Saw the man but not the dog [LIKELY SPOILERS]

[Lord Weh]

I've been trying to work out if this graffiti had some greater meaning to the game, some thematic link... Or was it just supposed to be strange graffiti?

It's placement in such an important and relevant place in the plot makes me think it has some significance, but I'm not sure what it is. Any theories / thoughts?

[Volatile Schemer]

I think it's the same stuff that happened at the Adler house when you were supposed to look for TV, knot and portrait. I mean I think Maggie found the man (whatever the riddle was) but her friend Anna couldn't find the dog. Bear in mind that when ghosts were first confronted by Maggie and Anna they only tried to return to the world through Anna, probably because she lost the game (ie. couldn't find the dog).

[Saeryfim]

I think Volatile is onto something there, that seems accurate to me anyways!

[Video James]

"See a man about a dog", if you were unaware is a colloquialism used to excuse yourself when you are leaving. I like Volatile's theory, but why in graffiti, and why 2 different colors? (mind you they did write the graffiti in the woods loop sequence), also keep in mind that when the cave is examined there is an ash tray, some other objects and that armoire, like an antique wardrobe (possibly due to temporal ""bleeding"" and objects coming through, just like the woods???),

So, "saw the man but not the dog", the person you went to see did not have you wanted, right?

Is this maggie going "downhill", smoking (ashtray), trying to find Anna and defacing the cave? See a man (the ghosts) about a dog (Anna)?? Found the ghosts but not Anna? OR maybe a deeper meaning like they went to do something, "see a man about a dog", but then they couldn't or they did find it, "saw the man but not the dog" (is this about bringing back the soldiers??)

or maybe it's both, i read somewhere that i could be a warning, but i don't really see how that works, and some are saying it's just the devs messing with us, but i mean it cant be a coincidence, right? I mean sure it could just be relics from other teens messing around but like there has to be something?

Also i seem to member some other reference to a dog in one of the anomalies or something, maybe it's connected to something? I dunnno, hope this is appreciated!

[Lord Weh]

Haha, some nice theories... I think you're right, I'd not thought about it being Maggie looking for Anna, finding the ghosts but not Anna. Still, seems odd she'd graffiti it... But then it'd be impossible to get across the message to the player without it.

Interesting stuff, I've heard the colloquialism before, but it's a very arresting and interesting phrasing that hints at something deeper.

Thanks for your reflections =)

[taylor.j.adams]

To see a man about a dog isn't just about leaving, it's about leaving for purposes that you'd rather not admit. I think this graffiti is about the hubris of men whose vice is trying to play "Dog" (or the anagram if you prefer). Like maybe the kind of men that would intentionally stage a submarine implosion caused by "accidental" friendly fire for the purposes of possibly gaining access to some form of time travel as the ultimate military advantage (like in the Philadelphia Experiment conspiracy), only to discover that once they were able to affect time every single military action they tried to take in repeated cycles of history only ever made things worse. So after blowing up the planet repeatedly for who knows how long, losing more and more of their memory and identity with each passing cycle, they decided to turn their efforts instead on hiding their great mistake so that nobody would ever control so much power. (one of the completely reasonable answers to the "If time travel is possible where are the time travelers?" question displayed beautifully).

It's possible that it was Maggie living in there or maybe it was one of the Sunken since we're almost certainly already inside the tear when we first come across it. I imagine it might be one of Calvin's last sane thoughts before giving in to the anger of the hive mind about the unacknowledged history of the crew, which according to this theory they themselves did as much as they could to erase but have forgotten why. Though I also suspect based on the slides at the Adler house that Maggie and Anna never intended to rescue the crew the way she remembers it and they had always planned for Anna to try to close the tear from the other side never to return, but when Anna found that impossible she instead decided to use its powers to try to hide it from the rest of the world (which she does in large part through influencing Maggie's dreams and memories and based on the ARG possibly her thoughts directly in some cases). So the graffiti also fits with Maggie's last thoughts that were entirely her own as she might have written it to remind herself during this process that even though she may end up forgetting the true reason why, she should never stop feeling guilty about her actions.

[Bomoo]

I got the impression it's just meant to be strange, spoopy grafitti without any kind of deep significance within the story. Some legitimately high school English teacher level theories, though.

[Etragorn]

Since the phase is about leaving, and "Leave is possible?" is a big part of the game, it makes sense that the second part was that they tried to leave, but it turned out to be impossible. The idea was leaving (the man), but the realization of it failed (dog). So they saw the man, but never the dog, which plays into the idea represented by the ghosts that they have tried everything to leave, but literally nothing ever works.

[floyddebarber]

I don't think it's THAT metaphoric. [spoilers ahead]
In your subsequent playthroughs (continuing the cycle) you will see some shades of a dog and a man flashing on the screen briefly throughout the game.

[Video James]

Originally posted by Rain:

Originally posted by floyddebarber:

I don't think it's THAT metaphoric. [spoilers ahead]
In your subsequent playthroughs (continuing the cycle) you will see some shades of a dog and a man flashing on the screen briefly throughout the game.

This is cetrainly related to Maggie and Anna, because there is one of morse codes:
.- / .... / .-. / ----- / -.-. / .... / -- / -.... / .-.. / -.-- / ----. / --.- / -.-. / .... / -. / ----- / .-.. / -- / .-.. / ----- / .-.. / ----- / .-.. / . / -.. / -.. / -.-- / -...-
Decoded:
A H R 0 C H M 6 L Y 9 Q C H N 0 L M L 0 L 0 L E D D Y
If you capitalize letters like so: aHR0cHM6Ly9qcHN0Lml0L0lEdDY it becomes a base64 string, decoding to https://jpst.it/IDt6 which contains another string of Morse code:
.---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- ----- .---- ----- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- .---- ----- ----- ----- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- .---- .---- ----- .---- .---- ----- ----- .---- .---- .----
010000010111001101101011001000000110000100100000011011010110000101101110001000000110000101100010011011110111010101110100001000000110000100100000011001000110111101100111
Translation:
Ask a man about a dog

♥♥♥♥ dude that is insane, so does this then mean its a message from anna to maggie?

[Sammarok-GoodGaming]

This is exactly what starting to pop up in my head in my 3rd playthrough...

About the messages:

-See a man about a dog
-Saw the man but not the dog

Because, every time I start a new playthrough (I am currently at my 4th playthrough, continuing the timeline), the dog image keep appearing to me, and everytime is bigger and with red eyes, and sometimes there is also an image with a Man and a Dog, it is the same dog (big black dog with red eyes). The images just keep appearing more and more frequent in my latests playthrough.

That morse code info posted above is just crazy

From wikipedia:

To see a man about a dog or horse is an English idiom, usually used as a way to say one needs to apologise for one's imminent departure or absence—generally to euphemistically conceal one's true purpose, such as going to use the toilet or going to buy a drink.

The original, non-facetious meaning was probably to place or settle a bet on a racing dog.

Historical usage:

The earliest confirmed publication is the 1866 Dion Boucicault play Flying Scud in which a character knowingly breezes past a difficult situation saying, "Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can't stop; I've got to see a man about a dog." In a listing for a 1939 revival on the NBC Radio program America's Lost Plays, Time magazine observed that the phrase was the play's "claim to fame".

During Prohibition in the United States, the phrase was most commonly used in relation to the consumption or purchase of alcoholic beverages

"Seeing a man about a dog" comes from the 1866 play Flying Scud where a character says "Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can't stop; I've got to see a man about a dog" meaning he needs to leave the room -- and fast.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_a_man_about_a_dog

[ganglehort]

Well there's one phrase from one of the anomolies that I got in the second playthrough. "Leave by Adler pretty little puppy." Also, Adler escaped according to the ghosts, she was just never able to save Anna even when she tried to make it so she never came to the island. Certainly those are hints to the good ending. But I'm unsure if the dog is a literal thing in the story or just a colloqialism.

[ganglehort]

After you sit on the chair at the bridge stand we see the dog for the first time. Then when we run into Ren at the Relay Point he says something along the lines of "I thought you were werewolves. Isn't that what this is all about?" It's kind of implied throughout the game that Alex is the dog. Strange that.

[Sammarok-GoodGaming]

Originally posted by ganglehort:

Well there's one phrase from one of the anomolies that I got in the second playthrough. "Leave by Adler pretty little puppy." Also, Adler escaped according to the ghosts, she was just never able to save Anna even when she tried to make it so she never came to the island. Certainly those are hints to the good ending. But I'm unsure if the dog is a literal thing in the story or just a colloqialism.

Originally posted by ganglehort:

After you sit on the chair at the bridge stand we see the dog for the first time. Then when we run into Ren at the Relay Point he says something along the lines of "I thought you were werewolves. Isn't that what this is all about?" It's kind of implied throughout the game that Alex is the dog. Strange that.

Nice finds, yeah I remember that dialogue, but never thought about it the same way... interesting...

This is what I like from this game :)