History WMG / AlanWake

Alan's literary style is full of PurpleProse, almost as if he was a poet attempting to write prose. "Departure" is written in exactly the same style, but then, why doesn't Alan remember writing it? The answer is that he didn't write it. Thomas Zane did. At the beginning of the game, we explicitly see Thomas Zane giving Alan a page: that's because it was Thomas Zane who originally had it... just like every other page Alan finds.

First, we know that he caused everything about himself to disappear, except whatever was kept in a shoebox. In a shoebox, we find a story about Alan and a broken switch, identified as the Clicker by Alan himself. The story proves that Alan Wake was a character created by Thomas Zane, come to life. The Clicker in the shoebox was the original broken switch, owned by Thomas Zane, and it had alwas been there. The Clicker that Alan remembers was a perfect duplicate, which the story caused to exist. Presumably, even Alan himself was a perfect duplicate of Thomas Zane, created as a SelfInsertFic.

First, we know that he caused everything about himself to disappear, except whatever was kept in a shoebox. In a shoebox, we find a story about Alan and a broken switch, identified as the Clicker by Alan himself. The story proves that Alan Wake was a character created by Thomas Zane, come to life. The Clicker in the shoebox was the original broken switch, owned by Thomas Zane, and it had alwas been there. The Clicker that Alan remembers was a perfect duplicate, which the story caused to exist. Presumably, even Alan himself was a perfect duplicate of Thomas Zane, created as a SelfInsertionFic.

[[WMG: More people know about and have been fighting the Taken than we know baout.]]
It's stated many times that every year, as Deerfest approaches, which presumably coincides somehow with an ebbing of power on the DP's part, there are always incidents. Cynthia Weaver is the obvious, given that she's the CrazyPrepared lady who lives in the abandoned power plant (and which is technically in violation of local and federal law, but which the locals don't prosecute her for,) and is always prepared against the darkness, but there's always reports of people firing off their guns at Deerfest, but comparatively few fatalities. Some of that, of course, is likely standard rednecks making noise, but it would make sense if people were seeing Taken, reacting appropriately (melting the darkness off them and then shooting them,) only to have no evidence that they'd ever been under attack in the first place, which they just keep quiet about. (Also, the church is always lit at Deerfest. Hrm...)

*** This [[Alan Wake 2 concept video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQRUx-w6t4s]] explains that Mr. Scratch's mind used to mirror Alan's own, but it changed for the worse when people started making up rumors about what happened at the lake (Alan Wake supposedly being a serial killer who chopped his wife to pieces and murdered campers), because Mr. Scratch is a fictional character come to life. Also, the Dark Presence tok over him like it had taken over Barbara, because Alan Wake acquiring those traits would be a plot hole like Barbara returning.

You play as Alice, looking for Alan and trying to figure out what's going on. The third game will be simply "Wake", though I have no idea who you'd play as. Maybe both Alan and Alice, to call back to ''MaxPayne2''?

[[WMG: Address Unknown and possibly VideoGame/MaxPayne itself were written by Alan Wake.]]

[[WMG: Cauldron Lake/The Dark Presence is the present day [[BrutalLegend Sea of Black Tears]]]]

[[WMG: One of the previous writers lured to Bright Falls was FrankMiller.]]

[[WMG: Mr. Scratch is a [[{{Ravenloft}} Mist Claimer]]]]

His manipulation by the Dark Presence was depicted [[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-2-pulls-the-drama-tag/06-the-drama-tag/whores/ here.]]

By signing the Old Gods of Asgard and getting them out of retirement and writing music again he's giving the Dark Presence another foothold into the world that lets it bolster its strength independent of Alan. It's still focusing its attention of Alan because it wants revenge, because his writing seems to be a better source of power for it than their songs (probably because it has so much more to work with in a novel than in just a few verses), and maybe because Odin and Tor just seem to be very good at wiggling out of its influence without anything too bad happening, but having them out there making works and gaining fame is still giving it an edge it would have lacked in its fight against him.

You can even add another layer at the bottom, with the ''Alan Wake'' book being an adaption of Thomas Zane's poems into a more coherent narrative.

[[http://thishouseofdreams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/diving-deep.html The final post of the teaser blog for Alan Wake 2]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Light Presence - officially called the Bright Presence - isn't Thomas Zane, but something that took his shape while his true essence - his soul - sank further into that deeper, darker ocean green with Barbara's. Using the power of the Dark Place, he created a new 'baby universe' where he could live with Barbara happily ever after. Meanwhile, the Presences of the Dark Place continued their [[GoodIsNotNice terrible, ruthless battle]].]]

* This also explains [[spoiler:why he was acting slightly sketchy in The Wrtier. When accused of manipulating Wake by writing the page about the Clicker, the stumbles as he tries to claim that he didn't and then changes the usbject. That's because ''he doesn't know''.]]

Alan's journey won't come to a happy ending if he tries to purge himself of all of his darkness. He has to accept the shadows that his light casts. While Mr. Sc***ch is his inner darkness given form, what's to say that a "light" counterpart wouldn't be just as damaging to his reputation or the lives of others?

[[WMG: Alan Wake is a [[TheTerminator Terminator]].]]

He will seek to succeed where the Bright and Dark Presences failed, and embody a new cosmic [[TakeAThirdOption third option]]. The series will end with someone using not a flashlight, but a flashwake.

* This means that [[GoodIsNotNice he used the exact same trick the Dark Presence pulled on Thomas - taking the form of and pretending to be someone trustworthy.]]
* This also explains why he was acting slightly sketchy in The Wrtier. When accused of manipulating Wake by writing the page about the Clicker, the stumbles as he tries to claim that he didn't and then changes the usbject. That's because ''he doesn't know''.

* This explains why Zane was acting so sketchy in the DLC. And let's not forget that [[he used the exact same trick the Dark Presence pulled on Thomas - taking the form of and pretending to be someone trustworthy.]]

Alan's first real writing gig was writing for Night Springs. At the start, trying to fit the show's formula of the strange an unexpected, he tried writing an episode in which an old woman shows her friend something strange she'd found in the basement. However, he drew a complete blank as to what it could be. In a fit of frustration, he wrote a rough draft in which the thing was a blank spot in reality and in which he himself told the ladies that he'd completely run out of ideas. He realized that this is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in the show and developed it into the episode seen in the game. If only he knew how prescient it was...

Alan's first real writing gig was writing for Night Springs. At the start, trying to fit the show's formula of the strange an unexpected, he tried writing an episode in which an old woman shows her friend something strange she'd found in the basement. However, he drew a complete blank as to what it could be. In a fit of pique, he wrote a draft in which the thing was a blank spot in reality and in which he himself told the ladies that he'd completely run out of ideas. He realized that this is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in the show and developed it into the episode seen in the game. If only he knew how prescient it was...

[[WMG: The [[spoiler:paradise created by Zane for himself and Barbara became known as...]]

[[http://thishouseofdreams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/diving-deep.html The final post of the teaser blog for Alan Wake 2]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Light Presence - actually a Bright Presence - isn't Thomas Zane, but something that took his shape while his true essence - his soul - sank further into that deeper, darker ocean green with Barbara's. Using the power of the Dark Place, he created a new 'baby universe' where he could live with Barbara happily ever after. Meanwhile, the Presences of the Dark Place continued their [[GoodIsNotNice terrible, ruthless battle]].]]
* This explains why Zane was acting so sketchy in the DLC.

[[spoiler:Face it, his writing ''was'' a bit crap. Maybe he'd be better off starting over...]]

* See below - it may have instead become [[spoiler:a newbord Presence taking the form of the offspring - the child of a Bright and Dark Presence.]]