#little nightmares 2 theories

[itstimetotheorize]

Little Nightmares 2 Foreshadowed in Very Little Nightmares?...or something worse...

Of all the secret rooms to be uncovered within Very Little Nightmares, there has always been one room which has garnered a lot of attention and question, it’s the room where we find  the broken eggs and a single functioning tv hanging from the pipes, above a single baby bird. For the longest time, many theorists and I couldn’t help but wonder what this room in particular had to say about the lore of the Nest.

by analyzing the room we see the following:

-broken eggs with the yolks spilled out

-a  functioning tv

-a single living baby bird standing underneath a T.V. ,which is suspended from a rope tied around a pipe. The rope around the tv is dangerously close to breaking it’s last thread, dooming the baby bird to be crushed the moment the T.V. falls on it.

-wallpaper depicting eyes all around the room

-a single dead adult pigeon

-numerous locks on the door

-a secret passage leading into and out of the room through the vents

    At fist, it was believed this room was meant to be some sort of foreshadowing for Little Nightmares 2 as the room presented eerily similar characteristics to the room the Thin Man was trapped in within the Black Tower. The T.V. emits a blue/purple glow similar to the towers hypnotic transmission, but then again...all the T.V.s are like this. The walls are lined with eyes similarly to the flesh eyes which hide behind the walls of the tower, but then again... it’s not uncommon to see the walls lined with eyes, we see them all over the place in the Maw, the Nest and the Pale City, either as wallpaper or drawings, it was as if they were set as a reminder of the eye entities constant watch, presence and influence over the residents of the world .

     Many theorized the dead older pigeon might have symbolized the Thin Man and his final fate, while the baby bird was left to represent Mono as the now younger inhabitant of the room. However, there was always one little detail about the room which made I, and many theorists, question everything...the door. The door is locked, except, upon closer inspection, we realized...it was locked from the inside. 

      Now, what does this mean exactly? it means there was once someone who inhabited the room, someone who could leave if they wanted, which did not fit into the lore of the Thin Man as we analyzed the Thin Man as a prisoner within the Black Tower, leaving Mono as the only person capable of opening the door from the outside in order to set the Thin Man free.

    But if the room in the Nest was not meant to represent the Thin Man inhabiting the Tower, then could this potentially mean there was another inhabitant of the Nest within this isolated room?...maybe, but if so, then...where did they go? and what was this room to them?....unless....what if this room was no ordinary room...what if it always had a simple purpose, we just couldn’t see it at first

     Whoever resided in this room was someone who had the capability and paranoia to lock themselves inside such a small space on purpose. Based on how isolated the room is, as well as the series of locks which can only be accessible from the inside, its almost as if this room was... a safe house/panic room inhabited by a resident of the Nest. However, knowing what we know now about the world and the eye entity we theorized is responsible for it’s ongoing downfall (more here), it would appear as though the inhabitant of this room might not have been able to obtain the safety they wanted.

   We have always theorized the people of this world felt the effects of the eye entities influence corrupting their minds in a slow and ongoing process. The first sign of its hold on a person was theorized to be depicted by the persons sudden and unknowing desire to draw or incorporate eyes within every inch of their surroundings. In this case, the inhabitant of the room might have had the sudden desire to incorporate eyes onto the rooms’ walls as they felt the eye entities influence corrupting them.

However, considering the locks within this room are still attached to the door and locked in place, it’s almost as if the room was set up to tell us something happened to the inhabitant, while they were still in the room, but what?, unless...what if the room already gave us an answer? 

       Upon closer inspection, many theorists and I began to realize the peculiar presence of the single T.V. within the room, now, what was so bizarre about it? Well, this T.V., which was dangling from a pipe on the celling...was not plugged into any electrical source...so then, how was it able to stay in power?

And of all the things which could be in this room, why was there a  T.V. dangling from such an obscure location?...then again... we have seen this kind of thing before, all over the Pale City. When we traveled through the Pale City in Little Nightmares 2, the one thing many of us took note of was the various TVs in obscure places. We saw TVs hanging from the edge of balconies, clothes lines, through multiple broken floors within a building etc., but the most bizarre thing noted about these TVs, was how many of them were not plugged into any electrical source, yet they still remained in power. 

      Based on the bizarre locations of some electrical cords, such as the one in a viewers apartment which extended from underneath the toilet to the electrical outlet on the wall, and upon discovering the T.V. in the apartment had short circuited the moment the Viewer touched the electrocuted water, we had theorized the Pale City harbored abnormal T.V.’s which were not only capable of extending their electrical cords to the nearest source of power, but remain in power no matter where they were located.  

As for how these obscure T.V.’s came to be, well, we've always theorized the T.V.’s within the Pale City were being produced by the one thing which connected all the chaos seen throughout the Pale City...the Black Tower(aka, the part of the eye entity which manifested in the pale city, more here), all of which was theorized to be for the simple desire of expanding it’s reach to obtain more and more victims.

            As the tower strengthened, we had realized there eventually came a time when inhabitants of the city could no longer escape the hypnotic transmission by simply removing and destroying the T.V.’s in their homes, because as the towers strength peeked, so did the threat of the T.V.’s. At some point within the Pale City, the T.V.’s began to appear anywhere and everywhere, wherever a living being could be, even as far as the Hunter’s vast empty wood fields.... and maybe even... farther than that. These T.V.’s scattered all around, may not have just remained in power by some functioning electrical source, but by the one thing which connected all of them, the very thing which manifested them in the first place, the Tower itself.

    Where am I going with this?, well, if the Tower was responsible for the manifestation of the many T.V.’s in the Pale City, if it is truly able to extend its reach to manifest even more T.V.’s in places as far as the woods, then,...who knows how much farther the tower was able to manifest its televisions as its transmission continued to broadcast farther beyond the city...maybe even...as far as the Nest? 

      We have always theorized the Nest was within distance of the Pale City, hence why a child like Six could have survived a journey overseas the moment she boarded the plank of wood at the bottom of the mountain (near the end of Very Little Nightmares), repurposing it as a small raft . If the Nest was not to far from the Pale City, then this meant it could still more or less receive the transmission the tower was broadcasting.  

   How do we know for sure it was?, well...In the Nest’s playroom, there was a drawing of a tall man wearing a hat, this drawing could have been of anyone, the Pretenders caretaker, their father, someone else she knew?...or maybe it was of someone she saw, not in person...but through the T.V.’s. 

Was the drawing we saw in the playroom...a drawing of the Thin Man?...honestly who’s to say...then again... if Mono had already defeated the former resident of the black tower around this time(more here), and if he had truly been forced to repeat his loop a number of times long before meeting Six(more here and here), then maybe...just maybe...his all to familiar silhouette we all saw walking out of the T.V., back in Little Nightmares 2, may not have been just for our viewing pleasure, in other words... who’s to say his silhouette wasn’t broadcasted throughout all the T.V.’s each and every time he escaped the tower and/or traveled through the T.V.’s. 

We know one of the Pretenders activities is watching the numerous T.V.’s in her T.V. room, but with all the T.V.’s in the Nest displaying the same static noise, who knows what more she saw through the screen....and who knows what more the transmission could have done by reaching out to places as far as the Nest.

  Perhaps it wasn’t all to strange to find a single T.V. dangling from a pipe within that bizaar room of the Nest,...because what if it had to be a T.V. ... because unlike everything else in the Nest, it was a T.V which had the capability of appearing anywhere and everywhere... providing the transmission through its screen, trapping anyone who gazed upon it, including whomever resided in the room. 

(pause for break)

    But if the Nest was truly receiving the towers broadcast, then could it be the T.V. we saw in this secret room, simply appeared the moment it’s inhabitant decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the Nest?...maybe. 

       If the T.V. had truly appeared in the room and began to warp the inhabitants mind just as it had done to many others within the Pale City(and around the world) through the transmission, then one can only imagine the events which transpired as this person slowly, but surely, began to lose their sanity and their connection to reality, until finally...  they became lost, fueled by whatever corrupt desire/base instinct they latched onto, evidently becoming another Viewer or Resident of “the eye entities” world, the only question is...what did they become in the end?

   Residents of the world, like the Teacher, the Chefs, the Doctor, the Lady etc. may move about on whatever desire/base instinct that fuels them blindly throughout the world, but they are still able to function enough to not leave themselves trapped in a room, they can traverse throughout whatever building or location they are in. No, based on the various cracked eggs and dead pigeon, its almost as if there was a very sudden, and very major struggle.

       Now, if the inhabitant of this secret room had truly been ensnared by the transmission, if they had instead become a Viewer, then... why weren't there any clothes or items left behind in the room? what am I talking about? well, we have always theorized the Viewers bodies were sucked into the T.V.’s, the only thing left of them were the clothes they once wore, in the exact spot they once stood. 

However, there were no clothes in the secret room, so what could have happened to the inhabitant of the room if they became a Viewer?...unless...what if “the girl in the yellow raincoat” already gave us an answer. 

         When a Viewer is entranced by the transmission, they do not feel compelled to move away from the screen, they just stand there, hypnotized and pacified by the wonderful word it offers them, leaving their true surroundings to remain untouched and wither away. If anything dared interrupt their focus on the T.V.’s, they would face the Viewers wrath....but what would happen if there was nothing to watch? Every single T.V. seen throughout the Nest, does not display any form of content, its all just a bunch of staticky white noise...but that’s exactly it isn’t it...there was just nothing to watch, and if there was no content, then this would mean the transmission was struggling to broadcast to all the T.V.’s, which would essentially give way to the same situation surrounding the Viewers in the Pale City.

    What am I talking about? well, in the Pale City, we discover many Viewers are able to act berserk if there is no functioning T.V. nearby. One Viewer who fell through the roof, smashed their head in the nearby T.V., however, this T.V. was not in power and did not provide the transmission to pacify the Viewer in order to prevent them from smashing their head through the screen.

 The Viewers who pursued Mono in the grocery store, were discovered to no longer be pacified by the T.V.’s the moment the Thin Man was set free. We additionally discovered the Viewers in episode 5 of the Little Nightmares 2 comics, caught the Ghost child the moment the T.V. shut down (situation in episode 5 was similar, but a little different, more on that here).

 What does this mean exactly? it means whomever resided in this room may have exhibited the same behaviors as the Viewers who chased Mono and attacked the ghost child once their T.V. failed to provide the transmission. The inhabitant of the room, may have gone berserk, lashing out at anything nearby, struggling to find some way out to search for another T.V. that could provide them the transmission once more, until finally...they found a way out...through the vent the “Girl in the yellow raincoat” discovered long after the room was finally left empty. Due to the location of the vent and the position of the vent cover being left leaning on the wall, its almost as if someone, some poor unfortunate child, had the misfortune of opening the vent and freeing whatever or whomever resided inside the room.

Is this why there was a dead pigeon and numerous broken eggs?. Had the pigeon made the unfortunate mistake of nesting in this room and disrupted the Viewer which resided inside, then the pigeon itself, along with its numerous eggs, would have suffered the wrath of the Viewer. The only egg to survive, would have been the one egg it incubated, the only egg which had the fortune of being nested under the T.V, providing it the advantage of remaining in a safer position as the Viewer focused its attention on the broadcast rather than the egg which laid silently below, ready to hatch at any moment, but ultimately facing the cruel fate of being born under a dangling T.V. hanging by its final thread.

Now, had this inhabitant(possibly Viewer),  left through the same air duct the girl in the yellow raincoat found, then...where are they now? there were no clothes left in this room so they couldn’t have been sucked into the T.V., meaning they must have gone somewhere else. Then again, if this Viewer had truly escaped, then odds are...it could not have gone far the moment it encountered the Residents of the Nest. We have never seen a Resident and a Viewer interact, but perhaps an interaction such as this may not be so different to the Guests of the Maw and the Residents who cater to them. In the Maw, the Residents do not care for what happens to the lives of the Guests, their only purpose is to eat until it is time for them to be drained of their life force by the Lady of the Maw to sustain the Maw and keep it thriving, then use their bodies to feed to other Guests and help the Maw continue to grow. 

    Because the Pretender is as short tempered as she is, then one could only imagine what she could have done or what her staff could have done had they encountered the inhabitant of the room wandering the Nest. Nevertheless, we can be certain of one thing, no matter who they were or what they did, if they had truly managed to escape from the confines of their tiny room, their fate would have been anything but merciful...but hey!, its just a theory...a Little Nightmares 2 theory!

[elizaaarts]

[AU] LITTLE NIGHTMARES: DARK FATE (PART 41)

Let the FIGHT BEGIN! WOOOOOOOHHHHH!! HAHAHAHAHHAHA I WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS MOMENT!!

> NEXT (coming soon)

> PREVIOUS

Bro, what the hell did Mono do to make everything wrong? He did something more than just escape the loop, hm? *Mysterious sounds*

📌 EXPLANATION: Okay, for those who didn't understand, Mirror Man wanted Six to remain in the mirror dimension where he could enjoy her fears and abilities (yes, he was deceiving this whole time), thus, he would become more powerful than his opponents (North Wind and The Broadcaster), in addition to being able to expand throughout the world of Nowhere.

[thetreewhispererr]

Guys I just saw someone in a YouTube comment point this out and I’m going insane-

So you know this Cece that keeps getting mentioned in The Sounds Of Nightmares? Well I just assumed that Cece was short for Cecilia. The meaning of the name Cecilia is “blind”, which I couldn’t really connect to any characters that would make sense.

But this made me realise it could also be short for Cecile, and guess what the meaning of the name Cecile can be?

“Sixth”

[queen0fm0nsterz]

I was thinking about the old LN1 character bios and remembered the line about the Twins being "born to be chefs". Assuming their not native to Nowhere, this would mean they had some violent tendencies before becoming residents, like it was their destiny.

This then made think about the end of tson ep 3 where Otto says the something like "Our world isn't the only world, let alone the predominant one".

All this made me realize that the worlds other than Nowhere may have been created by it (The Nowhere is implied to be sentient in it's own right) specifically to create concepts and injustices that could be used to warp and traumatize children, turning them into visitors and then into residents.

Thoughts?

Alright so this is a great question that I think leads to a much larger discussion about how the Nowhere operates. I would like to hear what other peeps think as well.

So, starting from the Chefs. Personally I always assumed that they are part of that group of characters who are from the Nowhere because of the way their description is worded (and also their baby pictures... this one is so cute lowkey...)

--- But following your train of thought: considering what we know of the Nowhere, it seems to amplify certain characteristics of a person, usually the bad ones. Two kids who are a bit propense to get into fights in the waking world may very well become blood thirsty maniacs in the Nowhere.

Interestingly, the modification of traits does not only apply to personality but also the body -- and usually, the physical changes are in relation back to said traits. For example, the Teacher - someone who is known to be controlling - can extend her neck infinitely to look everywhere and have the ability to blink removed to make sure she's always watching. The Doctor, a perfectionist with tons of authority, is always looking down on people while also growing enormous to match his ego. So on and so forth, you can follow this reasoning for a large number of the Residents we meet.

I think other timelines derivating from the Nowhere is definitely a possibility, as we don't know much of how the universes work there.

The general theory of a multiverse irl is that no timeline has any specific weight or importance over others; they are all parallel no matter how different, with no timeline being "the real one". This is if we view the Nowhere under the lens of it being a separate dimension. In TSON, the Nowhere is kind of implied to be sucking the people most vulnerable to it right in, so perhaps the idea Otto has of it the predominant world stems from the fact that he can't explain his fascination with it... or from a real, genuine desire to somehow "return" to the original land, if that's where the other timelines originated from.

HOWEVER, I would like to offer an alternative perspective on this --- based on what I found out during my research on the Ladies. Yup we're going there again

Rather than the characters themselves, this time I'm going to refer to a symbolism that is very prominent in their lore: Buddhism. More specifically the references to the six planes of existance, and how those can be tied back to Little Nights in a loose way. As stated in this site:

" The six realms of rebirth are a schema in which beings are reborn according to the kind of life they lived. [...] The animal realm, in which inhabitants are driven by basic needs, is one of the three “lower” realms. The other two are the hell realm, a place of constant suffering and torment, and the realm of the hungry ghosts, grasping beings who are never satisfied. The three “higher” realms are the human realm [...] the demigod realm [...] and the god realm, where beings enjoy a life of pleasure. It’s important to note that some Buddhists view the realms as literally real, while others interpret them psychologically as metaphors for the emotional states of the human condition. "

(Click on the link to read the whole thing; I only highlighted the parts I think are relevant to this conversation :] )

What I believe specifically relates back to the Nowhere are the three lower realms, from which the place itself may be loosely inspired by because of how its inhabitants are described.

All of these are things we see in Little Nights from various Residents, depending on the social class and place. It is important to note that while these realms are placed in different hierarchies due to quality of life, they all cohexist together without necessarily being more important than each other as they all have the same purpose in the end.

If the worlds of Little Nights operate in a similar way, then what we're looking at is not really a case of dimension hopping, but rather a passage from a plane of existance to the next. A forced one at that, at least in the case of Noone.

Now, considering Otto's assumption, the idea of the Nowhere being a predominant realm only popped up because he was trying to wrap his head around it and how Noone felt, but to tell you the truth, it is a rather baseless assumption considering he's never been there and is only experiencing it in a very limited way. However... considering how many children from different places in time and space have experienced the Nowhere, sometimes even simultaneously, I wouldn't say that it's completely wrong to assume that the place might be the "original plane of existance".

Now. Reflecting on what you said at the very end, I would like to ask a question back: do you think the Nowhere is, hypothetically, only capable of bringing out the worst in people inherently? Or is it only acting this way because humanity itself is more easily conditioned to fall victim to their bad traits?

I've been recently thinking about it because of the Maw. The writer of Little Nightmares, Mr. Mervik, has stated multiple times over the years that the place has not always been the way that it is; at the same time, he also said that it was not man made, but rather created by collective hunger/desire to be fed. These two things don't make sense together unless you assume the Maw was not originally born for the Guests and the whole cannibal business, but rather from a desire of shelter. A need to be fed. Which is not inherently a bad thing -- and it would explain why the structure itself is so largely built to house so many people, and why children still feel relatively safe in it to this day.

So I find myself thinking that perhaps, the Maw degenerated overtime because the people inside of it (cough its leaders cough) did. And if this is the case for the Maw, who's to say it's not the same for other places? The Nest, for example? The School, the Hospital... etc. But. It is also true that the creatures who inhabit the Nowhere (the Ferryman, the North Wind, the Flesh...) all seem to have their own interests and destructive amusement more at heart than anything. If these creatures are what move the large of the Nowhere (which I guess they are considering the eye symbol is all over the goddman place), then the human will can't really do much.

That being said, I am wondering currently if it could be possible for the Nowhere to bring out something good from a person in the right situation. At the same time, the hopes are incredibly slim. Nonexistent, actually, but it's nice to think about hypothetics.

[0aestheticallycrying]

I think a big mistake theorists make when trying to explain little nightmares, is by applying “real world” logic to it.

When we dream, something could seem totally normal in the logic of the dream but when you wake up, you think and according to “real logic” it doesn’t make any sense.

for example, irl we know that pushing two apples together would cause them to collide. this makes sense to us. however, dream logic could be if you push two apples together, they become transparent and float into your arms before becoming your brain. that makes no sense using our logic, but in the dream, it makes perfect sense logically.

we keep trying to apply this “real” logic to little nightmares, but it really doesn’t follow it at all. it is a world of nightmares that has become real, and exists. dream logic applies there, and i think that is the reason so many things are left unexplained.

[synthwayve]

The Micolaurence text post ever.

Shoutout to the people in my replies, I blame all of you in the most positive way possible.

Poorly formatted “essay” about the connections they have that make my brain spin because yes :} new years is a time of lawlessness impulsivity: keep in mind I don’t own the actual game to confirm some things, most of this is compiled from item descriptions, cut content, reading the wiki over and over, and my own analysis. I could be totally wrong about some things + this is just my own analysis/interpretation**, have mercy upon my soul 🙏

The biggest thing about them, and the thing I simply do not shut up about if you happen to hear me talk about them, is that both Micolash and Laurence’s respective obsessions/virtues/main associated game mechanics (Insight and Blood respectively) directly influence each other. Not only do they influence each other, they also relieve the negative effects of the other stat. Why is this such a big deal to me? WELL:

Beasthood, the negative effect of taking too much blood, scales negatively depending on your Insight. The more Insight you have, the less Beasthood, and vice versa. Contrarily, Sedatives, crafted from blood(yes, Sedatives are stated to be thick ‘human’ blood and will reset your Beasthood as well, but this does not necessarily reduce it- more on this later*)

Will relieve Frenzy as their primary purpose, which is the main negative side effect of having high Insight i.e going mad.

I think this is very intentional outside of just pure game mechanics and design: there is a running theme in Bloodborne, that being that every enemy you face has succumbed to one side too heavily. BSB, the half-beast Yharnamites, Gascoigne, Amelia, Laurence, and all the other beast enemies you face have relied too much on the blood and fallen to its curse. Brainsuckers, Rom, Winter Lanterns, Micolash, and arguably other insight-heavy enemies like the Celestial Emissary are heavier on the Insight side. What makes YOU, the player, different? It is your ability to balance both.

The creatures that have gotten closest to ascension are ones that we can assume have undergone the effects of blood and insight, but still haven’t gotten there all the way. Rom is probably the biggest example, along with other Kin/Great One enemies. They are physically transformed, as the blood will do, but they are not beasts. Rather, they often have the numerous eyes that are granted with Insight.

The ending that allows the Hunter to ascend reads to me as an ending where you have successfully balanced both mediums: using Blood to tame the negative effects of Insight and vice versa. What I interpret from this in regards to Micolash and Laurence specifically is that they could have come SO CLOSE to achieving what they wanted!! If they had just worked together, and the schism hadn’t happened, perhaps Micolash would not have gone insane with steady treatments of Blood and Laurence would not have transformed with the help of his Insight being steadily raised.

Maybe it’s just me being insane but I don’t know, there’s something pretty gay to me about being in charge of/cursed by an obsession with something that only someone equally as obsessed with its opposite can cure.

I honestly think Micolash and Laurence might have even ended up in a sort of prisoner’s dilemma situation: they both think their own method is correct, and refuse to give in to the other’s perspective. In doing so, they actually end up royally screwing themselves over at the same time whereas cooperation would have led to the best outcome. Laurence, the general posterboy for the blood in general(and most other blood related things) is not someone who I imagine would be keen on giving up his faith in the substance. Especially when he’s being told this by a man who’s sanity is hung by a thread. But if only Micolash listened to HIM, his insanity would be relieved and he would go back to the mostly sensible man he might’ve been- only of course, Micolash would not see it that way. Why would he take something that is quite literally killing Laurence? I find it interesting that Sedatives are a hint of insanity(like with Edgar) yet Micolash doesn’t drop any. Perhaps he’s not the type to invest in Blood, especially if he had to watch it slowly chip away at Laurence’s health who was too stubborn to listen to him instead. You see where I’m going with this- around and around they go.

*while Sedatives are stated to be thick human blood, I have three theories about this.

1. “Derived” from Byrgenwerth implies to me that the formula has undergone some modifications. I would not be surprised if holy blood is used as a thickener.

2. I imagine most “human blood”, at the point that Sedatives are distributed more abundantly, is already tainted with holy blood. I mean, come on. This is Yharnam. Blood is the name of the game.

3. Sedatives reset Beasthood, but for you the PLAYER, your beasthood remains at more of a net neutral than your Insight which the game relies on to progress the story. I imagine that for a scholar like Micolash, who does not fulfill the role of a hunter or a soldier, beasthood would be less of a concern.

OKAY THAT ONE POINT GOT REALLY LONG I’M SORRY so I’ll rapid fire some other things about them:

-Micolash seeks to abandon his humanity in his boss form, Laurence seeks to retain it in his boss form. Micolash seeks a blessing from Kos like that which was granted to Rom, you know, the giant very not human spider. Laurence wants his memories and his head back. Neat!!

-while there seems to be clear animosity between Mensis and The Healing Church later in the timeline, I think it is often overlooked that they DID work together at some time. I can imagine The School of Mensis to be research and science heavy: looking for ways to perfect ministration technology, understand the specifics of the blood, and research what else can be made of it to further humanity. The Healing Church distributes it, covers. The School’s reputation(presumably), and uses that research to further their own ideas of ascension. Bloodborne likes to do things in threes: Willem, Laurence, and Micolash are respective leaders/founders of Byrgenwerth, The Healing Church, and The School of Mensis. Interesting note that the latter two originate from the former, who is the only still “living” character amongst the 3 as far as I can gather. He warned those morons and it meant absolutely nothing LMAO.

-There is something so satisfying to me in how Micolash is generally associated with the dark and dim: Kos- a goddess born from the watery depths, an infinite labyrinth of dust and old tomes, and dark robes of Byrgenwerth. Laurence, on the other hand, is associated with all that is bright: fire, a bright pale moon, white and blue robes of the Choir, and the candlelit cathedrals that are more wax than they are pews. Parallels! Beloved!

-fellas is it gay if we both destroy a city for our own ends. YES yes Old Yharnam specifically was destroyed by the Powder Kegs- but I have a complete crack theory that Laurence saw the Ashen Blood poisoning go down, thought “ah, that is terrible for our reputation”, and sent the then-still loyal Powder Kegs to kaboom the issue away. The Powder Kegs then begin to protect the very beasts that Laurence is trying to sweep under the rug(because panic never leads to anything good), so the Healing Church Workshop as a whole denounce them as heretics.

…but also crack theory aside I still hold him half-responsible for the fall of Yharnam as a whole. And Micolash fucking obliterated all of Yahar’gul so. Yeah. Do NOT let these 2 work together, I think they would destroy all of Yharnam if they could.

-Consider: academic rivals that end up side-by-side, foraying into the brand new promising field of human ascension with matching ambitions and stars in their eyes. That is, until a cost that neither is willing to pay(the health of the other) shows up, and they end up splitting apart in a violent schism that brings them right back to where they started. CONSIDER. For me 🥺

-The Mensis cage obscures everything BUT the eyes, the uniform of the Choir allows for mobility (even enough to fight- like with Yurie) but it blinds the user. Also: Micolash, weird crazy guy who was probably not adored, or at least not as adored as Laurence, dies surrounded by people. Laurence, the guy who put Yharnam on the freaking map, dies completely alone in a big empty room. At least, that’s how we find their bodies in the nightmare!

- “We were friends! How could you?” Is tragic to me in any interpretation

-WHY DOES MICOLASH HAVE A CALL BEYOND. That is a CHOIR SPELL TO THE CORE!! And also, iirc, shared only amongst the higher ranks. I understand him having stolen it from Laurence is the general interpretation- but I like to think that perhaps it was a gift. A show of good faith, even? 😏 to wield the very stars in one’s hands seems like a very apt gift for a guy who is obsessed with the cosmos.

-Laurence 100% stole some of Micolash’s homework on contacting Great Ones imo and the effects of insight. I don’t actually have anything to back this outside of speculation I just think it’s very funny. Endless loop of copying homework. Micolash has more insight naturally, Laurence uses this to learn of the ritual, Laurence does his ritual, Micolash copies his ritual. No credit in sight.

-Micolash has an interesting line of cut dialogue where he claims he “was the head…of this treatment church”. I don’t have the original Japanese text, but I wonder if perhaps Micolash was meant to be an NPC, still fulfilling his role as both the headmaster of Mensis AND the main scholar overlooking all scientific and arcane research on behalf of the Healing Church? If he was the head of the healing church, did an earlier version have Laurence fulfilling his theorized role as a re-incarnated hunter?

-Micolash’s ritual, which I gather(and this is where my knowledge is the most shaky so BEAR WITH ME) summoned the blood moon, seems to be a direct copy of Laurence’s ritual to summon Flora. Whereas Flora took Gehrman as a host, Mergo took either Micolash as a host, or sacrificed the rest of the school in his place. Keep in mind: The Moon rune(found at the bottom of the stairs in Micolash’s boss arena, also eerily similar to the Communion Rune that I imagine would be a big hit with Laurence) DIRECTLY states that the Great Ones are sympathetic in spirit, and answer when called upon. I don’t think Mergo nor Flora are intentionally malicious. I just think these two idiots didn’t know what they were bargaining for, or with. Fellas is it gay if we both change the sky, both sacrifice something we didn’t necessarily mean to, and both suffer in the Nightmare for our sins? Asking for a friend.

-Micolash’s first move is running away from you, Laurence’s first move is to lunge directly at you. Ah, they would have made such a horrendously destructive pairing if the divorce hadn’t happened.

-bonus note!! I have ANOTHER crack theory that the “Moon” and “Communion” Runes have some neat parallels :smear:

Moon Rune is blood red like Micolash’s blood moon, Communion is pale white like Laurence’s pale moon. Moon allows for more blood echoes, Communion for more vials. Moon focuses on the Great Ones answering when called, Communion focuses on Blood Ministration. Moon has the eye in the center surrounded by lines, almost forming another circle(perhaps, and this is a stretch, even the dias that the catalyst is meant to be at the center of?), Communion is surrounded by 3 distinct dots(Laurence, Gehrman, and…Flora? Still not certain who the 3rd dot would be). Reading runes is fun! “Beast’s Embrace” may be closer to Laurence as a character(I mean, you obtain it from him) but since Micolash has no rune to drop as a counterpart(probably because he isn’t a DLC boss), I went with striking parallels between Communion and Moon instead.

-Fellas. Final question. Is it gay if my mild interest in that which lies beyond humanity (POSSIBLY) turns into a rapid obsession/a race against time to save you from yourself and reverse the effects of this poison you so adore, only to realize you won’t hear me, you will never hear me, and it is too late for both of us to turn back? Just wondering. JUST. WONDERING. Maybe trying to stop the other’s descent got too frustrating, Micolash and Laurence both sort of strike me as stubborn pricks in their own ways. Hence the big divorce. “If you won’t see things my way then you can sit with the consequences” (said both of them, equally suffering from consequences). I can only imagine Micolash did not expect for Laurence to prove him right so soon. (It’s funny, because they’re both dead, so really neither was right.)

**(Also I just like relating my headcanons back to canon for fun, I’m not trying to say how ‘canon’ something is should influence how people make hcs. Bloodborne’s not a very romantic game in a traditional sense so this is all mostly me rambling around anyway x,D)

OKAY SORRY IM FINALLY DONE. HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY. I THINK THEY HELD HANDS MAYBE. I also think they would actually literally maul each other to death if given enough reason.

[sashkapi]

Old habits die hard Or never

[purplemninja]

A depressing revelation about Six's ending

2 months ago on the LN subreddit, I made a theory post where I say how Six may have had powers all along and didn't use them until the end, similar to Mono, and this wasn't the main focus of the post but in it I also mentioned a new way to interpret Six's ending and I compared it to a scene in Avatar: The last Airbender where Iroh teaches Zuko how to redirect lightning, the important thing being that lightning is a metaphor for abuse.

A person named Skrappo made a fandom wiki blog that goes into full detail on this new way to interpret the ending of LN1 (crediting me) and I will copy and paste it here for more people to see (I'll divide it between his blog and my comment with "---------" as a border, so to avoid people being confused between his info and mine)

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

Credit goes to PurpleMNinja for the original idea.

In an interview, Little Nightmares' "Senior Narrative Designer" Dave Mervik said that he believes that both Six and Mono got equally bleak and hopeless endings. This has confused many fans ever since LN2's release. How could Six's fate be just as bad as Mono's? Mono is trapped forever in an infinite times-loop of betrayal, torture, and depression; while Six has become extremely powerful and has escaped the Maw, taking out anyone who stood in her path. I think I have realised why he believes this.

Let's take a look at Mono's story. He is a small child who has a bag over his head to hide from the world, to try to forget that it hates him. Throughout LN2, he continues to lie to himself, pretending that the world doesn't hate him, he is constantly hiding. But when Six is taken and he is confronted by Thin Man, he has had enough. He accepts that the world he lives in hates him and accepts who he truly is, using his newfound powers to defeat Thin Man and take control of the Pale City. I think we can all agree that this is his most badass moment. But it all amounts to nothing, as he is betrayed and left to sit and rot for the rest of his life in that little room. Until he is stripped of his humanity and turned into the Signal Tower's slave.

Now let's look at Six's story. Like Mono, she is a small child who is in a world that hates her and wants her dead. Unlike Mono however, she doesn't try to pretend that it doesn't. Instead she chooses to be a survivor. Her greatest fear is death, and she will do anything to avoid it (and really, can you blame a 9-year old child for wanting to live?). However, despite living in a world that is kill or be killed, Six still tries to cling on to her childish innocence, she tries not to give in to darkness. Throughout the series, we see her doing many good things; trying to save Raincoat Girl, befriending Mono, hugging the Nomes, etc. But every time she tries to show kindness it backfires. She fails to save Raincoat Girl, she is betrayed by Mono (from her perspective), and she is forced to choose between committing cannibalism by eating a sausage or eating a little Nome like all the other ones she had befriended previously. She ultimately decided that eating the Nome was a better alternative to cannibalism (not realising that the Nome was another child). However the eating of the Nome pushed Six close to her breaking point. She has tried so hard to remain pure, to stay innocent, but every time she is given nothing but heartbreak and guilt in return. I believe that Dark Six is a representation of her inner darkness, her shadow, the animalistic sinful part of her that will do as many immoral actions as it needs (and maybe more for fun) to survive. When Six has her final hunger bout, she realises that truth. She realises that if she wants to live, she has to give in to her shadow, she has no other choice. She eats the Lady, and gives up the last bit of innocence she had left. And now, with the Lady's power, she can finally take revenge and fight back against the horrible monsters that had been treating her like an animal. She walks down the dining halls, massacres the Guests along the way, she is finally able to fight back against the world, to rise above the world. She walks up into the sunlight, finally out of the Maw... and she is met with an endless ocean. We hear a boat horn in the distance, but it is likely nothing more than the Guests' ship leaving. She has spent her whole life being ruthlessly attacked by the world around her, and now that she has finally gained the ability to fight back, it holds back... it leaves her alone. After going through living hell, being forced to do things she didn't want to, and giving up her innocence, she is met with a dead end. It has all been for nothing. She is still stranded, and all she can do is stand there, and look out into the sea, knowing that there is no way for her to escape...

This is why I think that Dave Mervik believes both endings to be equally bleak. Both characters go through so much trauma, leading up to them finally breaking and rising above the world that hates them, becoming able to fight back, and then they are both met with a dead end. In reality, Raincoat Girl and Runaway Kid had it the best. They both died and were able to escape the nightmare, but Six and Mono are forever trapped, alone and hopeless...

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TL;DR - I compare Six's ending to Zuko being taught how to redirect lightning because both characters have been most notoriously abused by the worlds they live in, and after much struggle they eventually are able to fight back, but their worlds leave them there with nothing to fight (Six gets a few guests, but that's it). Making them suffer so much and not grant them any sort of payoff when they're finally able to dish it back out. (I know how the rest of ATLA goes)

I slightly imagine the world wanted Six to either die, or suffer so much but be left stranded when she's able to fight back so that her struggles, sacrifices and losses don't end up with some sort of payoff or reward, making her go through so much to avoid death just to be met with a dead end when she manages to plow through it all. Either way, the cruel world wins.

If that's not a massive middle finger, I don't know what is.

And this new realisation on the ending of LN1 only adds to the tragedy of Six's story, which I've gone into full detail here.

And since I've probably made you very sad, here's some music I think is best when thinking about this interpretation of Six's ending:

[skullkandiii]

My Janitor/Roger headcanon

my overall theory with little nightmares, is that the Signal Tower warped everyone in SOME way, and before then, people/things were normal

i can't decide whether he'd have an office job, or work as a janitor at Pale City Elementary (name i came up with for the school)

growing up, Roger loved to whittle. whether it be tools or figures, he enjoyed crafting under the tree near the Signal Tower that was being built. his house was one of the last few in the city that wasn't torn down due to more expansion of the city. eventually that changed, and his childhood home was sold and taken down. the passion that had fueled his creativity with whittling had faded into a mere memory. The Signal Tower, where he had spent countless hours near honing his craft, now stood tall and proud, a symbol of change

with age, Roger's eyesight began to deteriorate rapidly. Stargardt disease, a condition affecting the retina, cast a shadow over his world, blurring the once vibrant colors and shapes he had grown accustomed to seeing. simple tasks became increasingly challenging, and the frustration and helplessness he experienced only deepened his self-loathing

days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, as Roger isolated himself from the outside world, outside of going to work. his once-beloved whittling tools lay abandoned, collecting dust in a forgotten corner of his small apartment. the sound of laughter and children playing outside his window felt like a cruel reminder of the life he had lost

one day, as he and other folks dragged themselves to work, the light of Signal Tower began to burn a bright red. not the normal kind of light it gave off, no, this was different. people could hear it, the loud, blinding light gave off a long drawn humming sound. the deep sound drove people mad as the light grew brighter. and brighter. and brighter.

and that's all I got for this short theory/headcanon!! pleeaassee let me know if you'd like to hear more!

i have developing ideas for the other monsters of the Maw! and I'd love to share more if anyone is interested!

[cringenamehere]

Guys Gals Non-binary pals Mono had T.V powers He can go through the T.Vs and he became the Thin Man Now In the trailer We see Alone fall into a mirror And their face is covered Now hear me out on this What if Alone is The Mirror Monster?

[ihaveeatencuttlefish]

if i say that the little nightmares series is a telling of generational/childhood trauma, showing how people become the thing they "hate" (both six and the lady and mono and the thin man just being two versions of themselves at a different time), AND how six dropping mono is almost reminiscent of breaking the cycle despite how painful it is, what do i get in response?

[itstimetotheorize]

The Patients limbs, the Doctor’s mistake.

Those who have played the hospital level, understand that the Patients were among the most difficult to evade, not only were there more than expected, but knowing your only defense against them was the light from a small flashlight, which could only point in one direction, made them difficult to evade. We have theorized about the Patients before, but given what we have already theorized, there was always a few little things we couldn't quite properly understand in order to figure out how it would fit into the lore, and it all started with one Patient in particular, that Patient was the one whos own hand began to pursue Mono as he searched for the first power fuse. 

Although it does not seem so strange now to find a Patient laying on a table in another part of the hospital, this particular Patients began to bring with it some very important questions, what was the deal with the light? and what was going on with those living hands?!

Now, out of all the things we had to question first, we couldn’t help but take note of the Patient’s location and what it was laying on, what's so weird about that? well, it wasn't necessarily just about the table, but rather where the Patient was located. The room the Patient was in does not appear to be  an operating room, no, from what we can tell by the ceilings, shelves, drawers and boxes filled with prosthetics, this room appeared to be more of a storage room for the Doctor’s supply of prosthetics, but if this room is truly a storage room for prosthetics then why is there a Patients body in the room? 

We have seen an operating room within the game but this body encountered in the prosthetic room appears to be strapped onto a regular table under an average ceiling light, it does not appear to be there for some sort of operation, rather, its almost as if they were brought to this room for one very simple reason...to be tinkered and paired with prosthetics in the room before being taken to the actual operating room next door, to replace their limbs with new prosthetics. 

We know the Doctor values his work, but all the while we observed his many many Patients throughout the hospital, we never really thought to consider what the early stages of his work looked like before he finally left his Patients as the prosthetic monstrosities that they are now, then again...maybe we were already given a hint to what kind of work he did to them. When Mono encounters the body in the prosthetic room, we see that the living hand that chases Mono, was still attached to a prosthetic arm,  almost as if to say that the Doctor tried to incorporate the separated limbs into the prosthetics in the early stages of his procedures, only for it to lead to poor results, what kind of poor results? well, lets take a look at the hands behavior.

Throughout the duration of Mono’s encounter with the first living hand, we see that the hand never feels compelled to stay close to its main body, and odds are, the same could be said for the other two living hands Mono encountered in the morgue.

 The moment Mono and Six were near, the hands would take priority to pursue Mono and attempt to smother his face, where am I going with this? well, seeing these severed hands act so independently almost gives the impression that  the Patients individually severed limbs carried a consciousness of their own and might not have been able to stay in sync with the main body. If the limbs proved to difficult to manage for the Doctor as he continued to pursue his desire of continuing in his life's work to perfect his Patients bodies, then he might have made quick adjustments to sever and replace as much of his Patients limbs.  

Over time, as he continued his work, more and more of his Patients were cut, stitched and amputated, all the way down to their torso’s.

But despite the peculiarity of the living hands, there was always one other very obvious and bizarre detail we theorists had overlooked until now, which is that  these living hands... are the only part of a Patients flesh body that Mono encounters which do not freeze upon coming into contact with a source of light! when Mono encounters the first hand, we see that the main body it was attached to is strapped to a table, completely immobile as it remains under a source of light from the ceiling lamp... and yet the hand was the only thing that moved and began chasing after Mono the moment he walked passed it. 

The same thing happens when Mono and Six encounter the two hands in the morgue, but why is that? what sets apart these severed limbs from the rest of the body? Light has always been a big part of the Little Nightmares world, especially in regards towards how it can be weaponized and how it can affect different creatures and residents, so what is it about the Patients bodies and the various sources of light, including Mono’s flashlight, which causes a Patient to freeze up but not something like their severed hands? unless....what if it wasn’t just about the light being capable of freezing them in place... what if it had everything to do with what the light mimicked?

It has always been theorized that because many Patients were once viewers, any source of light would instinctively make their bodies recall the time  they would stand in front of the tv, the very tv's which would broadcast the bright and wonderous hypnotic transmission which kept them still and pacified,(this theory was first thought up by “Superhorrobro”), 

However, due to the hospitals setting, the Doctor, and the patients numerous operations, it had also been theorized that these patients were accustomed to not move a muscle as their procedures were taking place, and although they were not undergoing any new procedure, any source if light would make their bodies interpret it as the same surgical lights that would illuminate over their bodies during any and all operations the Doctor would perform (this theory was thought up by "itsjustjord").

But for whatever reason, at least one thing was for certain...the light  never truly harmed the Patients and although they were quite capable of chasing and capturing Mono, they never once made any attempts to run away from any source of light before it touched them. Whatever consciousness they once had was gone, potentially leaving their reaction to the light as nothing more than a reflex brought about by pure instinct, their bodies alone knew how to respond to a source of light the moment it touched them, because it was familiar. Now, if just their prosthetics were illuminated, then they may very well have always had the capability to continue moving so long as their main flesh body was shrouded in darkness, this could explain why Mono’s light did not stop the prosthetic arms from moving when he went down a hallway, but did stop them the moment his light touched the Patients bodies the moment they finally forced themselves through the door to chase him.

Regardless of what was going on around them, the light made them stay still and unless they were surrounded by pure darkness, the light would continue to leave them as still as statues

And I know what you are thinking, " But wait, when Mono and Six encountered the body of a Patient in an operating room, that one was mostly  in the dark and there were even corpses and Patients all over the morgue and hospital that never had light shinning over them, so why didn't they move?", well, to put it simply, despite all the Patients we saw moving around the hospital, we had discovered that Patients do not need a strong source of light to freeze them, even the demist of light can keep them in place

And as for the Patients who were surrounded by pure darkness and still couldn’t move a muscle well, what if maybe...just maybe...there might have always been Patients that had no life left in them to allow them to continue moving out and about. 

Given we have always known magic exist in the Little Nightmares world, we had theorized it was the Doctor who was bringing the Patients to life after his procedures left many of them incapable of living, we theorized that the Patients encountered in the morgue were there because they really did not have any life left in them to continue moving, they were just a bunch of dead bodies. We know the hospital has life support systems within its facility and that the Doctor was quick to rush to a Patients aid the moment Mono shut off their life support machine,

 meaning that maybe... just maybe...the Doctor was tending to the Patients in the morgue in order to bring life back into their bodies, and as for the corpses, well, we had already theorized these corpses, and likely many other Patients bodies, were not originally from the hospital and had just arrived from other parts of the Pale City, the Wilderness and potentially other parts of the world, but had not yet been included in the process of being turned into Patients, hence why many bodies in the morgue, as well as the body in the bathtub, were still displayed with their feet still intact, 

whereas all the other Patients within the hospital already had their limbs replaced with prosthetics, signifying that they had been in the facility for quite some time. As for how the Doctor went about bringing life back into his Patients after botching their bodies with more and more prosthetics? well...what if maybe...just maybe... all he ever needed to do was give them a strong enough jolt to get them going again...after all...why else would there be an electric chair in the hospital?, 

clearly it wasn’t for the Doctor to use on himself... meaning that it might have always been meant to be used on the Patients!, what am I trying to say?, well isn’t it obvious, at some point in time, as the eye entities influence continued to corrupt the people and the Doctor of the Pale City, the Doctor may not have just been attempting to treat his Patients, he might have gone full " Dr. Frankenstein" by bringing his new creations to life as he continued to use them in perfecting his life's work, and if the Doctor is truly reanimating dead bodies then...this  may explain how the living hands are capable of acting out on their own. In the midst of treating his Patients and reanimating those who could no longer survive his harsh procedures, the Doctor may have unintentionally given life to any severed limb that was not still attached to the main body, something that would have become to difficult to manage during procedures but was none the less a problem that  could easily be solved with a simple trip to the cremator along with any Patients and corpses who could not live up to the Doctor’s standards.

Although this does beg the question, if the Doctor had truly reanimated his dead Patients, if he had truly unintentionally given life to the severed limbs Mono would later encounter in the hospital and if  none of the operated Patients have hands, feet (some are even missing their entire heads),  then odds are...the three living hands Mono encountered... were among the few limbs of the Patients which had the capability to get up, get out and run around wherever they pleased. We only ever saw three hands chase Mono, but if what we theorize is true, then maybe...just maybe...there may be more than just hands crawling around elsewhere in the hospital...a severed foot or head would not be as easy to encounter as a hand, much less have the capability to pursue someone, but hey! its just a theory, a Little Nightmares 2 theory!

[caramsels]

tell me more about this "mono isnt a human" theory thats really interesting

Thanks for asking! A few people have asked for my thoughts on Mono’s identity, and because I will take any opportunity to ramble about Little Nightmares, I wrote up my (hopefully intelligible) interpretation of Mono, and why I think he was always a Resident of The Nowhere, instead of a kidnapped human child like most of the LN kids. This theory is super connected to a few other ones I have, so I’ll rattle descriptions of them at the start for context. Also this post is insanely long I’m sorry

The Nowhere

The Nowhere is its own world that real children get kidnapped to, it feeds off of humanity and kinda functions like your local mall. A weird amount of emphasis is put on jobs in The Nowhere, Residents are often referred to solely by their job titles (The Janitor, The Doctor, The Teacher, etc. etc.)

Besides having a job in The Nowhere, a Resident's proximity to humanity seems to give them a higher status as well. In a LN1 interview, it was said that ALL residents wear masks (as opposed to just the Twin Chefs); we even see in LN2 that The Doctor makes and presumably sells these masks. A humanoid appearance is something that most Residents want. The more humanoid a Resident looks, the more powerful they are perceived to be (not always, because of The Ferryman, but he’s just chill like that.)

Kids and valuable teens/adults (like the circus performers and Otto from the podcast) feed The Nowhere kinda like how animals feed humans. Some Residents are given jobs to maintain this system. Some jobs require more power than others however, typically these are the jobs that require a Resident to keep control over an entire area, which leads me to…

The Cycle

The head honcho Residents like The Thin Man and The Lady are more humanoid and more powerful than the others, this is because they are handpicked and raised from birth to inherit these forms that are passed down over time. This one is super important to most of my points about Mono, so I’m going to spend some time defending it.

The Lady (prior to the Six stuff) had 4 predecessors, each represented by a different mask/hat that you can collect in VLN; This means that The Nowhere (at the time of the first loop in LN2) is on its 5th cycle. The Thin Man is also a mantle that is passed down, we see the previous one interact with Mono before Mono has even entered a time loop in the LN2 comics. This Thin Man, when datamined, notably wears a different hat than Mono’s iteration.

Furthermore, when asked if Thinny Lad is a mantle that is passed on or Mono in a timeloop in an interview, the devs had this to say:

The Pretender (VLN) is a good example of what I think Mono is supposed to be, and what the child forms of the 5th cycle Residents were. The Pretender is a humanoid child with supernatural powers and a strong sense of loneliness. She has her own mansion and Resident servants. The Pretender is the heir to a currently unknown position. She has a portrait of her and five past iterations on her wall, followed by another one of her and her two Resident parents. The Pretender is native to The Nowhere.

But… who is the boss of all the Residents? Who assigns these jobs? Who creates the natural Residents and brings others into The Nowhere?

The Eye

(you could argue its the ferryman but i think he works under the eye too. employee of the year)

I think most fans agree on this one so I won't spend too long on it, but basically I think the Eye is the unseen overall antagonist of Little Nightmares, overseeing everything and everyone in The Nowhere all the time. The Eye feeds off of misery and has a fate planned for everyone, it is not happy when anything throws a wrench into these plans. I don’t think we are meant to know The Eye’s motives, not yet at least, but if I had to guess; they have something to do with an extremely misguided and angry feeling of loneliness, as that is a prevalent theme in an insane amount of Residents. This finally brings me to Mono.

Mono’s Familiarity with The Nowhere

Mono is very familiar with Pale City, he is much more aware of his own fate, abilities, and world than he’s given credit for.

In the door/boat cutscene, Mono watches every TV in the water until it exits the frame. This early in the game, Mono already has an inherent connection to TVs.

Before Pale City comes into frame for both Six and the player, Mono is already standing, he is familiar enough with the route to Pale City that he knows they arrived without even having a clear view of their destination. This is because Mono has been to Pale City before, in the sixth episode of the LN2 comics:

In this comic, Mono met (and wasn't killed by) The Thin Man shown earlier. So to list off the amount of things Mono was already familiar with at the start of LN2: His connection to TVs, his connection to The Thin Man, and how to navigate Pale City. Mono having a lot of experience living in The Nowhere is demonstrated somewhere even more prominent too:

Kickass Character Design

Six’s character design intentionally makes her not fit in with her environment. While the color scheme of The Nowhere and its residents is mostly bland, monochrome, and washed out (sans the lighting), her jacket is highlighter yellow. This represents that Six does not belong in The Nowhere, she’s from the human world.

With this information to ride off of, Mono’s design becomes interesting. Mono’s design is a beige button up, tan trench-coat, and tan pants: A monochrome, muted outfit that fits in perfectly with the aesthetic of The Nowhere. Mono’s outfit including a key ring and a useful color scheme for camouflage further implies familiarity and experience with the way The Nowhere works. If Six’s simple, bright design represents her not belonging there, Mono’s muted, practical design represents the fact that he does.

His Mask

We actually know why Mono wears his mask, we have a direct answer:

You can interpret this as a representation of Mono being shy or insecure or a combination of multiple things, but I think it’s mainly meant to represent, as the description states: Mono hiding from The Nowhere, Mono running away from his fate. The Eye wants Mono to grow up and be the next Thin Man, but he doesn’t want to. Mono’s mask represents his fear, his refusal to use his Thin Man powers, his refusal to do anything that connects him to the world that hates him and wants him to fail; he wants to hide from that world, his future, and the reality of what he is. But ….

(straight up a post of Mono running from his fate)

Unexplained Powers

Mono’s OP reveal was the moment that shook me the most when I first watched my sister play the game; I’ve honestly always been shocked at how little it’s talked about in the community. To me, it was a reveal that told us we Did Not REALLY know much about the character we had been playing the entire time, and that was exciting.

When Mono fights the Thin Man and contorts the structure of Pale City, it is with ease. This is not his first time doing any of this, his body language does not match that of someone who just discovered/unlocked a new ability, him busting out the moves is framed more like a choice that he decided on just before removing his mask. The Thin Man boss battle is easy on purpose; because it's not too hard for Mono in universe, all he does after is wipe off his head nonchalantly and then he proceeds to warp reality. The ominous boss theme that plays during this fight isn’t even for the Thin Man, its MONO’S boss music. The Thin Man is the one who helps control The Signal Tower’s influence, Mono is the one interfering with it, he is the “Signal Interference.” The theme continues even after he’s defeated The Thin Man, further hammering in that it is his.

Mono has his own ominously powerful boss theme and the abilities of one of the most powerful Residents at his disposal; he is not a normal kid.

Mono even shares a power with the established Resident heir that we already know; The Pretender.

When The Pretender sees RCG eavesdropping on her crying, she yells so loud that it physically hurts RCG, causing the screen to glitch. I don’t think this is just a visual effect to show how loud it is to the player; I think this is an in universe ability. You know where else we see a powerful child amplify their voice on purpose to harm an enemy with a screen glitch/distortion effect? Mono in Chapter 5.

Mono and the fifth Thin Man

I think that Mono ran away from wherever it is he’s supposed to be, (probably the Signal Tower) and The Eye/ Thin Man want him back; this is why Mono is not killed by The Thin Man in the comic, just pursued by him

Loneliness

I don’t think I even really need to dissect how loneliness relates to Mono’s character, but he’s not the only character who deals with it. A huge recurrent theme with Residents is loneliness; the sense that they need something, they are missing something. The Lady has a bunch of dolls, The Janitor has.. a bunch of dolls in his own way. The Hunter too. The Pretender runs off to cry when her human doll friend gets messed up at her dinner party. The Resident we meet in Chapter 3 of the podcast is the most direct example so far of intense loneliness in a Resident, and not so coincidentally, it has a ton of parallels to Mono.

Narrative

For the rest of this post, I’m going to focus on how I think this theory fits into the story; because I think factoring in the cutscenes and storytelling beats is important when putting together something’s lore.

A little chatter about Mono

Mono is often characterized as a shy little boy who plays the straight man to Six’s feral goblin who loves eating rats, which is a whole other can of worms, but with this characterization I feel like some fun and interesting parts of his character are neglected, such as: The fact that Mono is an ominous little weirdo. His attempt at trying to save and comfort someone is to hack down her door with an ax with no warning, then proceed to chase her through the house she’s been trapped in; Mono is not too familiar with human interaction. Mono isn’t really a dashing hero who tries to save every kid he comes across either. In the comics, Mono finds an area that is away from the monster killing all the kids, but it’s not like he tells the other kids or tries to bring them with him or anything. I don’t think that this means he is a toxic manipulative character or anything because he is. 9 or 10 years old. I think if anything, this is a trait that experienced characters in The Nowhere have: RCG and Mono both know that indifference is the way to survive in The Nowhere, good deeds usually get you killed. It’s the way things are. I think overall Mono is a well meaning boy who just talks and acts ominously, because that’s what he is used to; he’s an eldritch overpowered being who lives in hell if it had a 1940s aesthetic.

I think that Mono doesn’t start the game a sweet perfect little boy whose ending is sad because he gets betrayed, that’s not a character arc. I think Mono starts off relatively morally gray out of necessity, mostly helping Six out because it was kinda his fault she got captured. He develops into someone who is willing to fight his fate, fight the Nowhere and stop resorting to the escapism his mask provides, only to get crushed to rock bottom in spite of his growth. After all, the villain of Little Nightmares is The Nowhere itself.

How this creates character conflict in the plot

Anytime Mono goes into a weird TV trance, Six is horrified. Her body language tenses and she moves away from him. Six has seen first hand that even the kids like her in The Nowhere cannot always be trusted or relied on (RCG shutting the door on her). Some kids like the Pretender aren't even normal kids, they have powers they use to kill people. The one person Six is starting to trust, and he’s showing signs of possessing supernatural powers? Terrifying. Mono notices these reactions, they give him more cause to hide what he truly is from her. Residents scare and disgust Six, he doesn’t want to lose the only person he has.

This conflict leads me to another point; you know those moments of Six being sadistic and angry towards Residents? How an ominous music cue plays when she kills the bully and breaks the mannequin’s fingers? Earlier in the game, when Six first catches Mono, his part of Togetherness II plays briefly to show his feelings in that moment, which implies that the music cues we hear when a story beat happens are Mono’s reactions. I don’t think these scary music cues are because Mono is scared of Six being creepy, Mono himself likes to beat up Residents. I think that Mono is scared in these moments when he sees the extent of Six’s hatred towards Residents, because even though he doesn’t like them either… Imagine how she’d react if she knew about him.

It is only the Thin Man fight when Mono is finally pushed to the point of using his powers, because in the plan to get Mono to the Signal Tower: The Thin Man took Six as bait. Six was constantly pulling Mono out of his TV trances, Six was supposed to die back at The Nest, Six has been a problem for the Eye since the start and now it’s time to kill two birds with one stone, to sentence Six to her new fate and to crush Mono’s spirit so hard that he finally resigns to his.

The drop is its whole own debate, but whatever you think about it, I think at least one factor in Six’s decision is that from her perspective: Mono has revealed himself to be an entity she cannot trust, he didn't tell her either; he's been hiding it this entire time. Why didn’t he use this power to help them all the previous times they were in danger? What are his motives? What IS he? This, mixed with other factors, causes the drop. (a lot of manipulation on the part of The Nowhere is involved too imo but this isn't a Drop analysis)

Mono is crushed, he loses Six and any true feeling of empowerment that he had before. Rather than The Eye trapping him in the Signal Tower and forcibly transforming him into a resident, I think Mono actually accepts his fate because hes just. That depressed. He actually ages pretty normally for most of the sequence (except for being straight up like 12 feet tall, the podcast confirmed that Residents are just super super big as opposed to the kids being really small, bros got Resident genes) This sequence from the art book leads me to think that Mono knows what the hat entails, Mono chooses to run the Signal Tower like The Lady runs The Maw. The chair sequence is not actually him sitting in a chair for that long, I think it just represents his resignation more than anything.

BUT! Mono is an “uncommonly single minded boy,” who also has control over time, i.e. Mono Thin Man slowing down time in his chase just to fuck with you or the clock sounds in The End of The Hall. Whether you think he goes back for revenge or to stop the downfall of everything, he goes back in time. I think it's on purpose, I think every TV in the background of the first scene implies that Mono has gone back to this point in time over and over again, failing repeatedly, leaving a new TV behind and forgetting the past attempt each time.

This could all be wrong, maybe Mono is just a really badass 4th grader from the human realm who got his abilities like Six, just off screen. But one thing I love about LN is all of the different, creative and interesting interpretations of the fans. So here’s mine regarding Mono lore. Sorry this was so long and I write posts weirdly it is 4 AM. I hope you enjoyed

[lostsoulsandmutineers]

Little Nightmares pages!

Details!

💤 I wrote 1 for Mono because mono means singular, btw. I only explain this because it had to be explained to me and I don’t want none getting embarrassed haha

💤 Six and the chair are both kinda hanging off the page by more paper in an accordion fashion

💤 There’s an eye behind Six to symbolize the eyes that first gave her her hunger (based on the theory that LN2 is a prequel and it’s the first time her stomach growls in canon)

💤 The chair has a gaping mouth behind it because I think the signal tower acts as the throat of some kind of eldrich being, the one that consumed the city citizens, deformed the adults, and drives the greed of this world.

[queen0fm0nsterz]

Small excerpt from the Ladies Lore doc

So, this is a thing I have noticed very recently. The statuettes of the Ladies all have their own shapes, right? Circle, triangle, square/diamond.

Down here, you can see that their shape matches each of the three books in the book-matching puzzle in the Residence, and that the shelves have the same symbols as the books thus matching.

The shelves here aren't what interests' me most: what caught my attention is that the three books that match them are sealed.

All three of them are locked. In the whole Residence, these ones (and probably the ones who continue the pattern) are the only ones to be closed with stripes like this.

An interesting thing to point out that the other shelves in this area, the ones who do not have marked books, have this symbol under them:

(The picture is terrible quality due to my switch, but you can still see them hopefully).

These four eyes rappresenting different world forces never lined up for me, because... the Maw has at least three of them as decorations. The circle and the triangle being prominent on doors and decor.

Looking at these, now, I am wondering if rather than being rappresentative of current places, these eyes are either rappresenting different types of magic or even different eras. With the eye with dots being a "neutral" eye to be used. The triangles in the TV do look different from the ones shown here...

... So I'm wondering if these four variations are ONLY Maw related. Because if you look in the Signal Tower... these four eyes do not appear.

So they can't rappresent any of these places. And none of these rappresent the Maw.

I will elaborate on this more in the doc. For now: putting it out there.

[umbrarkzoo]

that one scene from hotel transelvania reminded me of six lol