Oliver March is the PS Leader
A followup to my last post — here. I’m seriously considering a red-string board and going Lauren Sinclair on this. All I need is a corkboard, and some string.
Okay, so, continuing my reread into Season 3, I am convinced that March is the leader of the Phantom Scythe.
I’m reading chapter 118, Valuable Visitor right now.
A couple chapters ago, in 114, Treacherous Trade, while discussing the Seventh Apostle’s fate, the leader mentioned that no one was irreplaceable in the face of betrayal. The First and Second are used as an example.
So the whole point of the Leader, Apostle, Messenger business is that everyone is anonymous. No one, besides the Leader, really knows who anyone is. But, we already know Lauren’s parents were in Snapdragon, and they survived Orion and Son’s. They were most likely Apostles. We know the Phantom Scythe eventually had them eliminated after their loyalties started to waver. They could very well be the First and Second.
So I know what’s you’re thinking. What does all this have to do with Detective Oliver March and how does it prove his own affiliation with the Phantom Scythe, as the Leader most of all?
And it doesn’t, really. It is a mystery after all, and nothing is quite certain until it’s revealed, but all the pieces just fit a little too perfectly for my liking.
Especially in 118 with this picture.
This is a picture Tristan Sinclair was looking at after Lauren told him about her parent’s involvement in Snapdragon and the founding of the Phantom Scythe. So apparently at least Tristan was unaware. Maybe Dakan too, but it’s a little more unclear for his part.
But look who’s in the picture, (according to the date, XX13) of what might be Lauren’s eighth birthday party. So probably their closest friends. It’s a little cropped since I wanted to show the year, but left to right in the back: Tristan, probably Dakan, Lauren’s dad, OLIVER MARCH, his wife Annabelle probably, then Lauren’s mom, and Will’s parents.
And I can only assume the woman next to him is his wife, whose date of death on her tombstone was obscured, I think intentionally. But as of XX13, she’s still very much alive, killed by the criminals who’ve plagued Ardhalis for far too long, possibly at Orion and Son’s, just three years after this photo was taken.
In chapter 117, Personal Promises, we get to see from the Leader’s point of view, small snatches of what looks like the Orion and Son’s massacre. He says he’s lost too much to traitors already, and he won’t let it happen again.
And while a lot of people think it’s Will’s dad or the queen, they don’t give a damn about the lower class. March could. And what else could cause a peaceful protest group to go full on terrorist? How about a massacre of not only your closest friends, but your last remaining family, your wife.
I love this dude and he’s good to Lauren, but I am convinced.
(Here’s part three. Hopefully a true reveal comes soon.)
