What's the meaning of the ending?

[Lt. Anderson]

It's very much curious what's the true meaning of the ending..anyone idea?

[Xavoc]

Well, it is certianly quite interesting. I would say it is for everyone to interpret on their own.

! *SPOILER ALERT* Please don't read any further if you want to play to the end yourself !





The game ends at the point where the boy for the first time really meets a girl. She is kneeing down on the floor and she's stroking something in the grass, which isn't clearly visible.

Then the screen goes black and the credits begin to roll down. When the credits end, you as a player can see the exact location in the woods with the tree house on the right side of the screen and approximately in the middle of the screen you see 2 spots seperated from each other, where flies are circling around.

I interpret that maybe the girl and boy died and that their dead bodies maybe lying in the grass on the floor. However this is my opinion and I guess as I said everyone may have their own thoughts/interpretation on this particular ending.

I have to say I finished the game really just now and I wanted to post the same thread so I guess I'm not alone with this empty feeling at the end of the game.

:) All I can say is that I really liked the game, the art, the sound, the atmosphere. It was beautifully done and created emotions of horror, sadness and loneliness.

The puzzles where quite interesting and hard sometimes to figure out and I have to admit at the end I quite lost my patience, however I finished it and overall liked this game :-)

[Plexus]

the story of limbo is that the boy is searching for his sister.
it's open to interpretation how this could have happened, maybe they both died and are traversing limbo to reunite with one another, perhaps the boy is an orpheus metaphor, maybe he commited suicide with the grief of his sister's death.

the ending is a callback to the scene earlier in the game where the boy thought he found his sister, and then had to backtrack away from her because of brainslugs only to return there to find her gone. when the boy stops and the girl recognises his pressence, we cut to black, making it unclear whether this was simply another trick limbo has pulled on the boy or whether this is a real happy ending.

It's my belief that this was a nice, cool ending that put the developers in a nice spot to include co-op in limbo 2. but we'll have to see.

[_CrushingThoughts]

There indeed are a lot of possible interpretation of the games ending. I personally regard the ending aswell as the game as a very good display of the religious limbo - a place between Heaven and Hell where souls of the dead travel along confused and disoriented not knowing where to go. I feel like the game really lets you feel like those souls since you in fact are really disoriented being thrown into a forest with giant spiders and weird strangers who for some reason want to kill you.
It seems to me as if your sister in this game acts as a symbol for Heaven since its the only thing you're working towards and as if the all surrounding permanently present possibility of failure ( which in this case means death ) is either a symbol for hell or a symbol for the rules of the limbo realm which do not allow you or any other soul to reach heaven. ( Note that for example the Spiders that chase you very often look like giant black claws of a hand reaching for you as if they want to grab you in order to put an end to your journey - also note that spiders are a symbol for eternity and fate maybe displaying YOUR fate of staying in the Limbo realm for all eternity; which you actually overcome since you always escape the spider and eventually even kill it ! - in other words maybe destroying/changing your fate ? [ btw. fun fact and mind blow: Spiders have 8 legs and 8 Eyes and their body, if viewed from above, looks like an 8 whereas 8 is the number that represents eternity ] )
Since the ending does not clarify if you truly reach your goal or if your sister simply disappears ( or if you get trolled by a brainslug again -.- ) it leaves you with the same feeling that you live through the whole game - uncertainty. You dont know whether you can leave this realm ( reach your sister ) and enter heaven or not. Still there is this faint distant hope ! And this hope is your fuel for trying to reach your sister no matter how difficult and dangerous it may be. Also the hotel you pass by encourages this thought since a hotel is not a place to live forever. You usually leave a hotel after a certain amount of time. But still you dont know whether or not the hotel is a symbol for the possibility to leave the Limbo or just what it is - an abandoned hotel.

Altogether I view Limbo as one of the deepest, most atmospheric and best games I have ever played and I cant wait to see a sequel or other titles of Playdead.

[ld.dante]

i didnt read any of you guys comments but i think the ending was way to possibly make a 2 player sequal.

[Gumtrea]

I think that the boy and his sister died in a car crash (evidence: burning tire during gameplay, changing gravity like the car rolling, and smashing through the glass representing the windshield. He is then stuck in Limbo (purgatory), unable to pass to Heaven due to him worrying about his sisters safety. Here he is confronted by his fears - spiders, older children, the crash etc. which he has to face. At the end of his journey, he finds his sister who is waiting for him by the ladder, a representation of resolution and finality, allowing both of their souls to move on to the afterlife (she was in limbo due to her worries of his safety). Then they both try to climb the ladder. However after the credits we can see the aftermath. The ladder has broken and they have both been unable to move on out of limbo. Here they both died, shown by the piles of flesh on the floor and the circling flies. A suitably dark ending to a dark game. I also feel that a sequel could cheapen the first game.

[_CrushingThoughts]

I did not in the slightest had a thought in that direction, but the car crash idea makes a lot of sense and simply amazes me =) Only question would be what the saws are representing, since you encounter them all the time.

[GearHobb]

I believe that Gumtrea's interpretation makes sense. However, I like my own, which is almost identical to pudels'. Of course, it is overall subjective, so we can only know if the creators offer an objective answer.

Limbo is a theological idea of the Catholics. Limbo isn't like Purgatory. Purgatory is a place for those in the good graces of God to be prepared for heaven. Limbo is a place for those who have committed Original sin, but within the grace of God. Ergo, they aren't bad enough to go to Hell, but not good enough to reach Heaven

The idea is supposed to be mild punishment. You are supposed to be aware of the idea of Heaven, yet you can never reach it. You are forever condemned to pain of knowing you can never attain entry into the Realm of God (Heaven). This is what the girl is supposed to represent (like pudel said). I doubt that the boy ever did reached his sister. However, I don't believe that he died. Limbo is a place for your immortal soul. So, he is forever condemned to pursue his sister (Heaven) without ever reaching her.

The game is all about this boy's punishment for committing Original sin, but not being evil. He isn't evil enough because he is very young. The place for the young that committed original sin is Limbo of the Infants. He is there for eternity.

[Gumtrea]

I think your ideas are really interesting. But how would you explain the piles flesh and the flies?

[Mr. Stormy]

I interprit it as this;
As the boy, the protagonist, you set off to search for and hopefully find your sister. You begin by waking up in a very bizarre world (representative of a limbo-world) which is entirely surreal and difficult to believe even exists.
I feel that at the end, upon reaching your sister, you are in fact that one that died, and you spend your days going through limbo in hopes that you'll find her. She seems to be tending to a grave at the end, which is indeed belonging to the boy and not her.

[Mary Poppinoff@theMouth]

Originally posted by pudels:

I did not in the slightest had a thought in that direction, but the car crash idea makes a lot of sense and simply amazes me =) Only question would be what the saws are representing, since you encounter them all the time.

possibly, if they didn't die on impact, the tools of rescue workers or some sort of emergency surgery?

[AvangArt]

If Limbo2 will be with co-op - its will be realy BAD. Because game will loose her atmosphere of horror, sadness and loneliness...

[GearHobb]

Gumtrea, I agree that that bodies at the end of the game is a hole in my interpretation. However, I remembered how Dante described his journey through Hell in The Divine Comedy. Several of the sinners were constantly reanimated so that they may relive their torture, like The Suicides. The Suicides were trees that had their branches constantly broken off that would ooze blood, and a new branch would grow back so it may be broken off again. Seeing as how The Divine Comedy has been a very influential piece of literature that has impressed a certain image of Hell onto others, I figured it wouldn't be completely wrong to say that its reach isn't too short to delve into video games.

Of course, this could just be me grasping at straws. Maybe I'm is over analyzing this game.

[fsfas]

I haven't gone as deep as you guys, but one things for sure. It's about a journey. If its driven by fear or hope will probaly forever remain unkown. Hey for all i know it could be both, or even a third..

[Hexan]

Just to make it easy the storys is the sister is gone and you (The boy) shall find her, it is just so simple, but there are some cool idea, maybe people cut make some fan art game or any thing so the people behind this game, now that people need more from the world of LIMBO!

[El "No Bromo" Hojo]

I don't see the two "graves" as a hole in Gumtrea's interpretation. They could be the actual places where their bodies hit the ground after the crash. In the Everlost trilogy, for example, the ground where someone died crosses over into the spirit world along with that person.