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I wonder if what Lock and Key were containing and the hero's essence is connected somehow. The boss was doing "good" damage while some creatures that had the black/redish structures were doing "evil" damage. Is it possible that the reason why lock and key had problems with what they took from the hero is because they had a symbiosis with something that is opposed to us? And on that note, is the Hero/Protagonist unique in their essence? After all in one of the thorns quest one of the magiphages seemed confused by the mana of the hero.

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i think star said it before but that redish black thing inside key kinda looks like the shadowscythe, if that theory is correct it does a good job at explaining stuff since it is known to be evil and corrupt people(i.e seppy) and should be very uncompatible with the hero's essence

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Surprised people haven't been pointing out about Lock and Key calling us Protagonist. I know they did in previous quests as well, but that just shows they are so much more.
I think they were not originally Maleurous but whatever they stored that they are now symbiotes with, and what lets them move and do things rather than just store things, is what turned them into part of the Maleurous.

I originally really like Remthalas, but then he just killed Nameless for no reason.
Also for those saying not to trust the Avatars because they haven't told us why to stop the Maleurous, as Lock and Key pointed out, they cannot remember why, which would be frustrating for them.
Also I re-read the first quest the other day and Celeritas had a bit of prideful/arrogance moment and then said that it had begun. Like the corruption of the Avatars had begone or something, so that does add a hint of Malerous being bad or causing bad even if not intentional.
Ooh, Pride. There were 7 Maleurous or at least 7 groups (counting Lock and Key as a group/1). 7 Deadly Sins,/Corrupted Elemental spirits.

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I'm especially happy to see I was kind of right on them being ancient archives! That being said, I wonder what gift they wanted to give us...

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Hm? I thought the gift was supposed to be the Lockblade. In its description, it is said that the hero found it in his/her bag at the end of the day and it follows the trend of Lock and Key giving us lucky items.

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Hm. Maybe that is it. Sorry, I apparently missed that in the description.

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It looks like you were right about the reddish-brown material being a part of the mechanism, HellsWolf! I thought it was part of the corruption, but I was wrong! I didn't consider it to be symbiotic with Key.

And the Hero's soulthread wasn't merely related to the corruption, it was the source!

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From sanddry86x
The boss was doing "good" damage while some creatures that had the black/redish structures were doing "evil" damage. Is it possible that the reason why lock and key had problems with what they took from the hero is because they had a symbiosis with something that is opposed to us?

You're on to something here, for sure. I guess I almost had it backwards. :P

And supposedly, this symbiote is related to Remthalas' goal of "freeing" the Malerous. ...Maybe this is Shadowscythe after all.

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So my theory about what was stored in Lock and Key is that it was that Chaos object in the secret room of the third lock, hence why it was so protected. It gave them sentience, "freeing them". What all of the Maleurous seem to have in common is that they are agents of chaos, or change (not that there is much of a difference). They are neither good nor evil. I am curious about what Drakath is up to right about now....

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I went back again to the First Maleurous Sinnonence. I reviewed the other Malerous appearances, and I realized that they were actually the two cloaked figures at a grove/marsh. While Remthalas is like the remarkable white room and Mr. Nameless is the tiny one. Looks like we have 3 more left to meet? (this upcoming November)

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The Maleurous we have left are:
A tall fellow with somewhat large shoulders at the skeleton of a dragon
A being in a futuristic room with large fans and blue tubes connected to him
And the cloaked individual watching us in the forest after the Sinnocence war

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So we are still left with the question of why these particular entities are labelled Maleurous, and what their exact relationship to the Avatars is.

That the Avatars are not our enemy, and neither are "they" is an interesting statement. Is the "they" referring to Lock and Key, or the Maleurous as a whole? In terms of morality and whether or not they are our enemy, the Maleurous vary.

Sinnocence was a being seemingly created by chance, and the nature of it's existence caused it to be insane. Even it felt it needed to die.

Remthalas seems to be actively malicious. He toys with people's minds, kidnaps and threatens to kill children and executed a pacified for in cold blood. Whatever his actual goals might be I'd say he qualifies as evil.

Nameless attacked a village of innocents for being abandoned by his owner. That backstory didn't make Lotso in Toy Story 3 not evil for what he did, and doesn't make Nameless not evil either. He didn't even target the people he was abandoned by, or if this happened a very long time ago, the place they lived or their relatives or something. He attacked a completely unrelated people for no reason. Remthalas may be in the wrong for what he did to him, but Nameless wasn't a good person by any stretch of the imagination.

Lock and Key are in another ballpark altogether. The worst they've done is inconvenience us a couple of times. They have also stated they wish to aid us. As far as can be told, they are very much not evil at all. In fact, since they seem to be studying luck, the fact that the Maleurous appear on Friday the 13th and the name Maleurous being derived from a word meaning "unlucky" or "unfortunate" could hint at them trying to solve whatever problem the Maleurous as a whole are creating.

The message from the Golden egg quest seems to imply that Lock and Key are older than the Avatars. While this might just mean pretty much anything could become a Maleurous, and that Lock and Key probably became so by achieving symbiosis with, well, whatever it was they achieved symbiosis with. It could also mean they were the first beings to become Maleurous. The Avatars were created to watch over their creations, perhaps Lock and Key's symbiosis is why they are considered among the Maleurous. I'd say this task the Avatars were given has something to do with the Maleurous, but I can't think of what connection any of the others could have to them.

I'm going to stop now, as I feel that I'm being unclear and rambling at this point.

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I don't think the weapons was the gift that they meant for us, I think the gift is something for us to look forward to in a future release. Though that's just what I think.

Given that we now know they are Malerous, they are the only Malerous so far to appear outside a Friday 13th.

For the two that were created in their image I didn't think it was Lock and Key. From what was in the quest Lock and Key are ancient, but previously were purely archival and couldn't move or do anything, it wasn't until they formed the symbiosis with whatever was stored in them which turned them into one of the Malerous that they could actually do things.

The line about two being created in their image really strikes me as such a strong resemblance to Adam and Eve and so I was thinking it was talking about two original humans. I was about to say that I didn't think that felt right either because of Celeritas' outburst, but actually Celeritas says they have watched the planet for longer than they sleep, so there must have been a planet (and presumably inhabitants to watch over) before they went to sleep. Also Haeos begins to point out that the Avatars aren't our makers.

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But they DID show up on Friday the 13th. The whole war started on the 13th; it was just covered up as a Zorbak fetch quest.

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This year they did. The first time we met them was an April Fools release.

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So, Lock and Key were part of the Maleurous. And I do like how they are not necessary evil, just misguided. Well, except Remthalas. He is on his own level.

But I didn't think there were anything special about Maleurous, meaning that they are just a group of entities who the Avatars deemed too dangerous and wants them gone. Meaning that for example, Lock and Key never changed to Maleurous, the Avatars just decided to call their enemies such.

I do like how Lock and Key are part of the Exalted Lore. After replaying the Archives, I do notice how similar their design is to that levels monsters and Daathael.