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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Fear - Madness - Loss
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