[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.

[eugooglalizer]

Originally posted by Toucan Safari:

What do the rats symbolize though?

Read the story here as I'm certain this is a direct reference to HP Lovecraft: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/rw.aspx

[Mru]

Originally posted by nazarethblood:

Originally posted by Toucan Safari:

What do the rats symbolize though?

Read the story here as I'm certain this is a direct reference to HP Lovecraft: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/rw.aspx

Also, it may be a loose reference to polish legend about prince Popiel (You can read it here - http://comenius-legends.blogspot.com/2010/07/legend-about-king-popiel.html?m=1 ). The dog from LoF has name Popiel, at the beginning of game you can find a dog-collar with this name.

[laura2daisy]

Basically a guy who is an artist and had a wife and kid, they were in love and had a good life till his painting got to him and he started ignoring his family, his daughter felt resented and his wife felt rejected. During one of his painting shows his wife went over there and burned all of his paintings, to get her own back and hope he will finally notice her.

However the wife got caught in the fire and burned her skin, she was no longer beautiful, the husband resented her like she was a monster! In the end he went crazy and cut up her body parts to use as tools for his paintings, he spent so long trying to paint to what she use to look like and could never get it right, so you live in the mind of an artist who lost his mind and spends his entire life trying to paint the wife he use to love.

[Nymphetta]

After playing through about 16 times... I'd like to add my "quick" take on the story. :) I plan on playing through one final time, to write down everything, every note, to finally get the full story, or at least as much as I can. I'll post all of that tomorrow. :) Yes, I like this game wayyy too much. LOL

A painter, obsessed with beauty and perfection, meets a beautiful musician. They get married, have a daughter, move into a new home, and all is bliss. His art is a success, as is her music. His wife frequents a department store (as noted by him, that she "bought the whole store" before they knew the child's sex), until one day, a horrible fire breaks out in the department store, and his wife is burnt severely.

This was absolutely devastating... His wife, the most "beautful work of art" is now "ruined" in his eyes. She can also no longer play her music properly due to the burns... She cries nonstop. This obviously puts a lot of strain on things. His art starts to suffer, as does his child and wife as he slowly descends. He begins to drink, starts treating his wife like a monster, and locks himself away in his studio to avoid them. Whenever he is sober, he tries to make up for it all by buying his daughter dolls, even a random dog, though they wanted a cat. He continues to stay locked away, struggling to paint like he did before, while his wife falls apart... He'd barely look at her, and wouldn't even talk to her anymore, other than to yell at and argue with her. He shut himself away, drinking until he was mad, struggling to paint his wife as he once saw her, but all he could manage was a "monstrosity".

He began to hallucinate as well, thinking rats were in the walls, after his paintings, watching him... Though he was told several times by pest control that none were found. H even kills the dog for barking so much. Meanwhile, his wife was locked away as well, with a portrait of her former self, her only friend, the only one she could talk to. She began to loathe him, and his paintings, and began to write horrible things on them, burned some, even hid a dead rat behind one to make him think there really were rats. I think this is when he decided she was crazy, and tried to get her "help", but I don't think he wanted her to be seen, and would never let her leave the house, so he only filled out a form randomly to see if she had schizophrenia, but never turned it in. Even got some papers on marriage counseling.

He began to think the medium or his tools were at fault, and decided he'd try something new. He cut off his daughter's ponytail while she was asleep in her crib, in attempt to get the perfect brush. This was the final straw for his wife... While brushing her hair, looking at herself in the mirror, below a painting of her "perfect self" that mocked her, she decided to end it all. She headed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and headed to the bathroom and started a bath. Her husband had to go to the bathroom at the same time, and notices the door is locked and the light is on. He knocks, telling her he has to go, but when she doesn't respond, he fears the worst and kicks the door open, but he's too late. She had already slit her wrists.

He hides her body in the kitchen, perhaps unable to let her go, or he just didn't want her to be remembered like that. Meanwhile, his daughter begins to draw disturbing things. She already saw her father as a monster, since he'd come in and yell at her mother and say horrible things until she cried... One day, her mother never came to tuck her in, and she began to realise she's dead... Perhaps someone saw some of these drawings in school, someone noticed the state of the house (the housekeeper?), or his lawyer tipped them off, but social services came and deemed it unsafe for her to be there anymore. Her father fights like hell to get her back, she was all he had left, but he ultimately failed... It is also possible she found her father's shotgun and shot herself, but I couldn't quite piece that one together.

He went back home, depressed out of his mind, and tried to drown himself... After he failed, yet again, he headed back to the studio, numb, to try one last time.

He decided, perhaps in order to bring her to life in his painting, she needs to be a part of it, quite literally. He grabs a razor, and heads to the kitchen... The perfect canvas, he thinks. Then he decides he needs a better red, a better white. He works nonstop, exhausted, mad. She seems to laugh at him as he fails, until finally, he does it.

The perfect painting, of his wife and child, putting himself, and them, at rest. At last. Sorry for all he put them through, he sets all his paintings on fire, and stays with them.

Or, the perfect self-portrait, which doesn't make much sense to me... Perhaps he got sick of trying to draw her, and attempted to immortalize himself before he attempted to kill himself again? Who knows. That is my take on the whole story though! /endwalloftext

I would love more thoughts on what happened to his daughter. I don't think I missed anything, but it seems suggested that she was dead, or perhaps he just forced himself to think that?

I'm also not sure who the body parts belong to, would love other's thoughts. I thought at first it was his own, since he sawed off a leg, and was wearing a prosthetic, but this was before the move, as hinted by the cane, so it can't be. Also, he wouldn't want his own eye to view his artwork? The eye is also blue, they both seemed to have brown eyes, perhaps the housekeeper, same with the finger, that seems to be a man's finger, but who knows. All I can conclude thus far is it's all hers. The chain and the note "a little pain goes a long way" can also make you think it is his own... Gah, who knows. xD Perhaps a bit of everything?

I think the house you see in the beginning is the entire house, and what you see in the game is just him hallucinating.

[MichaVonHeltau]

Originally posted by Nymphetta:

After playing through about 16 times... I'd like to add my "quick" take on the story. :) I plan on playing through one final time, to write down everything, every note, to finally get the full story, or at least as much as I can. I'll post all of that tomorrow. :) Yes, I like this game wayyy too much. LOL

A painter, obsessed with beauty and perfection, meets a beautiful musician. They get married, have a daughter, move into a new home, and all is bliss. His art is a success, as is her music. His wife frequents a department store (as noted by him, that she "bought the whole store" before they knew the child's sex), until one day, a horrible fire breaks out in the department store, and his wife is burnt severely.

This was absolutely devastating... His wife, the most "beautful work of art" is now "ruined" in his eyes. She can also no longer play her music properly due to the burns... She cries nonstop. This obviously puts a lot of strain on things. His art starts to suffer, as does his child and wife as he slowly descends. He begins to drink, starts treating his wife like a monster, and locks himself away in his studio to avoid them. Whenever he is sober, he tries to make up for it all by buying his daughter dolls, even a random dog, though they wanted a cat. He continues to stay locked away, struggling to paint like he did before, while his wife falls apart... He'd barely look at her, and wouldn't even talk to her anymore, other than to yell at and argue with her. He shut himself away, drinking until he was mad, struggling to paint his wife as he once saw her, but all he could manage was a "monstrosity".

He began to hallucinate as well, thinking rats were in the walls, after his paintings, watching him... Though he was told several times by pest control that none were found. H even kills the dog for barking so much. Meanwhile, his wife was locked away as well, with a portrait of her former self, her only friend, the only one she could talk to. She began to loathe him, and his paintings, and began to write horrible things on them, burned some, even hid a dead rat behind one to make him think there really were rats. I think this is when he decided she was crazy, and tried to get her "help", but I don't think he wanted her to be seen, and would never let her leave the house, so he only filled out a form randomly to see if she had schizophrenia, but never turned it in. Even got some papers on marriage counseling.

He began to think the medium or his tools were at fault, and decided he'd try something new. He cut off his daughter's ponytail while she was asleep in her crib, in attempt to get the perfect brush. This was the final straw for his wife... While brushing her hair, looking at herself in the mirror, below a painting of her "perfect self" that mocked her, she decided to end it all. She headed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and headed to the bathroom and started a bath. Her husband had to go to the bathroom at the same time, and notices the door is locked and the light is on. He knocks, telling her he has to go, but when she doesn't respond, he fears the worst and kicks the door open, but he's too late. She had already slit her wrists.

He hides her body in the kitchen, perhaps unable to let her go, or he just didn't want her to be remembered like that. Meanwhile, his daughter begins to draw disturbing things. She already saw her father as a monster, since he'd come in and yell at her mother and say horrible things until she cried... One day, her mother never came to tuck her in, and she began to realise she's dead... Perhaps someone saw some of these drawings in school, someone noticed the state of the house (the housekeeper?), or his lawyer tipped them off, but social services came and deemed it unsafe for her to be there anymore. Her father fights like hell to get her back, she was all he had left, but he ultimately failed... It is also possible she found her father's shotgun and shot herself, but I couldn't quite piece that one together.

He went back home, depressed out of his mind, and tried to drown himself... After he failed, yet again, he headed back to the studio, numb, to try one last time.

He decided, perhaps in order to bring her to life in his painting, she needs to be a part of it, quite literally. He grabs a razor, and heads to the kitchen... The perfect canvas, he thinks. Then he decides he needs a better red, a better white. He works nonstop, exhausted, mad. She seems to laugh at him as he fails, until finally, he does it.

The perfect painting, of his wife and child, putting himself, and them, at rest. At last. Sorry for all he put them through, he sets all his paintings on fire, and stays with them.

Or, the perfect self-portrait, which doesn't make much sense to me... Perhaps he got sick of trying to draw her, and attempted to immortalize himself before he attempted to kill himself again? Who knows. That is my take on the whole story though! /endwalloftext

I would love more thoughts on what happened to his daughter. I don't think I missed anything, but it seems suggested that she was dead, or perhaps he just forced himself to think that?

I'm also not sure who the body parts belong to, would love other's thoughts. I thought at first it was his own, since he sawed off a leg, and was wearing a prosthetic, but this was before the move, as hinted by the cane, so it can't be. Also, he wouldn't want his own eye to view his artwork? The eye is also blue, they both seemed to have brown eyes, perhaps the housekeeper, same with the finger, that seems to be a man's finger, but who knows. All I can conclude thus far is it's all hers. The chain and the note "a little pain goes a long way" can also make you think it is his own... Gah, who knows. xD Perhaps a bit of everything?

I think the house you see in the beginning is the entire house, and what you see in the game is just him hallucinating.

Nice story. I mean, without playing so much and taking the time to read notes over notes, I couldn't have such understanding of the story.

One think I still don't understand is where do all these things actually happen because even if the house of the begining basically features most of the rooms or parts of room that you meet in the game, you will notice 2 locked rooms, one in the basement and the other on the first floor, which aren't provided with any key to open them so they just remain a mistery and you can't find the elevator. Moreover, the house features hidden rooms and entrances (like the one behind the bookshelf or the trap in the floor) so the giant area where the game is taking place might just not be the result of the main character's schizophrenia and it might actually exist .

Another think that doesn't make sense for me is the year of the story. If you look at the victorian style of the house and at the stuff you find you would date it like 80-100yrs ago, but if you look on the globe you can find in the early part of the game and explore the map (for example in europe) you'll see it features the borders of the present day.

So yeah.. it really is a story theat teases you to uncover it, not only taking you in the mind of the main character but even transforming you in the main character, starting to take messages you find like "do it right this time" as serious as the character would, with the only difference that he is trying to finish his painting and you are trying to uncover the story...

[MBE]

I think my theory was pretty spot on, given that was based on the early release! lol XD

[Nymphetta]

Agreed, though, I've played this since early release, and not much has changed other than adding the ending really. :)

[nggalai]

We went through a couple of iterations of possible plot theories in @Desbreko’s “Plot Analysis and Symbols” thread, here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/391720/discussions/0/405692224238125741/

I mainly focussed on the schizophrenic angle (as I’m schizo myself and found tons of things in the game that “felt” right, so I figured it made sense to list a few of them), but the less-psychological readings provided by the many other contributors might hit home closer. There’s stuff about the house (manor or town house, turned into a sprawling victorian thing due to his psychotic episode?), paintings, symbols, and whatnot in the thread. Check it out.

***

I just finished my fifth playthrough, and: cheers, @Diracδ!

Originally posted by "Diracδ":

---> Father invites pianist from wedding to recreate the perfect painting

I totally missed that possibility. In my reading, the pianist mentioned in the Ouji board room was the protagonist’s wife (there’s quite a bit of time shift going on in the game, after all), rather than another person. Your approach (wife killed herself, painter finally goes off the rocker completely, invites pianist he knows from his own wedding, uses her bits and pieces for recreating his wife and child via painting) makes a lot of sense. One caveat, though: the pianist’s phone number, as outlined in the Ouij room, is the same as the code needed to climb the library / phone puzzle thing. Where his wife’s on the other end of the horn. This is what made me believe the “pianist” was his wife (i.e. that’s how he got to know her), but the angry dialogue might just as well be his imagination of his wife chiding him for inviting in the pianist (and then killing her).

Also, I had always considered the kid to have been taken away by social services / child protection “only”, so to say. The protagonist trying to get her back to no avail and being arrested triggering the whole thing – pretty much the plot as outlined by @Nymphetta. But then, there’s the black goo visual theme going on with the daughter, the beating heart and whatnot. Also, the cancer rat sketch. So, yeah. Will probably need another go to see how and if cancer fits in the story. But it looks intriguing.

[Dentro]

So, my friend and I have a theory about the mother and daughter's death.
We think that the mother killed the baby, Because the mother became super upset over her own looks... She looked at the child and saw how pretty she was compared to her. there was actually point where she was talking about how her daughter was so pretty and she hated her because of it. So she drowned her baby. which I believe kinda explains the scene when you're in the bathroom drowning yourself in the tub. also, in the beginning of the game, you go into the bathroom and see a baby doll emerge from the water.
so the mother was in such grief, that she slit her wrists, killing herself, which explains the knife.

[MichaVonHeltau]

Originally posted by Dentro:

So, my friend and I have a theory about the mother and daughter's death.
We think that the mother killed the baby, Because the mother became super upset over her own looks... She looked at the child and saw how pretty she was compared to her. there was actually point where she was talking about how her daughter was so pretty and she hated her because of it. So she drowned her baby. which I believe kinda explains the scene when you're in the bathroom drowning yourself in the tub. also, in the beginning of the game, you go into the bathroom and see a baby doll emerge from the water.
so the mother was in such grief, that she slit her wrists, killing herself, which explains the knife.

Wow. That's pretty spooky, even if it's not the most probable story...
Anyway nice idea :)

[神]

@nggalal, what made me think that the pianist wasn't the wife was a letter I found in the game. I assume not every play through lets you read it. Unless I misremember, it was worded along the lines of "we will call you back shortly.. we will gladly take 'this job' to play at your wedding, etc...". I'll try to find it again and screen cap it to be sure I'm not just misremembering.

[MichaVonHeltau]

Originally posted by Diracδ:

@nggalal, what made me think that the pianist wasn't the wife was a letter I found in the game. I assume not every play through lets you read it. Unless I misremember, it was worded along the lines of "we will call you back shortly.. we will gladly take 'this job' to play at your wedding, etc...". I'll try to find it again and screen cap it to be sure I'm not just misremembering.

Well, there are two "pianists". One is the wife before getting hurt, who was playing piano at home and concerts, and the other pianist is the one from the weeding, who is hired by the main character when he thinks that he needs the atmosphere from the weeding in order to paint his wife.

[drewbian]

Originally posted by Nymphetta:

After playing through about 16 times... I'd like to add my "quick" take on the story. :) I plan on playing through one final time, to write down everything, every note, to finally get the full story, or at least as much as I can. I'll post all of that tomorrow. :) Yes, I like this game wayyy too much. LOL

A painter, obsessed with beauty and perfection, meets a beautiful musician. They get married, have a daughter, move into a new home, and all is bliss. His art is a success, as is her music. His wife frequents a department store (as noted by him, that she "bought the whole store" before they knew the child's sex), until one day, a horrible fire breaks out in the department store, and his wife is burnt severely.

This was absolutely devastating... His wife, the most "beautful work of art" is now "ruined" in his eyes. She can also no longer play her music properly due to the burns... She cries nonstop. This obviously puts a lot of strain on things. His art starts to suffer, as does his child and wife as he slowly descends. He begins to drink, starts treating his wife like a monster, and locks himself away in his studio to avoid them. Whenever he is sober, he tries to make up for it all by buying his daughter dolls, even a random dog, though they wanted a cat. He continues to stay locked away, struggling to paint like he did before, while his wife falls apart... He'd barely look at her, and wouldn't even talk to her anymore, other than to yell at and argue with her. He shut himself away, drinking until he was mad, struggling to paint his wife as he once saw her, but all he could manage was a "monstrosity".

He began to hallucinate as well, thinking rats were in the walls, after his paintings, watching him... Though he was told several times by pest control that none were found. H even kills the dog for barking so much. Meanwhile, his wife was locked away as well, with a portrait of her former self, her only friend, the only one she could talk to. She began to loathe him, and his paintings, and began to write horrible things on them, burned some, even hid a dead rat behind one to make him think there really were rats. I think this is when he decided she was crazy, and tried to get her "help", but I don't think he wanted her to be seen, and would never let her leave the house, so he only filled out a form randomly to see if she had schizophrenia, but never turned it in. Even got some papers on marriage counseling.

He began to think the medium or his tools were at fault, and decided he'd try something new. He cut off his daughter's ponytail while she was asleep in her crib, in attempt to get the perfect brush. This was the final straw for his wife... While brushing her hair, looking at herself in the mirror, below a painting of her "perfect self" that mocked her, she decided to end it all. She headed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and headed to the bathroom and started a bath. Her husband had to go to the bathroom at the same time, and notices the door is locked and the light is on. He knocks, telling her he has to go, but when she doesn't respond, he fears the worst and kicks the door open, but he's too late. She had already slit her wrists.

He hides her body in the kitchen, perhaps unable to let her go, or he just didn't want her to be remembered like that. Meanwhile, his daughter begins to draw disturbing things. She already saw her father as a monster, since he'd come in and yell at her mother and say horrible things until she cried... One day, her mother never came to tuck her in, and she began to realise she's dead... Perhaps someone saw some of these drawings in school, someone noticed the state of the house (the housekeeper?), or his lawyer tipped them off, but social services came and deemed it unsafe for her to be there anymore. Her father fights like hell to get her back, she was all he had left, but he ultimately failed... It is also possible she found her father's shotgun and shot herself, but I couldn't quite piece that one together.

He went back home, depressed out of his mind, and tried to drown himself... After he failed, yet again, he headed back to the studio, numb, to try one last time.

He decided, perhaps in order to bring her to life in his painting, she needs to be a part of it, quite literally. He grabs a razor, and heads to the kitchen... The perfect canvas, he thinks. Then he decides he needs a better red, a better white. He works nonstop, exhausted, mad. She seems to laugh at him as he fails, until finally, he does it.

The perfect painting, of his wife and child, putting himself, and them, at rest. At last. Sorry for all he put them through, he sets all his paintings on fire, and stays with them.

Or, the perfect self-portrait, which doesn't make much sense to me... Perhaps he got sick of trying to draw her, and attempted to immortalize himself before he attempted to kill himself again? Who knows. That is my take on the whole story though! /endwalloftext

I would love more thoughts on what happened to his daughter. I don't think I missed anything, but it seems suggested that she was dead, or perhaps he just forced himself to think that?

I'm also not sure who the body parts belong to, would love other's thoughts. I thought at first it was his own, since he sawed off a leg, and was wearing a prosthetic, but this was before the move, as hinted by the cane, so it can't be. Also, he wouldn't want his own eye to view his artwork? The eye is also blue, they both seemed to have brown eyes, perhaps the housekeeper, same with the finger, that seems to be a man's finger, but who knows. All I can conclude thus far is it's all hers. The chain and the note "a little pain goes a long way" can also make you think it is his own... Gah, who knows. xD Perhaps a bit of everything?

I think the house you see in the beginning is the entire house, and what you see in the game is just him hallucinating.

This is EXACTLY how I figured it out too. The kid perhaps accidentally shooting themselves would have been super creepy, and was certainly implied by the doll shooting itself in the cupboard next to the kids picture.

Great analysis!

[Doc Jones]

For the sake of the multiple endings, the "parts" may be from both. IE the story is intentionally written so that there is a 50/50 chance that they are from either of them and hence the only answer is based on the ending. Retroactively from him if you paint "yourself" or from her if you paint her.
A) he fails, bone/blood/etc. + crazy turn out to be too hard to work with.
B) he succeeds but she(they) don't come alive because...science, so heck with it all.
C) he cares only about himself (I guess)

[Delta III]

I have a crazy idea.

There is a note showing that the wife may have a prosthetic leg, guessing from what looks like a high heel shoe (with added rats hiding inside). Now, many of the aggressive written notes are actually written by the wife, including some about the rats I think. So I was thinking, the main character limps, the wife might be going schizophrenic, she has a prosthetic... what if this whole thing is actually from the point of view of the wife?
It could explain all the rats, all the fire, why the child and paintings are bad, why many of the paintings look like they are melting/burnt etc. There is evidence to show that the wife was insane, while the only written notes on the husband paint him, no pun intended, as just an alcoholic.

Either that or the painter cut off his own leg and ordered a prosthetic xD