The questions that need answers are...

[Twiler]

1. How does Gaius know Rhue?

2. Who did Gaius and Rhue supposedly kill? (From his comment about 'the name', perhaps it was Jeruh).

3. Who or what is the Phantom Slasher, and why is he/she/it following Rhue?

4. What really happened the night that Serena disappeared? Was Rhue there? What happened to him? Was Lyrra there? What happened to her? Was Jeruh there? What happened to him? Who killed all the people?

5. How did Rhue get his sword? If his memory is correct on this matter, why did those people give it to him, and who were they?

6. Exactly what is the nature of Rhue's sword?

7. What caused Rhue's 'possession' when he got near Night Reaper?

8. Why did the hunter (or ninja or whoever he was) recognise Rhue as Midian?

10. Why is Rhue so obsessed with his sword (example: start of episode 3)?

11. Assuming that Scatha is actually Chasta, how has she survived in the caves, and what has she been doing all this time?

12. Who are the [gods of the Blood Lyn whose names I suddenly can't remember]?

13. What are the Shadow Lyn?

14. What was Traziun's plan at the Blood Lyn base in episodes 3 and 4?

15. What is Gaius trying to achieve?

16. What is Scatha trying to achieve in episodes 2 and 3? (Probably trying to get hold of Night Reaper, but why?)

17. Why can Rhue absorb auras?

18. Why does Rhue have sudden mood swings?

19. Why does Rhue hate mirrors?

20. Who is Dirk really? (Surely more than he seems?)

21. Do Forerunners really exist? (Dirk implies that they don't doesn't he?)

22. What happened when Rhue stabbed Slade in episode 5? Where was he? Why were all those people there?

23. Who is/was Midian?

24. What happened to Jeruh?

25. Why does Rhue sometimes go berserk and exhibit incredible powers?

26. Are any, all or none of Rhue's memories correct?

27. How has Scatha met Serena? Or is she lying?

28. What are the true natures of the Way, the Purpose, and the Lord Beneath?

29. What happened to Traziun's mother? Why did he blame his father?

30. How did Trziun retreive Night Reaper?

31. Why did Traziun's father have Ghost Horror?

32. Where did Ghost Horror go?

33. Why did Lyrra go crazy?

Hopefully we'll get answers to at least some of these soon. Any I've missed?

[Non-Sequitur]

12. Who are the [gods of the Blood Lyn whose names I suddenly can't remember]?

Are you thinking of the Blana Sera?

[Twiler]

Yes, there're the ones.

[Kyle]

14. What was Traziun's plan at the Blood Lyn base in episodes 3 and 4?

Probably an early attempt to find and kill his father?

[DSOK]

I think some of these are pretty well answered. There are good theories for many others (fwacho said eighty percent of the right answers have been given here), but I'll focus on the ones that are pretty clearly answered now.

4. What really happened the night that Serena disappeared? Was Rhue there? What happened to him? Was Lyrra there? What happened to her? Was Jeruh there? What happened to him? Who killed all the people?

I don't think there can be any doubt that Lyrra was a survivor of the Landorin massacre, and that Jeruh was there as well. A better question would be whether Rhue was present, and if not, why he thinks he was, and whether "Serena" was present. But there's no real evidence that Serena ever existed at all.

7. What caused Rhue's 'possession' when he got near Night Reaper?

10. Why is Rhue so obsessed with his sword (example: start of episode 3)?

See 22 below.

14. What was Traziun's plan at the Blood Lyn base in episodes 3 and 4?

He was trying to find his father, or information about him at least. Killing Kalmar has been Traz's goal for the entire game.

19. Why does Rhue hate mirrors?

The body he's in isn't doesn't belong to him, so he doesn't recognize his reflection intuitively, the way a normal person would, in a body born to him.

22. What happened when Rhue stabbed Slade in episode 5? Where was he? Why were all those people there?

Rhue's consciousness exists solely in his sword by this time in the game. At the beginning of episode 3, there was enough of a non-sword persona for him to remain conscious without his sword with him, but he needed to retrieve the weapon, since it was already the dominant personality within him. He probably loses the last of the native personality in Jopaga's lab, then the sword is free to go berzerk when confronted with grave peril (like one of its peers). Finally, when the sword was embedded in Slade, Rhue's consciousness was inside Slade and so go to see his memories. When he got the sword back, his body awoke.

29. What happened to Traziun's mother? Why did he blame his father?

He arranged for her to be killed.

32. Where did Ghost Horror go?

To Lyrra.

33. Why did Lyrra go crazy?

She'd just been set aside by the man she loved, learned her father was murdered, and come into a corrupting magic sword. No more is needed.

One other question that occurs to me, althought it is probably closely tied to several of the other questions is: What was Rhue doing before the beginning of the game?

Also: Is the "man from Xor" meant to be Gaius or Rhue?

[Telephalsion]

think gaius is the man from xor, not sure though

[DSOK]

think gaius is the man from xor, not sure though

Of course you're not sure! It could equally well be either or them, as both have publically identified Xor as their home stretch. (It could be somebody else too, but that would be uninteresting.)

[Greatchickenman]

think gaius is the man from xor, not sure though

Of course you're not sure! It could equally well be either or them, as both have publically identified Xor as their home stretch. (It could be somebody else too, but that would be uninteresting.)

Maybe both? Maybe Serena? Maybe Midian? Maybe Jeruh?

Guess we'll have to wait.

[Berserker]

Maybe both? Maybe Serena? Maybe Midian? Maybe Jeruh?

If Serena is the MAN from Xor I think we have another problem here

[Parhelion]

DSOK, two questions, if I may:

1) why are you so confident that Traziun's father arranged for his wife to be killed?

2) Isn't another possible explanation of the sword consciousness thing that Rhue's sword has an effect on his personality, rather than containing it?

In your theory, did the sword-consciousness exist before Rhue? Are his memories perhaps the memories of the person who posessed the sword before he had it? The sword thing would explain quite a bit, and I tend to agree with you on a gut-instinct level, but I would like to be convinced.

[DSOK]

1) why are you so confident that Traziun's father arranged for his wife to be killed?

I can't be absolutely sure, but all things point to this. Traziun says that Kalmar did nothing to save her. We also know that Gaius or Rhue (or whoever was in Rhue's body then) or both of them were responsible for killing her. (We know they killed somebody together.) And Gaius was trained as Kalmar's "perfect blade," under the Dark Lyn's control. I suggest that Kalmar had her killed as part of Gaius's training.

2) Isn't another possible explanation of the sword consciousness thing that Rhue's sword has an effect on his personality, rather than containing it?

In your theory, did the sword-consciousness exist before Rhue? Are his memories perhaps the memories of the person who posessed the sword before he had it? The sword thing would explain quite a bit, and I tend to agree with you on a gut-instinct level, but I would like to be convinced.

Initially, I would say that the sword may not have been wholly dominant; Rhue could get along without the sword, but he was drawn to retrieve it. However, in episode 5, the time he is unconscious is exactly the time when he doesn't have his blade. This is highly suggestive. During that time, the sword in stuck in Slade, and what does Rhue experience during his unconsciousness? He relives Slade's memories! That makes it pretty conclusive. The body lacks consciousness without the sword, and the mind experiences the memories of who the sword is with.

Why this is occuring is still something of a mystery. The false memories Rhue possesses might all have been brought to him by the sword, or there might be another agency involved. The sword's ability to relive the memories of a person in whom it's embedded is probably the same as its ability to transfer auras to Rhue from people he kills (if that's how that works--there's still a bit of debate).

There's a bit more about this theory (and many other interesting discussions as well) here: http://www.crestfallen.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=523

[Sage Of The Wise]

kalmar's exact words regarding Traziun's mother's death were:

KALMAR: I did not find her
death disagreeable, but I
was not an active participant
in her demise.

That could meen he had no plans to kill her, or that he himself didn't do the actual killing. Depending on how you define "Active Participant".

[Telephalsion]

about rhue sword and rhue's state of mind when not holding the sword.

in the beginning he could well be without the sword, he was put to jail and was then without his sword, (note that the first thing he noticed when waking up was that his sword was missing), but then the sword has had some effects on him.

he was 'possesed' when faced with the shadow sword below Lide.

When fighting the shadow of the pits rhue states: "my sword is going crazy", also if you get beaten rhues sword will kill the shadow anyway (spiffy thing really).

rhue obviously went completely crazy when injected with jopagas drug, most likely some alternate personality took control then.

Also, a lot of people have been scared of rhue for reasons he himself does not know, mostly in estrana. I've come to think of the fact that the Phantom Slasher might look a lot like Rhue, maybe even be his twin brother or some crap.

[Teenr0cker]

1) why are you so confident that Traziun's father arranged for his wife to be killed?

I can't be absolutely sure, but all things point to this. Traziun says that Kalmar did nothing to save her. We also know that Gaius or Rhue (or whoever was in Rhue's body then) or both of them were responsible for killing her. (We know they killed somebody together.) And Gaius was trained as Kalmar's "perfect blade," under the Dark Lyn's control. I suggest that Kalmar had her killed as part of Gaius's training.

2) Isn't another possible explanation of the sword consciousness thing that Rhue's sword has an effect on his personality, rather than containing it?

In your theory, did the sword-consciousness exist before Rhue? Are his memories perhaps the memories of the person who posessed the sword before he had it? The sword thing would explain quite a bit, and I tend to agree with you on a gut-instinct level, but I would like to be convinced.

Initially, I would say that the sword may not have been wholly dominant; Rhue could get along without the sword, but he was drawn to retrieve it. However, in episode 5, the time he is unconscious is exactly the time when he doesn't have his blade. This is highly suggestive. During that time, the sword in stuck in Slade, and what does Rhue experience during his unconsciousness? He relives Slade's memories! That makes it pretty conclusive. The body lacks consciousness without the sword, and the mind experiences the memories of who the sword is with.

Why this is occuring is still something of a mystery. The false memories Rhue possesses might all have been brought to him by the sword, or there might be another agency involved. The sword's ability to relive the memories of a person in whom it's embedded is probably the same as its ability to transfer auras to Rhue from people he kills (if that's how that works--there's still a bit of debate).

There's a bit more about this theory (and many other interesting discussions as well) here: http://www.crestfallen.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=523

In episode Three (I think) theres a sword Jammed in some guards head. Why didn't the memory thing happen then?

[Sage Of The Wise]

That was before Rhue's consciousness was absorbed by the sword, at that point he still existed in his body(assuming it really is his body) and not the sword, so he would not experiance those memories.