My interpretation of The Letter (SPOILERS THROUGHOUT)

[telos80]

The following is how I’ve interpreted the events and history of the visual novel “The Letter,” based on what I’ve read and the memory fragments unlocked whenever a main character dies.
I've seen a number of people with questions about the story and the endings, and wanted to put together a thread that could maybe provide some answers. It’s completely subjective, and as prone to error as anyone else’s interpretation – certainly, if anyone reading it has a contrary view, I’d happily discuss it with them. If I use the term “implied” a lot, it’s because I can’t remember if it’s definitely stated in the text, and can’t currently be bothered to check one way or the other. Also, if it’s not actually written in the text – for example, if it’s told through the storyboard format of the memory fragments – then I’m going to say implied, as pictures can be open to interpretation, and I’m not going to claim my view is more valid than yours.

[telos80]

Origins

1600s, England
- Lord and Lady Ermengarde build their manor around a small village – under their guidance, the village grows into a thriving township.
- Lord and Lady Ermengarde die, leaving their daughter, Charlotte, as their sole heir.
- Although Lady Charlotte is known publicly for her own philanthropies – ending the local slave trade and freeing slaves that had been imported from overseas (Rebecca’s episode, newspaper clipping), in private she engages in some questionable behaviour. It is hinted during one of the memory fragments that her men hunt and “defile” other people for her entertainment, and she is often engaged in sexual relations with these men.
- Charlotte frees a slave from the orient (specific part unknown) named Takako (Kylie Suarez, Rebecca and Luke’s episodes). She then employs her as a maid servant, although the term “employed” is obviously a lot different in the 1600s than today. In those times, it’s implied that she earns her food, shelter in the servant’s quarters and maybe a small wage for her service (Luke’s episode, and Marianne’s/Hannah’s study of the floor plans).
- Charlotte, as a woman with power in a time when women can usually exercise power through marriage to a powerful man, starts a courtship with her first cousin, Lord Eduard. Takako, aware of her mistress’s indiscretions and smitten with Eduard’s kindnesses and physical appearance, becomes jealous of this courtship. It’s certain that she falls in love with Eduard, but it’s not certain whether or not he returns her feelings.
- Takako, feeling that Charlotte is not good enough for Eduard, informs him of his fiancée’s activities. He is furious, and confronts Charlotte, attempting to leave her lands and property. However, Charlotte, who, whether or not she is in love with Eduard, needs this union to solidify her power, orders her men to capture and kill Eduard while Takako watches. A small black cat is also killed at this point – Takako’s fondness for stray cats is mentioned during Eduard’s chapter (I think), and the death of the cat here is meant to link Takako with Eduard’s killing and imply that she used witchcraft to murder him. Takako is also raped by Charlotte’s men while Charlotte watches.
- Charlotte has Takako tried and convicted for witchcraft and the murder of her fiancée. Takako, knowing that she won’t be believed over the beloved daughter of the Ermengardes, silently accepts her fate. She is subsequently burned at the stake. This creates a “Ju-On” or grudge – an apparition born of powerful hate and rage, determined to kill anything it comes into contact with, bound to a certain place – in this case, the manor Takako’s beloved was killed in, and the home of her benefactor-come-nemesis, Lady Charlotte. (I’ll talk more about Ju-On later).
- After Takako’s death, Charlotte begins to her and see her apparition in the mansion. This distresses her greatly, causing her to lose her sanity. She is shown writing the infamous Letter with her own blood, while Takako watches from her mirror. She then dies, presumably of blood loss. (Memory fragments and Ashton’s chapter).
- It should be noted, that all the Letter says at this point is “Help me”, repeated over and over.

[telos80]

Spreading the Curse.

The vector that spreads the curse is debated throughout. The Letter’s contents – “HELP ME. SEND THIS TO 5 PEOPLE OR ELSE…” seems to indicate that the letter itself is how the curse spreads, but this is doubtful. People who have never seen the letter (Isabella’s co-worker, Rose Cooper being a prominent example) are still killed in a way that links them to the mansion. Also, passing the letter on (or showing it to someone else) has no benefit to the on holding it – Isabella quickly, if accidentally, shows the letter to 5 others halfway through her chapter, but is still targeted by the spirit and can be killed by it if she makes the wrong choices. If there’s no benefit to passing the letter on, then why expose others to it?
During Marianne’s chapter, she sees camera footage of 5 children messing around with the Letter, having broken in to the mansion on a dare, and, although the exact nature of their tampering isn’t disclosed, it’s strongly implied that they add the final line – “SEND THIS TO 5 PEOPLE OR ELSE…” – in red paint. They are then killed by Takako.
This would indicate that the Letter itself isn’t the vector that the curse spreads along. This leaves the mansion itself as the infectious agent, which is largely supported by the text, as most of the people who visit the mansion are killed within a short time of leaving it. The actual time varies hugely from the immediate (as in the children breaking in to the mansion for a dare) to a few weeks (Johannes Shrocken isn’t shown as having been killed despite having lived in the mansion since its occupation by the Wrights, although it is implied in the text that he is dead by the end of Luke’s chapter), and seems largely based on when it will create the most dramatic impact. Obviously this is a storytelling device – although I like to think that a vengeful spirit bent on destruction will also show a high level of dramatic flair whenever it can. This is how the spirit remains relevant in an ever widening community, how it retains the notoriety that makes people fear its legend nearly 400 years after the fact.
But there are a few inconsistencies – Kylie Suarez, Hannah and Luke Wright’s goddaughter, sees the ghost of Takako before she ever enters the mansion. Indeed, far from being threatened by the curse, Kylie refers to Takako as a friend throughout. She is upset only that Takako won’t show herself to others, and sometimes behaves oddly in company, rather than by any threat the spirit brings with it. Takako often speaks through Kylie for short periods of time, perhaps only in the minds of her victims, perhaps through brief but active possession, but Kylie never seems disturbed by this, or even aware that it happened.
I think Kylie’s story might be explained by her obviously close relationship with Luke, who himself is the main object of Takako’s current affections (discussed later). They share a clear bond, and a small, bright but obviously impressionable child might be an ideal vantage point to watch and gather information on Luke. However, given the implication of a possible genetic link between Luke and Lord Eduard, it’s also possible, if a bit far-fetched, that Kylie may have a genetic link with Takako – it largely depends on her surname, Suarez, being a reference to a Philippian heritage as opposed to Spanish or Southern American. There’s no particular reason to think this, just as it’s never spelled out that Takako herself is from the Philippines – it’s purely a surmise based on the game’s developers being based in the Philippines, and a clear Philippian influence on the game’s plot. The “logic” runs; if Eduard and Luke are distantly related, why not Kylie and Takako? It makes very little sense, which doesn’t necessarily make it wrong.
A further inconsistency: In any end but the True Ending, you are given the choice to burn the letter (or, if Isabella is present, to burn the mansion). Doing so will immediately cause a frustrated scream from the spirit before turning everything back to normal in a savage anti-climax to an otherwise excellent story. But this would indicate that the Letter is the thing that holds the curse, not the mansion – indeed, it’s the only compelling evidence I can think of that supports this theory.
Honestly I’m starting to think the “Burn the Letter” option is a deliberate cop out ending – a clear “you chose wrong, suffer at the hands of my anti-climactic ending to your ghost related fun times” by the developer. The Letter burns, and everyone walks away to whatever happiness or despair life brings them. But maybe there has to be an ending for people who didn’t dig deeper into the story, and this is it. Next time, make better choices. In other words, I’m not going to spend a lot of time thinking about how it does or does not change my assumptions of the story behind the story.
As burning the mansion leads to a slightly more satisfying ending, I tend to believe it supports the theory that the mansion is how the curse spreads. It’s not the source of the curse, but it is how it breeds and moves on through the generations.

[telos80]

The Wraith

I’ve seen some people asking on message boards who the ghost is, confused because although the story indicates it’s Takako, but also takes on the forms of other characters during the story, and indeed the precise identity and nature of the wraith is also a subject for some debate. While it’s clear that the haunting starts with Takako’s death, and I often refer to the wraith as Takako for the sake of simplicity, the wraith itself takes many forms, and acts in ways that seem alien to what we know of Takako’s nature in life. She is shown in conversation with Luke as a shy but gentle woman, damaged by her slavery but cautiously hopeful for a better future (which she hopes will include Eduard). We also find out about her kindness to stray cats. While I could argue that even Hitler loved his dog, she doesn’t seem evil or even particularly vindictive in life. If she were confronted while still alive by what her spectre eventually becomes, and its actions, I think she would be genuinely horrified.
I think the clearest answer to this comes from one of The Letter’s major influences, Ju-On, or The Grudge, a Japanese horror film which received an American remake. If you haven’t seen the film, original or remake, it’s worth watching if you also enjoyed The Letter. If you have seen it, you’ll probably understand the point I’m making, but I’ll go over the basic concept while hopefully not spoiling things too much. The Japanese believe that when someone dies in the grip of great rage, or hatred, the emotion remains and a curse is born (that’s more or less the first 2 lines of the film). People that enter the place which houses the curse are doomed to be killed by it. For the Grudge, this involves a suburban Japanese house where a double-murder and suicide were carried out some years before. Although most people in the films are killed by Kyako, the murdered housewife, her son Toshio also participates in the slaughter, his spirit strangely merged with the family cat that was drowned in the bathtub with the boy. The father, who committed the murders before hanging himself, is rarely seen in the films, and seems to be a much more minor part of the curse.
To take the Grudge’s example, although the curse is born from the rage and hate of Kyako's murder (the generally accepted interpretation), it quickly absorbs the spirits of others that have died in the house and makes them a part of itself, growing in power and malevolence. It is tied to a specific place, but once that place has been entered, and the entrant has been cursed, they can be killed in any place and at any time, usually in a very brutal manner. Although the wraith takes an appearance that is like the person whose emotion started the curse, and maybe even a few mannerisms of that person (Kyako’s trademark death rattle for example), it is a very separate entity and has almost nothing in common with that person in life. Notions like revenge seem to have little to do with its behaviour, unless, perhaps, it seeks revenge on the people it encounters because they are alive and it is not. All it really seems to want to do is kill. It has rules that is has to follow, in that it can’t kill or really affect anyone that has not visited the cursed property, but otherwise it murders indiscriminately.
So how does this translate to The Letter? Put like that, it’s pretty obvious. The curse is born when Takako is burned at the stake. Its first act is to kill Lady Charlotte (or to cause her suicide), whereupon it takes the mansion for its own – perhaps just because it absorbs Charlotte into itself, and the mansion is where Charlotte has always lived. Ever since, anyone who enters the mansion becomes cursed, and dies.
But how closely can we tie the wraith in The Letter to the Grudge? The temptation is to do so entirely, because they are, from the first sighting, very similar, even down to the sound Takako makes in the back of her throat throughout the game. But there are some differences. For a start, although both spirits seek to terrify their prey with mind games, Kyako never speaks, and Toshio rarely speaks more than a word at a time, while Takako’s spirit is very talkative. Although Kyako and Toshio can take other shapes, usually for the purpose of luring people onto the property, Takako does so much more often, and this forms a much more integral part of the games she likes to play with her victims.
In the end, I tend to think of the wraith as something of an amalgam of souls, which Takako seemingly has the most control over, as it is usually her drives that shape the wraith’s behaviour (killing Charlotte, wanting Luke for herself), but which is ultimately driven by the need to kill, and seemingly to terrify, anyone who falls a victim to the curse above any other consideration. Its default shape is a broken, rotting Takako, because that is who started the curse, but it has clearly grown beyond that point over the years. Perhaps the wraith is shaped by the victim’s own guilt - Marianne’s guilt over the death of her friend Lorraine for example. Perhaps it is influenced by the souls it contains – when Marianne is imprisoned at the end of her chapter, you clearly see Takako’s face change to Lady Charlotte’s, possibly because of Charlotte’s sadistic tendencies. The wraith seems to be the sum of a great many parts, different minds all pushing desperately towards the same murderous goal. I’m not sure the text points to anything more clear-cut than that.

EDIT: Changed the ghost from the Grudge's name from "Sadako" to "Kyako" - Sadako is the ghost from The Ring, I think Sadako vs Kyako on Shudder got me confused.

[telos80]

Ending the Curse

Although the game has multiple endings, as I’ve already touched upon, only one of them is “True”. It has to be said, the True Ending is the only one I’ve come across that feels right – the others don’t satisfy what, for me, the end of a horror this big should be like. A struggle with dark forces, at sometimes great cost. A sense of resolution, at least for now, and perhaps false. A look to the future, and a remembrance of what was lost, maybe. While burning the mansion has some of this, there’s a sense that the problem hasn’t really been dealt with, and will only surface again with other people in the character roles. I like that the True Ending answers more of the questions about the curse and its nature, and it’s why I invested more time in making sure I saw it than just watching the good ending and leaving it at that.
Based on the True Ending, it seems like the “help” that Takako wants – if that’s even what she wants, and just not the dying scrawl of a woman driven mad by her own crimes – is for her lost love to be returned to her. The impossibility of this doesn’t factor into the all-consuming nature of this need. She is dead, after all, and still here. So why isn’t her “prince”?
Luke Wright presents the possible solution to this. As people remark during the game, the portraits of Lady Charlotte and Lord Eduard resemble Luke and his wife, Hannah, very closely, although their personalities are almost polar opposites. Takako will later say that she and Luke “are bonded by blood” (or, if Hannah is dead, “by the blood on their hands”), possibly implying a genetic connection between Luke and Eduard, although this is a bit tenuous. Whatever the case, Takako wants Luke, in one form or another.
If Hannah is alive at the end of her chapter, Takako possesses her. This may underlie her unspoken envy at Lady Charlotte, who has everything and likely deserves nothing, and Takako’s wish to be her, partly because she has Eduard, but also possibly because she is powerful, successful, and beautiful, the way Hannah knows that people want to be her. The way that Takako asserts her ownership of the mansion after Charlotte’s death helps support this theory. More importantly though, Hannah has Luke, and becoming Hannah is an easy way for Takako to gain possession of him for herself. Not that the possession is fool-proof – Luke notices the change almost immediately, and starts to withdraw from his wife’s increasingly odd behaviour (i.e. cat pies).
If Hannah dies in her chapter, then a major obstacle between Luke and Takako is removed at a stroke, as Hannah is no longer the target of Takako’s attacks and she can focus her energies on Luke directly. All through his chapter, her voice guides his actions, if only subconsciously, as she wraps herself ever more tightly around him.
But would having what she wants end the curse? No. It’s pretty clear that she would happily go on with Luke in whatever way she could, probably up to and after his death, killing any one she perceives as in the way of their (her) happiness.
When Luke leaves the mansion at the end of the story, Takako still doesn’t have what she wants. The implication, as she watches him leave the burning mansion, is that the curse will continue, although the surviving characters have earned themselves a reprieve.
So how to end the curse? It’s hinted at throughout the story, during one of the character’s meetings with Professor Andrews – sacrifice.
In order to be rid of the curse, the story has to lead Luke, the last character to be played, to the point where he is willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of others. This, given Luke’s character, is difficult in itself. Luke is shown to go to great lengths to protect his own safety, or even just his own reputation – after all, in order to get the True Ending, he has to believe, spurred on by Takako but by no means at her full instigation, that he has to kill his wife. And that’s just at the threat of what a break up with him might do to his image, and maybe what she knows about his actively criminal business dealings. Even when their relationship is at its lowest ebb, he clearly loves her – or at least, who she used to be, and perhaps what she represents. But if it’s a choice between himself or her, it will always be him.
If guilt and remorse can bring him to it, however, it is his act of sacrifice, staying in the mansion while it burns down around him, that breaks the curse. At the end, Takako thanks him for staying with her (effectively, for giving her want she wanted). He only replies that he isn’t doing it for her, leaving unsaid the people that he is doing it for.
And with that, the curse finally appears to be broken, although its scars will persist here as in no other possible future, as all the survivors, in their own way and each to their respective talents, show the profound way in which it has affected them in their art for years to come. You could call that a sacrifice, if you were so inclined – a sacrifice of the happiness that the other epilogue stories so clearly show.
And I suppose, from the perspective of you, the player, a further sacrifice was necessary to end things. You can’t get the True Ending if some of the characters are alive to see it. Even in an essay littered with spoilers, it seems wrong to spell out exactly who has to die, but each is a character you probably cared for, wanted to protect and see flourish in his or her own way. In my first play through, everyone lived, as far as possible, happily ever after (excepting poor doomed Hannah). What I was left with was an ending that meant almost nothing to me – nothing was solved, nothing was answered, and all I knew for certain was that I couldn’t be satisfied with that. There is no True Ending without sacrifice, and, without death, no sacrifice is great enough to end things.

[telos80]

Conclusion.

I loved this game. I loved the shifting viewpoints, the slow unfolding of a story that seemed too big for any of its characters to fully know, the tension and the fright – I even loved how similar it was to the Grudge, one of my all-time favourite things that made me afraid to sleep in case my dreams could be worse than the fear that was keeping me awake. But I also felt the need to put the story in to some kind of fairly logical order, and to chew over the ideas that aren’t spelled out in the story. I can’t do that with my friends, as they don’t share my interest in horror (I particularly like how one friend will claim the supernatural doesn’t scare him because it doesn’t exist, but will refuse to watch horror because “he has to drive home and it’s dark), so I did it here. It got a bit maudlin towards the end, I know.
Maybe it helped some people with their questions, maybe it only provokes more questions, or maybe you've spotted something I've missed or disagree with some of the conclusions I've drawn. If so then let me know, I'll discuss it/change things.
Also, if any devs read this and want to definitely say "no that's wrong" or "yeah that's right," please do, and thanks for making an awesome game.

Thanks for reading.

[Yangyang Mobile]

Hello Telos!! First of all, thank you so much for putting this much effort into relaying your thoughts for everyone. It was fun reading through all of them, and at the end we felt like you just wrote a dissertation of the game, haha! :D

Now, some of things you wrote here were accurate while some were not. We don't want to disclose information about the game publicly because it's fun reading people's interpretations/theories, and because we want people to look forward to our official artbook (coming soon!). If you like, you can message us directly here at Steam (or any of our social media channels) and we'll answer any question you might have. We also invite you to join our Discord server[discordapp.com] (if you haven't yet). We have an active community there that talks and shares their opinions/theories about the game everyday!

Thank you so much for playing The Letter, and we're very happy that you loved it! ♡

[telos80]

Wow, thanks. I'll look into asking some questions when I'm not so sleepy, thanks a lot for taking the time to read my post and reply and hope your next game is going well atm.

[clearinghaze8]

I really enjoyed reading your interpretation! I agree with most everything you wrote, but I believe the wraith is a combination of Takako and Lady Charlotte equally. This stuck out to me when both Takako and Lady Charlotte spoke in Luke's chapter during the memory fragment scene in the ballroom, and I heard the ghost speak to Luke immediately afterwards: the ghost's voice sounds like Takako and Lady Charlotte speaking at the exact same time. The statment "the blood we share" would also make more sense, since this would be Lady Charlotte talking to Luke, who is similar to her first cousin Eduard. "The blood we shed" could also be Lady Charlotte talking, since she had Takako's blood on her hands. In one of Luke's bad endings, possessed Hannah says "we" to Luke a lot (i.e. we're so glad you returned to us), suggesting that the ghost has plural identities. Finally, I think the true end confirms this, as the ghost presents as Takako and Lady Charlotte. Somehow, they are one and the same in the afterlife.

I know I'm missing a few pieces, but that's just my take on it.

[telos80]

Hmm, that's very plausible - I'll think on it and maybe edit later. Thanks for reading and responding.

[Spiner909]

A well written and convincing essay. Though I can't help but admit that I wish there was an ending where the wraith was resolved AND everybody survived.

[Doozerpindan]

Hm, my interpretation of the story is rather different.

I don't think it's a Grudge type curse, I think it is Takako driven insane.

I think Takako really was a witch, but that she used her magic very discreetly, or perhaps she refused to use it at all. As the OP stated, Takako is shown to be a very warm person.

I think she fell in love, and became obsessed with, Lord Eduard, and that is why she felt jealous enough of Charlotte to dare overstep her place and meddle in the affairs of her superiors.

I think, when she died, she refused to move on, and used her magic to remain on our plain, stuck between the veil of life and death.

She then began haunting Charlotte, making her life a living hell, and drove her insane. The letter, presumably written at her lowest point, is a cry for help, but one I think Takako forced her to write in her own blood, as she is shown to have the ability to influence, if not outright control, peoples minds.

Charlotte then hanged herself, but not before Takako bound her soul and body to the Letter, and possessed her.

As long as The Letter exists, so does Charlotte, and, as long as Charlotte exists, Takako lives on.

However, the merging of two souls, with Charlotte's insanity and psychopathic tendencies, corrupted the already very angry and unstable Takako, driving both sides of the new soul insane with pain and grief and hate.

Presumably, people would have noticed something strange about a walking corpse, given that Takako cannot alter the effects of rigor mortis, even if she can still animate the dead body.

At some point, her relatives were called as concern over Charlotte grew, and, somehow, the truth was learned. Presumably, given Takako looks like herself and not Charlotte, the Ermengarde's used a spell to force her true form to be revealed, destroying Charlotte's body.

Charlotte was 'killed' again, beaten and torn into with blunt and sharp objects, ripping open her body. After being buried, the relatives warned people not to dare set foot on the Mansion grounds again, lest they disturb whatever monster took their beloved Charlotte.

From that day forward, the Ermengarde's took it upon themselves to protect both the mansion and the people, making it their solemn duty to keep watch over it.

However, Takako, now denied not only her beloved, but also her vengeance, decided to take it out on any who dared trespass upon her Mansion, her home, trapping them as she was trapped, using the same spell and words to bind their souls the way Charlotte's was bound. Help me.

As she harvests blood and souls, her power grows, but she cannot leave the mansion without a body, and so somebody must first cross the barrier of her Soul Cage (The Mansion) and become possessed by a portion of her soul. That portion wears away the targets mind (dreams and hallucinations etc) until they truly believe, and then Takako can finally claim them.

The reason the Mansion is being sold is because the current generation of Ermengarde's either don't care about about,or do not believe in, the curse. Or they cannot afford it anymore, which explains the refusal to give BRC more money to list it (Well, outside of BRC being a big enough of bag of ♥♥♥♥♥ to try and double the listing price, anyway).

Ash didn't believe, refused to even consider it, which is why it wasn't until several days later, when all of his friends had seen things, that he finally wondered if there was something to it, which is why he sees Takako at the party.

Somehow, Takako, or the Ermengarde's, have kept the truth of what happened hidden from the people, locking away the important texts in the archives of the library. My money is on Takako, we know she can resist the urge to kill if there's a reason to manipulate them instead.

The body Takako has is still Charlotte's, but it is far too broken to be useful outside of killing her prey. Given her ability to transform a corpse she has possessed, as well as teleport herself and other physical items, she is vastly more powerful than a mere spirit. She can also be seen flaying three people at once with no effort, another testament to her power.

If the Letter is destroyed, it destroys Charlottes remains and unbinds her body and soul, preventing Takako from being able to interact with the physical plain as easily as she could before.

If the Mansion is destroyed, it destroys the physical aspect of her Soul Cage, stopping her from being able to claim new victims, as you cannot physically cross a barrier that does not physically exist.

Also, the Letter is used to start that destroys the mansion, so Takako becomes a prisoner as much as all the other souls.

Whether or not a creature like her will stay a prisoner, however, remains to be seen.

If you consider the True End to be canon, (I don't, but I don't like killing off any of the characters in games if I can avoid it), then Charlotte is likely as content as she will ever be. Though, chances are, she will tire of Luke, and find a new way to escape her prison, and the nightmare will begin anew.

EDIT Forgot to add a bit.

[Doozerpindan]

Here's a thought, what if Andrew isn't Andrew? The guy has way too much info and it is way too accurate, and why does he have access to the archives when teachers and others (like Ash, a police officer) don't?

What if he is somehow immortal, and has been waiting for somebody to end the curse so he can die and/or regain his mortality.

Perhaps he is an Ermangarde, or perhaps he was Takako's mentor and uses magic to prolong his life. Maybe he tried to help Takako and failed, so he has been waiting for somebody to come along and do what he failed to do.

It would explain why rumours and legends about the place have lasted so long if he's around to keep stoking that fire, to keep people afraid of venturing too close to it, and the fact that the books were hidden away in the archives is rather odd, unless Andrew didn't want the wrong people to get hold of such information (Maybe he is afraid somebody will try to control Takako, which would be utterly disastrous).



I know this is probably not remotely accurate, it was just a thought that popped into my head while doing another playthrough for more epilogues.

[Feral Beagle]

I like the bit about the interpretation of the true ending. In a sense, the alternate ending where *SPOILER ALERT* Luke leaves everyone to die still is understandable from a narrative perspective, as well. A major aspect of the fused Takako/Charlotte entity is their lust for Eduard/Luke. By him rejecting her/them, this could also effectively end the curse by resolving the main drive for their murderous intent. Even if I'm wrong about this, that's what I love about this story. Despite having finished several playthroughs, there is still enough mystery to warrant alternate attempts to unlock the greater history of the game.

[telos80]

I loved this game, and like a lot of horror, there's room for personal interpretation and speculation on the events we're shown. I know my interpretation got some things right and some things wrong, but I still had a good time writing it and trying to organise my thoughts into some sort of working order.

I know YangYangMobile have a discord server, link should be above somewhere, where they they discuss this and their other games - maybe a good place to hang out and talk to other Letter fans.

[s.baran007]

Personally, I think the implication is that the curse can't be truly ended unless every aspect that forms it is erased. To make a comparison, it's like how Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series couldn't be killed until all the horcrux acting as spiritual anchors for him were destroyed - the house, the letter and the unresolved feelings of the two women are all the foundations of the curse. The house that became Takako's living hell - the letter that represented the living hell Charlotte was subjected to in turn - their shared feelings for the man they both loved - getting rid of one or two of these things severely weakens the curse and the ghost, ending their ability to claim any more victims (beyond one, depending on if the stinger-end with Kylie is genuine or a vision or what have you).

Likewise, the reason I think the devs can say that all the good endings are/can be "canon" despite there being a true ending is because they do all still bring about a conclusion - the curse does indeed get stopped no matter what; the "True End" simply represents the only outcome where the curse is actually ended and all the victim's souls are released, rather than the curse just being forever "stopped".