[SPOILERS] About Mr. Jefferson...

[Zapatista1989]

I beat the whole game and while I loved everything about it, I never really understood why Mr. Jefferson did what he did (picture teen girls vunerable and later kill them). It's what I kind of disliked about the story, they didn't explain it well. Can somebody explain this???

[Moonjunk]

Really, only Racheal and Victoria died. Racheal because Nathan botched it, and Victoria because why the ♥♥♥♥ not and he is probably mad. He did it for the art. He published them in his magazines and what not. It was the perfect shot that he could only get in the... DARK ROOM!*



*As Read In A Fallout: New Vegas OWB Brain Scientist saying Doctor Mobius Voice.

[ndruha]

That's fun but looks like Jefferson didn't kill a single of his victims. Ok, he kills Victoria in the very end in one of the cases. But Rachel was killed by Nathan. Jefferson tried to kill Max but David intervened. And he didn't murder any of the previous victims. As for why he does his pictures - it's just his sick obsession, he tells about it in the game. And he didn't want to kill, except for the case where he wanted to remove evidence (like in the case of Max, Victoria and Nathan). Look here - I made this topic on Jefferson, there are a lot of explanations (see also the replies).
https://steamcommunity.com/app/319630/discussions/0/361798516942781381/

Especially this one:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/319630/discussions/0/361798516942781381/#c361798516944721936

[Hroþa]

It's worth noting that Jefferson moved to Arcadia Bay not long before the start of the game. Some/many/most of those binders were probably LA girls, so it is possible some of them were murdered too, without contradicting the fact that Rachel was the first person missing from Arcadia Bay in a while. Jefferson surely has no qualms about murdering Nathan, or Chloe, or Victoria, or Max, so I find it likely he had done it before (but granted, there's no evidence).

As for his reasons, I still think it's all about the power dynamics. All that artsy stuff is what he says to justify himself, but it's BS.

[ndruha]

Originally posted by Hroþa:

It's worth noting that Jefferson moved to Arcadia Bay not long before the start of the game. Some/many/most of those binders were probably LA girls, so it is possible some of them were murdered too, without contradicting the fact that Rachel was the first person missing from Arcadia Bay in a while. Jefferson surely has no qualms about murdering Nathan, or Chloe, or Victoria, or Max, so I find it likely he had done it before (but granted, there's no evidence).

Yep, that's true, he definitely might have killed before, the game just doesn't tell this. But the point is that Jefferson didn't kill for fun, he used drugs instead, so his victims don't remember anything. He only killed those, who already knew about him by one or another way.

[Zapatista1989]

Originally posted by BATMAX:

Here is my analysis on this character:

This character has antisocial personality disorders – he deceives others, doesn’t care about them and doesn’t feel remorse or guilt.

I don’t think he is a psychopath – he is not born like that and doesn’t seem to be mentally hill, as he knows what he is doing – but he is more likely a sociopath because he has constructed the dark room around his hobby and his job. Thus, it is highly probable he has lost his mind and ties with the real world; celebrity can damage peoples on various levels – arrogance, ignorance, loneliness and sadness, etc. On top of that, becoming a teacher was something he must have planned to have a superiority on young and innocent peoples.

We can also take into consideration the fact that he doesn’t kill all his victims – Kate – which leads me to the second examination; his murders were unplanned and made under pressure or anger – he killed Rachel and Max because they got too close, and Nathan because he must have disappointed his mentor.

I would say he became this monster after a childhood trauma or a trauma that was built over time while he was adult in the industry. Photography is his new world and the dark room where he can be himself. One thing is sure, he likes to see young students helpless and he captures their images for his darkest desires. Trust me, you don’t want to know more, unless you are a therapist.

I'd love to see Mark Jefferson's backstory in maybe a prequel game, kinda like how they did Michonne for the Walking Dead, except with photos and dark rooms.

[Jeckenn]

It was another weak part of the storyline that Jefferson had this fetish where he wants to photograph innocent young girls in a drugged state so it appears they are near death.

As for him killing all the girls well I think he did kill them all except Kate and Max, the rest I think he murdered them all. Why do I think that? Well when asking Jefferson about things like when he shot Chloe he tried to put the blame on Nathan and he, I think, also tried to blame Nathan's death on someone else. This is classic pshychopath behavior, it is always someone else's fault, because it is the only way they can live with themselves. Someone made them do it, something made them do it, it is NEVER the psychopath's fault in their minds.

Another thing you can find out when he has Max in the Darkroom is when he says, and I quote, "You all wake up with that doe eyed look on your face and that quickly turns to horror as you realize what is about to happen" Now why would he say that unless "what is about to happen" is that he is going to kill them? If they knew he was going to let them go their look would not turn to horror..would it?

If you ask Jefferson about Kate he tells Max that he plans on visiting her at the hospital and silencing her or something like that I can't remember his exact wording. However my point is the Jefferson psychopath has NO PROBLEM killing his victims so why would he have a cabinet full of binders with information on all of those girls if they were still out there and could possibly remember what he did to them?

That is another thing psychopaths rarely do, they don't leave evidence and every girl he let go would be evidence against him that could possibly suddenly remember everything.

[ⴰⴼⴰⵍⴽⵓ]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

As for him killing all the girls well I think he did kill them all except Kate and Max, the rest I think he murdered them all. Why do I think that? Well when asking Jefferson about things like when he shot Chloe he tried to put the blame on Nathan and he, I think, also tried to blame Nathan's death on someone else.

We don’t have evidences he kills all his victims. When he killed Chloé, it was because she would have killed him with the gun. But he would have still drugged and killed her, because she was much too close to find his secrets.

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

Another thing you can find out when he has Max in the Darkroom is when he says, and I quote, "You all wake up with that doe eyed look on your face and that quickly turns to horror as you realize what is about to happen" Now why would he say that unless "what is about to happen" is that he is going to kill them?

It’s possible he killed a few of his victims, and when he said ‘all’, he meant all he killed. We are not sure at this point, but it’s also a probability.

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

If you ask Jefferson about Kate he tells Max that he plans on visiting her at the hospital and silencing her or something like that I can't remember his exact wording. However my point is the Jefferson psychopath has NO PROBLEM killing his victims so why would he have a cabinet full of binders with information on all of those girls if they were still out there and could possibly remember what he did to them?

I think Kate would have never contacted the police and open a case that could tie him to Nathan. Max convinced Kate that she was indeed drugged and she needed proofs. So, Jefferson wanted to silence the witness. If Kate said nothing, he would not need to silence her. Thus, it doesn’t necessarily mean he killed all of his victims. By the way, I think Kate was the work of Nathan, and Chloé was his sparring subject – remember when we find the picture of Chloé in Nathan’s room.

It’s all speculations, but there must be some truth somewhere in it.

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

As for him killing all the girls well I think he did kill them all except Kate and Max, the rest I think he murdered them all. Why do I think that? Well when asking Jefferson about things like when he shot Chloe he tried to put the blame on Nathan and he, I think, also tried to blame Nathan's death on someone else. This is classic pshychopath behavior, it is always someone else's fault, because it is the only way they can live with themselves. Someone made them do it, something made them do it, it is NEVER the psychopath's fault in their minds.

He doesn't blame Chloe's death on anyone else. As you might notice when playing through the game Nathan is an exceptionally erratic individual considering right up until the end of episode four we have been led to believe Nathan has been responsible for everything. What Jefferson rather clearly states is that Nathan's behaviour means pinning a murder on him will be believable because of this behaviour.

He doesn't blame Nathan's death on anyone else and in actual fact states the opposite he killed him because he had become a liability and very openly admits to that.

Originally posted by BATMAX:

We don’t have evidences he kills all his victims. When he killed Chloé, it was because she would have killed him with the gun. But he would have still drugged and killed her, because she was much too close to find his secrets.

We don't have evidence that he has killed any of them.He kills Nathan because he's become liability. He kills Chloe because she's uncovered the truth regarding Rachel and Victoria because she knows too much. We have no information on any of the other girls he has binders on [/quote]

[Tabby]

Originally posted by Hroþa:

It's worth noting that Jefferson moved to Arcadia Bay not long before the start of the game. Some/many/most of those binders were probably LA girls, so it is possible some of them were murdered too, without contradicting the fact that Rachel was the first person missing from Arcadia Bay in a while. Jefferson surely has no qualms about murdering Nathan, or Chloe, or Victoria, or Max, so I find it likely he had done it before (but granted, there's no evidence).

As for his reasons, I still think it's all about the power dynamics. All that artsy stuff is what he says to justify himself, but it's BS.

I mean, Max do take pictures of dead birds and whales, depicting it as sad yet beautiful.

[Qiana]

Originally posted by Zapatista1989:

... I never really understood why Mr. Jefferson did what he did (picture teen girls vunerable and later kill them). ... Can somebody explain this???

That's extremely easy to explain and to understand.

Because of the * “fascination” and the ** “obsession”.

He was simply fascinated with “capturing the moment of innocence” and “keep it for eternity”.

However, WHY exactly somebody gets obsessive, nobody will ever be able to fully explain.

--

* “: the state of being fascinated : the state of feeling an intense interest in something”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascination

** “: a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obsession

--

Addendum:

The obsession causes the irrational attachment to some idea or a person and it can't easily be explained with only the emotional attachment.

That kind of behavior is pretty common wherever you go — even here in forums. You can see it pretty well in “What decision did you make?” thread for example, where some people got completely lost in their obsession.

With a well written book or game, or ... emotional involvement with a main character(s) is a normal thing, but normal people are done with reading that book or playing that game and their emotional involvement goes down after a couple of days, weeks or in the worst case, months.

However, you can clearly see that some people get ill — obsessive; even a couple of years later, they just can't get back to “normal”. That's where you get the “obsession”.

The biggest problem is, that the “obsessed” never recognize their problem on their own — that's “Dunning-Kruger” again.

Originally posted by Wikipedia, Dunning-Kruger effect:

If you're *incompetent, you can't know you're *incompetent ... The skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.

* One becomes “incompetent” at the moment (and because) of becoming/being “obsessed”.

The closest explanation for the obsession would be the addiction, however even the emotionality and the addiction, can't give a full explanation for it.

Originally posted by Psychology Today, Alex Lickerman M.D., Overcoming Obsession:

At first, like all addictions, obsession is intoxicating. It fills us up, and what a relief that feeling is (especially if we felt empty before). But even if we didn't feel empty, obsession makes us feel potent, capable, and purposeful.

But also like all addictions, with time obsession unbalances us. We often begin to neglect parts of our lives we shouldn't. If allowed to become too consuming, obsession causes us to devalue important dimensions of our lives and tolerate their atrophy and even their collapse.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/overcoming-obsession

[doluboluolu]

Originally posted by ndruha:

Originally posted by Hroþa:

It's worth noting that Jefferson moved to Arcadia Bay not long before the start of the game. Some/many/most of those binders were probably LA girls, so it is possible some of them were murdered too, without contradicting the fact that Rachel was the first person missing from Arcadia Bay in a while. Jefferson surely has no qualms about murdering Nathan, or Chloe, or Victoria, or Max, so I find it likely he had done it before (but granted, there's no evidence).

Yep, that's true, he definitely might have killed before, the game just doesn't tell this. But the point is that Jefferson didn't kill for fun, he used drugs instead, so his victims don't remember anything. He only killed those, who already knew about him by one or another way.

Good point mentioning Jefferson used to live in LA. All the red folders except Arcadia Bay girls would be from his previous locations. LA comment reminded me of what Jefferson said about Rachel Amber's possibility of going to LA - He said something along the lines that LA would have killed her. I cant remember exactly which scene but this might be a subtle hint that his dark room history is going long way back.

[빵지니♥]

nice.

[themisfitbenji]

Originally posted by ndruha:

Originally posted by Hroþa:

It's worth noting that Jefferson moved to Arcadia Bay not long before the start of the game. Some/many/most of those binders were probably LA girls, so it is possible some of them were murdered too, without contradicting the fact that Rachel was the first person missing from Arcadia Bay in a while. Jefferson surely has no qualms about murdering Nathan, or Chloe, or Victoria, or Max, so I find it likely he had done it before (but granted, there's no evidence).

Yep, that's true, he definitely might have killed before, the game just doesn't tell this. But the point is that Jefferson didn't kill for fun, he used drugs instead, so his victims don't remember anything. He only killed those, who already knew about him by one or another way.

I agree...

There are so many other binders that Max and Chloe don't look through. It is highly possible that at least one of those depicts another death. I can't imagine out of that many girls and women only the ones in Arcadia Bay died.