The Changing God and the Last Castoff - the implied connection

[pitfiend]

In this thread I'd like to touch on the most intriguing yet unverified implication of the game's closure.

*warning spoilers ahead*

From the very beginning we are encouraged by Alligern to consider the Last Castoff could be the Changing God himself, even if in amnesiac state. The Castoff tattoo may be an evidence against it, however the ability to retrieve parts of the Changing God's memories and to change the past through the other Castoffs' Merecasters indicates the protagonist is much more then the average Castoff.

By the mid game we discover the Changing God's consciousness resides inside the Labyrinth in The Last Castoff's mind, however by the end game we find out this could very well be the backup memories the Changing God created as contingence to his final death.

Did the Changing God actually die when The Sorrow touched him briefly on that moon before The Last Castoff was born as he was falling from it? The text in the Merecaster vision given right before that final confrontation with the specter in the Labyrinth suggests it was his memories and identity which were erased by The Sorrow's touch right before the fall, which brings us back to the Amnesiac Changing God theory Alligern suspected from the start.

We get the option to convince the Specter he is only a backup memory, not the Changing God's actual consciousness, however at no point can we be certain it's true, nor could the specter be certain it's not true, also we are left to wonder what is counsciouness anyway if not the sum total of all our memories and experiences?

I would be ready to call it a day and lean towards the amnesiac Changing God interpertation if it wasn't for the Castoff Tattoo marking The Last Castoff. Even so, one could make the argument that perhaps this tatto is the inevitable and automatic result of any consciousness wipe of any sort, be it a consciousness transfer as with the other Castoffs or the finall loss of memory and identity, such as befell the Changing God when The Sorrow touched him on that moon.

I guess this was supposed to remain a mystery, leaving us to wonder on its implications. what are your thoughts? Which way do you lean? Did I miss any final clue along the way?

[Zanteogo]

One could say that every single Cast Off is in fact an equal part of the Changing God, and that the CG is just spliting himself up more and more.

So yes, your character IS the CG, as well as every cast off.

This is why combining all the Cast Off's into one is an ending.

[pitfiend]

Originally posted by Zanteogo:

One could say that every single Cast Off is in fact an equal part of the Changing God, and that the CG is just spliting himself up more and more.

So yes, your character IS the CG, as well as every cast off.

This is why combining all the Cast Off's into one is an ending.

Yes, this does suggest all Castoffs are parts of the Changing God's psych which were left behind, this doesn't mean The Last Castoff couldn't be a special case in the sense he/she is the final address of the Changing God's consciousness and in a sense also it's final resting place after The Sorrow's touch induced a memory wipe.

[Hawke]

Castoffs get the tattoo from the beginning, not when Adahn leaves the body. I guess, it's up to the player to decide, if the protagonist is TCG or just his latest castoff.

I'd like to think that the Sorrow separated Adahn's memories and personality into TLC and the Specter, so in the end it can be restored.

[Zanteogo]

Originally posted by Hawke:

Castoffs get the tattoo from the beginning, not when Adahn leaves the body. I guess, it's up to the player to decide, if the protagonist is TCG or just his latest castoff.

I'd like to think that the Sorrow separated Adahn's memories and personality into TLC and the Specter, so in the end it can be restored.

The Changing God with a memory wipe and The Last Castoff are the exact same thing. It's a wonderfully open way to end the game. All options are equally true.

[WardDragon]

My interpretation was that I was a castoff. I got the impression that when the Sorrow attacked, the Changing God tried to escape to a new body and the Sorrow killed him (either intercepted his consciousness before he got to the new body, or maybe destroyed the new body). Then the computer backup of his memories got desperate and tried to possess me. I think that's what the mere was referring to when it said I was getting attacked (rather than the Sorrow actually touching me, as in my version I made it to the escape pod way ahead of her).

In retrospect, it's integral to the story that the Sorrow invaded my mind, so I guess she did reach me afterall and maybe that's what the mere was supposed to refer to (rather than it being the Specter invading my mind) but I still think my interpretation makes the most sense based on what I saw in my play-through.

Either way though, I have the same views in a moral and practical sense. Even if the Last Castoff was supposed to be the Changing God with amnesia, I think that the Last Castoff was still essentially a new person and should be judged on their own actions alone (especially in my version when I played as a very good character who was very different from the Changing God).

I also felt like the game had the same view because other characters were very understanding of the situation and treated my character as a new person regardless of whatever the Changing God did. The ending of Planescape: Torment was one of the few things I really didn't like in that game (although it was a big one) so I was very relieved that Tides of Numenera seemed to be taking a much different approach to blaming the poor amnesiac for things that someone else did (or at least, it was someone else in my view). I definitely think the ending of Tides could have been better-paced and presented much more clearly though. I didn't like getting an info-dump from the Sorrow at the end, especially since I had reason not to trust her. I wish a lot more of that information had been placed throughout the game for me to discover from other sources.

[GrayvieSunny]

Castoff tattoo is a conduit for consciousness transfer. Since Changing God's original body is long gone he can't exist in a vessel that doesn't have the tattoo (because he won't be able to hop into it).