RuneScape Forum Archive | Reapers of the Apocalypse

A Mighty

Posts: 2,337 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Hguoh said :

Famine claims that she was too weak to fly or hunt after being cast out causing her to starve until she was on the brink of death.

She claims that it was only her desire for revenge that kept her going. I propose that she did die, and became Abbinah's death. Only afterwards did she then go on to poison the food supply and kill her village.

My supporting evidence is that she didn't take any of the food for herself afterwards (so she'd still be starved) and had just executed the revenge that she claims had kept her going (yet she is still around).

This is a good way to preserve this theory, I like it

@Quarter Unicorn: I totally agree that Jagex should integrate these events into the lore of the game. Really any seasonal event that doesn't draw exclusively from IRL things should be integrated...

To those cursed by war and pest, Come into the light of Armadyl and rest. This is the law of Armadyl.

28-Oct-2018 02:15:02

Jan

2018

Quael

Posts: 3,628 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

With Pestilence released, it sort of comfirms that he isn't a reaper for the fact he hasn't died from his sickness. (Plus as I said before, if i am not wrong; werewolves aren't a race from another place but cursed human.)

Duke of Fort Forinthry

Interested in role-play? check out: The Quest Collective

29-Oct-2018 05:33:05

Uncle Pob

Posts: 2,962 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Quael said :
With Pestilence released, it sort of comfirms that he isn't a reaper for the fact he hasn't died from his sickness. (Plus as I said before, if i am not wrong; werewolves aren't a race from another place but cursed human.)
Death is the only reaper: he looks like a skeleton because he had already died when Guthix gave him the role. The others are all mortals. That said, for one reason or another they're all incredibly long-lived and have powers yet at the same time are *not* gods.

Each Rider seems to have witnessed his/her "aspect" before becoming the embodiment of that aspect. Death was the first human to die on Gielinor for example, so it follows that Pestilence may have been the very first werewolf, Famine was the first one to deliberately bring about starvation through lack of food, and War could easily have been humanity's very first participant in the God Wars.

And, as they're a group of firsts, they're poetically also cursed (or prophesized) to be the lasts: at the end of times, during the apocalypse, Famine will starve to death, War will remain the last combatant standing before dying, and Pestilence will be the sole member of his own extinct species before his own death, and finally Death will be the last to die.

29-Oct-2018 08:30:55

Hguoh

Posts: 7,581 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Quael said :
With Pestilence released, it sort of comfirms that he isn't a reaper for the fact he hasn't died from his sickness. (Plus as I said before, if i am not wrong; werewolves aren't a race from another place but cursed human.)

I disagree. Much as Famine claims to have persisted despite being deprived of food, I think it would be fair to consider that Pestilence may be under a similar assumption about his transformation keeping him alive.

I mean, he literally comments about how his flesh is rotting. And while werewolves in other media have been associated with rapid healing, I cannot recall any such connection in runescape's lore.

Beyond that, deaths in Runescape are plane-dependent, not race dependent. While werewolves may be cursed humans, humans are also potentially one of the most prolific races amongst the planes. Assuming the werewolf curse originated shortly after the colonization of an uninhabited plane (or Pestilence took on the curse shortly after the colonization of an uninhabited plane), there would be no issue with him being a death as well.

29-Oct-2018 12:16:12

Jun

2010

Half Centaur

Posts: 6,959 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Quael said :
With Pestilence released, it sort of comfirms that he isn't a reaper for the fact he hasn't died from his sickness. (Plus as I said before, if i am not wrong; werewolves aren't a race from another place but cursed human.)

I knew my theory was a stretch from the beginning, but I don't think anything about Pestilence's arrival disproves it. He could very well be a reaper from the Werewolf homeworld with a very similar situation as to famine where he died of sickness, and was stuck in reaper form in a perpetual sickly state.

Kind of sucks for those two when you think about it.

Also, Pestilence commented he was half human, but honestly that doesn't affect the theory. I had thought War was human, though it seems more likely now he's a giant, and Eir is human as well, even though she may be a reaper from the Freminik homeworld. There's nothing that says that there can only be one reaper, or one type of reaper, for each race.

Edit: One thing that seems off to me about Pestilence's arrival is that Death noted that he took someone before their time. I had always thought someone's "time would come" would include being killed by someone else. So, perhaps Pestilence is a reaper, and his killing of another mortal was a violation of duty in Death's eyes. "We call it being a hero"

"That's interesting, we call it utter stupidity"

29-Oct-2018 13:37:38 - Last edited on 29-Oct-2018 13:55:47 by Half Centaur

Dec

2023

Cthris

Posts: 5,206 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Half Centaur said :

I knew my theory was a stretch from the beginning, but I don't think anything about Pestilence's arrival disproves it. He could very well be a reaper from the Werewolf homeworld with a very similar situation as to famine where he died of sickness, and was stuck in reaper form in a perpetual sickly state..
He's not stuck nor did he die. He says if I turn back into a human I will die instantly. Thus, he insinuates that he can change back if he desired to and logically implied that he is not dead. Reapers presumably have to have died in order to be reapers; as Pestilence never died he thus cannot be a reaper.

29-Oct-2018 14:29:27

Sep

2014

Gamez X

Posts: 885 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I can still make this theory work, infact there are 2 ways this could work. Firstly we should recognise the fact that the reapers themselves CAN die too. In missing presumed death sliske threatens to kill death and the other gods take the threat serious and something that could actually happen. Now lets take a look at pestilence, if our theory is true then he died of disease and became the embodiment of that. Now while the reapers have undying bodies in terms of aging, they apparently can still die of other means. Pestilence STILL has that disease, growing ever stronger cus its thriving in an undying host. Perhaps so strong now that it is indeed a threat to even a reaper if he would transform back?

Another possibility is looking at who he would be the reaper of. I've long theorised that the werewolf homeworld is infact that same world of singing felines armadyl speaks about (which recent lore books hint to be the karamjan god homeworld) and that the wolves and the felines might be related clans (what with both being very similar anthro furries). But according to armadyl in the 3rd age, this world's sun was dying which means it and this world most likely are gone at this point. So we must ask, what happens to the reaper of a world when that world is no more? Perhaps when their job is complete and they're no longer needed, they loose their reaper status and become mortal once more. And so pestilence (whose undying body was cultivating an ungodly concoction of diseases) suddenly became very vulnerable to his problem, meaning he could well die now

I still wish for this theory to be true cus these characters are by far the best candidates for filling in the other reapers. It would be an utter shame and waste for jagex to just say "they're just deaths buddies", these characters SHOULD be significant and this is the perfect way to do it and fill in missing lore

29-Oct-2018 15:53:08

Sep

2014

Gamez X

Posts: 885 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Also a minor thing which likely wont be a part of this but still interesting to think about. We have here possibly 4 confirmed reapers with a 5th mentioned (that being peace). Well at the same time as this event, osrs released their halloween event and in that they summoned the spirit of a demon simply called "fear". Bit of an odd name for a demon, infact being the embodiment of an idea like that sounds just like how these other reapers are named. I know people are gonna go "osrs and rs3 are different things", well thats not true anymore cus jagex confirmed at RF that they're the same story and same world, so the same lore ideas too. Could we perhaps name fear as the reaper of infernus? Again probably not but its still interesting to consider

29-Oct-2018 16:00:37

Jan

2018

Quael

Posts: 3,628 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Gonna respond to a few things here;

1. Guthix never gave death the role of, well death, it was stated by Jagex countless time that a reaper is made when the first mortal's death on that plane, they automaticly become death.. Death was teh first mortal to die. Guthix only bestowed balance on Death's job to prevent death from ever breaking balance

2. Even if Pestilence is still alive and a mortal, he cannot be a reaper. Now for the theory of him being one might not work out entirely, because as he said, he is cursed to be a werewolf, or he will die of the sickness. Yes due to Sliske's threat on killing death, it might be possible for death to die again, but remember one thing, No one has ever tried that, no one (in recorded history) has tried to fight death head on to KILL him. He is extremly powerful. So when Sliske threaten to kill death, of course the gods took it seriously, I mean, would you risk that possibility of death being able to die again? Plus Sliske had both the Staff and Stone, two elder artifacts that could is, in my view, was what Sliske would have used to kill death.

Plus only a few seemed to have corrected me, but there is possibly no werewolf homeworld. I do believe that werewolves are Human cursed by Zamorak (like the choas dwarves) Which is why, in their lore a lot of their race worship Zamorak and cannot resist his embrace. I coud be wrong until stated by Jagex.

3. Yes werewolves do have rapid healing, but, like all healing factors, it seems limited. Jerrod lost his claw, has scars, and i think missing an eye? So This sickness is eating his flesh, but the rapid healing heals faster than it can eat. So if he turns into a human, the flesh would win. (Like deadpool and his cancer)

4. I do like the possibility that at least War, and Famine to maybe be reapers. But again, nothing comfirms this theory, but I will admit only Pestilence does. The Theory does seem interesting, but I do doubt that they are entirely reapers

Duke of Fort Forinthry

Interested in role-play? check out: The Quest Collective

29-Oct-2018 17:19:13 - Last edited on 29-Oct-2018 17:27:36 by Quael

Sep

2014

Gamez X

Posts: 885 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The problem with saying werewolves are just humans cursed by zammy is that is a manipulation of a lifeform into a different one, something which is stated only a T2 god like zaros has the power to do. Zammy is far below that ability and so i dont believe they are his doing

I am still under the idea that perhaps pestilence was the reaper of a werewolf world which has since been lost/destroyed. Without the world he was bound to, his role of reaper ended thus making him mortal once more, and so susceptible to the disease that was growing inside of him all that time. Hence the possible idea he USED to be a reaper but has since become mortal again

Either way this is what i'm keeping in my head canon cus frankly jagex is losing their touch when it comes to making this game. If they cant make good stories and miss obvious better lore opportunities then i'll just keep the more impressive fan made ideas instead

29-Oct-2018 17:33:50

Forums

Reapers of the Apocalypse