Question of the week- why couldn’t Riley join the guild?

[ChristineMoon]

(Ends 10/2/17)

In chapter 2, Riley says that although Valdorian royalty were required to study magic extensively, they were not allowed to join guilds or become mages.

For someone so knowledgeable, who spends so much time on the grounds, I could see her wanting to join. So why would royalty not be allowed?

Please mark any spoilers with [ spoiler] (your text) [ / spoiler] (no spaces between brackets) as necessary, and try not to refer to the memory oracles for those that haven’t read them.

As always, 300 gems will be awarded to the best answer. If 5+ people answer, there will be a 2nd place award of 100 gems, and if 8 people play, a bonus 50 gems goes to a random player.

Good luck, and I can't wait to hear your answer!!

[AlphaxWolf18]

The reason why I think Riley couldn't join a guild was because she was Valdorian (since they had to be separated from everyone else because they were purebreeds and had to be away from these "under" them

[ChristineMoon]

Welcome to the forums! Good theory, thanks for sharing!

[dberryelixir1011]

I believe Riley may not have been able to join a guild not only because she was Valdorian and considered a different people than everyone else in Alyncia, but because Riley is in possession of powers far beyond those of a regular guild member.

We have seen numerous times throughout the story that Riley is extremely proficient in spell casting, most likely well above average, but we've also seen that she has the ability to fly - a power that no other character in the story so far has been able to do.

We also know that Riley and Ezra are two of the last Valdorians - King Janus, Riley's father, is also seen to still be alive but extremely ill and bedridden in some threads of the story, and if you choose to have Ash end his life then it's quite possible that in that case, they are the only two left assuming that all of the other Valdorians that were previously mentioned to be alive after the slaughter have since died and apart from Ezra, who has shown us he is immensely powerful, there's really no other Valdorians shown to us to compare her to in terms of magical strength and abilities. So we have two Valdorians who happen to be two of the strongest characters in terms of ability and both with skill sets completely unique to everyone else in the story. Thus it is entirely possible that Valdorians are naturally capable of such an advanced level of magic that instruction at a guild is considered impossible and can only be taught by Valdorians themselves.

In extension of this thought, if Valdorians are indeed naturally able to possess such an advanced skill set and were permitted to join a guild, it only makes sense that Valdorians would dominate all leadership and master positions throughout Alyncia. I feel like Alyncians wouldn't be too pleased with that possibility so they outlawed Valdorians from joining guilds in the first place.

[crysania]

This is a bit of a conspiracy theory, but I think that somewhere far back, valdorian royalty had human blood in it. This would preclude them from joining the guilds. Since royalty in many societies is often inbred, the trace of human blood would not be eliminated, but might even increase. What if the Val Dorian royalties obsession with purity of their blood was a cover-up of the fact that. They know that Valdorian royalty has human blood in it?

[ChristineMoon]

Thank you to everyone who played, and congratulations to dberryelixir1011 for winning this week’s contest! I will PM you a code redeemable for 300 gems.

[ChristineMoon]

My theory is quite similar to dberry’s.

Riley possesses powers that we haven’t seen anywhere else in the game (healing petals), and we know from chapters 1 and 10 that the Valdorians had a library that likely contained many spells that are above what common mages learn, so she wouldn’t need to join the guild. Some, such as the Fleur Magnus: Lancaster, may be exclusive to Valdorian fighting blood.

Being related to Ezra, and owning an amulet that records the memories of her ancestors, she likely has knowledge of both spells that are long forgotten as well as Trance, and many mages would probably harass her for help in learning spells, which, knowing Riley, she would be happy to help with.

... which brings me to my next point. The Valdorians focused on power and fear. If somewhere in history, a Valdorian couldn’t cast spells, they would be viewed as weak/ not feared by the people. Or “worse”, working with other mages, the royalty would see that the commoners aren’t any better/ worse than they are, and begin to sympathize with them, losing their control.