[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Maxwell and his intentions]]

[[WMG: Maxwell is actually the devil himself]]
Or at least the equivalent of the devil in their universe. A lot of instances in the game are pointing to this conclusion. For example when Wilson examines the pitchfork tool.

[[WMG: Maxwell is actually Maxwell's Demon]]
Maxwell's Demon is referenced in Physics as being an entity capable of refuting the second law of thermodynamics. However, in order to do that, it'd need to be able to add and calculate a certain number of particles in a certain area. Therefore, Wilson created a machine that Maxwell was a part of, and everyone in Don't Starve is actually a consciousness that is being used to stop the second law of thermodynamics from taking place. Basically, Maxwell is like the Kyuubey.

[[WMG: Maxwell is a {{Series/Supernatural}} type demon.]]
A human who made a DealWithTheDevil, went to hell when he died, and was turned into a demon himself. The actual devil/higher-up demons are the ones behind everything, and he's just another pawn. A high-ranking pawn, but a pawn nonetheless [[spoiler: which is why you find him trapped in the chair at the end of Adventure Mode]].
* The main DontStarve world is part of Purgatory.
* Maybe his deal involved [[spoiler:Charlie]]?

[[WMG:Maxwell's ultimate plan is to change Charlie back into a human]]
And every person brought to the Don't Starve world has a part to play.

[[WMG:Maxwell was tricked by the shadows, Charlie chose to join them of her own free will]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Character connections]]

[[WMG: How the other characters were pulled into the world of Don't Starve.]]
Assuming Maxwell tricked at least some of them like he did Wilson...
* Willow was offered plenty of things to burn.
* Wendy was offered a chance to play with her sister again.
** Could also have been a seance that Maxwell tampered with.
* Wolfgang was offered the chance to test his strength and become even mightier.
* WX-78 was built by a survivor sometime in the past. The fact that he has an empathy module could mean that he was supposed to help others. Either it broke or was tampered with somehow (probably by Maxwell to make things 'fair'), or WX-78 snapped upon seeing his inventor murdered, which is why he always talks about revenge when killing enemies.
** Or it killed it's inventor in revenge for mistreatment.
*** Jossed, WX's creator Wagstaff is definitely alive and well.
* Wickerbottom found a book of forbidden knowledge.
* And poor Wes just got ''ridiculously'' unlucky somehow. Another possibility is that he and Wolfgang worked at the same circus, and Wes is either followed him and got lost or is trying to bring him back.
** Or it's just because EveryoneHatesMimes...
** There's a piece of fanart that suggests Wes earned the distain of Maxwell after he flirted with Charlie.
* Woodie was offered a chance to use his curse for good ([[JerkassGenie "good" being making sure Lucy survives the Don't Starve world]])
** Wait, [[FridgeHorror Lucy was a woman?]]

Now with Reign of Giants...
* Webber was actually born in this world, but wandered off too far from his parent(s) and got himself eaten by a spider.
* Wigfrid was promised a chance to reach "Valhalla".

And Shipwrecked...
* Walani was promised freedom and a chance to escape her personal responsibilities.
* Warly was looking for a way out of poverty and was so desperate he took Maxwell's offer.
* Wilbur was a circus act who disappeared in the mysterious circus train crash mentioned in the William Carter Puzzles.
* Woodlegs read a "treasure map" he wasn't supposed to.
** He ended up in a cage after trying to steal a prized possession from the Yaarctopus.

And for the others (Wortox and Wormwood's backstories are already known, and Wurt and Wilba were both born into this world) ...
* Winona was offered the opportunity to [[ExactWords be with her sister again - albeit not the same sister she once knew]].
* Wheeler was offered a truly great adventure.
* Warbucks was given the opportunity to be [[ExactWords the richest MAN in the world]].
* Wagstaff found his own way into the world, since he is convinced his destiny is to sit on the [[ArtifactOfDoom Nightmare Throne]].

[[WMG: All of the characters are in the Don't Starve world because of a certain brand of radio and Maxwell's machinations.]]
[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN712L5NdE4 In the video showing how Wilson ended up in Maxwell's world]], a radio gave him "forbidden knowledge" to let him build the device that transported him. WordOfGod says about the radio: "The radio is a Voxola PR-76, manufactured in 1919 by the Voxola Radio company of Sidney, Ohio. The radio offered revolutionary sound and reception quality for the time, and was promoted by an intense national marketing campaign. Very few units were actually produced, because the factory was destroyed in a fire only days after production began. Voxola founder Robert Wagstaff went missing the night of the fire, and the company declared bankruptcy soon thereafter."

Maxwell gave Wagstaff forbidden knowledge so he was able to make an advanced radio. It was shown in the video that the radio is Maxwell's means of communicating out of his dimension, so the marketing campaign was meant to distribute as many of those as possible to give Maxwell more victims to play with. All of the playable characters, Wendy, Wolfgang, Woodie, etc. obtained a radio, which sent them to Maxwell's world. Wagstaff was kidnapped and transported when the fire broke out. It's no coincidence that everyone who finds themselves in this new, dangerous place has a name that begins with W, likely even Maxwell himself.

[[WMG: Maxwell lured all of the characters to the alternate world...]]
Because he was hoping to trick one of them into [[spoiler: freeing him]].
* So he could [[spoiler: try to find a way to change Charlie back]].

[[WMG:Charlie is/was Wendy and Abigail's older sister/cousin/aunt]]
* She has a red hair decoration in her profile picture like they do.
** One of her letters mentions that she has a sister, so it's possible.

[[WMG:Willow is Wickerbottom's daughter or granddaughter]]
Just because of the potential [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]]/conflict that could come from a book-lover and a {{Pyromaniac}} being related

[[WMG:Wolfgang and Wes come from the same circus]]
Wolfgang was a very popular act. Wes... wasn't.

[[WMG: Lucy was Woodie's wife/girlfriend/lover who died tragically and her spirit possessed his favorite axe (or so he thinks at least)]]
* Her death might have driven him a bit crazy
* Maybe he accidentally killed her with the axe one night when he turned into a Werebeaver?

[[WMG:Wilson or a MadScientist rival of his created WX-78.]]

[[WMG:Wilson is Webber's father.]]
Several of Webber's quotes allude to his father being some kind of scientist. They are also the only two characters capable of growing Beards.
* However Webber may also say that his father owned goats. Wilson hasn't been seen experimenting on goats.

[[WMG:Webber is the son of Maxwell and Charlie.]]
Charlie was pregnant when she and Maxwell were sucked into the Don't Starve world. Charlie gave birth to Webber there after which he was eaten by a spider.

[[WMG:Wendy and Abigail are Maxwell's nieces.]]
Maxwell's brother Jack mentions having twin children in one of his letters.

[[WMG:Willow was sexually abused in the past]]
She got revenge on her abuser by setting him on fire. Since that time, she associates fire with triumph, but still gets nightmares over what's happened to her. Maxwell promised her a way to "stop the pain" and she was lured into the world.
* She also burned down the asylum where she was held after killing her abuser.

[[WMG:Wigfrid is Clinically insane]]
Tying in with the previous WMG, Wigfrid has a delusional disorder where she believes she is a Viking shield maiden. Otherwise a very talented actress, she can't seem to "Get out of character". She made friends with Willow in the asylum and was one of the few who managed to escape when it burned down.

[[WMG:Robert Wagstaff created WX-78.]]
He created the Voxola PR-76, which can receive signals from the "other" world. Then he made a machine to send things there, and was transported himself. Later, in the Don´t Starve world, he tried to create a companion, but had to give up on the unfinished version for some reason. The name WX-78 means Wagstaff eXperiment 78.

[[WMG:Winona was brought to this world by playing the "Charlie, Charlie" game]]
She used to do this little ritual as a joke when she wanted to talk to her sister but couldn't for some reason. When her letters were going without replies, Winona decided to play it again to try to contact Charlie... unaware that Charlie was indeed listening.

[[WMG: WX-78 isn't fully robotic]]
He actually contains a few human body parts within himself, mainly a human stomach and brain.

[[WMG:Willow caused at least one massive fire before entering The Constant.]]
Winona's StringTheory in the "Next of Kin" video includes a newspaper clipping with the words "San Francisco Ablaze!", and Willow's vignette for The Forge mentions that entering The Constant was "a new beginning" that "allowed her to leave everything behind". At another point in time she may also have burnt down the library Wickerbottom worked at, as another newspaper clipping in the same video says "Fire Consumes New York Library".

[[WMG:Warbucks is/was Wilson's Grandfather]]
He entered the Constant to look for his missing grandson, but he wasn't the spry soldier he once was, and he perished before he could find Wilson. (this is also why he's currently unplayable)

[[WMG:Charlie caused Wolfgang's phobias]]
Judging from the fact that characters have special quotes for examining their own corpses when they get revived by Touch Stones, it seems that they remember their deaths, at least to a degree. Assuming this includes their "final" deaths (at least in a given world), Wolfgang could have arrived in the Constant phobia-free. Being the big, strong veteran he apparently is, he could have believed that a few walls would be enough to keep him alive overnight. [[DarknessEqualsDeath Cue Charlie]]. Have that happen enough times, and even residual memories will eventually lead him to realize that darkness is, in itself, dangerous in the Constant, and react accordingly.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Shadow Beings]]

[[WMG: The true ruler of the world is [[Literature/{{Coraline}} The Other Mother.]]]]
When she doesn't have a child to eat, she feeds on the soul of whoever is trapped on the Nightmare Throne. She lets her prisoners go free if they can trick someone else into taking their place. Many (if not all) of the human characters are people who escaped her in the past, and she is punishing them by sucking them into the world she's created and watching them suffer.

[[WMG: The Shadow Creatures are what remain the Ancients after their overuse of Nightmare Fuel]]
After all, Maxwell says that overuse of the Fuel can [[BodyHorror change a creature physically]], and the Terrorbeaks (and Mr. Skits) look a lot like the statues left behind...

[[WMG: The [[HumanoidAbomination Shadow]] [[MysteriousWatcher Watcher]] is Charlie herself or related to her.]]
Consider this, that the creature looks the most human out of all the Shadow Creatures, having a mess of tangled tendrils mimicking hair on it's head. And also it's relevance in the William Carter puzzles, having appeared in them more than any other shadow creature...
* That's a rather shaky theory, but the Watcher's significance to the lore in general is pretty much confirmed at this point given the numerous times it crops up in puzzles.

[[WMG: The playable characters will eventually all become shadow beings.]]
In a grand finale of sorts, All the playable characters in DST will team up to take down the Shadow monster head on. [[spoiler:Maxwell]] Is killed in the ensuing battle, as is Charlie herself. However, the shadow creature is a parasite and Charlie's defeat simply means it must find a new host. It finds a new host... several of them in fact.
* Proof for this WMG? The addition of the Shadow skins. Notice Maxwell doesn't get one, he gets a rather dorky "Unshadow" skin.
* Perhaps even worse, they won't become shadow beings themselves but they will become ''vessels'' for the shadow beings. Maxwell knows too much so they can't trick him into it and Charlie prove to have too strong a will to overtake entirely. The rest of the cast though... they're all unstable to some degree or another.

[[WMG: One of the updates for ''Don't Starve'' and/or ''Don't Starve Together'' will have you face Charlie and free their human side]]
In the beginning of ''Don't Starve Together'', you're shown that Charlie does have a human form, which is fighting against the Darkness which has been killing everyone who strays into the world, and has become the de facto person on the throne, fusing both the evil and good versions of herself. A future patch will allow you to go back to the throne room, and free her as a extra character, with the Darkness possibly taking on a new host...
* This will happen in the Adventure Mode of Don´t Starve Together.

[[WMG: The Shadow creatures EAT PEOPLE]]
Yet for some reason cannot directly kill them themselves. Since all that is left behind when someone dies is the skeleton and their ghost, the darkness can devour the deceased even in the daytime.
* The shadows don't like it when someone dies of starvation, hence the title of the game, as it leaves very little for them to eat. In general, the shadows prefer their prey to be kept relatively healthy.
* The only exception to this is merging with a person so that they can use their creative abilities to add new things to the world, in hopes of luring other victims in.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]

[[WMG: Chester is really an highly-intelligent being who has lost his ability to speak.]]
And the reason why he follows you is to keep his sanity levels up.

[[WMG: None of the characters needed to be a scientist to make the portal.]]
Maxwell corrupts them or give them temporary cunning when it comes to building, and so each of the characters except for Wilson (Willow, Wolfgang, Wendy etc.) were able to build it at once without previous knowledge. As seen in Wilson's trailer, he was offered scientific knowledge ''if he helped Maxwell'', meaning he was hoping to receive it afterwards. The power he got from Maxwell before he started building was not Maxwell sealing his end of the bargain; he just stacked Wilson's, and everyone else's, skulls to the brim of sudden knowledge to make him the portal.

[[WMG:George T. Witherstone will eventually be a playable character.]]
His name starts with W just like all the other playable characters.

[[WMG: Willow and Wendy have PsychicPowers.]]
Willow has [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]], which is why she's immune to fire, and Wendy is a fledgling [[ISeeDeadPeople medium]]. They both have white eyes because of this.
* Futhermore, Willow´s lighter doesn´t really work. It´s just a [[TragicKeepsake tragic keepsake]] through which she manifests her powers.

[[WMG: The 'grue' feeds on intelligent beings]]
The grue only attacks/feeds on beings who are sapient (not just sentient). Animals can go about unhindered, as you can see at night where beefalo or rabbits are just sleeping in the open with no light. The pigmen are actually frightened of the dark because they are more intelligent than the average animal and so are a potential target of the grue.

Possibly, the 'fear' of sapient beings is more nourishing than that of general animal fear. One reason (other than just gameplay reasons) why pigs aren't actually attacked by the grue could be because the player character is more intelligent than the pigs and so is more appetising, meaning the grue focuses on attacking the player.
* Jossed possibly since now we know it's Charlie and with the fact she seems more interested in not being seen.

[[WMG: The reason Wes loses 5 points of Sanity when making balloons...]]
Frustration. The truth is that Wes is really, really terrible at making balloons.

[[WMG: How you ended up Shipwrecked]]
The player character heard a rumor that there was an escape from this world very far south of where you start the game. So naturally, you build a boat to sail there. However, you got caught in a storm and wake up with your ship in pieces.

[[WMG: Chester used to be a dog]]
It seems even the forces of darkness will not stoop so low as to kill an innocent dog, so they transformed him into something... differently cute. He spawns when you pick up a bone (his favorite toy) and will follow you around until you get back to camp.

[[WMG: Each character can play the instrument that provides their "Voice".]]
Except for Wes, since he can't talk and doesn't have a "voice" anyway.

[[WMG: Abigail died protecting Wendy]]
Not long after the disastrous final act in 1906, The Shadow beings began to fan out and look for potential new targets. One of the first targets was Maxwell's only family in America. While the Carter family was asleep, a shadow figure crept in and set its sights on a sleeping little girl. Fortunately, her twin sister had already gotten up to get a glass of water, saw the monster, and did whatever it took to protect her. Her screams woke up the rest of the family, and the shadow figure fled, but not before inflicting a fatal blow on poor Abigail. The police were unable to determine exactly how Abigail died, as she showed no apparent external trauma nor did she show any signs of disease. No one saw what killed her, and the family's alibis all checked out. Abigail feared that the shadow beings may come back for Wendy, so she became a restless spirit bound to her twin. As a ghost, Abigail cannot directly tell her sister "Uncle William is dabbling in dark forces, beware." But she can stick around to protect Wendy from various threats. She always was the physically stronger, more energetic sister, after all.

[[WMG: The people at Klei "pre-shipped" all the characters]]
The Steam Trading cards for DST feature the characters in pairs. This may have been done deliberately as shipbait.

* '''Wilson and Willow: The Basic Ship''' They share a lot in common in regards to age, dress, and name. They are also the first two characters introduced.
* '''Wolfgang and Wickerbottom: Opposites Attract''' Wolfgang is brawn, Wickerbottom is brains. They need each other to balance out their deficits.
* '''Wendy and Webber: Toy Ship''' As the only children in the game, they are far too young for any "serious" romance. But it sure is cute to see them play together.
** Bonus CommonalityConnection: They're both associated with a mob whose kind would otherwise be hostile; Wendy with a ghost familiar(Abigail) and Webber with the spider he's fused with.
* '''Woodie and WX-78: Heterosexual Life Partners''' WX-78 has no concept of love or affection, and Woodie is devoted to Lucy. That being said, they can still be valuable partners in survival.
* '''Wes and Wigfrid: The World's a Stage''' They are both performance artists, Wigfrid's style is all about being loud and boisterous, while Wes is about silence and subtlety.
* '''Maxwell and Charlie: Star-crossed Lovers''' As shown in the supplementary material, Maxwell and Charlie showed great affection for each other, despite Maxwell being under the influence of the Shadows. Now that the roles have switched, their relationship is under a lot of strain.

[[WMG: Woodie and Lucy's Story]]
Many years ago, Woodie and Lucy were a young, newlywed couple. They were utterly devoted to each other, and had hopes of starting a family out on the Canadian plains. Unfortunately, Lucy got very sick. Every doctor they turned to said that there was no cure for Lucy's condition and she was going to die. When Lucy took a turn for the worse, Woodie brought her to a native shaman in a desperate bid to save her. The Shaman said he could save her, but Woodie would pay a very dear cost. Woodie said the "price" didn't matter and he would do anything to save Lucy. The Shaman then transferred Lucy's soul onto Woodie's favorite axe, and took a shred of Woodie's humanity to bind her to it, causing Woodie's "Curse" to take hold. Not long after, Woodie found that dealing with his newfound curse and the almost-absence of Lucy was too much for him to bear, and he sought out a way to cure them both. The Shaman warned him that this process couldn't be undone, but Woodie didn't listen. That's when Maxwell stepped in, offering Woodie a cure that seemed too good to be true...

[[WMG: Wes has a terrible stutter]]
Despite numerous treatments to treat the stutter, it still took Wes five minutes to say a simple sentence like "Hello, My name is Wes". He became a mime because that was the only profession he could think of that didn't involve talking. It's not that he can't talk, it's just that he refuses to.

[[WMG: Young Wickerbottom]]
When she was much younger, Wickerbottom was a bright and cheery girl, who loved to read and learn new things. She wanted to share her love of knowledge with others, so she became a teacher. However, she was placed in a school district that had terrible problems with truancy, violence, and underfunding. Years of working with disinterested students turned her very bitter, and as soon as she could quit the teaching gig, she did. The only other job she was able to take was at the local library, which suited her just fine. This library was also terribly underfunded, so she had to resort to writing her own books to fill the shelves.


[[WMG: Wickerbottom went to the Don´t Starve world by herself]]
She has vast knowledge of the world, but not as much as Maxwell. Unless those creatures exist in the "real" world, there´s no way she could have learned so much (things like scientific names, for instance). She probably found a book about the other world and became fascinated by it. Not a book about magic like the Codex Umbra, but a more scientific oriented encyclopedia. Eventually she learned all she could from the book, but it wasn´t enough. Her research then led her to the world itself, but she was unable to go back.
* Possibly Jossed. One of Wickerbottom´s examination lines for Maxwell is "Fool me once, shame on you (...)", which implies he manipulated her at some point.

[[WMG: Battlemaster Pugna will be playable eventually]]
He´s shown to hate the Nightmare Throne and wants to destroy it. Pugna may be his "pig name" or maybe he simply has a first name/surname which starts with W. As seen in his promotional image, he has a 'W' painted in his torso.

[[WMG: Wes is Pansexual]]
The Valentines cards he gave out were genuine declarations of romantic love (Except for Wendy and Webber's, they are just kids).

[[WMG: The Goats (Nanny and Billy) will appear outside of events in the future.]]
After all, they did say they would follow.

[[WMG: The Gnaw wants those under it's curse to trade.]]
For some reason, none of those under the curse work together to get food. While Sammy and Pipton are justified, why do Nanny and Billy trade when it would be much easier to just give the items. Most likely, the Gnaw wants them to trade. The Gnaw ignores the players helping each other because they trade with the Goats.

[[WMG: WHy some creatures have glowing eyes]]
Non-hostile mobs such as the rabbits, the birds, and the beefalo all feature glowing eyes. This is because the shadows have "blessed" them and vowed never to attack them. They are too essential for survival, but the pigmen and merms do not have this feature, as they are non-essential for a human survivor's survival.

[[WMG: Wormwood doesn't speak English at all]]
Why does Wormwood have a completely unique font and text color? It's a shorthand that his dialog is being translated for the player's benefit.

"But what about the Mants?" you ask. "They don't speak English either and they don't have a unique font!"

Well, think about it. Mant language is untranslated by default and the player has to find an in-game method to understand them. Therefore, the reason the font isn't different is because their speech is only ever presented as what the in-game character is comprehending.

Add to this the fact that Wormwood most likely lives a rather isolated life (as his "The Lonesome" title suggests) and mainly talks to plants that certainly won't be responding back in English, if at all, and he is left with neither the means nor the motivation to learn English.

[[WMG: The Constant is a Durance from {{TabletopGame/Changeling the lost}}, and the Shadows are the True Fae keeping them there.]]
Each of the characters was lured into Arcadia through various methods and now have to struggle to survive for the amusement of their keepers (Including Maxwell and Charlie, who are still just glorified puppets with a fancy makeover while on the throne).

Should they manage to escape, they’d be full changelings. Wilson, for example, might be an Inventor Wizened, Willow a Fireheart Elemental, Webber a Skitterskulk Beast, and Wendy a Gravewright Darkling.

[[WMG: Wilson is Aroace]]
I don't really have any proof for this, I just like to imagine him as that

[[WMG: Wormwood hates the lord of the fruit flies]]
it is likely that since the lord of the fruit flies hurts plants that Wormwood hates this specific creature in the constant
[[/folder]]