[SPOILERS AHEAD] Episode 5 ending (My thoughts)

[ClassicMatt]

Quick Review of episode 5

Finished episode 5 today. In short, this episode was a big thrill ride! Of course, there was this one puzzle that pretty much everyone knows about that was insanely vague with its cryptic hint on how to solve it (The solution to the puzzle was already posted by the developers as a pinned thread in the game's discussions) but casting that puzzle aside, the episode continued to impress as I made progress through it.

The ending to episode 5

SPOILERS TO THE ENDING AHEAD!
As Daniel has returned Ariadne LeGrant's music box to the realm of 'There', he was transported back to the LeGrant mansion. He returns to Ariadne to inform her that the nightmare caused by her music box was no more, he and Ariadne were free from the darkness that the presence has surrounded them all this time...

Exhausted, Daniel sits on the couch in the living room with Ariadne and falls asleep. He wakes up in the middle of the night in the unlit living room, with Ariadne still watching out the window. He asks Ariadne what time it is; Ariadne gave no response. He then asks if he can turn on the lamp next to him to lighten up the dim room caused by the shroudy night. Ariadne told him not to, as "It doesn't like the light". Ariadne stands up from her chair with a peculiar box in her hands and places it on the table. "But it likes the song" says Ariadne, as the box begins to play the cursed melody, revealing it to be the music box. Daniel panics and turns on the light, only to see that the whole mansion was in the realm of 'There' and that the presence stood next to Ariadne. The presence snatches Daniel and the camera zooms onto the piece of paper stuck to the music box - 'For Elayne, my firstborn and my pride'. The screen goes dark.

Daniel wakes up, surrounded by bones and corpses. He hears Sophie/Etienne/Alexander/Alina and turns to a beam of light coming from an ajar door. Daniel struggles his way towards the door, begging for help from the person behind it. He reaches it and tries to get out, but to no avail. The camera pans out to Sophie/Etienne/Alexander/Alina holding the door against the darkness inside Husher's manor from episode 1. Daniel is seen struggling to get out of that door, but the door is closed and he returns to the darkness... Credits roll.

What I think happens in the ending

SPOILERS ONCE AGAIN

As sad as the ending may be, I think it makes a lot of sense when you look back at what happened in the story. Most people may be confused about the second music box belonging to Elayne, so let me share my thoughts about this. In the ending cutscene of episode 1, the music box is shown clearly during the cutscene, although the piece of paper stuck on the inside of the music box shows no text written on it. The music box re-appears in the opening cutscene of chapter 2 as well and there's still no text written on the piece of paper. Which is why I think that the music box Daniel heard when he entered the nowhere area in Husher's manor was not Ariadne's, but rather Elayne's. The reason as to why I think this is, is because Ariadne's music box wasn't in Ariadne's possession at the time, it was with Farber in his antique shop. Knowing from the ending that Ariadne has had Elayne's music box in possession, as well as being able to enter the realm of 'There', Elayne's music box would've possibly been used and played to Daniel as he was lured and stuck in the Nowhere area. As we played on through the game, we were forced to believe that the source of the presence came from Ariadne's music box, which is true to an extent. Ariadne's music box was played and heard by the four other victims - Farber, Husher, Prestegard and LeGrant, meaning they were subjected by the nightmares and the presence from that music box. But in Daniel's case; this wouldn't be true, as he possibly heard Elayne's music box, not Ariadne's. Therefore, taking Ariadne's music box to 'There' and leaving it simply did him no good as that wasn't the music box that he originally listened to.

Of course, these are just my interpretations about the ending. Maybe the ending could simply be that as long as the song remains in the world; the presence will always exist in the world, meaning that even with Ariadne's music box gone, Elayne's box still exists and plays the cursed song.

[Bif]

Quick question, did you expect that there'd be two music boxes?
I didn't exactly expect it, but I was thinking something similar would be at play, especially after Sophie called Argos an arrogant bastard after reading the first Berenice dropping. Why would an arrogant bastard only shoot for one :)

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by Console Player:

Quick question, did you expect that there'd be two music boxes?
I didn't exactly expect it, but I was thinking something similar would be at play, especially after Sophie called Argos an arrogant bastard after reading the first Berenice dropping. Why would an arrogant bastard only shoot for one :)

I certainly did not expect it, the game was massively focused on Ariadne's music box that the expectations for a second music box involved would be highly improbable

[MrFrengLitch]

I am confused about the ending too.

SPOILERS

The way I see it, it's not the music box that kills people. It's the song. Ariadne and Elayne, both had the same song in the music box.

So I think Daniel actually got rid of the curse when he brought the box back to There. But, since there was another box with the same song in Ariadne's possession (elayne box) and she played the song to Daniel, he got "cursed" again and killed by The Presence.

There are still other questions left unanswered though. Like where did the Presence come from, what is the song, who or what is the Presence, who wrote the song, etc.

Maybe there's gonna be Song of Horror 2? That'd be cool.

[Colby]

So what do you guys think it was hopeless from the start? That is what I am thinking.

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by MrFrenglitch:

I am confused about the ending too.

SPOILERS

The way I see it, it's not the music box that kills people. It's the song. Ariadne and Elayne, both had the same song in the music box.

So I think Daniel actually got rid of the curse when he brought the box back to There. But, since there was another box with the same song in Ariadne's possession (elayne box) and she played the song to Daniel, he got "cursed" again and killed by The Presence.

There are still other questions left unanswered though. Like where did the Presence come from, what is the song, who or what is the Presence, who wrote the song, etc.

Maybe there's gonna be Song of Horror 2? That'd be cool.

The ending is up for many interpretations, so everyone can have different thoughts as to what happened. As for who the presence is, it may just stay a mystery forever. The game is somewhat like a Lovecraft novel, featuring an all-powerful and all-seeing deity not known to man. Even Ariadne didn't mention any insightful information about the presence, she simply called the presence 'It' and that it doesn't like the light, but likes the song.

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by Colby:

So what do you guys think it was hopeless from the start? That is what I am thinking.

I'd assume so too, the ending has shown that the game is a never-ending loop from chapter 1 of the game to chapter 5

[Colby]

Originally posted by ClassicMatt:

Originally posted by Colby:

So what do you guys think it was hopeless from the start? That is what I am thinking.

I'd assume so too, the ending has shown that the game is a never-ending loop from chapter 1 of the game to chapter 5

What do you mean never ending loop?

[Colby]

Originally posted by ClassicMatt:

Originally posted by MrFrenglitch:

I am confused about the ending too.

SPOILERS

The way I see it, it's not the music box that kills people. It's the song. Ariadne and Elayne, both had the same song in the music box.

So I think Daniel actually got rid of the curse when he brought the box back to There. But, since there was another box with the same song in Ariadne's possession (elayne box) and she played the song to Daniel, he got "cursed" again and killed by The Presence.

There are still other questions left unanswered though. Like where did the Presence come from, what is the song, who or what is the Presence, who wrote the song, etc.

Maybe there's gonna be Song of Horror 2? That'd be cool.

The ending is up for many interpretations, so everyone can have different thoughts as to what happened. As for who the presence is, it may just stay a mystery forever. The game is somewhat like a Lovecraft novel, featuring an all-powerful and all-seeing deity not known to man. Even Ariadne didn't mention any insightful information about the presence, she simply called the presence 'It' and that it doesn't like the light, but likes the song.

Damn I really wanted to know what it is.

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by Colby:

Originally posted by ClassicMatt:

I'd assume so too, the ending has shown that the game is a never-ending loop from chapter 1 of the game to chapter 5

What do you mean never ending loop?

The final cutscene in the finale's ending shows Daniel trying to escape through a door which is getting blocked by the character that you played as in Husher's manor back in chapter 1. This simply means that the Daniel from chapter 1 was yet to be rescued, whilst the Daniel from the finale, who was taken by the presence, is trying to make his escape from the darkness that pursues the character you played as in chapter 1.

[Colby]

Originally posted by ClassicMatt:

Originally posted by Colby:

What do you mean never ending loop?

The final cutscene in the finale's ending shows Daniel trying to escape through a door which is getting blocked by the character that you played as in Husher's manor back in chapter 1. This simply means that the Daniel from chapter 1 was yet to be rescued, whilst the Daniel from the finale, who was taken by the presence, is trying to make his escape from the darkness that pursues the character you played as in chapter 1.

isn't that just that Daniel was already taken. You know just different places in time. The character went to the mansion to find daniel right?

[Krecik]

Long story short - ending is terrible and makes player regret wasting time on playing all those episodes aka "opening doors simulators".
I was expecting some closure (not necessarily good ending) but now I pretty much got cliffhanger. We need to wait for Season 2 to properly destroy music box.

[dorohn]

Originally posted by Krecik:

Long story short - ending is terrible and makes player regret wasting time on playing all those episodes aka "opening doors simulators".
I was expecting some closure (not necessarily good ending) but now I pretty much got cliffhanger. We need to wait for Season 2 to properly destroy music box.

well long story short, I loved the ending, exactly what I wanted out of a Lovecraft-inspired story,lol.

[Sammun Mak]

Great theory!! I mean... how could Ariadne's box have been in the husher mansion when Farber had it locked in with him in his room, if not by then at least by the next day?

Daniel kept saying "Returning this music box will end things" but of course that's not true. The music box isn't special -- it's only one recording of the song. Nothing can stop the song from existing.

But maybe we can assume that since the music box is *his* connection to the song, returning it would help him. Or maybe he simply thought that but was wrong -- I don't know how the Doctor came to the conclusion that putting the music box there would help with anything. Like I said, it's just a recording.

But I guess then we also have the question of: How did it get from the mansion to Ariadne's possession?

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by Colby:

Originally posted by ClassicMatt:

The final cutscene in the finale's ending shows Daniel trying to escape through a door which is getting blocked by the character that you played as in Husher's manor back in chapter 1. This simply means that the Daniel from chapter 1 was yet to be rescued, whilst the Daniel from the finale, who was taken by the presence, is trying to make his escape from the darkness that pursues the character you played as in chapter 1.

isn't that just that Daniel was already taken. You know just different places in time. The character went to the mansion to find daniel right?

Yes and no, if you chose Etienne or Sophie then yes, they came to look for Daniel, but if you played Alina or Alexander, then no, they didn't come to look for Daniel, but rather stumbled upon him

[ClassicMatt]

Originally posted by Sammun Mak:

Great theory!! I mean... how could Ariadne's box have been in the husher mansion when Farber had it locked in with him in his room, if not by then at least by the next day?

Daniel kept saying "Returning this music box will end things" but of course that's not true. The music box isn't special -- it's only one recording of the song. Nothing can stop the song from existing.

But maybe we can assume that since the music box is *his* connection to the song, returning it would help him. Or maybe he simply thought that but was wrong -- I don't know how the Doctor came to the conclusion that putting the music box there would help with anything. Like I said, it's just a recording.

But I guess then we also have the question of: How did it get from the mansion to Ariadne's possession?

Elayne's music box? I'm sure that the music box was left untouched in the mansion after the tragic incident in that household; Ariadne wouldn't have had a problem of possessing it