*SPOILERS* Symbolism, other little theories and details.

[EruRne]

So doing some quick research after playing the game. I´m probably overthinking it and blending the game but here´s what I got, not sure if something in here has been posted before. And sorry for my english...

About spirit animals and their meaning.
If you do a quick search of this, you could see that these animals could represent the nature of the characters or omens of what´s going on in the game.

So far i´ve seen:

The doe or deer, which is a symbol of gentleness, grace and determination, a person identified with this spirit animal is sensitive, intuitive, watchful, wise, connected to their inner child and has the abbility to tackle situations smoothly. It helps you be aware of your predators and dangerous situations. The deer totem is a symbol of regeneration of life, that could give you the power to renew life... Which describes Max´s character, a lot of her thoughts and power, she wears a deer shirt and see the ghost doe that warns her from the disaster, appears right before the gun stuff and the guy with the knife.

The butterfly, is the symbol of transformation, a person identified with this spirit animal can bring joy and bliss, they are lively, bright and go through various personal transformations, it may be a symbol to indicate you to lighten up and add color to your life.This resembles a lot Chloe character who has gone through many personal changes, also even with a gun on her face she noted the butterfly at the beginning of the game. It´s also a symbol of soul and inmortality so that´s why we keep saving her haha.

The rabbit, a symbol of vulnaberabilty, comfort, abundance, it´s associated with sentiment, desire and procreation. People with this totem are usually unpredicable, spontaneous, gentle, nurturing, observational, alert, clever, quick-witted, succesful and good advisors. This totem is a symbol of fertility, warmth, abundance, sexuality and luck.This may not completely describe Kate but we haven´t seen her on her good days. Also she had posters about advising on abstinence, a pet rabbit and her story kind of fits with the rest.

The crow, a symbol with positive and negative meanings, it symbolizes mystery, intelligence, magic, void, higher perspective, audacity, watchfulness, trickster, mischevious and manipulative abbilities, etc. It´s related to magic and its use. The principal has a crow on his desk, we need more development on his character, but you can see a little resemblence, he is intelligent, watchful and manipulative, and probably feels void; plus the school has a native american past relationship and there´s the totem outside the dormitories, so he may know or believe something is going on.

The squirrel, the people with this animal are resourceful, practical, balanced and prepared for any situation, also erratic when they try to do many things at one time, dreaming about squirrels could mean that you have loveless or pointless relationship or project, also dreaming about feeding squirrels means you have more than enough, you´re satisfied, preparing for winter and tough times. This one is a little like the janitor Samuel, who brought up the spirit animal subject and said he has a squirrel spirit, plus the dreaming stuff could be hints to his relationship with Rachel, but we need more development.

I´m sure to be missing more details, there are whales, otters maybe Dana spirit?, a bird and an animal head? (can´t remember) in Chloe´s house, there was an elephant poster in the secret lair, it could be Rachel´s, but who knows...

Also the totem outside the dormitories is curiously called tobonga, apparently it´s a monster from an old movie called From Hell It Came, a person is wrongfully acussed of murder, he is executed and buried near or inside a hollow tree stump, then the tree is possesed by his soul and goes into a revenge against his killer and everyone else, and conquers the world... I obviously haven´t seen the movie. So my theory is maybe Lisa the plant will be possesed by the totem spirit and kill you if you don´t water her, lol. Or as urban dictionary says tobonga-do (close enough) a word of gibberish when your stoned and maybe the students named it because they drug near it... I like the killing tree theory more ;-)

No sources because I´m lazy to gather them all, but you can look it up.
Tell me what you think or if you´ve found anything more.
So that´s it for now, I know it´s not much but I wanted to share it. Peace.

[Ну я убил и что?]

Wow, that theme was researched already, but your version is more deep. So first of all thanks for this info.

And it was deer`s head in Chloe`s house.

[TargetLost]

+1
That is good. Thanks for your research.

[shkolnijre]

With whom whale totem could be linked? (I mean diner "Two whales")

[Silentium]

+1 Thank you. You're not overthinking, I mean, all these different animals were put in the game for a reason.

[breelieb]

Awesome post! The animals (spirit animals) are definitly important. Cant't wait to see how they come into play in the story later. All of the underlying Native American themes are so curious to me!

[Taomiline]

A good theory. Even Ms Grant makes a point of telling you just HOW long a history Blackwell has. Dating back to the Native Americans, as I recall.

[Ну я убил и что?]

wait, what if Arcadia Bay was built on place where Native Americans were living(maybe Blackwell Academy was built on temple place)?

[Lau]

I always thought the blue bird could be Chloe's spirit animal rather than the butterfly... I think the butterfly is somehow related to Max (or maybe Rachel... if she's somehow related to this whole time travelling thing)

[MaeThePirate]

Do you guys think Mr. Jefferson the owl? because the owl was spotted in the barn in episode 4.. Maybe thats just me

[Firehawk911]

The butterfly represents the butterfly effect. How little changes can have huge consequences.