Soul Series/WMG

Inferno is the new Nightmare
After Inferno was almost killed in Soulcalibur II and Siegfried and Nightmare split, Zasalamel placed Inferno into the old Nightmare armor, thus creating the new Nightmare.
 * This one is all but canon; Nightmare's bio in SC2 and 3 stated that Soul Edge essentially possessed Siegfried's cast off azure armour, and Inferno is simply the spirit of Soul Edge given physical form, much like Soul Edge (the character) from the first game in the series, Soulblade. Once the vast majority of the pieces of Soul Edge were gathered by Nightmare, Nightmare essentially became Soul Edge incarnate, to the point that Nightmare and Soul Edge are one and the same.
 * It is canon. Oh, and "Soul Edge" IS Inferno.

Soul Edge will find a new host
Zasalamel only reanimated the armor as a temporary body; without Siegfried's body, Nightmare is falling apart. By SCIV, his torso was being held together by sheer willpower and Rule of Cool.
 * One can argue that Soul Edge has already found a new host in, if this is to be believed.
 * While Nightmare does have a new host in SCV, this bit at least has been Jossed, since Pyrhha is her own character in that game.
 * Nightmare sent out Tira to find a suitable replacement host for him, as his body was a rather fragile "shell", and he himself went on to hunt Siegfried to recover his "true" body (Soul Edge). According to Soul Calibur 4, Tira found a prospect host on Sophitia's daughter, though the fact she's still too young (4 at most) has made her seek further: by SC4, she has targeted both Maxi and Yun-seong (only in Mi-na's story mode) to serve that role.

Zasalamel was originally from Babylonian times
A lot of his moves are named after Babylonian gods...
 * That one's possible, he's helluva old. But he's African and he got Blessed With Suck when he stole a relic from some tribe (says it in the SC3 manual). It could be they gave him a Babylonian name because it felt appropriate?
 * That happened a long, long time before the games. Zasalamel came from the tribe that used to protect Soul Calibur, but got expelled after he tried to use the sword for his own benefit. He later learns the secret of reincarnation. African is just his (assumed) current incarnation's origin; his true origin is unknown, but likely Babylonian.

Zaslamel comes from the distant descendants of Algol's people
They are a long-forgotten culture who guarded secrets about both spirit swords.
 * Confirmed in Soul Calibur 4; Zasalamel's full profile downright states he's a former member of the tribe that was tasked with the protection of Soul Calibur after Algol's death.

Zasalamel is the Emperor of Man.
He's immortal, has been around since the beginning of civilization, and, in SCIV, dedicates his life to guiding Mankind to its full glory.
 * Alternatively, Zasalamel, Mitsurugi, Algol, and Talim will all combine and form the Emperor. Zasalamel and Algol for awsome powers, Mitsurugi for the fighting skills, and Talim to add the messianic touch.
 * And Nightmare is Khorne. Do you need to ask why?
 * Surely Astaroth is a more appropriate fit. Then again, he could be Gork or Mork.

Revenant is an important character in someone's past.
Why else would he return in SCIV? He even has his own official bio!
 * He looks like the original form of Soul Edge (the character), which was, essentially, an undead, flaming version of Cervantes. Perhaps it's a shout out to the very first game?
 * He killed Zasalamel at some point in time. Even though he reincarnates, getting killed is never a pleasant experience. As revenge, Zasalamel reanimated his corpse to do his bidding.
 * So, basically confirmed.

Zasalamel is Death
He wears a hood, carries a scythe, creeps around, he's immortal...
 * On the other hand, the guy's been running around for a really long time, so it could be the other way around, and the popular depiction of Death as a guy with a scythe and a hood could be based on Zasalamel.
 * in the tower of lost souls, there is a more likely Death: Zasalamel style, cloaked, and a skeleton

Ivy is working off severe... err... frustration.
We know she's a Celibate Hero, but it may not be something that comes easy to her. The more, ahem, unsatisfied she becomes, the skimpier she dresses, figuring that if she can't have any, she might as well cause some frustration in her enemies.

Cassandra is in the closet
While the Omake is... an Omake, she is WAY too interested in striping Hilde.

Siegfried canonically dies at the end of 4, but is resurrected by Soul Calibur
We already know its evil counterpart Soul Edge is able to bring back the dead (see Cervantes), and that Soul Calibur might not be entirely good, AND in every ending (except Hilde's) that involve him, he dies. Now, to figure out how he will come back wrong...
 * Didn't his SC4 bio hint that he died during the battle against Nightmare at the Lost Cathedral, but was resurrected by Soul Calibur? It was stated that he had a mortal wound in his chest that should have killed him, but now, he's practically or partly one with Soul Calibur, just like Nightmare is one with Soul Edge, hence why his armor is all crystal-like.
 * Siegfried was "near death" before Soul Calibur bonded with his soul, saving him from what would have been death. Also, according to Broken Destiny's The Gauntlet, . Though considering the mode labels itself as non-canon right off the bat and is more of a parody, it may mean nothing.
 * Given that he is showing using "requiem" again in the trailer for V, and his armor has gone back to normal style, it seems that he has gone back to being a normal human; seeing as Calibur heals rather than hurts, it's possible that he was going to die, but got healed and devoted his life to Soul Calibur's pursuit, but ended it after he figured out just how far it was willing to go, being yet another atoner.
 * According to SCV, despite no longer being the wielder, a piece of Soul Calibur remains inside him, possibly to keep him alive. This is why his Critical Edge still involves crystals.

Zasalamel is Tristy
The fly on the wall narrator from Weapon Master Mode in Soul Calibur 2. He's a member of the secret order that protects Soul Calibur, and by the end of the story, he becomes immortal due to the opposing energy of the swords. This would explain why he thinks getting between them again will finally kill him. As for the name, he changed it because it sounded silly.
 * Seems highly unlikely, given Tristy is part of the group protecting the three gates (which could be the tribe protecting Soul Calibur), and Zasalamel's stated to have found the "secret of resurrection" way after he was expelled from said group. Based on the fact that Tristy in-game uses a Kilik avatar and there's a picture of a younger Edge Master wielding Kali-Yuga in the intro for the mode, I'd wager that Tristy is actually Edge Master, Kilik's immortal and all-knowing master.

Every character's weapons are actually made from aluminum
That why they never cause permanent damage (read: they act as blunt objects), and that's why Siegfried/Nightmare/half the characters can wield impossibly large weapons as if they weighed as much as a foam bat. It also helps the mystery that is Cervantes' wooden pistol still being able to shoot bullets (because it's actually aluminum).
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation. In the story itself and various endings, weapons are quite capable of injuring and/or killing.
 * In Nightmare's case, it may be a combo of his bond to Soul Edge and Rule of Cool.
 * Well, actually, the swords Siegfried and Nightmare use would only weigh about 10-15 pounds, historically speaking.

Every character's weapons are actually spiritual projections of their will to fight, with no physical substance
As above, but it also explains how they can impale people without leaving any visible wounds, let alone proving instantly fatal.
 * So Cervantes shoots frickin' mind bullets?
 * Yes, because he's awesome that way.
 * I didn't mean to say he wasn't awesome, I just wanted to make the reference.
 * Considering the often-mentioned motifs of "souls" ("My soul burns brighter than ever!" and "Whose soul shall be stronger?") and the whole concept of Soul Weapons (e.g. The Three Sacred Treasures, and how all the weapons just seems to suit each character's style and even personality perfectly) and such, this seems like a really plausible theory. Maybe the "money" you get from different story modes (e.g. Weapon Master) are actually some kind of soul strengthening points similar to common RPG Exps, that allows the bearer to strengthen their own fighting will and obtain better weapons through spiritual projection?
 * Actually, it's possible that they are buying ACTUAL weapons, but because in battle they are so focused on attacking ,their soul covers up their weapon, and in cutscenes they are in full control mode, meaning that they won't get their soul into the mix, and the people who have the discipline, Kilik and Xiangwa, to prevent this from happening are against killing people naturally, so they actively use this to prevent people from getting killed during a fight. This would explain things such as Kilik being able to pierce soul Maxi with his staff, he took off his soul... edge... and actively used the weapon to full power, whereas in 3's fight between Sigfried and Nightmare, they both managed to pull off the blunting edge of their weapons during the final strike, but the one who hit managed to inflict the lethal injury while coming out fine; presumably Nightmare started doing it, and Sigfreid picked up and removed the soul on his own edge for the last strike. This would also be why the fire strikes are never seen outside the battlefield, because they need the soul cover in order to activate.
 * Or it could all be a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation.

Seigfried has Chronic Angeleus Crystallius Inoffcium
That particular disease -- CACI -- causes the afflicted person to TURN INTO A CRYSTAL. What's happening to Seigfried? Yes, it's caused by the body's rejection of a Cruxis Crystal... but there's nothing saying Soul Calibur isn't one. When Lloyd Irving appeared in the SC Universe, in Soul Calibur: Legends -- he thought that the Soul Edge was using Exspheres. Soul Edge and Soul Calibur are essentially the same thing- and a similar relationship is shared between Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals. Also -- Cruxis Crystals' effects on people seem angelic -- similar to the effects of the "Spirit Sword", Soul Calibur. Exspheres, on the other hand, turn people into monsters (Do I need to say what Soul Edge does, besides eating souls -- which Exspheres do as well). Lloyd, as stupid as he is, may have been exactly right -- and Angol forged the two swords using these Lifeless Beings. Which, if Soul Calibur was made from a Cruxis Crystal -- Seigfried may have been that unlucky 1:1 Million guy, and when he wields Soul Calibur, he exposes himself to the Cruxis Crystal, and his body is rejecting it -- causing CACI, which takes a slightly different form, as it's attached through his weapon, rather than to his throat.
 * Algol forged Soul Calibur off a Soul Edge shard, being purified through a ritual that claimed his life. He didn't forge Soul Edge, though, and the details on how, when, and who created it are still left unexplored.
 * Soul Edge was an ordinary blade that transformed into what it is now by soaking up blood in battle.

Siegfried will be fully possessed by Soul Calibur in the next game.
Soul Calibur certainly has a will of its own, and even has a voice, as seen in Cassandra's ending. Soul Edge spoke to Siegfried and tricked him into becoming its host; however, the transformation to Nightmare didn't happen instantaneously. Rather, Siegfried did what Soul Edge told him of his own will at first, believing that it would bring his father back to life. Then over time, Soul Edge fully took over him, turning him into Nightmare. Now look at how things are now. Siegfried is carrying Soul Calibur and perhaps it talks to him as well. Siegfried is being urged on by Soul Calibur to destroy Soul Edge, just as Soul Edge urged Siegfried on to gather souls. Since Soul Calibur was once a part of Soul Edge, it isn't that much of a stretch to assume that it will use similar tactics. And of course, there is Siegfried's crystallized appearance, hinting that Soul Calibur is beginning to take over. In Soul Calibur V, Siegfried will once again be a mere host to a spirit sword.
 * Possibly Jossed, as Siegfried no longer has Soul Calibur in V.

Tira has two souls.
According to her SCIV profile, her mind was completely torn to pieces during the clash of the spirit swords at the Lost Cathedral. Her consciousness pulled itself together and was reformatted into two people. Her profile refers to them as two separate entities, two individual consciousnesses. Since Tira is now two different people, it is not that much of a stretch to assume that she also has two souls. This will possibly factor into her story in Soul Calibur V. Perhaps, as seen in the cutscene that plays for characters who fight Nightmare as their final boss, Nightmare absorbs her soul when he feels she has outlived her use. Unknown to him, this does not kill her and she manages to crawl away while Nightmare is busy with Siegfried. This means that one of her selves will be lost; assuming it's Jolly, then Gloomy will be in control and most likely very very pissed off.

Ivy is a potentially closet lesbian.
It's been known that she prefers to not get pregnant, due to her backstory. But in all honesty it's rather hard to picture Ivy as someone whom is very much asexual due to her infamous appearance and on how her personality can reflect that. Namco probably only avoided making it blatant out of hope that the games won't get M-rated. Though her 2nd outfit in Soul Calibur 2 might come off as a rather questionable example to certain people as well.
 * You mean the one that looks like George Washington? Do I WANT to know how that is questionable?
 * Her more masculine costumes do have a certain "butch" element to 'em... not to mention that odd little smirk she has in SCII's opening while she fights Taki...
 * POTENTIALLY, you say?

Zasalamel is the first person in the ancestry of Altair, Ezio, and Desmond
Look at that outfit! Also, he enjoys dealing death and can never permanently die himself. Furthermore, the artifact that cursed him may well be the.

Yoshimitsu did not establish a legacy of people who all took the name -- he attained immortality and is the same person in the Tekken series
Immortality is fairly cheap in the Soul Series - Algol, all the golems, Cervantes, and Zaslamel have it, and it is quite possible that others (the vampires, anyone?) do as well. It would have been easy for Yoshimitsu to aquire immortality at some point, and continue fighting against tyranny and sanity into the modern day. After all, Heaven's net is wide... but lets nothing through. Yes, it says Yoshimitsu's been stated to be both "Yoshimitsu the First" and the "First Manjitou Leader", and the sword to in a future be "handed down from generation to generation". He's just reallllly sneaky.
 * Or he could be a robot or golem. Those mechanical arms might be where the fake flesh coating stripped away....
 * Except Yoshimitsu had two flesh arms in his first Tekken appearance and they are both missing different arms.
 * Maybe whenever he loses too much of his artificial body, he just fakes his death and lays low for a while. A few years later, the "new" Yoshimitsu shows up (complete with fresh limbs) and convinces everyone else that he's the original's apprentice or something.
 * Jossed by the Yoshimitsu in V, who is explicitly said to have been raised and taught by Yoshimitsu the First (i.e. the Yoshi from the previous four games).

Yoshimitsu is not a title handed down -- only the name of the weapon.
The character of Yoshimitsu is confirmed a Legacy Character, but the weapon name the character uses (and presumably handed down) is also named Yoshimitsu. When someone takes on the moniker, he relinquishes his name and identity (hence the mask) and gives himself to the Yoshimitsu blade, not as the master of a sword but as the wielder of an entity (The Yoshimitsu sword itself.) However, this is likely more figurative than literal despite SoulCalibur's tendency for living and magic weapons.
 * Except the first Yoshimitsu was actually named Yoshimitsu, and the name of the sword came from the character. He named it after himself to gain better control over the evil spirits contained within the sword. Also, the Yoshimitsu in SCV refers to himself as "Yoshimitsu the Second," and his backstory confirms that the name is actually a title. The blade itself canonically will only accept its wielder if they have the title.

Mitsurugi is actually Hiko Seijuro I.
His fighting style resembles battoujutsu to some extent, and he kinda made it up himself. Look at his Relic stance, then look at Kenshin's battoujutsu stance. Also, Hiten MITSURUGI? Mitsurugi strikes this troper as egotistical enough to name a kenjutsu style after himself.

The Soul Series is the prequel to the Tekken series.
In this theory, Heiachi Mishima is the descendant of one of the winners of the Soul tournament. For one reason or another, the sword infuses itself into the soul of its new host, or curses them somehow. This is why the Mishimas in general are so hard to kill. The Moonlit Wilderness stage in Tekken 5 is what remains of the Lost Cathedral. Raven is either a descendant of Zasalamel, a reincarnation of Zasalamel, or working for Zasalamel.
 * More specifically, exposure to the power of the Soul Edge or one of its fragments is what caused the Devil gene to develop in the first place. There's a reason Ivy decided not to have kids, but not everyone made that choice.
 * Not so much the theory itself, but because of the fact that Yoshimitsu is the founder of the clan that Tekken's Yoshimitsu is a member of, it's pretty much canon that Soul Calibur takes place in the same universe as Tekken, just hundreds of years earlier.

In the ending where you face Night Terror, Zaslamel succeeded in killing himself.
This is why neither Zaslamel nor Abyss is visible during the fight -- he's gone, but enough of Soul Edge's accured energy got out to create its ultimate avatar. Of course, since that ending is non-canon, Zaslamel failed. One wonders why the fighting skill of an unrelated person would have such an impact on his apotheosis...
 * This is basically canon. Read Night Terror's profile in game; it says this outright.
 * It says that Night Terror killed Zasalamel, not that Zasalamel killed himself, though.
 * Unrelated? Butterfly Effect.

Necrid from Soul Calibur II was Algol's early attempt to resurrect himself.
Something went wrong during whatever process it was that was supposed to bring him back, and he turned into an incoherent green abomination, so he went back to the spirit world and tried again. Supporting this is the fact that both Necrid and Algol have the similar fighting style of materializing weapons in their hands through will alone.
 * Impossible by both their backstories. Necrid is stated to have been a normal traveling warrior out to get Soul Edge, but ended up trapped in the Chaos world. Algol has never been awakened since his sealing, and he's been inside Soul Calibur, never on Chaos. He also learned his energy-bending while inside the maelstrom of energy released at the end of Soul Calibur 3, and is just pure thought: he has no physical body, but one made of raw energy he created with his mind's power and will.

Rothion is a beard; Sophitia is a lesbian, too.
I'm just sayin' here...
 * I sure as hell hope so.
 * Well, that's just terrible. For shame.

Ezio or a relative of his will appear in a Soul game.
All right, given the Soul Series' predilection for guest fighters, this isn't so much a wild guess as a near certainty.
 * Not to mention, unlike the others, Ezio was active at about the time all this is supposedly going down.
 * Not quite, AC2 happens in the late 1400s, around 90 years before Soul Blade (1584). Still though, it's definitely closer than Kratos was in Broken Destiny.
 * Confirmed!

Another character will have to become Nightmare
Nightmare can't continue to exist as a body for the sword forever; he needs a host, and he needs one now. Given that Phyrra is too young, some potential candidates for Nightmarehood are Tira, Sophitia, Maxi, and Yun-Seong. Alternatively, Nightmare kills Algol and in absorbing him gains the power to exist perpetually on pure willpower, eliminating the need for any character to fall to the Nightmare persona.
 * I damn sure hope that someone else becomes Nightmare already so things can finally change a bit!
 * Or how about Mitsurugi becomes Nightmare? Since he may be an ancestor of the Mishimas (in Tekken), it would make a lot of sense for him to acquire the Devil Gene via Soul Edge, which he then passed on down to his descendants. Jinpachi in particular bears some great resemblance to Soul Edge, what with that demonic eye he can have. And his demon form is even the same red/purple color scheme as the sword.
 * As of SCV, Nightmare's new host is

Cassandra and Raphael's stories will remain linked
In the transition to SCIII, Cassandra's weapons were cracked from an encounter with the vampire townsfolk Raphael turned, while in the transition to SCIV, she was attacked by Raphael personally and had her shards stolen, seeking out the holy stone. This road could lead to her becoming Raphael's nemesis rather than Soul Edge's, and end in one of two ways for her appearence in SCV's opening or ending: as the world's first vampire hunter... or as Amy's pet.

Soul Calibur 5
Assuming there will be one, where do you speculate the plot and characters will go? Put your guestimates here.
 * Lizardman will return from being a comic relief villain. His goals make him an Evil Counterpart to Sophitia and gives him and Astaroth a common enemy, possibly giving Astaroth more to do than be Nightmare's The Starscream over and over.
 * Algol will die or become a What If character like Abyss and Night Terror.
 * The What If possibility is jossed. He fought Mitsurugi.
 * Tira informs Sophitia that if Soul Edge is to survive along with her children, that it must be fed souls. So Sophitia kills her and feeds her soul to Soul Edge.
 * Alternatively, Sophitia takes Soul Edge herself, allowing it to possess her and becoming like the very being she once fought, bringing the story full circle.
 * Talim somehow takes possession of Soul Calibur, the spirit sword drawn to her pure heart; with its current Knight Templar tendencies, however, she will need to keep it under control. Enter Zasalamel, who becomes her unseen guardian, training her skills and willpower in order to keep either sword from gaining an edge and helping preserve the continuing existence of the human race.
 * A combination of Algol's and Kamikirimusi's ending becomes canon. Algol is able to claim both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. Kamikirimusi finds the family she was looking for by by falling in love with his strength. They both elope together, gathering many followers among the youkai and humans. Algol creates the Danmaku System of Conflict Resolution based on his fighting style, particularly his Eltanin Nath (Menacing Eye) projectile attack. Later, he rules Gensokyo with his bride, Kamikirimusi, from the shadows after the Hakurei barrier is established. Which is hinted at in his SCIV ending as his motivation: "What the resurrected Algol aims to achieve is an eternal rule that will never die." A source of Hourai Elixir would do just that.
 * Taki, banished from her ninja clan, takes a last name, Hakurei, becoming the first priestess of the Hakurei Shrine. She does this as the numbers of youkai fall but feels a disconect with the rest of humanity, possibly coming to the conclusion that the only difference between humans and Youkai is power levels. So she flees to a land full of Youkai unable to live with the rest of humanity, creating a position that treats humans and youkai somewhat equally. Taki traveled to at least Ostrheinsburg, maybe even some of Europe, which explains why the Hakurei miko outfit has western influences such as the skirt and frills. The longer hair and clothes help hide her identity from the Fu-Ma Ninja and allow her to bury her past. When the Hakurei barrier is created, she goes to the barrier to live with the youkai, keeping them in line.
 * Hakurei Reimu, Marisa Kirisame, Sakuya Izayoi, and maybe Cirno will be the the new guest characters for the next Soul Calibur game. Taki will get her "first Hakurei Miko" costume, Ivy a Nekoromancer costume, Cassandra a cute witch costume, Amy a "Scarlet Devil", and a shop keeper costume for Mitsurugi.
 * Rock will be dead or retired by the time of SCV - BANGOO!! will take his place.
 * Here's how it goes down:
 * Nightmare and Siegfried clash, awakening Algol. Algol takes Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, destroying Nightmare once and for all, and putting Siegfried on the brink of death. Zasalamel tries to use his mystical arts to stop Algol, but is handily defeated by the Hero King because he lacks the power to overcome him. Kilik then arrives, and both Kilik (who has the Rod and Mirror that created Soul Calibur in the first place) and Zasalamel ironically work together to purify and defeat Algol, banishing him forever; but in doing so, Inferno and Crystal (which is what I am calling Soul Calibur's soul) break free of their restraints: Inferno enters Zasalamel's body, turning him into Abyss and using his powers to materialize in our world as Night Terror, while Crystal renters Siegfried's body and turns him into an angelic being called Evangelion, and materializing in our world in an ephemeral form as Logos. Kilik tries to stop this, but is stopped by Xianghua who fears for his life. This will set up a unique system in the story for the next game, setting up a war between the two swords: The Dark Capital versus the Kingdom of Light
 * Maxi will be killed by Nightmare, so that his piece of Soul Edge will be absorbed and Li Long will take his place.
 * Yun-seong will realize too late his foolishness, and will die protecting Seong Mi-na, and Hwang will take his place
 * After awakening, Night Terror will turn Ostrheinsburg (sorry for the misspelling) into the real Dark Capital, and consume every soil there (including Wolfkrone's entire army), and only those protected by Soul Calibur or spared by Soul Edge will be saved.
 * Logos will establish itself in the kingdom of Wolfkrone and rename it the Kingdom of Light, as the beginning of the new perfect world (as Crystal sees it) and Crystal (with Soul Calibur), will sit on the throne and emit a radiant light that can be seen across the kingdom and adjacent lands, but what most people don’t know, is that this light will slowly brainwash all who see it…
 * Seong Mi-na and Hilde will despair, having lost everything, and will devote their lives as servants of Evangelion and Logos.
 * Sophitia realizes that her daughter has already been consumed by Soul Edge and gives her mind over willingly to Soul Edge, like a drunkard drinking to keep from being sober, and becomes a loyal servant.
 * Taki tried to stop Siegfried, but was soundly defeated, and watches as her worst nightmires are realized; only through the power of Mekkimarru does she survive, but Mekkimaru is consumed by Night Terror, strengthening it; Yoshimitsu watches as his group of thieves is wiped out when Ostreins-you-know-what-I'm-talking-about becomes the dark capital and has his sword consumed by Soul Edge; he joins up with Taki and the two forge new weapons and pledge to fight both swords.
 * Raphael searches for Siegfried, but he runs into Kilik instead and is purified by the Holy Stone; he and Amy are spared by Night Terror and Soul Calibur, and meet different fates; Raphael joins Soul Calibur, while Amy is forced to join Soul Edge because of her malfestation, and is slowly corrupted by the sword to become its new number two.
 * Kilik and Xianghua survive due to the power of the Kali-yuga and Dvapura-yuga, but Kilik becomes angry with Xianghua, affecting their relationship; Talim, who was protected by the wind, joins them, and together, they vow to bring balance to the world; Xianghua meets her father and learns of her heritage, including her connection to Xianglian, as will Kilik, and this will help heal their relationship.
 * Hwang joins Soul Calibur with Mi-na; not sure what Li Long will do.
 * Astaroth is killed by Rock, who also destroyed Ashlotte (who was confused by their similarities and attacked Rock); Rock is spared by Soul Calibur, but doesn't outright join with it, thus escaping its grasp.
 * Cassandra, ticked off with the whole situation, pledges hatred against both blades (even though she was saved by Soul Calibur when the Dark Capital was created) and joins up with Aeon Calcos (who reclaimed his soul and human form when the two spirit swords clashed) and pledges to free Sophitia (or put her out of her misery), while Aeon wishes to atone for his sins now that he has regained his humanity.
 * Ivy joins up with Logos to fight Soul Edge; her father, Cervantes, survives, and, because of his connection to the sword, is forced to bow before Soul Edge, but makes plans to reclaim his "property".
 * Voldo stays loyal to Soul Edge.
 * Mitsurugi and Setsuka fight, but it is inconclusive; Mitsurugi and Setsuka are spared by Soul Calibur, but Mitsurugi joins no side, while Setsuka joins the side of Soul Calibur to oppose the evil (and to get a shot at Mitsurugi, who she knows will fight against everyone to prove his strength; Shura had tried to get between the two and fight them both, but was killed; she will be replaced by Arthur, who has perfected a new style that uses the katana and wakizashi in both hands, and his role is thus far uncertain.
 * Dampierre will survive because he fled the cursed city before it became the Dark Capital, but he will probably not play an important role.
 * Kamikirimusi pledges loyalty to Soul Edge as her new family.
 * Angol Fear decides to continue to observe Earth.
 * Scheherazade decides to take an active role in her story after seeing what happened to Wolfkrone and begins to find a way to stop the madness of this cataclysmic war.
 * Valeria, Hualin and Lynette will return(!), serving their employer Cepheus, who is an ancient weapon master, like Edge Master and Olcadan, and all three gentlemen meet to become an Omnipotent Council of Vagueness, with the shopkeeper girls as their warrior servants.
 * It will be revealed that Siegfried’s friend who tried to protect him from Taki in Taki’s backstory was actually this universe’s version of Veral (the main antagonist of SCII’s little alternate universe adventure story), and he will be this game’s main protagonist.
 * Tira will have been consumed Soul Edge to give him a power boost.
 * The new bonus characters would be: Link for Wii and an ancestor of Desmond Miles of Assassin's Creed for 360 and PS 3
 * Some of us Devil May Cry fans have been waiting for Dante since the rumor that SC 3 was used for a DMC 3 boss battle.

Taki will found the Kuzunoha Clan
Shortly after the ending of Soul Calibur 4, Taki resumes her Demon Hunting profession and reforms her clan under the name of Kuzunoha.
 * Not possible. The Raidou line has existed for 1200 years in the 1920s, SC isn't in the 800s.
 * Yeah, the series officially takes place in the mid-late 16th century.

Olcadan is somehow related to Edge Master
In Olcadan's Tales of Souls playthrough, he ends up facing Kilik as his Destined Battle, and always uses a staff. Now, why would this be?
 * It's heavily implied, if not outright stated, that Edge Master is the one who managed to fight Olcadan to a draw in the past.

Raphael is a pedophile
Just look at how Amy's dressed. Not to metion how close they are. Also remember that Amy is only his adoptive daughter.
 * Seeing as it goes two ways (note that Raphael only got attached to Amy after the latter stuck her neck out to help him), it could be equally a case of Precocious Crush or Mentor Ship on Amy's part. Her behavior, at the least, indicates that she's not completely innocent...
 * Alternately, Raphael does have romantic feelings for Amy and was simply biding his time.
 * If that's true, he'll probably be overjoyed if the Viola = Amy theories are right.

Kilik is actually Sun Wukong/Son Goku.
OK, let's see, he fights with a staff, has one of his weapons named after the Monkey King's staff (Jingu Staff/Ruyi Jingu Bang), possesses tremendous power that leveled the temple he was raised in, nobody knows where he came from... and oh yeah! His seiyuu is the same guy who voices Goku in Saiyuki.
 * (claps) Factoring in that last line, Kilik's berserker state when not in the possession of the Dvapara-Yuga = Goku's Seiten Taisei. In other words, he's stronger, faster, but feral and lacking the sanity to properly wield such powers. Also, wouldn't this make his nigh-Battle Couple status with Xianghua at the end of IV a full-on God Couple?
 * Jossed so bad by V. There is definitely a REAL Monkey King in this universe.
 * Well, not quite. Xiba, like Kilik, is based off of Son Goku, but there's nothing (yet) pointing to Xiba being of divine origin.

The reason why Soul Calibur became evil in SC4 is because of Soul Edge.
After the events of SC1, the titular weapon is stuck inside the Abyss of Inferno. In SC2, it has been absorbed by Inferno, and became corrupted, even sporting an evil eye like Soul Edge does. During SC3, it is pulled out of the Abyss, but then is locked in the Soul Embrace with SE. In SC4, it does finally get away from Soul Edge, but the long-term exposure to it has made it Lawful Evil.
 * It's very likely, given that Inferno's ending in the first SoulCalibur has it state that it willingly turned the holy sword evil. Perhaps the spirit of the evil sword was Genre Savvy enough to conclude that even if it couldn't destroy its mortal enemy, that it'd make it just as dangerous for the heroes as it was to itself. Alternatively, it's possible that since Soul Calibur was birthed from Soul Edge, it retained a portion of its original malevolent intent (it might have been created from a purified shard of Soul Edge, but remember, Pure Is Not Good).

Soul Calibur isn't actually evil
She's just a Knight Templar, and someone will set her straight, hopefully Siegfried.
 * And now this troper has an image of Siegfried bitch-slapping the spirit of the Soul Calibur.
 * Considering they might as well be an Official Couple till V...

Soulcalibur V will chronicle the further adventures of Necrid
Because he's such an interesting, well-designed, and popular character that it'd be a pity if all we got to see of him was his role in SCII.

Voldo is Vercci.
The official story goes that Vercci, driven insane by the loss of most of his wealth in the Great Italian Wars, ordered his seamen to dig the Money Pit to serve as a treasure hoard and tomb for the Merchant of Death; Voldo was then commanded to kill the seamen and become the Money Pit's sole guardian. In reality, however, the increasingly paranoid Vercci was unwilling to let anyone near the treasure, and murdered Voldo shortly after the sailors were dead. Vercci's guilt at having killed his most loyal servant led him to believe he was Voldo. Now the Merchant of Death himself guards the pit, his lifespan unnaturally lengthened by his greed and his exposure to Soul Edge, occasionally taking orders from whatever part of his mind is still relatively intact. Naturally, this voice sounds like Vercci's.
 * Wow... considering that this is Voldo we're speaking of, that is freaky enough to work. Jeez, and they say that Tira has all the mental issues.
 * Alternatively, Vercci disguised himself as Voldo out of paranoia. Afraid of assassins, he pretented to be the servant, while Voldo pretended to be Vercci. The real Voldo died after the Money Pit was built, and Vercci jealously guarded over his treasures. The years of isolation drove him insane, and he ended up believing he was Voldo.

Necrid is the future fate of Johan Dürer.
Inferno's realm, Chaos, exists outside of time, allowing for Dürer to escape from Chaos in his new, completely corrupted form before he entered the realm.

Necrid is a Time Lord.
His TARDIS is powered by the universal resentment of Soulcalibur fans.

Soulcalibur V will crossover with Highlander.
Both are franchises with a heavy emphasis on sword fighting. And since there's talk about a reboot of the movies...

Pratty or Aera will be a guest fighter
Namco Bandai owns all of Banpresto and has absorbed their devs/properties now, and flight-plan's death left their stuff to Banpresto according to the article I read on it, plus both have developed fighting styles alreddy. Given SC is a Fan Service fighter, who could resist the temptation of lesbians?

A Sith Lord created Soul Edge
The Sith create many types of evil stuff, in the form of Sith Swords, Sith Amulets, and Sithspawn (monsters). The Soul Calibur world is already connected to the Star Wars Universe (the planet is stuck in the Cowl Crucible). What does Soul Edge do -- make weapons (it helped build Ivy's sword), become shards that corrupts people, and turn them to monsters (Charade). It may be calling Vader to use its power properly since no one knows Sith Sorcery in the Soul Series and since it could repair Cervantes while he was crumbling to dust, a pair of arms and legs would not be too hard for Soul Edge. It might even want Anakin's body with his repaired Force Potential, and a whole universe of souls to harvest.
 * The reason the Soul Calibur crew can block lightsabers? The Force Weapon ability which grants resistance to lightsabers, which is mentioned to have been created by many cultures and force traditions.
 * This would date Soul Edge's creation during the Old Sith Empire when Sith swords were in style.
 * Muur Talisman is a good example of a sith artifact able to create minions called Rakghouls.

Hilde's inclusion in IV (and by proxy, her relationship to Siegfried) was intentional.
Siegfried is already supposed to be a Homage to the legendary Norse Mythology hero, Sigurd. Gram, the sword used by Sigured to kill the dragon Fafnir, is a recurring weapon of Siegfried (mistranslated in the games as "Glam"), and Siegfried himself gets to face Fafnir in Legends. Then comes Lady von Krone in IV. She gets some light Ship Tease with Siegfried, and ultimately offers him the one thing he sought in her ending: Forgiveness. Now look at her name. Her full name is Hildegard, or Hilde for short. Hilde, as in Brunnhilde (or depending on the translation, Brynhildr or Brynhild) the valkyrie? Does either a) the Volsunga Saga, b) Nibelungenlied, or c) Der Ring Des Nibelungen ring a bell? If you're not familiar with these stories, all that you really need to know is that our hero rescues the fair shieldmaiden, they fall in love, and soon after marry (well, at least in the first two). Make of that as you will.

Soul Edge and/or Soul Calibur have/has the power to break language barriers.
Ok, I'll admit this one was partly Just for Fun, but the setting for Soul Calibur has everyone speaking the same language. This could just be a case of Translation Convention, but Tekken, which is in the same universe, has everyone speaking different languages, even though it takes place in a time where it's easier to learn languages and people are probably more likely to be able to speak the same language. Plus, cutscenes just seem to imply that characters from different countries who probably wouldn't be bilingual can understand each other perfectly. (For example, Taki and Siegfried, or Algol with anyone other than Arcturus and maybe Zasalamel.) So I just like to think that when the two swords got so powerful that they started to affect the balance of the world, language barriers were among the things that were affected.
 * Though Mitsurugi and Arthur's backstories both mention language barriers. (Mitsurugi experiencing them in Europe, and Arthur being unable to return to England due to forgetting how to speak English.) But Mitsurugi's was mentioned in one of the older games and Arthur went to Japan and learned Japanese well before the events of the games themselves, so the swords wouldn't have been as powerful at those times, and therefore probably not powerful enough to affect language barriers.

Pyrra will be either Soul Edge's New Host or its Dragon in SCV
With the news of the timeskip and Sophitia's son Patroklos being the new lead (along with confirmation that Pyrra is in fact in the game), it seems clear that the best motivation for his father forging the new weapons and teaching him to use them is the fact that his sister has been lost to darkness.
 * And, yes, the images of her we've seen so far just look like a slight tweak on her mother and aunt. However, we know that those images are recycled SC IV assets, actually guaranteed to not appear unaltered in the finished game. It could all be an elaborately-staged case of Demos Always Lie.
 * Pyrrha, no. Pyrrha Omega...

Ivy is Immortal and Unaging
The creators will not be able to resist putting her in and taking the outfit up yet another notch, and with the taint of Soul Edge in her blood atop the alchemical experiments, they have an excuse to avoid Fan Disservice.
 * The new art is in and she looks like she is at least unaging.
 * Definitely confirmed by her profile. Her cursed blood caused her body to 'forget how to age'.

(almost?) Everyone is unaging
Due to exposure to Edge and Calibur, which is confirmed to be able to make people immortal of some variety, either as a lesser "splash damage" of Z's plan that makes them ageless but killable, or because of Calibur's stasis thing, most, if not all, of the player characters will be roughly the same physical age. The ones that won't are Rock (Bangoo has had enough focus to be a obvious successor to him, plus the slide he is seen in shows him with Rock's axe), Setsuka (she isn't involved with the swords during SC 4 and can't gain immortality this way, her face on the boob chart looks older IMO), Mitsurugi (He is the one character in the cast I can see most definitely working as 17 years older).
 * A lot of the cast is under 20 pre-timeskip, so Queen Hilde of Wolfkorone, High-Priestess Talim, General Hong Yun-seong, and so forth could easily show up in their mid-to-late 30s (and rocking the M/DILF look if Fan Service is a requirement).
 * From the company that really shook up the roster of Tekken with a 17-year jump, it would be a huge letdown if they copped out this time.

Rothion will run the weapon shop in 5
Because it would make sense to some degree (swordsmith sells weapons) and make him appear in some fashion.
 * Appears to be impossible now. We've seen Pat's profile, and he's dead.
 * Maybe Soul Edge brings him back as a ghost or something.

Sophitia will be incapacitated or frozen in time in 5
In a fandom viewpoint, this would allow her to reappear youthful in the upcoming games so she didn't degenerate into an old hag as time passed, kind of like Nina and Anna inbetween Tekken 2 and 3. Story-wise, this would make sense if you remember that the Greek Pantheon is full of Jerkass Gods. Sophitia's unwilling Face Heel Turn wouldn't go unnoticed by the Gods, and even Hephasteus himself, so once the events of 4 ended, Sophitia will be punished with either incapacitation or being held in a frozen state for turning her sword against them, even if her goal was VERY sympathetic. Years later, Patroklos would learn of what happened, and will fight and probably save his sister to redeem his mother and bring her back to the living. Oh, and he'll be very bitter to even Hephasteus.
 * Official profile says she got killed, as well as her husband.

Patroklos will become the new Nightmare.
Many are specualating that Pyrrha will become possessed by Soul Edge due to Tira infecting her with Soul Edge's energy. However, notice how it's Patroklos who appears in Soul Edge's eye while the music suddenly becomes more sinister. This hints that Patroklos will become Nightmare, or at the very least, become Soul Edge's new wielder. In turn, Pyrrha will become Soul Calibur's wielder.

Lizardman will no longer be a comic relief character.
Well, we can dream, right?
 * He's been confirmed for V. We'll see how his story pans out. Cross your fingers, everyone.

Zasalamel died at the end of SCIV...
...and will return as a 16-17 year old girl in SCV.
 * But he lost time-lord style immortality in 3, gaining real "can't be killed" in 4.
 * That's only in his own ending, which involves him absorbing the two spirit swords anyway; it's totally not happening.
 * Nope: Losing his normal immortality is the entire plot of 3 and his actions in 4, seeing a vision of future earth with hints of space travel deciding right there and then that "he wants to live to see that era."

Siegfried will act as Patroklos' mentor figure in V.
His new look just screams Older and Wiser, doesn't it? Also, being the previous hero and main villain of the series at different points in time would definitely make Sieg very knowledgeable on what the neophyte protagonist is up against on his journey.

SCV's Story Mode will have three Final Battles and Ending Cinematics per character.

 * Bad End: Commands and/or gets corrupted by Soul Edge.
 * Bad End 2.0: Commands or gets "Purified" by Soul Calibur.
 * Good End: Escapes, destroys, and or balances out both weapons for the sake of all that lives.

An entirely new character will be of Russian origin
Ok, most of the area is crazy no-man's land, but the general area is unused in Soul__.

Setsuka will train Arthur's daughter
Either as just a trainer, or step-mom.

Algol is responsible for the Soul blades' SCV appearance.
Supposedly, there will be a reason given for why the Soul swords have changed to a short-sword form. How does Algol use the two blades? Why, as a pair of short swords that manifest in the place of his hands. Following his probable defeat, the two blades likely retained this shape, moulding themselves after their ancient source material instead of the greatsword template adopted from Siegfried. Then again, given the new protagonist, there's likely to be a little of Sophitia's influence thrown in as well.
 * Jossed. Algol uses the SCIV versions of the soul swords, and he doesn't even have an impact on the story (then again, you don't see what most of the other characters are up to during Story Mode). As for the new appearances of the weapons, this is due to

Ashlotte has telekinesis
Would explain why she's able to throw people without making contact.

Pyrrha looks scared because she just saw the female model concept art.
"What do you mean D is the middle ground?!"

Pat and Pyrrha will have a Luke/Leia thing
Pat's bio says they haven't known each other during the 17 year gap...

Pyrrha is still possessed by Soul Edge enough to mirror what Siegfried had once done.
In Soul Calibur, it mentioned that whenever Sieg would sleep, he would awake to find his sword covered in blood. The same will happen with Pyrrha.
 * Further supported by everyone close to her seemingly dying and being imprisoned for killing her fiancee, despite her swearing to not remembering committing the murder.
 * Actually, that was Tira who killed Pyrrha's fiance. However,

Pyrrha's lifeforce is still connected with Soul Edge.
In one of Patroklos's endings, he will find Soul Edge and destroy it just as Pyrrha walks in. You can guess what happens.

Lizardman/Lizardmen are really the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park
A theory I thought of really just meant to be silly. But I often play Soul Calibur II and whenever I see him, he obviously reminds me of a dinosaur (specfically a velociraptor) and also we see that Lizardman/Lizardmen really have no back story and are just extras. That got me thinking... remember that the velociraptors in Jurassic Park became highly intelligent, especially at the expense of the humans at the island? So what if the Soul Calibur Universe is not really a historical happening, but more of a post-apocalyptic world that shares many of the same historical cultures, ideas, etc. (basically I guess a repeat of our world/history) passed down from its pre-apocalyptic word, but in a different way (it would explain certain things such as the Translation Convention, Eternal Sexual Freedom, etc.)? Obviously this doesn't take place directly After the End, but maybe a few thousand years and possibly the end was even caused by the demonic sword itself? Anyway, assuming we all know what happened in Jurassic Park, the world ends and obviously animals still survive including the secluded island of dinosaurs. Possibly they just continued to evolve, but not enough time passed when we first see them, so they're still intelligent and possess human-like qualities, but still remain very dinosaur/lizard-like. Personally, a velociraptor with a sword is just Crazy Awesome, but that's just me.

Taki's oversized breasts are a curse by Gel-O-Fury.
Gel-O-Fury, though never fought in-game, is a recurring nemesis of Taki, whose job is to seal away demonkind. During one of their battles, he cursed Taki. What does this curse do? It caused her breasts to inflate to ridiculous proportions, and made them incredibly sensitive, so any attempts to restrain them with reasonable clothing would hurt even more than just letting them swing around as she jumps around. This is why Taki runs around with her breasts swaying freely. They're cursed. It's possible the curse is infectious, and has spread to many of the other females that Taki has had dealings with.
 * That would explain why most of the gals have had their breasts inflate to the point where a D cup is average in terms of endowment when they used to be either more modest up top or at least reasonably buxom (relatively speaking). The increasingly Stripperiffic outfits are also telling.
 * It probably isn't Gel-O-Fury doing it, but Soul Edge itself, which is known to be sapient and is apparently a perv. Notice that the two women with the most exposure are Ivy and Tira, the former of whom is confirmed to have very tainted blood and is suffering the worst of the Inflation Syndrome, and the latter of whom merely has a tainted psyche and is physically incapable of covering more than 50% of her breasts.

Sophitia will be the new Nightmare.

 * She's one of the more likely choices, alongside Patroklos and Pyrrha (their contaimination by Soul Edge could very well be a Chekhov's Gun in waiting) and Tira (y'know, the very same girl who wants to become one with Soul Edge). It could account for the ambiguity of her alleged "death" by the time of the game. (By the way, I'm just replying; I didn't come up with the theory itself.)
 * The latest trailer seems to heavily support this theory.
 * The latest build of the character select screen finally shows Nightmare, next to Tira at the end of the second row (as well as the reveal of Raphael next to Viola and Guest Fighter Ezio Auditore in the top row). Now, look closely at Nightmare. His (her?) eyes look very feminine. Recent screenshots, however, show no feminine touches to Nightmare's armor that would suggest this, though.
 * Not to mention that in the official reveal trailer for Ezio, while the Azure Knight is shown in all of his (her?) glory, Nightmare doesn't utter a single word, despite all of the other characters in the trailer having had their voices heard at least once (whether it be trailers or gameplay videos). Either this is the greatest Red Herring in series' history, or the dev team is very terrible at keeping a secret.
 * Most likely jossed in that Nightmare's voice has been heard more recently, and he definitely sounds like a guy.
 * Jossed by Nightmare's 2P outfit, which clearly shows his host is male, and by his profile.
 * No, it wasn't. Not explicitly, at least.
 * No, it wasn't. Not explicitly, at least.

The Narrator is an in-game character yet to be seen.
Listen to the voice clips of him saying "Transcending history and the world, this is a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold..." in each of the games. Don't have links, but you should be able to find it on Youtube. You'll notice that his voice in V sounds like it belongs to an older person, fitting the in-series timeskip.
 * Alternatively, it could be Edge Master, but that's only if a) you adhere to the theory that IIs Weapon Master mode is a prequel to the series and b)' you believe that Tristy is Edge Master (see the above "Zasalamel is Tristy" WMG; most prominently, Tristy states at the end of Weapon Master mode that the energies of the soul swords have made him immortal, and as such, he'll spend his days chronicling the tales of the two weapons and their wielders from afar).

Sophitia was Driven to Suicide sometime between SCIV and SCV
When Patroklos says "Goodbye mother", it sounds a lot like he's talking to a gravestone. And it would make sense, too -- Sophitia was so overridden by her guilt at protecting Soul Edge, that she lost all faith in everything she ever believed in and ended up killing herself. Now, Patroklos wants to avenge her, and Pyrrha is unaware that she is the reason Sophitia was protecting Soul Edge.
 * Actually, other trailers make it clear (as though the background wasn't enough) it's while smashing Soul Edge...
 * Not necessarily. Aside of the "Sophitia is the new Nightmare" theory, recent screenshots of SCV's Story Mode show Siegfried slaying Nightmare during the events of IV, with Soul Edge in the latter's possession. It's most likely that Soul Edge was (thought to be) destroyed then by Sieg.
 * If Story Mode is any indication,

Algol forged Soul Edge and Soul Calibur using a lost Ancient Sentient Technology that stumbled across earth by a Storm Shock chaos
Which explains both swords' opposite nature are similar to how Red Sentients and Blue Sentients are. Or maybe just a potential plot to a nonsensical crossover.

Xianghua will make a comeback in SCV
Because a Mother-Daughter Team consisting of a thirty-something Hot Shounen Mom and a 15-sai Little Miss Badass is too amusing to pass up.
 * Jossed.

Hilde is a Grey Warden in SCV
Between the fourth and fifth game, Hilde's gear has gone from a wolf Animal Motif to that of griffins, the symbol of the Grey Wardens from Dragon Age. Perhaps, in the intervening seventeen years, Wolfkrone has been overrun by darkspawn and Hilde became infected with the Taint, forcing her to join the Grey Wardens to save both her life and to cleanse her kingdom of the wretched fiends.

ZWEI is Hilde's son...
... and so, for that matter, is EIN. EIN was Hilde's firstborn, but s/he become a werewolf, and was eventually killed. This drove their younger brother, ZWEI, mad with grief, and he ran away from home and started going by "two" (or, in German, "Zwei") rather than his real name. Being able to summon his dead sibling's werewolfed up soul is not making him any more stable.

The Guest Fighter in V will be one of the Belmonts.
For one, V is set to be released in 2012, one year after Castlevania will be celebrating its 25th anniversary. Who's to say that Konami's Milestone Celebration (besides some new Castlevania) won't involve inserting one of their characters into this series? It's not like Castlevania doesn't have its fair share of supernatural and gothic elements, so it'd be right at home with the series' atmosphere. The Belmonts also bring a very appealing set of moves and weapons to the table, including the Vampire Killer, subweapons, and Item Crushes (which could fit the concept of supers used in V). I could honestly see it working similarly to Link, only without the whole "bottom-tier" label.

The most likely candidates would be Simon Belmont, his great-grandfather Christopher Belmont (which would make a bit more sense), or (even likelier still) Christopher's son Soleiyu, given the chronology. The Soul series takes place in the late 16th century. If my facts/sources are correct, the timeline goes Soul Edge/Soul Blade (1584) --> Soulcalibur (1587) --> SCII-SCIV (1591). With the 17-year Time Skip, that would put V somewhere around 1608. The original Castlevania is set in 1691; this would mean that Simon would yet to be born, although Castlevania has its fair share of Time Travel that could mitigate this problem (as was the case with Heihachi and Spawn in II). Christopher's adventures took place 1576 and 1591, but he already seems to be well into middle age and has a son. The reason Soleiyu would make for the best representative is because he was only 15 in Belmont's Revenge, which would make him 32 here.

Personally, it'd great to see Soleiyu make it into the game, since he and his dad are easily the most obscure members of the Belmont clan.

Alternatively, it could instead be Alucard, seeing as he's functionally immortal. Even though he went to sleep in 1476 and didn't awaken from his slumber until 1797, this could always be hand waved by the dark influence of Soul Edge disrupting his sleep, forcing Alucard to go investigate. Alucard has enough to also seamlessly transition into the series, with his Alucard equipment (namely, the Sword and Spear), Dark Magic, transformation magic, and summoning of his familiars.
 * Jossed. Looks like the Guest Fighter here is Ezio.

EIN is somehow connected with Arahabaki
It is known that Natsu has the demon Arahabaki sealed within her. Screenshots of her personal stage seems to be a shrine to some demonic entity, presumably Arahabaki himself, and contains a large statue of a wolf-headed, multi-armed humanoid. Let's see... what's another wolf-like humanoid we've seen thus far?

Raphael is going to be the Big Bad of SCV
ZWEI seems like an antagonistic entity and has the werewolf-like entity EIN as an ally. Voila is also on ZWEI's side and bears a striking resemblance to Amy. In addition to Amy, EIN seems like another possible connection to Raphael, as he is known to corrupt his followers and has a werewolf in his service during his SC 4 ending. Given the man's gradual descent into insanity over the years, it wouldn't be surprising to see him go Big Bad if he's completely cracked.
 * Raphael's been confirmed for V, although whether or not he'll be the main villain (especially with Nightmare back on the scene) remains to be seen.

Z.W.E.I. is an ancestor of .
Well, Z.W.E.I. controls E.I.N. as an ally (or perhaps the other way around?). Unknown (from Tekken Tag Tournament) is bonded to a spirit as well, which, incidentally manifests itself as a wolf., and given that Soul Calibur and Tekken are confirmed by Namco to be in the same universe...
 * Sorry to poke some holes in your theory, but Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 are non-canon by virtue of being Dream Match Games, not to mention that Nothing's been explicitly stated yet in actual Tekken canon, but it's unlikely that it's true, so I wouldn't try to take the implications that  with more than a grain of salt at best. Harada could've used  for all we know. Could this change in the future? Possibly, but I guess we'll have to wait for Tekken 7. Additionally, Z.W.E.I. having E.I.N. as a Familiar doesn't necessarily mean that he's related to . E.I.N. could simply be that very same wolf demon itself (or at least be connected to it).

Mitsurugi's "brother" is Arthur's daughter
She's raised by her father alone going by SC 3, so there is a perfect reason to mistake her for male. As for "brother", it's either a bigger misunderstanding, or intentionally misleading in-universe. This could also set her up as a potential Expy of Setsuka should the latter not return in SC 5.

Sophitia is Soul Edge's new host/template
Explains why her son thinks her dead and her daughter has been wandering all of her life. Plus it ramps up the Angst.
 * See the above "Sophitia will be the new Nightmare" WMG.
 * Jossed.

Arthur's daughter is Viola
She's a minimum of 22 and not much older (she was an infant at SC 1). Viola is 23.
 * While the math adds up (four years between SC and SCII-SCIV, 17 years between SCIV and SCV; give or take a few months and that'd be somewhere between 21-23), are we even sure that Viola herself is 23? Her profile gives her age as "24 Tri-color stars", which is just as outlandish and full of whimsy as the rest of her Fairy Tale Motifs-inspired bio (which might be deliberate, seeing as many have already come to the conclusion that Viola is an older, amnesiac Amy, due to similar traits such as facial features, eye color, hair style, Elegant Gothic Lolita style of dress, etc.).

Ezio WMG

 * The Soul Edge and/or Soul Calibur will be revealed to be a Piece of Eden, specifically "The Sword" and one of the characters will be a mercenary for the Templars, which is why Ezio is trying to track them down.
 * The Animus Desmond was placed in by the end of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is glitching and the Soul Edge or Soul Calibur is the key that will allow him to be able to move on to the next part of Ezio's life.
 * Ezio is a Virtual Ghost inside of the SC world; SCV happened, but Ezio is actually part of a re-enactment of that era. Even though both series take place during the time of The Renaissance (making Ezio the only guest so far who completely fits the atmosphere of the series), Ezio is allegedly dead by 1524 at age 64-65, which means that by the time of Soul Edge (the very first game), he would have been dead for exactly six decades. According to Tago, Ubisoft sort of gave them a story for Ezio's inclusion, "saying he could exist in the world of Soulcalibur through the power of the Animus," which is "why at the beginning of the trailer you see all those Animus type reboot sequences." This could be used as a Sequel Hook (maybe Desmond will learn something about Ezio through this event or maybe pick up some more combat skills due to the bleeding effect), but seeing as the presence of guests runs on Rule of Cool, it sounds unlikely.
 * Ezio's presence is merely a new animus training program for Desmond
 * or, alternatively, merely brought over to the soul universe by calibur/edge, to use as a new champion (possibly for both)
 * his ultimate weapon will be Altair's Sword, his alt costume will be Altair's armor.
 * The Assassins of the modern day got bored and somehow managed to rig the Animus to be able to play actual video games using the data gathered via Desmond's exploits. They use this to put Ezio in their copy of Soul Calibur V.
 * Ezio attempts to finish the job Revenant half started and kill Zas for good.
 * Ezio will be viewed/treated, at least by the characters, as one of the villainous characters. This is assumed due to him being on the right side of the selection screen, alongside other villain/antagonists like Nightmare, Tira, Astaroth, and so forth.

Soul Edge isn't really evil
we basically know that Calibur has Knight Templar or possibly even evil tendencies, but something that I noticed has been hinted since at least SC 2, is that Edge itself isn't really evil, though its not exactly good. the basis for this theory is twofold, first of all, why are the pieces of Soul Edge so hard to get? why does it get split all the time and actively engage in battle with the force that can destroy it? because it WANTS to be destroyed, Edge's power corrupts people, it eats souls, but it doesn't really want to, it just wants to either be destroyed or simply left alone, why would it kill its own hosts? why would it seem like its trying to be destroyed? this is what it wants, but its powers and nature are stopping it.

Soul Calibur 5 is a throwback
why else would Edge look just like it did in the first three games?
 * It's possible that Soul Edge (which became complete in IV) split apart after Nightmare's defeat in IV and assumed a Male and Female form like it did back when Cervantes had Soul Edge in Soul Edge, seeing as Soul Edge [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110513090919/soulcalibur/images/8/81/Soul_Edge_
 * If this troper recalls correctly, they wanted to title it "Soul Edge 2" but weren't allowed due to brand recognition.
 * Yeah, Daishi wanted to name it that, but his notion was shot down, and thus, Soulcalibur V.

Rothion will be a playable fighter in Soul Calibur 5
Links with the 'Sophitia is the new Nightmare' WMG above.

It's not that hard to believe, really. If Sophitia does become Nightmare, I can see Rothion decide to do something for a change and try to find her while attempting to either bring her back to normal, or join her/protect her out of love. Could lead into a full on family brawl if Pyrrha and Patroklos get involved as well.

He could also be a replacement for Rock, who would probably be too old to fight after the time skip. After all, Rothion is a blacksmith, and they are usually equipped with large hammers in fiction.
 * If he didn't actually die like Patroklos' bio says, it would make for a compelling story if everything else matches up, not to mention it'd be a good way to differentiate Rothion from his family of sword & shield users and finally get him out of Non Action Guy territory (which at least partially responsible for his Die for Our Ship status in-fandom). That being said, I don't necessarily think he'd take Rock's role, seeing as many are expecting Bangoo to succeed Rock. He'd most likely be a swordsman or hammer-wielder, but I would think they'd take care to make him his own character for the most part.
 * Pat's Bio says he is dead though.
 * Yeah, but his bio is also based off of how Patroklos himself interprets the events, in a vein similar to how Jin thinks that Ogre killed Jun. Unreliable Narrator is in effect here, and it's the ambiguity of Sophitia and Rothion's alleged deaths that led to WMGs such as "Sophitia will be the new Nightmare" in the first place.
 * Most likely jossed. Patroklos' bio clearly describes Rothion's deathbed.

Mitsurugi's brother is I, Yoshimitsu (the new one)
Yoshimitsu's back flag appears as an option in CAS, which suggests he won't use it, which supports a new Yoshimitsu taking his place.
 * At the very least, it's been confirmed that the Yoshimitsu in V is the student and successor of the first Yoshi from SC-SCIV. No word yet if he's Mitsu brother, though, but it seems unlikely, as Yoshi II was raised by Yoshi the First.

EIN is Unknown's wolf
Yoshimitsu alreddy says they share a universe (even though TTT is non canon).
 * They could be similar entities. After all, the wolf spirit controlling Unknown is missing that crescent moon that's in E.I.N.'s stomach. Then again, (not to mention that ).

Patroklos acts and fights like Cassandra because he was raised by her after Sophitia vanishes/dies

 * (not OP) That's definitely possible. After all, it hasn't been explicitly said that Cassandra was killed during the 17-year-interim, so she's probably ok. Patroklos may have raised himself, but there's a good chance that Cass was his caretaker for at least some period of time before he struck out on his own. That's probably how he knows about the rest of his family and where he picked up his skills with the sword and shield.
 * Jossed. Cassandra went missing 17 years ago. Rothion raised Patroklos himself until he died when Patroklos was 15.

== For a counter point for the above Pyrrha fights like her mom because of some lingering aftereffect of being corrupted by soul edge in IV that gave her some sort of magical genetic memory of the fighting style her mom uses ==

Mitsurugi's "brother" is not a playable character, but a random mercenary trying to get work by using Mitsurugi's reputation
When Mitsurugi find him, what he will do in unclear (train, kill, beat up, be disapointed). As for why, he could be Villager A and an Expy of Kikuchiyo, a commoner who wants to be a Samurai.

Mitsurugi's brother is Maxi.
What is confirmed about Mitsurugi's brother:
 * He's Japanese (Due to being the brother of a Japanese man)
 * He's younger than Mitsurugi by an unspecified amount

What is confirmed about Maxi:
 * He's Japanese
 * His family is never mentioned
 * He's younger than Mitsurugi

Thoughts?
 * Jossed: Maxi is from the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was independent from Japan at the time.
 * Thanks to a piece of Soul Edge embedded inside him, Maxi has slowed or stopped aging by SCV.

Patroklos is malfested and the antagonist of the story
So far what we've seen of story mode has shown a bit claiming Pat "Destroyed any that looked like malfested" (alongside a pair of story bits of him with an evil expression claiming "to bad there's no way to prove it" and people running in terror), that he works with the guy we know to be Nightmare's alias. Pat is the main character of the story, only in the way Nightmare was in 2.
 * Oddly enough, Yoshimitsu's taunt has him calling Patrokolos an "evildoer," while he does have a second taunt for those not considered "evil." More than likely hinting at some cut story elements, though.
 * Oddly enough, Yoshimitsu's taunt has him calling Patrokolos an "evildoer," while he does have a second taunt for those not considered "evil." More than likely hinting at some cut story elements, though.

Rothion is an avatar of Hephaestus
1: Sophitia meeting a blacksmith seems very "lucky" in the way it was at the same time as Hephaestus induced visions of SE. 2: Hephaestus could and did call upon experienced fighters (Aeon), why choose a baker's daughter? This means the children are demigods (and Pat inheriting the Greek god's Jerkass status caused the above). The death by illness was merely cover to disappear.
 * Pats new bio even indicates that Rothion conditioned him to want to destroy SE.

You, not Tristy are Edgemaster in Weapon Master mode
In the Manga (which is canon due to references to it in 4) he mentions he was the first to defeat SE using SC, which makes Tristy impossible. You however To fit with Tristy's comments on chronicling the two swords, see the WMG above that he is the narrator.
 * Did do that (If you were first or not is unclear)
 * Were subjected to the same energy that made him immortal
 * Wield every style in the game, changing them to suit your needs.
 * Your name is lost to history, Edgemaster's "real" name is never revealed, known only to himself.
 * The mode name
 * The requirement to unlock Alioth is to attain the title "Edgemaster".


 * Most likely jossed by SCV which states that Edge Master was Algol's rival when he was mortal.

Lucius Alexander is the true mastermind behind everything

 * (not OP) Sophitia and Cassandra's brother? Considering that he was majorly pissed at Rothion for not telling the family about Sophitia, keeping her disappearance a secret, that sounds unlikely.

Raphael is the new Nightmare.

 * And not quite in the way you think. This isn't my theory (the credit goes to the people here), but it's a very interesting one that could very well hold true. To sum it up, there are several factors involved, which I will list below:
 * 1) Nightmare is four inches taller than he was back in the other games due to now inhabiting a different body. He's now 5'10", the same height as Raphael.
 * 2) According to his bio, Raphael wakes up in a cell (the location is unknown) with no recollection of how he ended up there. Additionally, Soul Edge is said to have used a spare body found beneath Ostrheinsburg Castle as his host sometime after being killed by Siegfried and subsequently regaining consciousness.
 * 3) Judging by the wispy fumes generating from his lower body, Raphael's artwork seems to indicate that he might be a ghost. He also hasn't (physically) aged since II, although that could instead be chalked up to his Soul Edge-induced vampirism. Additionally, Daishi notes that Raphael died during SCIV.
 * 4) Graf Dumas (Nightmare's alias in V) is a French name. Raphael is French.
 * 5) Dumas is also the surname of the author of The Three Musketeers; Raphael's primary attire is reminiscent of this, and his fencing skills adds to the overall comparison. In the same vein, Nightmare's 2P attire (which seems to be modeled after his 2P outfit in II) features a mask which obscures his facial features (thus maintaining the enigma of his true identity). Thus, he's the Man in The Iron Mask, which was featured in the final installment of the d'Artagnan Romances (which started with--you guessed it--The Three Musketeers). Also, in The Count of Monte Cristo (also by Alexandre Dumas), Dantes is jokingly referred to as Lord Ruthven, the name of a classical fictional vampire.
 * 6) Raphael and Nightmare share a seiyuu in V, much like how Siegfried and Nightmare were both voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama before the latter became the former's Enemy Without.
 * 7) The name of Dumas' castle in Hungary is Denevér Castle. The word [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/denev
 * 8) The Japanese artbook mentions how Nightmare's armor was designed with a bat motif in mind, and that there is a reason for this.

The final boss of V is Patroklos fully possessed by Soul Calibur
The day will be saved by Pyrrha wielding Soul Edge.

Soul Calibur will be completely destroyed, or be fully absorbed by Soul Edge, at the end of V
And Daishi will finally be able to call the next game, Soul Edge II.
 * But wouldn't that just get shot down due to brand recognition again? Sure, that would kind of nullify the semi-Artifact Title thing this series has going on, but it'd be more than a bit confusing to name the seventh game in the franchise that when the original Soul Edge/Soul Blade was displaced by Soulcalibur. At this point in the series, I don't think it'd be a good idea to call the next game Soul Edge II unless it came with the subtitle of Soulcalibur VI.

Tira isn't planning to make Pyrrha the new host of Soul Edge...
...she's been planning on using Patroklos. The whole thing is one big Xanatos Gambit.

Necrid will return in Soul Calibur V
A major part of the known plot seems to be the "Astral Chaos" that Soul Edge retreated to and restored Nightmare in. Algol also seems to be tied to that location, so who's to say that Necrid, a warrior who got trapped in "Soul Edge's dimension", doesn't hail from there as well? And who's to say that said warrior might not get out again, what with such a major rift popping up? It sucked up (and apparently spat out) Cervantes... Necrid might've gotten out as well.
 * Doubt it. Even factoring out Necrid's Scrappy status with a good portion of the fanbase, there's still the fact that he's the creative property of Todd McFarlane. Inserting Necrid without first striking a deal with McFarlane would probably prove to be difficult.
 * No playable Necrid, but one of Viola's unlockable weapons has the same name and appearance as Necrid's

Raphael will have a rivalry with Z.W.E.I.
Z.W.E.I. is the closest thing the series has to a werewolf, and since Raphael is the series' vampire, we can get some Fur Against Fang. Plus, if Viola is indeed Amy, it would probably create some tension since she's been traveling with Z.W.E.I., and I don't think Raphael would approve of his daughter being around strange men.

Is the physical manifestation of Soul Calibur's spirit, in contrast to Inferno; the spirit of Soul Edge.

Tira wasn't the one who killed Sophitia
The true culprit is.
 * At least, that's what we (and Patroklos) have been told. Even if isn't the culprit, that doesn't mean Tira is.
 * Confirmed. It isn't  either though. Instead,
 * Confirmed. It isn't  either though. Instead,

Setsuka trained Patroklos when he was young after beating Mitsurugi.
As strange as it sounds, this is becoming a more and more popular theory as it helps explain. It was said that he originally used Iaido before switching to a sword and shield because it reminded him of his mother.

.


 * You would think that a blacksmith that forges fairly badass weapons would have a stronger constitution. But maybe the strain of weighed so heavily on him that it affected his health. Especially when he knew that  Poor guy.

Zasalamel physically died during the timeskip...
...and will return eventually, in a 17 year old body. Because why not?
 * I'm sure that's what more than a few of us were expecting.

.
 * This is most likely not the case.
 * This is most likely not the case.

.


 * It's plausible, but for your third point, it should be mentioned that
 * It's plausible, but for your third point, it should be mentioned that
 * It's plausible, but for your third point, it should be mentioned that
 * It's plausible, but for your third point, it should be mentioned that
 * It's plausible, but for your third point, it should be mentioned that

In Soulcalibur VI,
At the end of the story,