Every connection the archive has filed for this mystery — evidence chapters below, predictions right, theories left, related mysteries above, entities on the outer ring. Anything beyond your ⚓ progress stays veiled until you get there.
Did Prince Loki really slaughter his father and 113 warriors at Aurust Castle 14 years ago — or is there another hand behind “the horrible day”?
Elbaf has condemned Loki to death for the massacre and treats his guilt as settled (Ch. 1137, Ch. 1152 p. 7). But Ch. 1152 seeds doubt: Gaban and Shanks, headed to the castle that day, “felt an extreme, abnormal Haki from the castle” (p. 8); the flashback repeats “someone’s coming from the sky!!” (pp. 9, 11); and King King Harald was trapped — “who blocked the door?!” (p. 15). Gaban insists Loki’s chains be unlocked and that Loki tell Hajrudin the truth, implying the official account is incomplete. Open question: an outside attacker (from the sky — the Holy Knights fly), a framing, or Loki acting under compulsion / his fruit.
Leading theories
Theory A — an outside attacker (Holy Knights / “from the sky”) caused or masked the massacre.Answered Ch. 1169: partly right — the outside hand was Imu, controlling the immortal Harald remotely (the Depths Covenant); the “abnormal Haki” and “blocked door” were Imu’s puppetry, not a flying Holy-Knight strike.
Theory B — Loki did it, but not as told (compulsion / his fruit / a framing he accepts).Answered Ch. 1170/Ch. 1172: confirmed — Loki struck the killing blow at the lucid Harald’s own command, then let the “Father Slayer” cover stand; Jarul’s broadcast publicly cleared him of the regicide.
Still forward
The “who threw the chest / who ate the fruit” tail — the unseen hand that hurled the forbidden-fruit chest (Ch. 1169 p. 19) and the fate of the Treasure of Elbaf.
The Great One arrives at Elbaf hunting Harald’s killer (Ch. 1180); a colossal giant in Harald’s regalia claims to be the man he seeks — identity pending.
The possessing entity’s “Mu” deflection when Loki confronts it over Harald’s death (Ch. 1181).
Resolution
Resolved @ Ch. 1169 — Loki did not slaughter his father out of malice: Imu had made King Harald an immortal puppet, and the lucid Harald forced his own son to end his life, a killing Loki then let stand as the “Father Slayer” legend.
The rampage’s trigger was the giants of Brewers Village poisoning Loki’s adoptive mother Ida with ergot spores to keep the outsider off the throne (Ch. 1167).
Imu had made Harald an immortal “undying knight” through the Depths Covenant and seized remote control of him; the controlled Harald summoned Loki to Aurust Castle himself (Ch. 1168).
Under Imu’s control, Harald cut down his own castle guards and — unable to stop killing — begged Loki to end his life (Ch. 1169).
In a lucid interval Harald forced Loki to strike him down — guilty in fact, exonerated in motive (Ch. 1170).
Loki accepted the “Father Slayer” cover to protect Harald’s reforms, and Chief Jarul later broadcast the truth to all Elbaf, publicly clearing him of the regicide (Ch. 1171, Ch. 1172).
Still tracked forward: who hurled the forbidden-fruit chest and the fate of the Treasure of Elbaf (Ch. 1169), and the colossal giant in Harald’s regalia who claims to be the killer the Great One is hunting (Ch. 1180, Ch. 1181).