Everything we know about the 4th spirit. Patterns and the Hypothesis.

(first posted on Reddit)

The 4th spirit is the pretty much the most hyped hero yet be released in dota2. His existence has been teased ever since dec of 2016. Now, almost two years later and we still got no clue when is he going to be released. However, we do have a lot of clues as to "what" the 4th spirit might be.

Following the pattern from the 3 spirit brothers in the game, we can be pretty confident that the 4th spirit :

• Is male
• Has name that ends in "-in" and of Japanese/Chinese decent
• Represents an element. An element depicted to be black/purple. (Why Black? Artifact's 4th color!)
• Has a mobility spell
• Has an ability called "_____ Remnant"

And while we can brace for one pattern to get subverted, it will be kind of disappointing though, if two or more gets broken. The next are the patterns that are more complicated to talk about but here they are.

• The 3 spirits' "_____ Remnant" pretty much occupies the 3 different locations any spells can be categorized into : Innate (Earth Remnant), Ultimate (Fire Remnant), and Basic(Static Remnant). Now most likely, I'm just being too overboard with this and the 4th spirit will have his "_____ Remnant" either innate, basic, or ult. But if we follow this pattern to mind, his "_____ Remnant" will either be a hidden ability unlocked by Aghs or other means. (*gasp* an ability unlocked by talents?)
  
• The 3 spirit brothers fit nicely in the 3 main attributes of dota: strength, agility, and intelligence. With the introduction of the 4th, one of these 5 scenarios will happen
  
  1. The 4th spirit will be placed on either strength, agility, or intelligence and nothing special happens to the attributes system. Most disappointing if it ever happened.
     
  2. The 4th spirit will have the ability to switch between attributes, his preferences will be based on the situation. Interestingly, Morphling had an ability that allows just this pre-6.31, "Adapt". Icefrog might want to re-introduce the ability back, but making the spirit colored purple, and not rainbow, kind of provides a compelling argument against this scenario.
     
  3. If the 4th spirit will instead have three of the attributes as his primary attribute all at once, his stats might just become too much. You know how the game gives 25% more stats to the heroes' primary attribute? However, it can be fixed if each attribute grants 0.33 damage and just 10% stat efficiency.
     
  4. The 4th spirit will have its own genuine, REAL 4th attribute! A quarter of the hero pool will be re-classified, new items will be added, Aghs will cost 5200, slark will earn 4 agi per hit, this is an extreme decision to make for the devs and Icefrog himself that will have massive repercussions to the future of the game.
     
  5. The 4th spirit belongs to no attribute! If you're going to ask my opinions, I think this is the most likely. The simplest reason is that this is the most interesting scenario and at the same time, it's not overly destroying the fundamental mechanics of attributes in Dota. And once we think of it this way, some things naturally come to light! See, whoever this 4th spirit is, he sure has a reputation of being hidden. MK asks where is he, and DW questions if there's even a 5th hiding. Purple in Dota is associated with mystery and the unknown.
     
     
     
     

     Entering theory territory:

     
     The Chinese had a concept of "Yin and Yang". To the unfamiliar, it basically teaches that for every good, there is an opposite and equal evil that complements rather than oppose. That everything alive or dead has some combination of the two fundamental energies. Yang represents the light, life, and goodness; it is open and overt while Yin represent the dark, death and evilness; it is covert and concealed. Exactly the case for our 4th spirit! And is it a coincidence that it's called YIN, a name that ends in -in? Also remember when I said one pattern might get subverted? Well, Yin represents femininity. So the 4th spirit could be female! (But considering the silhouette cameo, a buffed gal?)
     
     The three spirits, yes, ALL OF THEM, belong in the Yang, they all represent the good and the light of things. But the fourth brother is not like any of them... He is "Yin" and his sole existence is to balance out the powers of the other three, making him the most powerful of the three. He will be known as the "null spirit" for he is nothing but a shadow. Purple fits to represent shadow and darkness, it could be black, and maybe IT IS! The new game by Valve, Artifact has **4** colored factions red,green, blue, and... Black! The center of the artifact logo, nonetheless!)

P.S. There might be other scenarios that we haven't included / even thought about. Say, there might actually be a 4th attribute. But that attribute will be an exclusive mechanic to our eponymous spirit. No item will be introduced that gives 4th attribute, and heroes won't be re-shuffled to new categories. We don't know the limits!

TLDR: Listed down the pattern all three spirit brothers share and how it might apply to the 4th spirit brother. Also talked about 5 scenarios that could befall to our awaited hero. #4 & #5 being the most likely. Also voiced my prediction on who and what the 4th spirit might be. It's Yin!

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm