Any Ib theories?

[Officer Ini]

The lore of this game is kinda all over the place so i want theories on what in the world is going on. How come in the "Painting's demise" ending, instead of Mary escaping to the real world she was stuck in an dark and empty museum? How did Garry know the answer to the "Juggling" painting's question despite the book being on a different floor with no other way of knowing? who is Gurtena? There is so much we don't know.

[Ëvïlnïck8 ゴゴゴ]

Those are all good qeustions,

One thing I am curious about is why there was a painting of IB's parents.
But the gallery acts in mysterious ways. So no way to know for sure.

[Retiylh]

I wish the lore was more developed because I really love this game. One of my theories is that Ib and Garry are also creations of Guertena, hence why the gallery seemingly chose them; It was calling them home. There's a certain beauty to their very being that's almost too perfect to be entirely human, evoking a warmness to them like a finished art piece. In the Together Forever ending Mary became Ib's sister. But Ib was an only child. In that ending, the timeline was such that Mary's existence always had been. There was no transition.. Maybe that worked the same way with Ib and Garry? I think they successfully escaped in a similar way and became part of the real world with no memory of their past.

Things that stick out to me:

- The Lady in Red looks very similar to Ib, almost like a she's a kindred being.

- The Forgotten Portrait may well be a real portrait by Guertena.

- Mary, despite being a painting, can still exist as a human in a separate timeline

And this quote in the game:

"It's said that spirits dwell in objects into which people put their feelings."

"I've always thought that, if that's true, then the same must be true of artwork."

"So today, I shall immerse myself in work, so as to impart my own spirit into my creations."

I believe that Ib and Garry are more than just victims in a strange world. They are themselves finished pieces being pulled back to their true home. As I said, I wish the lore was touched on more in the remake because I am very interested in knowing more about the world of Ib.

[purple&green2023]

I kinda have a theory that not only does someone in the real world needed to replace Mary for her to leave the fabricated world (which she knows based on her diary). But she also needed to leave with another human from the real world so her existence can be tied up with said human. Mary did not know that part though and found out the hard way in "A painting's demise"

This is why we can have an ending like "together, forever" and also have an ending like "A painting's demise" in which the key difference
in" together, forever" is that Mary left the painting with Ib (or shortly after Ib) and it's no coincidence that she became Ib's "sister" on that ending. I would assume in an alternative reality if Ib was left behind/died and Garry left with Mary then Mary would have been rewritten in reality as Garry's sister, I bet.

In "A Painting's demise", she had no real life person to tie her existence to therefore she could not leave the fabricated world and because of her insolence got punished.

For other theories, I like the idea of Garry being a decendant of Gueterna

[fxknight]

A bit of a necropost, but I'm wondering about what the heck was going on in this game too. The game seems to have adopted Stephen King's rather annoying "answers are no fun" philosophy and explained absolutely nothing about what is happening in the game and why it is happening at all. Who was Guertena? Did he create the horrible shadow realm in the gallery, and if so, why? Was he some kind of evil wizard? Was he even human? Was this all a mistake? Did he intend it? How did Ib get drawn into the shadow world, and why? Why the heck does this otherworldly gauntlet that Ib must survive even exist at all in the first place?

"Not gonna tell ya! Ever! Isn't that fun?" says kouri, or so it seems.

People have made some theories here, but evidence for them is lacking. The theory that both Ib and Garry are works of Guertena's doesn't add up. Ib knew her parents... both of them... from the beginning, and knew about the outside world, while Mary only had a "father" (Guertena himself, presumably) and knew nothing of the outside world. Garry also had knowledge of the outside world, referring to some things you can only learn there occasionally, and more importantly, if he were a work of art, Mary's replacing him would not work and the "together forever" ending would not be possible. Remember, she had to replace someone real, and replacing Garry worked, implying that he was indeed real. Mary's rose was also a fake, while Garry and Ib's was real. Garry being a descendant of Guertena's seems kind of inconsequential... not sure why that would matter, even if true... but he refers to Guertena by his last name, which a family member certainly wouldn't do, and there were countless opportunities for him to state that he had a connection of any kind to Guertena, and he never did.

But beyond the theory of who Ib and Garry are, I'm frustrated by the fact that we have no idea who Guertena was, what his exhibit was trying to accomplish, why or how Ib and Garry got pulled in, and just why the heck any of this happened at all. If it was Guertena's intention to trap people in the ghost world, then why? It seems he didn't want to kill them outright, but if he wanted them to escape, what's the point?

My only theory is that Mary was the key. Maybe Guertena wanted to give Mary a chance to get out, and so planted a trap in the gallery for people, but also wanted to give them a chance for redemption and not just doom them outright for Mary's sake. I suppose it makes sense... but why the heck couldn't the developer just say that, or at least give a hint to that being the case?

I'm no horror writer, but I know that I vehemently disagree with King's statement, and am annoyed whenever horror writers decide to follow it. A mystery with no solution isn't a good one; it's lazy, unfulfilling, and pointless, at least for me. I enjoyed my time with the game, but the ending left me very cold, and my one burning question about what the heck was going on never being answered was anything but satisfying. You don't have to explain the mechanics or anything... a certain level of mystery when dealing with the shadow world is just fine... but when we have absolutely no information about why any of this happened, it's very hard to care, or call it a good story. The devs nailed the atmosphere and the concept is great, but without any kind of context, motive, or understanding, there's nothing to tie it all together.

Just my personal take. Discussion is welcome.