History Fridge / AlanWake

* A lot of the gameplay contrivances can be explained by AWizardDid it. How is Alan able to cast magic missile into the darkness, so to speak, with a standard household flashlight? The Light Presence empowered him. Why do flares and batteries have much shorter effective lives than they should? The Dark Presence. Why don't he and Barry [[spoiler:die or suffer any significant effects from injesting a massive dose of sleeping pills? The Light Presence protected them. Why didn't they taste something funny in the first place? Ol' DP. Why are the cops and FBI agents conveniently carrying flashbangs? The Light Presence.]] And so on.

* [[spoiler: The amorphous malevolence which harries Alan throughout the plot with neigh-limitless power to form and control the world he is fighting through, is a [[AuthorAvatar Lake]].]]
* [[spoiler: See the below FridgeHorror about free will. Consider also the resemblance of the blobs (and for the matter most manifestations of the Dark Presence) to... ink. What's Alan's profession again and what's the basic premise of the story?]]

* How come [[TheMasquerade no one in Bright Falls noticed countless people going missing and all the chaos and destruction caused by the battle between Alan and the Taken?]] Because while writing Departure, Alan didn't write them noticing it and carrying on as normal. They're just as bound to the letter of the novel as the Dark Presence.

* Thomas Zane's avatar is a man in a space/diving suit. The last song of the game? [[DavidBowie Major Tom]], a song about an astronaut who is lost to oblivion by a mistake during his mission. ''Holy crap!''

* This one overlaps with FridgeBrilliance, but... You know how there's all sorts of abandoned cars just waiting to be driven? Doesn't really make sense does it? Not until you remember that Taken used to be real people, so they probably got sucked out of their cars, keys still in.

** While we're on the topic of the battle on the stage, fighting off a hoard of monsters on stage while music blares like that doesn't make sense in a horror story, [[ThePowerOfRock but would make perfect in a metal song]]. A metal song such as the kind that Tor and Odin would've written near a certian lake. Another song we know they wrote is Lady of the Light, which also turned out to be true to a point.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** [[spoiler: The amorphous malevolence which harries Alan throughout the plot with neigh-limitless power to form and control the world he is fighting through, is a [[AuthorAvatar Lake]].]]
** [[spoiler: See the below FridgeHorror about free will. Consider also the resemblance of the blobs (and for the matter most manifestations of the Dark Presence) to... ink. What's Alan's profession again and what's the basic premise of the story?]]
** The "Quantum Suicide" episode of Night Springs suggests that when you die and reload your save, you're just switching to an alternate universe where you didn't die that that moment.
*** From various [=POV=]s, it can be seen as Alan re-writing the initial manuscript, the idea of a narrative universe having alternatives, or what have you. And given how that episode ends, that too can be taken as a interpretation of the Xbox 360 itself. It is the magic box that keeps the protagonist alive... until you pull the plug (turn off the power). When you turn on the power again... that's just another universe.
*** Alternatively, but basically the same idea, [[spoiler:dying could be explained as Alan giving into the Dark Presence and killing off himself while writing the manuscript, losing all hope for his wife and the end of the Presence. He then scraps the page, having no way to delete characters with a typewriter, meaning checkpoints are just ends of pages in the manuscript.]]
** Odin and Tor [[spoiler: help you escape. Now, back in ''Max Payne'', there were heavy Norse themes and included a character also named Odin (well, Wodan but it's just a different [[SpellMyNameWithAnS transliteration]]) who helps Max out. See also the Take That below.]]
*** Also, the manuscript implies that [[spoiler:they know about the Dark Presence and and have fought it before. That would explain why they built that massive stage on their farm as well as why their farm was stocked with enough weapons and supplies to equip a small army.]]
*** While we're on the topic of the battle on the stage, fighting off a hoard of monsters on stage while music blares like that doesn't make sense in a horror story, [[ThePowerOfRock but would make perfect in a metal song]]. A metal song such as the kind that Tor and Odin would've written near a certian lake. Another song we know they wrote is Lady of the Light, which also turned out to be true to a point.
**** Okay, knowing this, let's now look at the lyrics of the two songs we hear of their's in game:
*****
->Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark Scratching hag, you can rake your claws and gnash your crooked teeth You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe Father Thor, bless this war, between the dark and light In their songs let their wrongs bring dissolution's night Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark
-->-- Children of the Elder God

*****
->There's an old tale wrought with mystery, of Tom the Poet and his muse And a magic lake which gave a life to the words the poet used Now, the muse she was his happiness, and he rhymed about her grace And told her stories of treasures deep beneath the blackened waves Till' in the stillness of one dawn, still in its misty crown The muse she went down to the lake, and in the waves she drowned And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, gone mad with the night That's how you reshape destiny The poet came down to the lake to call out to his dear When there was no answer he was overcome with fear He searched in vain for his treasure lost and too soon the night would fall Only his own echo would wail back at his call And when he swore to bring back his love by stories he'd create Nightmares shifted in their sleep in the darkness of the lake And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, still raving in the night That's how you reshape destiny In the dead of night she came to him with darkness in her eyes Wearing a mourning gown, sweet words as her disguise He took her in without a word for he saw his grave mistake And vowed them both to silence deep beneath the lake Now, if it's real or just a dream one mystery remains For it is said, on moonless nights they may still haunt this place
-->-- The Poet And The Muse

***** I could be here for hours going over it all, but suffice to say, both songs came true. Every word of them.
** If you ask [[spoiler:why the Taken don't just take out the transformers so they can assault the power plant, try leading one into the hanging or horizontal wires you've seen.]]
** Ok, Alan Wake is a writer, so how do they explain how good of a shot he is? He mentions that he's 'never fired a gun outside a range before', so, he's clearly handled guns. But come on, he's practically a perfect shot, what's the explanation? In one flashback, when the power goes out in the Wake's apartment, you can find a trophy on the bookcase next to Alan's set of novels. It's a clear acrylic trophy set with a pair of gold pistols. Clearly, Alan won it at a shooting competition.
** ''The Sudden Stop'' opens with the sentence "It's true what they say about the fall and the sudden stop at the end." It's mentioned elsewhere in this article that Alex Casey is an {{Expy}} for MaxPayne, and killing off Alex is Sam Lake's way of considering ''Max Payne 3'' a FranchiseZombie. So what the page is saying is "It's not ''The Fall of Max Payne'' that'll kill him, it's the sudden stop of ''Max Payne 3''."
** The messages 'The Darkness controls the taken' as well as 'The Darkness [[spoiler:wears her face]]', among others that explain things like how to kill the taken are spread evenly throughout the game. This is despite the fact that the player has long learned most or all of these things-- many in the tutorial no less. The reason? [[spoiler: Cynthia had no way of knowing where the battle with the darkness would start, so she instead placed the caches and messages ''everywhere''. Overlaps with CrazyPrepared.]]
** Alan's CaptainObvious moments make a lot more sense if you realize that [[spoiler:they're the narration of the book he wrote while trapped in Cauldron Lake.]]
** [[spoiler: A bolt of lightning saves Barry and gets the Anderson's stage running. Now what is [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Thor]] [[ShockAndAwe god of]]?]]
*** The protection of humanity, oak trees, destruction, and fertility!
** If the Dark Presence can take over things, why doesn't it just crack open the ground or other such things (LawfulEvil restrictions not withstanding)? After all, it possess objects all the time. Because it works on living beings or the creative output of living beings such as the technology they use (a sort of minor variant on how it can use the creative power of artists). Why then a tornado? It's not a tornado of air, it's a tornado of pollution!

* FridgeHorror:
** Those weird but basically harmless pools of darkness you've been burning away? One Night Springs episode implies that these pools are actually the free will of people.
** Alice is afraid of the dark, and gets taken by the Dark Presence. By the end of the game, she's been in there for two weeks. Imagine being surrounded by ''nothing but your worst fear'' for ''two whole weeks''...
** You know all the Taken you fight against throughout the game? Those are real, perfectly ordinary people who have committed no crime you are effectively destroying so thoroughly that no physical trace of their bodies remain, which means that they will remain forever missing and their loved ones without closure whatsoever. [[InferredHolocaust Which also means that Bright Falls is now missing several dozen of its residents with more on the way.]]
** This one overlaps with FridgeBrilliance, but... You know how there's all sorts of abandoned cars just waiting to be driven? Doesn't really make sense does it? Not until you remember that Taken used to be real people, so they probably got sucked out of their cars, keys still in.

--> Children of the Elder God

--> The Poet And The Muse

--> The Poet And The Muse

***** ->Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark Scratching hag, you can rake your claws and gnash your crooked teeth You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe Father Thor, bless this war, between the dark and light In their songs let their wrongs bring dissolution's night Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark

***** ->There's an old tale wrought with mystery, of Tom the Poet and his muse And a magic lake which gave a life to the words the poet used Now, the muse she was his happiness, and he rhymed about her grace And told her stories of treasures deep beneath the blackened waves Till' in the stillness of one dawn, still in its misty crown The muse she went down to the lake, and in the waves she drowned And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, gone mad with the night That's how you reshape destiny The poet came down to the lake to call out to his dear When there was no answer he was overcome with fear He searched in vain for his treasure lost and too soon the night would fall Only his own echo would wail back at his call And when he swore to bring back his love by stories he'd create Nightmares shifted in their sleep in the darkness of the lake And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, still raving in the night That's how you reshape destiny In the dead of night she came to him with darkness in her eyes Wearing a mourning gown, sweet words as her disguise He took her in without a word for he saw his grave mistake And vowed them both to silence deep beneath the lake Now, if it's real or just a dream one mystery remains For it is said, on moonless nights they may still haunt this place

->Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark Scratching hag, you can rake your claws and gnash your crooked teeth You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe Father Thor, bless this war, between the dark and light In their songs let their wrongs bring dissolution's night Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark

->There's an old tale wrought with mystery, of Tom the Poet and his muse And a magic lake which gave a life to the words the poet used Now, the muse she was his happiness, and he rhymed about her grace And told her stories of treasures deep beneath the blackened waves Till' in the stillness of one dawn, still in its misty crown The muse she went down to the lake, and in the waves she drowned And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, gone mad with the night That's how you reshape destiny The poet came down to the lake to call out to his dear When there was no answer he was overcome with fear He searched in vain for his treasure lost and too soon the night would fall Only his own echo would wail back at his call And when he swore to bring back his love by stories he'd create Nightmares shifted in their sleep in the darkness of the lake And now to see your love set free You will need the witch's cabin key Find the lady of the light, still raving in the night That's how you reshape destiny In the dead of night she came to him with darkness in her eyes Wearing a mourning gown, sweet words as her disguise He took her in without a word for he saw his grave mistake And vowed them both to silence deep beneath the lake Now, if it's real or just a dream one mystery remains For it is said, on moonless nights they may still haunt this place

I could be here for hours going over it all, but suffice to say, both songs came true. Every word of them.

->Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams
Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark Scratching hag, you can rake your claws and gnash your crooked teeth You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe Father Thor, bless this war, between the dark and light In their songs let their wrongs bring dissolution's night Oh, Memory and Thought Jet black and clawed Children of the Elder God Scourge of light upon the dark

Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends
Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane
Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name
Oh, Memory and Thought
Jet black and clawed
Children of the Elder God
Scourge of light upon the dark
Scratching hag, you can rake your claws and gnash your crooked teeth
You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe
Father Thor, bless this war, between the dark and light
In their songs let their wrongs bring dissolution's night
Oh, Memory and Thought
Jet black and clawed
Children of the Elder God
Scourge of light upon the dark

->There's an old tale wrought with mystery, of Tom the Poet and his muse
And a magic lake which gave a life to the words the poet used
Now, the muse she was his happiness, and he rhymed about her grace
And told her stories of treasures deep beneath the blackened waves
Till' in the stillness of one dawn, still in its misty crown
The muse she went down to the lake, and in the waves she drowned
And now to see your love set free
You will need the witch's cabin key
Find the lady of the light, gone mad with the night
That's how you reshape destiny
The poet came down to the lake to call out to his dear
When there was no answer he was overcome with fear
He searched in vain for his treasure lost and too soon the night would fall
Only his own echo would wail back at his call
And when he swore to bring back his love by stories he'd create
Nightmares shifted in their sleep in the darkness of the lake
And now to see your love set free
You will need the witch's cabin key
Find the lady of the light, still raving in the night
That's how you reshape destiny
In the dead of night she came to him with darkness in her eyes
Wearing a mourning gown, sweet words as her disguise
He took her in without a word for he saw his grave mistake
And vowed them both to silence deep beneath the lake
Now, if it's real or just a dream one mystery remains
For it is said, on moonless nights they may still haunt this place

** You know all the Taken you fight against throughout the game? Those are real, perfectly ordinary people who have committed no crime you are effectively destroying so thoroughly that no physical trace of their bodies remain, which means that they will remain forever missing and their loved ones without closure whatsoever. [[InferredHolocaust Which also means that Bright Falls is now missing several dozen of its residents with more on the way.]]