(SPOILERS) So What Exactly did Henri Forget?

[HankMcTankerton]

I remember getting notes at the beginning of the game written by the player, that specifies that "I wonder if they know what I did" and "I can never forget this horrible thing I did", but... what is he even talking about?

As far as I can tell, he didn't have anything to do with the unearthing of the Roman catacombs, or the creation of the monster (not anything he would've known about anyways, since he was in a coma when the water took effect). It's very possible I missed a more important note somewhere that explains it, but I completed the game, restarted on hard, read those first notes again, and went "hey, wait a minute..."

Any help for a potentially brain-dead petrol bomb enjoyer?

[Blessedborn]

The officers wanted either Henri or Lambert to go out on patrol, and the two of them decided to determine who would go via a game of chance. Henri used a sleight-of-hand trick to ensure he'd win and Lambert would be the one to go out on patrol that night. He saw it as a kind of prank and thought they could have a good laugh about it afterwards. The two of them used to prank each other all the time apparently.

When morning came Lambert still hadn't returned and Henri became stricken with guilt, thinking he'd sent Lambert out to his death at the hands of the Germans. In actuality Lambert was just injured when the ground collapsed under him due to the ongoing excavation of the Roman tunnels and he fell into a crater. You rescue him from this crater during the prologue, after which Henri is injured by an artillery strike, sending him into the coma he wakes from at the start of the game and making him forget all this.

That's it really, Henri played a prank on his buddy, thought he'd accidentally gotten him killed because of it and started to feel really guilty over it. Then he mostly forgot this had happened after waking from his artillery-induced coma.

[HankMcTankerton]

Originally posted by Blessedborn:

That's it really, Henri played a prank on his buddy, thought he'd accidentally gotten him killed because of it and started to feel really guilty over it.

Damn, that's... really underwhelming, actually. I was expecting it to involve him knowingly letting out the monster, or not telling the others about some "great evil", or sacrificing someone and causing all this.

I get why he'd be so guilt-stricken, but the way the notes are written, it makes it seem much, much worse.

[Blessedborn]

Originally posted by HankMcTankerton:

Originally posted by Blessedborn:

That's it really, Henri played a prank on his buddy, thought he'd accidentally gotten him killed because of it and started to feel really guilty over it.

Damn, that's... really underwhelming, actually. I was expecting it to involve him knowingly letting out the monster, or not telling the others about some "great evil", or sacrificing someone and causing all this.

I get why he'd be so guilt-stricken, but the way the notes are written, it makes it seem much, much worse.

Yeah the notes definitely hype it up to be more than it is. Maybe they were going for some sorta subversion where it sounds really bad, but then you find out it wasn't such a big deal and didn't even have anything to do with all the supernatural stuff, and then you find out Henri's actually done something much worse that he never wrote about. But since Henri had no way of knowing what the water would do it's still hard to blame him all that much.

Definitely not as good as the twist in the first game.

[sidneyc1990]

It's actually a lot more heartbreaking when the true reason was due to a preventable, mundane, "small" selfish mistake. Your indirectly killed your best friend because you were lazy. Most of us in real life have done something similar, not knowing the consequences of our smallest actions. It could happen to any of us.

Even the ending of the game emphasizes the futility of the escape, the pointlessness of it all. Everything we went through was pointless - we're just another casualty in the war. We only ascribe meaning to something because there is no meaning in the first place, and the lack of meaning can be horrifying for some.

[Norwee]

Henri feels big guilt because the way he described it, the fact that he thought it was just an harmless "joke" was his big sin.

[Pie Eater 9000]

Originally posted by Blessedborn:

Originally posted by HankMcTankerton:

Damn, that's... really underwhelming, actually. I was expecting it to involve him knowingly letting out the monster, or not telling the others about some "great evil", or sacrificing someone and causing all this.

I get why he'd be so guilt-stricken, but the way the notes are written, it makes it seem much, much worse.

Yeah the notes definitely hype it up to be more than it is. Maybe they were going for some sorta subversion where it sounds really bad, but then you find out it wasn't such a big deal and didn't even have anything to do with all the supernatural stuff, and then you find out Henri's actually done something much worse that he never wrote about. But since Henri had no way of knowing what the water would do it's still hard to blame him all that much.

Definitely not as good as the twist in the first game.

There's more to the story, though. The Roman Tunnels include strange floating rocks that match the ones found in Amnesia: Rebirth. This implies that the Other World had some influence over the area.

If you recall from that game, the enemies were actually human before drinking from a fountain shown to them by the Empress of the Other World. Furthermore, you may recall from the Prologue in the Bunker that Henri gave his injured friend some water before passing out. This implies that Lambert transformed into the Beast (Another hint is the Beast's strange affection for the rabbit toy -- Lambert's journal says he bought it for his son).

So not only did Henri lead his friend to get injured, he inadvertently caused most of his fellow soldiers to be gruesomely murdered.

[Corey]

Originally posted by HankMcTankerton:

Originally posted by Blessedborn:

That's it really, Henri played a prank on his buddy, thought he'd accidentally gotten him killed because of it and started to feel really guilty over it.

Damn, that's... really underwhelming, actually. I was expecting it to involve him knowingly letting out the monster, or not telling the others about some "great evil", or sacrificing someone and causing all this.

I get why he'd be so guilt-stricken, but the way the notes are written, it makes it seem much, much worse.

At first it's kind of underwhelming sure, but if you think about it, everything that has happened to the bunker was actually Henri's doing in an indirect way, which makes it even more tragic and sad, and it all started with that prank. Henri pranked Lambert who got mortally wounded, went out after him, after finding him he unknowingly made him drink from the substance and that's when the sh** hit the fan as it sealed Lambert's and most of the bunker's soldiers' fate.
Well things were already dire in the bunker way before this, it started after they found the Roman tunnels, but Henri's actions made everything worse real fast.

Edit: just read Pie Eater 9000's comment above, my thoughts exactly.

[Blessedborn]

Originally posted by Pie Eater 9000:

Originally posted by Blessedborn:

Yeah the notes definitely hype it up to be more than it is. Maybe they were going for some sorta subversion where it sounds really bad, but then you find out it wasn't such a big deal and didn't even have anything to do with all the supernatural stuff, and then you find out Henri's actually done something much worse that he never wrote about. But since Henri had no way of knowing what the water would do it's still hard to blame him all that much.

Definitely not as good as the twist in the first game.

There's more to the story, though. The Roman Tunnels include strange floating rocks that match the ones found in Amnesia: Rebirth. This implies that the Other World had some influence over the area.

If you recall from that game, the enemies were actually human before drinking from a fountain shown to them by the Empress of the Other World. Furthermore, you may recall from the Prologue in the Bunker that Henri gave his injured friend some water before passing out. This implies that Lambert transformed into the Beast (Another hint is the Beast's strange affection for the rabbit toy -- Lambert's journal says he bought it for his son).

So not only did Henri lead his friend to get injured, he inadvertently caused most of his fellow soldiers to be gruesomely murdered.

Yeah I understand that, but there was no way Henri could've possibly known that would happen. I'm sure he would still feel guilt but I can't really blame him. It's not as interesting as Daniel torturing people for vitae to try and stave off the Shadow.

There's a bit more moral complexity to that since Daniel was definitely in the wrong but it was either that or let himself be consumed by the otherworldly force hunting him, and he convinced himself they were vicious criminals anyway, though deep down he probably always knew they were innocent. I can't say if I would do any different in his position. Whereas Henri just made an honest mistake and couldn't possibly have known what it would lead to.

I also think the first Amnesia doesn't give away that Daniel has done anything wrong quite as early, whereas this game makes it clear right away Henri's done something he regrets. So it comes as more of a surprise when you learn about Daniel's crimes.

[ALE199]

I think it works like daniel twist but in reverse, instead of slowly discoving the horrible thing daniel has done it's discovering the tame thing that Henry has done

[Sky]

In addition to what others have been saying, I suspect that something isn't mentioned in the notes; or is barely hinted at:

I think he and the others, tortured the german soldier who you find locked in the cell. Considering the tool that's in the german soldier's cell, it's a good guess to assume they did some horrific ♥♥♥♥ to that man.