Warning: Spoilers for Alpha's Tale and the Storm of Dogs will be mentioned below. []
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I was wondering to myself after reading Alpha's Tale and The Storm of Dogs on the Beta Ceremony . Warning! Spoilers below!
As described on the wikia, there is a secret initation in the Beta Ceremony in that:
- "The Alpha takes their Beta deep into the territory where they make the Beta promise loyalty for as long as they live. The Alpha then sinks their teeth into the Beta's neck, creating a scar that never heals and will never be seen by any Pack member. This part of the ceremony is secret, and only the Alpha and Beta know about it."
If you read Alpha's Tale, you'd know that Alpha, who at the time was named Dog, is separated from his pack on a sheep raid. He never sees his pack again. His rank in the pack at that time is one of the leader hunters. We see Alpha's opinions and ideas surface from his early life and his experiences, from the fierce dogs to the ceremonies in his pack.
Alpha is obviously not Beta though. So how does he know of the Beta ceremony? It obviously cannot be a wolf ceremony. That's impossible!
Did he make it up? He must have... Or is there more to his tale that we still do not know? After all, what did happen to Snail? The Beta and Alpha only know of this ceremony? Looks like the ceremony is only known by Alpha and Sweet, because nobody else has done the ceremony before.
Is this "The Beta Ceremony" or maybe just "Alpha's Beta Ceremony?"
Just my thoughts... I feel like we need another story about Snail or a little more clarification on Alpha. For me, it looks like Alpha made up the ceremony, but it's interesting whether or not Calamity and his punishment had something to with it. In the book, Alpha is given a permanent scar to remember his punishment. In this ceremony, the Alpha inflicts a scar on the Beta, so that they remember their promise. Some parallels can be seen here, and it's very interesting to me. I just wish we could see more on the inside of Alpha's head. I guess it bothers me also that Sweet continued this tradition with Lucky.
I haven't read Sweet's Journey yet, so that may have something to do with it or give more hints.
EDIT:
- Gillian confirmed that Alpha was the founder of the Wild Pack, but had to challenge Black Eye for the rank at one point.[2]
Whether this implies Alpha was Beta or, in a similar case to Fiery, simply was a challenger, this is still not enough information in my opinion.
EDIT 2:
Nevermind, I looked at the citation and it was more or less incorrect.
"Alpha was the founder of the Wild Pack - but he had to fight a challenger called Black Eye at one point."
Alpha is the founder, but he had to fight a challenger. He was not the challenger. He did not challenge the dog named Black Eye it looks like Black Eye challenged him.
So it is impossible for Black Eye to have taught this ceremony. If someone could give a quote or cite to Alpha saying that he fought the dog for the rank in the Endless Lake, that'd be great.
EDIT 3: I forgot that Snail is Fiery's pup name. Ah whatever haha, mistakes happen.