WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for House of X #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Early on in the promotion for Marvel's upcoming House of X and Powers of X, writer Jonathan Hickman dropped a cryptic teaser using a number of geometrical symbols. They appear again in House of X, in which it's revealed they're the written component of a new language called Krakoan, which every mutant automatically learns through telepathy when they arrive.
The first issue of the intertwined titles, House of X #1, features those symbols on several occasions. We've decoded them and compiled them here, with help from fan work previously conducted by someone named Soluzar. Although initially it was unclear how accurate they were, occurrences of Krakoan throughout House of X #1 confirms they are correct. However, reading the language generates a lot of questions that don't currently have answers.
The first two ciphers in the first issue are incredibly simple. The first reads, simply, "House of X," and is probably intended to help anyone looking to decode the mutant language determine several key letters. However, this also reveals the first symbol as H, which was missing from the original crack for the code. The one that follows it reads, "One." This is the issue number.
After that, there are a few more symbols throughout. However, they're mostly dedicated to teaching particular letters, making Krakoan easier to solve overall. The next major cipher occurs when Esme, Sophe and Magneto are courting diplomats, promising to trade a new miracle panacea in exchange for legitimization of Krakoa as a nation. Appearing above a door, the cipher reads, "Galm."
There's no indication what "Galm" means or why it might appear above a doorway, besides that it's a sign. Although it's possible this might be a code to which to return if the cipher changes, there's a good chance this is actually a joke meant to confound those attempting to crack the language, and is, as someone remarks, mere gibberish.
No major cipher occurs again until the end the book,. The first of the final two sections reads, "Next," indicating the two marks on either side of the four core symbols don't have any real phonetic equivalents and are, potentially, only used for emphasis. After that, the mutant language reads, "Its not a dream if its real."
This message is particularly intriguing, as there's been some question about whether Krakoa is real. That might be taken to indicate the reality of Krakoa is irrelevant provided the experience of it is real. However, this might also refer to Professor Xavier's lifelong dream of mutants and humans peacefully co-existing finally coming to fruition, although the two groups are not living together, so that seems like a dubious reading. This might then, instead, reflect something more similar to Magneto's dream of a mutant homeland.
The final cipher in the issue starts with, "Then," revealing that the symbol for T, when flipped upside down, actually indicates a Th. The combination of those two letters also takes place in the Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet and might again occur with future Krakoan symbols. The rest of the message says, "The curious case of Moira X."
That seems to relate to Moira MacTaggert, a longtime X-Men character and a perennial love interest of Charles Xavier. It's clear from early promotions that MacTaggert will play a major role in the mysterious events of House of X and Powers of X. She appeared prominently in the first image for the series, and in a subsequent one teasing, "the most important scene in the history of the X-Men." Finally, recent art showed her embracing longtime villain Apocalypse, accompanied by the captioned, "Fear the Future."
There's no clear indication of what either of these two last messages mean, although they definitely raise a lot of possibilities for the series going forward. Powers of X #1 will almost certainly provide more context for what's going on and just what endgame Professor Xavier is pursuing and how it relates to Moira MacTaggert.
Powers of X #1 goes on July 31, with House of X #2 to follow on Aug. 7.