[Spoilers] Plot theories?

[MBE]

[EDIT: This is a really old theory from before the game was released!]

I'm not sure if these are allowed here, but omg this game just eats at my brain - I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!

When I first played through, I'm not sure if I had a panic attack and somehow missed *every single note in the game* or if they were just added as of last night, but I replayed the game last night to try and get more rat-based scrawlings and wound up reading a ton of additional plot goodies.. and my ideas of the game COMPLETELY changed.

Initially my first thought was "Welp, he totally murdered the crap out of his wife and daughter and went on a bloody painting spree." Then this thought evolved into, "Maybe he tried to turn his wife into something beautiful again after the fire? And wound up killing her in the process by accident? And he lured in a critic to get the skin and blood?"

This then changed to, "Well, he set his wife on fire with the rats, and then murdered people? I dunno."

But now after going back through the game and reading all the notes - and seeing what a jerk the player-character is, and how sad and then cruel the wife becomes, my theory changed yet AGAIN. Especially after finding a note in the room where it states "DON'T TURN BACK" - where he states he'll cherish her and take care of her, and how much he loves her, and she'll never see the letter he wrote.

So on a wild theory here, my idea is that the wife actually wound up killing herself. The husband DID go insane slowly, possibly from lead poisoning in paint, or just because he was trying to recapture his previous brilliance the critics never saw again, but he still loved her. But he loved the OLD her. Whenever he saw the burned version of her, he just saw this hideous monstrosity that he had to fix.
The wife, unable to handle this, winds up offing herself. The husband - absolutely stricken with grief completely loses it, and decides that he needs to immortalize her beauty while he still can.. and the best way he possibly can is with bits and pieces of her. So he takes her corpse, hence he's sawing, boiling bone, sucking out blood - and throughout the night paints a beautiful portrait of the woman he once loved and thought visually lovely. The hideous portrait we see us painting the entire game winds up being absolutely gorgeous, and ironically his masterpiece.

This would explain why the words over the door are concerning, such as "what if you fail?" and "form emerges" - he's trying to forget the pain and suffering he went through as he's painting away the layers of disgust and distrust, and is trying to recapture the happy marriage he once had.

Which would explain why his lawyer (in one note) said they would just say he had a moment of insanity, and they could probably get his daughter back no problemo (which he doesn't :c)

THIS IS A WILD THEORY. I would love to hear anyone else's! But this is what I think so far.

[Phaota]

Good story layout. Makes sense. I'll go with it.

[jacklin84]

i love the theory speculation in this game

initially is the painter killed the family

then it was.. the wife and child died in the fire

but it seems that the wife was wounded badly (but still wanted to play music) and how cruel that husband become.

[神]

I might be wrong but to me there are three possible theories.

One:
---> Daughter dies of cancer
---> Father is an alcoholic/reject
---> Wife kills herself from depression
---> Father tries to revive and recreate the perfection of her wife in paintings
---> Father invites pianist from wedding to recreate the perfect painting
---> Still not perfect, woops

Two:
---> Instead of the daughter dying of cancer (it's the father that kills her), this is unlikely

Third (just crossed my mind):
---> Father might be schizophrenic so he thinks that his wife suicided when it's really him that killed her, meh, probably unlikely.

I haven't redone the game tho, but it's tempting just because the visuals and art is so beautiful and appealing

[76561198214548177]

bump! Just making sure to be updated on your theories - love to read them :) You guys are fantastic for taking the time and actually talking about interpretations of LoF; it was one of our goals while developing the game, kudos to you!

[神]

Originally posted by BT_Neptuned:

bump! Just making sure to be updated on your theories - love to read them :) You guys are fantastic for taking the time and actually talking about interpretations of LoF; it was one of our goals while developing the game, kudos to you!

Thanks for the game :)

It gave me mild chills here and there but to me the attraction was not slightly elevated heart rates but rather the story

I finished this in one setting last night (took me 3h30-4h30) because I wanted to figure out badly what was the plot

The visuals and art were just so amazing. I had visual o.r.gasms multiple times

The fire part eluded me so I might have stupidly missed something tho :(

[eugooglalizer]

I just played through the full game last night after having this game since early access. The story really is quite powerful and after reading the notes and interacting with the environment it is apparent that the main character is indeed schizophrenic. There are also at least two direct references to HP Lovecraft's short stories, which is awesome. First, there is the book in the library that refers to Miskatonic University. Second, there is the overall theme of the rats in the walls. Kudos to the team for taking an old story and breathing new life into it.

I have a strong feeling that the rooms available to you do change with each playthrough (or at least the order of operations changes) so I'm not certain if other people encountered the bathroom where the main character did find that his wife killed herself with a knife. I'm of the opinion that the main character feels extremely guilty for not supporting her while she was alive and thus causing her death. This leads to him being "haunted" by her through his schizophrenic episodes. You can also tell that he feels that he deserves the haunting because instead of leaving the house immediately when it happens he just sticks around. Though I also feel that his journey through the house is symbolic of the process to create his masterpiece.

With regards to his daughter, I feel that she was taken away from him after his wife's death due to his inability to cope. The involvement of a child in all this struck the strongest chord with me. I dreaded going into the daughter's room and looking at the drawings in crayons. Again, kudos for tapping into the human psyche and disturbing us players to the core.

Overall, great game! I look forward to other horror titles from this company.

[神]

Good point on the dynamic playthrough of the game. I think it is based on choices tho. For instance, in the elevator you can choose to go up or down. Based on that I think you get a different experience. If you chose to go up, you are not trying to dig 'deeper'..

[eugooglalizer]

Also, I am aware that there are multiple endings based on your choices. I know of three for certain but I don't know if there are more.

[Yazite]

Originally posted by nazarethblood:

Also, I am aware that there are multiple endings based on your choices. I know of three for certain but I don't know if there are more.

Only 3.

[神]

Nice I was already enjoying a replay. Now I am going to be motivated too

[Doing gens, you?]

What do the rats symbolize though?

[Yazite]

Originally posted by Toucan Safari:

What do the rats symbolize though?

Some sort of weird obsession/paranoia of an infestation of rats in his home.

[Doing gens, you?]

Originally posted by Yazite:

Originally posted by Toucan Safari:

What do the rats symbolize though?

Some sort of weird obsession/paranoia of an infestation of rats in his home.

I think its something deeper than that though, considering just how often they show up throughout the game.

[MichaVonHeltau]

Originally posted by Diracδ:

Good point on the dynamic playthrough of the game. I think it is based on choices tho. For instance, in the elevator you can choose to go up or down. Based on that I think you get a different experience. If you chose to go up, you are not trying to dig 'deeper'..

You might have a point.. Thus I didn't play the game twice, this may be right and I'm gonna try your theory the next time I play..

When I was playing I was like "oh my god going down is always a bad idea, moreover this can't change the story can it?" so I always chose going up, saying that, if this however changes the ending it will might be something like "up=good" and "down=bad".

Another fact I'm trying to prove is if there is not only "another ending" but, you know.. "the good ending". It may not be so but it's just that kind of theory which you would love to be true.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll find more answers soon, as this game is simply forcing you to start it over, to look for more clues, to find what you missed, to fix what you done wrong... Just like the main character does when trying to succeed in finishing his masterpiece.

[神]

I honestly thought it was a metaphor for his daughter. She probably was a nuisance to him in his work, making noises, giving him responsabilities he might not want to uphold over his work. He refers to 'the rats' as the 'cancer' of his house. Also, if you look at the house, it looks expensive, well kept, victorian. Not something you associate with low upkeep. Think about it tho, it seems as tho he would sleep during the day and the daughter has a bed meant for babies/toddlers. She could be quite a nuisance for him during his sleep.