What's the deal with Richard?

[Brigador Lemur]

This will go into some spoiler-heavy territory, but I'm rather confused as to what role does Richard play in this game?
At first, I thought he was simply just one guy's inner demon telling him that things will only get worse from here on out, but then he starts showing up in visions for the Russian Mobster as well as his boss and several other characters.
I know this might sound like a bit of a crackpot theory, but is he perhaps like some sort of Eldritch horror who picked these people and torments them in a form of hell?

[sage]

He's death

[Geese]

The generally accepted theory is that Richard is death itself. His reasons for making his appearance are questionable at best. It could be that he wishes to change the outcome of events, that he's judging the characters in question, possibly even trying to help them find peace with what they've done, maybe just observing for the sake of entertainment.

My theory is that Richard is meant to symoblize the player. In many regards, Richard is similar to the player. In the alternate opening you get after beating the game, it's revealed that one, he and Jacket are not the same entity, and two, that he's been watching everything unfold time and time again.

Much like Richard, we have involvement with the characters to an extent, but have no real control over what they'll do. Richard suggests on many occasions for them to change their paths, which at no points does he succeed. Just as the player might want to change how events unfold but has no actual ability to do so. In HM1 Richard states that he can only offer questions, the player also can only offer questions, similar in regards to the questions he makes.

There are some things that as far as I know, no one has figured out about Richard, that may be relevant to his place in the story. Firstly, there's the fact that Beard is aware of him and has apparently met him prior to the alternate opening of HM2, we don't know how Beard knows Richard. Secondly, he never appears to Jake, Richter, Manny Pardo, and Beard prior to the alternate opening.

Since Richard was a part of Jacket's psyche in HM1 and had two other characters with him, whereas in HM2 he always appears alone, I just chalk it down to the meetings where all three characters were present actually being his psyche, and the meetings where only Richard is around are when it's actually Richard.

[HawaiiMark]

He's a rooster. That's it.

[duwang man]

Originally posted by Welcome To The Rice Fields:

Richter

You explained it very well, but Richard appeared to Richter during the ending..

[angstlicht]

richard just shows up when a character realizes they're making a mistake or something is wrong. calling him "death" is idiotic because like he just shows up to evan before subway and nobody dies at all in that, he's just there to tell him that he's pushing his family away because he's a massive jerk.

henchman dreams about cars and money (not his girlfriend) and richard shows up to point that out.

martin brown tries to distance himself from his enjoyment of violence by blaming the surreal storytelling of his levels, and richard's there to tell him its a mistake to do that (it disrespects violence as an actual thing that actually kills brown).

mark sees richard in all his friends because he's realizing this joyride is going to end badly.

pardo never realizes his mistakes (because massively self-obsessed) and therefore never sees richard.

jake never realizes his mistakes (because idiot) and therefore never sees richard.

seeing richard as like a character with motivations is dumb. he's a marker intentionally put in the story at points where characters are shown to be offput by what they're doing. he's *their* internal voice. when he's put on a person, he's what the character he's talking to sees in that person.

and nah, he's not jacket. richter tried to apologize to him for the hooker in hm1 but richard said "i'm not who you think i am" in response.

[My House Is Full of Asbestos]

Originally posted by Welcome To The Rice Fields:

Beard is aware of him and has apparently met him prior to the alternate opening of HM2, we don't know how Beard knows Richard.

If anyhing this solidifies your theory of Richard being the player even more, as Beard is the only character in the alternate opening returning from HM1.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by Krusty Krab Unfair:

Originally posted by Welcome To The Rice Fields:

Beard is aware of him and has apparently met him prior to the alternate opening of HM2, we don't know how Beard knows Richard.

If anyhing this solidifies your theory of Richard being the player even more, as Beard is the only character in the alternate opening returning from HM1.

tbh this whole idea is blatantly flimsy and wrong. the player is the player. richard never indicates that he controls any of the characters ever, so he isn't the player. the characters richard takes over are not player characters. he *talks* to player characters, and you could argue he *talks* to the player.

beard is deeply familiar with being offput by his actions and is comfortable with them in certain contexts and uncomfortable with them outside those contexts. he understands he is fallible and tries to do the best he can inside that.

also beard met the colonel in the brandon mask and heard his foundation of 50B speech, so there's that.

[Geese]

Originally posted by dissolving arterial capsules:

Originally posted by Krusty Krab Unfair:

If anyhing this solidifies your theory of Richard being the player even more, as Beard is the only character in the alternate opening returning from HM1.

It's lunch time.

[PowerKristals]

I've actually given this one some thought I view Richard as a sort of harbinger, he brings the characters warnings of their futures which are for the most part too late to actually affect the outcome, he warns them of their fate but doesn't tell them how to avoid it, its more of a "this will be the outcome of your actions," Even in Hotline Miami 1 Richard didn't actually say anything that changed the outcome of the story to Jacket, his predictions were more of an omen than anything else, had he not told Jacket of Richter's eventual arrival nothing would have changed, Blondie still would have gotten killed and Jacket still hospitalized. He doesn't tell them their fates to change them, he tells them their fates to force them to examine their actions before its too late and to, in Richter's case, accept fate and understand there's nothing to be done about it.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by LemonLime:

I've actually given this one some thought I view Richard as a sort of harbinger, he brings the characters warnings of their futures which are for the most part too late to actually affect the outcome, he warns them of their fate but doesn't tell them how to avoid it, its more of a "this will be the outcome of your actions," Even in Hotline Miami 1 Richard didn't actually say anything that changed the outcome of the story to Jacket, his predictions were more of an omen than anything else, had he not told Jacket of Richter's eventual arrival nothing would have changed, Blondie still would have gotten killed and Jacket still hospitalized. He doesn't tell them their fates to change them, he tells them their fates to force them to examine their actions before its too late and to, in Richter's case, accept fate and understand there's nothing to be done about it.

richard never provides new information that the character doesn't already know. it's because he's like an internal voice.

like sure mark gets to here the walkie talkie reports but that isn't so much information as it is getting generally creeped out by the fact that you can actually die on one of these joyrides.

when richard says "you're all going the wrong way" it indicates that all of the characters feel offput by the way they're going to some degree. but only beard actually did what he wanted to with his life and was content. richter alllllmost did too, hence richard being appreciative but not impressed.

[dan1kqop]

LOL

[Earl Komrad]

Originally posted by dissolving arterial capsules:

Originally posted by Krusty Krab Unfair:

If anyhing this solidifies your theory of Richard being the player even more, as Beard is the only character in the alternate opening returning from HM1.

tbh this whole idea is blatantly flimsy and wrong. the player is the player. richard never indicates that he controls any of the characters ever, so he isn't the player. the characters richard takes over are not player characters. he *talks* to player characters, and you could argue he *talks* to the player.

beard is deeply familiar with being offput by his actions and is comfortable with them in certain contexts and uncomfortable with them outside those contexts. he understands he is fallible and tries to do the best he can inside that.

also beard met the colonel in the brandon mask and heard his foundation of 50B speech, so there's that.

No. Beard met the Colonel wearing the face of a skinned Panther.
Also, Jacket is seen as part of the squad beard was in the war. So, both men had witnessed the Colonel speak.
What if Richard is merely a symbolic figure and the prior encounter he had with Beard was when the Colonel made his speach?

[nightcore at 120dB]

I think like many other people Richard symbolizes death himself and every one who is involved in the story may be in some sort of purgatory mode were nothing will change unless they repent and stop doing bad deeds. But the fact that Richard seems to have an effect on everyone like a supernatural or Strong Aura on everyone back up my and many others theory that Richard is death himself as Biker says in Bar of Broken heroes he says that he most likely met Richard but Richard seem to give him the "chills" . However the only two people that seem to mess up this problem Is Beard and Evan. First thing is Beard, why would he be in this purgatory state after all he's a soldier it's his job to go out and kill for his country. Next is Evan he is a simple writer who seems to resemble that of the Batman if you decide to not kill people that is. The fact that Beard seems to remember Richard must be that Beard may be breaking through his spiritual and that his mind is starting to realize what's going on.
Eh well it's just my theory it's a little shaky as that Hotline Miami is such a game in which the whole story is rather not giving to you and it's open to interpretation.

[notFore]

what a lust for necro.


WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[nightcore at 120dB]

Not really a lust it's just kinda cool to intemperate it in different ways.