Lore & metaphors

[Al'Eksandar]

The underground kingdom is a place of many secrets. Some of them could have a meaning that isn't obvious at a first glance. Also, the entire game could be seen as one big metaphor for overcoming depression and (it seems, particularly) loneliness. But, how to decipher and make sense of its various elements? With a little help from your friends at the Steam forum. ;)

So, to begin, what do you think is the significance of the secret tower in terms of narrative? Who lived there, and why did this person grind bones? Could this somehow be connected to the grave in the outside world? Or perhaps the grave is connected to something (someone) else entirely? There's no entrance to the tower from the surface, which is suspicious (at least I didn't see any).

I just finished the game by joining the family on the surface, and was kinda sad to see The King crumble and lose his face... Although, from the start I knew I wanted to get out of there eventually, and not be a puny servant to The King (hey, even Shade says he had a dream about being a King instead of the King!). I didn't really like the metaphor of becoming darkness in order to face darkness (at least how I understood it), to me it takes a mixture of darkness and light (in simplified terms, acceptance and willpower to overcome it). Although, you definitely need to give yourself some time and be patient, so the central metaphor regarding generally having to wait a lot - but also be proactive - seems spot-on. Of course, I'm no psychologist, so.....

[John2s]

What you think about this? - https://prnt.sc/rf0joa
And this - https://prnt.sc/rf0kbt

[Al'Eksandar]

I am horrified! How did this came to be? :'(

[kkiri]

Originally posted by John2s:

What you think about this? - https://prnt.sc/rf0joa
And this - https://prnt.sc/rf0kbt

So, this good ending after certain amount of time becomes inaccessible, it seems. The old man dies and nobody will be able to save you, I suppose. This is sad.

[Fridge Lord]

Cool thread. I have some thoughts. A lot of symbols in the game are open to more than one interpretation, and some may have been placed in the game rather unconsciously. That's one thing that's so cool about symbols in art.[/spoler]

I'll give my thoughts on two of them, becoming darkness and the bird tower.

On the bird tower, I'm writing as a player who has chosen to be faithful to the King. I see this as the Shade fulfilling his Purpose. The sense of Purpose is what drives me and my Shade onward. I have a lot of paintings in my room that remind me of this, and make me think about the glory and greatness of the King, with the Creator painting at the top.

There are some clues and cues to what is going on in the game in some of the paintings. If you look through them, there are some of a white bird, like a crane. The close-up of this bird is called Doubt. There are also sequences involving the bird like Victory Or Defeat. Victory shows the bird being killed, while Defeat shows the bird flying away. Why?

The only other place in the game I see birds appear is in the mystery tower that sits on the surface, but cannot be escaped from. The former owner has boarded the windows up and destroyed the topmost ladder. There are dead skeletons of birds in cages, and a grinder where their bones were being ground up.

The tower is essentially where you (the player/the Shade/a psyche) might house, experience, and contemplate your doubts. The bird represents doubt. They are doubts about your Purpose, and whether it is worth it to continue being faithful in the caves. This is why the birds are in this tower from which you can see a big view of the surface world. It is located in a place in the game world where you might be contemplating whether to jump in the well bucket and leave the caves forever. Doubt is represented by the white bird, as it is a creature that might fly away.

Regarding the dark passage, and having to navigate it with a mixture of darkness and light, I am speaking here as a person who helps other people to make changes.

The other you that you meet in the dark passage is a symbol for an archetype called The Human Shadow. If you have the conscious mind and the unconscious mind, you can think of this Shadow as a split-off part of ourselves where we put a lot of bad stuff, and then we dissociate from it or disown it. But it is actually a part of ourselves. It has messages for you, and often the more you split it off, the more it comes out to wreck your life. Say you have a problem with selfishness of some kind- this will come out in your personal relationships, and after conflicts you will think you were right. Everyone will call you selfish and you will go on about how you are the least selfish person in the situation. Just an example.

As you begin to become conscious of this selfish part of you that really needs to grow up, you will still be sort of afraid of it and disown it. "Oh my selfishness came in, oh my fear of commitment came up, it's no use because I'm just a person who does X." In a type of personal work called Shadow Work, you want to go in and meet this Shadow, and then fully integrate it into your whole psyche. It's sort of about integration, so that part of you can stop wrecking your life, but you can also hear what it has to tell you from time to time.

So you don't just use a big light to overcome it or make it go away. It's good that in the game, your light actually begins to go out the closer you get to that part of the cave. When doing Shadow Work, it is important to have some light to even begin to approach your own "cave." This light represents both your own consciousness/self-awareness, and also things called resources. Resources help you approach the Shadow honestly and without fear, so you don't abandon the work, condemn yourself, or get freaked out or ashamed and then just stay split/non-integrated. Examples of resources could be, "I know I've faced challenges in the past, so I can approach this part of myself." or "I know I'm a good person who wants to do the right thing, so I can forgive myself and prepare to really confront my selfishness, knowing I can handle it."

But then when you finally meet with this part of your Shadow, you don't just extinguish it with light. You have to embrace it, integrate it, or re-invite it to have a place at your psyche's table. This is why you "become darkness" here, this is why the monster in the tunnel is another you, this is why he says "Who.. are you?" when you pass him. Because you were so split/dissociated, that it is as though this Shadow you is meeting the fuller you for the very first time.

I hope some people found this interesting.

[AbusingBruno]

thanks for opening this topic, it was badly needed!

As for myself I've reached the two "well" endings, and I've seen videos of the other two. The "waiting" ending really struck me with its final image, with the king holding the Shade in his hand after the whole world disappeared. It was a very loving but also very sad image. But somehow I feel the Shade is happy in that ending, together with the king for the whole eternity, even without any world to speak of. Even happier than the "good" ending in the outside world.

I don't know how to rationalize my feelings, but I guess that the point is about connections: in the outside the Shade makes connections with other people, and he still looks kinda confused, but with the king, it's like he makes a connection with himself, so he doesn't need anything else.

Just random thoughts! I'll be looking forward to see what others will come up with!

[Al'Eksandar]

Thank you both for your thoughts, they were very interesting to read.

@Fridge Lord

Your theory on the tower definitely makes sense. I was actually wondering why the bird flying away was labeled 'defeat', and the other one 'victory', when it should have been the opposite, but I never connected it to the tower.

But, to whom do you think the human-resembling skeleton, in front of the underground entrance to the tower, belonged to? Can you connect this symbol with the rest of the theory?

As for the darkness and confronting the 'Human Shadow', that's what I meant when I said 'acceptance', which is admitably not the most precise word to use in this context (what I meant was 'acceptance which leads to self-awareness... acceptance that one indeed does have faults that should be corrected'). What's bothering me is the way 'resources' were represented. After facing your Human Shadow in the darkness, shouldn't the light then need to reappear, representing the use of resources to overcome your faults? The way it is in the game, you have faced the Human Shadow, recognized that it exists, but you haven't done anything in order to make a change. Confronting the Shadow extinguished the light, but it hasn't reappeared.

I understand that just lighting up the room after the Shadow disappears would be too obvious and kinda cheap, but perhaps not being able to progress past the Shadow without a mixture of light and darkness, while the Shadow is still visible, would be in order.

However, now that I think of it, I guess that it's ok if Shade hasn't yet used his resources. For now, it's good enough that he has recognized that this part of the unconscious exists. He is now prepared to deal with it later-on, on the surface.

@AbusingBruno

To me, staying with The King means never overcoming your issues. Shade keeps lingering in his comfort zone, never becoming truly well. I have gotten the impression that Shade is longing for the freedom of the outside world, whereas in the caves, he is shackled by his depression. He is initially confused on the surface, but it is a part of a happy process of learning.

Having just watched the 'waiting' ending, to me it was sad or perhaps bittersweet, while the 'surface' ending truly felt like a happy ending. The King, by my reasoning, is a symbol for one's comfort zone. Of course, it's comforting, and often very hard to leave, but it's no good in the long run.

[Kohru]

Great thread.

Having done some digging to put up the endings guide the thing that impressed me the most was the attention to detail and love that went into creating the game.

There is some hidden meaning that can be found in things like the names of the assets or the strings but I need to properly work through those still.

For me both of the non-failure endings are bittersweet but the king's wait is the true ending. I'll comment the upper world ending tho.

Let's first remember that our creature is called "the King's shade" or "the shade". The intro reveals the born of the shade, molded from coal by the hand of the king himself. As he is created the king says:

"My powers have faded

All I have left is you,my faithful shade
All I ask of you is to wait

And never to leave these caves
I shall now sleep for 400 days

To gather my remaining strength
Wake me when the time has come

to end all fear and longing..."

In my eyes this monolog explains that the shade is an extension of the king's being, his remaining hope and his only partner/guardian/son. Created with the sole purpose of loyally waiting the awakening. Just like the king, the shade's mission is to end the longing that torments him.

As time passes and the shade explores he grows into an independent being. If you decide to pursue the "upper-world" endings (note the naming of "upper-world" in the game's code and not "escape") the shade starts questioning the message of the king and sees his dreams as a way of ending his longing early.

The shade knows the outcome of succeeding on his "escape"
"The kingdom would crumble if I left."
and yet he goes through with it and manages to end his longing
"I have left the darkness behind me.
I'm way too far away from the king now. But strangely, I don't feel the need to turn back.
I feel... Strangely relieved."
but in doing so he betrays the king, his own father and a part of himself
"I have reached the outside world... But at what cost?"

This ending has a happy and upbeat vibe until the very last image when we see the defaced king left alone to never wake up. Betrayed by his most faithful guardian, his own son.

It's a purely egoistical act from the shade, he couldn't wait the 400 days and complete his only mission. He couldn't resist the longing.

[John2s]

OMG - Oldman really dies after 400 days! https://prnt.sc/rg2d12
So I can't go to surface...

[Kohru]

Originally posted by pelaaja11934:

I wonder if devs did include special case if you go to the surface, but then wait the countdown to past before going inside.

There is no special case for that, you can still go in and get the same cutscene.

Check this out btw:

https://i.imgur.com/4n9zzSy.png https://i.imgur.com/MCczr32.png

[5ro4]

pelaaja11934: It wouldn't make sense that he is actually human if he doesn't need to eat in 400 days.

Kohru: Where is that last picture from?

[Kohru]

Originally posted by 5ro4:

Kohru: Where is that last picture from?

Roof of the upper world house. It should be seen on this ending at 5:48 but it fades to black right before.

https://youtu.be/dDK5rooa0C8

[Builder]

Originally posted by John2s:

OMG - Oldman really dies after 400 days! https://prnt.sc/rg2d12
So I can't go to surface...

t is confirmed that it happens after 400 days and not sooner? I'm waiting to get the birthday achievement, but I want to choose this second ending too.

[Torgo]

Originally posted by Fridge Lord:

I hope some people found this interesting.[/spoiler]

Great post, fascinating interpretation.:)

[Gared]

I'm subscribing to this to read later
You should probably consider creating a lore section in the Guides

Thank you!

[Banake]

Originally posted by Fridge Lord:

The only other place in the game I see birds appear is in the mystery tower that sits on the surface, but cannot be escaped from. The former owner has boarded the windows up and destroyed the topmost ladder. There are dead skeletons of birds in cages, and a grinder where their bones were being ground up.

The tower is essentially where you (the player/the Shade/a psyche) might house, experience, and contemplate your doubts. The bird represents doubt. They are doubts about your Purpose, and whether it is worth it to continue being faithful in the caves. This is why the birds are in this tower from which you can see a big view of the surface world. It is located in a place in the game world where you might be contemplating whether to jump in the well bucket and leave the caves forever. Doubt is represented by the white bird, as it is a creature that might fly away

Do you think the new update fits in your theory?