Piecing together the lore MAJOR SPOILERS

[quintonhoffert]

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IMPORTANT!!!!!

If the title didn't already make it clear, this post will have major spoilers for the endings and many in-game reveals, and won't have spoiler text on since I'd have to spoiler the entire thing. If you haven't finished the game yet, and/or you don't want any spoilers and you want to figure everything out for yourself, please stop reading here.
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So, I finished the game today and I've been thinking about the lore I found in my playthrough. I know I didn't get everything, so I wanted to start a thread about trying to piece together the game's lore so that we can get as good of a sense as is currently possible on what exactly happened during the game, and why it matters. This post is specifically about the endings, what they mean, and why each one is relevant, but I would love to have as many, and as varied, responses as possible. In a eldritch horror mystery story like this, even obscure bits of lore could have massive implications when combined with other pieces.

As far as the general bent of the final boss and endings go, I'm pretty sure that Daisy is the Shimmer Goddess that everyone worships. Her existence is holding back the daylight, potentially for good reason considering the tentacle sun in the sad ending. The bad "Nightmare" ending shows a white eldritch creature with planets orbiting it, suggesting that it is the sun since in our solar system planets orbit the sun. The world in Vigil has known sunlight before, so the eldritch creature can't be omni-malevolent or the world would have ended long before the events of the game take place. Nevertheless, it represents a potential danger for the future, one which likely wouldn't be able to be solved as "easily" as the Light Devourer was. Considering that multiple eldritch scriptures mention the GREAT DEITY of the Sacredwood, it's possible that the white eldritch creature is the GREAT DEITY. It certainly wouldn't be the first example of sun worship (of a sort), and many things related to the Sacredwood (the Scholar boss, and many enemies in the Underground Hall) all sport tentacles much like the sun creature.

It's also worth noting that the eternal night doesn't seem to be harmful, despite the teachings of the Shimmer Church. The prevalence of monsters and disappearances in the original timeline are likely the result of the Professor's experiments with the Light Red and Crimson elixirs, along with him kidnapping people to use as fodder for his experiments. In the Secret Cave we see a lot of people who have been experimented on, and we find multiple notes (presumably from him) of failed experiments, so it wouldn't be too surprising. Likewise, the Doctor in the alternate dimension is the one causing the bogus plague, probably using the same Light Red and Crimson methods as the Professor since we can find lore notes in the Underground Hall that are copies of the Professor's research. Given this, it doesn't seem like the eternal night is actually harmful to the world, and the Forbidden Library in the Shimmer Church has a few books that suggest that the darkness is gentle and isn't something to fear.

Overall, considering all of this, the good ending is the ending that is likely best for everyone involved. Daisy gets to remain human instead of being forced to be an eldritch god, and gets to keep living a (hopefully) happy life with her sister. The plague is over, the blood moon is gone, and the world is safe again until some other psychopath like the Doctor pieces together the eldritch lore and tries this again some other time down the line. Meanwhile, the people will still pray for the dawn to come, but the eternal night won't actually harm them and their lives should go on happily now that the Doctor isn't around to continue experimenting on people and turning them into monsters. The sad ending is sad for Daisy (who is potentially either dead or "dead until the stars align") and Leila (who has to live with having killed her sister), and is potentially dangerous for the world if the eldritch sun "GREAT DEITY" proves to be malevolent, but isn't guaranteed to be dangerous. Lastly, the bad ending is probably the same as the sad ending, with the additional bad part that Leila is probably going to die to the "GREAT DEITY," and thus regardless of whether the world is safe from it or not, neither Leila nor Daisy will be around to enjoy the end of the Doctor's scheme.

Right now, that's most of what I've got. I'm still putting together my thoughts on the rest of the lore, but I think that the twins Janis and Silvia, along with Dephil and potentially the other Ocarina bosses, will all be key to figuring out what's really going on. I especially think that Janis and Silvia are, in reality, the Satis twins, the goddess(es?) of beauty. Like the Satis twins, Janis and Silvia are explicitly called out as being twins by the Notes tab, and one of Janis's quest rewards is the Feast of Joy Arcane item, which mentions in its lore that Satis "borrowed" (stole) it from a library in a dark universe. Janis also heavily suggests that she's not human, and she asks for items taken from eldritch gods and spirits.

Lastly, to wrap up this post, I'm pretty sure that Leila, and by extension multiple other characters in the lore, are reincarnations of divine or semi-divine beings like Daisy (probably) is. Janis (and presumably also Silvia since they're twins) looks almost the same as Leila, as does Dephil even though she's an ancient figure of legend. Dephil also specifically calls out wishing that she could have spent time reading fairy tales with Daisy instead of the Pilgrimage of the Helious, so she clearly has a connection. I think that finding and training the sister of Daisy as a monster hunter and problem solver may be the true purpose of the Vigilants; either that, or their goal is directly opposite of that, since the Trial of the Vigilant seems to involve trying to bring back the daylight.

Thank you to anyone who replies. I'm looking forward to figuring out as much as is possible right now. And if any developers are reading the comments, as many seem to be, and want to drop a few hints as to where to search, or what might be closer or further from the truth, I wouldn't complain...

[Infected Ronin]

What bugs me most is the "parallele timeline" after the trial is done. How does that works?

Also, in this game, (Warning I am not one who believes the Earth is flat) VTLN's planet must be flat, because otherwise, for some people, it is eternal daylight.

I do not know what the Tentacled Sun is, but that coupled with "sealed disaster" reminds me of Vampyr talking about the Dis Astro, the soul devourer, the one who deprive sky from stars ...

[Zunde]

The Reincarnation theory holds a lot of weight and i honestly think that during the prologue where you find Bruna and such you're specifically playing as Delphi not Leila. Because after defeating Delphi she talks about Bruna among other things.

Combined with the Greatwood Dungeon having multiple notes left behind by other characters from the prologue such as Steve and the scholar of the greatwood being the professor

So this is what i think happened.

Delphi and Daisy were sisters and Delphi returned home to see her for her birthday which gets her embroiled in the professors plot when she take's up the task of finding Bruna who has gone missing.

This is where things get a little muddled for me. I think the professor abducts daisy and through the broodmother and Bruna's spirit along with the secret cave notes Delphi discovers the professors plot

I don't know where the Catacombs fits in but eventually this would lead to the Church and Guards and Vigilants attacking the Greatwood and sealing themselves and the pagans and the freshly transformed professor inside but at one point near the end for some reason Delphi loses her nerve and flees the greatwood which botches everything

As Leila you're basically finishing what Delphi failed to do

Basically i don't think it's an alternate timeline but the future with Leila and Daisy to be constants

[Infected Ronin]

Originally posted by Zunde:

The Reincarnation theory holds a lot of weight and i honestly think that during the prologue where you find Bruna and such you're specifically playing as Delphi not Leila. Because after defeating Delphi she talks about Bruna among other things.

Combined with the Greatwood Dungeon having multiple notes left behind by other characters from the prologue such as Steve and the scholar of the greatwood being the professor

So this is what i think happened.

Delphi and Daisy were sisters and Delphi returned home to see her for her birthday which gets her embroiled in the professors plot when she take's up the task of finding Bruna who has gone missing.

This is where things get a little muddled for me. I think the professor abducts daisy and through the broodmother and Bruna's spirit along with the secret cave notes Delphi discovers the professors plot

I don't know where the Catacombs fits in but eventually this would lead to the Church and Guards and Vigilants attacking the Greatwood and sealing themselves and the pagans and the freshly transformed professor inside but at one point near the end for some reason Delphi loses her nerve and flees the greatwood which botches everything

As Leila you're basically finishing what Delphi failed to do

Basically i don't think it's an alternate timeline but the future with Leila and Daisy to be constants

But we fight Delphi, no? How could Delphi be still alive if we are her reincarnation?

[Zunde]

I don't believe Delphi is still alive. I believe we're fighting her ghost or an echo of her spirit.

[Infected Ronin]

Originally posted by Zunde:

I don't believe Delphi is still alive. I believe we're fighting her ghost or an echo of her spirit.

Okay but riddle me this:

Dephil, the first Vigilant who was able to end the first Longest Night.

If she broke the "eternal night" why it is still there as we play the game? Shouldn't the world died after she damned them all by doing "nightmare ending" basically?

[Zunde]

A lot of the notes inside the greatwood imply that she actually did not do that though. That she lost her nerve and ran away which is why they sealed the greatwood

[Infected Ronin]

Originally posted by Zunde:

A lot of the notes inside the greatwood imply that she actually did not do that though. That she lost her nerve and ran away which is why they sealed the greatwood

Wasn't sure they were talking about Delphil ... still not ... nothing proves they talk about Delphil ... or did I forgot a part?

[quintonhoffert]

I think it's possible/probable that multiple different dimensions exist and are connected in VTLN through the Ocarinas. The Ancient Guard boss battle that ends the prologue (whether it takes place in the past or in another dimension is, for this purpose, irrelevant) clearly takes place in a fallen world or timeline, since the name "Death's Destination" suggests a destroyed world and it has the sucking void background that the Dilapidated Nightmare dimension we fight the final boss in also has. To me this suggests that if the Ocarinas lead to other dimensions, potentially failed dimensions, it shouldn't be out of the question for the second map to also be in another dimension. However, it makes a lot of sense as a time skip too, since plenty of characters from the first map are referenced. All in all I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but alternate dimensions are basically guaranteed to exist in VTLN due to the Ocarina dimensions.

Speaking of the Ancient Guard, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a remnant of the ancient Glorious Guard. Its scythe mentions that it killed countless villains, which is something you'd expect the last of an order of heroes to do. Likewise, the questline with Duran explains that nobody really knows exactly what type of "door" or "gate" the Guard really defended. It's definitely plausible that the Gate to the Other Side is a portal through time, but to me this seems unlikely because you can use the Ocarinas to travel to other worlds that don't feel similar to the current one, like the Shadow Disaster or the Everlasting Cage. In addition, the map doesn't show a new area when you transition to an Ocarina area (which honestly is really annoying given how large they are), suggesting to me that you're somewhere outside the scope of the game's world. After all, if you were still in an actual area in the game's world, even if it was forwards or backwards in time, it would make sense to show you on the map.

The Gate to the Other Side is interesting as well. "Porta Avernus" is Italian for "Gate to the Underworld," which likewise supports the theory that it's a gateway to other dimensions rather than through time. Death's Destination makes the most sense with that name, since the underworld would literally be death's destination, but I think it's also possible to take it as being a gate to entire dead worlds. This seems plausible given the setting of each of the four Ocarina levels. Death's Destination is a corpse world filled with zombies, Shadow Disaster is a mechanical nightmare filled with crystallized skulls, Frozen Realm is an ice age world with what seems like frozen zombies, and the Everlasting Cage is more or less just a container for Dephil, filled with the swords of countless fallen Vigilants. Assuming this theory is correct, and the Gate to the Other Side transports you to dead worlds, it makes me think that the second world map is another dimension, not just a time skip.

However, it's also possible that time just flows really weirdly in other dimensions. This is a common trope, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was true here too. That said, there is a major piece of evidence that makes me think that it is unlikely to be the case here. When you use the other Ocarinas and defeat Uptancos, Princess Downaly, Dephil, and potentially the Ancient Guard again (♥♥♥♥ the drop rates for Breath of the Ancient Guard), no time skip happens: you're spat back out exactly where you were before using the Ocarina.

I personally think that the Lantern Keeper intentionally transports you to another dimension after you defeat the Ancient Guard. She mentions that dawn is coming soon, which makes me think that she's from the Ancient Guard's timeline, and that by killing him you've freed her soul to move on. If this is true, for someone as ancient as her, and as stuck, even being obliterated by an eldritch sun god would probably be preferable to being trapped in the unending husk of a dead world. This is by far the weakest part of this theory, though, so take this stuff about the Lantern Keeper with a grain of salt.

All in all, I still don't think I've proven for sure one way or another whether the second map is a time skip or an entirely different dimension, but I personally lean heavily on it being a different dimension. For one final piece of evidence, several characters seem to be the same from the first map, as they recognize you as if they'd recently seen you, such as Isabella.

Don't get me wrong, by the way, I DO think the events of the first part happened in the past of the second part, since clearly many characters reference characters from part 1, or are descended from them. But I think that there's enough evidence to, if not conclude outright, at least strongly suspect that Leila ended up in a parallel universe that just so happened to be a few hundred years into the future of her own dimension.

[Zunde]

I admit that this is a stretch but one of the notes written by the professor in the greatwood is this.

"The found the perfect Ratio. I am supreme. I surpass Destiny. I swallow.. my emotions.. myself hate daisy.. Phil"

It seems to me that the professor is writing this while his transformation is taking place there are a lot of .... in the words so i figured "Phil" was the professor trying to write Delphil

Also earlier on in the dungeon is a note saying "The women quit at the last moment."

So i figured it was heavily implied that Delphil lost her nerve and ran away

[Infected Ronin]

Originally posted by Zunde:

I admit that this is a stretch but one of the notes written by the professor in the greatwood is this.

"The found the perfect Ratio. I am supreme. I surpass Destiny. I swallow.. my emotions.. myself hate daisy.. Phil"

It seems to me that the professor is writing this while his transformation is taking place there are a lot of .... in the words so i figured "Phil" was the professor trying to write Delphil

Also earlier on in the dungeon is a note saying "The women quit at the last moment."

So i figured it was heavily implied that Delphil lost her nerve and ran away

Could it implies that "Scholar of the Sacred Wood" is the professor then?

[Zunde]

It's outright said that the Scholar of the sacred wood is the Professor as one of the notes also points out that the "Noble professor became that thing."

Found it in my screenshots

"Stinky Helmet"

The Virtuous and respectable professor became... that thing though sealing away the entrance trapped us all here i agree with the priests and vigilants it was a sacrifice i'm happy to make

[quintonhoffert]

That was definitely my expectation. The Professor was definitely studying the Sacredwood, and the name "Scholar of the Sacred Wood" definitely implies someone who studied it. The other person it could potentially be is Gram, since he seemed like he was in bed with the Professor since he was experimenting on his brother Chris. The game implied that he died outside the Catacombs, but I don't think it was ever confirmed for sure, and he didn't sound that badly wounded from his dialogue.

That's also a good point about the note in the Giantwood. Considering this with the earlier theory of the protagonist in the prologue being Dephil, I think this theory is a lot more grounded now and makes a good bit of sense.

That said, I think it's also possible that the Giantwood was sealed a long time before even the Professor or Gram started studying the Sacredwood. There is a secret conversation with the Professor that you can find in the first map if you climb the waterfall in the Valley before you kill the Brood Mother. I don't know how you could do it on a first playthrough: I did it on my second because I already had double jump (you keep all your upgrades). In it, he mentions an old story about the Pilgrimage of the Helious that Dephil mentioned, saying that as the pilgrims passed the Giantwood they noticed the sunlight glinting off the seal at the top, and that he wished that he could have been one of them and seen it himself. So that implies that the sealing might actually have happened a really long time before even the first map's time, but that in turn would kill the theories about the Professor or Gram being the Scholar boss.

All in all I'm not really sure, but I think the timeline doesn't match up. Steve being mentioned prominently in the Giantwood definitely makes me think that the first map eventually leads into the sealing of the Giantwood, but there's also evidence against it. Steve's also a common name, though considering all the weird and interesting names in this game, having a conventional name like Steve pop up in a conspicuous area like this feels a bit too intentional to be just a coincidence. Overall the game is a little vague on this point. This is a place where, if a developer is watching this thread, I'd really appreciate some clarification if he/she doesn't think doing so would ruin the lore hunt.

[Zunde]

I absolutely think the Steve in the greatwood is 100% the Steve from the first map.

His notes in the greatwood are found on top of a "Stinky helmet."

[quintonhoffert]

♥♥♥♥, I somehow must have missed that. That's basically 100% confirmation then, which also confirms that the Professor is the Scholar of the Sacred Wood (not that it wasn't very likely anyways). Really good catch.

Weird that the Professor comments on the seal existing before his time though. Maybe it's just a bad translation? The developers did say in the "Bad Translation" thread that a mistake happened that none of them caught, and the original draft of the game's translation made it into the release instead of the finalized, fully proof-read version. Maybe this is a mistake on the part of the devs, which will be fixed in the first major update when they said they were aiming to change to the finalized script.

[Zunde]

You can actually get up to that place with the professor in the valley during the prologue. I did he also gives you a housing decoration item for some reason.