This has been a point of confusion even with the developers' explanation that the only Octolings encountered as enemies were elite members of the Octarian army, so I thought I could talk about the reason that has been kept a secret. First and foremost, the promotional cycles of Splatoon are treated as a wildlife documentary, so this theory I have will make sense.
Now first things first, the Octarian civilization is centered around technology, even with the domes themselves having an artificial sky of some sort. But when sending troops to fight invaders such as Agent 3 and 4, DJ Octavio never sent the playable Octolings even though they were at his control and being able to fight effectively. This is especially weird when you think about the enemy Octolings being uncommon rather than common.
This can be explained by the fact that Octolings are the backbone of the Octarian species, this is backed up by the fact that Octarians possibly never want to let this secret be known. A big part the Octo Expansion Artbook is written from the Octarian point of view, which off course there will be bias when it comes to cultural responsibilities. Heck, they only showed the asexual cycle of Octoling development even though there's clearly the sexual cycle as well thanks to PAUL being a 10-year-old Octoling resembling a young Inkling.
In the first Splatoon Artbook, the description that states "Octarians are created by cutting off a tentacle from a host". Now there cannot be one single host, as that description says "a host", not "the host". The same description states that Octarians cannot reproduce on their own, which makes a contradiction. Because creating life through natural means is still reproduction.
The "Octarians" part of the description could actually be talking about the tentacle creatures specifically and not the Octolings, while the hosts are actually the Octolings themselves. It makes a whole lot of sense since Octolings are the only Octarians with all 8 limbs.
With all of that, I believe there's a reason why the Octarians are so insistent of keeping that a secret and that's because they know that Octolings are really important to their survival, one thing that benefits them, for now, is that Inklings don't know that Octolings are Octarians. For the time being, Octarians aren't comfortable sharing their most important secret with anyone else because they know that there will be someone out there who will use that secret against them.
Off course, this is just a theory and is in no way to be considered canon unless Nintendo themselves confirm it, as with all theories and explanations out there about their games.
Now first things first, the Octarian civilization is centered around technology, even with the domes themselves having an artificial sky of some sort. But when sending troops to fight invaders such as Agent 3 and 4, DJ Octavio never sent the playable Octolings even though they were at his control and being able to fight effectively. This is especially weird when you think about the enemy Octolings being uncommon rather than common.
This can be explained by the fact that Octolings are the backbone of the Octarian species, this is backed up by the fact that Octarians possibly never want to let this secret be known. A big part the Octo Expansion Artbook is written from the Octarian point of view, which off course there will be bias when it comes to cultural responsibilities. Heck, they only showed the asexual cycle of Octoling development even though there's clearly the sexual cycle as well thanks to PAUL being a 10-year-old Octoling resembling a young Inkling.
In the first Splatoon Artbook, the description that states "Octarians are created by cutting off a tentacle from a host". Now there cannot be one single host, as that description says "a host", not "the host". The same description states that Octarians cannot reproduce on their own, which makes a contradiction. Because creating life through natural means is still reproduction.
The "Octarians" part of the description could actually be talking about the tentacle creatures specifically and not the Octolings, while the hosts are actually the Octolings themselves. It makes a whole lot of sense since Octolings are the only Octarians with all 8 limbs.
With all of that, I believe there's a reason why the Octarians are so insistent of keeping that a secret and that's because they know that Octolings are really important to their survival, one thing that benefits them, for now, is that Inklings don't know that Octolings are Octarians. For the time being, Octarians aren't comfortable sharing their most important secret with anyone else because they know that there will be someone out there who will use that secret against them.
Off course, this is just a theory and is in no way to be considered canon unless Nintendo themselves confirm it, as with all theories and explanations out there about their games.
Last edited:
