[SPOILER] Theory on the plot *updated*

[AltairGigi]

Compared to the Original version the Director's Cut is way more deeper and cryptic.
In the OG it was basically a loop with the 'guide' taking a new keeper on the island where a monster hunts him to feed the entity (brougth on the island by the guide) living under the lighthouse. The keeper would then become the monster hunting the next keeper and so on unless the loop is broken.

While the first part of the DC is practically intact the second half of the game keeps the 'loop', with the player becoming the new monster, but adds a series of elements that do not give a clear picture of the happenings.

We know that the plot revolves around a drunken man (the first keeper?) whose son died in a misteryous way. We get hints that his son was killed by the villagers of the island in somekind of ceremony (the reference to Joseph story in the Bible and the fashback with the red lights). The true ending itself confirms that the one living under the lighthouse was the father, who perhaps is experiencing some sort of dream revolving around repentance. We don't know if for not having saved his sons or if it was the father the one who killed him, since the son's body is hidden in the basement. His addiction is probably the consequence of the loss.
In a scene, we also get the POV of the guide so there is a possibility that the guide, the keeper, the monster and the father are the same "person" (if the theory of the dream is correct) yet in the flashback we also get dialogues that hinted to something in the light of the lighthouse and to another missing keeper. The identity of the entity in the church is also unkown but is linked to repentance and might be a representation of the father's guilt.

Edit:
During the flashbacks when you dig in the grave a dialogue says "don't lose your mind because of lonelyness" which is the same phrase told by the guide when you arrive at the island. Furthermore, in the good ending, it is revealed we are the father and the keeper appears on our side. In the scene we are putting the rifle back in the chest for the next keeper. This might confirm that the father is also the keeper.

Edit:
Made a guide! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2614305486

[Jtd1973]

This is a nice theory, Probably the real explanation for the story.
I have another one. In the true ending we see a seagull landing on the boat of the guide\keeper\father and then he fly away as the boat keep going. I think that the seagull is the spirit of the dead son...so in my opinion both father and son are free to leave the island\nightmare at the end.

[AltairGigi]

Originally posted by Atd1973:

This is a nice theory, Probably the real explanation for the story.
I have another one. In the true ending we see a seagull landing on the boat of the guide\keeper\father and then he fly away as the boat keep going. I think that the seagull is the spirit of the dead son...so in my opinion both father and son are free to leave the island\nightmare at the end.

This might actually be quite on point. Maybe there is a linkage with The Fool achievement? At least this new version let us speculate a bit

[Jtd1973]

Originally posted by AltairGigi:

Originally posted by Atd1973:

This is a nice theory, Probably the real explanation for the story.
I have another one. In the true ending we see a seagull landing on the boat of the guide\keeper\father and then he fly away as the boat keep going. I think that the seagull is the spirit of the dead son...so in my opinion both father and son are free to leave the island\nightmare at the end.

This might actually be quite on point. Maybe there is a linkage with The Fool achievement? At least this new version let us speculate a bit

it might be a possibility. Or maybe the fool is just a "funny" achievement and nod to the movie the lighthouse.

[AltairGigi]

Originally posted by Atd1973:

Originally posted by AltairGigi:

This might actually be quite on point. Maybe there is a linkage with The Fool achievement? At least this new version let us speculate a bit

it might be a possibility. Or maybe the fool is just a "funny" achievement and nod to the movie the lighthouse.

Uh, I've not *yet* seen the lighthouse. Yet I do believe that there might something in the achievement requested for the true ending. I don't recall clearly but I remember the entity saying something about the 'souls between death and life' which could be a reference to the keepers you have to kill for the Lovers achivement.

[Jtd1973]

Originally posted by AltairGigi:

Originally posted by Atd1973:

it might be a possibility. Or maybe the fool is just a "funny" achievement and nod to the movie the lighthouse.

Uh, I've not *yet* seen the lighthouse. Yet I do believe that there might something in the achievement requested for the true ending. I don't recall clearly but I remember the entity saying something about the 'souls between death and life' which could be a reference to the keepers you have to kill for the Lovers achivement.

Oh ok i'll not spoil to you the movie. it's a must watch and when i saw\played this game i thought immediatly to the lighthouse because there are defintely more than a few reference to that movie and also they came out almost the same year.

[Barraka Frite]

Thanks for shedding some lights on the overall plot, I was a bit lost even after completing the final ending.

[AltairGigi]

Originally posted by Barraka Frite:

Thanks for shedding some lights on the overall plot, I was a bit lost even after completing the final ending.

I'm happy the guide was helpfull! I was lost too when I got to the end :3

[Stigma]

Don't forget this incident. It's way too similar not to be mentioned:
https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-flannan-isle-mystery-the-three-lighthouse-keepers-who-vanished

[lornlynx]

I tried to unravel it myself, and I have still a lot of questions that I have no answer to. I put them all into a text, beginning from game start to end. This gonna be a bit of long read, but have fun if you want.

Things to talk about:
Day 1 (The day a new keeper appeared on the island - new keeper :
-Where did new keeper get medallion from?
-Falling body from lighthouse? Is it a vision of the past? You also hear something that sounds like a scream.
-Hanged Man Achievement, is the specter the ghost of the guy who fell from the tower? Was it murder, accident, or suicide? Hanged Man would imply suicide.

Day 2 (The day the terror got out of the deep) - new keeper:
-The oil, did old keeper get into your room and poison you while you slept?
-You getting drowsy before the oil moths appear, does it mean anything?

Day 3 (The day the skies opened up over the lighthouse) - new keeper:
-Again the oil, so old keeper was in your house poisoning you again? He definitely took the key from you this time.
-Why did old keeper kill and bury the seagulls, does he hate them because he was so long in the lighthouse?
-The part of turning on the lighthouse is frustrating and makes little sense to me. Why does it keep going out? Does it have to few oil?
-The monster probably took the oil to nourish itself with it. Why did it not kill you when you are in the cellar? Maybe it was too weak and fleed therefore.

Day 4 (The day the island drowned in fog) - new keeper:
-So the monster (or the old keeper) got into your house and smashed your kitchen. Why did he not kill you right there? Why did it not take the key this time? Also no oil till
your bed this time, so it just came it, smashed your kitchen, and probably left through the same hole again?
Why did you not stand up when you heard it? (mby afraid?)
-How did it get into your house while you were fixing the roof without you noticing it?
-One thing about the cellar that makes little sense is how sometimes it is a dead end and other times not. How and why I could not find any particular answer for it, one could
book it under artistic merit or signifying that the keeper becomes slowly mad. But one could also simply call it magic and mysterious, a lot of things happen in the game that
make no sense otherwise I guess. This time you see a figure in the fog that wears the keeper uniform, what does it mean?
-Also the record player is running, how did the monster turn it on? Maybe this, the figure and how it got into your house means that the monster is again in his old form, the old
keeper. The oil barrels are also back in their place. Maybe whatever is still left in the old keeper tries to do its keeper job.
-The barrels are missing AGAIN. With the thump on the door, the old keeper is definitely the monster at this point, took the key and the oil barrels with him into the cellar.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - new keeper:
-The moths are on the flesh-bag. I guess both the moths and the monster are eating the oil, and in the flesh-bags a jouvenile monster is submerged in it to help it grow.
-It might mean nothing, but you needing to put the flesh-bag onto the chains might mean that you can only the temple if you have a juvenile monster.
-The statue is most interesting, it shows the first step in the transformation of becoming the monster. A skeleton lies before it, I am very unsure if this signifies anything.
But the dagger seems to imply that it wants a sacrifice from you. The bowl maybe ment to collect some of your blood? As you take the dagger you experience the flashback.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - father:
-Ok, so this is a flashback. I suppose it is meant that new keeper is currently experiencing this flashback, maybe after he made the sacrifice to the statue?
-So it's pretty clear father is a drunkard. Was he already an alcoholic before his son went missing or always? It is early in the morning and none of the other villagers seem to
be up yet, so he probably drank late into the night down at the beach. Behind your house you also find more empty bottles.
There are also hayballs behind and a small animal shelter, so you probably are or were living from animal husbandry. (Also probably just didn't want to add more models)
-In your house, the cross lies near a bottle where a liquid is leaking onto the floor. This could mean father was drinking and praying or quesioning god and having lost his faith.
The liquid looks a lot like the oil... The bed is messy. The other bed is cleanly made, and besides the record player on the table is the lighthouse keeper hat. So I guess yes,
your son is a well-mannered lighthouse keeper, and you are a hopeless drunkard.
-Guy in front of your house talks about the NEW lightkeeper, this implies that not the father is the lightkeeper in the past, but his son, and he went missing.
So you must do his work now.
-The small village. The question here is why nearly none of the houses are standing in the new keeper's time. Not even ruins, even the well and church is gone.
It probably is just an oversight of the developers by just not wanting to add more models into the game and keep the island "clean" in the new keeper's time so you don't start to
think they have any relevance.
-The villagers are seemingly devout Christians, who value faith in god and hard work. Also they seem to be old testament Christians,
as the church guy says that god wants to be feared. Interesting parts are the woman near your house asking what you see in the lighthouse that
is hidden from them. And the guy near the shed telling you, all of them will be changed while not all of the will sleep. Huh?
-Even in the basement you find bottles. So maybe the father was the keeper but didn't do his job properly, so his son has to do it.
-When you try to get out you, the cellar door opens behind you, and you are greeted with a figure in the form of the lighthouse keeper. I guess it means a vision or haluzination
of your dead son.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - new keeper:
-Ok, so big confusion here, why did the statue disappear? Why do you now miss the dagger? Why are the torches now lit and why did the layout change? Remember the skeleton pierced
on the spikes? It is gone too now. I would have liked to call it just no-thoughts-given, but especially the statue and the dagger disappearing from you feel sus. Did someone
take the dagger from you? Was the statue alive in some way and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ off while you were having the flashback? And did take the dagger with it and light the torches? Does that mean
that you were in the flashback a significant time?
-Now the part with the weird flesh-pipe hanging from above raises also some questions. It drops oil, and it pulls up the weird flesh-ball you cut out of the embalmed person.
What is that flesh-ball? Interesting could be that it is cut from the abdomen, and not the chest, what this might signify I will come back to later. But for the monsters
transformation, I guess it is some sort of egg (or seed) that once planted into a human slowly grows and transforms them into the monster. The embalmed person maybe died before,
so the egg couldn't keep growing. So the flesh-pipe sucks it up and puts it to somewhere else where it maybe still is nourished up? I think the oil in general is what the monsters
are eating, and maybe are using to make the flesh-ball grow.
-The statues all show the transformation process, which makes it pretty clear that the flesh-ball is the start of becoming a monster.
-You put the dagger into the hand of the statue, then get it out again. Probably means nothing specific, was just the only way to show that you made again a sacrifice triggering
the next flashback.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - father:
-After turning on the lighthouse, you see people gathering over a fresh grave, which wasn't there before. Does that mean that they found the dead son?
Or does it mean that they assumed him dead and made a ceremonial burial. Or did they even sacrifice him? When you shop up it skips to day, maybe it implies the father breaking
down or having forgotten what happened afterwards.
-The church guy now has a different voiceline, he talks about the dead and that their memory is gone. He also says their "reward" is not more than the living. So he says that the
point is to live, and not embrace death. Considering this in the light of them being hardcore Christians, how they see value in their lifes in praying to god and doing hard work,
it could be that he is referring to not taking the easy route out of life.
-The guy behind your house also says something interesting, about how the "wicked's" light should be put out. This could mean that they are pretty non-understanding of mental
illnesses and see it as a virtue of, well, putting them to rest. Or anyone they do not agree with and deem to be crazy.
-As you dig up the grave, you find it is empty only full of the oil moths. So his body wasn't found. Someone placed the hint with the shovel in front of your door, so that must
mean that they told the father that they found the body but lied to him, the hint placed to help you find the truth. Why did they lie to you? There are multiple answers.
Either they actually sacrificed him and used his body for something nefarious. Or they know that he died someway that makes recovering his body impossible, like maybe someone saw
him swim out into the sea one night, or he fell downward the cliffs and his body got swept away. Or maybe, they didn't find the body but wanted to make the father help to accept
his sons death, to help him get done with it.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - new keeper:
-The statue is gone AGAIN. HOW? WHY? Also you are again in a new place. Maybe it means that you got "teleported" here? Or triggering the sacrifice made the architecture change
around you, so it is a requirement to proceed into the temple.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - father:
-You wake up in the lighthouse, with bottles around you but the lighthouse running. So you did the keepers job and tried to drink yourself unconsciousness.
-Why the frick is it raining IN the lighthouse? Just some dev mistake? It makes no sense to me.
-You put the barrel on the cellar door. And you hear something bumping up against it. So whatever there is, you don't want it to come out. Maybe your son, now transformed as
the monster?

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - new keeper:
-The boss-fight is pretty clear what it signifies I think. Either you fight against the monster, or you give in sacrifice yourself.
The achievements here are interesting, if you kill it, you get "The Emperor" which says "You've proved your courage.". The monster is a metaphor for something obviously, most
likely an inner demon like loneliness or depression. And it takes courage to take up the fight against your own demons and to come out as a conqueror. The "Justice" achievement
makes this is even clearer as it says "And if you could not - you've still held the urge.", so even trying to resist the urge of your inner demons is already a good thing. Maybe
you have still fallen to them, but at least you fought back, trying to get justice between you and the monster inside you. And "Death" ultimately says
"Sometimes there's only one way to get away from the darkness." that if you are not able to defeat your demons, then they might stay with you until your end. It can also mean
that for some people it is the only way to defeat their darkness, and they pay the ultimate price willingly: Suicide.
-The good ending:
When you defeat the beast, you go back and lay the shotgun into the chest. The battle is won, you no longer need it. Interestingly you have no mirror image here, but that could
have been an oversight of the devs. Then if you approach the table a moth appears and you see yourself as the father, and then you (the new keeper) appear besides him. I guess
this signifies that you have ended him, and the cycle with it. It says "There. In a tower on a rock that stands above the dark water. Hiding from his own guilt. Fed with his
wrath and pain. In the light that no one sees: In the darkness. where blood of innocents is hidden. A terror was born." And then you and father fuse together with dark eyes. So
maybe it is not a good ending at all? And when you see the bodies in the village with the man standing on the docks, what does this mean? My guess is, that the father killed all
the villagers in his wrath. Because he could not accept the fate of his son. In the darkness, where blood of innocents is hidden obviously talks about the temple below the tower.
And that those bodies there did not meet a just end.

Day 5 (The day the previous keeper disappeared) - father:
-What is the point of the boatsman scene? Does it mean he left new keeper on the island knowing fully well what would happen to him? I really couldn't connect this one to anything.
-You are greeted with visions of what I guess is someone being inside a flesh-bag, slowly being transformed into a monster. I assume this is the view from the old keeper, who is
in a flesh-bag while the boatsman is paddling away from the island. And I also guess the visions you see from the past are now seen from the view of the old keeper.
-The houses have red lights coming out from the windows and you can hear the moths inside. The father frantically bumps on the doors and asks where his son is. So most likely
interpretation is that he has gone mad at this point, thinks the villagers are hiding his son somewhere from him.
-The father gets bumped on the head in the morning, he probably was running around crazy all the night and the villagers had to do something against him. They say you keep chasing
that son of yours, and interestingly they now call you the keeper.

[lornlynx]

Day 2 (The day the terror got out of the deep) - old keeper:
-Ok, so now you play from the view of the old keeper. Seemingly he was already under the boat when new keeper came, and then he woke up. Or he was put there after his flesh-bag
transformation was over. He is spitting oil, so he has been infected with it as it seem. He only wants to make his way home and into his bed.
-It is night, and the lighthouse is already running. I guess because there is no one in the beds, it means the old keeper walked into home while old keeper was still in the
lighthouse. Otherwise it would make no sense as he smashed the boat when he woke up, so it had to be in this exact timeframe.
-The cross falls down, and even if you hang it up, it falls down again once you finally start transforming into the monster during the night.
-you are now the monster and are greeted with the weird letters appearing on the screen, probably telling you to hinder the lightkeeper. Eating the rope and the sandbags while new
keeper cleans the glass. Once you've eaten all three you can hear the door at the top open up so you go back into the basement. Interesting here is how you suddenly stand up
taller and get blurry vision. You then see a lightkeeper figure and the lightcandle, so I guess you are starting to either transform back or you are getting visions from starving.
-The parts in the cellar are interesting, especially that there is a coffin down there (could it be the son?). You also see another lightkeeper running, it probably also was just
a haluzination, maybe remembering yourself how you ran through there. Also at the end you find a skeleton with the lamp besides, who does it belong to?
-When you are chasing the new keeper, you can catch him and are greeted with a bible quote each time. These are MAJOR in my opinion, as they tell you what actually happened with
his son. Here is what they say "And they said one to another: Behold. The dreamercomes. Come now therefore. and let us slay him. and cast him into some pit. And we will say.
some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And they took Joseph's coat. and killed a kid of the goats. and dipped the coat in the blood:
And they sent the coat of many colours. And they brought it to their father: and said: This we have found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it. and said:
it is my son's coat: an evil beast hath devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces."
So yeah, the villagers didn't like the son, called Joseph, because he was a dreamer. Maybe he didn't want to accept their god or religion, or he had some other progressive ideas
that they didn't agree with. Remind the "wicked" speach of the guy behind your house. So they just killed him one day, and threw his body into a pit. They took his coat, killed a
small goat and smeared blood onto it. Then they gave it to the father and told him some beast had killed his son. So that explains the empty grave, the disappearence of the son,
and why they made the burial without informing the father. (Maybe the body that flies off the lighthouse on the first day is how they killed him)
-If you win the boss-fight here, you get the bad ending, which is also very interesting. It is the father talking about him having a dream, where he tells his son something but the
son is not listening. My guess here is, that the father was telling the son to keep his "dreaming" secret. To not talk about it, otherwise the villagers might think he is wicked
and kill him. Then in the dream as the son you pick up the book, turn around and you see the monster with the face of the father. I think this means that the father views himself
as the monster, maybe because he could not prevent his son from being killed.

Epilogue - father:
-The skeleton is besides a barrel of the oil. Does that mean the oil killed him?
-The basement is full of bottles. And a bed. I suppose the father moved into the basement. To be closer to his son?
-The lighttower is in ruins. I suppose this is meant to be a long time after the son disappeared. The father seems to be the only one left on the island.
-He finds the body of his son, buries him, and is able to let him go. He leaves the island in peace, freeing the soul of his son.

One big question remains: Are the monsters real?
And I have no definite answer to that. It could very well be that the villagers were actually a cult, secretly praying to these things and if they didn't like one enough, they
killed them and threw them down into the pit under the lighthouse. Or they are simply a metaphor of how monstrous people can be. Or how the father sees himself. Or how loneliness
and grief can drive one to insanity. I guess there is no definite answer to that, or left up for personal interpretation in the end.

Another "monster" conclusion:
I found it interesting that the father is an alcoholic, and how often the game reminded you of it. One interpretation I had at first, but is probably more whack is this: The oil
represents alcohol. The father was drinking too much to a point where he no longer could see himself as a human, he dreamed of how his son saw him as a monster. The flesh-ball
that starts the transformation is a metaphor for the liver. Buuuut I'm unsure of it because new keeper doesn't seem to have an issue with drinking at all, and there are no hints
of him being a drinker. So maybe that's just bollocks.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk.

[Quack]

no theory though seems to address the existance of the village itself, which is very questionable. Does the village ever existed, with all the inhabitants, the chapel, the well etc? There are some hints that it was all a dream, a delusion. For example when you play as the drunken father you wander on an inhabited island, but in the secret true ending, you're just alone with the remains of your son, and there's no sign that the village ever was there, apart from your own keeper house, which has now fallen to the elements. Also when you wander around in the second island sequence with the village, if you spam talk on any villager it will sometimes randomly change his original sentence to "try not to go mad from the loneliness" which is the same thing he told his son when dropping him off the boat the first day. I tried on every citizen and every single one will at some point say that sentence, if you spam interact enough times. Also I cannot accept the guide to be the father, because he talks to the keeper in such a way that rules out the two being intimate "ye do look like you know the job, do you?".

In my own interpretation the father and the son were the only two keepers on the island (hence the photo in the chest), but the being or beings who lives in the deep corrupted the father's mind, made him kill his son so that they could see how his dreams would have changed, maybe because they fed on his never ending pain. And so he dreamed he was his son, and he dreamed he was the monster chasing after him. In the true ending the lighthouse has fallen into such a state of disrepair, and he sleeps in storeroom because the keeper house is in ruins. He passed the trial, after many dreams (which he shared with the entity "you and I have the same dream, human"), so he could finally remember who he was and open his eyes to reality. Several years or even decades are implied to have passed, but yeah, not even a brick remains from the village you remember, and the rocks on the other side of the island are still there, they were never cut down to supposedly make the chapel and all other houses as in your visions of the village.

The few references to his son's tomb in the earlier chapters could represent his will to accept the truth and give his son a proper rest, and you finally can do just that when you wake up from your dreams in the true ending.

So I guess the title wasn't a lie, no one actually lives under the lighthouse, as there's just a dead body and no living being