Analysis and Speculation (Major Spoilers!)

[Aviarchis]

Recently I've gotten really, really into this game. I absolutely love the story, the music, the mystery, basically everything. It's a gorgeous and terribly underrated gem. This one little three hour episode had more of an impact on me than most of the games I've seen in my life. There seem to be truckloads of hidden clues and symbolism, which I enjoy combing through immensely, so I thought I'd try my hand at untangling the puzzle that is Albino Lullaby.

The first thing I noticed was that there seem to be a few literary references in game. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland seems to be the main one, with the most obvious reference being the little girl/Grandmother named Alice, but also the painting showing an anthropomorphic white rabbit, and the long, harmless, surreal falling sequence. Down the rabbit hole indeed.

Other references to note are appearances of the graphic novel Dear Creature by Jonathan Case, which is apparently about a sea monster who discovers the works of Shakespeare, endeavors to give up his habit of hunting and eating humans, and winds up falling in love with a human woman. More obscurely, yet ubiquitous in game is the book Dusky Land, which I can't find any information about except that it seems to be about the culture of a particular group of African Americans in South Carolina in the 1930s to early 1940s. I can't tell if either of these are directly related to the game in some way such as foreshadowing or if they function more like flavor text. The visibility of these stories implies some level of importance, however.

There also seem to be continual references to death, dying, and the underworld. The game starts with the protagonist colliding with a semi truck that appears to be careening sideways across the highway. We could assume from this, and the fact that soon after this, we see the protagonist in a room full of caged wraiths (who are confirmed to be spirits of the dead, according to the notes), that the protagonist, too, is dead, or had been at some point, and could likely have been a wraith himself before the game starts. Something else to note is the name on the box of blue matches, "Orpheus Triumphant Match Styx". This is doubly interesting because in Greek mythology, Orpheus was supposed to be the best musician in existence, and his singing could manipulate the natural world itself. He was said to have ventured into the underworld to bring his wife back to the world of the living, and it was his music that convinced Hades to give him a chance to return his wife to the overworld. This seems to reference both the game's theme of death and the theme of music and singing (lullabies). Styx is yet another part of Greek mythology, as the river denoting the border between the overworld and the underworld. Noticing that there seems to be a lot of significance tied to the matches, I did some digging into the cultural associations with the color blue. Apparently in Egypt it was considered a divine color that could ward off evil in the afterlife. Huh. Some interesting connections to mythology here.

There are a couple of weird things I noticed at the beginning of the game concerning the protagonist. Since I've played through from beginning to end a few times, scouring for clues, one detail in particular caught my eye. As soon as you find yourself in the cage at the start, and your vision clears, you may notice a weird grey lump of something off to your left. Well, if you've played to the end of the game, you might recognize this as a "souveneir slice of Grandmother". ...Ew. It begs the question, what in the world is it doing in your cage? My best guess is that you had at some point previously passed through Grandmother's digestive tract and gone through the process you get glimpses of during the endgame. This hints to me that you were most likely a wraith that was reborn corporeal through Grandmother, and got his own "souvenir slice" (because apparently everybody here is keen on having a piece of rancid flesh).

The second interesting tidbit I noticed occuring toward the beginning of the game is when you first go up the elevator into the house, and leave the first bedroom, a particular piece of music begins to play. According to the OST, this piece is called "Vitrification", which can mean a few things, most notably, the term in a chemical sense means the transformation of something into glass, or glasslike form, and in a biological sense is an old term for hyperhydricity, which is a deformity of a plant that can cause it to retain water in abnormal ways. Perhaps this is related to the protagonist's own transformation and resulting deformity. It seems like the reference to hyperhydricity could also be tied in with the Grandchildren's obsession with bathing, and their "water immulsion therapy". (Could it be a typo of the word "emulsion"? I'm not aware of "immulsion" being a word.)

As I touched upon in another thread, there are a couple of references to plans that at least some of the Grandchildren have to invading the overworld. First is this note:

They'll never get us down here, never cut away at our shell and suck out our meat. They'll never forgive us. They'll remember when they see us. They'll all see us one day but for now we lay where their eyes don't go. I'll find a way to get our prizes. Damn the high water. I deserve to live like a king.

Followed by "The Rebel," an Irish poem by Padreig Pearse[http//%26quot%3BThe+Rebel%2C%26quot%3B+an+Irish+poem+by+Padreig+Pearse] recited by an unseen Grandchild, which can be heard while traversing the rooftops. Combine this with the fact that the protagonist drove past a Grandchild in the beginning of the game, it almost seems like the Grandchildren are planning to come up into the overworld and do some damage. Perhaps the one seen at the beginning of the game was a scout of some sort?

Something else found on the rooftops was a bit of Morse code that seemed to be coming from one of the windows. When decoded, it translates to "SOS". Just the tiniest bit ominous.

I can't help but wonder how much control Grandmother really has over this subterranean society. While the Grandchildren are often heard talking about how much they love her, and for all intents and purposes, they seem to worship her almost like a god, and act in her name, some things don't quite add up. She's constantly injected with tranquilizers, allegedly "so her bubbles don't get out of hand," which sounds fine at face value, since they seem to be able to destroy buildings, but when you stop the tranquilizer injections Grandmother seems to get angrier and more agitated each time, before she even starts to produce bubbles. Who or what is she angry at? If she really loved the Grandchildren as much as they say she does, would they really have to keep her tranquilized for their safety? Even more telling, the music that plays when you enter Grandmother's chamber is called Subjugated Siren according to the OST. Last I checked, "subjugated" was not a synonym for "dearly loved". Consider this alongside what I mentioned previously about the "souvenir slice of Grandmother," with the Grandchildren apparently hacking off parts of Grandmother's body and it seems the relationship between Grandmother and Grandchildren is, uh, strained at best. Additionally, watching the preview of Episode 2, you get to see Grandmother as she was before she became Grandmother. She seems very much a victim of Buck's abuse and capriciousness. I can't help but suspect that even during the time of Episode 1, Grandmother may be an unwitting and unwilling pawn in whatever the Grandchildren have planned.

For that matter, isn't it a bit strange that, going by the preview of Episode 2, it seems that Buck is Alice's father, but at the time of Episode 1, Alice is the Grandmother, and Buck is the Grandchild? I sense some strange hijinks going on.

Some other miscellaneous things I wonder about:

What is the Ascension? Is it the same thing the protagonist went through? Or is it a separate process where one transforms from a walkling into a Grandchild?

Similarly, are worms and walkings different names for the same type of being, or are they different? If I had to guess based on the latter idea, worms are the first stage, and walklings are the second, but that's just a lot of conjecture.

What is going on with that one bathroom in the building you drop into after passing the Morse code area? The door just flies open as you approach, but no one's there. Does somebody have telekinetic powers?

What is the threshold? What does it do exactly? It's said to turn the wraiths into bats on the way up, and have made a group of children sick on the way down, so is it partially responsible for what happened to the protagonist? Is that weird kaleidoscope effect you see when falling into the abyss an indication of crossing the threshold?

And lastly, perhaps the most important question:

How do the Grandchildren write notes, open and close doors, and build things without any limbs??

I apologize for being so long-winded. It's mostly because I haven't really seen a lot of in-depth discussion about this game, and it's the most intriguing game I've seen in a long time. By "a long time" I mean eleven years. I miss hypothesizing about things like this, so forgive me if I went a little crazy.

Please feel free to add to my ideas, counter them, debate them, or share your own. I think there's a wealth of story to be had if we put our heads together and look deep enough into this.

[ApeLaw_Justin]

This is my absolute favorite type of post. There are connections here that only you have posted about thus far! Keep digging...
If you want to talk this stuff over, I think there was another similar thread somewhere in this forum.. there is also a wikia that im sure could benefit from your observations! http://albinolullaby.wikia.com/wiki/Albino_Lullaby_Wiki
I'm sure the authors there would love to trade thoughts as well.
More food for thought to be found in ep2... stand by...

[Aviarchis]

Glad you enjoyed it! I'll definitely look into contributing to the wiki, so thanks for the tip. Really looking forward to Episode 2; I'm super excited to go digging into even more Albino Lullaby.

[TheTinFoilHatter13]

I like this, although I have a few things I interpreted differently. I might write my own analysis while we continue the agonising wait, considering how many times I've played through the game and pored over all the weird secrets in it.

[Aviarchis]

I'd definitely be interested to hear your interpretation of the game. In what way did your conclusions differ from mine, if I may ask? Unless you'd rather save it for your full analysis, which is perfectly fine too.

[TheTinFoilHatter13]

Originally posted by Aviarchis:

I'd definitely be interested to hear your interpretation of the game. In what way did your conclusions differ from mine, if I may ask? Unless you'd rather save it for your full analysis, which is perfectly fine too.

Mostly on a few things that are just speculation at the moment. I believe that Buck's daughter Alice is Cornelius, the mysterious leader of the Grandkids who sings the lullaby at the end of the game, and Grandmother is her actual grandma. I posted a discussion about random bits and pieces just earlier