The Importance of Mushrooms

[Shawn Hargreaves]

Prediction: M-Bot's obsession with mushrooms is the Vin's Earring of the Skyward series.  A seemingly unimportant (yet frequently mentioned!) bit of characterization, which eventually turns out to be a massive clue hiding in plain sight the whole time.  We're supposed to accept that a software glitch led M-Bot to misinterpret the command "lay low and take stock" as "obsessively catalog the local mushroom species", but I bet that's just his attempt to rationalize a behavior which, prior to his memory loss, originally had some other motivation.  I'm looking forward to a future revelation being followed by M-Bot saying something like "Why are you all acting so surprised? Glitchy humans.  I told you it was important to understand fungus biology way back when we first met..."

Further more tentative prediction: some kind of human/fungal symbiosis is the source of cyto abilities (hence why understanding the mushrooms is important).

We have nothing concrete so far about where these powers come from.  Gran-Gran -> Chaser -> Spensa makes it seem hereditary, but that's never explicitly confirmed, and in Defending Elysium this seemed more like some kind of scientific research (bioengineered?) discovery.

After Spensa figures this out, she'll be able to share these powers with her entire flight.

Also, it would be hilarious if Brandon really did write a story in which mind expanding powers are gained by eating the right kind of mushroom :-)

Edited December 19, 2018 by Chaos
Do not double post

[Ziggo]

Well she was eating a mushroom (and rat) heavy diet during her training. Presuming the rats ate the mushrooms as well further concentrating the unknown, I half wondered if there was something in the diet that progressed her cytonic abilities. 

I also kind of wondered how she avoided fat starvation on a diet consisting so much of rat jerky, but perhaps rats are fatty enough.

[Sandra she/her]

On ‎18‎.‎12‎.‎2018 at 5:01 PM, Shawn Hargreaves said:

Also, it would be hilarious if Brandon really did write a story in which mind expanding powers are gained by eating the right kind of mushroom :-)

Yes

At first I expected the mushrooms to be a quick joke, but knowing that it's Brandon AND considering that it's so persistent, I now think there may be more behind it.

[Argel he/him]

I don't recall any use of mushrooms in Defending Elysium, and it didn't sound like they were used on the colony ship before being forced to the planet.

[Lord Mist]

i think the black box is to keep the mushrooms in. 

[Poopslug The Pooper he/him]

My current hypothesis is that maybe the mushrooms have some sort of connection almost to psychedelic mushrooms in a sense, where they could help awaken cytonic powers inside someone.  

From Defending Elysium, I think it's safe to say that you don't necessarily NEED mushrooms to have cyto abilities, but maybe they can help awaken them in someone else.  

Almost similar to a certain something in the Mistborn trilogy, if you catch my drift.  

You don't NEED the mushrooms to have the powers, but maybe they can enhance/bring out powers when used.  

Obviously there's some sort of biological aspect behind cyto, we see that in Doomslug, so I wouldn't be surprised if the mushrooms played a part as well.  

[Lightning he/him]

It just struck me.  As Brandon told us, Doomslug eats mushrooms.  The prevailing theory is that Doomslug is a key component to the hyperdrive.  Couldn't it be that the ship requests mushrooms due to a subconscious effort to have food available so the Doomslug will stay onboard?