#matpat video notes from hell

[argentsunshine]

hey not doubting you at all, but do you have any specific proof that points to matpat being a plagiarist?

augh i had a whole thing typed up and Tumblr ate it

short version: there's been a lot of allegations for years. the hermitcraft one seems pretty cut and dry to me. he has also just stolen theories from the source material itself - when he made a theory on a series i shan't name, his whole theory was something explicitly canon in the books, and he doesn't acknowledge that once.

now for my own personal evidence. i consider this less "proof" and more "occam's razor says plagiarism, and the other explanation is that he's incredibly dumb". under cut because it involves fma and chemistry neither of which i can shut up about

so, here's the video in question:

I'd use more screenshots to prove my point here, but apparently game theory can't afford captions, so I'll just explain the old fashioned way.

Matthew is trying to prove that the Elric's formula for a human (water 35 liters, carbon 20kg, etc) is incorrect (ie. does not have the right elements in the right proportions to make a human.)

to do this, he has to convert the several compounds (water, ammonia, lime, salt, and saltpeter) into elemental masses.

first, he divides each element by its molar mass. so for water, that's 35,000g/(18g/mol)=1,942mol. this is correct. don't get used to it.

so saying you have a "mole" of something is kind of like saying you have a "dozen" of it - you know if someone has 2 dozen eggs, then they have 2x12=24 eggs, because a dozen means 12. moles are like that, except instead of 12 it's 6.023x10²³. so the moles we just calculated is the number of molecules of water that are in 35L - 1,942mol converts to ~1.17x10²⁷ molecules.

this next bit is where matthew goofs it. he says that to get from the number of water molecules to the number of oxygen atoms, you multiply the number of molecules by the percent of the weight of the water that is oxygen, so about 89%. i hope you can see why this is incorrect. (if you can't: each water molecule has one oxygen atom in it, so the number of oxygen atoms in the water is the same as the number of molecules of water, not 89% of it.) he then uses these incorrect figures to calculate the elemental masses. these are his final masses (which, for some reason, he doesn't show clearly):

but after a few jokes, he shows this table comparing the fma numbers to reality:

ignoring that the top ones are in g and the bottom in kg, you can see that he only gets the same numbers if he didn't have to do any conversion. somehow, hydrogen goes from just under 700g to 4.5kg. he doesn't explain why the numbers changed or where the new ones came from.

so, i did the maths myself (here's the full spreadsheet if you want to check my work):

(you'll note my "matpat mass" doesn't match either set. i was doing what he said he did in the video. i have no idea what else he did to get some of his numbers. i think the hydrogen one might be because he added the correct mass from ammonia to his incorrect water mass? the oxygen i have no idea because. matthew how is there less than 3kg of oxygen in 35kg of water, even ignoring the other oxygen containing compounds)

now some of my numbers are a bit off because of rounding errors, but you'll see that my numbers agree pretty well with the wikipedia-looking chart. this is because i, unlike matpat, understand how to do chemistry calculations that they teach to babies (fourteen year olds). but the change in Matthew's numbers from two points thirty seconds apart in the video raises the question of where the hell he got them from. way i see it, there are two explanations:

1. matthew did realise he'd explained everything wrong and his maths was off, but decided to publish the video without correcting his explanation or his first set of numbers anywhere;

2. matthew stole these numbers from somewhere else, where they'd been calculated by someone who understands chemistry 101, and couldn't even understand the chemistry well enough to replicate their results.

why bother saying all of this if it proves nothing? i need you to understand that i was in chemistry for babies when this video came out, and deep in the weeds of my fma hyperfix and my chem hyperfix. this has bothered me for a full third of my life. this isn't an explanation it's an exorcism

[randomshipperhere]

The 31 Days Before In Space With Markiplier

!!🧹CLEANING OUT DRAFTS WRITTEN IN LIKE 2022. Posted as is last written🧹!!

A recap of what happened in the one month before the release that is more or less related to ISWM. Open to any missed info and note.

I used my time zone for this so some events may have happened hours earlier or later for others. That and also the date I found certain posts. So you have to keep those two factors in mind while reading through. Also minor note is that I write them on the day and once it’s over I do not mess with previous entries.

This post is for fandom historical purposes or in case someone needs a refresher in the future or someone is feeling nostalgic.

March 5, 2022: Mark released the official trailer for In Space with Markiplier.

He has replied to tweets, and reblogged stuff on tumblr. If you look at the keywords for the trailer, he was cheeky and typed “you’re looking for an easter egg aren’t you?”. No need to call us out.

2 Major fan agreements: Chica is seen as the most important part of the trailer, and we aren’t qualified enough to run a spaceship.

March 6, 2022: He is seen in multiple comments section of ISWM trailer reaction videos on youtube. Pretty active on social media probably reading fan reactions on all platforms he knows. Like a lurker. 

March 7, 2022: Unrelated but it sparked discussion. Matpat made a Game Theory video of Mark’s ideal Pokemon. 

March 8, 2022: Some memes about how ISWM is free and not paid got popular. Not sure the origin date of this fandom meme but he does go on a rant in “nothing strange is happening here.” about being confused why people think Distractible Podcast was paid.

March 9, 2022: Mark has interacted with his fans on twitter. Gave the fans a scare.

A fan announcement is released to change names and locations when ISWM drops. Mark himself liked an earlier version of the tweet.

Unrelated to ISWM but related to fandom matters. 10 Minute Power Hour - Season 2 Trailer on The Grumps youtube channel was posted. I’ve heard that marktwt ended up having to see his ass on their timelines for a few days. Cannot confirm nor deny.

March 10, 2022: Cursed stream. Watching the Same Video 100 Times. He has way too high of a charisma stat that there was a good amount of people went along with this insane stream from start to finish. He had a very Actor-esque monologue in the middle and got permission to show BTS photos (say Thanks Amy). Live viewers was consistently around 25k.

This is the day a good amount of the fans decided we will give him hell when the show comes out.

March 11, 2022: I’m not sure why but the Markiplier fandom on tumblr decided to make some Bald Mark edits.

March 12, 2022: The Test 2. Timestamp: 51:34. It’s another tease for ISWM but this is from the last frame of Everything has to begin with the date release from the ISWM trailer.

March 13, 2022: Not much outside of some fans making a copypasta. “Hello. This is Markiplier. I have been logged out of my main account and I need your credit card information so I can keep making Youtube Let's Plays.”

There are variations but the main content of the copypasta is the same. Mick also posted this on his twitter.

March 14, 2022:  Mark did a livestream “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: REVISITED”. It managed to reach over 100k viewers live on average (probably, I was only there in the last 50 minutes). For whoever needs it. He likes being called a himbo.

March 15 & 16, 2022: Nothing noteworthy to say about these days.

March 17, 2022: Since so much nothing has happened. I’ll report that Mark uploaded Assessment Examination. Cursed Thumbnail BTW. Thanks, I hate it.

March 18, 2022: Nothing to note.

March 19, 2022: Mark went live. FNAF 3 Revisited. He mentions 1928 so WKM fans are triggered. Also briefly explains why he hasn’t been active.

March 20, 2022: Mark retweets this. 

March 21, 2022: Mark went live. FNAF 4 Revisited. I find it funny that if you ctrl+u and searched for the keywords he just keeps adding instead of changing things around. First one I didn’t get to watch live.

March 22, 2022: The Grumps: 10 Minute Power Hour. Our [REDACTED] boys doing chaotic things as usual. 2 weeks left before release, I’m assuming Mark will start messing with the fandom big time when there’s only a week left.

Mark went live and streamed Sister Location. Peaked at 106k viewers. He’s still adding keywords there.

March 23 & 24, 2022: Please move on to the next date.

March 25, 2022: On youtube, Mark started a premiere countdown.  Mark retweeted 2 fan arts on twitter. Then he had a bit too much fun over on tiktok.

March 26, 27, and 28, 2022: Please move on to the next interesting date. I guess instead of just the trailer thumbnail, we had the trailer playing too.

March 29, 2022: DING! DING! DING! DING! Something finally happened! One of the captains found a link to an unlisted video because their premiere glitched. It’s mostly the same. The only thing that has changed is that the slap is in reverse. Here is the link and from unlisted it went to private. So that link is useless now but hey, at least we have the URL.

He really played us like that huh...

March 30, 2022: Because timezones are a thing, I’m writing the part 2 here. A couple of our fellow captains found 2 codes from the video. One and two. The first one has an update. First link references Venus, and the second link is with Zeus so Jupiter. This amazing captain has a pretty solid idea. Whether this will be true or not is up to the future.

Thumbnail changes are also happening. Mark is also messing with the polls. Three times actually.

Mark liked this post on twitter.

(kinda lumped them together because I was still looking for posts of peeps trying to figure this stuff out.)

March 31, 2022: Knock! Knock! 3rd edit has us shown a robot and a new set of codes. This time it’s for Kronos aka Saturn. Differences for today’s trailer. Theory of possible upcoming codes. Link to the video that is now privated. Thumbnail change is even more fucked up with the mouth erased.

April 1, 2022: Captain Atterid with updated code results. Also better compilation post of trailer thumbnail changes. Mark changed the thumbnail for April Fools. He also seemed to stop creating a poll asking whether we had reminders on.

It was Ares this time around. Theory for upcoming planets as well.

April 2, 2022:

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April 3, 2022:

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April 4, 2022:

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April 5, 2022: In Space With Markiplier releases in my time zone :)

Happy Space Expeditions fellow Captains!

.

In order: Aphrodite-Venus, Zeus-Jupiter, Kronus-Saturn, Poseidon- Neptune, Ares- Mars,

March 22: I’m assuming Mark will start messing with the fandom big time when there’s only a week left.

Hey I got it right!

[thatshrillsymphony]

First Broadway Trip!

I had my first Broadway trip earlier in July and it was really cool! I just want to ramble about it for a bit. So here’s what I saw the 8 days I spent in NYC:

Plays:

Prima Facie (on closing night)

Life of Pi (lottery win)

The Cottage (first preview night)

Grey House

Musicals:

Some Like it Hot

Wicked

Camelot (lottery win)

Little Shop of Horrors

Shucked

Of the 9 shows I saw, I saw two of them twice (Grey House and The Cottage). Going into the trip, I was most excited for Prima Facie, Grey House, and Some like it Hot. At the end of the trip, I’d say my I’d also have to add The Cottage to my list of favorites.

Some of my brief thoughts about each show:

Prima Facie

I actually chose the week of the trip based on how/if Prima Facie dates lined up with me having enough PTO. Luckily, I was just able to make it to the final show the day my plane landed. 

Jodie Comer was amazing; the reviews describe her as “Tour de force” and that’s accurate. The play itself deal with the topic of sexual assault in the context of legal processing of it and all that. It was such a powerful performance; I knew I was going to cry but holy shit. I cannot fully stress how phenomenal the everything about it is. Truly grateful to have gotten to experience it.

Grey House 

I wanted to see as soon as I heard about it from Sophia Anne Caruso’s instagram. I went into this blind. I knew MatPat posted a theory video about it and there was a subreddit but that was about it. I did get some of the jump-scares spoiled for me just by over hearing people talk about the play right before curtain, but there nothing I could’ve done to avoid those. I just had the misfortune of being in earshot. It was still really eerie and suspenseful and more gore than I expected. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it after seeing it. I decided to see it again (if i was able to get discount tickets) just because there’s so much to unpack there. It ended up working out and I’m glad I did see it again. I decided I really liked it. It’s definitely not for everyone and is the most unique production I’ve seen.

The Cottage

I saw this because I saw Elizabeth Teeter post about it in support of Dana Steingold. I also saw it was opening the week I was there and I thought it would be neat to be able to see a show on its first preview. 

This was the funniest thing I’ve seen. I loved it, so much that I saw it twice. I’d see it on official opening night and closing night if I could. Side note, The Hayes Theatre also had the nicest bathrooms lol.

Life of Pi

I didn’t actually have this play on my radar. I just had a night were I didn’t have anything plan and decided to enter more raffles and see what happened. I ended up winning. I’m glad I went. I was blown away by the puppeteers.

Some Like it Hot

I started listening to the soundtrack because my friend mentioned that this old movie that they watched with their dad was being made into a musical. I loved the soundtrack so much. I wanted to see it so badly and couldn’t want for the tour to (hopefully) come to my city. Since I’d be in NYC, I knew I would be seeing this show. There was actually the understudy for Sugar that night and she was so good! The musical was everything I wanted and more. No complaints just phenomenal. It’s fun and funny. The set design is so cool and I love the train car scene so much. I’d see this again in a heartbeat. I’m excited to see how the crew/creatives are able to modify the set design to something functional for touring.

Camelot

I got an instagram for this and Phillipa Soo was in it, so I’m like I gotta try and see it. But, I wasn’t hell bent on seeing it. I actually won lottery tickets; the seats were sooo good. I love Phillipa Soo. Beyond happy that I got to see her.

Little Shop of Horrors

Honestly I got tickets to this because a friend of mine liked it. I’d seen the movie musical a couple years ago and enjoyed it; but I didn’t love it. Seeing it live was really cool! Joy Woods as Audrey; amazing! I got to talk to the puppeteers for Audrey II at Stage door for a bit and they were really nice. The puppets for Audrey II were all really cool. Tbh I want a plushie of the little Audrey II (like Act I).

Shucked

I knew it was about corn and it was a comedy. I got tickets from the TKTS booth because I wanted something chill and thought why not. After seeing the musical, I must say it’s corny and a little horny. It’s just a fun silly musical about corn and marriage and rocks.

Wicked

My friend was obsessed with this musical when we were in middle school. So, it just made me think of her. I really enjoyed the set design and all the effects and costumes and the performers were really good! I just was really baffled by the plot/pacing among other things. Nessa’s character deserved better. 

I have a lot™ of thoughts about some of these shows, that probably warrant their own post so I’ll probably do that.

[cloudbankdownload]

konnichiwa, and welcome back to the classic “Matpat video notes from hell” series

yup we’re doing this again lol. just imagine noodle from gorillaz typing this up instead of alex and it’ll almost be just like last time! today (June 10, 2019) we’ll be watching “Game Theory: FNAF, You Were Meant To Lose (FNAF VR Help Wanted).” please note that in the thumbnail it says “don’t trust the tapes!” so you too can be mad at how he’s slandering tape girl like that. and, of course, THERE WILL BE SOME (MOSTLY MINOR) SPOILERS! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. okay, video time!

-alright, starting off strong with a compilation of Poor Matpat (/s) and all the times he thought he’d made his last fnaf theory video (man i wish fnaf 4 was his last theory vid too)

-not even a minute in and we’ve already got some avengers endgame references smh

-jokingly calls fnaf vr “matpat insanity simulator” and MAN i WISH

-calls the game “an ~inflection~ point” like we get it you can use fancy words okay relax

-thinks there’s more games to come

-vr game supposedly is gonna lead us into “FNAF: The Next Generation” (bro if you’re gonna come up with a name for a list games we don’t even know are gonna exist, at least be creative with it come on)

-”the meatiest game in the fnaf library” with I SHIT YOU NOT an awful graphic of freddy’s head over a disgusting pile of “ground meat” with a big yellow sun-shape with red text that says “NO FAT!” JFC MATT WHY!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!! also y’all are welcome, i definitely took that bullet for you

-i’m only two minutes into a 23:39 video why did i sign up for this i’m gonna die

-oh joy he actually played it on gt live /s

-BRO WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT VOICE HE DID FOR THE PUPPET

-experience of the game is to “recreate the brand” and “clear its name” or w/e

-OMFG HE LITERALLY WAS TALKING ABOUT ALL THE MONEY SOCK COTTON WAS MAKING ON MERCH ONLY TO STOP AND TALK ABOUT HIS OWN FUCKING MERCH SEND HELP GET ME OUTTA HERE IM GONNA GO F E R A L

-he’s really going out of his way to say “THESE shirts are for the LADIES and THESE shirts are for the MEN” SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I KNOCK YOUR TEETH OUT

-seriously man we already knew you were a Gender Binary Cop but this is ridiculous

-there’s game theory underwear. apparently. if i had to suffer through that fact so do you.

-”if you’re a fan of all the hard work we put into each and every one of our videos” WOW matt i had know idea how hard it was to steal other people’s work and ideas for your half assed theories!!!1!!11!!!

-god he makes it sounds like his theory gear is like donating to a charity absolutely unbelievable

-by the way, that ad for his own merch was from 3:32-4:18 and that’s almost a full minute (though trust me, it felt like so much longer)

-quiero matar ese hombre (translation: i wanna kill that man)

-OH. OH HE DID NOT.

-[insert stream of cursing in multiple languages that i cannot be bothered to type out here]

-this little white bitch really just said that there was only one important character missing in the vr game–golden freddy

-“noodle!” i’m sure you’re saying. “there’s nothing wrong with matt saying that!” oh no, that wasn’t the bad thing he said. ohhh no.

-and i quote: “i mean, ballora isn’t around here either, but you know i said ‘IMPORTANT’ [voice saying “buh-buh-baom!”, explosion sfx, air horn sfx]”

-気持ち悪い！(disgusting!)

-me parece que el quiere ser un hombre muerto (it seems to me that he wants to be a dead man)

-anywayyyys back to golden freddy: she’s not in the game because she’s chillin in hell with william afton APPARENTLY

-あの、ちょっと・・・(um, not really…)

-oh excuse me, she’s in hell with william to torture him, not chill with him

-also like how we’re still assuming a lot of things /s

-man this is taking a while

-cassidy (golden freddy) never gives up her soul, proves along with scrap baby plush that help wanted takes place after pizzeria simulator

-franchise is trying to rebuild itself after yknow, a dude going on a child killing spree

-talks about the following malhare ending

-yeah we aint gonna talk about what he calls malhare

-third appearance of the name “jeremy” in the games

-says he’s put the tapes in a “cohesive narrative” order (hah, how much do we wanna bet he’s wrong?)

-lol doesn’t say the order so he can’t be called out on his bullshit (i’m too tired to try and actually piece this shit together)

-this mf really 1) called jeremy crazy 2) or maybe that he’s “just a fnaf youtuber” and 3) PUTS UP A GRAPHIC OF HIM AND MARK GIVING EACH OTHER A HIGH FIVE. bold of you to assume you deserve to be near him mister patthew.

-[GORE WARNING] his take on the jeremy incident (you know the one, it was mentioned in the tapes) is that the ink is blood and jeremy DID cut his face off with the paper cutter. if you’re here from the fnaf discord server, you were probably around when we all discussed that this was unlikely.

-oh wow he really just tried to tie that in with the bite of 87 huh

-he’s convinced jeremy dies (spoiler: we don’t–and neither do a fair bit of people)

-really blaming tape girl for the fact that she didn’t warn about not collecting the tapes until the fifteenth tape huh

-talks about all cassettes collected endings, and how you “lose” no matter what in any of the three endings

-thinks the player is destined to lose the game

-mentions inconsistencies and oddities in the tapes

-i.e. how tape girl introduces herself twice—in tape one and tape fifteen

-how she says in tape sixteen that she knows there’s a way to kill malhare when she can’t possibly be sure, because she clearly hasn’t done it herself (malhare wouldn’t exist otherwise.)

-as in, she’s secretly trying to get you to release malhare instead of killing him

-thinks malhare melded with her conscious after she tried to delete the audio files and then attempted to escape by making the next playtester release malhare

-meanwhile the player is stuck while malhare takes over their body

-thinks that maybe the player waits until the next playtester comes along and loses their consciousness, which lets the player out

-says that putting together the tapes is like putting together the petscop lore

-wonders how many williams are out there--could the ai be replicating itself into multiple people--but admits yeah probably not

-”but that’s just a theory.. a game theory” or w/e the fuck he says

-insert ancient meme about fnaf storyline here bc he was too lazy to make a graphic or w/e

-oh wait no he wants to talk about jeremy haha still gotta sit through this for another minute or so

-random appearance of shadow freddy he found, malhare has three toes (ffs sake not the toe theories again i thought we were done with that crap) like the footprints outside afton house in fnaf ps midnight motorist minigame

-lovelyyy he’s gonna make another video after “thinking” shit over

-”scott cawthon is the villain in his own game” OKAY WHATEVER IDGAF

-i hoped you enjoyed these because they were legitimately the second or third worst experience of my life and i’m really not exaggerating

[partnersatfazbear]

Fazbear Frights: What We Found Analysis

Here’s my analysis for What We Found, the third story in Gumdrop Angel. I wrote this as I read so it may be a little different than my previous analysis where I read the story first and went back.

If you’re a Michael Afton fan I highly recommend this. Also, there’s possibly some insight into William Afton, Mrs. Afton, and Henry too, so it’s worth a skim.

Pg 144 '...a place thirty-some years forgotten' Just reconfirming FNAF 3 is 30 years past *one* of the FNAF closings, presumably FNAF 2 location.

Pg 145 "The whole building was giving him [Hudson] a headache." FIX THE VENTILATION BRUH

Pg 148 '...they were able to use salvaged derelict equiptment original to the old pizzerias.' Another confirmation of something we heard from Phone Guy.

Pg 147 "How old are you?" "Twenty-three, same as you." I think this gives us Michael's age during FNAF 3.

EDIT: This kept me awake last night. Obviously this is impossible because he has to be alive for at least 10 years before 1983, BUT maybe its just reconfirming FNAF 3′s year? 2023?

Pg 149 "Hudsan's dad died and his mom married Lewis, a ridiculous balding man who wore plaid vests and smoked a pipe" Did... Did this book just seriously imply Mrs. Afton left William for Henry? Really? (Yes, there's differences; the husband is dead and the man wears plaid 'vests' but it seems very odd to include that detail. This could just have been the writer's own imagination, though.) I have seen this as a fan theory and 100% explains the jealousy aspect of William, but I can't help but kinda hate it. I think this is very important, though, and probably Scott's intention. "This horrible little man [Lewis]... would make Hudson's next ten years a living Hell" This REALLY intrigues me given the context I just went over. The text implies Lewis was fairly neglectful to our main character / Michael stand-in Hudson. Maybe I'm wrong and for some reason Mrs. Emily left and went to William? XD Haha, I'm reading too much into this page. Maybe I'll come back to this later. I figure it's more of Scott possibly including double-details (contradicting stuff with the same character that really applies to two, which has been something I heavily pointed out in previous anaylsis on this blog) Having said that, I'm going w/the former because I can't imagine Henry being abusive (neglectful yes, abusive no) and he's never been portrayed that way in official works like William has in the novels.

Pg 150 "Hudson began to screw up in class...a product of spending the night in fear that his stepfather [Lewis]... [would] beat him just for the fun of it." Ooof. Big confirm on William actually being abusive. Unless we stick with the Henry theory for Lewis (combined with Midnight Motorist Henry theory / alcoholic). "...near-daily beatings..." "his mom started taking pills to get through the day..." So, whoever Mrs. Afton is, she was definetly not paying attention. But then, most people married to serial killers either don't notice because of denial (like this) or because the killer is so manipulative / careful they can't notice.

"Barry, who had red hair and freckles..." Yo?! Is that a description of Fritz?! These friends in the story could be the other kids Michael knew's stand-in's, aka the two gravestones with names he used (Fritz and Jeremy), as shown in the checks for the games and FNAF 6. I've long figured Michael was probably friends with the victims--it makes them easier, although riskier, targets [for William]. The two friends are male, too, like Fritz and Jeremy. If you're curious about Duane's description (our stand in for Jeremy), it's "tight black shirt... muscles... black hair long enough for a glossy ponytail..." I'm not sure if this matches anything found in the novels or contradicts them, though. (The novels = TSE trilogy)

"And so it went... until the night of the fire." For context, this is before FF burns down. We're learning of Hudson's life from his close friends in childhood, his father's death, his mother remarrying, to his abusive stepfather, to his grades slipping to this line. This would be a new fire not seen/mentioned in the games...

Pg 151 "...go to Charlie's for a sundae..." Really. Really Scott. Just gonna use this name again. OK. I'm not even gonna discuss this because it's probably irrelevant. *This is confirmed on pg 158 to be an ice cream shop. No lore relevance aside the annoying name coincidences Scott loves to troll with.

"This is not... an advance into enemy territory, a fight with demons, or a descent into Hell..." Uh, what? What is Hudson talking about? XD I'm only noting it because it seems so out of place. He's probably talking about video games or something.

Another note, although I don't have a specific reference since it is mentioned off-hand many times, is that Hudson keeps referring to his "history" which is implied to have kept him from getting a well-paying job and a girl he's crushing on doesn't know this "history" which is good for him. Seems good old "Michael Stand-In" has done some jail time or something. Edit: On pg 154/155 the girl asks Hudson, "Did you do it?" Seems he may have killed his stepfather or been involved with something else just as bad. Edit 2: No, I was thinking too deep into it. This probably refers to Evan's death at Fredbear's. DUH.

Pg 156 describes an actual "prize corner" in FF! What am I even reading? IIRC this is in FNAF 3, too. So they just hand out these scary gift boxes to people that complete the attraction? (Hudson says he *would* have fun handing out the scary toys to kids when this location opens--kind of a bully thing to do, eh?)

"[Hudson] avoid[ed] glancing in any of the mirrors..." I'm only pointing this out because it could be reference to one of two things. 1) We know because of one of UCN's music tracks, William has a fear of his reflection. Michael probably shares this trait, especially since 2) after Ennard and all... and later on pg 157 it also says, "he never wanted to face: himself" Sounds like guilt, my guy.

Pg 157 "blonde hair... blue eyes..." Hudson shares an eye color with Michael. It's possible Michael had blonde hair as a child and it changed to brown (it's common, something I personally went through being technically blonde/ blue eyed myself)

"He [Hudson] knew from personal experience that toys could turn from fun...to torture ina heart-beat" Fairly self explanatory. Either Hudson's worked at a creepy location before or he doesn't like remembering Fredbear's.

*checks how much is left.* There's still 35 pages (not counting back/front) left of this... This is gonna be a lot of notes.

Pg 158 Hudson doesn't have a car. Poor Mike, probably having to walk everywhere. Especially as a corpse.

Pg 160 This page describes many physical issues Hudson has that prevents him from entering the Navy, all from the abuse of Lewis. Obvious paralell to Michael becoming an undead [because his father sent him to CBPR indirectly causing his condition]

Pg 161 "How's your granny, Hud?... ...Is she still alive?" "I don't think she can die." Does anyone in the Afton family really 'die'? XD

Pg 162 These few pages discuss Hudson's grandmother. She's described as "a seer who claimed to know the future... ...wore big men's plaid flannel shirts with baggy jeans" Um, more plaid / flannel? AGH. STAHP. Lowkey, I would totally headcanon my Aunt Jen like this, though.

Pg 163 "Hudson's mom... the way she was before Hudson's dad had died... never... particularly warm and fuzzy... but... effiencient and responsible..." More about Mrs. Afton, so that's kinda neat.

"Hudson's dad was fun and attentive." There's a good Dad in this series?

"Unfortunetly, he also struggled with mental illness." "invisible low points" (Pg 164) Kinda reminds me of how Henry is described after Charlotte's death in the books.

Pg 164 "When Steven got himself into a bad deal that cost him his small business... he'd taken his life." Oh, it is Henry! SMH. Way to use confusing paralells. So, from our understanding thus far, Hudson's real father, Steven, is our Henry stand-in. His step-father despite being described similar to Henry, is actually our William stand-in. Fair game, Scott.

Pg 164 "...he [Hudson] was locked into a supply closet..." Oh shit, you guys. So, let me go on a tangent here, because this IS important! I just watched a retrospective on Sister Location and FNAF 6 earlier and one theory for Midnight Motorist was the person in the chair was the mother and the kid was Michael. I think this little line may confirm that. In fact, the story may be the key to figuring things out. Obviously, the line is a paralell to FNAF 4's scene in which Crying Child was locked in the supply closet of Fredbear's. I know some people, including Matpat, believe[d] CC was Michael, and in this book's context, it sort of works. This does contradict Step Closer and 1000 other things that make Michael the older brother, but maybe it's hinting at MM? Abusive stepdad (possibly Henry... maybe William is gone at this point), checked out Mom (hey, grey couch lady with Foxybro's font). IDK, but its definetly something to think about.

Pg 165 Lewis is mentioned as calling Hudson "nothing" and saying "you're nothing" on several occasions on this page. Just more abuse, for those accurate fanfic writers like me. Also I kinda wanna watch Morel Orel again. Yall know my fav character is Clay. Yall know.

"You're smoke." <-- Lewis / The text later reads, "...there was some irony, given what eventually happened." BRUH. Why did your stepdad die in a fire? :V TELL ME.

"When his family's house burned down at the end of his senior year..." Huh. Is there a fire we don't know about in the game-verse? Could this explain what happened to the FNAF 4 house before MM house?!

"...it purged Hudson of Lewis and his mother." MRS. AFTON BURNED ALIVE, TOO? Bruh. I can't with this story.

The text later describes the fire is concluded to be man-made and Hudson was blamed for it. Can't say if this ties to Michael, but it IS interesting... TBF, there is a small paralell to draw between Henry in FNAF 6 and his history of suicide in the books, too.

Pg 166 "...this place's [FF] busted thermostat.." I just find this line funny.

Pg 167 "...after three weeks of keeping an eye on the place" Some more timeline context for FNAF 3. We know that Michael worked there a little while before we start playing the game thanks to one of the phone calls, IIRC, so this makes sense. If Michael was accused of [something] and also wanting to hunt down his father, then it makes perfect sense why he's working a dead end job at Freddy's over and over and over. Fun fun fun.

Pg 169 "He hated to think about a functional character [Foxy]" This line is in regards to Hudson not liking the set up of Pirate's Cove and Foxy's hook to scare people. Sounds familiar, don't it? (For Michael anyway.)

Pg 173 "Some big find is arriving tomorrow." SPRINGY BOI! COME ON BOOK, get on with the show?

Pg 176 "Granny was wearing a red-and-green plaid shirt and her baggy jeans." Nothing special, but it was specifically brought up twice. I'm kind of racking my brain trying to understand what the point of this character is outside of "woooo everything is haunted don't you know that" kind of character.

Pg 180 "...dropped the crate on the linoleum with a resounding thud." HEY. Poor Springtrap, just gettin' tossed around like the trash he is.

Pg 186 "If you weren't so stupid, I'd tell you more about it." Springtrap bringing the burn. =:)

"A voice with a burr-like rasp...hint of a Southern accent" I'm going to assume this is because it's Lewis probably in the suit in this story and not our old British lad.

"It's was Mr. Atkin's voice." THE MATH TEACHER? *goes back to check* 'The algebra teacher'. Okay...

Pg 190 Okay, so Hudson hear's Lewis' voice this time. Okay, I get it now. Springtrap in this kind of imbodies all of Hudson's old bullies, including the teacher. He also has PTSD, just FYI. IDK if anyone finds that important, but it's fairly obvious by the line "He wasn't in his bedroom. Lewis didn't just slam his head into a desk; his head had been slammed into the [arcade] game."

"Why did he hallucinate a scene from his childhood?" Oh, it's not PTSD, then. It's just the VENTILATION ERROR. lol Okay.

Just a note, as I'm reading through the more action-based stuff, I kind of feel bad for Michael if he had flashbacks like this guy. They're intense.

So, Lewis' voice finally comes out of Springtrap on Pg 213. There's that.

Pg 220 "You can just stay there [in his room]" Kind of a paralell to Midnight Motorist. Lewis is saying it to Hudson. I really feel like the kid in the MM game is Michael because of this story...

Pg 223 "Heat purges. Fire heals." I'm sure that's Henry's life motto.

The ending was stupid, but most in these stories are. Hudson is hallucinating and is implied to have burned himself alive in FF's oven. Meh? The first half of this one is A TRIP and a little insight into what I 100% believe is Michael's childhood. I think the saddest part of it all is that we never got Springtrap speaking to Michael in FNAF 3--and if it's ever remade I hope we get more of them interacting.

[of-bug-and-beast]

Okay, before we go anywhere with this, I do not wish MatPat any actual harm. He may have annihilated the last of my brain cells with his most recent theory (as of 2:27 PM, 07/07/19, when I started writing), but I will not advocate actually hurting him for all that. His channel is run for fun, and dare I say, attention. And I can understand that to an extent.

But with that said, he pissed me off this close to my birthday and I am having none of that shit.

Second, I will be calling the player character (the Knight) Ghost, as this is how Hornet has named them, and it has more or less become their name at this point.

So, are we good? Then let’s get started with this.

There is no way Ghost is the Pale King’s reincarnation.

I will concede that, as @take-a-bug​ has brought up here, this would make an excellent AU. But as a theory, even by MatPat’s standards, it literally has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese.

First and foremost, Ghost is literally seen about five feet away from the Pale King himself in the flashback cutscene, as most of the comment section of the video has brought up.

If Ghost really was simply the reincarnation of the Pale King, there would have been no reason for them (who is clearly moving and doing things without him) to be in the same room as the clearly-living Pale King. Quite in fact, it solidifies that we were indeed a rejected vessel.

But let’s pretend this never happened, as MatPat clearly had. Surely the “theory” holds water now?

No. It sure doesn’t.

Let’s progress as he had.

Point #1: The Lore Tablets.

The tablets indeed refer to “Higher beings.” Now, the answer to what are the “higher beings” is a subject that, as far as I’m aware, has not actually been closed, especially with the Wanderer’s Journal that was published. But the one most seem to follow- including myself- is that the Higher Beings are the god-like beings of Hallownest, as this is supported by Team Cherry’s dev notes and AMAs[1] as well.

The Pale King is among the ranks of the Higher Beings, then. But how would Ghost be able to read these tablets, if they weren’t officially called such? Godseeker sure doesn’t recognize them as a god, at least not until they become the Shade Lord. This fact also makes the “theory” very suspicious; if they really were the Pale King’s reincarnation, where’s the godly aura? She should have recognized them as such.

Admittedly, her behavior as a whole kinda throws everything for a loop. But in the end, there’s still this.

Ghost, along with every other vessel to exist, is child of the White Lady and the Pale King. Or perhaps the term might be was, as they were kind of dumped into the Abyss, and the Void kinda seems to hate the Pale King’s guts and likely his kids too. But may they be a reanimated corpse filled with void or simply a product of not one, not two, but three incredibly powerful entities, the White Lady claims Ghost as her own spawn. This is directly stated with her stating that “Your companion's eyes burn with a familiar flame... Success then for the scarlet heart, and irony, to use my spawn to grow its own.”[2]

Likewise, Hornet- daughter of Herrah and the Pale King (the White Lady confirms this by bringing up how she was born of a dalliance between the two aforementioned parties)-  refers to the Hollow Knight as “Our birth-cursed sibling.”[3]

Not “my.” “Our.”

She is the vessels’ half sibling, sure, but this shows she recognizes them as the children of the Wyrm as well.

And being born of such powerful beings, it would be strange if they couldn’t read the text at all.

Now, the alternative possible meaning of “higher being” is those given mind by the Pale King, or similarly originated from Hallownest. Ellina from the Wanderer’s Journal book had shown no signs of being able to read the tablets in the Basin[1], which begins with the same phrase as those in the cliffs.

That in itself means nothing; after all, she is no god. But there is a lore tablet in the Howling Cliffs that rather supports this.

Higher beings, these words are for you alone.

These blasted plains stretch never-ending. There is no world beyond.

Those foolish enough to traverse this void must pay the toll and relinquish the precious mind this kingdom grants.[4]

It seems odd that the gods would so heavily rely on the narrow range of Hallownest, and since none (save for maybe Grimm, who has definitely not been here the entire time, judging from the looks of things but also has a very good knowledge of what has transpired) actually seem to have left, it seems near pointless to have the tablets.

However, we do know a bug that has left Hallownest, and came back with impaired memories besides Ghost themself: Quirrel. Now, perhaps it has to do with Monomon’s mask as well, but most likely being of Hallownest himself, he could have easily have been affected by the beyond. Those who were implied to have come from elsewhere (such as Tiso[5], Cornifer[6] and Iselda[7], Cloth[8], Ze’mer[9], and Zote[10]) have also shown no signs of memory loss despite having to have made the trek through the wastelands.

Now, Ghost has been out there, and apparently has memory loss, which does support that the wastelands do indeed strip the minds of some. Being born in Hallownest (or the Abyss, to be a little more specific), they would have been among those that would have a mind originating in the kingdom.

“But no mind to think!” you may cry, if you are one of the few people who actually think Ghost is a pure vessel. “They don’t have a mind!”

Au contraire. All the other vessels have shown to be imperfect, so they must have had at least one of the traits they were supposed to lack: will, voice, and mind. The Pure Vessel- later Hollow Knight- was tarnished by “an idea instilled”[11], which is likely tied to the cutscene at the end of the Path of Pain. But even then, the moment they had paused to glance back at Ghost, they were clearly impure; a creature without mind would have not hesitated to follow its master, yet they did. And they were judged the purer one between Ghost and themself.

In addition, if we take into consideration what we do in-game, they have made strategies to defeat enemies (or just rammed headfirst into fights until it finally worked out, which requires will and mind as well) and can choose to listen to what others say and retrain the information for their own use. They have a mind. They have a will. And what memory and knowledge they had was locked away, only able to be unlocked by some more forceful means.

So, conclusion to Point 1? Ghost can read the tablets not because they’re the Pale King, but because they are inherently tied to him and the kingdom. This can still be wrong, but it seems likelier than the suggested alternative.

Point #2: SOUL

While the Pale King has been suggested[12] to have a great ability of SOUL manipulation, it’s not far off to suggest that his kids might be able to do something similar. Hornet’s silk, as shown by the Silksong demo, seems to have a parallel to the SOUL meter back in Hollow Knight, mainly in part that it takes blows against enemies to fill it up.

But let’s ignore that for now, because there’s a more pressing thing at hand.

Guess where Ghost learned most of their spells from!

The snail shamans.

Hell, Ghost didn’t even know anything related to SOUL besides Focusing (healing), and it was only after meeting Mr. Snailman in the Ancestral Mound did they have any combative use for it. But even after getting all the spells (and out of these, Howling Wraiths, Shade Soul, and Descending Dark are likewise given by Snail Shamans, albeit dead ones), it doesn’t compare to what the Pure Vessel has.

Why do I bring them up? They were the one to be raised under the Pale King. SOUL manipulation seems a likely part of training. And between the “Focus” attack and the two “light lances” attacks, they do seem to have a firm grasp on SOUL. In fact, Ghost’s spells like quite untidy in comparison. But they weren’t the Pale King, either, and likely his abilities outshone their own. So, as the Pale King was likely a master with SOUL, why would he fall so low to be worse than his void child? Losing memory might at least leave him with something more than a rather sloppy heal.

So, as shaky as my arguments are here, it seems a little more plausible that Ghost just has the ability to manipulate SOUL because they are the Pale King’s child, and Hornet seems to support this as well, as mentioned before.

Point #3: Elegy for Hallownest and Ghost’s First Appearance

I’m not going to deny that the poem is directed to the Pale King. I mean, it clearly is.[13] But that being said, while MatPat’s logic seems at first glance slightly plausible, I remembered something that reftes this entirely. The first thing we see directly after the poem is actually the Hollow Knight in their prison, not Ghost.[14] Does this mean the Hollow Knight is the Pale King? No, it doesn’t, and don’t you dare suggest otherwise because the Pale King sure as hell locked up the kid with the Radiance in their head. It’d be kinda dumb to also be in the Hollow Knight beside his enemy, and as messed up as he was, the Pale King never struck me as that stupid.

As for the cutscene, I know this for a fact, because besides seeing the many videos of the game on YouTube, I’ve spent a lot of them playing this game, and I have seen a lot. The intro is no exception to this. So screw you and your misleading words.

Point #4: Usage of the Word “Dream” and “Ghost”

Surprisingly the most solid of his work, it’s a little harder to refute.

But this said, Elderbug may very well be meaning “dream” of grandeur, not the Radiance’s, or even the Pale King’s. His usage of the word “ghost” for the vessel is not unique either, as Ghost is given this moniker by Hornet as well[15]. Since her first pieces of dialogue in Greenpath, she refers them as “ghost” or “little ghost,” before eventually even calling them “Ghost of Hallownest.” While she gives no real explanation for the name, Ghost’s silence could easily be a main part in this.

Dreams and ghosts are also not always tied to the Radiance or the Pale King, either, as the Pale King’s palace is in the Dream realm (yet still away from the Radiance), and there are a lot of ghosts in Hallownest, if you know where to look.

So, do these words really have a deeper meaning? Not necessarily.

Point #5: Being Compared to the Pale King

Also a little hard to refute, but I’ll do my best.

The lines used to support this idea were “I almost feel like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm,” from the White Lady and “Your noble bearing reminds me of our dear King,” from Ogrim, the Dung Defender (or White Defender, if you’re picky).

Let’s start with the first. Now in full, it actually goes “Ahh! So it bears our once-fractured soul, now complete. Such strength, such resolve, such dedication! Is it more than simply a Vessel? I almost feel like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm.”[16]

She refers to the Kingsoul, the charm symbolizing the holy union of two higher beings[17], in this text first, before saying she almost feels like she’s in the presence of her husband. The Kingsoul would, by some degree of logic, have something that reminds the Queen of the Pale King, as half of the union was him. Besides that, Ghost has the Wyrm’s heritage, which could hypothetically amplify the effect.

But most important is still the Kingsoul. Half of it is based on the King, and that’s enough reason to remind the blind White Lady of the Pale King.

Quite in fact, she recognizes both Grimmchild and Carefree Melody to be linked to the Grimm Troupe (she tells them that “[… Ghost has] been consumed in the ritual of that scarlet clan.”[2]), so the actual presence of the primary higher being linked to the charm is unnecessary.

As for Ogrim, he says, “How funny that I see you in my dreams too, little one. Your noble bearing reminds me of our dear King. When he returns, I'll ask him if you can become a Knight! What jolly adventures we will have...”[18]

Noble bearing. Ghost literally could literally be holding themself up as if they were noble. In addition, Ogrim also recognizes Ghost as a vessel like the Hollow Knight, as he realizes that “...So there were others...” and even apologizes for the “cruel means” the Pale King used, despite his otherwise near-blind loyalty to the King.[19]

As for the Royal Retainers bowing to Ghost, there’s not much to say. While, yes, they do bow to you regardless of having the brand or not, it’s not far off to think they would have still bowed to the Hollow Knight back when it was a child, as it was the product of their beloved King. Ghost resembles the Hollow Knight, so it could easily be that. That said, since most would actually have the Brand by the time they go to the White Palace, it could also be a coding oversight. With the King’s Brand, Ghost is the King. This does not mean the Pale King, of course, but the King as in the ruler, as the brand has marked them as such.

And what does their Hunter’s Journal say about them, as MatPat so clearly points out? “The most loyal and devout servants of the King.”[20] Not even the Pale King, but simply the King. Doesn’t argue against the aforementioned points much, does it?

So, does it have to be that deep? No. Absolutely not.

Ghost’s heritage and the fact they hold the Kingsoul could essentially cover all the bases here.

Point #6: The Pale King Can Transform

This is a true fact. However, the most damning evidence here is that the King’s Brand in the Wyrm’s corpse seems to be on an egg, as Ellina states in the Journal.[21] This is likely the place the Pale King “hatched” from. Since we find no such egg near his corpse in the White Palace, it appears he’s pretty damn dead and isn’t coming back.

Bardoon may say that the death of a Wyrm may lead to “More transformation methinks,”[22] but that’s not quite solid enough to say that the Pale King had molted again. Bardoon also shows no signs of thinking of Ghost as a Wyrm, despite recognizing the Pale King and his brand being linked to such.

Point #7: Void

Let’s make this simple. The Void hates all forms of light, as seen by the lighthouse. The Pale King was using Void as well, and the Void hates his guts for that. To be reborn as a being primarily made of Void? He would probably self-destruct.

The Pale King also left the Kingdom in stasis, as Hornet states,[23] which could easily explain the “But yours is potential, eternity potential, force that could deny Time,“[4] quote.

MatPat also said he believed the egg near the throne room is where the Pale King hatched, and I think this has already been mentioned to likely be otherwise.[21]It’s more likely a failed attempt to hatching vessels in his little lab, as this resembles the egg Ghost had presumably hatched from.

Point #8: The Nursery Musicbox

This one’s also hard for me to explain, but it could also be MatPat made it illegal that leitmotifs are apparently not allowed to just be a callback.

I’m one to hate refuting a theory with another theory, but it has been suggested (and mentioned above) that the vessels may be the reanimated corpses of children of the Pale King and the White Lady. In this case, it would mean the children they had once been may have heard the song long ago, and the Shade remembers this past life.

Alternatively, the way Ghost and the Hollow Knight’s tales are entwined may also explain this, as it could have been the Hollow Knight’s room, once. But it’s shakier than the theory above.

Point #9: No Cost Too Great

This is the man who sacrificed millions, if not more, children just to contain a problem he caused. The cost was never directly tied to himself. Also, sure, maybe he’s redeemable somewhere, but I really cannot see him reincarnating into an even shorter entity.

And again, Ghost had hatched while the Pale King was still alive.[24] So. No.

Point #10: Ghost Can Wake Up Bugs from the Infection

I know we rouse Sly and Bretta from the infection’s clutches. But if we could really do this to any bug, why didn’t we do this with Myla? Or anyone else infected?

The first two seemed in a very early stage, maybe like sleepwalking at most. They could likely have been awaken by anyone else, had not the world been filled with infected individuals already.

Point #11: Monarch Wings

This is more my headcanon territory, but I would like to think that the Pale King could summon his own wings, and that set of wings? Might have been the Broken Vessel’s. Besides, we’re never given the opportunity to see if someone else can use the item.

Point #12: ...Father…?

Cut dialogue should always be taken with a grain of salt. That said, this could be a plea to their father, who Ghost does apparently remind some others of. Their mind has long since fell to the Radiance, so it’d be no surprise if they can’t distinguish the two. But this doesn’t mean Ghost is their father. The Hollow Knight was given a purpose by the Pale King, and they seemed to have loved him, and wanted to please him by being perfect, so to call out to their father in their weakest moment, wondering if he’s even out there…

Well, they were given the World Sense.[4] If they couldn’t find him that way, their resolve might have been shaken, but they’re still trying.

The rest of the cut Dream Nail dialogue[25] reads as if from the Radiance instead of the Hollow Knight, which leads to some interesting things. While “usurper” and “ancient enemy”[26] could hypothetically be linked to the Pale King, the Void is as much her enemy. Through Myla, she calls Ghost “the Empty One”[27] instead of “Wyrm” or some other term. She also states that “...THE LIGHT CANNOT BE CONSUMED...” The Pale King never consumed the Radiance and he is also of his own pale light.[28] But (while it can be held back by light) the Void wishes to snuff such radiance. In both the Dream No More and Embrace the Void endings, the Radiance is literally consumed by the Void. This makes it seem that in the end, she’s not talking to the threat of a Wyrm, but of simply a being of Void, no longer affiliated with Wyrm or Root.

Conclusion:

MatPat is a little shit that really should research more.

This is not to say I’m correct. Hell, I’d be glad if I’m even half correct. But when I can piece together an argument against that without too much issue, there’s something wrong here.

I need a source on this, but I remember seeing a post on Tumblr on how Hollow Knight is a game of acceptance, of who you were, of your past, and ultimately, your fate. It’s not about redemption.

It’s just achieving peace with your regrets and moving on, stronger.

Or at least, that’s how I’ve seen it.

I don’t see myself as right, but at least, I think I wrote something vaguely more solid, and found evidence to back it up. If nothing else, it was an excellent writing exercise. And for that I am thankful for the video.

I hope this was an enjoyable read for you, and I thank you for persisting this long.

SOURCES

1: https://youtu.be/dofQaoqecDk?t=920 – Mossbag brings this up. I do not own the book, nor have dived that far into either code or reddit.

2: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#The%20Grimm%20Troupe – source of quote.

3: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#Black%20Egg%20Temple – source of quote.

4: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Lore_Tablets_of_Hallownest – source of quote.

5: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Tiso#Dirtmouth – while I have seen all his dialogue, the fact remains he never outright says that he is from beyond. However, his line of “Hallownest... What challengers await in its ruin?” does seem to imply such.

6: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Cornifer#General – the fact he has only recently moved to Dirtmouth and expresses such wonder about Hallownest gives the impression he is from beyond the kingdom.

7: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Iselda#Additional%20dialogue – Iselda likewise supports this with her statement of “Of all the places to end up, we've picked this dreary town. I'd thought it a temporary stop, then my husband became obsessed with that old ruin.”

8: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Cloth#Ancient%20Basin – though vaguest of the list, her use of “this kingdom’s beasts” does imply she’s seen some others.

9: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#Delicate%20Flower – while she herself never said such, the White Lady says, “Not of me that flower, nor of this kingdom. Far it travelled to reach this place, brought by one beloved, fair knight of lands serene.” The Grey Mourner, presumed to be Ze’mer, was the one to give you the flower, and refers the blossoms as hers, with her words of “Che's sacred, precious, one of its kind flower,” at the quest’s fail.

10: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Zote#Colosseum – while the article likewise states he’s from beyond, he does outright say he came to this kingdom. Hard to come into a place you’re already in.

11: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#General – source of quote.

12: I have no memory of a source, but the entire fandom seems to have taken it as at least a headcanon, and it’s bound to have reasoning somewhere.

13: To those who may not remember the poem, it goes as follows:

In wilds beyond they speak your name with reverence and regret,

For none could tame our savage souls yet you the challenge met,

Under palest watch, you taught, we changed, base instincts were redeemed,

A world you gave to bug and beast as they had never dreamed.

- From 'Elegy for Hallownest' by Monomon the Teacher

14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6DKBqXlmU – intro footage; self-explanatory.

15: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#Greenpath – the page also has all her other dialogue pieces, but this is the first of her many uses of the name.

16: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#Reacting%20to%20Charms – source of quote

17: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Kingsoul – has charm description.

18: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Defender#Defeats – source of quote.

19: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Dung_Defender#After%20the%20fight – source of quote.

20: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_Retainer – source of quote.

21: https://youtu.be/dofQaoqecDk?t=735 – Mossbag brings it up; again, I do not own the book.

22: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Bardoon#General – source of quote.

23: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#The%20Abyss – Hornet says, “A difficult journey you would face, but a choice it can create. Prolong our world's stasis or face the heart of its infection,” as seen here.

24: https://youtu.be/kOHdVy1BFNE?t=295 – Birthplace cutscene.

25: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hollow_Knight – the cut dialogue is in trivia.

26: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Radiance – the Radiance’s own dream nail dialogue is found here.

27: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Myla – Myla’s dream nail dialogue is found here.

28: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Last_Stag#Additional%20dialogue – while I do not actually remember who said “pale light” (I do remember hearing it), the Old Stag also called the Pale King “bright and radiant in visage.” So it works.

[badgersgarbage]

Controversial Deltarune Theory/Thought-dump Time!

Also known as the Ralsei Might (MIGHT) Be Not Be Part Of The Prophecy But Please Don’t Quote Me On That Or Shank Me In A Dark Alley Because I’m Saying The Best Fluffy Boy Might Not Be As Good A Guy As I Want Him To Be Thank You theory.

Someone may have covered this already but I honestly haven’t seen anything so I figured I’d give my two cents on the matter.

I wanna preface this by saying that I’m not entirely convinced that this theory is true, but it seems... somewhat possible.  We won’t know what will happen in the future or what Deltarune has in store for us, or if we get better screenshots for scale’s sake, but until then this is based on whatever I can find and thoughts from other theories I’ve glanced at.  To save clogging your dashboards or searching, I’ll put all of this under a cut.

Still with me then?  Alright, so, here’s the hypothesis:

Ralsei, our favourite fluffy boy, isn’t the Prince in the prophecy he mentions.  Instead, Lancer is.

I hit on this idea when I saw a comment on Game Theory’s first Deltarune video.  Now I know people tend not to like MatPat on here, but, personally, I found that video pretty decent, and it brought a perspective to what was happening with Kris and Susie and that’s not the point, the point is the comment.

The comment I saw is as follows, copied partially:

“In the prophecy:

Kris=The human

Susie=The monster

Ralsei=The prince from the dark

Asriel=The Knight

but what if there was a loophole where

Kris=The human

Susie=The monster

Lancer=The prince from the dark

Ralsei=Asriel=The Knight

and you would need to do something similar to what you did in undertale pacifist with Asriel at the final boss fight

i can see it working“

And that got me thinking.  What if Lancer is the prince in the prophecy, and Ralsei isn’t?

Now I’m not gonna say that Ralsei isn’t still a nice boy or that he’s actually the Knight, so don’t worry.  But I feel like Lancer has more claim to being the prince of the legend than Ralsei.

Here’s what I can find that supports it:

The Legend of DELTA RUNE requires, specifically, a human, a monster, and a Prince from the Dark.

While Lancer and Ralsei both use the title of Prince, Lancer is the only one who has currently-seen evidence of that title being legitimate.  His father, the King Of Spades/Chaos King, is, well, a King.  With a title and everything.  Sure, he was part of a quadarchy with the others, but he’s still a king and that makes Lancer a honest-to-Lightner Prince of the Darkners.

[said comment is followed with “The KINGDOM OF DARKNESS”]

Ralsei, on the other hand?  All he does is tell us he’s a prince. 

And it’s kind of hard to be a prince without subjects.

Okay, so let’s assume that Ralsei does actually have a father with the title of king, and his subjects are all missing.

What about the whole part of there being one pillar of darkness shooting up from the ground, with a second one sprouting up?

Let’s have a look at what the image in the prophecy tells us:

The one depicted in the foreground is the one we see when we meet up with Ralsei.  The one in the background is the one where the Chaos King fight happens and is connected to Card Castle.

From this perspective it seems like there’s a massive scale difference between the two, with the Card Castle Pillar being the larger of the two.  Which makes sense in two ways:  the first, that with it being a new pillar, it would be fairly wild and uncontrolled.  The second, and perhaps more likely for reasons I will explain, is that it’s the original one, and the one near Ralsei’s castle is smaller because it’s a newer one that isn’t nearly so powerful.

It could also just be a stylistic choice.  *shrug*

Now the perspective of both of these screenshots is a little off, and it’s kinda hard to tell how close or far these things are.  But above is the Card Castle Pillar (which is in the background, difficult as it might be to tell), which looks pretty big and could be somewhat far away from where the battle takes place.

On the other hand, the pillar here has at least a slight reference to it?  Gah, it’s hard to tell.  But here’s some screenshots of the courtyard you enter when you move towards the pillar:

That’s pretty much the size of it actually.  The entrance there isn’t too big and it’s kinda hard to say where it starts, but I’ll let someone better at that kinda thing work it out.

More to the point, the Card Castle Pillar has a pretty massive central castle around it, and is the hub of all of the various Darkners you encounter in Chapter 1.  The one at the Empty Town, however, has... well... nothing.  No people save for Ralsei, no real buildings of note (hell, they even look flat - just look at how the outer buildings in the screenshot curve around), it’s just... there.

Which, to me, seems just a tad suspicious, given it’s Ralsei presenting the legend.

Honestly, maybe the Darkners only need one fountain up at a time for them to survive, but I digress.

So what does this all mean?

Well, for one, it solidifies Lancer, our favourite milk-osmosing chubby boy, as a potential candidate for the Prince of legend.  He, perhaps obliviously, alludes to this in his first appearance:

Granted he only says this when you skip over the legend, and let’s be real it could just be from this image:

Does that mean Ralsei isn’t a potential for the slot of ‘Prince from the Dark’?  Weeeeeell... that’s kind of hard to say without knowing more about Ralsei aside from what he says when we meet him and his staggeringly obvious connection to Asriel.

Is Ralsei actually Asriel that has found his way into the Dark World?  Is he a projection of Kris’ desire to preserve how his brother was before he left for college?  Does Asriel tie into the Knight somehow?  Does Ralsei have a parental figure or two that will tie into Asgore and/or Toriel?

Honestly, I have no idea.  But I’m eager to find out.

I’m open to discussion about this idea, but please be civil, and please don’t gauge out my liver because I said bad things about a character, thank you :)

[tittyblade]

another topic i have Many Thoughts on, i’m glad you asked! so many people are concerned/don’t expect a good video because there are just so many things that could go wrong lol, so:

here’s why i absolutely don’t trust matpat’s video on dsmp

aka everything that can go wrong with it (and coincidentally, why some of the analysis suck)

1) matt doesn't know the lore himself. i pretty much grew up watching the guy- this is not what the style of his analysis videos used to be. he used to consume the media himself, make his own well-thought analysis and do it whilst walking you through the steps. he doesn’t really do it this way anymore (there’s a whole another beef on him stealing theories/analysis from others online, and not crediting anyone has been an ongoing issue of his, as a side note) which makes it harder to trust the content he’ll make. i’ve heard people talk about his past content too,

and while i don’t have much context for these i can make guesses lol. his videos are pretty much either a hit or miss, and i don’t think this one will be a hit, because:

2) he’s asking the viewers’ aid, which is a whole can of worms on its own. this is the most obvious problem from the get-go and the worst one, probably.

we all know how the story changes depending on who’s pov you’re watching. hell, it’s one of the most common reasons fans list under why they love the content- this makes it possible for dsmp to accommodate many narratives. when handling a media like this two things stand out to me; referencing the entire content, and the viewer bias.

you need to keep everything that has happened in mind. this makes you understand why matt asked for others’ help, as this is very hard to handle on your own, but that doesn’t guarantee quality. it’s impossible to make an accurate depiction of a character/piece of media without first analyzing everything that took place and made things result in the way they did. you need to fully understand a character’s past to talk about their morals, and you need to know about all the events that took place up until that moment to understand why the outcome of a situation is the way it is. this becomes a cause of concern because no one knows the lore to that extent. people watch some of the povs, read a detailed recap on others’ povs if you’re lucky, and completely ignore the rest/go off of what they’ve heard in a passing comment for the most part. (the amount of people i’ve seen not fact checking things and calling everything canon...) not saying there’s anything wrong with it- it’s just how people consume their media, but you can’t guarantee quality analysis with it. even if you brought together a team of people from everyone’s pov, there can be missing pieces still, and matt would have no way of knowing. (not to mention- with a team like that you’d still have individuals making their analysis based on others’ , which defeats the purpose)

sweet, sweet viewer bias. it’d be naive to think you can avoid it. you may argue that referring to multiple povs would eliminate this, but you still don’t know every single piece of lore, and there are still certain characters you have a better understanding of that shapes your views. for it to be accurate you’d need an equal handling of the povs (whether it’s about how much detail you go into for a certain pov, or what piece of info you refer to) and that’s hard to achieve. not to mention, matt, who presumably doesn’t know much about the dsmp, will be choosing these people. he said there will be auditions, but an analysis doesn’t need to be accurate to look good to an outsider.

while on the topic of viewer bias,

3) he’s asking for help on twitter. that’s where the fandom is most vocal on, so it kind of makes sense, but it’s still not that good of an idea. going more into my own opinions here, whether you find decent users relies entirely on luck. you get noticed only if you have clout (-> only big accounts have a chance at being chosen, not a guarantee on quality) the place is toxic enough to let any kind of opinion take shape and grow roots (-> people are constantly subjected to negative shit and start disliking characters/ccs even before they learn anything about them), and there’s a weird culture on being mutuals where everyone strictly sticks to their own circles and gatekeep the most dumb shit from each other/attack others for even following a certain person they don’t approve of (-> you cant learn anything if you’re in a circle where everyone just repeats the same stuff to each other & having certain opinions is condoned)

suffice to say, hit or miss. when it comes to the actual video:

4) ONE narrative will be marketed as the all-encompassing, exception-less truth. viewer bias, many different povs, seemingly contrary things NOT being mutually exclusive- there is no single narrative. there is no single answer, or a single solution to things. not only is it near impossible to boil everything down to one pov, this will be marketed as the single truth, matt going “yup! this is the answer of the topic of this video :)” and so many people will take this and just run with it.

especially for the fans that mainly enjoy characters that get misrepresented (see: butchered) by the majority of the fandom, this is even worse as not only are the chances of their character being analyzed right very low (viewer bias), this analysis:

5) will reach public masses. if they’re misrepresented, the hate for them in the fandom will only grow. matt has both garnered the attention of almost every fan that uses social media (marketing-this video will have more views), he’s got a massive channel of his own. enough people start believing it, and-

6) it will be taken as a reference point by masses. i’ve seen fans slander characters because of an inaccurate joke another character made. if it alligns with enough people, and of course depending on the actual content of the video, you’ll see people bring it up in arguments to make points. on the worst case scenario that the content is awful for certain characters- you see where i’m going with this.

my final point:

7) there’s no guarantee on the quality until it already becomes published. this also means that before you see any criticism they will all likely drown in the comments, or it might just be too late for it, as millions will see it and take it at face value. the analysis could be completely biased and many wouldn’t be able to even tell.

idk. i see many things that could go wrong. obviously this is the absolute worst case scenario and i hope they make a decent job of it, but i don’t exactly have much to build trust on.

it was a good run

[saveloadreset]

Response: Matpat’s Gaster Theory

Video One

Video Two

Video Three

I’ll open this with something that surprises me. While I disagree on some rather key points (sans writing lab entries, gaster being split between papyrus and sans) there’s a lot of interesting stuff in his new Gaster videos. Some of which I hadn’t seen gone into much. 

I’ll open on Alphys, since I want to get that out of the way right now. The idea that the entries were written by a combination of Alphys and sans, is, I’ll be generous, built upon a misunderstanding. The missing 17th entry is presumed by them to be the entry found in room_gaster, which can be found only by hacking. In wingdings, we see displayed:

ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN DARK DARKER YET DARKER THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER PHOTON READING NEGATIVE THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY INTERESTING WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK

This lab entry is used to sort of branch off and say that not all lab entries are written by Alphys, Taken alone, this appears to be the case. However, there’s a problem here. If you dive through the strings, you will find entry number 17, formatted in the same way as all the others . . .

* ENTRY NUMBER 17 * monsters' physical forms can't handle "determination" like humans' can. * with too much determination, our bodies begin to break down. * everyone's melted together.

 This hidden Entry Number 17 fills the ‘missing link’ in the story. And when that link is filled, the theory becomes much more suspect. For instance, the idea that sans and Alphys talk differently, one in all caps, one in lowercase caps, doesn’t appear to hold up. You find entries of lowercase Alphys wrestling with whether or not to finish Mettaton’s body, or continued narrative progress from one entry to the next it’s clearly one cohesive story.

I’m willing to cut Matpat some slack on this, because while I don’t believe the entries were split, I do believe that it very likely that Alphys may have consulted with sans. The chisps in the fridge and the dog food strangeness must have an explanation, after all.

‘Fun’=Multiverse Theory

He phrases it well. The Fun theory that represents each number representing a marginally different reality, a slight variance in timelines, makes sense. And the idea that Gaster, and evidence of Gaster’s transient existence, might be scattered across timelines is certainly interesting. But we kinda knew that, didn’t we? (Well, if you didn’t, you know now)

Most of what I found interesting was what he said about the multiverse theory in relation to Asriel, and what he says at the climax of the pacifist battle as he just keeps killing you, again and again.

Every time you die, your grip on this world slips away. Every time you die, your friends forget you a little more. Your life will end here, in a world where no one remembers you... Still, you're hanging on...? That's fine. In a few moments, you'll forget everything, too.  That attitude will serve you well in your next life!.

Let’s think about this for a minute, and look at it.

Cause guys, that’s weird. And it comes out of nowhere. When Frisk keeps dying, Asriel doesn’t get frustrated, he laughs and kills us again. Saying that he can feel our grip weakening, feel people starting to forget us as he speaks. 

Matpat draws a connection to Goner Kid, hypothesizing that perhaps Goner Kid was erased from reality in much the same way we almost were. Do I agree with this? Eeeeh, no. But there’s a weird focus on worlds and memory that seems out of place, and does ring hauntingly similar to Goner’s despair at a world where everything is the same, but where they don’t exist.

It’s hard to draw a real comparison, because the way that Frisk dies and revives when facing Asriel is . . . never really seen again. That sort of spontaneous restoration to the fullness of health and power is only ever seen when we fight Undyne and watch her either slowly melt or go straight undying on us.

Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps an infusion of powerful determination, whether that is to reform a broken monster body or restore a human to health, causes some deterioration, some breakdown in structure, across the body. Perhaps even across time.

Perhaps that is what scattered Gaster.

I could see how Gaster could fall apart. Hell, considering how one of the followers is holding a piece of gaster in his hands,  I find it likely.

PAPYRUS and sans as Halves of Gaster

He made a stronger case for this than I expected, I’ll be honest, but I remain firm in my interpretation that sans and PAPYRUS are distinct entities, separate from Gaster in present and past.

His note bringing up Shyren was particularly poignant to me. I have a link to the original post to refresh everyone’s memories. What’s weird is, well, using sans’ voice, Toby responds to criticisms of the game that . . . Nobody was making. Like, nobody. It’s a weird non-sequitur, leading into an allusion to Gaster, leading into a link to Shyren.

Does that connect Shyren and Gaster? It’s hard to see how it could. But Matpat suggested that Shyren and her agent could serve as a symbol for how what appeared to be one thing could be more than one. It’s an interesting point to venture . . . and I’ve never seen anyone make a better one. So, I think I can stand by that.

I don’t think that means he’s PAPYRUS or sans, but I do think that he is both Spoony in all his forms in the True Lab, as well as the Memoryheads. 

We all know that the end credits for the Amalgamates says ‘living with their families.’ But, we never seem to meet the memoryheads’ families? This of course bleeds into me thinking that they are remnants of Gaster. Maybe some. Maybe even all. The ‘memory’ and ‘bad memory’ motif of the memoryheads links distressingly well with the ‘don’t forget’ message hidden in sans’ lab.

And . . . I think maybe the memoryheads live with sans and PAPYRUS.

The shed locks from the inside, designed not to keep people in, but out. It’s less like a shed you store things in and more like a room you live in. Let’s talk for a moment about what the shed looks like . . .

There’s a dog bowl in there, a chew toy, and a bed that’s MUCH too small for anyone the skelebros know. The popular theory is that the annoying dog is here, because it’s a bowl full of dried food on the ground, and a chew toy, and what we assume to be a dog bed. 

But . . . Toby has his own room. The dogs don’t live with the skeletons. So, what’s this? Who is this for? I think that this shed is where Gaster lives. Or at least pieces of him, fed by sans with dog food that he carries to and from the true lab.

Appearing From Nowhere

Now, the thing that made Matpat certain that PAPYRUS and sans were from another world was the fact that sans and PAPYRUS appeared spontaneously. How else could they have appeared, if they were not somehow newborn? Well, they come have come from elsewhere.

We’re all intimately familiar with how sans talks about there’s somewhere he wants to go back to, someone he let down, somewhere he desperately longs to be. Matpat assumes that this place is as much symbolic as anything; a time and place where he was whole, as one being, one W.D. Gaster.

I think it’s a very literal place. Another dimension, which PAPYRUS, sans and Gaster are all natives to.

If you think of sans and PAPYRUS as having arrived, perhaps with the help of their now broken machine, everything starts to make sense.

[cloudbankdownload]

this is only so I can share it on discord and can find it later

Welcome to Alex’s notes of Matpat’s recent video (“Game Theory: Fnaf 7, the Untold Story Of Sister Location” released 3/24/19). These are all transcribed from the original handwritten notes on a pad of lined Hello Kitty paper (purple, of course). Yes, I know, I probably put too much work into this. But if I have to suffer through a Matpat video it won’t be for nothing. Please note the presence of sarcasm marked with /s, and the following key for words mentioned below with little context.

1. Any references to a game: the VR game announced by Scott

2. “Image”, “picture”, “photo”: the teaser photo released by Scott containing the quote “Everything is working as intended!”

3. “Secret lines”, “hidden lines”, and variations thereof: the lines found in the teaser image (mentioned above) for the game

4. In addition brackets around text in the notes shows where I added additional thoughts to the original notes

Trigger warnings: Mentions/references to religion (catholicism specifically), all caps writing for emphasis, brief description of implied gore, mention of hanging

Matt is disgusted at the idea of a new game (?) [possible sarcasm]

God his intro’s changed and it’s so much worse (my ears!)

While wearing a Freddy onesie: “by all that’s unholy, fnaf is somehow back”

HE GREENSCREENED HIMSELF ONTO A BACKGROUND OF HIS OWN RECORDING ROOM FOLKS [he uses terrible greenscreen throughout the entire video.]

Very resentful about wearing “kids’ pjs”

Awful [poorly made] graphic of a schoolgirl being shoved into a headless Freddy animatronic headfirst

Nihilistic of merch in 2019

Refers to fnaf fans as “Fred-Heads”??? Why?

Suggests the new triple A game will have children stuffed into loot boxes? He might’ve been sarcastic on that one but I’m not sure [he was probably being sarcastic. I hope]

Boy is he annoyed

Analyzes teaser image and remarks that all animatronics span the game series

Knows this because of the similar nose shape between spring bonnie suits

When photo is brightened there are LINES in the background! SHOCKING! /s

Notes lines of text hidden in image [everybody already knew that. C’mon matt.]

Opens image as text file, finds “we” in front of “let something inside”

Woah he’s really trying with these graphics /s

Figures that these lines are said post 1987 & post murders

This just in: he thinks those lines in the background are prison bars

The devil works hard but Matpat works harder

Some random fazbear employee still in jail for murders [in reality committed by William Afton instead] (we been knew that one!)

Wonders if “them” [in lines in teaser image] refers to the animatronics or the fazbear corporation (no matt the them is singular and refers to me. I am the one you cannot trust. /s)

Eliminates possibility of “them” being the animatronics

Thinks that two technicians [referred to as “techs” from here] are talking to each other and their conversation is the hidden lines in the image, they’re confirming that they can’t trust their bosses

Thinks techs made mistake which led to Jeremy’s death and are now scared for their own lives

Lord almighty these graphics. Is this the evil catholicism protects me from? [BIG /s]

“Hey remember that guy? [Jeremy] We don’t wanna end up like him [dead as a doornail]”

Thinks the techs were the bodies hanged in Sister Location [SL] Night five

Similarities between Ennard’s lines in secret SL ending and secret lines

7 other [teaser] images

All point to the game being about a technician repairing animatronics

Could new game be the story of the two techs? “Yes” says the guy in Freddy footies pjs.

Mickey Mouse voice: “Oh gee! Watching this is swell!” [/s]

Hating on ESRB for leaking rating and info of new game

Goes off screen to put on shades and pick up a clock to recreate the “it’s time to stop” meme I KID YOU NOT

Lot of connections between scottgames.com source code and all other teasers (nothing we didn’t know already)

Believes techs (read: the player) will be repairing animatronics in all the locations the previous games have been set in [as in the pizzeria in FNAF 1, the house in FNAF 4, etc]

Finds typos in source code of website-0rgn-if typed into url behind scottgames you get a blurry picture that looks like ennard’s endoskeleton head [later tried to confirm if the url did come up with an image-said url being {scottgames.com/0rgn.jpg}-and I received a 404 error page instead. Not sure if I did something wrong or if Matpat is making things up now]

VR game probably coming out soon

Oh god he’s selling merch called “Chaos Theory”

Honey is sponsoring this douche???

OH GOD HE HAS MORE TO TALK ABOUT

I HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN NEXT WEEK

[the-loneliness-perch]

I don’t like him mainly because he made an attack helicopter joke and then made a whiny forced “it was just a joke” apology when people where like “dude what the hell” but yeah his support of pewds is also not cool.

(tweet from Matpat saying “clearly I respect the community so much that I left the field completely open because I wanted everyone to be able to express themselves exactly as they identify.  The responses I cited were intended as jokes by the people who entered them.  Point your witch hunt somewhere else”).

(tweet from Matpat saying “ Just to clarify: - No data was thrown out due to gender response. - @/arhourigan just let me know that "Attack Helicopter" has a transphobic history. I wasn't aware and I'm sorry for including it. I assumed it, like most of the answers, was just a dumb meme people wrote in.”)

there’s a whole blog devoted to the stuff he’s done.  Please do note that I haven’t looked deeper than a few pages so I can’t 100% guarantee that none of them are fake, but a lot of them are direct quotes from his videos and tweets.  He’s not exactly subtle about his distasteful “jokes”.

@ anon hating matpat is reasonable (his pewdiepie videos) ("why pewdiepies fiverr joke backfired")

W-what is that video about