mystifyinghatchetfieldtheories

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Why Rose is special in Pulp Musicals

Another theory of mine that isn't about Hatchetfield: I've been Intrigued by Pulp Musicals' first episode, The Great Moon Hoax, because although it's a good setup and introduction to the characters, it seems very unrelated to the direction the rest of the series takes. However, I just listened to The Searcher in the Shadows, and was wondering about why Rose might have appeared in Sia's vision, and something occurred to me:

What if in the last episode Rose manages to travel back in time? It has been stated that backwards time travel has been attempted, so it's theoretically possible. What if it causes memories to be lost, but not completely, and the descriptions of the moon in Great Astronomical Discoveries aren't just fiction, but fragments of memories. Rose (and potentially also Samuel, though his death seems to explain why the vision focuses on Rose) exists in a time loop, and that's why she's special.

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Hey uh anyone have a spare $3,500 I could borrow?

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The Arms of Night

In "The Summoning," The Lords in Black say "us spawn of the Black and White cover our souls in robes of black and take up the arms of night." This sounds like them describing the ritual of holding court with the void from their perspective, so what are "the arms of night?"

I've noticed that each of the LiB has a specific powerful object associated with them, and my theory is that these objects are collectively referred to as "The Arms of Night."

Some are obvious, such as The Bastard's Box, which is Tinky's.

The Black Blade is likely Wiggly's due to the fact that Wilbur Cross attempts to use it in The Witch in the Web, and the fact that the LiB's formation in the lower image mirrors their formation in "The Summoning."

We start to get into more speculative territory with the other Lords, but it's interesting that Pokey takes off his mask for this scene, showing that it's an object, rather than a part of his biology. I think the mask is Pokey's Arm of Night.

Blinky is not carrying any objects during "The Summoning." However, a mallet is used as a weapon several times throughout Watcher World. I think that mallet is Blinky's Arm of Night. Blinky clearly takes particular delight in watching people torment each other, which he manipulates them into rather than causing the torment himself. Therefore, it's only fitting that Blinky's Arm of Night would only ever be wielded by others on his behalf. Plus, the mallet is described in all caps in the official script for that episode:

Finally, I think Nibbly's Arm of Night is the giant lollipop. I'm not sure yet what it does, but I am sure it's something sinister.

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April Fools!

I am going to be so normal about this.

🎵Summer 2025 can't come soon enough🎶

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I am going to be so normal about this.

🎵Summer 2025 can't come soon enough🎶

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Considering the town is named Hatchetfield and it doesn’t have any notable fields in the present day, the implication is that the Hatchetmen claimed a field that became the Witchwood when they planted people in it. There may be a few ordinary trees, but not many. This also means that the thing that’s really special about the town is its magical soil.

Are all the trees in the witchwood people who have been turned into trees? or are there some actual trees in there? Im curious what others think

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The Lords in Black puppeteered the entire plot of Nerdy Prudes Must Die

In Yellow Jacket, Pokey's psychic vision to Hannah sets off the chain of events that leads her to Otho. Similarly, the vision Tinky shows Ted in Time Bastard puts Jenny in the front of his mind, which causes him to try and change the past once he figures out that his office is a time machine. It's pretty clear that Grace Chasity is perceptive to psychic visions since she sees Richie's death in a dream (plus her proficiency with the Black Book implies that she may have a touch of the Gift). Additionally, the "Dirty Girl" scene features enough coincidences that it seems like more than just a sexual fantasy. She has no way of knowing that Max Jagerman is christian, yet she predicts it almost perfectly. This is evidence that she received a vision from the Lords in Black of Max in her bathroom.

Grace envisioning Max in this way causes her to seek vengeance, which leads to Max actually getting killed and then subsequently resurrected in ghost form. The ultimate result of her vision, however is that the Lords in Black get to devour Max's soul, and Grace becomes corrupted and turned into their disciple. Both of these directly serve the Lords in Black's desires. The lyric "Nibbly wants his sacrifice and Wiggly wants his wrath," which stands out due to its choice to only mention two of the Lords, highlights this, since Nibbly wants Max sacrificed to him and Wiggly wants Grace's wrath (which is the inevitable result of her character arc in every timeline we've seen her in so far). Nibbly is even the one who specifically states that he wants to lick Max's soul.

But why Max Jagerman of all people? It's because he, many times throughout the play, refers to himself as a god. This is someone who has the power to single-handedly control the social order of an entire high school. Everyone hates him, but they're all too scared to challenge him. Even the other popular kids! Max's power goes beyond the scope of a typical cliche high school bully, because he casts his peers into roles. He chooses who are the nerds and who are the jocks. He micromanages everyone's social lives. He is literally playing god. In other words, Max Jagerman is someone the Lords in Black would view as a threat.

Grace refers to Max Jagerman's death as "an act of god," and she isn't wrong. The Lords in Black send her the vision so she'll cause his death. They're also likely responsible for several other convenient occurrences, such as Waylon Hall, which is widely known to be haunted and therefore likely only of interest to the Church of the Starry Children, who worship the Lords in Black, being sold so soon after Max's body is hidden inside. They're likely counting on Max killing Richie and Ruth first, so that Grace is the only person who can step in when neither Pete nor Steph kills the other one successfully. When she gives up her chastity, she's killed two birds with one stone by giving Max's soul to the Lords in Black and becoming fully corrupted herself, which is even symbolized by the visual gag of her smoking a cigarette right after she and Max have sex. Grace ends the show as a pawn of the Lords in Black, but she has no idea she's been one the entire time.

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The denim jacket is the source of Miss Holloway's resurrection powers

In The Witch in the Web, Wilbur Cross confirms that he and Miss Holloway fight each other in every timeline, and whoever kills the other takes the denim jacket. However, in Killer Track, we learn that Miss Holloway can come back to life around two hours after dying. So why would Wilbur bother to kill her in the first place?

In Killer Track, Miss Holloway isn't wearing the denim jacket initially, but is wearing it after they lock away all the electronics in Miss Retro's (timestamp 1:33:22 in NMT2 episode 3 for the comparison). This means that she puts the denim jacket on as she is preparing for her impending death. The denim jacket clearly has some importance, considering two extremely powerful beings repeatedly fight over it, and I think the jacket resurrects its wearer soon after dying.

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Marco is a clone of Sheila or Sherman Young

While rewatching Daddy, I realized that Marco is played by Jaime Lyn Beatty. This stood out to me as a surprising choice, considering her casting as both Sherman and Sheila Young was a deliberate way of showing that they are related. Marco, however, is in some way manufactured (and easily so), as evidenced by Sheila saying "Oh well. I'll make another" after he's killed. So why cast the same actor?

In Killer Track, Miss Holloway, who has possession of the Black Book in the Nightmare Time 2 timeline, creates an identical duplicate of herself using a piece of her DNA (a hair). While we don't know whether or not Miss Holloway's magic comes from the Black Book, we do know that the book itself is merely a written archive of spells and its presence is not requisite for the magic to work, since Sherman is able to cast spells that he memorized from transcribed pages. This means that Holloway's decoy spell could've been from the Black Book. Therefore, I think Sheila knows a spell to create a duplicate of herself or her son in a similar manner, and perhaps Marco was brought to life (since Holloway's duplicate was lifeless) and given super strength through some other magic (or one of Dr. Lazlo's experiments).

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Hatchetfield's accidental (almost) crossover

In the official script for Killer Track, Kale is referred to as Keith at one point.

My guess is that he was originally going to be named Keith, but they decided to change his name at the last minute so people wouldn't start to think that Hatchetfield was connected to The Solve-It Squad.

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Ethan Didn't Die

In Black Friday, Ethan appears to Hannah from The Black and White. In Nerdy Prudes Must Die, during "The Summoning," The Lords in Black suggest that they pull Max down to Drowsy Town. Then, when Grace gives up her chastity, Wiggly specifically says "oh, what wonders await you down here in the black." Not "The Black and White," "the black."

The parallel between Max and Ethan's posthumous appearances is that they both died in Black Altars. This makes me think that the Waylons cast a resurrrection spell on the Old Mill as well as their house, and that Ethan in this scene is a ghost just like Max. This is further evidenced by the fact that at one point (I think during a livestream, but I can't find the actual clip anymore) the characters who appear in "What If Tomorrow Comes" were referred to as "the ghosts of Hatchetfield."

Therefore, if "the black" is synonymous with Drowsy Town, then I believe that The Black and White, in addition to existing outside all dimensions, also exists between life and death, and is the plane of existence on which ghosts reside, while having some ability to affect the living world. This is further evidenced by the fact that in "The Witch in the Web," Hannah sings about Willabella, who is a ghost, having a "black and white cell." If I'm right, and if The Black and White existing outside of all dimensions also means it exists as a singular continuity across all timelines, then that could mean the version of General McNamara who appears in Orbweaver will be the version originally from Black Friday's timeline.

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Workin' Boys is Hidgens' (his play being altered and then performed by actors he views as incompetent, disappointing the ghosts of his friends, and then not getting to finish the performance)

All the Hatchetfield shows are about someone’s worst fears coming true

TGWDLM is Paul’s (musicals), Black Friday is McNamara’s (having to accept that the country he loves isn’t so great), The Hatchetfield Ape Man is Jonathan Brisby’s, Watcherworld is Alice’s, Forever and Always/Time Bastard is Ted’s, Jane’s a Car is Becky’s, and The Witch in the Web is Hannah’s.

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The Lords in Black are not the most powerful eldritch entities

The word "daddy" is frequently repeated across Hatchetfield, almost as if the Langs are trying to tell us something.

In Killer Track, one of the pages of the Black Book is described as "a family tree of eldritch horrors." A family tree requires more than just five brothers and a sister. Most likely this means there are multiple generations.

The Lords in Black are worshiped by the Church of the Starry CHILDREN, which implies they have parents.

The secret message in the vertices of the Nightmare Time 2 hexagon puzzles was "the monarch is now vexed." I think this is all compelling evidence that the Lords (and Webby) have a father known as The Monarch, who may be even more sinister than they are.

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Wiggly is the most powerful Lord in Black

In The Summoning, The Lords in Black are arranged in a pentagram around Pete, Steph, and Grace. This is interesting, because it’s the same arrangement as this diagram from the Black Book:

In the diagram, which I have theorized shows Miss Holloway making a deal with the Lords (likely in the Starlight Theater, since that was her Nightmare Time and we now know it’s a Black Altar), one of them is shown more in focus, holding the Black Blade, and with five lines emanating from his head. This connects to the symbol on the cover of the Black Book, which features a pentagram with one point longer than the other four.

We know that Willabella Muckwab, Wiggly’s first disciple, wrote the Black Book. We also know that Wiggly’s official title is “The Lord in Black.” Plus, Wiggly is at the top point of the pentagram during The Summoning. This all seems to add up to Wiggly being the most powerful or important Lord in Black in some way.

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Clivesdale is truly awful

I've seen a lot of people's headcanons that Clivesdale has a generally positive opinion of Hatchetfield, and Hatchetfield's grudge against them is entirely one-sided. While this is a fun idea, I think we should remember what happened with both Jane Perkins and Grace Chasity.

Although most people were surprised Jane turned out to be so manipulative, that character trait was very clearly foreshadowed. In TGWDLM, Emma talks about how Jane planned out her entire life and stuck with it, showing that she's someone who craves control. Plus, in "If I Fail You", Tom says "she'd poke at each of my wounds to see what I'd say". Jane's toxic personality was clearly outlined for us, and yet her manipulative nature still came as a surprise.

Even less subtly, Grace Chasity is referred to as a "nerdy prude" from the moment she was introduced, and yet nearly everyone (myself included) assumed Alice was being too harsh on her and she would actually turn out to be a genuinely nice person. Then, Nightmare Time 2 happened, and we all found out that Grace really was a nerdy prude, and was incredibly annoying about it.

These past examples have shown us that when Hatchetfield characters are described by other people before their official introduction, those descriptions tend to be accurate. Why wouldn't this apply to the entire town of Clivesdale? The Langs aren't being remotely subtle about it, and I'm inclined to believe what everyone says about Clivesdale. I don't know yet what they did to make the entire population of Hatchetfield hate them, but I'm sure it was something truly awful.

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We already know who the killer in Cast Party Massacre is going to be

I keep a running list of horror tropes that haven’t been used in Hatchetfield yet. One of them is Among Us, because I could absolutely see the Langs doing a story where a group of characters have to figure out who among them is an alien imposter.

In Workin’ Boys, Cassandra (Cassie) King’s program bio features phrases such as “Pain is the language that unites the children of Azzokish no matter which star they may hail from” and “How did she find herself aboard? And what is the destination of such a significant ship? Is tonight the night Cassie departs?”. We know that extraterrestrial life exists in the Hatchetfield universe because of a line in The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals where Alice, Deb, and The Hatchetfield Bee mention having traveled “across seas of stars, bending countless civilizations to our will”. Cassie’s bio seems to suggest that she has been sent to earth from one of these civilizations, and is waiting to be able to return home.

Cast Party Massacre, the proposed Hatchetfield feature film, would be Hatchetfield’s first whodunnit. However, this being Hatchetfield, there will inevitably be some sort of paranormal, extraterrestrial, or interdimensional element to it. Cassie is an actor in the Hatchetfield Community Players, and the Langs wouldn’t have put all that cryptic lore in her bio if it wasn’t important, so Cassie seems destined to be the killer behind…the Cast Party Massacre!

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Satan is a real man (in Hatchetfield)

In Nerdy Prudes Must Die, Solomon Lauter refers to the Lords in Black as "much worse" than Satan. This is interesting because it could imply that Satan exists and just...isn't that bad in comparison. Then, the Langs announced this potential Nightmare Time 3 story:

What if "HE" is The Devil? As mayor, Solomon Lauter knows a lot of Hatchetfield's secrets, so I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about this "devilish maniac" whose home is Hatchetfield. I predict that the villain of Devil's Night will be a serial killer who is also in some way literally Satan himself. That way Starkid would finally get to have Satan canonically be a real man in one of their projects.