Alternative Character Interpretation / Video Games: G to L

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A - F | G - L | M - S | T - Z

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G

• Tai from Gears of War may have been a little bit psychotic before he was mentally broken and Driven to Suicide by Locust torture.
  • "I like the glow of Locust blood in this light." "You've got a sick mind, Tai."
  • Augustus Cole is The Big Guy of the game's Five-Man Band. A former Thrashball player (essentially an Expy of the NFL), he always shown to be upbeat and fearless, usually spouting some sports-related terminology ("We're going into overtime," and "Get back in the game, Baby!" are both things he says upon reviving a downed teammate). He is only playable as the viewpoint character once in the entire series, for half a chapter in Gears of War 3. In that chapter, he starts hallucinating (or possibly just vividly reminiscing, since it occurs on the field of his team's home stadium, where he later the best games of his career), seeing his enemies as players on a rival Thrashball team as he recklessly charges across the battlefield. After this, one has to wonder if maybe Cole has been so upbeat and fearless because he was playing Thrashball in his head for the entire war.
    • The novelizations by Karen Traviss include a scene where Bernie Mataki finds Cole writing a letter to his mother. He says he writes to her as often as he can. Then he says she died on E-Day, which was over fifteen years ago. Clearly Cole has had to develop some coping mechanisms over the years.
  • The Locust themselves, while portrayed as bloodthirsty, mindless, genocidal monsters from the human's point of view, the backstory reveals that the Locust only attacked humanity first because they were certain that humanity would wipe out the Locust if they knew they existed, not to mention that the locust, far from being mindless, are all highly intelligent, tactically minded individuals.
• Ghost of Tsushima:
  • Shimura taking in Jin and wishing to formally adopt him. While there is no doubt that Shimura geniunely cares deeply for his nephew, did he take Jin out of the goodness of his heart or did he do so in hopes of preventing Jin from developing the Combat Pragmatist ways Jin's father was hinted to have, fearing for Jin and clan Sakai's reputation?
    • Also, there is Shimura's insistence of abiding by the strict samurai code or is he more aware of the politics at play? He is shown not having any trouble keeping a pirate alive if he is useful and it seems the shogun does not care about Shimura other than a speed bump for the Moguls so the mainland can prepare. With this in mind and the shogun later putting a bounty on Jin's head for going against the samurai ways, it's possible that Shimura is aware what the mainland will do to a Jito who doesn't follow orders.
    • One possible interpretation for why Shimura is so uncaring of the casualties in retaking his castle is that many in his army are from Yarikawa, a clan that once rebelled against him. Every death that occurs is one less person Shimura may have to fight against later should the Yarikawa clan chose to rebel again.
  • There is Ryuzo's final confrontation with Jin after their betrayal. They ask Jin to tell Shimura that they were a Double Agent so they could be spared. Was Ryuzo a Dirty Coward trying to weasel their way out after all this time or were they intentionally trying to get Jin angry enough to make him kill them due to their guilt over their actions and losing all the Straw Hats?
• It's surprisingly easy to interpret the Grand Theft Auto protagonists as vigilantes. When you think about it, most of their victims are criminals, serial killers, gang-bangers, mobsters, drug traffickers, corrupt officials, or terrorists. For all their evil actions, they do far more damage to the criminal underworld than the police ever did.
• Growing Up: While Richard is canonically bi, some players have seen him as a biromantic asexual because he develops a crush on the protagonist regardless of their gender but feels squeamish at the female summer camp instructor wanting to do "more than just holding hands with or kissing" him.
• This review of the freeware game Guardian of Paradise is a prime example of Alternative Character Interpretation.
• Greedfall: Is the spirit of Teer Fradee actually a benevolent nature guardian, or an Eldritch Abomination manipulating the natives to justify its existence and the sacrifices it demands of its followers?
• Guild Wars canon gives a bit of a mixed message about the undead lord Palawa Joko. The background lore and the Battle of Jahai bonus mission seem to portray him as a genuine Evil Overlord, and teaser lore for Guild Wars 2 reveal that he will succeed at conquering Elona, but in all his other appearances he seems somewhat inept and comical at times. Some of the fans have tried to reconcile these, taking into account that Joko's something of a Draco in Leather Pants and the fact that his non-Battle of Jahai appearances were during an Enemy Mine with the player character by saying that Joko was Obfuscating Stupidity to make sure he seemed like the lesser threat and gain your sympathy, and generally keep the status quo intact (The game does not give you a choice).

H

• Half-Life:
  • Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. Is he a Messianic Archetype, a pure and just bringer of intervention when the time is right, or a monster with the intention of killing everything he can. Freeman's Mind puts him in the middle, as a self serving nutjob who thinks that gnomes are real, and would like one as a pet.
  • The G-Man faces just as much interpretation. Is he good? Evil? Selfish? Is he just working for a higher power? Is he Gordon from the future or something? Is he the "mystery element of Half-Life" that fans adore so much or a manipulative bastard who brought humanity near to extinction just because of his... e-employers? And of course, while deciding this, remember what he did to Adrian Shepard.
• Halo: John-117: Badass Super-Soldier or Tragic Hero?
  • The second probably comes from the Expanded Universe with the Spartan-IIs' rather unfortunate conscription - the concept of John-117 being trained from a child wasn't explicitly stated in the games (apart from the "Final Grunt" Easter Egg) until Halo 4. Also, he was trained in the first place to surpress rebels who really did have some legitimate grievances against the UNSC. He could almost be considered a villain, and certainly is from the Covenant's perspective. He's slaughtered thousands of them, many of which were slaves forced to fight against their will, with the Unggoy (Grunts) in particular often running from you in fear and screaming for mercy (those who don't try to suicide-bomb you instead, anyways).
    • Almost, save for the fact that he's trying to stop the Covenant from not just killing all humans, but destroying the galaxy.
  • A hero, or a weapon?
    • Very compelling. Exactly how much free will does John possess? Is he doing what he thinks is right, or what he's been forced into thinking is right? (Is there any difference?) Are his amazing feats the result of true heroism and ingenuity or exactly what he was designed to do? (Again, difference?)
    • In Halo: First Strike, he does have to decide while making a somewhat minor decision between what is morally right (preserving a friend's life) and what may possibly be best for humanity (ending it); he chooses the former.
    • Ever since 343i took over the franchise, this issue has been explored much more extensively, with the prologue to Halo 4 basically asking that very same question.^note "Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, broken?" Ultimately, we finally get to see in the games that he does have a moral sense independent from that of his superiors when he defies orders to surrender Cortana. Master Chief even goes rogue in Halo 5: Guardians when he dreams of Cortana contacting him. When he discovers her Face–Heel Turn, he is noticeably disgusted with her body count, and simply asks to have her come home with him so that she can get psychological help.
  • The above all applies to every Spartan-II in existence by extension.
    • Speaking of Cortana's Face–Heel Turn, is it a consequence of her still suffering from rampancy despite supposedly being cured of it by the Domain, of her worst personality traits being accentuated by consequence of her having Came Back Wrong, or of the Warden Eternal manipulating her psychological weaknesses for his own ends? Most notably, Cortana's relationship with the Master Chief was previously along the lines of siblings, with only hints of Ship Tease between them (most noticeably during Halo 4). However, during Halo 5, she seems to have become a Stalker with a Crush, which can be chalked up to one (or more) of the options given above. Interestingly, Master Chief seems to be subtly Squicked out by the prospect of a Relationship Upgrade with Cortana, even without considering her Face–Heel Turn.
  • The Rookie from Halo 3: ODST could be thought of as merely another silent protagonist. But when you look at his history, you will find that he recently endured a horrific massacre of his previous squad and all other forces there, implying (though not directly stating) that he has some major PTSD.
  • Noble Six from Halo: Reach could qualify as a Tragic Hero along with his/her typical "hero" depiction when you think about it and have some knowledge of the Halo universe outside of the games. He/she was orphaned as a child by the war, "recruited" by the military not soon afterwards, and was one of only a few survivors from a roughly 300-strong SPARTAN-III company that were almost all killed in a suicide mission before they had even passed prematurely-induced puberty. Then on Reach, he/she fails to defend Reach, witnessing the death of most of his/her teammates (who themselves share the same backstory as him/her or the Chief) and all other friendly forces, and dies alone to top it all off. Not what you would call a happy life.
  • The Elites/Sangheili: Proud Warrior Race Guys or homicidal Jerkasses? Canon seems to indicate that they don't slot into rigid moral categories any more easily than humans do.
    • Proud Warrior Race Guys: They customarily welcome their defeated enemies into their ranks as brothers and forgive all sins at the end of wars, with many of them arguing for humanity to be allowed to join the Covenant rather than be entirely wiped out, and growing to later deeply regret the atrocities they had committed against humanity, with one Sangheili Shipmaster going so far as to lose his entire sense of meaning; he eventually decides to single-handedly wander a planet he personally glassed to find both atonement and a new purpose.
    • Jerkasses: Many of them are virulent racists who treat most other species abominably, even those allied to them, with the Grunts/Unggoy in particular regarded as little more than slaves to be abused. Additionally, a number of Elites, even after the Covenant was revealed to be founded on a lie, still want to finish their genocide against humanity. Additionally, even their sense of Honor Before Reason has a vicious edge to it, with torture being a common punishment for violating their code of conduct.
  • Could Palmer's issues with Halsey be a way of transferring her family's anti-intellectual abuse? At least one person thinks it possible.◊
  • Tartarus's actions after hearing the Awful Truth from Arbiter and 343 Guilty Spark but choosing to activate Installation 05 anyways. Was he so fanatically devoted to the Covenant religion that nothing would deter him? Did he believe that Arbiter and 343 Guilty Spark were lying to him and attempting to stray him from the path? Based off his initial reaction when told of the truth, he did appear to struggle to process what he heard versus what he was led to believe. Did Tartarus have a momentary crisis of faith but was in denial and pushed himself forward to complete his duty? It is also possible Tartarus decided he had come too far to turn back and continued to follow through on what he was sent to do, even if he knew it was a lie.
• The Happyhills Homicide
  • Did the Clown's victims really deserve their fate? The game itself seems to ask the player that question. On the one hand, at the end of the game, it is revealed that the Clown was an unpopular janitor named John Wade, and most of the victims were students and teachers that bullied and ostracized him. The only person who was kind to him was a student named Madison Carpenter, on whom he developed a crush on and even gave her gifts. Then one day, John was burned alive because of a prank two jocks played on him; the jocks could have saved him but did not because they felt he was not worth saving. On the other hand, it was implied some of them had legitimate reasons to dislike him or find John creepy. John was giving gifts to a female student and had a crush on her, which a fellow teacher and a few students called him out on doing. However, there is no evidence John did anything else, and it is possible they mostly dislike him for shallow reasons, like being a mentally unwell loner. While a few of John's victims were despicable and hard to sympathize with, it's implied that most of his victims were people he killed for disproportionate reasons, like being mean and making fun of him. However, that is understandable in that John Wade was driven insane by being burned alive and acting out on his repressed rage towards his tormentors.
  • Was the Clown always unstable, even as John Wade, or did his Sanity Slippage only set in after his Near-Death Experience? It's implied that he was always kind of an antisocial loner, judging by his colleague's and the student's remarks. And then there's his borderline disturbing crush on Madison and him saying to himself that he and Madison will be together someday. However, there is no evidence that he was aggressive to any of his colleagues and students before the accident or that he had any plans to harm them.
  • Did Madison actually like John, and was she genuine when she thanked him for his gifts? Or was she just acting friendly out of fear of what he'd do if she rejected him? It should be noted that while John was bullied and ostracized by his colleagues and the students, there is no evidence that anyone feared him, meaning that it's possible that Madison was genuinely nice to him.
• The Origami Killer a.k.a Scott Shelby from Heavy Rain. Is he really a broken person driven by his grief and dark past to kill in order to fulfill an insane "test" that even he knows is wrong, and trying to make up for the pain he caused by helping his victims' parents, or is he just a psychopathic manipulator using Lauren Winter and the others around him to achieve his ends, while covering his tracks?
  • It's a possibility that Ethan Mars, Madison Paige, Norman Jayden, and Scott all investigate the Origami Killer so that they could die.
• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Is Watanagashi-hen version of Shion a typical Yandere, an unlucky girl with a thorn in her heart because her true love has been taken away from her, or Wide-Eyed Idealist that couldn't stand out living in Crapsack World and just has to snap sooner or later, an immature girl unaware of her actions consequences until it's too late, or just girl that never been loved by anyone and her actions were desperate cry for help? Was her pollyanna-esque face only a mask to hide her longing or would she fully recover from loss if she had never meet Keiichi? Or everything at the same time?
  • Are Dr. Irie's jokes about his paedophilia tendencies only jokes, or something more....
  • Rika is ripe for this. Is she a poor, innocent girl trapped in an endless game she can't escape from, or is she a selfish (indirect) mass-murderer who will make everyone else suffer for her own happiness? Umineko: When They Cry's Bernkastel is essentially the second interpretation given form. This is conveyed well in the Silly Hat work seen here. Although even she could be given an alternate interpretation as a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
• Horizon Zero Dawn:
  • Did Ted Faro truly believe he was doing the best thing for the reborn human race by erasing the Old Ones' knowledge from APOLLO in the belief that this knowledge was what laid the groundwork for humanity's self-destruction, or was he a self-absorbed Dirty Coward looking for a convenient excuse to remove any chance of being remembered as the person responsible for the Robot War disaster that killed off all life on Earth? Was he suffering from a case of Never My Fault and convinced himself that it wasn't his fault these events happened but rather the knowledge/society that enabled him to do this, or did he just completely break down and go crazy from the weight of the guilt he felt for being responsible for the mess that destroyed civilization and doomed the human race? Or even a mixture of all of these?
    • To a lesser extent, Ted's relationship with Elisabet Sobeck can be subject to this. He clearly respected her and her intelligence enough to call her for help when crap began to hit the fan, she was essentially his Morality Chain in the days Project Zero Dawn was being built up, and her death clearly exacerbated his Sanity Slippage. Were they simply former friends and colleagues that had a falling out over opposing philosophies, or was there a deeper relationship going on before things went south?
  • Whether Sylens' cynical worldview is justified or not. He believes that humanity is a feeble thing and only through mutual gain and the chase of absolute truth do we better ourselves. While his actions helped shed light on the misunderstandings the new generation has regarding the Old Ones, Sylens' history with HADES, what he did to the Banuk, and Aloy's opinion of him seem to suggest that he isn't as benevolent as he thinks he is.

I

• Ib: Mary. Is she a Green-Eyed Monster with Yandere-esque tendencies toward Ib, who is willing to do anything to escape, or is she just a lonely little girl who has been driven utterly insane by her hellish reality and desperately wants to escape to the world beyond? The fact that she's least sympathetic in the one ending where she does escape doesn't help matters.
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is quite open about the sexuality, gender, and neurodivergence of its characters, but that doesn't stop fans form speculating. Popular ones include Tang, Marz, and Rex being aromantic, Nomi having ADHD, and Vace, Tang, and Dys all suffering from PTSD.

J

• Jade Empire: Were the Brothers Sun actually in the wrong when it came to the siege of Dirge? The Empire was dying. Hundreds of thousands had perished already, and the drought would have continued for 3 more years, killing thousands more and collapsing the Empire. The Water Dragon had it in her power to end the suffering and refused. The Spirit Monks were perfectly willing to let more people die and civilization collapse in order to serve the whims of their Goddess. Cue one massive tragedy that leaves the Monks dead, the Emperor an insane ghost, the youngest brother's spirit bound to an abomination, and the surviving brother off in the backwoods planning to force Order back onto Creation. On the other hand, Sun Hai admits during the conversation with his daughter and his Motive Rant before fighting the hero that he was largely motivated by wanting to keep his throne, and given that his brothers try to betray him in order to seize power, it can also be argued that everyone involved was selfish.
  • While at first the Water Dragon may seem to be a Jerkass God for withholding water from the Empire, she really isn't when one takes a look at the way the world works. If she gave water to the Empire then another land would suffer their drought, she admits as much near the end of the game. People were going to die from drought no matter what she did, the only thing that would change is the location of the people dying.
  • She also states towards the end of the game that the Jade Empire was supposed to fall, so something new could be born. So it could that the drought was pre-destined and thus, she had no choice at all.
• Is Daxter from Jak and Daxter a loudmouth, wise cracking, cowardly sidekick or secretly a great hero in waiting ready to take Jak's place if the time ever comes? Is what happened in his Gaiden Game the truth or is it just Daxter telling more tall tales?

K

• Katawa Shoujo:
  • Iwanko, the girl who confessed to Hisao on the day of his heart attack, visits him in the hospital for six weeks, their conversations growing more awkward over time, until she leaves for the last time, and months later, sends a "Dear John" Letter to him. She can be interpreted as callously casting him aside like his other old friends did, or having tried to be there for him, only to be unable to help him as his depression pushed her away. It helps that Hisao's opinion on her letter, ranging from tossing it aside in disgust (Lilly's route) to conceding that he had pushed her away (Shizune's route) depends on the route, and who, if anyone, he talks to about it.
  • There's also the question of how much of Kenji's misogynistic Conspiracy Theorist personality is genuine, and how much is a facade, as well as what it could be a facade for. The fact that he used to have a girlfriend, and he bears no hard feelings toward her (pointing out that he only hates feminists), and he can show a kinder and more empathetic side on occasion can be interpreted as cases of him petting the dog or actually dropping his conspiracy theorist act when the situation warrants it.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • The Nobodies are either uncaring monsters that act like people, entirely victims of propaganda, victims of manipulations, victims that have been manipulated into being uncaring monsters. Some of these seem to both be true, most commonly people point out that they certainly do monstrous things but it seems clear that everything DiZ says about them isn't true. (Others have said that "if Nobodies are a race, then Sora and Riku are guilty of genocide and Ansem is a racist.")
  • What Diz says is true, when talking about normal Nobodies. The problem is that he applies the same ideas to Roxas, who can and does feel emotions (which probably has something to do with Ventus), and Naminé, who he admits in the Secret Ansem Reports is a very unique case to begin with.
    • And then comes the big revelation in KH3D that Nobodies can grow hearts over time based off of their memories and that Xemnas and Xigbar neglected to tell this everyone else to further their own goals. Thus, in a sense, almost all of the fan interpretations of Organization XIII are true.
  • Others decide to interpret other characters. Such as how Sora is often portrayed as being a blithering idiot or how Kairi and Naminé are portrayed as being evil. And Riku is a full-on woobie who certainly didn't mean to Kick the Dog throughout the first game.
    • Also, because Naminé is often seen drawing, there's a good number of Yaoi Fangirls who think that she's... well, a Yaoi Fangirl.
  • Is Sora in the Fan Fic Kingdom Hearts: The Short and Honest Version really schizophrenic? It makes sense when you take into account all the Character Development he went through. Oh yeah, and Bob Marley's Ghost. And the others.
  • Due to graphical limitations and some ambiguous dialogue, Axel can be seen as an Ax-Crazy psycho in the original Chain of Memories. Not so much in the remake or sequels (he was certainly a cold-blooded killer in CoM, but the 3D version shows that it's clearly not of the psychotic variety) but the damage has been done.
  • Then there's the tons of fanwank over the various personalities of the members of Organization XIII when they're not trying to regain their identities and generally be evil. Most of these interpretations have been influenced by Flanderization, Draco in Leather Pants and the endless supply of Ho Yay connected to this group.
  • By the end of 358/2 Days, it's all made less confusing and pretty clear that none of the members, except perhaps Xion, Roxas, and (after he's sincerely befriended the two of them) Axel, can feel anything and are more than happy to murder or manipulate the fellow members of the Organization to further their own goals. This is exemplified by Xemnas himself who orders Xion and Roxas to fight to the death. He may have tried to arrange this before, too. In the end, Roxas defeats Xion and absorbs her, ending her existence entirely.
    • When Xion fights Roxas, she is not only attacking him but taunting him despite that they're friends. It's actually highly possible to see this as a Thanatos Gambit since Roxas still benefits from her supposed death. They're so close to each other that Xion's willing to sacrifice herself so Roxas can go on living and benefit... which some people will do.
  • In light of Birth by Sleep, Xemnas, believe it or not, is subjected to this in spades because, unlike the other incarnations of Xehanort, he's influenced by both Xehanort and Terra. Is Xemnas a Tragic Villain suffering from Wistful Amnesia while being manipulated by a plan set into motion over a decade ago that is, by all means, completely out of his hands or is he simply an irredeemable Magnificent Bastard par excellence? Something in the middle, perhaps? Taking into account his origins as (Master) Xehanort and Terra and The Reveal of 3D seems to pile on more and more layers of possible interpretation.
    • And then there's his exchange with Sora when he appears to die (only to come back for three more fights) after their second battle in II and disappears after claiming that he can't remember all of the feelings that make up a heart, something which causes Sora to sympathize with his plight, even if it was slightly and briefly. Genuine (but ultimately negated) attempt at an Alas, Poor Villain moment or was Xemnas simply lying through his teeth?
  • Mention must be made of the other ambiguously sympathetic Xehanort incarnation: Young Xehanort, from Dream Drop Distance. Is he every bit as wicked as the rest of the gang, or was he coerced into jumping through time to help his future selves and is now resigned to that duty because the rule of time travel states you cannot change events already meant to transpire? The fact that Xehanort is responsible for his own Start of Darkness is bad enough, but things get really eye-crossing when Young Xehanort even admits he doesn't fully know what will come next; all he can be assured of is that the memories in his heart of his time travel experience will spur him on to enact the events in the future he'll lose knowledge of upon returning to his era. It wouldn't be far-fetched to write him off as a victim of circumstance as opposed to an actual villain. Furthermore, he's rather impersonal in his efforts against the heroes (abnormal when you consider that the various other Xehanorts are not above kicking puppies with glee and reckless abandon), he's the only one of the bunch who is not corrupted by darkness, and the fight with him at the end of the game, as per Word of God, was due to a Villain Override by the elder Master Xehanort. Going past this, this is Master Xehanort (who is painted in his backstory as more kindly and noble character who merely yearned to explore other worlds—much like Riku—and had understandable albeit morally gray motives) before he careened into villainy at breakneck speeds. The question of how emotionally vested he is in his group's master plan and how evil he is truly up in the air. Case in point: his voice actor was deliberately told when recording to not make the character sound outright villainous and was even given his lines out of context so that his performance would be just as detached as the actual character.

L

• Legacy of Kain:
  • Why did Kain choose to reign the Nosgoth instead of saving it? Does he seek balance or total annihilation of humans? Does he respect Raziel, or is he just a pawn to him?
  • In fact, this trope can be — and has been — applied to nearly all significant characters in the series. Raziel: Genuine villain turned-hero-seeking-redemption or vengeful Axe-Crazy maniac with delusions of grandeur? Moebius: Magnificent Bastard, Well-Intentioned Extremist or just another clueless pawn? Vorador: Gluttonous sado-hedonist or a disillusioned cynic? Ariel: Helpful spirit or undead manipulator? The Elder God: Parasite? God? Parasite who genuinely thinks he's (a) god? Parasite who claims to be (a) god (presumably for the ability to more easily draw victims to itself)? The list goes on like that.
  • Soul Reaver 2 brings up a completely different possibility. When faced with the Sadistic Choice, Kain decided to Take a Third Option and make a Stable Time Loop until, as he put it, the coin lands on its edge.
    • Which brings up another ACI. Did Kain let the pillars fall out of selfishness and realized later there was another way or did he have a plan from start?
    • Being the Scion of Balance, Kain could have weighed both choices, and his powers as Scion made him realize both choices were unbalanced (due to all the conditions around sacrifice or survival being rigged on every level), and thus, neither really mattered. As survival at least gives one the chance to fix things later, he probably sensed that one as being "the least unbalanced" and went for it. As well, by that point in the story, he was quickly becoming the cynical bastard we knew and loved later.
• Legend of Mana has an In-Universe ACI for the entire world of Fa'Diel — the storyteller Pokiehl and the Sproutlings believe that Fa'Diel is All Just a Dream. This, combined with the imagery in the opening cutscene suggests therefore that the events of the game are the Dying Dream of the Mana Tree as it goes up in flames.
• Limbo:
  • Does the boy's simple quest to reunite with his sister make him the innocent he appears to be, or is the game deconstructing standard progression in video game narratives by forcing the boy to commit repeated, brutal atrocities against his fellow living beings (most of whom, like the dog and the mosquito, are entirely innocent), until the game's final moment when he at last reaches his sister only for her to stiffen in alarm at the monster his journey has made of him?
  • Under that interpretation, given that the boy is ceaselessly driven by the desire to move to the right, the brain worms' initial forced change of direction to the left may render them symbolically heroic; note their luminescence amidst the black, hostile world and the sinister appearance of their ceiling-mounted predators.
  • Is the spider truly malicious, or just a simpleminded animal looking for a meal — or preemptively attempting to eliminate the threat posed by the boy?
  • Is the surrounding world limbo, or is the game's title merely a reference to its own moral ambiguity (or both)? In either case, was the world always like this, or as the scenery suggests, is the boy exploring a post-apocalyptic ruin, possibly brought about by man's brutalization of nature via the likes of the weather-controlling machine that the boy in turn brutalizes an innocent dog in order to use?

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