, maybe if you’ve been here long enough, it feels like you’ve read this before. But does that matter, when Anne and Sasha are perfectly fine on their own, they’re perfect on their own?

Of course it does. Because Anne knows better.

Intertwining her hand with Sasha’s, telling her that she’ll make a great resistance leader, watching the heat rush to her cheeks, she remembers how that felt with another girl. Traveling through mysterious crypts to reach answers, she remembers the Newtopian dungeon where she did this before. She’s been there, and this time, the girl in front of her isn’t all she can see, because Anne knows better than to forget her best friend.

Amphibia did that. They wrote it so Anne lost her best friend, regained another who could nearly suffice, but still decided to hold on. They wrote a world where one horrible fear would rip Marcy away from Anne, but Anne knows when to fear and when to trust now, so she still chases after her. They wrote a world where Marcy’s greatest fear, of being forgotten, left behind, could never come true, not when it’s happened before, not when her two best friends have a chance to try again and make everything right.

And he did it so authentically, you’d almost believe that things won’t get any worse.

shoutout to the zant reference when sprig hits the gong to summon the miniboss…i fuckin love the twilight princess references. especially with this episode being the parallel to “sleepover to end all sleepovers,” it’s fitting that the shadowfish-mirror lore and the olm-gong lore is linked. Implies that the mother of olms and the shadowfish have some lore link.

So this scene proves that:

1. Anne can transfer Sasha and Marcy’s power back to them, which has great promise for a scene between Anne and Sasha, and of course the scene where Anne rescues Marcy

2. The powers are rightfully theirs, meaning that anyone who wielded the gems before them had stolen it

3. Mother Olm describes Amphibia being the “worst version” of itself, implying that Amphibia’s culture was foolish beforehand. This makes me think of the temples that drain power, a power made only for the three girls to use, and of the culture that may have surrounded that command and channeling of stolen power

The prophecy!