Story ending explained [spoilers]

[Amenophys]

The story is simple:

Fred was known to be able to climb mountains at the age of 52. You can see a newspaper on a wall in the epilogue stating that exploit.

Fred died during a climbing accident. He probably felt into a crevice or similar. His body has never been found (hence the memorial).

The story is the story the kid made up in his head to imagine how his uncle could have survived, he viewed him as a genius (he was expert in quantum physics as a wall says), and imagined that in his ice tomb he survived with a mystical travel device, that he was living with happy and nice creatures in a small paradise inside the mountains... He imagined himself traveling in that world. just like his uncle did, to find him again, but, in the end, lose him forever (admit his death).

That's why you don't get to open the locker in the end, and there is no launch pad. That story never happened.

That's also why the glowing message in the final ice room before you quit your uncle is translated "Acceptance".

Other secret words, once translated say "Denial" (portal) and in caverns "Anger". These are the common steps when you are in mourning (in psychology: shock -> denial -> culpability -> anger -> sadness -> acceptance and other blablabla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model)

[Nellodee]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von GlobalZilla:

That's why you don't get to open the locker in the end, and there is no launch pad. That story never happened.

I'm not sure how you can say with certainty that the launch pad isn't there. Yes, we don't see it, because it's covered in snow, but the computer from the opening is there,and the wires leading to where the launch pad would be. I'm not saying your interpretation is wrong, just that piece of evidence seems shaky.

[Josh Wilson]

Although, if those cubes were burials things. Then that part where you drain the crystal's energy seems rather darkly comical.

[Rupbert2]

And whats the point of Maddie?

[Josh Wilson]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Shigenji:

And whats the point of Maddie?

Represents some girlfriend he had.

[Internet Boy]

Why do people always have to dig for a deeper meaning..

[ZeroUnderscoreOu]

I'm not sure you're right with such interpretation, but you probably should post it as a guide.

[bucihrkc]

Freddy is not dead :( Freddy lives with Maddie happily ever after *cries in a corner*

[Machacador9000]

I found the words "anger" and "isolation" and I was wondering what they meant. now that you say the last one is "acceptence" is pretty clear. I still think is a great story.

[Denzin]

My only issue with this is, that Fred was a quantum physicist, you can see his diploma in his loft, along with pictures of star constellations and cave pictures of the grapple marking. The computer is still in his observatory and could be connected to the launch pad, so you could take it that it all happened.

Though Madie could be his own innocence getting left behind, waiting for his uncle to come back.

[itawtitawapudytat]

In the final scene, there's a pill bottle, labeled "anti depp". Anyone ever consider that Fred might have committed suicide?

[Creaky Log]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Sun_S:

What did Fred contribute to him becoming a father?
I did notice that the narrator mentions his mother and his uncle, but not his own father. I guess Fred was the closest thing to a dad the young boy had? And his example has encouraged the narrator to want to have children of his own?

During the final scene when Fred sends the boy back home, Fred ends with "my boy". The narrator might have seen his uncle as a father figure and reflected it in the story in order to cope. Also, the fleeting nature of the final scene gave me a couple ideas about how the narrator remembers his uncle. The suit his uncle wears is not the same as the boy's suit, it's noticeably scarce in armor, offering none of the protection that the boy had. Remember how the boy damaged his suit during the journey, but was protected from the perils of the ice cave by it? The uncle's suit would never have survived the journey, I mean duct tape can only withstand so much punishment. The ending felt like it was intentially rushed, almost disconnected from the rest of the story in order to allow the narrator to cope with his loss and connect with his uncle.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Long story short this game can be treated as an interactive experience or can be broken down and analyzed. The conclusions might not even be what the writers intended, but they give open ended stories like this amazing depth.

[UltimateViking]

I think they simply need to make an another game like this not identicle but similar. The reason for that is I really liked the game and even tho you analyse it its still a great game.

[pygmalion0451]

I like this ending, but I'll consider it non-canon until the developer says the contrary.

Not that I'm defending the story (as a matter of fact, the plot was rather shallow), but the interactions between characters was so endearing I don't want to take away the whimsical tone of the game.

[Mighty Crablante]

Wow...that all went right over my head while I was playing. I love this theory though. It's beautiful in a depressing way.

[Mrs_Lestrange]

Very sad ; (