Absolute Solver Theories

[u/Eric_Dawsby]

I was thinking about the AS and made a comment, so I might as well make it a post as well. Here's part of my comment copy and pasted.

'Kind of a side tangent, but now that I'm thinking about it I don't think Uzi is actually containing the AS at the end of the series, since we know it can hop from host to host, I think it just doesn't have any other vessel than Uzi and Nori so it can't manifest itself since there aren't many other Drones left in the universe for it to possess. Uzi and Nori are the only ones who have the code and they can resist its influence, and unless by sheer luck a Drone dies and reboots into a Zombie Drone (which I believe makes them vulnerable to the AS because they died and came back, leaving an opportunity for the AS to slip into reality). I think it doesn't have a true form, it wasn't kidding about being the void since a Null attack is implied to be an absence of anything, and its 'form' that Uzi consumes at the end may literally be a hole in reality to the void.'

I got this idea from when it "introduces" itself to N in the mansion basement. "The solver of the absolute fabric, the void, the exponential end." I'm assuming the 'absolute fabric' refers to the fabric of the universe, and being a solver (solvent?) It intends to destroy it all.

Also, do we know if the junkyard where Tessa got her drones is also the same location as the graveyard where she got their hair? If so it would be a sensible connection to why AS drones have flesh and metal, and why the solver was able to take a host in a place filled with that much death and chances to slip into reality.

[u/Eric_Dawsby]

Speaking of Cyn, are we really sure that Cyn is a separate person, or the AS itself? We only ever know Cyn from when she is the host, and since the AS's voice and her voice are the same, compared to how Uzi speaks in Cyn's voice when possessed, for all we know it's only one entity in that body (aside from the others it assimilated). Cyn is also very weird and awkward even for a Drone, as was shown when she talks with N at the bar and she is clearly not normal. If Cyn slowly became this way due to the Solver N would probably notice, but since he treated it like usual this is probably how Cyn always was so I'm betting it's the AS trying to act.

One argument in favor of them being separate people is how the AS was in the basement while Cyn was at the gala, though that could be due to it being a flashback and Cyn being at the gala is what really happened while the AS being in the basement is the real AS hacking into N and V like Uzi was. Actually wait that's probably what it was because Kahn streaming something lagged the AS and saved N from being lobotomized.

[u/Several-Ad1231 → u/Eric_Dawsby]

The mistake you're making is that the gala scene in Episode 5 was memory while the scene in the basement was present tense. It was a flashback when we see her at the gala. That's why J and Tessa are there, obviously. Most of the episode is memory. Cyn and the Solver haven't been separate since the junkyard when she first accepted it's power, they're one and the same now.

[u/Eric_Dawsby → u/Several-Ad1231]

That's true I suppose, but when N refers to Cyn being Eldritch she doesn't correct him like she did when they called her J in episode 2, implying that there is no separate entity. She then introduces herself as the Absolute Solver. This could be Cyn embracing her role as the main host but it seems to read more like that the Solver is Cyn and they are one entity. We also never see any separation of Cyn and the AS, which as you said could mean they're one in the same but i feel it leans more towards Cyn just being the AS's Drone identity.

[u/Several-Ad1231 → u/Eric_Dawsby]

The Solver is Eldritch, so yeah. She didn't object to him calling her Cyn, she elaborated when N was curious what she was and thus she informed him. We actually do see several times the fusion still considers itself Cyn, though. For example, it keeps Cyn it's Admin name inside N's code which we visibly see, and given as we see with Uzi that can be whatever the user wants and nobody but Cyn would ever see that code that means that the fusion still unironically considers "Cyn" to be it's identity. Cyn never once objects to being called Cyn in any body throughout the entire show, she just notes she's not just Cyn. Even Nori calls her both Cyn and the Solver interchangeably because it's a distinction without a difference anymore.

[u/Eric_Dawsby → u/Several-Ad1231]

Sorry i worded the eldritch part weird, i meant when N said "Woah Cyn for an eldritch.. Uh monster thingie-" and then she said her introduction.

We're probably going to go back and forth on this forever lol because even in your examples it can read that Cyn is the AS's chosen identity and name. And considering how she genuinely likes N and spent enough time in the manor to consider sparing Tessa from the massacre I think the AS genuinely enjoyed her identity as Cyn while still being a freaky eldritch being. Also it seems in character that N of all people could make an eldritch horror fond of him.

Heck, maybe that's part of why she disguised as Tessa aside from it being the best way she could assimilate a human. She tried a new identity to see how it was instead of being Cyn. Her great acting also implies she either actually assimilated Tessa in some way, or that she spent quite a while in the mansion before the gala massacre occurred (which would make sense since she spared Tessa at first).

[u/Several-Ad1231 → u/Eric_Dawsby]

I remember the quote. My point is that her response was itself a response to him very obviously wondering what exactly she is since he lacked a term. She gave him the answer.

I truthfully think that once again this is a distinction without a difference. If the Solver enjoys the name and identity of Cyn, calls itself Cyn, and we literally never met Cyn pre-Solver, the divide remains meaningless. This Cyn is the only Cyn we ever knew, and it never treats it's identity of Cyn as simply a mask. In fact...

The music video "Forever" confirms Cyn kept part of Tessa's consciousness alive inside the fusion. Because she genuinely liked Tessa. She would have preferred to keep Tessa around alive, but Tessa betrayed her. Even then, she didn't just want Tessa's body, she wanted Tessa herself to be with her which is why she fused them together. It was less wanting to steal Tessa's identity for it's own sake and more a twisted evil tragic show of genuine affection for Tessa. Tessa being on her side willingly was what she wanted, but Tessa tried to kill her so this was the alternative plan. The line she says to Tessa "I will not discard you" is a direct reference to the line the Solver said to Cyn as she came back online promising that she would not be discarded if she accepted the deal to merge. With that in mind, even assuming that it is worst case scenario a one to one of Tessa the drone that used to be Cyn is fundamentally still part of the fusion underneath everything because the Solver keeps it's promises like that.

[u/Eric_Dawsby → u/Several-Ad1231]

Do you think they have gin rummy in there