Jam Theory: Zios' Revenge

On August 31, 2017, the broken statue of Zios came back to life from a crumbled ruin.

The ruin, which had replaced the small statue of a monkey years before, had a trick: when many animals slept around it, phantoms would come from the pit and float solemnly over the statue.

 This is similar to the way Mira rises from the fire pit in Sarepia Forest when animals dance around it.

According to the tale of Jamaa, Zios was the Sky Father, creator of every animal. 

Zios was lonely, so he had created Mira, a beautiful blue heron, the Sky Mother. Together, they built Jamaa.

The statue of Mira in Jamaa Township.

Then, the mysterious phantoms came from their dark portals. They were created from the animal's distrust for one another.

One of the wicked Phantom Kings.

 They stole every animals' Hearthstone, the talisman that protects an individual species, trapping the animals inside.  

Mira and Zios then rounded up the six remaining animal species : bunny, panda, tiger, wolf, monkey, and koala. Then, they cast their powers over to Earth, bringing with them the Alphas.

Alphas left to right: Peck, Liza, Cosmo, Sir Gilbert, Greely, and Graham. 

At the peak of their reign and destruction over Jamaa, they kidnapped Zios and dragged him into one of their portals. Mira, screaming, dove in after them. 

After this, it is presumed that Zios died and Mira was never able to get reach him, which is why you can see her spirit in the flames in Sarepia Forest. When you slept next to the broken statue of Zios, the phantoms arrived to remind you of their victory over the Sky Father and the animal species which were never found again.

The Alphas later defeated the Phantom Queen, and Jamaa was saved. Mira was never seen in a physical form again, but many Jammers speculate her spirit lives on somewhere in Jamaa: in her statue, in the fire, even on the very paths that make up the lands. 

Here's the thing: in the original version of the story, the Phantoms didn't just show up out of "the animal's distrust for each other."  Instead it was Mira that created them. 

In the original, Zios wasn't kidnapped. He 'left' Mira (Whether that means the broke up, he died, or went missing is still unknown) and Mira's tears created the Phantoms. 

Maybe this logic still applies to the newer version of the tale. I mean, Mira could've just cried over, I don't know,  a paper cut, and boom, out come the Phantoms. And she could've just never mentioned it, which is why it was never recorded.

So what if what actually happened was - that Zios dumped Mira after reigning together for hundreds of years - that Mira created the Phantoms using her tears - and that the Phantoms kidnapped Zios - and that Mira, who still loved him, dove into the portal but couldn't reach him?

And so if the Phantoms only kidnapped Zios, he might still be alive. Animal Jam Wiki states:

"It is unknown what happened to Zios after his capture, but many of the animal species (as well as the wolf Alpha Greely in the later adventures) were imprisoned in some type of crystal when captured by the Phantoms. By comparison, this suggests that Zios could also be imprisoned somewhere in the Phantoms' world."

 Since the statue of Zios has been restored (apparently due to the American solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 according to the Daily Explorer) it could be a sign that he has returned from the Phantom's Prisons. Keep in mind that we don't know if his image is a mask or his actual face.

But if Zios has finally broken free, why has he sent his message this way? Why just restore his statue with not a word about it? 

Here's my theory: Zios is back to get revenge on Mira.

Of course, he wouldn't stay in the Phantom prisons if he didn't have to. He would, of course, go back to being a guardian spirit of Jamaa. But the manner in which he lets us know he has returned gives everything away.

Most Jammers still don't know for a fact if Zios has returned or not, or if his statue was just randomly repaired (or if the eclipse brought it back to life).  But Zios is reanimating his statue to send a message to Mira. It says, "I am alive and well." It's a message only Mira would get, because they both show their ways through statues. 

Think about it. Zios' statue is the main representation we think of when we think of him, and Mira's as well. When you thought of Zios, you thought of a crumbling ruin of a past spirit. Overgrown and dead. Meanwhile, Mira's statue is in the heart of Jamaa, in the rays of the sun. Alive.

Since Zios' statue is brimming with golden light and floating off of its pedestal now, he is communicating with Mira's statue. Remember that it could have been Zios who dumped Mira, which explains why Mira swooped down to save him but he barely had any role in Phantom war. 

Again: Mira is the creator of the Phantoms (in the original tale, at least) and the Phantoms kidnapped Zios, who has been gone many, many years. This is evident from how overgrown and crumbled the ruins of his statue were. And if I am correct and Zios has spent that whole time in a horrible Phantom prison, then there is no doubt he was in a lot of pain. And that never would have happened if Mira hadn't created the Phantoms. 

Zios would come back almost subtley, only restoring his statue to let Mira know he was back. He would want his revenge for all of those years of agony he had to endure in the Phantom prisons. Remember, he would no longer love Mira, since he had dumped her all of those years before.

I don't know exactly how Zios' revenge on Mira for the creation of the Phantoms would be extracted. But I wouldn't be surprised if one day the Mira statue was destroyed, just as the Phantoms destroyed Zios' all those years before.

The Mira variant of Buried Statue, a den item.

Thanks for reading. 

-Catbusy38