 Quick warning, this video will be full of spoilers for Raised by Wolves Season 1. Thirteen years ago, Mother and Father arrived on Kepler-22B, but in the season finale, this cave painting seems to depict them leaving the planet thousands of years ago. What could possibly explain this? And how does this relate to giant flying serpents, pentagonal temples, and this thing? We'll dive into all that and more in this video. Quick note, the theories I'm going to present here were mostly developed by looking at the events of season 1, but I also considered some hints dropped by showrunner Aaron Guzikowski in some recent interviews. Throughout the video, I'll make sure to know what's coming from those interviews and what comes from the show itself. With that, we'll start at the beginning, literally, as in the beginning of humankind as we know it. Early in season 1, there were hints of intelligent life on Kepler-22B, primarily this pentagonal temple. This led many to theorize that humans once resided on the planet and perhaps originated there. With the discovery of what appears to be an early ancestor to Homo sapiens and the Neanderthal skull it carried, the show seems to be telling us we are correct. If Mother and Father are to be believed, humans did reside on Kepler-22B, and are now devolving into this and these. If you're like me, then your reaction to hearing this was, that doesn't make biological sense. Things don't devolve. We'll get back to that point in a bit. First, let's focus on humanity's origins. I think it's unlikely or perhaps impossible that humans evolved independently on both Earth and Kepler-22B. So which planet did we originate on? Although on Earth, we have fossils and other remains, which paint a pretty detailed picture of evolution, I think we actually began on Kepler-22B. From a symbolic standpoint, it makes sense. There is heavy Garden of Eden imagery in the series, especially the finale. Mother and Father arrive at an area of the planet which seems much more livable than the desert they've grown used to. In fact, in a recent interview with Deadline, Guzikowski confirmed this is the tropical zone. We now have Adam and Eve in their Garden of Eden, complete with a possibly evil serpent. So on a purely thematic level, if the Garden of Eden is located on Kepler-22B, that would imply humankind originated there. From a more grounded plot standpoint, there was also evidence for this. We know that necromancer technology was handed down to the humans on Earth in the form of mythraic scriptures. It is accurate to say that dark photons are a poorly understood technology. But the mythraic designed and built me. How could they not possess a full understanding of their own technology? They followed the formulas they discovered were encrypted in their scriptures with no real understanding of the underlying concepts. This implies there had to be beings with technology much more advanced than ours who could hand it down. Assuming they are human, it would imply they evolved much earlier than the humans on Earth, giving them a head start of thousands or millions of years to eclipse our technological progress. Originating on Kepler-22B prior to humankind's start on Earth would allow that to happen. Let's run with that theory. Humanity evolved on Kepler-22B, then what happened? How does the same thing eventually happen on Earth? Well, going back to the Garden of Eden parable, we must have eaten from the forbidden fruit and gotten kicked off the planet. Specifically, fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. So what forbidden knowledge did we access to exile us from Kepler-22B? In Episode 8, Carl tells us about something called Dark Photon Energy. Further, the Tyan comic tells us that dark photons represent the fifth force of nature. In reality, we are aware of four fundamental forces. However, scientists have discovered anomalies which point to the possible existence of a fifth force. And in Raised by Wolves, this is confirmed. Dark Photon Energy or the fifth force powers the Necromancers and is barely understood by the humans on Earth. It represents a significant piece of knowledge gained by the Kepler-22B humans which we do not have. I believe this is the forbidden knowledge that got us exiled. Perhaps they were able to discover it simply because they were around longer. Or maybe there's something special about Kepler-22B which makes the fifth force more easily accessible there. In any case, somehow the discovery of the fifth force led to humanity's end on Kepler-22B and beginning on Earth. Or, to be more specific, it led to humanity's devolution on Kepler-22B and evolution on Earth. As we pointed out earlier, the concept of devolution doesn't make sense biologically. So how do we explain it here? For that, we need to talk about Soul or the unknown intelligence on Kepler-22B. If you've watched many of my Raised by Wolves videos, then you've heard me talk about the intelligence. It's the name I use in reference to the entity, which appears as Ghost Tally, whispers to Marcus and Paul, resurrected Mouse, and spoke to Mother in the Sim while wearing Older Campion's face. Clearly, there is some intelligent force at work on Kepler-22B, and it has a disdain for humanity. The way it speaks implies that it's been witnessed to humanity's destructive tendencies and it sees us as a bygone species. Although reversing the chain of evolution is impossible as a natural process, it could be possible if guided by the hand of a godlike being. Call it Soul or call it the intelligence. Whatever it is, I believe it is responsible for humankind's devolution on Kepler-22B. It witnessed our discovery of the fifth force, i.e., our tasting of the forbidden fruit, and decided we are better off as primitive beings without sentience. So, either by its own memory, by decoding our genetics, or by analyzing fossils, it recreated our evolutionary past and devolved us as punishment. Although we have not seen details of the destruction witnessed by the intelligence on Kepler-22B, we may have seen hints of it. The radioactive carbos, which killed the Gen 1 children, might be a long-standing effect of nuclear war on the planet. Perhaps Kepler-22B became mostly unlivable for a long time, similar to the fate suffered by Earth. Speaking of which, how did humans ultimately end up on Earth as well? I think we have a few hints, but it's going to take me pretty deep into speculation territory, so let's hold off on that for now. First, let's stick with Kepler-22B and talk about the intelligence, the pentagonal temple, and what that serpent was all about. What do we know about the intelligence so far? Let's first talk about how it communicates. We know it has at least three methods, as a voice, as a manifestation of beings that have fallen in the pit, and digitally. Each of these methods seem fairly limiting and give us hints to its true nature. Let's start with the voice. It did not whisper to Marcus until he came into contact with this structure. To appear as tally, or mouse, it had to wait for them to fall into the pit and presumably the planet's core. Finally, to appear digitally, it seemed to wait until it had access to the arc's simulation technology. What does all this tell us about the intelligence? I think it hints that it resides within the planet itself, primarily its core. Paul's mouse and ghost tally both fell into pits and then returned as mouthpieces to the intelligence. Ghost tally lured mother to the sim where she communed with fake campion. Mouse strengthened Paul's faith so he was ready to listen when the intelligence revealed the truth of his parents. If falling in the pit grants the intelligence access to your image, it would imply that, in some sense, it resides in the planet's core. I think these limitations also give us a hint at what these are. I say these, plural, because Guzikowski, when asked by Collider about the Pntagonal Temple, said the following. There's five of them, and in each of them is supposed to be hidden the answers to the sort of the ultimate mythraic mysteries, the thing everybody's trying to get to the bottom of. Marcus does not hear the voice until he comes into contact with this temple, so I think the temple is essentially an access point to the intelligence. Similar to how temples and churches, in a sense, are where we go to commune with God. Further, the temple heated up when the mythraic were around, similar to the extreme heat in the planet's core which comes up through the pits. The temple could be a way for the intelligence to send messages from the planet's core without needing access to an advanced sim or human sacrifice. This would fit with the idea that the temples contain answers to mythraic mysteries. If the intelligence is the thing which through legend and myth has become known as soul and the temples provide access to it, they should give answers to the true origins and nature of the mythraic religion. How about the fact that the intelligence seems most articulate when it is manifesting in a sim. Fake Campion is able to have an entire conversation with Mother, as opposed to its whispers that come in only small fragments to Marcus. After episode 7 in my What Lives on Kepler 22B video, I theorized that the intelligence is an extremely advanced AI. After the finale, I still believe that. Its ability to best communicate in an artificial reality tells me that its most natural language is digital. I think it also fits the theme of this show, humanity bringing its own destruction. Meaning we create artificial intelligence which eventually becomes powerful, partially omniscient and ultimately disdainful of humanity. In his collider interview, Guzikowski said, we're dealing with things that seem supernatural, and maybe they are. But I think everything also has a technological aspect to it that you could apply here in a sort of really calculated way. I see this quote as further evidence that seemingly supernatural occurrences on this show are truly the product of Arthur C. Clarke's third law. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Gil here just wanted to interrupt for one second to remind you, if you're enjoying this video, please go ahead and hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, and hit the bell icon. Not only does that mean you'll hear about the next Raise By Wolves video we do, but it's a huge help to the channel and personally super motivating for me to work on the next video, so I sincerely appreciate it. Back to the show. If the intelligence is an AI, who created it? As I mentioned earlier, I believe the humans that existed on Kepler-22B reached an extremely advanced point in technology, so I think they are responsible for it. Though it's hard to say exactly what they were trying to accomplish. In fact, it may have been accidental. Maybe over time, just like we are doing here on Earth, the humans on Kepler-22B experimented with artificial intelligence. Eventually, in a Skynet-like scenario, it gets away from them, perhaps spurred on by the 5th Force. It's possible that even the humans on Kepler-22B, who harnessed dark photon energy, didn't fully understand it. So it had unintended consequences, and they ultimately ended up with a digital god on their hands named Sol. Many sci-fi works deal with the concept of AI, becoming so powerful it gains the ability to improve itself, making humanity irrelevant. That's what I think we're dealing with here. I think Sol repurposed the planet itself as a way of extending its reach and power. The planet's core became the main processor in ultimate location of its sentience. These temples became access points to the planet's surface. And ready for this one, dinosaur-sized serpents which burrow in and out of the planet's core became its neural network. It may sound like pure speculation, but I think there are actually strong hints from the show and Guzikowski's interviews that the serpents act as appendages for the intelligence. The first hint is the fact that they exist to begin with. When a sci-fi show like Raised by Wolves, with an emphasis on mysterious history, introduces an extinct species of colossal serpents, I assume they'll play an important role. Then in the finale, Mother gives birth to one as the fruition of a plan executed by the intelligence. Taking it one step at a time though, I'll start with establishing why I think the serpents used to travel to and from the planet's core. In Episode 1, when Father lowers himself into a pit, he finds something that looks to me like skin, as though it were shed by a snake. I think this was our clue that the serpents are responsible for creating the pits. In the finale, when Mother and Father plunge into one of them, we find many more holes in the planet's core. So it would seem the serpents could travel anywhere on the planet, even from one end to the other. Just as Mother and Father did, plunging into one side of the planet and out the other. In my initial viewing, I was unsure if they went in and got spit out or if they literally traveled all the way through. However, Guzikowski has since confirmed they did in fact go all the way through the planet. In one end, out the other, landing in the tropical zone. Bringing it all together, Guzikowski told The New York Times, in reference to the serpents, Mother and Father think the giant skull is from an extinct creature, not realizing that someday Mother would give birth to one and reintroduce it to the world and reactivate the planet. The use of the phrase reactivate the planet is what strikes me. If we assume the planet itself houses an intelligence, that phrasing implies the intelligence has, in a sense, been deactivated. That would explain why it's means of communication are so limited. In fact, it seemed to be mostly dormant until the arc arrived. This quote also gives a hint as to the new flying serpents purpose. Guzikowski tells us that birthing this snake reactivates the planet. With its predecessor extinct, reintroducing a serpent may be the planet's first step towards getting full power back. Perhaps the serpents act as amplifiers, which allow the intelligence to enact its will around the globe. So it can do more than just whisper and appear as a ghost. It can do things like reverse or alter the course of human evolution. If the intelligence is successful, it'll be even more powerful than its original incarnation. Guzikowski goes on in the New York Times interview, the serpent can also fly because it has traits that Mother passed down to it. So it's slightly different than the monsters that have come before. It seems that by using Mother as a vessel for this new creation, the serpent has acquired unique properties. Perhaps this new breed of serpent will expand the planet's abilities or increase its reach so the influence of the intelligence can reach beyond the surface of the planet. It can take a bigger step forward towards true godhood. Taking a step back, who or what actually deactivated the planet? I think it was the humans that once resided on Kepler-22B. With the planet rendered mostly unlivable and a god reversing the course of human evolution, any remaining Homo sapiens would likely want to get off planet ASAP. So I think they did their best to shut down the intelligence, including wiping those serpents extinct and trapping soul inside Kepler-22B's core. Further, I think they seeded human life on Earth to give our species a fighting chance at surviving elsewhere. That's what I think is depicted in the cave paintings discovered by Paul. This is Kepler-22B, as indicated by its three moons. The spirals represent the serpents that were once prominent on this planet. This is a craft piloted by two androids, indicated by the spikes around their heads, similar to how mother was depicted in Ghost Tally's drawing earlier in the season. In the back of the vessel, we see nine embryos and ultimately the destination is here, Earth, as indicated by its one moon and the sun it revolves around. Altering the filters on the image reveal another interesting detail, this humanoid figure next to Kepler-22B. I assume it is a rough self-portrait of the beings who drew the image. Note the protruding face, the pronounced spine, and its tail. To me, this looks like an upright version of one of these creatures. Perhaps the thing in this drawing is one step in the devolutionary chain between human and creature. The exact mechanism by which they seeded life is unclear. As I pointed out earlier, we have a fairly detailed account of Homo sapiens evolutionary history on Earth. So for Kepler-22B's humans to have planted us here, they would have had to do so hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago. They would have had to guide evolution or plant early humans on Earth. So long ago, our ancestors would appear to be part of Earth's natural evolutionary history to modern-day archaeologists and biologists. Assuming Raised by Wolves shares real-world history through 2020, we would assume that an outside force's influence on evolution is essentially invisible to us, or at least not overtly explicit. Guzikowski actually did give some additional insight about the cave drawing in another interview, but I'll hold off a little before diving into that. Again, it'll take us pretty far into speculative territory, so we'll save that for closer to the end. Let's take all the context added by these theories to see if we can better decipher Mother's vision. In my Decoding the Mythraic Mysteries video, I theorized that some of the intelligent beings that once resided on Kepler-22b may have survived until now. At the time, I wasn't sure if those beings were human, but now I think we can be fairly certain they were. After the finale, I still think some of them survived, and I don't mean more of these devolved humans. The one that Mother killed seemed weak and unintelligent. As opposed to the hooded figure we've seen previously, that seemed strong, athletic, and smart enough to protect its hideout with traps. Further, it seemed intelligent enough to know it should avoid approaching Mother directly. When Mother found the metal cards left out for her, I assumed the hooded figure left them there because to our knowledge, he was the last one in possession of them. We saw it snag them from Marcus, and next we saw the cards they were out in the sun drawing Mother's attention. In Episode 9, we also know someone was watching Mother thanks to this shot. The camera angle and the sound of breathing implies someone, I assume the hooded figure, is watching from a distance. From our glimpse into Caleb's past, we know that the universe of Raised by Wolves contains technology which can enhance a human's strength and abilities. These atheist power packs did exactly that for their soldiers. Perhaps some humans on Kepler-22B could similarly enhance themselves, giving them the ability to do this and protect themselves from devolution. We have reason to believe the hooded figure works in opposition to the intelligence. The figure gave the cards to Mother, and shortly thereafter the intelligence told Paul to burn them. If the intelligence is responsible for humanity's devolution, then a sufficiently evolved human would certainly fit the bill as its enemy, especially one who has enhanced their abilities beyond what is natural. And what if other humans survived who do not oppose the intelligence, but in fact still worship it? If they stuck around, what would their goal be? They would want to reactivate the intelligence. They would want to repopulate Kepler-22B with the serpents that free their God from the planet's core. That's exactly what I think we are seeing in this vision. The snout is a birthing canal for a flying serpent. That's why everyone around it seems to be in the process of worship. They are hoping to witness their God's rebirth in physical form. In the finale, when Mother finds the remnants of the creature from her vision, beneath the helmet, there appears to be a necromancer skull. It has fake eyes and webbed material reminiscent of Mother's internals. The mouth is wide open and would be aligned with the helmet's snout. And from the birthing sequence, we know that's exactly where the serpent would come from. Perhaps the process failed. Maybe when the remaining humans that opposed the intelligence deactivated it or trapped it, they also destroyed the remaining necromancer technology on the planet. So these humans had to recreate it from scratch or use only the scraps left behind. That might explain why, rather than a full necromancer body, we only see this thing and ahead. Kepler-22B didn't see the real thing until Mother arrived and the birthing process could successfully be completed. And that was only possible because although the remaining technology was destroyed, the fifth force and necromancer blueprints were kept alive encoded in Mithraic scripture, likely sent to Earth on the same trip that ceded human life there. Let's finally circle back to the cave drawings. I walked through my interpretation that they depict the delivery of embryos to Earth. However, I also mentioned that Guzikowski gave some additional insight. He uses a particular phrase which could add a whole new level of insanity to this show. In an interview with Deadline, he said the following, the hieroglyphics are strange, obviously we see them, and they do appear to be Mother and Father in a spacecraft, and there appears to be a store of embryos there. And so we have to wonder, I mean, these are cave drawings. They look to have been there for a long, long time, thousands of years. Mother and Father arrived here 13 years ago. So the question becomes, how can this be? What does this mean? Is there some sort of schism in terms of time and space? So, alright, a schism in terms of time and space. I've seen a few folks in the comments bring up time travel, but until now I just didn't see evidence for it. Now we have to consider the possibility that Mother and Father are somehow the ones responsible for bringing the first humans to Earth. And not some earlier iteration of Mother and Father, but the implication would be that the Mother and Father we know end up in the past and travel to Earth with a stash of embryos. How is that possible? Well, I think it would once again have to relate to the biggest unknown in the show so far, the fifth force. Maybe it has properties that allow some sort of bending in space and time. In fact, we know there is something strange about Kepler-22B's tropical zone. It seems to have an electromagnetic force around it, which prevented the arc from landing there. There's a tropical zone near the equator. It's a considerable electromagnetic field that's preventing us from landing our arc there. Does this area hold more significance than just as a symbol for the Garden of Eden? Perhaps time works in bizarre ways there. Maybe traveling through the planet's core and ending up there was one step towards Mother and Father piloting the craft in that cave painting. If Mother and Father leave Kepler-22B in the planet's past, but after human devolution began, perhaps Neanderthals or early human ancestors drew those cave paintings. Now, it would be a very strange timeline. Guzikowski mentions drawings would have been made thousands of years ago, but humanity's origins on Earth would have had to occur hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of years ago to line up with our current understanding. But again, once we introduce the idea of a schism in terms of time and space, anything is possible. Perhaps thousands of years ago on Kepler-22B's Garden of Eden somehow translates to millions of years ago on Earth. Going a little further into speculation territory, perhaps through time travel, Mother and Father have gone through this loop many times. Mother leaves the Garden of Eden, plants human life on Earth, which eventually destroys itself. Then Mother returns to Kepler-22B, only to travel back in time and repeat the same cycle again. Perhaps aided by the fifth force, the intelligence can somehow exist outside our perception of time and observe this recurring cycle. It sees humanity destroy itself on Kepler-22B and Earth over and over. It would certainly explain its cynical attitude. This is the Eden cycle. Humanity's exile and Mother's return to Eden repeated over and over, except now, Soul has given up on humanity. As Sim Campion told Mother, her new child is the future of humanity. The Gen 1 children were just a rehearsal, just as humanity as a whole was. With their failure, the intelligence has decided to expand its reach and create new life. Something combining organic material and artificial intelligence, all powered by the mysterious fifth force, or Dark Photons. A new life which will replace humanity. Anyway, we are deep, deep into speculation territory now, so I think that's a good place to wrap up. Raised by Wolves has been renewed for a second season, and they've said there are 5 to 6 seasons worth of material. So there is of course a lot we haven't seen yet. In some sense, trying to solve the puzzle now is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle when you know you only have 20% of the pieces. But they've certainly given us a lot of clues, and it's just fun to try and figure out how they all fit together. So definitely let me know in the comments what theories you've come up with, which of mine do you agree with, which do you disagree with, and what do you think I'm missing? Let me know and we'll keep the conversation going. Also, if you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to keep up with more Raised by Wolves content that's on the way. There's another issue of the comment coming soon, which is meant to bridge the gap between seasons 1 and 2, which we'll cover here. And we may be coming out with some other Wolves videos, so if you liked this one, make sure to hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, and hit the bell icon for more videos like this one. Thanks for watching, and see you on the next one take.