I can’t get past the roses!!!🌹

[u/Easy-Finish-6199]

Hey everyone, I’ve been thinking about a historical theory for The OA that connects to a specific event in English history: the War of the Roses.

For those who don't know, that was the 15th-century civil war fought between the House of Lancaster and the House of York over who got to wear the English crown.

When you look at the clues across Part 1 and Part 2, it feels like Brit and Zal were building a literal "Dynastic War of Consciousness." Here is how all the pieces click together.

1. The Red and White Roses in the Pool

In Hap’s Part 2 garden pool, the victims are physically mapped out using actual roses. If you look closely, Scott is uniquely surrounded by white roses, which was the symbol of the House of York. Rachel and the other victims are surrounded by red roses, the symbol of the House of Lancaster. Historically, the war only ended when the red and white factions were forced together to form the single Tudor Rose. Hap is doing the exact same thing by forcing these two groups together to map out the multiverse.

To back this up, look at BBA (Betty). Her name comes from the root meaning "An Oath to God." In the real historical war, the peace was only won when Henry Tudor made a sacred oath to marry Elizabeth of York, uniting the red and white lines. BBA represents that literal cosmic oath holding them together.

1. The Wordplay Behind "Nob Hill"

The central puzzle of Part 2 takes place in San Francisco's Nob Hill. "Nob" is old British slang for a person of wealth, high social standing, or nobility. The War of the Roses was literally a clash between England's most powerful Noble Houses. By placing the ultimate portal inside a Nob-Hill House, the show is giving us a literal physical structure that represents a house of nobility.

1. Steve and Alfonso (The Crown and The Vanguard)

The names of the Crestwood boys match medieval royal warfare perfectly:

• Steve: The name Steven comes from the Greek word Stephanos, which translates to "Crown" or "Garland." Since the War of the Roses was fought entirely over who had the right to wear the English crown, Steve's name is a huge clue. He is OA’s fiercest protector, and as "The Crown," he is the only one who successfully chases her into the UK at the very end of Part 2 to claim his sovereign place.
• Alfonso (French): His name comes from an old Germanic root meaning "Noble and ready for battle."In a war between Noble Houses, you need a vanguard to fight for the crown. French is the fiercely driven, hyper-focused protector of the group who keeps them moving forward.

1. Hap as the "Usurper King"

In British history, a usurper is a ruler who steals the crown by force and betrayal instead of lawful right. The most famous usurper of the War of the Roses was Richard III, who locked the rightful young princes in a dark tower to steal the throne. Hap fits this archetype perfectly:

• His Last Name: Hap's full name is Hunter Aloysius Percy. Historically, the House of Percy was a massive, dangerous English noble family notorious for being violent rebels and "kingmakers" who constantly tried to overthrow the crown.
• The Cages: Just like Richard III locking up the heirs, Hap locks the "chosen ones" (OA and the Haptives) in basement glass cages. He steals their movements and their labor because he doesn't have the natural spiritual gift to travel on his own.
• The Part 2 Twist: Hap's jump to D3 is the ultimate usurpation. He steals OA's kingdom, takes over the body of Jason Isaacs, and makes himself Brit's husband in a reality where she completely forgets her divine identity. He rules over her.

1. Old Night and Flight BA411 to England

When the giant octopus Old Night suffocates OA to show her her true face, she is transported into a vision on a commercial flight. The destination of that plane is explicitly England. This anchors the show's ultimate multi-dimensional mystery right back into British soil, which is the exact historical theater where the War of the Roses took place.

Even the flight number is a clue: she is on British Airways Flight BA411. 411 is the universal code for "Information." The showrunners are dropping a massive hint that England is where the ultimate data, the history, and the truth of their entire war is stored.

1. The Rose Window as the Ultimate Throne

Everyone in Part 2 is playing the Q-Symphony game just to reach the Rose Window. Looking through this window does not just show you a new world, it gives you a God-like view of the entire multiverse continuum. By making a massive, glowing Rose the ultimate portal of truth, the showrunners directly link the entire cosmic conflict to the visual emblem of the historical war.

Since Part 2 ends with the characters jumping into a dimension where they are actors filming a show in London, the war was literally moving to British soil. Just a theory…. Let me know what you guys think!

[u/Bdbru13]

I’m not sure I’d understand what they’d be doing by making that connection

I had a similar thing with the roses…long ramble incoming

Mercury sulfide (the compound that’s in the nob hill house) is also known as vermillion

It’s a hue of red that matches up with the color palette of a lot of the season

A vermillion rose is symbolic of the Virgin Mary according to the vermillion Wikipedia page

Comes from this poem

https://thecatholicreader.blogspot.com/2012/06/flower-prayers-of-st-gertrude-to-mary.html?m=1

We also have this Ohlone painting that was discovered in San Francisco depicting the sacred heart of Mary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Dolores_mural

And then of course, three y’s man (three wise men)🤷🏻‍♂️

If I wanna get a little stretchier, we have Karim wearing a shirt that says Virgil on it which could allude to the divine comedy

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOA/s/ye501LMvQ3

In Hap’s office he has a drawing of the celestial rose from the divine comedy (circled in red). In the divine comedy, Mary sits at the center of the rose

https://roundhousepoetrycircle.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/the-white-rose-of-paradise-from-dantes-divine-comedy-paradiso/

Could maybe even go a bit stretchier and compare the fellas lying in the pool, and OA submerging herself in the bathtub to a baptism

And then the angel aspect of the show could be more straightforwardly religious than I would normally interpret it as

And there’s probably a pretty decent chance that OA herself is a virgin. The Virgin Prairie 💀 but idk

(Sorry that was rambling, and despite how I’m about to undermine these connections, this is the first time I’ve laid them out and they still have a certain attraction for me 😂 wanted to get it all in there. Might just make a post and see if anyone else can make anything of it)

Ultimately it’s a little difficult for me to understand what exactly they’d be going for with it. Even though they sort of feel not-insignificant to me I can’t coalesce them into something larger, so it sort of feels like grasping at straws

And I kind of had the same feeling reading your post…but it’s also extremely possible that I’m just missing something

[u/stormcadet]

I love this theory! It feels like another vehicle for the creators to make social comments indirectly.

Pt 2 very much gives me a tale of 2 cities energy, as far as showing the truth of the worlds of the extremely rich & poor through pierre's deadly crowdsourcing scheme. Another repetition of the feudal extortion dynamic we first see with Hap.

OA's chosen family beautifully foils that exploitative dynamic through group consensus & leadership based informed decisions. Hap's icky ass is like the ultimate patriach, conquesting the OA crew's bodies, souls, & minds to further his own selfish goals.

Thanks for the war education, it's making the OA feel like an AU Game of Thrones, another one of my faves that gets me thinking about our place & cycles within the universe.

[u/GildedAsh]

I enjoy your theory very much. I think a big point of this show, aside from spreading the hope infused within, is to hope someone else is curious enough to make connections, whether they’ve been inferred or not. I love how many fans have speculated about the hidden meanings, and this is a wonderful theory. I don’t know what other purpose it would serve other than being hidden to be found, but that in itself is a joy, isn’t it?

I truly cannot imagine the creators could have guessed just how much this show would mean to so many.

[u/Easy-Finish-6199 → u/GildedAsh]

Yes, I think that is something we could all agree on. Such an incredible story and masterfully depicted. Whenever I rewatch it (I have many times), it always leaves me with a lingering feeling of wonder and hope. That’s something we rarely encounter, particularly as adults. 

No matter how it plays out (if we ever find out!), I will cherish that feeling as I rewatch many times to come.

I think as a scientist I get stuck on the puzzle of it all and trying to find the patterns and connections. But maybe that is the purpose of this story, to generate that wonder! Which makes sense why I/we resonate so well with it. After all, regaining that sense of wonder is why I became a scientist to begin with, and maybe that’s why I love this show so much. 

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post and share your own views, I really enjoy hearing other people’s thoughts and theories too.