#Tell Me Why game spoilers

[lilacponds]

So, this is going to be a post about Tell Me Why. 

Spoilers for all of the game, but especially the end of it (Chapter 3, to be clear, not just Chapter 1).

At the end of the game, I chose to believe that Mary-Ann, Tyler and Alyson's mom, was not threatening Tyler. I was surprised to find out that I'm in the whopping 0% of people that chose that. So, I'd like to explain my thoughts on it:

I have not chosen it because I believed Tom. He's awful, and there is no reason to believe any word of what he says, ever. But I've gone through the entire game waiting for Mary-Ann's actions to make sense and that's when they did. I don't believe she ever meant Tyler any harm and, to me, it makes sense that she was never threatening him. I think that to believe otherwise is a disservice to her, to the twins, and to the journey they've gone through.

Let's take it back.

We start the game believing that Mary-Ann threatened Tyler and he killed her in self-defense. We're led to believe, because this is what the twins believe, that she did so in an act of transphobic anger. But the whole game is about learning that things are not what they seem.

We learn in the very first episode that Mary-Ann had a book on accepting a trans child and that she had an argument with Tessa. Furthermore, Tessa had suggested a conversion camp for Tyler, which Mary-Ann did not accept. We learn that the conversion camp pamphlet Mary-Ann had, she only had because Tessa had given her, not because she was considering it. We also learn that Mary-Ann is going through something, although nothing is very clear.

In the second episode, we find out that the family was going through tough times, and that Tessa had called CPS on Mary-Ann. We learn too that Eddy had told Mary-Ann about the call and that she was less than happy about it. We also learn that Mary-Ann had an argument with the twins' biological father and threatened to kill him. And then we learn that the twins' Voice can blend things together (Tyler projecting on Alyson what he said to Eddy, without meaning to).

We learn in the third episode that Mary-Ann lived a tough life at home. She had gone through abuse from the hands of her parents and never got to experience any kind of small freedom. We learn that she lost people precious to her. She also had a child, who died as a baby.

Now, I got through all of the chapters analyzing all of this thoroughly as I played, and, for the love of me, I could not understand Mary-Ann's actions. She was depicted as a stern - abusive or near so - mother in the twins' recollections. But she was loved by many, and we see over and over again in memories and snippets of their lives that she cared deeply about them. They have many, many happy memories. If the goblin stories are to be believed somewhat, they did have some freedoms - more than Mary-Ann ever had growing up. Yes, none of that negates the possibility of her being abusive, but my perception of her after all of it was of an overprotective and a bit overbearing mother, full of worries and anxieties. Taking into account the premature death of her first child, she had good reason to be so.

Mary-Ann had lost one child already - after losing her parents for that child’s sake. She gave up one family to start another one, alone, and then she lost that one too. Then, she had the twins. She had to deal with their father pushing her to have an abortion, only for her to find out years later: She was going to lose her children. Again.

When you go into the attic and you open the box, there is a letter addressed to Alyson and Ollie and Tyler says, "She noticed. I was her son."

I believe she loved her children. I believe she had gone through the trauma of losing one already, and that she would do anything to cherish and keep the two she still had safe. I believe we have proof over and over again of that through the many memories we see. I believe she made that attic for the twins to find one day, so they could understand her - why else leave a letter addressed to them otherwise? - and I believe that she supported Tyler.

I believe she was troubled, but that she could never harm her children. I believe she wanted the best for them. She couldn't bear to lose them, but never at the expense of their own safety and/or lives.

I believe it is dismissive of all she'd done for them to believe she could threaten Tyler. It is dismissive of the growth she had to force herself to go through, of the things she'd prepared for them, of the lengths she'd go to for them.

She wanted them to have a good life. And she wanted them to find that attic.

And I think believing otherwise is dismissive not only of her character, but of the journey Tyler and Alyson went through for answers.

[egophiliac]

CROWLEY SSR THOUGHTS

there is zero basis for this, but I can't get this thought of my head

I don't know why I decided to draw it this way

[b4kuch1n]

same teacher, different lessons

transcript

[atherea]

hindsight is 20/20 zag...

[utterdrip]

i feel like smth not touched on enough is how,,, genuine astarion is for the very first rest.

he asks the player for confirmation that this is where theyre all stopping for the night and his eyes are so wide and his tone is so light

first bit of info he’ll divulge about himself is that hes not used to curling up in the dirt, and that it’s “a little novel” with this sort of amused exhale of air and lilt at the end like hes still incredulous

if you tell him to give it a try hes like aha nope! i need time to do some hard thinkin and process all of this and it comes across as he says it that hes still processing

and the way he says “you sleep, i’ll keep watch” is so very genuine imo.

and if you thank him, it’s like he realizes that by being nice/courteous he can get the player to like him more, so ONLY THEN does he turn on the charm. at the very end on the conversation.

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

[gruvu]

I wanted to draw my Drifter Tsun and it turned into this so.. YEAH. I do wish body types for the operator/drifter were a thing. Which I get why it's not. Modeling and it's easier to keep the same body type and the cosmetics can give more..mmm. Definition. Anyway the game lets you be creative.

[ninyard]

Here is one of my far too in depth Jeremy’s Family Theories that I posted here! okay so in this theory:

- Jeremy has an estranged oldest brother

- This brother goes by their father’s surname and not Knox

- Jeremy’s brother was also on the Trojans (but this may or may not be dependent on them having different surnames)

- Jeremy’s brother is/was homophobic

So I have a few theories about the Banquet incident and one that’s a mess of a bunch of different theories and it’s this: picture Older Brother. Older brother is a 4th year Trojan, he’s well liked, but he’s kind of an asshole in private. His dad is Jeremy’s dad - but he grew up with a different surname, because their parents were still together/married by the time he was in school. Jeremy and his sister became Knox kids after their mother married into the Knox family. The older brother was old enough and refused to change from his father’s surname. He tried to fit in with the Knox family but he knows he’s kind of a black sheep for it. He’s the one that’s excluded from public facing recognition, because he’s not a Knox.

SO

Jeremy gets scouted for the Trojans while his brother is still there, and to have his baby brother on the team was INFURIATING to him. He didn’t get along with Jeremy already, but to have him on this team. Oh, he hated Jeremy for that. But the key thing here is he never revealed that Jeremy was his younger brother. He threatened Jeremy as well, and told him to keep his mouth shut, and tell NO ONE that they were related.

Along comes the fall banquet. Jeremy is out as a gay man and has been for quite a while. It’s a bone of contention in his family but ultimately they accept it as long as he is quiet about it, and it doesn’t interfere with their political or public image. But Jeremy’s oldest brother never supported Jeremy and regularly insulted him or bullied him over it. So, Jeremy is out, and he decides to bring a man to the banquet. 1) his mother begged him not to. 2) his sister begged him not to. 3) everyone in his family begged him not to. But he refuses to hide who he is or pretend to be straight for the sake of their image. In the end there’s nothing they can do, and he goes with this man.

Jeremy, little freshman Jeremy, rolls up to the banquet with a man on his arm. It’s 2003, maybe 2004. It’s a huge deal. Jeremy’s older brother doesn’t know he is bringing said man to the banquet, and he fucking glares at him all night. He’s so angry. By the time the tables get moved, he plucks up the courage to cross the hall to Jeremy. Calls him a very unsavoury slur starting with an F and Jeremy hits his brother, he punches him square in the face. He would’ve hit him again, but they get pulled apart and he can’t. Theres witnesses. And still nobody knows they’re related. The brother leaves him alone, Jeremy promises to stay away from him, and the night continues.

Jeremy steps outside to get some air, and unbeknownst to him his brother follows him. An altercation ensues, and eventually they start PUMMELLING each other. His brother hits him first, Jeremy hits him back, there’s blood and bruises and now more witnesses as Jeremy’s brother beats him the fuck up. Somebody called the cops, and the cops have to separate them. They ask Jeremy if he wants to press charges; he says yes. He says he wants it to be reported as a hate crime. They ask his brother if he wants to press charges for assault, and he says yes. So they both get arrested.

Where I think Jeremy’s fear of cops comes from, or lack of trust, or hatred for them, is how he was treated that night. The cops tell him they need a reason to charge his brother with a hate crime, he tells them he’s gay, and he gets treated like SHIT. They search him for no reason, they’re looking for any reason they can to make him uncomfortable or drop the charges. They’re asking him did he do anything to deserve it? Did he antagonise his brother? Has he been drinking? They make him really fucking uncomfortable and upset. by the time his mom bails him out he’s ready to drop the charges, but decides not to. The brother goes to stay with his father, Jeremy goes home, and the Knox family pay A LOT of money to keep this quiet. They don’t charge Jeremy with assault, but maybe they tell his mom there’s nothing they can do about Jeremy’s charges against his older brother if he won’t drop them.

Proceed to the reaction from USC; they recognise it as a hate crime and Jeremy doesn’t get kicked out of school, but he does get a very stern warning and maybe gets benched for a while. His brother on the other hand loses everything: there’s an active hate crime charge against him, he brutally assaulted a freshman while representing the team, and he gets removed from the team and expelled from the university. The Knox family have no choice but to estrange him further than he already was - so he’s totally out of the picture.

Jeremy tore the family apart because of his refusal to drop the charges, then him dropping the charges and instead getting a no-contact/restraining order against his brother means that while he’s living there the brother cannot be in the picture. So brother who is already a black sheep for not being a Knox, is now no longer welcome in the family home (except for when Jeremy is not in the house - if he’s not estranged, possibly he visits on the weekends, or lives there during the summer? And that’s why Jeremy doesn’t live at home during those times?)

The scandal is that he caused a team member to be removed from the team as a freshman, his sister who doesn’t like him that much anyway can now no longer see her brother, and she stopped supporting Jeremy’s matches because of it. He tore the family apart because of his insistence on being “GAY HATE CRIME VICTIM”. They bullied him into not seeking justice - and his sibling hate him for this whole incident. They don’t agree with him being gay because of their political affiliations, his older brother lost HIS older brother because of him, his sister lost him too. Idk

Does this even make sense? Is it far fetched? I don’t know I don’t care I just had to get this off my chest. I could talk about my theories FOREVER. This is just. A quick short summary of the possibility of an oldest brother who’s no longer in the Knox Family Picture.

[loveandthings11]

Oh oh my god 🫣

[x]

[cervidsunrise]

im actually genuinely bummed at this news like for me your previous choices making little minute differences was the whole appeal of the series for me

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Both my parents actually suffer from HORRID emotional dysregulation and are prone to snapping and going into rages. My sister is the same way tbh. I am now realizing this is why they are constantly baffled by the question of whether or not I am mad at them.

I don't have external meltdowns.

I could. I don't let it happen.

I keep my rage on the inside and stay pretty quiet about it. It's just as strong as theirs [physically shaking nose bleed from high blood pressure kind of bad], but like as a kid I saw how terrifying it was to be around [dad breaking dishes, mom putting our lawn chairs into walls] and I just internalized that I wasn't going to wear that anger on the outside.

So my mother genuinely cannot tell if I am just being quiet or if I am silently hearing the dial-up noises of pure rage. This has lead her to both making strong and confident statements like "You are a pacifist who would never hurt a fly U.U" but also acting like I am secretly dangerous maybe... It's because she has never seen me snap.

She knows what her temper is like [throwing chairs through walls], she knows what my father's temper is like [pick up child and toss out door], and she can tell I am being tested, but she doesn't know what happens when I snap or where that breaking point is.

Her -perhaps unhinged- solution to this, my whole life, has been to do things that should obviously enrage me or shut me down completely, like ignoring important boundaries, repeatedly, punishing me for expressing emotions or needs at all, etc... And then to constantly ask me if I am angry with her when I get too quiet [right after near directly telling me to shut up].

It has occurred to me now, they have never once seen me lose my temper, so they literally just can't tell if I am angry at them. My sister is easy, my mother fights and screams with my sister constantly, my mother understands this. My mother doesn't have any grasp of feelings or boundaries that are not screamed at her [apparently, and I fear my sister is the same way]. Her and my sister are close despite constant fucking fighting because they understand each other.

They are trying to get me to engage the same way and it is not working. I realize now that this has been hard for them.

I was so successfully taught to suppress my emotions, by being punished for any outburst, that rage quiet looks the same as any other kind of quiet from the outside. To them anyway.

I did tell her. For the record. I used my words. I did tell her very calmly that my response to rage, in order to avoid doing the things that terrified me as a child, was to simply leave [the autistic urge to GTFO]. When a situation or person causes too much of the dial-up rage noise, I simply extract myself from that situation, up to and including never speaking to a person again. I explained this calmly. I explained it calmly 100 times and I explained that I explain myself calmly as my rage response 1-5 [also pretty much every other negative emotion tbh], and I told her that what came next was me simply opting out and fucking off. I told her this. I couldn't understand why she never took me seriously, or why she never fucking understood.

I couldn't understand what made her like this.

But it's the same problem I have with everyone else multiplied by a factor of 10.

If I am explaining myself calmly, they can't understand that it's actually serious or that I am actually upset. ESPECIALLY because they read me as "female" and women "aren't that rational" so if I am not screaming and crying about something, which I never do, people assume I can't be upset and it isn't serious.

And then after having my boundaries ignored too many times despite having calmly explained how and why it's a problem [shaking inside or not]... I leave. I leave and everyone gets upset like this is unexpected behaviour, even though I told them 50 times that is how I would respond if they kept doing *the thing.*

And for neurotypical people especially, they are expecting there to be a disconnect between what someone says they need or feel and what their actually boundaries and feelings are, and they expect the latter to be demonstrated with emotions. Telling them bluntly you do not function that way somehow never helps?

My mother isn't just looking for normal yelling or a few tears to know I am serious, whether or not I do those either [I don't], she's looking for an explosion to know there's a problem at all.

Fucked if I know how she proceeds through life this way in general or if this is just her expectation of her own kids???

And I couldn't get why my mother couldn't read my emotions and didn't seem to think I have any. It's because she's testing for the rage limit to see where my 'actual' limit is instead of taking my word for it. Never the fuck mind that she could simply *not* test at my boundaries instead of letting me have them. Separate issue.

I couldn't figure out what made her *like this*

She's expecting me to throw a giant meltdown violent tantrum at people when I have 'actually' had enough. Maybe she got away with those being like 5'4" in another time, but I am the size of the average man, I do not get to have giant screaming rages, whether or not people perceive me consciously as a woman, and least of all because a lot of people -at least unconsciously- read me as 'masculine' or at least always "they guy" of the situation compared to all other women and some men [bigger stronger and more rational, more able to just absorb the damage and let it go so the less rational screaming/crying one doesn't have to be dealt with]. Even if it was in me to be willing to terrify people [usually never], there are such limited instances where it wouldn't just blow back on me. Potentially very dangerously.

I am going to be the quiet calm one. You are going to have to let me use my words, bitch.

So she kept ignoring my boundaries until I had to cut her out of my life, and she probably doesn't understand and probably thinks it feels sudden -after 36 long years of bullshit- abrupt and unfair.

But I told her hundreds of times.

I probably should have just screamed at her.

[chimerahyperfix]

cw: gore and mentioned death for like 2 lines, nervous breakdown (or at least on the edge of one). Spoilers for ISAT.

YIPPEE ONE OF THE 3 FUNNY LOOPS!!! YIPPEEEEEEE

readmore'd this one early because the cws are at the beginning (and this one's kinda chunky)

----------------

You'd been doing so well, this loop. You didn't crab anything up, you made the bomb and yet, and yet here you crabbing are, in the same bloodstained halls as always, kicking through puddles of gore like it's a normal Sunday, which you GUESS it is now!

Nothing you do matters. It doesn't matter it doesn't matter IT DOESNT! MATTER! And you just have to crabbing LIVE with it, forever, twenty four hours over and over, twenty four big metal bars of your hand-crafted cage.

So you just. Stop. Pull off to the side and sit up against a wall that isn't coated lightless with death and just.

You break down in tears.

It's still going. You're still going YOU'RE STILL GOING. One for all. Just you suffering, because everyone will be okay after you loop back, but not you! You'll carry this with you, forever! You don't want to be here anymore. You just... want it to stop.

And.

It does?

The world fades out, and not in the way it does when you die, no; it just... is suddenly dark. Thick and heavy like syrup around you. It's hard to move, to breathe. You find yourself struggling.

There are. Footsteps, coming in your direction. You can hear them clearly, like a pin dropping in a silent room. You struggle to your feet-- and it's a struggle, because you still can't breathe right and your legs shake like a newborn animal. It's a struggle to see anything around you through the veil of pure darkness that sparkles and floats around you.

And here you stand, in the sky itself, facing yourself.

More correctly, a mockery of yourself. It pulls itself forwards like you'd been doing all day, tilted and shaking and exhausted. Painted pure lightless and sparkling, like the blood painted on the King's armor. You glare daggers at it, because it is not you and if you believe it even could possibly be, even just a little, you will probably be giving it some kind of power.

It faces your direction, and it's lack of eyes and mouth sends shivers down your spine. It's not real, it's not real it's not real!!! It can't be!!! Why would this be real? You're frozen, you have to be because this is a crabbing DREAM it has to be you have to be frozen because if it's not then what the crab IS THIS, is your brain working against you? Are you imagining the frost crawling up your spine and the burning in your throat, if you try speaking you'll spit pure fire because you have Changed yourself with a capital C and Destroyed yourself with a capital D. It's a big angry mockery of yourself and you want it to go away you want everything to stop, stop, stop please--

It shifts. You move in response, nails digging into your palm. It takes a step forwards. The floor ripples like waves and they roll over your shoes, washing the blood from them. You back up some in return.

You open your mouth to say something or try and ward it off, but only a cough comes out. Blood runs down your chin.

It tilts its head (your head, YOUR head, it's freaking you right the crab out) and opens its OWN mouth, and--

It. Speaks.

[BURNING ONE.]

The sound that comes out, it's the King's voice. It shocks you still, and your lungs stop pulling in air at the pure horror. The thought hits your brain, did the King make this thing?

[Claude?]

No. No wait, now it's Euphrasie.

What.

[Do you know what this is?] Now it's Mirabelle??? [Don't drink it? What do you mean it's toxic?!]

Okay. Stop. This is making your head hurt. Like your brain has been restarted, turned off and back on again. You've run directly into a brick wall and now you're just confused. It's... using other's voices. Mockeries. Pulling from random conversations that you've just barely remembered. Mirabelle poured one of your potions on a plant she tried to grow once and it killed it. You hadn't cared at the time, but now, now... you'll never leave your stuff out again. That very same potion killed you, and it could've killed HER.

You know damn well what you've worked with. The plants and chemicals, toxic in every way. You'd always liked to dance on the edge of safety, tempting death to come get you: maybe that's why you're here now, doomed to repeat the same day over and over. Death coming back to laugh at you and take your soul, over and over again.

Maybe this thing is Death, coming to mock you face to face. Wouldn't that be a crabbing laugh? The very concept of the end, pointing and laughing right in front of you, using the voices of the ones you love. What a crabbing joke.

[Claude,] it pulls from Euphie again. [Are you okay?]

No. Why would you be okay, at this point? It tilts its head, and you shake yours. Crab it. Why not. Your voice is failing, withering away in the furnace of your mouth.

[HOW HAVE YOU DONE IT?] It echoes the King's voice at a louder volume.

You know. You know, you know you know. You wished, and figured out something new, something different, and now you have eternity and you want it to stop.

[Are you enjoying yourself over there?] Ohhh, oh you need it to stop using her voice. Twisting your girlfriend's kindly voice into something wrong, using it against you. You throw a punch, and it surges back.

[What do you mean, you've done this before?] Why, why is it doing this to you. You want it to stop you want it to go away you want to. [Can you tell me what happened?]

You can't. You don't, you don't want to do this anymore. Make it stop. Make it stop.

It looks at you. At your clasped together hands.

[YOU?]

Your voice sputters to life. Gurgles over blood. "I don't remember."

It opens its mouth.

[I wish...] Oh... that's...

[I wish we had more time!]

It reaches out, and grabs you by the lapel of your draping coat. Pulls you forwards. Your legs buckle under you, and it slightly holds you up. Looks down at you.

It has eyes behind the glasses now. Irises curled with spirals, the same crabbed up shade yours are.

[I'M SORRY.]

That's... that's you.

[THIS WAS THE DESTINED OUTCOME OF THE EXPERIMENT.]

Ahh...

The ice creeps up your back. Daggers and pins in your spine, between the bones.

[IT'S TIME TO GO TO SLEEP.]

You wished for more time, and...

It lets you go. You fall limp.

You can't move.

That's okay.

[BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.]

You

Let go.

(If you had held out for five more minutes, you could've been there, beside yourself, when your hopelessness ate you alive and turned you into a Sadness. Watched as they found you, how they screamed, and how they had to kill what was left of you. Lucky you!)

[wizardsix]

astarion stans who refuse to try befriending or even romancing anyone else are the most annoying mfs. "I only romance astarion I just can't relate to the other stories" really? you can't relate to gales deep self loathing? his deep love and loyalty for those he cares about? you can't relate to wylls kind heart and desire to always do good, even if it means he's miserable? can't relate to shadowheart blindly following a god, only to learn the truth and reinvent herself? you can't relate to lae'zel or karlach who were lied to and used as weapons their whole lives, but continue to push on even when they're scared? you can't relate to the overarching theme of authority vs autonomy???

it's not difficult, it's just people refusing to appreciate and explore the game to its fullest bc their manipulative sexy vampire is all they need(something astarion actually loathes being seen as btw). but ok, you can be boring and do whatever you want, but don't lie and say the other stories are bad, because they're not. it's simply a lack of media literacy and critical thinking. because to you, if a character doesn't tell you point blank that they're aware of their situation, it's bad writing. missing the entire point that victims don't always realize the situation they're in. keep in mind astarion and karlach are the only ones who got away from their abusers, which is why they tell you clearly and confidently about what happened to them, fully aware that it was abuse. whereas the others give only their tunnel visioned perspective and speak highly of their deity(not caring about themselves, wish to appease them for something in return).

don't get me wrong (seriously, if I see one person misunderstand me I'm going to lose it) astarion is a good character, but people who only like him need to stop acting like he's the only complex and well written one. stop crying when people with brains call you out for being weird about his ascended ending. the game isn't about him. at least try and show some respect to those who worked hard on the game. make an oc and try new things, i promise the fictional vampire won't care if you don't romance him one run. have a drink with shadowheart, dance with wyll, go to a restaurant w karlach, maybe then you'll calm down.

[slymanner]

Shout-out to mr.cupcake out of all character's being the most terrifying and also VERY MAJOR CHARACTER OF THE MOVIE AT THE END DOING SOME MAJOR DAMAGE TO A CERTAIN SOMEBODY THIS LIL SHIT DID SO MUCH.?$?$?$?$?$?$?

[waroferas]

oihhh my god. its over btw :(

[imperatoralicia]

Hey Larian, sometimes a lady just wants to fuck a tentacled aberration without getting judged by her whole camp...

Or her whole Steam friends list for that matter...