In the latest tweet from the official Disney Lorcana account, we were treated to another video showing more of the story. Three new characters and two new items were shown, as well as their cards.
But there was one item shown that didn’t get a card – Triton’s Trident. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen or heard of it in the story. At the end of the video, it gets taken by someone. Who?
We’ve strung together the events and think we’ve pieced it together. We’ve also delved much deeper into the story behind these new items and found lore to show they are more important than we’d thought.
Warning: Possible spoilers for Lorcana, Disney shows, and wild speculation ahead.
Leaving The Trident Behind
A quick recap: the latest video opens to a pile of gold and gems – similar to the one on the art for Scrooge McDuck – Richest Duck in the World. Note the Great Illuminary in the background of his art, showing he’s outside, similar to the video.
Venturo picks up the Sumerian Talisman – which is the first Legendary item in the game. He then holds up the Aurelian Gyrosensor. This is a recently revealed item card, and it’s used to find pieces of Lore.
When he turns around we see a fleet of flying machines behind us. They look like a larger version of the Inkrunners, which were fully revealed in this twitter video. They feature in the background of the booster box and packs.
Inside one of the flying machines, we get the first glimpse of Prince Eric – Expert Helmsman, Tinker Bell – Very Clever Fairy, and Audrey Ramirez – The Engineer. Following the Gyrosensor, they fly off, ending up in a swamp.
While searching, Tink flies off and finds the Trident! She goes back to alert the gang, but the Gyrosensor goes off and distracts the others. Venturo uses the device on his arm, which points him in another direction – where they find the Lucky Dime.
After the end titles roll, a shadowy arm appears in front of the Trident, then yoinks it away!
That’s Bad, Right?
While the Illumineers and many of the characters are banding together to restore Lore to the Illuminary – some don’t seem to have the best intentions. In the Rise of the Floodborn trove booklet, some story text says:
“As rumors of an escaped threat spread, apprehension shades the halls of the Illuminary and the Illumineers act with greater caution. If this seismic event was intentional, whoever – or whatever – caused it could be hiding anywhere.“
The story for Into the Inklands summed up is: “The scattered lore must be returned to the Hall of Lorcana… before it falls into the wrong hands“. Are these shadowy hands the wrong hands?
Lorcana Tech
There is a tonne of Lorcana tech we haven’t covered yet, but here are a few quick bits. From the new cards we can see Tink holding a part from the Aurelian Gyrosensor. Audrey is repairing what looks like one of the things attached to Venturo’s arm.
At a guess, these are two vials of magical ink or some new Lorcana tech. His are Ruby and Sapphire. Each Illumineer seems to be associated with two inks. Shanzay’s staff lights up as if linked to Amethyst and Steel.
Martin’s instrument has Amber and Emerald vials. He used this wisely and unlocked the lore book that led to the flood in the first place by playing the six notes in the Lorcana theme in the right order…
Minor rant: All the characters in the video have a job: finding parts, repairing tech, searching for Lore. Luckily Eric the “Expert Helmsman” is here to fly the airship. Wait, no, that’s Audrey at the helm. Thanks for tagging along Eric.
Important Items
It seems like certain items of Lore are very important to the story, and to keeping the Realm of Lorcana safe. The two that have just been found tie into each other, and may tell us who took the Trident.
Trident
This has been mentioned in the RotB Press Release, Roar story page, art, and in the video for An Ink Flood Unleashed. In that video, Martin reaches out to grab the Trident, but instead saves Venturo. The Trident is essentially Checkov’s Gun in Lorcana’s story right now.
In The Little Mermaid, King Triton wields his Trident as a magical weapon. He uses it to blow up Ariel’s treasured collection of objects. It has the power to control the seas, fire energy bolts, summon storms, transform merfolk, move objects, and even… write signatures.
Ursula spends the movie trying to get rid of Triton and take control of his crown and Trident. When she gets them, she becomes immensely powerful, growing to a huge size. A powerful staff like this in a sorcerer’s hands could give them control over the Realm of Lorcana.
The Trident could well be a Legendary item. If Lucky Dime gains lore, the Trident might destroy Lore or items, as Triton does in the film with Ariel’s whatsits.
Lucky Dime
The “one simple coin that changed Scrooge’s life forever“. In the original comics and cartoon, Scrooge goes out to work as a shoe-shine in Glasgow. For his very first job, he shines the boots of a ditch digger. Instead of paying the five-pence price, he pays Scrooge with an American dime – 10 cents.
Scrooge learns the hard way that you can do the toughest job and still get cheated. That gives him the resolve to go on to become the World’s Richest Duck. Throughout the years, it becomes a sort of charm.
He keeps it on a pillow in a glass dome, sometimes held up by a dollar-shaped prop – how it looks in the Scrooge card. The story doesn’t change much in the modern DuckTales reboot. Since the start, certain ducks have always thought the dime has real power…
There’s even more backstory to it – but you should watch the series or read the old comics for that. Scrooge seems to have had it in his pile out in the Realm of Lorcana, it must have been taken to the Halls at one point as it’s in a glass sphere there. Then, it was swept out in the flood.
Sumerian Talisman
On the Rise of the Floodborn story page, Venturo was looking at the Lucky Dime in the Hall, when “he saw a glimmer of Basil, the Great Mouse Detective, examining an item through a large magnifying glass.”
“A Sumerian talisman,” Basil continued. “Yet another artifact to investigate. One, if my intuition serves me, which should be kept far from the more nefarious sort”. Now we have the actual card, the flavor text reveals more story: –
“Summoned spirit from the dark
Show thyself before this arc.”
– Lena Sabrewing
Who Is The Shadowy Figure?
We haven’t seen Lena Sabrewing as a character card – yet. In the new DuckTales series, Lena Sabrewing recites this verse while holding the Talisman to summon…
Magica De Spell aka the Shadow Queen. Magica is summoned in a shadowy form, and her aim in the series is to get the Lucky Dime from Scrooge McDuck. She also uses the talisman to control Lena, her niece.
Given the links between the Dime and the Talisman, and the matching shadows – it looks like Magica took the Trident. But why? We have a few theories, ordered by how likely we think they are: –
- Magica was originally there trying to get the Dime. When the group found it first, she took the closet powerful item instead. Maybe we’ll see a trade, or maybe the Trident will be more useful to her.
- The Talisman can be used to control people. Was Magica controlling someone to find the Dime for her, or misdirecting them away from the Trident?
- An angry ignored Tinkerbell might have told a shadow she already knows about the Trident.
Shadows are more important to the story than we’d thought, and it’s not just one. In fact, we’ve dug up a whole bunch of shadows from the lore and art.
Shadows, Storms, and Seaweed…
Shadows are mentioned a lot in the Realm of Lorcana. Some of the first story info about Into the Inklands featured this text:
“…an ominous shadow storm has been spotted gathering at the edges of Lorcana, adding urgency and mystery to the path ahead.“
Then Prince Eric – Expert Helmsman‘s flavor text tells us more: “The storm came out of nowhere, forcing Eric to turn back before he reached the mysterious structure at the edge of Lorcana.“
In the two videos that show Martin opening the mysterious locked lore book and the flood that happens after, there are some more hints. The room is filled with what looks like purple seaweed. Mickey and the Duke have also found that same seaweed in their investigations.
Floating around the ink columns and the book, are shadowy black tendrils that remind us of ink. When Martin opens up the book – bigger tendrils shoot out. Those shadows and the link to ink seemed to indicate it was Ursula that jumped out of the book and caused the flood.
Maybe she was locked away by previous Illumineers, or the Curator. When she is released, she may have caused the flood to get the Trident out in the chaos. It could be used to do a lot of harm in the hands of a powerful sorcerer.
She has plenty of cards and items, and her helpers Jetsam and Flotsam have been in two sets. The latest pair even have glowing (lore-seeking?) eyes, and are searching for “powerful lore” that Ursula needs to “complete her plan“.
Is the shadow from the book the same that took the Trident? What if the shadow from the book wasn’t Ursula? She is a Deceiver after all. Are there any other Villianous Sorcerers in Lorcana that might be up to no good?
Dr. Facilier has his own shadow that helps him in his evil ways. He also uses a talisman to disguise others. Looking for an evil lair of a Villain, surrounded by a stormy shadow? What about literally the first card we saw from the set?
If there’s a lair of a shadowy evil-doer with pointy fingers – Maleficent has to be in the running. She’s been known to bide her time. Ask Aurora what she thinks, from the Maleficent film: “That’s the shadow I’ve been seeing ever since I was small. Wherever I went that shadow was always with me.“
Cheshire Cat – From the Shadows also springs to mind. His Always Grinning card seems to know the Inklands are still changing. The Most Diabolical Scheme shows Ratigan’s shadow detached from him, and Mother Knows Best has a clawed shadow.
Shadows in Disney film art are used quite a lot, often to convey hidden danger, or a character’s true intentions. There are many more throughout the card art. Even Belle – Hidden Archer “slips through the trees as easily as shadow.“
Though many of these will be incidental, it seems shadows could be very important in the ongoing story of Lorcana.
Shadow Storm
This is where it could get very spoilery. We think we’ve found out where the shadow storm and mysterious structure at the edge of Lorcana came from. It’s a
You’ve been warned. If you go any further, you’ll get spoiled on what happens in DuckTales and possibly the next part of Disney Lorcana’s story.
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POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW
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Watch this video from 21:43 onwards to see what happens when Magica De Spell gets the Lucky Dime and the Sumerian Talisman.
Magica De Spell creates a “swirling, shadow vortex” from people’s shadows, and makes a throne for herself in Scrooge’s money bin (the vault). The shadow swirls around it like a storm. Could this be the storm, and maybe the structure?
Ink Cave
In the Rise of the Floodborn story page, the art for Peter Pan’s Shadow – Not Sewn On is featured. It shows his shadow flying through what looks like ink-flooded caves. Pain and Panic too, as well as Hades’ shadowy tendril feet?
The art of the cave being highlighted in the same place where we got loads of other hints seems like something we shouldn’t ignore. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are also in a cave. Maybe not the same one, though they are collecting shards of a larger crystal.
Two Interesting Inkcasting Rooms
When Martin finds and opens the locked lorebook, he’s in a “somewhat hidden inkcasting room“. The Great Illuminary seems to be filled with different rooms where glimmers can be cast. We’ve seen one in The Power of an Illumineer, and it looks like there are more.
In the video for An Ink Flood Unleashed, Martin stares in disbelief as the unlocked lorebook now glows Purple. A little later in the video, just after Cinderella is transformed by the Ink, there is a brief glimpse of another room being flooded with ink.
This room (that doesn’t look the same as the one Martin was in) is filled with huge, purple, crescent moon-shaped vials. Are they filled with Amethyst ink, or something else? We don’t know how this ties in quite yet – but moon, night, shadows, are they linked?
DuckTales Was Hidden in Plain Sight!
It’s really interesting that two DuckTales items were mentioned in the story text months ago. At that point, there were no DuckTales characters, Into the Inklands hadn’t been announced, and many assumed only Disney movies were being covered.
Lost Lore
There are still more items to find that were washed out by the flood. On the “Roar of Rushing Ink” story page, two pieces of art showed the Hall of Lorcana, where Lore was stored in the Great Illuminary.
The Sorcerer’s Spellbook, Peter Pan’s Dagger, Dragon Gem, Fang Crossbow, Coconut Basket, Frying Pan, Poisoned Apple, and White Rabbit’s – Pocket Watch all made it into The First Chapter or Rise of the Floodborn.
You could also count Binding Contract as one of the many scrolls scattered around the floor. It’s also surrounded by seaweed in it’s art.
Missing items include Maui’s Hook, the Glass Slipper from Cinderella, Hercules’ Medallion, Te Fiti’s Heart, a scarab beetle, a scimitar, the magic lamp, a mermaid(?), and some others we can’t quite make out.
Lorcana Story Design
After poring through the various videos, story pages, art, and flavor text – I’m more impressed than ever by the thought that’s gone into this game. We’re three sets in and it’s very clear that the story has been planned out really thoroughly.
Massive props to the Disney Lorcana team who’ve worked on this. Especially the current Narrative Lead Samantha McFerrin, and former Narrative Lead Kelly Digges.
I can’t wait to see the rest of the cards, stories, and media that come out from Into the Inklands. Where is the Curator? Who brought the Illumineers? Where is the missing Mermaid? Another time.
What do you think? Comment below!
