So, I was thinking about what they could add for Splatoon 3 when I was taking a shower the other night, which my thought turned to the two conflicting images of a Twintacle Octotrooper being stretched to become an Octoling and the actual child Octoling from Sashimori, now known as PAUL. I have been thinking about them as well as some developer interviews about how DJ Octavio's army works. I was able to form a theory that will put the puzzle pieces together once and for all. Now off course this is just a theory and may not likely be what Nintendo actually thinks. With that disclaimer out of the way, here it is!
So with how we have seen two conflicting states of what a developing Octoling looks like, I have noticed that the Twintacle Octotrooper from the Octo Expansion Artbook became a female Octoling while PAUL from Sashimori is already a male Octoling, just younger. Basically, my theory states that only female Octolings can start as a cut-off tentacle from male Octolings, now you might be confused as to how that's even remotely possible since that's not how biology works, well evolution can make some unpredictable things happen, just like how we recently found out that dinosaurs aren't technically extinct, they just evolved into birds when they were thought to be more closely connected to reptiles.
Now off course a cut-off tentacle from a female Octoling can still become a separate Octarian, but no matter that Octarian's gender, they just won't become Octolings whatsoever while female Octarians that started out as a cut-off tentacle from a male Octoling can actually become female Octolings. This could support the idea that DJ Octavio managed to create an entire army out of himself, moreover, if you see the eyes of enemy Octolings from Octo Valley and Octo Canyon, you would see that they actually have the same eye color as DJ Octavio. Now you may be wondering "Where do male Octolings come from?", well I'll just ignore the gross details and just say that male Octolings hatch from Octoling eggs.
My evidence points toward the enemy Octarians that we fought in both games, but the ones from Octo Canyon a little more. So we see that aside from Octavio, we never fought any confirmed enemy male Octarian, until you meet the Octo Samurai, now while he can be a case against this theory, I believe that his existence actually strengthens it. We see that the closest thing we had to an enemy male Octoling aside from Octavio himself is the Octo Samurai, now while the Octo Samurai can respawn, he is just a fully developed tentacle-based Octarian, even the art showing a Twintacle Octotrooper becoming an Octoling shows this to be true, as the drawing shows already bits of skin from the humanoid form of Octolings showing as the legs develop more, the art also shows humanoid limbs already growing out of the Twintacle Octotrooper. Also, in a developer interview, it was stated that only a select few female Octolings can become the elite Octolings that we fought, there must be an in-universe reason for that, and I believe that the reason is because of the nature of the tentacle, it is so much easier to force a tentacle to grow into an Octoling instead of forcing two Octolings to have a child just for more troops.
Here is the final piece of the puzzle, since female Octolings can only come from cut-off tentacles of male Octolings and male Octolings can only hatch from eggs laid by female Octolings, this creates a very interesting ecosystem regarding the Octarian species and how both Octoling genders are needed to keep the entirety of the Octarian species going. Now you may be wondering about the female Octoling soldiers who aren't elite, well they are protected with male Octolings since it could be possible that due to the events of the Great Turf War, Octo Valley as well as its power failure, Octo Canyon and the kidnappings of many Octarians who were Sanitized afterwards, it could be possible that the playable Octolings were protected by the rest of the Octarians because the Octarian species is endangered, but since the playable Octolings managed to arrive at Inkopolis, which is a far safer place, they are able to live peacefully. This allows a new generation of Octarians to coexist with Inklings and not have to worry about following orders from a tyrannical ruler like DJ Octavio.
This was yet another one of my long, detailed theories. But it is so satisfying to defeat inconsistencies that I just had to do it! :D
So with how we have seen two conflicting states of what a developing Octoling looks like, I have noticed that the Twintacle Octotrooper from the Octo Expansion Artbook became a female Octoling while PAUL from Sashimori is already a male Octoling, just younger. Basically, my theory states that only female Octolings can start as a cut-off tentacle from male Octolings, now you might be confused as to how that's even remotely possible since that's not how biology works, well evolution can make some unpredictable things happen, just like how we recently found out that dinosaurs aren't technically extinct, they just evolved into birds when they were thought to be more closely connected to reptiles.
Now off course a cut-off tentacle from a female Octoling can still become a separate Octarian, but no matter that Octarian's gender, they just won't become Octolings whatsoever while female Octarians that started out as a cut-off tentacle from a male Octoling can actually become female Octolings. This could support the idea that DJ Octavio managed to create an entire army out of himself, moreover, if you see the eyes of enemy Octolings from Octo Valley and Octo Canyon, you would see that they actually have the same eye color as DJ Octavio. Now you may be wondering "Where do male Octolings come from?", well I'll just ignore the gross details and just say that male Octolings hatch from Octoling eggs.
My evidence points toward the enemy Octarians that we fought in both games, but the ones from Octo Canyon a little more. So we see that aside from Octavio, we never fought any confirmed enemy male Octarian, until you meet the Octo Samurai, now while he can be a case against this theory, I believe that his existence actually strengthens it. We see that the closest thing we had to an enemy male Octoling aside from Octavio himself is the Octo Samurai, now while the Octo Samurai can respawn, he is just a fully developed tentacle-based Octarian, even the art showing a Twintacle Octotrooper becoming an Octoling shows this to be true, as the drawing shows already bits of skin from the humanoid form of Octolings showing as the legs develop more, the art also shows humanoid limbs already growing out of the Twintacle Octotrooper. Also, in a developer interview, it was stated that only a select few female Octolings can become the elite Octolings that we fought, there must be an in-universe reason for that, and I believe that the reason is because of the nature of the tentacle, it is so much easier to force a tentacle to grow into an Octoling instead of forcing two Octolings to have a child just for more troops.
Here is the final piece of the puzzle, since female Octolings can only come from cut-off tentacles of male Octolings and male Octolings can only hatch from eggs laid by female Octolings, this creates a very interesting ecosystem regarding the Octarian species and how both Octoling genders are needed to keep the entirety of the Octarian species going. Now you may be wondering about the female Octoling soldiers who aren't elite, well they are protected with male Octolings since it could be possible that due to the events of the Great Turf War, Octo Valley as well as its power failure, Octo Canyon and the kidnappings of many Octarians who were Sanitized afterwards, it could be possible that the playable Octolings were protected by the rest of the Octarians because the Octarian species is endangered, but since the playable Octolings managed to arrive at Inkopolis, which is a far safer place, they are able to live peacefully. This allows a new generation of Octarians to coexist with Inklings and not have to worry about following orders from a tyrannical ruler like DJ Octavio.
This was yet another one of my long, detailed theories. But it is so satisfying to defeat inconsistencies that I just had to do it! :D
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