#Also Sprach Moleman

[starsoverthehorizon]

The Moleman Masterpost

Sometimes it occurs to me that people actually go on Tumblr on mobile and therefore can’t check out sidebar links.

-

A chronological guide to (almost) everything Moleman.

Check out the moleman tag for everything moleman-related or my series tag for only the story.

For individual entries, see below.

An Introduction, aka “Who is Moleman and why do you care?”

Error 0xAiQb5guaAn01hrP1ac3M#3m0#ryC#0rrup#1ed2MA

Waiting

11:1 - The Founders

11:2 - The Student

11:3 - The Sun

11:4 - War

11:5 - Peace

11:6 - The Ritual of Cleansing

11:7 - The Realm of Dreams

11:8 - Lies of the Truth

11:9 - Betrayal of the Sun

11:10 - Time’s End

11:?? - Farewell

-

The Face Behind Moleman

Mods #1 & #2 - Wet Mushroom Heaven and Hell

Mod #3 - White Tower Forest

Mod #4 - Puella’s Outfit

Mod #5 - White Tower Hell

Mod #6 - Peaceful Tides

Mod #7 - Eternal Madness

Just Who is Agrippa?

Twittermission

The Race for Timmy

Mod #8 - Wet Hero Challenge

Mod #9 - Ultra Silence

The Future of Moleman

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #5.5 – Enlightened Puella Mod

Now that my brain has stopped rattling around my head like an errant pinball and I’ve scraped some actual energy, it’s time to talk about Habboi’s latest mod!

I am, of course, being deliberately misleading.

This mod was posted December 29th, 2017, just after Mod #5 – White Tower Hell, and was only made public recently (May 2019)

The description is as follows:

To be Enlightened is to know everything but such knowledge can drive them to madness.

The brain swells to become a vessel but at the cost of the soul. Losing themselves, they give in to their origin, the urges of the Void and seek a selfish desire...

A curious little thing indeed but what becomes of a broken soul?

The very name of the mod answered some of my previous speculation.

This isn’t just any random schmuck. It’s Puella, fighting against the end of her dream.

I’d love to show you some pictures of this mod in action, but sadly, this is all I got:

My best guess is the mod works like the Puella Outfit mod used to—it’s a costume applied over whatever you’re wearing. But, the textures aren’t loading right due to changes in how the game works with costumes. So now it makes normal dyes invisible, and costumes look like… well, see above. Fun fact, it does the same to other players! Maybe. When I loaded the mod for the first time, the other player in the lobby was invisible, save for the hat. Didn’t get a screencap, unfortunately.

Habboi is aware and will be recooking it in the future, though for now it’s on the backburner until his current project is done.

When that happens, I’ll reblog this post with choice screencaps.

Discussion Let’s give this the same treatment as the Puella Outfit mod and take it line by line.

To be Enlightened is to know everything but such knowledge can drive them to madness.

To become Enlightened is to become one with God’s Dream, according to Ultra Silence. Even this mild contact with divinity is caustic to the normal human mind. Knowledge has its unfortunate price. This enhanced knowledge may be how the Founders knew of the Gold Piece and the methods of making it (if not, the idea that they were playing fast and loose with cosmic artefact is terrifying). Perhaps this knowledge also enlightened the leader of the Unenlightened as to the White Twilight.

The brain swells to become a vessel but at the cost of the soul.

This fragmentation of the self ties in with what we’ve seen in the Wet Hero Challenge, when Hat Kid is claimed to have a fragment of “her.” We know that Puella definitely ascended and fragmented, so based on only that it’s most likely that Hat Kid contains part of Puella. I’m still convinced that it’s Tempus in there, based on previous theories. We can’t say Tempus DIDN’T ascend.

I mean, this HAD to be Tempus… right?

All that aside, I believe the Enlightened vessel of Puella was the one to wander around Peaceful Tides and Eternal Madness.

With Puella looking like a lightbulb, this Unenlightened could determine that she was a byproduct of their plan to break the Enlightened from their dreams.

The use of “broken shell” points strongly to Puella’s fluorescent self being the one to plumb the depths, instead of the piece that would later become Hat Kid/Hat Sib.

So, technically correct? But say that again, you Dimbulb, and I WILL fight you (ง •̀_•́)ง

On a less amusing angle, the use of the word “brain” reminds me that Hat Kid shoved her entire head into someone’s brainpan. The thought makes me squeamish.

Losing themselves, they give in to their origin, the urges of the Void and seek a selfish desire...

As mentioned in Ultra Silence, the Enlightened seek to make the Choice again. An ultimately futile effort, since they cannot go back and cannot see their tower for what it really is. Tempus, too, was warped by the void, according to the Resting King. It might have been a similar madness that the Enlightened are afflicted with, or the work of the “dark master” the King references in Wet Hero Challenge (possibly the Old Enlightened, but potentially someone else).

A curious little thing indeed but what becomes of a broken soul?

What indeed?

[starsoverthehorizon]

An introduction

Imagine back to when you first got back 25 Time Pieces—the attic, and with it the final stage, opened up. You bounced up that lift and into the last room on the ship. You passed by a wardrobe. Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe it drew your attention. You pressed your face up against the wood and wiggled the camera in the tiny gap of an open door. You scooted it past the hanging clothing and found a strange sight.

There was a veritable shrine in that wardrobe—a pair of skulls, flanking a montage of photographs, the bottom littered with drawings. Perhaps you heard a rumor on Reddit, and used the Dweller's Mask. And you found...

…This.

It reads:

Two stars A black hole Gateway of light The forgotten temple A message of hands Pillars of fire The souls of his people Raining sun The truth between two travelers of time A peaceful garden The promise of a hat

But what could it mean?

I’ll give you a hint, it’s the same as this:

Still don’t know what I’m on about?

Allow me to introduce you to someone.

This is Mole Man1111. They run a YouTube channel.

It’s not a reference to Mole people (I think) or Hans Moleman (probably).

This person published a series of short, cryptic videos made with AHIT assets. This wouldn’t be notable, except these videos were published BEFORE the public release of AHIT. Not a lot of people would have had access to them before the public release. Maybe some of the beta testers. Or… the devs.

I’m going to ruin the mystery right away and say yes, it was one of the devs. We have confirmation from the AHIT Discord (of which I have no screenshots, so take it with a grain of salt), that one of the devs made these videos “as a joke,” based on discarded story elements. The rest of the team was not on board with this, so this series of videos are 100% non-canonical.

I’m not so contentious a fan that I’ll disregard the Word of God.

Still, there are enough sly references to the video series in-game to pique my interest. Those two aren’t the limit of it.

Like this one—check under the stairs in the attic at the end of the “Tour” time rift for this sucker.

It’s clear that despite being 100% not canon, there’s a complete story behind all this. This isn’t just strange, spooky stuff for the sake of being spooky, there’s a rhyme and reason to all of it. It has roots, if you will.

It’s mysterious enough to be alluring and not enough to frustrate.

I will admit, there’s a part of me that hopes that this hidden story somehow becomes canon. Gears for Breakfast has established that they’re willing to explore the backstory of major characters in DLC through Time Rifts. We’ve still got one more in the pipeline. Maybe we’ll see a certain Kid’s background?

Probably not.

I can still dream though.

In the meantime, I’d like to present the most complete exploration of the MoleMan1111 series. My goal is to present the series as-is, and limit my speculation.

Any information/theories that people have to share is gladly welcome, because hoo boy, some of this stuff confuses the hell out of me.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Just Who is Agrippa?

It’s finally come time to handle the @moleman1111 twitter account, a solid 2 weeks after I teased it.

Something that you may have noticed is that the name tied with the account is Agrippa, instead of “Moleman” or “Puella” or “Tempus” or any name that we actually recognize.

So, who IS this Agrippa guy?

That’s a good question. And the reason why we’re not handling the twitter account today,

See, the @moleman1111 twitter account is next on the timeline, but I’m actually going to talk about an unlisted video the account linked to, the one that told me this twitter account was relevant, first. This video technically happens midway through the relevant active period, but after reviewing all pertinent material I’ve determined that answering the question “Who is Agrippa?” first leads to better pacing and makes the twitter account easier to understand.

The twitter account has some... mixed content, to put it mildly.

So, without any further ado, let’s talk about the video

Agrippa – The Third Student

This video was published September 17th, 2019, more than midway through the first active period of @moleman1111.

Title The title threw me for one hell of a loop when I first ran across it.  Agrippa is/was the name of the twitter account, and this title gives us immediate context as to who he is and why he’s important. Agrippa is the third, hitherto-unmentioned student of Master Tempus. Generally speaking, I’m not fond of important characters being brought out of nowhere. But I suppose this can be forgiven—we’ve been given hints earlier as to his existence. Almost everywhere we look in the series, there's the rule of three: three flowers to a grave, three choices atop the Tower, three thrones for three Founders, three squares on the ritual dais... Tempus’s shade was less than coherent, and she never specified in her journal the number of students she took on.

Description

11:11.?? - What you saw was a dream, a memory of your past. It is time for you to wake up.

Gather your finest warriors, the race is coming...

The 11:11 may indicate this video (or coming “race”) is in-series with the numbered Moleman videos.

The description depicts an unknown individual addressing a dreamer.

There’s no indication who it could be. It could be anyone from our eponymous Agrippa, the supposed subject of the video; Puella, whose memories we’ve revisited; Hat Kid herself, the one who’s doing the revisiting; or anyone else.

Video

0:00 – We begin in utter darkness. The background is a low, dull roar.

0:06 – A figure on the ground fades in. Their head slowly swings from side to side, as if trying to determine where they are. This is our Agrippa.

0:13 – He says:

Where am I?

Is this the void?

No, I feel at ease here.

0:19 – He’s up now, but still looking around, lost and confused.

0:28 – He says:

But how did I get here?

The last thing I remember was--

0:34 – A new voice cuts in:

--Darkness.

0:36 – A glowing ball of light joins Agrippa.

0:40 – The ball of light expands until the screen is white.

0:44 – The light fades, revealing a technicolor space. Screencaps don’t do it justice--the walls constantly shift color.

0:48 – The next shot focuses on this orb.

0:52 – It says:

You are dreaming.

Have you already forgotten yourself?

You must

REMEMBER

0:58 – This shot and the next few are overlaid with the sound of a heartbeat.

1:00 – R King.

1:03 – Puella and Agrippa, presumably. A static noise begins to build up around this part.

1:04 – Agrippa and someone else. The person from 0:58?

1:07 - The camera slowly zooms in on this shot. This setting looks familiar…

1:11 – This image stays for only a split second.

1:12 – The woman is replaced by this nightmare. A good screencap is difficult to acquire at this point, since the screen rapidly distorts into static.

1:21 – We fade back to the rainbow space.

1:24 – The orb asks:

Do you remember?

1:30 – Agrippa responds:

Yes, I remember…

Father.

It is almost time to wake up.

1:43 – Red numbers appear on screen. The below text appears a few moments later. They read:

All stories must come to an end

This is how mine will end.

1:55 – The letters and numbers fade to black.

1:57 –We fade in on a slow-mo shot of Hat Kid making a break for a golden grave, on top of which someone new awaits.

The video disappears into static and ends at 2:04 before Hat Kid can reach the grave.

Discussion Now we’ve been properly introduced to Agrippa and his Father. Agrippa is currently dreaming, so it would make sense that the description is talking to him. Something happened to him in the recent past, leaving him alone in the darkness, but what?

He met with Master Tempus at one point. We know she’s Master Tempus because she appears in the bookstore hall. This flashback is in Agrippa’s perspective, so it makes the most sense that he would visit his Master in the real-world equivalent of the bookstore. But something went terribly wrong during this meeting, as represented by Tempus turning into... whatever that was and the screen dissolving into static.

The shots of Tempus overlooking a white building and R King, imply that Tempus, Agrippa, and R King met at one point. Probably before Agrippa’s disastrous encounter with Tempus. Was the flashback supposed to be in chronological order?

As to why R. King was in the flashback… well, we saw that Agrippa's Father is associated with yellow type and is represented with a glowing yellow orb (I don't see the resemblance). We don’t have proper solid proof yet, so I’m going to call this a theory.

The text at the end being bright red implies that someone else is talking. Both Puella and Tempus are associated with the color red, but Tempus took up more screentime. I don’t think we have enough information to say one way or another.

As to who it is in the next shot… we’ll meet him next time.

[starsoverthehorizon]

The Race for Timmy

This is, by far, the worst part of this series.

Not in terms of story, but in how it irritating finding all the parts was.

The Race for Timmy is founded on the fact that Habboi likes to hide things in his maps. And by god, he chose some downright awful spots.

Let’s review our clues from 09/29/18:

We have seven pictures with seven words. If we check Habboi’s list mods, we can see that seven of his mods were updated on 09/29/18 with the phrase, “Happy Timmy Day.” These mods are, in order by date originally published:

Beta Hero Challenge Wet Mushroom Heaven Wet Mushroom Hell White Tower Forest White Tower Hell (the map file is called “limbo_ice:”) Peaceful Tides Eternal Madness

Some of these should be pretty familiar—we actually passed them by in previous installments. Others are incredibly obscure. I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to find Heaven.

We’ll tackle these in order.

Beta Hero Challenge

As far as Habboi mods go, this one is pretty straightforward. This was one of the last locations I discovered. Our clue appears to be something curved and metallic, based on the pattern of light reflections. If you’ve played through the level (which I suggest you do, it’s a fun level), you’ll know there isn’t any metallic stuff around.

As I mentioned, I had trouble finding the clue. While I was doing research, I went through a lot of streams to see if anyone had found secrets relating to this level or others. I found nothing on the Beta Hero Challenge.

I ended up downloading the AHIT level editor. I opened up the mod and proceeded to check all the “actors” for clues.

I confirmed both a hidden stage (which I shall henceforth refer to as “Rainbow Hell”), and the location of the clue.

So do me a favor.

Guess where it was.

No really, guess.

I’ll even be generous and give you a hint:

Yeah, it’s the sun.

THE SUN.

No joke, my family heard me shouting angrily when I found this one.

To access the level, we need to /ghost up to the sun. It’s a bit of a journey, so I used /slomo 10 to speed myself up.

The sun is hollow once we stick our faces in.

Our target’s just chilling in space.

It’s the world’s ugliest statue! Covered in white gunk, just for kicks.

The entrance sticks out and location-wise, doesn’t bear mentioning.

Interacting with it transports us to Rainbow Hell.

The color scheme isn’t too bad… this time. There’s one down the line I outright detest.

I couldn’t tell you about the difficulty (assume it’s very hard), since I had zero patience at this point. Habboi would be disappointed in me if he knew.

We find the vista from the last video at the top, golden grave and all.

Timmy appears as we draw close, spouting his battlecry.

What up! Dawg!

You know this stone leads to unlocking my radical dream world right?

My dad made me turn it into a trial… it’s sorta like a hell dream but more…

RADICAL!!!

Wait, you still wanna continue? Well then… I give you the Blessing of Timmy…

~RADICALIOSA~

See you around nerd… You know…maybe you’ll get to meet my dad again…

That is…if you can even beat the next trial you donk. Hahahaha.

He’s calls these levels “hell,” therefore my name for them is completely warranted.

Once he finishes his dialogue, he disappears, and leaves behind a portal.

Well. Isn’t this charming?

I couldn’t tell you what this is supposed to be. An eye? A broken star? It’s probably nothing good.

The white shape, upon closer inspection, is a gunk sculpture of a body laying prone.

Could this be… Agrippa? Is this what the White Twilight does to people?

Of the seven candles that surround it, we can interact with one, lighting it. Upon doing so, beams of light will emanate from the body, and a void-colored Piece will spawn, allowing us to end the level.

This will be the pattern from here on out—we find the clue, our retinas are assaulted by Rainbow Hell, Timmy trash talks us at the top, and then we light a candle for who we can safely assume is Agrippa.

Wet Mushroom Heaven

This is the absolute last one I discovered and not even the level editor could help me. We can tell from the clue that this one takes place in the ritual cave from “11:6 – The Ritual of Cleansing,” but this has absolutely no context in Wet Mushroom Hell. I looked for it all over. I jumped into the uncaring void; I bonked my head on platforms; and I still couldn’t find it. In the end, I found it by getting to the first secret area (the copy of the Beta Hero Challenge) and /ghosting down.

I saw a cube in the distance.

And this was on the inside.

The grave is interactable. I don’t know much about programming, but that means it’s supposed to be accessible during this segment… right?

I don’t know how anything in the secret Beta-Hero segment is supposed to lead here. It could be the intended way, since we’ve already had to /ghost up to the sun (the SUN) in Beta Hero Challenge. This feels a little oddly placed if so. In BHC, the player might decide to investigate the sun because they’ve been all over the map and the sun is a very prominent background object. But here? I don’t see how the player is supposed to figure out that /ghosting around during that particular segment is the right choice.

Still not doing the platforming, thank you very much.

Hi.

Sup, donk

Back for another Dream World eh? How was this one, did you like it?

I didn’t. How am I supposed to get here?

You know the rules… unless you played these out of order then… RADICAL!!!

I give you the Blessing of Timmy…

~RADICALIOSA~

See you around dingus…

Here’s a shot of the portal.

Same story as last time. We’re lighting a blue flame this time.

Wet Mushroom Hell

This was one I found by scraping streams for information. I’ve got one “Tealgamemaster” in particular to thank for this. After a playthrough of Wet Mushroom Heaven, he went back to the beginning and jumped off the back of the starting platform onto an invisible platform.

If we follow the platform, we wind up in another area. In Heaven, this leads to an Easter egg. I got curious what it lead to in Wet Mushroom Hell.

And I’m still being followed because of course.

We’re going to hop on through that rainbow wormhole.

Boom.

The buzzsaws are how Habboi tells players he loves them.

I super prefer Habboi’s normal levels, because they’re at least made with the idea of “contrast is good” and “let’s not oversaturate everything.”

Here’s Timmy, for the third time.

Yo, yo it’s the dingus!

Why are you even here dog? You ain’t got the mettle for this hettle…

I’ll give you a hint, Timmy. It’s /ghost.

Whatevs… you just wait and see…

Well then… I give you the Blessing of Timmy.

~RADICALIOSA~

See you around lamewad.

And then his disappears and we go through the rigmarole once more.

Another orange flame.

White Tower Forest

This one was pretty easy to find. We actually bypassed it the first time when we drowned in a lake of fire.

This time, we’ll cheat our way over there with /ghost.

Don’t try to explore once you’re here. If you fall in the water, the game will sort-of treat it like a death and move you to the Tower of Judgment area, except it won’t have any textures and I’m not sure you can’t interact with anything. Just poke the grave.

This one is probably the worst in terms of visual acuity. Everything looks out of focus thanks to the filters. After a point, the world will start quaking and another filter will be applied to the environment, one that will blank out your screen if you’re like me and run on potato quality.

Ugh.

If you look carefully, you can see the afterimages of the menu being pulled up.

I found this one first and it killed any enthusiasm I had for the rest. I could barely see anything.

Timmy’s doing pushups when we run into this time.

Hey, Timmy. Listen, your dad made this, right? Can you make sure he’s not on acid the next time he’s got the level editor open?

Oh word, you made it! Oh don’t mind me… just pumping some iron.

How are you liking the pain so far? You know how it goes, no pain, no radical.

My eyes hurt.

But you’re not radical enough…at least not yet.

Anyways…I give you the Blessing of Timmy.

~RADICALIOSA~

Right I’m off, see you in the next one I guess…nerd.

You know the drill.

The lack of visual acuity carries over from Rainbow Hell this time :) The images in this level rapidly move in and out of focus every time the camera moves. It’s nauseating.

The Camera Badge is unaffected.  Thank god.

So, we’re 2 for 2 with orange and blue flames. A very familiar color scheme.

White Tower Hell

We bypassed this one on our way to harass Corvus.

Once we toss ourselves off the top of the tower, we’ll be hanging right instead of left. On the frozen lake, even the golden grave has been bleached white.

How about… no?

Hello again, Timmy.

Boo ya! That was some dank platforming.

And you’re looking fly these days… …Psych hahahahaha. What a nerd.

Aight, aight enough games.

I give you the Blessing of Timmy.

~RADICALIOSA~

But man you’re almost done huh… Psh you wish. Peace out, loser.

Sounds like Tim’s starting to appreciate my skills at platforming (cheating).

Two more candles, two more trips into Rainbow Hell.

Peaceful Tides

Another that isn’t too bad, by which I mean I was able to find it without the level editor or scraping someone’s stream. The grave’s not out in the open, but it doesn’t take too much to find it.

Once we’ve completed the level, some portion of the flower patch will become interactable. Give it a poke, and the grave will appear out in the field.

No /ghosting required!

It’s a pastel day in Rainbow Hell.

I swear the radical gets longer every time.

Eyyyyy this place takes me back. Still surprised you made it this far, loser.

You tired yet? …What? You say you’re tired of my radical name calling? Hah as if. I’m just goofin ya. Stop being a baby.

Eh anyways I give you the Blessing of Timmy.

~RADICALIOSA~

One more to go… Scrub.

I’m psyched. See ya around.

I don’t know if Timmy’s talking about the normal Peaceful Tides or this nightmarish landscape of pastels and falling platforms.

So now the question—how much of Timmy is Agrippa? Is this just another name for the same person? For whom are we lighting these candles? This is the Race to “Save Timmy,” but Timmy doesn’t appear to be in distress.

Agrippa, however, does look like he’s in some kind of trouble.

We’re up to six candles now—3 orange and 3 blue.

Eternal Madness

Another absolute bastard to find. I scraped through this one with the level editor, but since so many things failed to load it wasn’t much of a help. It helped me confirm there was a Rainbow Hell in there.

To find this one, we need to complete the level.

Listen to the Unenlightened tell us they’re very disappointed in us, then head back to the drop off. We’re going to take another flying leap into the darkness.

We’ll wind up in a new area.

:T

This has been a long time coming…

You know what is about to happen…

That’s right…It’s time he arrived!

There’s our clue.

HO HO HO HO HO

What’s that Jak? It’ll never happen? NEVER say never when the Habster’s involved. LUL

Also, in-jokes.

Don’t go for the Piece, it’s a trap.

You know, it would be nice if the grave was just… here, out in the open.

Instead, we need to /ghost through the rock wall to a second open space, then search around for this son of a gun.

Rainbow Hell, for the very last time.

We finally made it.

It was such a pain in the ass finding each one of these.

You remember how one of the videos on @moleman1111 would fade in and out of darkness, when Timmy joked around about someone stealing his eyes? This is that level. I’m just grateful all the platforms stay visible.

…I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but the grave isn’t already there when we get to the top.

It appears with Timmy.

Well, well. The scrub actually got this far into the game. Color me radical.

Maybe you’re worthy of meeting pops after all…

Man, I BETTER be.

Here… I give you the Blessing of Timmy.

~RADICALIOSA~

Unusually, Timmy falls silent after his blessing instead of his normal witty remark. Since this is the seventh and final stage, you’d guess he’s about to say something poignant.

Something’s different.

I’m trapped… within my dream. With all the flames lit you can reach me…

Hurry please! A… Dream Devourer… is stopping me from waking up… I must help… her… Before it’s too late…

Timmy falls silent once again. When he speaks, it’s back to his normal textboxes.

Huh? …That was weird. What are you staring at? Well, whatevers, you’ve impressed me!

See you around… friend…

That’s the last we see of Timmy, for now.

I like to think, assuming he sticks around after the dust settles, he hangs out with Hat Kid afterwards. Maybe they go off and explore crazy new Dreams, just like Puella and Agrippa used to do.

Here we are, with six candles lit—three as orange as the sun, three as blue as the moon.

And the final candle, black as the void.

So ends the Race.

Discussion The very last stage sheds light on a mystery from White Tower Hell. Corvus treated Hat Kid (and NOT Puella) as a threat.

The timeline is much more clear now.

In White Tower Forest, Hat Kid breaks into Puella’s memories. How? No idea. But Corvus and the Unenlightened are watching. They don’t want her digging deeper into the dreams. They don’t want her seeing Puella’s memories.

They try to kill her here. Remember, if Hat Kid died up here she would have been booted from the dream.

In White Tower Hell, Puella sacrifices herself on the rooftop to unknown ends, and Hat Kid digs deeper. “You cannot stop us,” Corvus taunts her, and yet Corvus promises death for Hat Kid.

Hat Kid is a threat.

Puella isn’t.

Whatever her sacrifice was, it wasn’t enough to threaten the Unenlightened.

Corvus, the Dream Devourer, was keeping Agrippa trapped. She tried to stop Hat Kid from waking Agrippa up, because if Agrippa wakes up, then he and his father can complete their plan. Cavum knew this and directed Hat Kid to go back to these dreams and go even deeper, to light the way for Agrippa’s return. Agrippa, in turn, will help “her” wake up.

Everything is coming to a head.

Now we can meet with Timmy’s dad. Maybe we can get some answers out of him.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #9 - Ultra Silence

End of the road.

This was posted September 29th, 2018.

The description reads as follows:

In a faraway land, it is said there is an anchor, a central point in the dream that is said to connect to God and his imagination. But what does a God dream about?

I will warn you, this level is difficult and very long. There’s a lot of precise platforming to be done, and there can be a significant distance between checkpoints. Godmode is not turned on by default in this map. There are no health pons, but checkpoints can be sacrificed to restore full health. I suggest being very cautious, as this map has a habit of blindsiding you.

Somewhere out there, there is a tower.

It is a rickety thing, in places more scaffolding than building. It reaches from the mists below to the heavens above.

What lies at the top?

At the base of the tower, a puddle of black mud mars the endless white.

Nameless and faceless, a figure crawls from the mud. Wood ripples and splashes underfoot, as if she walks on the surface of a peculiar sea.

She has but a singular goal: to reach the top of the tower.

The black-and-red lampposts stand out against the white, a beacon to climbers.

But unless a sacrifice is made, the first remains quiescent.

Every new lamppost poses the same question: will she sacrifice progress to restore her battered flesh?

Climbing the tower will prove increasingly taxing, and this question will become increasingly difficult.

At the base of one innocuous jump, she learns she’s not alone. White mimics burst from white masses, umbrellas raised to send her back to the mud from which she came.

Some gaps are easier to bridge than others.

In places, the time spent not on solid ground is significant

Massive holes in the sides leave the tower exposed to the elements. Snow drifts down from the sky above.

Who built this tower? Who plans to finish it?

Don’t look down.

Look up, instead.

She has a long way to go, and a single wrong step can send her tumbling into the abyss.

Something bright lies outside. Perhaps there’s a better view at the top?

For all its precariousness, the building never crumbles beneath her step.

It feels as though this tower has never changed, nor ever will it.

As though it’s an indelible feature of the landscape.

The higher she climbs, the less finished the tower seems; as if all effort was spent making this structure mimic a tower but not its substance.

Shapes resolve gradually out of the mists as she climbs. There, the suggestion of a building out of sunlit mists.

Could someone else be out there?

Another tower in the distance.

More towers. Are those bells at the top? Is that what lies atop this tower?

Is this why she’s climbing the tower? To ring the bell?

She’s close to the top. So very close.

Beyond the mists, the light has become a beautiful castle. It holds the sun in its arches.

It’s at once comforting and lonely to know there are other towers out there. She isn’t alone, but she’ll never meet them, will she?

There is a bell at the top her tower.

The contrast between the tower she’s climbed and the ones she sees in the distance is almost laughable. They’re so complete and solid, but this one… it’s a mess.

She’s reached the top at last. And she isn’t alone.

Do you know why she was climbing the tower?

This tower must seem familiar to you… correct?

It feels as though she has climbed a great many towers, yes.

Nameless and faceless, ignorant of the very reason she climbs the tower.

You are a memory.

A memory of someone much greater than you could ever be.

There’s bitterness in this shadow’s voice.

That person was my friend and in another life… I killed her…

The truth is I am also a memory of someone… who was foolish…

I won’t be so coy like my brothers and sisters… You seek answers? Then this is all you need to know…

Go back to nothing and stop living in the dream. You are just an echo, a response to this tower’s pain and you should… fade away…

Do you think I am being unkind? The reality is you cannot do anything. Don’t you see, you are following in her exact footsteps…

She couldn’t stop Time’s End and it is inevitable for the same reasons…

He will not respond to her after that, only gazing up at the sun.

But he is not wrong. There is nothing she can do. She cannot ring the bell.

The way is barred to her.

It’s not enough. Not right now.

She could give up. Grab the Piece the unfinished bridge stretches towards. Go back to nothing, as he said.

Or, she could…

…Start over.

To achieve a different ending, not only must she climb the tower, but collect all the golden pons along the way.

Some are easier to get, and others are exceedingly difficult.

But the world isn’t without mercy. She can always ask for help.

Whichever route is taken, the top of the Tower is different.

The man out of memory still tells her: Go back. Go back to nothing.

How many times has he seen this exact tableau? Again and again with nothing changing; a memory without identity to bring up old regrets.

But this time, the way is open.

That’s right. Time’s End is coming. She has to stop it. Or… make a choice? …Has she already chosen?

As you gaze at the castle, you hear a faint voice… it beckons you… to ring the bell…

Ring the Bell of Awakening?

Someone is calling her.

She rings the bell.

And as the solemn tone rings out over the towers, she is swallow by a white flash.

She isn’t alone.

You’ve lost your way… haven’t you?

Yes, I think so.

…Agrippa? You look different.

What? The face paint? So you do remember me…I haven’t worn that since we were kids! Hehe…you always liked it when I said radical…

I always knew you were different from the rest of us…

But to think you would become an Enlightened and create a new world…Father always told me to you were special.

So much has happened since Time’s End…and you look so different. I wish I could come with you…

Why can’t you? What’s wrong?

But that’s okay…because no matter how far we’re apart…We will always be friends.

Here, I bought you something that’s important to me… The last of my light.

You see, Father once told me that the eye of a lord is the true soul within, no one can truly take that away…So please…take good care of mine…

Agrippa has one last gift for his childhood friend.

The world whites out again, leaving Agrippa behind. He leaves her with a final farewell.

Puella stands upon the top of the tower. This is no Tower of Judgment, no Edge of Existence.

She has been awoken, at last, from her dream of climbing the Tower… but at the cost of her best friend.

They saved each other from the crushing burden of loneliness.

Hello, Cavum.

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

You surprise me… Puella…

Yet out of all the endless possibilities you were the one to ring the bell.

You remember the stories, right?

Every entity that sacrifices themselves to the fire at the edge of existence becomes a part of Gods dream. An Enlightened.

I remember now. I remember the darkness. It was… peaceful.

The realm of the God of Dreams, where his empty throne sits is an empty place that is said to hold the key to God himself.

But the gateway to God’s Castle cannot be opened by normal means. Our Master knew of this and has been waiting for the Bell of Awakening to open the way…

Earlier I said to you that you were a wound… That part was true, the towers you see around you, our Master attacked them knowing that the wounds would force out the Enlightened from each dream.

And since they are empty vessels they have a very singular goal. To climb the White Tower and stop Time’s End. To make the choice again.

Of course there is no choice to make this time… But perhaps deep down inside they made a wrong choice and some primal desire causes them to seek a different path.

Regret, after all, is a funny thing.

But ringing the bell is not enough. The castle cannot be approached by normal means, you need the eyes of a Lord and not just one… but two. One from the Living World and the other from the Dream World.

Agrippa…

With your new eye, the path to the castle is open to you now.

…

Please… save her… Stop Master Tempus…

She can be saved… I know it… but only you have the powers now to reach her.

…

I am glad I got to see you again… Even though I am just a fragment of the shadow you once knew…

So am I.

Puella… I…

I am sorry.

…

This sun… It takes me back…

…If I stare long enough I can almost see them… My people…

…

…I wish to stay a little longer… Go on ahead, I will follow shortly.

Take as long as you need, Cavum.

See you later.

The key the Unenlightened wanted was Agrippa’s light.

I don’t think the Founders intended to enter God’s Castle the way the Unenlightened do, but the fact remains that Tempus’s students were instrumental in both plans.

Everything we’ve seen has indeed been a dream of the past, just as Cavum said it was. Puella dreamed endlessly of climbing the Tower of Judgment in White Tower Forest, always wondering what would have happened if she made a different choice. In White Tower Hell, the Unenlightened and Master Tempus attacked the dream to force Puella from that dream into climbing the white tower and ringing the Bell of Awakening.

Without Agrippa, this would have been the true end of the line—Puella could not enter God’s castle, and there would be nothing to stop Master Tempus from bringing everything to a bitter, frozen end.

But thanks to Hat Kid, Tempus’s students can put a stop to her plans.

It’s almost funny. The Resting King said her students should have been able to save her, way back when, if not for the Founders. It’s taken some time, but they’re finally able to do so.

The time has come.

The way is open.

A bridge of light extends from Tower to portal.

A red lake. Before her, the sun.

Behind her, the moon.

In the center of the lake, Puella finds a most unusual Piece.

The final Anchor holding back the White Twilight.

By dint of narrative or technical limitations, there is no one to greet her with a fight.

This is the end of the level.

Elsewhere, the castle of the Resting King is decaying back into the primordial dream from which it came, as its architect comes ever closer to death.

You did well, my son…

We have played our part in this story… The rest… is up to Puella…

…

I have seen many great things in my life and many amazing people rise up from nothing.

Even when times get dark and life ends… they continue to exist and push forwards towards the twilight.

It is my hope that they continue to grow and do great things with the time they have left… Life, after all, is as fickle as a flame.

…

The Twilight has consumed the Resting King, not too long after it took his son.

And so, we fade out.

[starsoverthehorizon]

11:?? - Farewell

It’s fitting that a video titled “Farewell” would be published the day A Hat in Time was released: October 5th, 2017.

There is no description for this video.

Video

0:00 – We have our confirmation that Hat Kid was the Audience. It’s almost comical how she stands out, compared to the darkness around her.

0:07 – Cavum says:

This is my story I have waited here in this dark void for a long time. Although truthfully, time has no meaning here.

0:09 –

In the past, I often wondered what good is time if it takes everything away?

That is why I wanted your Time Piece. It has the power I need to fix my past mistakes.

But you are strong, far stronger than I.

You look just like my Master. I hope she found

peace.

0:12 – The shot changes to the front. We can see Cavum carries a flaming umbrella. I cannot make out his face between the fire and the shadows.

0:16

Listen, when you leave this place, I will return to the darkness. I will cease to exist.

That power you hold… In my timeline, our Pieces brought ruin to the world.

Perhaps you will be wiser.

Use power for the right things.

At least, For the things that you believe in.

0:19 – Cavum’s final words:

So long as we are remembered, the fire will never burn out, Moon Child.

Always remember us.

0:24 – His farewell fades into the darkness.

The video ends at 0:28

Discussion

I think Hat Kid definitely remembers him. Although he clearly picked the fight with her, I don’t think she held it against him. They’re both smiling in his picture, after all. And I’d like to think that Hat Kid takes his words to heart, about not abusing the power of the Time Pieces.

Just like every other character Hat Kid meets, Cavum doesn’t refer to her by name. He calls her “Moon Child.” The hymn in 11:1 mentioned waiting for the Moon Child. Is that the name for anyone from the moon, or is this specific to Hat Kid?

We may never know, sadly

What we do know is what Hat Kid does immediately after this video. This video is the only one to have no description. If you recall, we ran across a video previously with a description that began with 11:12 and contained neither dialogue not narration—“Waiting.” I believe this video and that are meant to be paired, which would make this video either 11:11 (as this seemed to happen immediately before “Waiting”) or 11:12 (as some sort of counterpart). Hat Kid is the figure we see running into the light towards the end of the video, so we know Hat Kid successly left the Void, and Cavum remained.

:(

But what about Puella? Despite what Cavum believed, she didn’t die. Was she ever able to find the City of Dreams? Was she able to stop Time’s End?

If you check the channel, you’ll see there are no more videos. So for now, her fate will remain a mystery.

But there’s still more to the Moleman series!

And we’ll start off by revealing the mastermind behind the whole series—the dev that started it all.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Error 0xAiQb5guaAn01hrP1ac3M#3m0#ryC#0rrup#1ed2MA

Let’s get this ball rolling.

Our first video was published September 24th, 2017. Despite the channel being established in May of that year, there is no notable activity prior to this point.

This video allows us to see the general scheme that most of the other videos will follow:

There is text in description under a letter-number cipher.

There is more text in the video in the glyph alphabet, serving as either narration or dialogue.

The videos will present sometimes cryptic, sometime pointed imagery

I will be proceeding under the assumption that all aspects of the video are connected and their placement isn’t arbitrary. Without that assumption, many of my conclusions go right out the window.

For ease of readability, I will remove spaces between letters (when present), capitalize proper nouns, and add punctuation. I will retain the line spacing in almost all cases. I only mention this as sometimes the wrong comma in the wrong place can change the meaning of the text. Ergo, it is advisable to take some of my statements with a grain of salt.

The Title If I squint my eyes and tilt my head, it looks like the title actually says ‘Error 0xAiQb5gua Another Place Memory Corrupted 2MA’. The 0xA portion look like it could be a legitimate error code. It’s not a code for a YouTube video, at the very least.

The Description

“Master Tempus!”

“Cavum, how many times have I told you to call me H?”

“I am sorry, Master. I was wondering, have you heard of the Sun Piece?”

This dialogue introduces two important characters of the series—Cavum and Master Tempus/H. It’s not immediately clear if H is supposed to be JUST the letter (i.e. ‘L’ from Death Note) or a stand-in for a name beginning with H, like “Henry” or “Harriet.”

The word Tempus is the Latin word for time. Cavum (Cah-vum) is also Latin, and is an adjective for things that are hollow or empty. I believe it’s the root word for ‘cave’ and ‘cavity.’ Not a name that I would pick for myself, if I had a choice.

We are also introduced to something called the “Sun Piece.” It can reasonably assumed that it is in some analogous (or at least related) to Time Pieces from the actual game. It could be a more powerful variant or merely one that has an association with fire/light.

The Video

0:00 – We begin with narration. For the sake of saving space, I’ll only present further screenshots of narration if they differ significantly from this format. This reads as follows:

There is a story passed down by our people.

Before time began, before space existed,

There was nothing,

a dark void

but one day, a light appeared and with it,

Life

0:26 – Our next scene is of a desert. There is no music playing. The only sound is of the wind blowing. There’s a light in the distance (perhaps the sun, perhaps something else), flanked by buried clock towers, one of which smolders. Footsteps connect a point behind the camera to some place beyond the next dune.

This is the scene depicted by the drawing on the fridge and one of the photographs in the wardrobe montage (middle-right).

0:40 – We fade into a shot of someone’s shadow. As we pan up we can see the silhouette of a threadbare cloak and a hat. Some sort of… black, burning wreckage litters the scene. It’s not clear if it’s supposed to be actual fire, or smoke. A golden Time Piece sits amidst the wreckage, spinning freely.

A side note—the distant city skyline appears to be the same as seen in blue time rifts. This could be deliberate, or just to imply that there are/were people living in this area.

0:58 – They approach the Piece. As they approach, we hear the familiar jingling song that signifies a Time Piece is near. The camera zooms in.

1:09 – The screen glitches and distorts until the image is lost.

1:22 – More narration. The third and the four line appear a few seconds after the first two.

But is life worth saving when time takes it all away?

I have contemplated these words for a long time.

But what if I could stop time?

You are worthy to hear my story

The video ends at 1:43.

Discussion Proceeding under our assumption that the placement of description and video contents is deliberate, it is safe to connect the shadow we see as either Cavum or Tempus/H and the golden Piece as the Sun Piece. What we can’t determine thus far, is if the description occurs before or after the acquisition of the Sun Piece. Perhaps Cavum’s question prompted a search for this Sun Piece, or maybe Tempus/H is thinking back to when they found it.

Based on the black, burning stuff at 0:40 (which clearly isn’t normal for the environment), some fight or accident happened prior to the video. In my humble opinion, the peak of tragic irony would be Cavum and Tempus fighting over it, and the winner reflecting on this conversation while they collect their grim prize.

This video establishes a connection between light and life. I imagine then darkness is associated with death.

The most important part of this video, I believe, is at the end. Our framing of this story is a Narrator (orange), telling their tale to their Audience. The Audience is not specifically us, the viewers. The Audience is someone who proved themselves Worthy, perhaps through martial or intellectual means. The Narrator has clearly suffered up to this point, regarding life as almost pointless in the face of death and time, to the point of taking aim at time itself.

I don’t think we can confirm the identity of the Narrator just yet, but it appears likely that the Narrator is either Cavum or Tempus/H, given the focus of the narration and description.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #8 - Wet Hero Challenge

We’re almost to the end.

This mod was posted September 29th, 2018.

The description reads:

A simple Beta Hero inspired challenge level set underwater to a soothing song. This will be one of the last mods I make for A Hat in Time. Thank you for the support.

The R King has summoned you.

Expect a hard platforming challenge this time, complicated by the lack of godmode. If you want to play without the stress of keeping your health up, you’ll have to turn it on manually.

We’re here to meet the Resting King once more.

To do so, we’ll need to collect all 111 of the gold pons. If you can handle the platforming, this shouldn’t be a problem. None of them are hidden, and there are no alternative pons that will lock us out of narrative goodness this time (unlike White Tower Forest).

There are a few prickly areas I had trouble with.

In the distance, you can see the castle belonging to Timmy’s dad, complete with a whirlpool. We saw the castle earlier in the 08/24/18 tweets.

The final pon is located at the end of the level.

When we acquire it, a bell tolls.  A bridge of light forms and stretches in the direction of the castle. This brings us close enough to dive down to the castle. As you can see, the entryway to the castle is now lit up.

I wasn’t able to get a good screenshot of it, but when we jump down to the castle, the screen is whited out.

This brings us to the white space we saw in Agrippa’s flashback and at the end of the 08/24/18 tweet. In the distance, we can see a larger structure.

This is the home of the Resting King.

We find him on this throne. Only he’s seen much better days.

There’s a strange outcropping in the middle of the courtyard. I’m not sure what this could be, besides the probable source of what’s afflicting the King.

Again, we meet the Resting King.

Is this really better circumstances? :(

The Resting King has a lot to tell us. You’ve been warned.

Welcome to my Kingdom, the dream of The Resting King.

You have much to say, but please allow me to pose a question.

If you burn the Sun does it become the Moon? And what if you burned the Moon instead, what would remain?

The answer is Unbalance. The Void is a powerful darkness kept at bay by the Sun and the Moon. You may think the void is the natural order of all things, and yet look upon me, something beyond even the Void takes place.

The White Twilight

Long ago, I resided in the darkness of the Void, until one day I become conscious of life. It wasn’t long before I saw light…

That light was my mother… She is known as Master Tempus.

She taught me about the world of dreams and that all thoughts from the living take form here in this realm. I am in a manner of speaking… a dream of my mother.

She was a wise creature indeed. She foresaw the coming of the White Twilight, a residual effect of Time’s End.

What you know of Time’s End merely affects the anchor point of the dream world it infects, but the White Twilight affects all of reality itself.

Master Tempus worked hard to research a way to prepare for the coming twilight, and I’m afraid her research led her down a dark path.

Before long, she was consumed by the Void and the only hope left were the students she had left behind. But unfortunately, events were twisted by the selfish desires of those who would play God…

You have done well to reach this place, but I am afraid you are not the only one. As you can see, I am already infected by the coming Twilight.

It is alright, I have lived a long life and have seen many good dreams be born.

You saw my son, correct? Ho ho ho, do not be surprised by appearances. I am known as The Resting King and it is my will that brought him life in the dream.

The blue markings are a sign of this, the crossing of the two realms, the Sun and the Moon. They represent our family crest and the promise we made long ago.

But the dream worlds you saw, and my son who you interacted with, were merely echos of the past. The reality is… those dreams were simply playgrounds that I created for the children to play in, hohohohoho.

Our family serve the God of Dreams and it seems our enemies knew of this… The light of my son was taken from him, stolen by those red creatures who walk in the darkness of the void.

Do no trust their words, for they serve a dark master who desires one thing…An end to all things.

It is not simply content with ending the existence of the Dream Realm. It desires an end to reality itself and it is because of their actions that the White Twilight has begun…

I sense they are approaching the castle of God to destroy the final anchor that holds back the coming Twilight.

My time grows short. Please, take this memento. It was entrusted to me long ago and I understand it holds great importance to you, Child of Time. I know of your quest…I have hope you will find your way home.

Do not worry, events are destined to play out this way and yes, all things must come to an end… even this old king’s story hohohoho.

As for your world, it is a separate reality from ours. Though I would advise against coming here again… Even with the power of your Time Pieces…

No matter. Return to your own world, young one. I bid thee farewell…

A regular Time Piece appears in the courtyard. We can check the outcropping from before, only to find nothing.

Weird.

There’s nothing else we can do,  except grab the Time Piece and end the level.

Discussion That was a lot of exposition.

Agrippa described the “woman in black,” Tempus, as his grandmother (in a manner of speaking). Ergo, Agrippa’s father is the Resting King.  The King’s answer to the question of sacrifice is similar to another’s—the spirit we spoke to after choosing the Moon in White Tower Forest. I initially thought it was Puella, but it’s possible we spoke to Agrippa instead. If Agrippa had been born out of the darkness, just like his father, then the comment about the darkness feeling “nostalgic” makes more sense.

Timmy, in the context of this mod, appears to be a memory of a younger Agrippa.

I still don’t understand what exactly the White Twilight is. Is it the natural result of Time’s End or created by factions who’d do anything to avoid it? My best guess is that it’s a poison that affects the Realm of Dreams. It presumably can spread to anyone who enters the Realm, but I’m uncertain it could spread to the waking world.

It’s good to know the Founders’ power play kickstarted not one, but two apocalypses.

Worst gods ever.

The final confrontation has come upon us, with the Unenlightened mobilizing to end the world once and for all.

But … Hat Kid isn’t going to play a role, this time.

Her role in the story has come to an end (for now). She explored the depths of Puella’s memory and lit Agrippa’s way home.

But now?

It’s time to go.

Hat Kid takes the Time Piece and leaves.

The camera lingers.

You awaken at last. I’m glad resting in the Dream World bought you some time. Did you manage to collect her memories? …Good.

It seems she wore her name well. A fragment of her former self was left behind inside that child.

Was this your doing, Cavum? …Even in death you still find a way to help us.

Once upon a time, Cavum told Hat Kid that she looked, talked, and fought “like Master.” He mourned his master in that conversation. If the Resting King means to say that Hat Kid carries the fragment of “her former self,” perhaps what he means is that a piece of Tempus survived into the new timeline, becoming part of Hat Kid. Or perhaps Hat Kid was this timeline’s iteration of Tempus.

I think that’s partly why Hat Kid’s final confrontation with Cavum finally brought him peace. Maybe it’s why Cavum had faith that Hat Kid would be able to run the Race.

Is it Agrippa’s turn to act and wake her up?

But… who is he talking about?

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #4 - Puella Outfit Mod

Bit of a short one today.

The Puella Outfit Mod, aka the Time Lord Outfit, was posted December 8th, 2017.

The description reads:

A young Moon Child walked through a dream and saw the memories of another.

There she journeyed to the Origin, realm of the Enlightened. On top of the Tower of Judgement overlooking the Edge of the Existence she rejected her false gods and made a difficult decision.

Choosing The Void, she was reborn as an Enlightened and watched over her flame until Time's Beginning. (Even though she Ghosted)

This mod gives us Puella’s dark outfit, her red eyes, and her hat. Her hat is called the “Time Lord Hat” and functions the same way as the Sprint Hat. I’ve tested it, and can confirm it works with the Scooter Badge. It doesn’t change hair color. You’ll have to use a dye with black hair (like the Widower) if you want to match Puella 1-to-1.

In my humble opinion, the mod looks pretty good with the Blood Moon dye.

This mod also gives us Puella’s umbrella, which is pretty… unusual-looking. We never saw Puella wielding an umbrella in the videos, so this might just be what her umbrella looks like. When used with the Hover Badge, the umbrella is black with patches of glowing red. The color scheme does match her.

Discussion It’s interesting that the icon for the mod has Puella with her right eye shut—we saw in 11:10 that she survived (?) the fight with Cavum, but her right eye remained shut. That she’s still keeping it shut might be visual shorthand for the loss of her eye. She’s posed in front of the Time’s End bookstore from the cut beta ending. It’s not clear if there’s significance to that or if it’s Aesthetic™.

Now, let’s dissect that description.

“A young Moon Child walked through a dream and saw the memories of another.” In “11:?? – Farewell,” Cavum called Hat Kid “Moon Child.” Ergo, this description is telling us that in White Tower Forest, Hat Kid witnessed the memories of Puella. This matches up with the fact that we saw Hat Kid in cutscenes, but the NPCs called us “Puella.”

“There she journeyed to the Origin, realm of the Enlightened.” For me, this sentence parses strangely. We know both the “Moon Child” and the “another” in the previous line is female, so it’s not clear who the subject is now. Either way, Puella made it to the place the shade of Cavum called the Origin. The Origin could be just the dark space with the Piece and the flame or if it includes the Edge of Existence. It would make more sense to me if it were just the dark place, since including the Edge would make the spirits we see Enlightened, and I feel confident in saying Cavum probably didn’t become an Enlightened. There might be some overlap, in that some Enlightened appears as the light spirits, but not all spirits are Enlightened.

Side note—the Founders looked a lot like those spirits. Were they Enlightened?

“On top of the Tower of Judgement overlooking the Edge of the Existence she rejected her false gods and made a difficult decision.” Whatever she chose, it couldn’t have been easy. To choose one was to sacrifice another, and as we heard from Cavum and Puella, Master Tempus taught against the sacrifice, since doing so leads to Unbalance and therefore destruction.

“Choosing The Void, she was reborn as an Enlightened and watched over her flame until Time's Beginning.” Puella’s canonical choice WAS the Void. It’s curious how it’s framed as a positive thing, since making this choice required casting off “false gods.” Contrast that to “11:7 – The Realm of Dreams,” where Master Tempus frames the Void as incredibly dangerous.

Was this really the right choice, Puella?

Theoretically, Puella only knows what happens when she chooses the Void. She doesn’t actually know what would have happened when she sacrificed the Sun or the Moon. So, what Hat Kid sees when she picks those routes might be Puella’s extrapolations based on what she knows of picking the Void.

There’s a few things that no longer line up now that we have this information. Puella definitely ascended to Enlightenment, which is fine, but then it states that she watched over her flame until Time’s Beginning… but we met the original Tempus when we went the Void route. It’s possible that Time’s Beginning has already happened, so Puella the Enlightened doesn’t need to watch over her flame.

But why did we meet Tempus with the Void rather than Puella? Since Puella chose the Void, I’d associate her more strongly with the Void than Tempus. Admittedly, it’s implied in “11:7 – The Realm of Dreams” that Tempus had a traumatic experience regarding the Void. That might be enough for a thematic association.

Still, Puella’s ultimate rejection of the Moon (and the Founders) and acceptance of the Void makes her placement with the Moon strange. Hell, even Puella’s color scheme of black and red is STRONGLY associated with the Void.

It feels like we’re missing something :T

“(Even though she Ghosted)” Ghosting is a valid tactic when you’re trapped in Platforming Hell.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Twittermission

Let’s talk about @moleman1111.

It's been a busy day for the @moleman1111 twitter, by which I mean Habboi played me like a fool and I still have no idea what's going on.

Thankfully, I’ve got a more solid grip on the previous activity cycle.

(And just a side note--on 12/31/18, the name attached to the account changed from "Agrippa" to "L" and then "Lord of Lore." I don't know what the significance is. Just be aware that some of my screencaps happened at a different date, hence the change in name. I believe that while this was going on, the name was entirely Agrippa.)

I mentioned in my last post that the content varied wildly. Let me tell you, it was confusing reading it for the first time. But now that we’ve introduced Agrippa to the Moleman series, we can talk about the key that makes everything (well, almost everything) make sense.

We have multiple posters in the same account.

My evidence for this comes from this tweet:

We’ve got at least four people on this account (only three of which seem to post things, unless I’ve miscategorized the last one), so we should be able to determine who they are by their difference in style.

I find it interesting that we’re finally hearing from Moleman—the series carries their name, after all.

For the sake of this post not being a billion pages long, I'll be eschewing all the tweets which I know to be Habboi shitposting or IRL references. If you decide to go through the account on your own, know that most of the letters refer to Habboi's collaborators. J being Jak, D being DanielCNR, etc.

05/07/17 & 08/20/18 – These tweets mark the establishment of the twitter account and the first active period. The language here is brief and enigmatic. Of the four known individuals this could be—Agrippa, Moleman, Dream [redacted], and Timmy, I believe the author is Moleman. The handle is @moleman1111, so it would make sense that they would handle the first few tweets.

08/21/18 – The language here is formal but unfocused. The use of “Father” makes me believe this is Agrippa. We saw in “Agrippa – The Third Student” that his father has some influence over the realm of dreams, and here he implies that his father is the one responsible for the setting of this short video, which depicts a small figure doing pushups on a golden grave in some sort of kaleidoscope hellscape.

The person he’s talking to is probably Puella, since they were fellow students.

08/22/18 – Another new poster, notable for his casual language. This could be Timmy, Dream [redacted], or the mysterious fifth. The figure overlooking another case of eyestrain shares a model with Timmy, so that’s who I’m going with.

Who’s Timmy, I hear you ask?

He was intended to be the co-op character for AHIT, before being scrapped in favor of Bow Kid. His background is mostly a mystery (to me). There was some mention of him controlling Vanessa's mansion to attack the player. I had a pet theory he was the younger version of another cut character, Tim the CEO of Time. That said, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t carry over here.

08/23/18 – I believe this to be Agrippa, though “heck” doesn’t feel like a word he says. His existence is tenuous, apparently.

08/24/18 – Timmy’s dad is associated with gold and castles... which I thought was R King’s calling card? Are we implying that R King is Timmy’s dad? The very end of the video changes out the gold castle for blocky, bright white scenery, similar to what we saw at the beginning of Agrippa's flashback.

08/25/18 – The casual poster confirms himself as Timmy.

08/26/28 – Timmy implies he's socially isolated while on a weekend break. And he used to have a friend. No mention of who.

08/27/18 – Timmy watches Hat Kid fail (to his amusement), but is interrupted by something... or someone? The video is quickly changed out for an image of a red lake, surrounded by white mountains. The image is still, save for a Piece of uncertain nature spinning in the distance.

If there was a point at which Dream [redacted] interacted with the account, this is where I would suspect it. I can't tell if Timmy was talking with someone, or if the thought was forced into his head.

08/28/18 – Whatever it was, it wasn't enough to disrupt Timmy's leisure time. I personally distracted by the reflection in the metal. Is it... is it the Tower of Judgment? Is it the Alpine Skyline?

08/29/18 – The background of the accompanying video rapidly switches from color to darkness, with the overall video getting darker every time until only darkness (and electronic music) remains. Did Timmy actually lose his eyes?

08/30/18 – Timmy’s initial tweet is in reference to another ARG account, @ACookieinTime. Despite their occasional use of the glyph alphabet, it’s not Moleman-related. Timmy proposes holding a day in his own honor.

The video is a montage of Hat Kid failing her jumps, beginning with a shot of Timmy looking at the camera judgmentally. He still has both eyes, so I guess he didn’t really lose them. Curiously, Agrippa appears at the end of this video, after the montage fades into static.

Agrippa may be radio silent for now, but he's still around. Somehow.

09/07/18 – I believe Timmy Day was originally planned for these dates. This is our first chronological mention of a race. It's probably the same one mentioned in the video.

09/09/18 – The reason for the race is to find the best player, since the “red dudes” (who else but the Unenlightened?) are up to something. We know the Unenlightened want to spread the White Twilight and are looking for a key. Maybe their “key” was that Piece over the red lake. But we didn’t see any mention of that in Tempus’s journal…

Either there was an encounter on 08/27 that lead to this, or Timmy is working against the Unenlightened in general.

Timmy ends the day's tweets by signing off until the 20th.

09/15/18 – The next tweet doesn't come from Timmy, but Agrippa, in the form of a long encrypted text post. Agrippa is associated with the color purple, so I suspect this is for ease of reading or because Habboi hadn't decided on Agrippa's text color yet.

Within the darkness, a light spoke to me. I didn't know what it was, but I felt I had no other choice but to trust it. As the light spoke, I felt a familiarity. Did I know this entity? Without warning, I felt a pressure in my head and the  images of things that were flooded my head.

The woman in black. The day I met her, father explained that she was, in a manner of speaking, my grandmother. I didn't quite understand at the time,  but this was the beginning of my new life.

Wrapped in the shadow of the moon, my life as a student of Master Tempus began. But those around me treated me differently. I suppose it was strange having a dream creature live in their world. I was alone for the longest time but then. She saved me. A person that I would call... my closest friend.

After lessons were over, we would explore the dream worlds that my father made for us. They were the happiest days of my life, so why? Why did he betray us? If it wasn't for him, Time's End wouldn't have happened and she wouldn't have left. I tried to stop her but she only said one thing: that a voice was calling out to her to make the Choice.

I was all alone. With no purpose, I traveled across the dreams and that's when I saw her. How could she still be alive? But she seemed different. And then, darkness. The pain. I screamed out; she took my light away from me but I was able to escape before she took the other.

I could feel it, the White Twilight is expanding. As I looked at my body, I could see it slowly being taken over. Father said there was no hope for us. But he has a plan. He said there was a way to bring her back. For now, I sleep for the day that she wakes.

This is the text version of the video, which is also why I wanted to present it before we got here. Looking at the video now, it’s clear the flashback was in chronological order: Tempus went to meet her “son,” and was introduced to Agrippa, her “grandson.” She took Agrippa on as a student back in the waking world, where he became fast friends with fellow student Puella.

Everything was good on the surface, but the Founders were plotting and drove Cavum to make a tragic decision. Puella had to leave because of that decision, and headed to the Tower of Judgment at the Edge of Existence.

And… she didn’t come back.

At least Agrippa survived Time’s End. I guess it doesn’t affect the Realm of Dreams as much as the waking world.

While wandering, he met Master Tempus again. But, wasn’t she supposed to be dead?

Something was wrong, and she took his… light? Timmy made a coy reference on 8/29/18 about someone stealing his eyes.

Master Tempus is affiliated with the White Twilight. Somehow. Why did she take Agrippa’s light? I have a few ideas on this:

She needs to take the light of others to continue her new existence.

This is some manner of conversion and she’s attempting to force Agrippa to her side.

This is somehow related to the key.

She’s trying to remove a potential threat.

But Agrippa’s father has a plan, and if the unlisted video was anything to go by, it’s almost time to spring it into action.

But who are they waking up? Based on who Agrippa knows, I would guess this is either Tempus or Puella. I don’t know about Tempus, but Puella?

I would guess she fell asleep sometime between the events of White Tower Forest and White Tower Hell, going on the “White Tower Hell was a literal dream” theory.

09/17/18 – There's a lot of activity on the twitter account today, and it looks like almost all of it is from Moleman. We start with this picture, which comes the Arctic Cruise chapter.

There's a microwave up on one of the shelves. You can tell which one, because the time reads "11:11." There's a tiny crown on the inside.

The note reads: "H is the keeper of secrets -The Resting King."

I guess R. King isn’t “the Roach King,” huh?

Moleman asks the readers to find H in as many words, since today "they have the tool to find H."

Moleman reinforces the connection between the loss of light and the loss of sight. They speak as if they have experience in the manner. Who else do we know that lost their light?

I wonder…

I can’t tell if this is IRL stuff or Moleman pulling a fast one on the audience, since Jak, one of Habboi’s collaborators, is mentioned. Even if it's meant to be serious, the counter never reaches 100%.

This is the last tweet before the link to the unlisted video is posted. Another mention is made of the Key. Is Moleman working with the Unenlightened? Are they trying to find it before the Unenlightened?

Another reference to a race, but by Moleman instead of Timmy. This is the first indication that Moleman is aware of the others who post on this account.

As it was Moleman who posted the link, and the description sounds a little like their writing style, I believe it’s safe to say they were the ones who wrote it, urging the audience or Agrippa to gather their strongest warriors.

08/21/18 – This isn’t directly related to the ongoing narrative, but this is when Habboi posted the hint I needed to make the jump from Youtube to Mods. The use of the key emoji is suspicious, however...

09/27/19 – The second half of the tweet is rather confused, so I don’t 100% know if we’re supposed to take this at face value.

…but if we can, then we've known Moleman all along. Is he working with or against the Unenlightened? He’s searching for a “key,” just as they are, but he’s the one to establish the link between Agrippa, Timmy, and the audience. He’s the one who advised us to ready ourselves for the final race.

He is, however, one of at least two voices giving Timmy and/or Agrippa grief. We haven’t seen Corvus since White Tower Hell. I think it’s just them, since the other names seem like variations on Cavum/Corvus.

This tweet starts with Timmy, but might not end with him. We already know Agrippa is in trouble because of the White Twilight, and we're not entirely sure about Timmy's status.

This is another spot where we might be seeing the influence of Dream [redacted]. Agrippa is dreaming, and the time to wake is coming up soon. Could the Dream [redacted] be keeping him trapped?

I believe this is Cavum, displaying his awareness of the other users of this account. The unknown fifth is a point of concern for me. Are they an enemy? An ally? I don’t know.

09/29/18 – The final tweet from this round of activity has Cavum giving us the clues to "save Timmy." This seals it for me—whatever else happens, Cavum isn’t an antagonist now. Timmy’s in danger (apparently) and needs someone to save him.

With these clues, we have everything we need for the next phase: The Race for Timmy.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #7 - Eternal Madness

Do you remember how Master Tempus warned her students not to enter the memories of the dead?

Well, she isn’t here right now.

This mod was posted January 28th, 2018.

The description reads as follows:

In this lonely darkness it is said there is an old Enlightened who protects the secret "they" desire.

A curious thing then that an Enlightened would hide in the darkness... As to enter the dreams of the dead is strictly forbidden...

It is strange that an Enlightened would hide so close to the memories of the dead—it was forbidden due to the number of Keepers who fell to the Void and never returned. So why hide there? Is the old Enlightened could protecting the “secret” from the Founders or the red spirits? It could be both.

Personally, the idea of seeing for ourselves what the decay of memories looks like is quite fascinating.

This is a difficult map, but doable.

A word of warning—before playing this stage, make sure Dynamic Lights (under Advanced settings) is on or that you’re playing on Normal settings. You can have everything else on potato-quality, but if you don’t have Dynamic Lights you’re going to be flying blind.

We begin in darkness, with globs of white gunk and flowers. There’s a light in the distance.

A light shines down from above, one of the few environmental light sources in this map and why flowers are growing here.

The distant light appears to be the head of an Enlightened.

It’s going to be our light source for this map, hence the need for Dynamic Lights. Care to guess how we're going to bring it with us?

When we get close, Hat Kid reaches for the head. The screen cuts to black, and there’s a disgusting squelch.

Ick.

In terms of level design, this was the simpler way--Habboi’s original plan involved carrying it around like a beach ball and throwing it onto platforms. I’m grateful from a gameplay perspective that idea was scrapped, but the image of Hat Kid sticking that thing onto her head is one I could do without.

This will prevent us from swapping around our badges.

It also adds an element of confusion to the story here.

Now we have a permanent source of light for the rest of the level. The area is dotted with black fire, which may mean there was a fight. I’m going to guess this poor Enlightened lost.

With light, we can navigate the area.

We find a campfire with two places to sit.

Only one skeleton, however.

So, two people used to live here. They’re probably the ones responsible for all the bridges and miscellaneous wooden boards we can find. 

A very crude house.

The interior is barren except for a table and a diary.

Hat Kid, through Puella, has no respect for the privacy of others. Of course we read it.

Page 1:

Today, I found a book in this sacred place… Big Brother did not like that.

He told me to leave it where I found it but I couldn’t resist… I wonder how it ended up here.

Page 2:

Guarding this place has become tiresome… The old gods… Hah! A stupid legend.

I don’t understand…Why are we forbidden from seeing the dreams of the dead?

Page 3:

I went exploring and saw some white flowers. They looked special…

I felt almost at peace. When I returned, Brother got mad at me…

Page 4:

I’ve had enough… I’m going to leave. There is a world out there waiting for me…

The flowers told me so.

The owner of this diary left, and Big Brother remained until he died.

That’s... a little sad. Did the sibling ever return, only to find their family passed on?

Continuing onward, find a massive wooden door, guarded by a lone, living Enlightened. This area is dimly lit with a red light beyond the light that we cast.

Young Sister…is that you? My vision is weak… You’re alive. I’m glad.

The Unenlightened was too strong. I fear he may has trespassed into the realm of darkness. You must stop him.

Do not fear… your light is strong. I believe in you, your duty has never swayed.

Make me proud… Tempus.

He might be using “Sister” as a title or because he thinks we’re literally his sister. If we take the second interpretation, then this is... Tempus’s brother. Based on information later in the level, I don’t think we’re literally Tempus, since we stuffed this Enlightened’s head on our own and Brother said his vision was “weak.”

Either way, I believe this is the Enlightened from the description. But, he wasn’t able to protect the secrets that “they,” the Unenlightened, desired.

We can’t do anything for him, unfortunately. What we CAN do is stop the Unenlightened.

On the other side of the door, we come to a dark, gaping chasm. There’s nowhere to go but down.

We find ourselves in the transitional space. There are no lights, so we must head towards the void. Strap in, kids. We’re entering the memories of the dead.

The memories of the dead are dark. With environmental detail set to normal, we can see that the platforms here appear to be partially worn away into starstuff, like the Tower of Judgement.

Is this the decay of dead memories that Tempus warned her students about?

Besides ourselves, the only light comes from the lampposts that mark checkpoints, and this ominous red crescent. Does the true void lie beyond that, or is that a decayed memory of a star?

Our lack of visual acuity is part of the difficulty. Expect to make a few blind jumps before you figure out where the next platforms are. In the above image, you can faintly see the platform I jumped from. The one I’m jumping towards is completely hidden in the darkness when you’re standing up there.

The bouncy orbs are the worst offender--they’re as black as the background, with only a faint outline to differentiate them. If you’re like me and experience significant drops in framerate after killing an enemy, there are some sections that may be impossible without /ghost. I think someone put up a mod for that recently, but I haven’t tested it yet myself :T

Still, physics and collision is MUCH better here. I never got hit with a stupid death while playing this mod.

Figuring out the right timing can be annoying, however.

Eventually, through the flamethrowers and wrecking balls and precise timing, we find ourselves a staircase, which leads up to…

A building, flanked with snow. I’ve mentioned the “Time’s End” Bookstore in passing before, way back in “Waiting.” This is the actual building, flanked with the same snowdrifts as the original bookstore (though given what we saw in White Tower Hell, it could be considered a bad sign).

The front door is open wide to us.

Inside, we find a corridor of bookshelves.

Not even books are free from the decay of death.

There’s nowhere to go but forward, to this hall in the back. There are four paintings on the wall and I couldn’t tell you what they mean or if they’re important.

Who even knows, man.

At the very back, there’s another table and book. There's more snow (or sand?) here.

An old book lies here…

Which page do you wish to read?

Page 1

The Founders… While they plot to form the Gold Piece, they are blind to something much more powerful. The Void.

Gold Piece? Wait a second…

In my youth, I was naïve. I listened to their teachings and feared the void like I was taught to. As I grew older, I took on students who I passed this fear onto.

But what is fear if not something we apply to things we do not understand.

The Founders are going to betray me and use my students to evolve beyond this realm. They are far too powerful for me to defeat alone. Brother...Oh how I wish you were still here.

Page 2

I’ve done it. I’ve learned to control the Void. With this I could reach a new plane… but the Void requires a price… Death. I must die.

Death is but a doorway after all. Assuming everything goes to plan…

Page 3

There is no more time. Soon the Founders will make their move. I’ve made my decision. I will confront the Founders and die.

Cavum…if you read this… I am sorry. But your life was always heading towards this. I look forward to seeing you again.

Troubling revelations, the lot of it.

There’s nothing else that can be done here, so we must turn and leave.

We’re transported out before we get far.

Just as in Peaceful Tides, we’ve been returned to the very beginning.

Whatever we were to prevent, I think we failed. But… what was the key? The Void? The Gold Piece? The Founders being absolutely massive jerks? Come to think of it, did we end up in the same location and read the same book?

You seek the same thing as us? How can you not…

So you red twerps are the Unenlightened, huh?

…you stared at this darkness long enough. Do you honestly think there is peace here?

…

I expected better of you… You’re an Enlightened!

Wait, are you… offended?

What hope can you possibly see in the darkness!?

You are weak. Just a broken shell like our master.

I see no reason to fight such a pitiful creature… I have what I came for.

With that, a Piece will spawn and we can end the level.

We can also go back through the beginning of the level to meet with the Brother and see what’s changed with him.

:(

He’s passed on, sadly. A somber music cue plays when close to his head.

Discussion We learned a lot in this mod, so let’s break it down piece by piece.

First, this is where Tempus spent her youth, back when she was young, impetuous, and didn’t treat the Void with the caution it deserved. It’s not clear if Tempus and her brother lived down here 24-7 to guard this “sacred place” or if they were assigned to the place in sustained shifts. Tempus quickly grew bored of this finite space and jumped ship once she realized that there was more to the world.

Her brother, I believe, remained until his death. He managed to become an Enlightened upon death (just what are the requirements for Enlightenment anyways? It seems like everyone’s doing it) and continued to guard the memories of the dead.

We don’t see much of Tempus’s memories—this is no purple rift—but we learn enough.

Tempus came to master the power of the void, which handily explains why we meet a memory of Tempus upon choosing the Void in White Tower Forest.

And speaking of Tempus at the White Tower Forest...

If you recall, at that time Tempus’s shade mentioned that the Founders were out to amass power. Based on her notes here, it appears as though that power was the so-called “Gold Piece.” We’ve seen a Piece that matches that description before, in “11:4 – War” and “11:6 – The Ritual of Cleansing.” Tempus says they’re plotting to “form” it, which would imply it doesn’t exist naturally. I believe were we given a clue in 11:6 as to how.

The orange is the Sun, the blue is the Moon, and immediately after they touched we saw a golden Piece.

We know there’s a Sun Piece.

What if the Gold Piece is made by fusing the Sun Piece and the Moon Piece together?

They already had the Sun Piece, but to get the Moon Piece would have required Puella to pick the Moon atop the Tower of Judgement.

What if that was their plan ALL ALONG?

It makes so much sense in retrospect.

“Time’s End is super bad and you absolutely positively shouldn’t let it continue.”

“You trust us, right? And by the right choice we of course mean the Moon. You saw how bad the sun (Cavum) was, right?”

You manipulative BASTARDS.

Tempus bemoaned how the Founders were manipulating everything. They were going to use “her students” to ascend—when did they start planning that? From the very beginning, hence why they told Tempus to take Puella on? Did they decide later that Puella was a more likely pawn to choose the path of rebirth?

That’s why Puella picking the Void was casting off her false gods.

I still don’t know where Cavum fits into this mess. Did the Founders intend for him to make off with the Sun Piece and trigger Time’s End, or did they just want him out of the way?

Going back to Eternal Madness—she had a plan, but what could it possibly be?

Something about the Void…

What troubles me is that the Unenlightened are strongly associated with red and black. The hourglass and umbrella by Tempus’s second diary share that same color scheme. Her desk was surrounded by snow or sand, and we know snow is associated with the White Twilight, based on its effects in White Tower Hell.

The implication appears to be that Tempus shares an association with the Unenlightened.

I can’t call that confirmed as of yet, but we should keep it in mind as a possibility.

If you were wondering, the Unenlightened’s dialogue informs us that we’re playing as Puella. Just as in Peaceful Tides, they insinuate that we have similar goals. But this time, Puella makes them recoil. Puella looks at darkness and sees peace. The Unenlightened looks at darkness and sees… I don’t know, death? It’s enough to earn this Unenlightened’s contempt.

He calls Puella an “empty shell” and implies his master is the same. I believe this is enough confirmation that the master of the Unenlightened is an Enlightened, most likely the “old Enlightened” from White Tower Hell who rejected Puella’s choice.

Which is all very fascinating, but we’re going to have part ways with Puella for a time.

We’ve got a couple more mods to cover—Wet Hero Challenge and Ultra Silence—but next up on the chronology is a change of media.

And a Race.

Dear God, that stupid Race.

[starsoverthehorizon]

Mod #3 - White Tower Forest

This mod was posted December 7th, 2017.

The description is as follows:

White Tower Forest is a simple 4 island platforming level set in a Sacred Forest. The goal was to make a level as fast as possible using simple blocks and cylinders.

The level is roughly the same difficulty as Beta Hero Challenge and it's also short but I wanted to make something that focused on just being fun. The level was designed with NO HATS required so if you find a part difficult it can be solved without the need for Time Stop etc.

Thank you for supporting the game, perhaps I'll make more mods once the DLC is complete.

P.S. No there aren't any mushrooms this time.

Technically Habboi isn’t lying. About the mushrooms. There’s still stuff to bounce on, though.

The bulk of this level is easy or moderate in terms of difficulty. If you’re not a super hardcore player, you’ll probably enjoy it. If nothing else, it’s an excellent primer on the value of double jumping AFTER a wall jump, instead of before.

The final portion is more difficult. If you’re super impatient to skip all the non-difficult bits, there’s a shortcut. Just use the console command /ghost to fly to the waterfall directly behind the starting point and interact with the switch (/slomo # can be used to speed up the game, just remember to turn it back to /slomo 1 when you’re done).

Our initial goal is to clear the four areas, making sure to pick up every blue pon along the way. It’s not necessary to finish the level, but it give us options later.

Note the blue motes of light in the air, the glowing flowers, and the white gunk.

I’m reminded a little of 11:6.

The promo shots do a good job of showing off the kind of platforming we can expect.

This mod had a bad habit of crashing my game. I’d recommend waiting a few seconds after reaching a new area.

Once all the blue pons are collected, we get a cutscene of a fifth tower rising out of the lake.

At this point, we can grab the goal Piece and end it there, or take a newly-appeared cannon over to this new tower. It is a more difficult area, so you have been warned.

If we’re willing to brave some interesting applications of wall jumping, then our next goal is to climb this tower, collecting all the orange pons and ONLY the orange pons. If we collect a single blue one, our climb will end at the top of this tower.

At the top, three graves sit behind the gold-and-blue Time Piece.

Once we get all the orange pons, we can interact with the right-hand grave.

Doing so triggers a cutscene, where the camera zooms through the center of the grave to focus on the outer edge of the tower. Lo and behold, a wormhole appears.

In we go, back to that transitional space again.

Before us is a yellow sun. Behind us, a non-interactable blue moon.

We chase the sun until it fades into darkness and in that darkness, we find a familiar, yet frightening, scene.

It’s the city from 11:8 and 11:9, complete with three empty thrones for three missing Founders. Everything’s dark and monochrome, and the BGM is threatening.

By far, the most unnerving part is the single eye staring down at us.

I doubt it’s friendly and we don’t want to linger. If we stay too long on the platform, the world will quake. After that, we’ll take damage. If we die to this, we’ll get booted from the level.

We’ve got to dive off the edge and into the darkness.

We fall into a nightmare—no, into hell.

The background music strikingly resembles the wails of the damned.

We won’t take damage in the water. Despite the flames, this is no boiling lake. I don’t know if it’s possible to reach the portal before our swimming stamina runs out, but I’d hazard that most people who fall down here the first time take too long to catch their bearings…

And drown.

Don’t worry, this is what we wanted.

In a cutscene, Hat Kid wakes up free of darkness.

Before us rises a tower. It’s surrounded by familiar hands stretching towards the heavens, as if begging god for salvation.

There is no gunk to be found on this platform. Three flames burn instead—one warm, one cool, and one dark. The sun, the moon, and the Void, if I had to guess.

Also, there is some sort of spirit—it has the same model as the Dwellers of Subcon Forest, but its head looks like those of the Founders.

We can talk to it, thankfully.

Puella. We might be playing as Hat Kid, but the world sees us as Puella.

And she needs to climb the Tower and do something to stop Time’s End.

There are no collectibles, but there is quite a bit of challenge to be found.

Orange bells can be swung from like normal, blue bells will slow our momentum, and black bells will move when we swing from them.

We can bounce and climb on orange orbs, blue orbs function like balloons, and black orbs will move.

Those black patches floating in the air are hazards, so don’t touch them. They’ll send us back to the last checkpoint. Red platforms will fall once you get on top of them.

Speckled platforms and objects will fade in and out of reality.

The final challenge is traversing this swirling galaxy of black orbs, all the way up to the big gold one.

Some people can climb this sucker in less than 30 minutes. For someone like myself, I’d expect to lose several hours to this blasted tower.

At the top of the tower we find another spirit and the dais from 11:6 (missing the central pedestal).

We can speak with the spirit to learn a little more about what’s going on.

You stand at the edge of existence on top of the Tower of Judgement. When Time’s End approaches those who are worthy to stand here must choose a path of enlightenment. A chance of rebirth.

Quickly, you must choose a path before Time’s End destroys us all.

We’ve known each other a long time, Puella, I trust you to make the right decision.

So you know, no pressure or anything.

We have three options before us:

We can burn the Moon to save the Sun.

We can burn the Sun to save the Moon.

Or we can choose the Void, leaving both to burn and allowing Time’s End to continue.

What to pick? Will choosing the Sun or Moon finally put a halt to Time’s End?

Puella was a denizen of the Moon, so let’s see what happens when we choose to save the Moon.

Blue fire will consume the other options, and the world is cast in blue-white.

The camera pans up and back, and we see that now the Moon shines down upon this world.

The scene (or the world, perhaps) fades into darkness.

We find ourselves in darkness, with a tiny blue flame, a Piece cast in blue-white, and a spirit. Is this the same spirit or a different one?

It says:

If you burn the Sun, does it become the Moon? These are the teachings of our master.

She taught us that the Moon cannot exist without the Sun. That there is a balance that must be kept. When that balance is broke, the light fades and Time’s End approaches.

That is the truth of our world. A balance that has existed since the dawn and dusk of existence.

What is Time’s End, you ask?

It is a cold, dark, and frightful thing. And yet I feel a nostalgia for it. Like I’ve been here before.

We were foolish. We destroyed the balance in the name of a false god and existence answered back.

Now all that remains is this darkness.

…

I miss my teacher. She was very wise.

You have questions? Some things are best forgotten… Besides, I am just an empty shell now. A distant memory.

I will take care of this star. It is small but one it will grow and a new timeline will be born. Until then, I wait for Time’s Beginning.

Upon speaking to them again, they will repeat their last line.

Choosing to save the Sun will have the same scene, only everything is yellow-orange, and it is the Moon and Void that are consumed in flame.

Here we are again. Is that the Sun Piece? Is this where the Sun Piece came from?

If you burn the Moon, does it become the Sun? I disregarded my master's teachings and came to the conclusion that my beliefs were correct. I thought this was the truth, but I was wrong.

I was a young, foolish shadow. It wasn’t until my experiences in the Void that I learned of a third truth.

…Cavum?

That neither should exist.

What is this place you ask?

It is the origin, where all life began.

Just an echo of once was. A dream world perhaps? This vessel is just a memory. My body was lost to the Void a long time ago.

My mistakes triggered Time’s End, but in reality it was a blessing. It is said that Time’s End is something to be feared. An end event that wipes out everything in a blanket of darkness. However, it has another name.

Death.

I feared it. I was terrified of it. It wasn’t until I experienced it that I found the truth. That we have nothing to fear. We are born of the darkness. Made whole by it.

Like a flame, we burn bright then fizzle out, leaving behind a cold ember.

I will take care of this star. It is small, but one it will grow and a new timeline will be born. Until then, I wait for Time’s Beginning.

But what if we choose the Void?

All light goes dark. Even the hands, once burning bright, are consumed by shadow.

True to Cavum’s claims, it’s as if a “blanket of darkness” swept over the Edge of Existence.

A black sun (or dark hole, perhaps) now hangs above.

Neither the Sun nor Moon cast light onto the world.

And yet, even when we chose to let the Sun and Moon burn, when we choose to let Time’s End continue, we find ourselves in the same darkness, with a tiny black flame, a Piece in white and red, and yet another spirit.

Perhaps the Sun and Moon were not so necessary to the rebirth of the world after all.

Who are you? …Who am I?

I… remember… I had a student. No. Two students. They were like children to me.

It’s Tempus. The first one

We travelled across many dreams and learned much of the world.

But one of my students was different. Almost like… a mirror. We took him from his home and… there was so much suffering.

I thought we would find peace together but… A darkness remained.

No, it was always there. A false light.

They sought power. Controlled events, planned all of this.

I sensed the truth, confronted them and they betrayed me… killed me.

Suddenly… there was a flash of moonlight and I awoke here, next to this flame.

It’s strange. I cannot explain why, but I know it is important. I must take care of it. It is small now, but one day it will grow.

Until then I wait. For Time’s Beginning.

There is nothing more that can be gained at this time, so we can go ahead and end the level.

Discussion Let’s take this from the top.

We’re playing as Hat Kid, even when we get to the Tower of Judgment. I base this on the fact that Hat Kid’s the one who shows up in cutscenes. The first time I got through this mod, I had the Puella outfit mod on (which we’ll discuss next time) and Hat Kid was the one who showed up in cutscenes. That’s deliberate.

I believe when it comes to the Tower of Judgement, we’re not seeing events in real-time. Cavum, or rather, the memory of Cavum, says his body was lost to the void “long ago.” The Moon memory calls themselves a “distant memory.” It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re seeing Puella’s memories. This “Edge of Existence” is where she went after the events of the videos, but it seems as though she was too late.

Since I’m of the belief that what’s allowed in games is dictated by the character, being able to choose the Void means it’s something Puella could have actually chosen. There could be any number of reasons behind it. According to that first spirit, her world has already been destroyed. Maybe she’s given up? In her final letter to Cavum, she says that she “understands” him, which could be taken to mean she discovered it was the Founders who attacked Tempus and then Cavum. Maybe she’s sick of the Founder’s meddling. Maybe she doesn’t want to pointlessly extend the life of what remains.

I’m not sure the scene after making the choice was a strict recreation of memories, due to the phrasing discussed. Furthermore, we had Cavum and Tempus show up, which would make the Moon memory, by process of elimination, Puella.

The fact that we ran into Tempus (as vague as she was) allows to confirm once and for all that the Founders are completely irredeemable. “They” killed Master Tempus and tried to kill Cavum. The true “Betrayal of the Sun” was the Founders betraying Cavum and the rest of the shadows. Assuming that Tempus is correct, then the Time War was never really about preventing the end of the world. They only wanted power. I would guess this power to be the Sun Piece, since that was their pretext for the war. Cavum was absolutely right (except for the part where he thought he killed Puella) in his 11:10 lament.

Despicable.

Putting aside specific identity, let’s talk about world building.

There are dreams everywhere in the Edge of Existence, including an absolutely massive one over the top of the Tower of Judgement. Assuming this existed in the waking world, then I guess this place is the closest place in the waking world to the Realm of Dreams.

Time’s End doesn’t seem as bad as it was made out to be. Sure, Puella’s world has ended, but Time’s End is apparently a natural process. The End is followed by Time’s Beginning (according to the shades of Cavum and Puella), and there’s no reason to think this hasn’t happened before, over and over again. In fact, Cavum told Hat Kid a story about how light came from the darkness and time began. Even if Puella chooses the Void, it’s strongly implied a new star and new timeline will still be born. Perhaps the Void wasn’t that bad either.

I believe in the previous timeline, the Sun was chosen. I say “Sun” because we see the Sun over the Edge of Existence and the MacGuffin thus far has been the SUN Piece. I’ve kept my eyes open for an equivalent Moon Piece but there’s been no sign of it… unless we choose the Moon, which gives us a Piece that’s blue and black.

Which begs the question of just what’s going on with that blue and gold Time Piece. It showed up in “11:4 – War” and “11:6 – The Ritual of Cleansing.” Was it supposed to be a “perfected” Time Piece? I’m still not sure what’s going on there.

[starsoverthehorizon]

The Face Behind Moleman

When we left off on the Mole Man1111 series, we had a few lingering questions. Such as, what was Puella after in the City of Dreams? Was she able to stop Time’s End? Will we ever get a straight answer?

Spoiler warning, the answer to the last one is no.

As to the others?

It just so happens that Mole Man1111 has a twitter account.

The handle, appropriately, is @moleman1111.

I found it while digging through reddit for video translations. There was a link to a Steam guide about “secret lore” relating to AHIT (most of it was Moleman content, but there was some other ARG content mixed in). This twitter account was listed at the end.

This twitter and the YouTube channel are definitely connected. About mid-way through the twitter’s activity, there’s a link to an unlisted video on the YouTube channel. The link was posted the same day the video was uploaded. The rest of the dates line up too—the twitter account was established in May 2017, the same month as the YouTube channel. The account’s first tweet was published May 7th of that month, the date of the channel’s establishment. So barring any change in ownership, it’s safe to say that the same author is behind the twitter account and YouTube channel.

The twitter account has a lot of interesting information on it, but it’s buried under a complete lack of context. I was ready to give up on my first encounter. There’s a limit on how much mysterious BS I can tolerate, and this was over the line, right up there with layered ciphers.

Thankfully, the twitter account had certain tweet that told me (almost) everything I needed to know..

On September 21st, 2018, @moleman1111 tweeted out a preview for a mod they have since released: Wet Hero Challenge, a “homage” to the first mod they released.

So,  who exactly released Wet Hero Challenge?

HABBOI.

And just who is Habboi?

Why, none other than a developer for A Hat in Time!

Just out of curiosity, let’s check some of his other mods…

Ladies and gentlemen, we have found our Moleman!

This is what actually inspired me to work on this series. This is the context I desperately needed.

I’ve seen people post about the videos before, but I hadn’t seen anyone sort through the twitter account or the various mods before I started this project. Hopefully, I’m bringing some new, exciting information to the table.

As before, I’m going to cover (almost) everything in chronological order. This means we’re not covering the twitter account just yet. We don’t have all the context we need to translate it. We’ll be starting with mods, beginning with Wet Mushroom Heaven and Wet Mushroom Hell. I might be missing some things, and perhaps they’re not in chronological order. Habboi has some REALLY suspicious changelogs.

What does this mean?

If there’s something I’m missing, please let me know! Habboi LOVES to hide content.

He also loves to make fun mods which can be intensely difficult. White Tower Hell isn’t called “Hell” just because everything’s red. Good points of entry in terms of difficulty are White Tower Forest for general platforming and Wet Mushroom Heaven for anything relating to bouncing. Being a mediocre player, there’s only a couple of mods I’ve completed, so don’t expect a thorough breakdown of difficulty.

[starsoverthehorizon]

11:8 - Lies of the Truth

This video was published October 2nd, 2017.

An ominous title. It makes me wonder if something we’ve been told before hasn’t been the entire truth.

Description

The death of Master Tempus is a great loss indeed.

Lady Puella, as his former student, you will take on the title of Tempus and become a Master.

You have completed your trials and walked the path of cleansing.

Retire to your quarters.

We will summon you again soon.

It seems the worst has come to pass: Master Tempus has fallen.

No word as of yet to mention why she died. And yes, despite the male pronouns above, I’m still calling Master Tempus “she.” Later material uses female pronouns when discussing the original Master Tempus (and that distinction suddenly matters, with Puella becoming the newest Tempus). I am fairly certain it’s the same situation as Cavus vs Cavum: it’s a typo, but if it becomes important I will let you all know. We can also excuse it away in-story—the Founders have a bad track record when it comes to gender.

Back to more important matters.

It’s been alluded to that Master Tempus met with a sorry fate since 11:1, but it’s still sad to see her go.

This also confirms the ritual as part of a coming-of-age, so to speak. I am still of the belief that Cavum participated as well (since the ritual ends with a hat). Cavum may not have been chosen for the next Tempus as a) Puella has been learning longer and b) the Founders don’t like Cavus. I still remember how they called him an “it.” Jerks.

It may have always been the plan for Puella to succeed Tempus, since Tempus was told directly to take her on as a student. I wonder if the other Keepers have their students chosen for them or if Tempus was a special occasion.

Video

0:00 – Our narration begins as follows:

I touched and was touched back. It flowed like words in a book. Is this the song I am I was looking for?

The truth filled me with rage, but now I feel free.

Perhaps deaths blanket gave me time, and your spirit gave me the end I was seeking.

0:06 – My blog background. I thought this was a lovely shot. Despite the aesthetic, the background music is oppressive.

0:17 – With the city in the background, we now focus on three entities on three thrones made of starstuff. The perspective on the camera makes it appear as though we are looking up at them.

0:29 – The same scene, but a wider shot. It appears as though our initial view was from Puella’s perspective.

0:36 - Puella starts to turn around and the screen distorts. I believe the purpose of the distortion was to hide her face. Still, I was able to catch a glimpse when I slowed down the video.

Her hat appears to have something red on front. Her eye color may be similar, but the blue of the distortion washes it out.

0:39 – The distortion stops and eagle-eyed viewers can catch the top of Puella’s hat as she leaves. You can hide many things from me, Moleman, but you can’t hide this.

0:40 – Our first piece of in-video dialogue. This blue-white is the Founders, and it reads:

Cavus, please remain behind.

We have much to discuss.

0:46 – Our first proper shot of Cavum. True to his description of “a shadow,” his body is entirely black, and wisps of black fade into the air. We can see his hat shares the upturned brim with Puella. Curiously, the Sun Piece is there as well. We can hear its jingle as the video fades to black.

The video ends at 0:53.

Discussion Cavum’s narration still refers to the new light, the one that resembled his master so, but now he’s directly addressing the Audience. So in some way, the Audience resembles Master Tempus.

Curious.

We get an explanation later on (which raises some questions of it’s own), but that’s MUCH later on. I’d give it about a month later.

Alternately, when Cavum spoke of “Master” in 11:7, he spoke of the new Master Tempus, Puella. I’m not 100% on this interpretation, since his previous mentions of Puella in narration has been as “Lady Puella” (or Heni… maybe?). But then again, that was when he addressed both the new and old Tempus… I believe the first option more, but my mind keeps circling back and forth on the subject.

Nonetheless, the conflict between the Tempus-like Audience and Cavum brought him a measure of peace. A final closure, if you will. If he was thinking of the original Tempus, it must have been like meeting his teacher again, the one who saved him from the warzone and taught him alongside Puella. Whatever caused him such grief and rage that caused him to try and change the past, he’s let go of It now.

So now the question—he claims “the truth” filled him with rage. What truth? The “lies” of the truth? The truth of what happened during the Time War? The truth of what caused the Time War? The truth of what happened to Tempus?

There is, in my perspective, something ominous and incredibly suspicious from how the Founders asked him to stay behind. Do they intend to lie to him using a carefully edited version of the truth? Or has Cavum learned it from the memories of the dead?

[starsoverthehorizon]

11:9 - Betrayal of the Sun

This was published October 3rd, 2017.

The title could be interpreted either way—the traitor could be Cavum, as mentioned on the Hands Monument; or it could the Founders, who have clear disdain for him.

Description

The Founders told me everything.

You killed Master Tempus.

Why?

Why did you do it, Cavus?

A confrontation is upon us. Puella confronts Cavus with accusations of murder But it was the Founders who told her, so can we automatically believe them? After all, we just finished a video called “The Lies of Truth.”

Video

0:00 – Cavum muses on his efforts and the results.

You exist. I exist. We exist. So long as there is time, there will always be an end. I sought the answers, and existence responded with a song, the melody of life.

0:07 – There is no music. We have the sound of rain in the background. The Founders cluster together, and the red star hanging in the sky makes them seem angry.

0:12 – They speak:

Cavus has betrayed us.

0:16 – Again, we see Puella before the Founders. There is a dull boom of thunder in the background.

0:20 – The Founders say:

Hunt him down and take back the Sun Piece before it is too late.

0:30 – The screen fades to black, and the sound of rain follows shortly.

0:34 – We return to a familiar scene. Like before, there is no music. Only the howl of the wind.

0:38 – Cavum says:

My home— no. Just a memory of what once was.

0:44 – We return to the same shot.

0:46 – Cavum says:

Justice.

0:48 – A mechanical buzzing can be heard, increasing and then fading in volume.

0:51 – Cavum says:

You extinguished my light.

0:56 – We gradually fade from black to this shot. The air swims, and everything remains extremely blurry.

1:01 – The shot fades to black more quickly, as if someone were struggling to keep their eyes open and failed. We hear the sound of footsteps.

1:08 – We next hear the jingling of a nearby Piece

1:11 – The footsteps stop, and the sound of the wind gradually fades into the background.

1:16 – We fade into this shot. It looks as though someone has opened their eyes again. Note that the dark figure is carrying something orange.

1:17 – What appears to be a wormhole appears out of a purple haze. We hear the sound of rushing wind, but it’s not like the sound of the desert winds. It’s the same sound we heard in 11:3 and 11:4. The figure walks toward it.

1:30 – The screen fades to darkness.

1:34 – Cavum says:

Puella, I saw it all. I saw the dreams of my people.

I will travel back to the day you found me.

I will stop it from happening and then,

no one has to die.

I will stop time itself.

No more will the Sun or the Moon

cast light

onto this world.

The video ends at 1:38.

Discussion An absolutely important thing to note is that we have no idea how much time passed between the end of the last video and the beginning of this one. The scenes are not continuous—the weather has changed to rain and the position of the stars in the sky is different. This is key because we have no idea if Cavum immediately turned on the Founders, or if he came to a dangerous conclusion after some research. Taking into account the vague time frame, I believe it’s likely significant events happened between 11:8 and 11:9.

Do you remember all the way back in Error 0xA, with the conversation between Cavum and Tempus/H? I believe that conversation happened in this time frame. It’s believable from a character perspective that Puella would be uncomfortable her new title. And now we know the scene in Error 0xA was the aftermath of the fight between Cavum and Puella--going back to my thoughts on irony, this would fit if both participants in that conversation wound up in the fight. Then, at some point between 11:8 and 11:9, Cavum broke the taboo about the dreams of the dead and saw a truth that filled him with rage.

This version of events could work regardless of Cavum’s innocence. The death of Master Tempus could have been anything from an accident to an act of rage following a revelation on the Sun Piece, Founders and/or Time War. He might not have decided on his final course of action by that point, perhaps thinking himself missing information.

I believe the description dialogue comes come between Cavum waxing poetic about the ruins of home (literal or figurative? Unclear), and his reply of “Justice.”

His later line “you extinguished my light,” is confusing based on what we know about light at this point in time. Light is life, but Cavum isn’t dead. When he says that line, he has started smoldering, marking him as the figure from “Waiting.” I believe this odd statement comes after the fight, so this could be physical damage he took (the smoking wreckage in Error 0xA has a similar texture to Cavum in 11:8). The more rhetorical meaning was that because of her (and Tempus), he no longer has a normal future. Recall that in 11:5, he accused Puella and Tempus of showing him a false path.

The Narrator, at least, has found his answer.

After the heartbreak, the betrayal, and every last tragedy... The answer is life.