Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-1173941-20130917000926/@comment-5482419-20130921055851

Kyvos wrote: I don't exactly remember, but wasn't Professor Port using past tense when he mentioned the four kingdoms? I figure they probably used to be the four kindgoms, and they're now the four nations: Vale, Mistral, and two others. Except Mistral was referenced very specifically as a region, not a nation. I think Vale is the only one to be named so far.

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Here's a theory I keep dancing around: the "symbols" of each character are hereditary crests, indicating not only their family (or clan), but their ancestral homeland as well. For instance:

- Families/clans from Vale proper use "fire-flowers" in their heraldry, such as the Roses (a fiery rose bloom), the Belladonnas (a tulip / hearth-fire), and the Xiao Long (a lily* / burning heart).

( * I think it's a lily; I'm not 100% sure. )

- In contrast, the Schnee family is represented by a snowflake, possibly a holdover from the as-yet-unnamed northern kingdom. The Goodwitch tiara crest is stylistically similar, which would be in keeping with Glinda's Oz allegory ("the good witch of the North").

- The Nikoses and Valkyries both use weapon-based crests (javelin and warhammer, respectively), indicating they're both native to the Mistral region--historically a sovereign nation, but acquired by Vale at some point in history.

- Team CRDL are all from the same region, as all their crests (that we've seen so far) are a bird of some kind.

No comment yet on the Arcs, Ozpins, or Torchwicks. The Lie crest MIGHT be from Vale proper, but I wouldn't bet money on it.