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Ice-Pick Lodge forums • Theory thread
It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 14:24
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 Post subject: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 16:22 
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Almost all of the story and the world are up for interpretation, so here is a thread for all to share their own theories.

First of all, I believe that there are two kinds of guests. One thing I have noticed is, that all guests that can appear without any breach happening also have a bit of a nature theme going on. The first guest of this type you should encounter, has branches sticking out of him. The rest are almost all mostly piles of leaves. The guests from the breaches however, do not feature such themes and mostly have a theme of decay, age and physical and mental illness. One of the first guests is a man with a straight jacket and a false leg, the second one the ghost of an old man and there are even gurney's you can encounter.

Said nature-themed guests are also the only ones you encounter in the woods, half-way through the game. This leads me to believe that the nymph, showing you fragments of reality, is also one of them. Of course, if entering a breach at that point you also may encounter them and find a fragment of reality, so this may be a weak point in this theory.

As for what it all means, it has been said that not all guests are actual enemies. Maybe the nature-themed guests are actually just trying to get the lodger to leave. In the ending, where the lodger does just that, you see how roots are growing over the lodge. If that happens no matter which ending, they just might have saved his life, as otherwise he'd be trapped inside and would starve to death. The nymph might even want to encourage him to go to the city, as the frequent isolation can only be bad for the lodgers sanity.

Gameplaywise this would not make too much sense but: if "repairing" the rooms is one requirement for getting the ending, in which the lodger leaves, the low damage those guests usually do could be helpful. It gives you more time to visit all rooms and the damage they do is controlable, since you usually see them before turning the lights on, meaning you can choose when to get damage, in contrast to the other guests, which actively seek you. The tumbleweeds are moving, yes, but they are very slow so that is not really an issue. In some cases, even the teleportation can help, moving through the lodge.

Now, what do you think about this theory? Do you also think it's possible, that there are two factions of guests, with the nature-themed ones maybe even helpful?


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 19:12 
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The nymph might even want to encourage him to go to the city, as the frequent isolation can only be bad for the lodgers sanity.
I think this game offers you quiet a lot interpretation possibilities. For example: I thought that the "nymph" was his "mother" from the diary.

His lost his father at the beginning of the program rumors and got told to hide everytime somebody's coming to "get" them. All those rules at the end of each stage just show how his parents created a game for him so that the Lodger will "play" it. Like that one sentence on the reintegration-paper:

If somebody's coming and shouting "let's move" and no one opens the door, the shouter's won (I don't know the exact sentence since I played the German version).

So after they gathered the children the Lodger was the only one they didn't take with them. The writer of the diary took care of him until he leaves and moves to the woods where he forgets everything during the years, while the woman - his new "mother" was searching for him and moved also into the woods. Eventually she found him at the lodge and took his diary, wrote her own notes on it, just to take him carefully back to reality.

That's how I got the story. But I haven't any idea how the guests would fit in.

What I would like to know is:

Is the "programm" part including the reintegration-stuff based on real events or is it pure fiction, only written for the story of Knock-Knock?


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 19:24 
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That also sounds like a pretty good theory. I'm playing the German version too and one thing that sounded weird to me was, what the lodger called his job: "Weltologe".

I think the correct term for a scientist, working in this field would be "Biologe", while "Weltologe" sound more like something a child would say about this scientific field, if it didn't know the proper name.

edit: In retrospect, some of the games also could be used to prevent insanity from loneliness, by creating a pretend game around having some guests. A bit of dialogue also suggests that the lodger even treats some of the animals like guests.


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 19:53 
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What I would like to know is:

Is the "programm" part including the reintegration-stuff based on real events or is it pure fiction, only written for the story of Knock-Knock?
I think it is a part of the game's universe. Ice-pick Lodge puts things like this into their games to make them seem even more real.
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That also sounds like a pretty good theory. I'm playing the German version too and one thing that sounded weird to me was, what the lodger called his job: "Weltologe".
In the English version, he claims to be a "world-ologist". Don't know about the Russian version.

The two groups of guests is supported by two voices you can hear during dream sections: Girl's, which gives you advice, and rough which threatens you. Also, the Doppelganger may represent Lodger's split mind. I wonder though where does the moving bed fit in.


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 20:27 
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About the moving bed, like I said it looks like the kind of bed used in hospitals, so the guests that come through the breaches might be some kind of faction based on illness.

From that standpoint, the other guests with the nature theme and the nymph could be based on recovery.

Hmm.... that gives way for another theory, that the game is basically the fight of the lodger to keep his sanity. In this case, the house might represent the mind of the lodger, while the forest represents the real world. The nymph may in fact be a doctor, trying to get him back into reality, while the guests are the fears, that push him deeper into his own little world. In this case, the ending where he shuts himself in means, that he has completely lost it and will not recover from his mental illness, forever trapped in his house. The other ending then symbolizes, how he recovers and becomes part of the real world again. However, this leaves the Game Over open. Maybe a complete, nervous breakdown?

PS: World-ologist still sounds like something a child would make up to describe the job of a biologist.


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Oct 2013, 20:35 
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That also sounds like a pretty good theory. I'm playing the German version too and one thing that sounded weird to me was, what the lodger called his job: "Weltologe".
In the English version, he claims to be a "world-ologist". Don't know about the Russian version.
In the Russian version he's a "mirolog", which is not a real word either. "Mir" = "world" and "-olog" is the same as "-ologist".
It's a made-up word, but in Russian it sounds natural. Maybe doesn't work so well in translations.


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 17 Oct 2013, 10:30 
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Another one:

I think I know why the lodge is the only character in the game, who does not speak coherent sentences. It is suggested that his guests are either some forest animals or the guests he summons during some of the games. Basically, he has probably spent years talking to no one but himself. During that time, he forgot how to talk in a way that most other people would understand. After all, why speak loud and clear, if you are the only person you ever have to talk to?


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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 17 Oct 2013, 14:55 
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Here's my theory. Before the release Nikolai Dybovsky said there are three storylines in this game.
For me it's more like this:
1 First storyline is the story as it's being told. In a bizarre setting there is an actual wordologist who makes constant research of the nature for whatever form of government there is. He's the third worldologist in his line. The diary makes sense if that would be his grandfather's story - how he ended up doing what he does. At some point worldologists who work in those woods get so lonely they start to play "games" with made up guests and that gets the attention of nymphs and various supernatural beings in the forest some of which manifest themselves as one's fears. Since there is no mention whatsoever of Lodger's mother or grandmother, I could assume worldologists get into some weird kind of semi-conscious relationships with forest nymphs that result in a child at some point, but they go mad eventually. There is a line Lodger says out of blue "At some point he lost his mind too and wasn't able to see me", also the Lodger mumbles something about a child that lived in the house, might be his own son too and he's already at the stage he doesn't see things for what they are, he sees the guests and he forgets things, while the nymph tries to help him. Sometimes he can't remember the child, sometimes he thinks someone died and he buried that person in the forest, that's when his madness began, when he couldn't find his son/daughter in the house, assumed he/she died and performed a funeral with no body, just a blanket, while the child was there invisible to his eyes. He was mentioning his grandfather being restless and troubled before he died, and he's pretty much restless and troubled too which means he doesn't have much time left. If he goes to the forest, that breaks the cycle, he manages to overcome his madness and be reborn as a person with nymph's help and raise their child (remember those notes that say something like "don't be afraid of them", "they're real, they're just different", "you're dying, those in the forest want you ti live" and "it's not death, it's just a new life"). If he locks up the house he's doing what his father and grandfather did, he's providing a safe shell for his next of kin to grow up and carry on his work. Don't forget, you have to restore the house in order to get that ending, that means the Lodger pulls up every last bit of his sanity together to ward off his home, he thinks he's doing it for himself to die in peace, but in reality he's making the lodge a safe place for his child. I don't think the monster and the girl are the same being perceived differently, I think it indicates what comes after the Lodger, hope or his death. If he was open to the nymph and supernatural entities she comes to save him, and if he was resisting her and opposing those supernatural beings from the woods, his final guest will be death. Either way his mission is to get prepared to meet them, otherwise he'll lose his mind and die without completing his final preparations to die or be reborn as something new.
2 The second storyline is your personal story if you can associate with it. That same thing was made in The Void. The second layer of the game gives a projection of your inner world, your mind. It's a meditation. The house becomes your mind and the guests are your fears and worries, the nymph is someone who has the power to help or harm you. Your fears drag you back but eventually choices have to be made, here the game give you an opportunity to see from other perspective how you handle things. Some people hide, they feel safe in the dark, they pretend there is no problem and use time to their advantage to make the problem expire and live a new day, some people face their fears, "turn on the lights" whenever they can, through pain they dig in their memories. Some people are fortifying their minds, locking themselves up from inside, some try to seek help from outside, risking to trust someone without knowing if they really can be trusted with someone's mental health.
3 And the third storyline is whatever message that author of the letter was trying to tell the player. I don't know if the message is there or not, even if it's there I didn't manage to figure it out.
Hope all this made sense, thanks for reading, please comment and tell me what you think.
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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 08 Feb 2014, 22:26 
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I've had this theory ever since I heard him say in the English version, "It felt somebody just walked over my grave." I know he meant that metaphorically, but it's still interesting to think about.

Maybe the Lodger is a child who died in the Program due to insanity. So they buried him near his home in the forest. But little did they know that he was still alive and just in a near-death coma. So he's still in a coma, dreaming while he's buried alive, thinking he's in his home while he's actually been buried alive.

And not only that, but they buried him in a poorly crafted wooden coffin...one that's slowly breaking and letting all the dirt in to suffocate the Lodger in his sleep. The "guests of the forest" invading his home are symbolism for the remnants of the forest (the dirt and whatnot) slowly creeping into his coffin.

The Lodger still has a chance to get out and save his life, though. The monster coming toward the house in the bad ending is symbolism for death creeping into the coffin to come for the Lodger. The nymph is symbolism for the Lodger reaching towards the surface and fighting for his life; she is life, and the monster is death.

Personally, I also like to pretend (if anyone here is familiar with Emily The Strange) that the Lodger's name is Jack Strange (he looks like his name would be Jack) and he's the long lost brother of Emily Strange, which is why he's smart and prefers darkness and isolation. The nymph is a dead Emily trying to contact him and reveal to him that his daughter will be the next Dark Girl. But the forest doesn't want another Dark Girl to be born, so they're trying to kill Jack to prevent it.

Of course, as I was thinking of this before I saw the credits, I laughed when I saw the tombstones of Jack Meredith and Simon Strange.
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 Post subject: Re: Theory thread
PostPosted: 14 Feb 2014, 15:57 
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Interesting theory, but a bit far-fetched IMO >_>
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