As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
For the video game:
Fridge Brilliance- It might seem odd that Badeline is never referred to by name in the game itself, but there’s actually a good reason for this: The player can change Madeline’s name. If Madeline has a different name, then the name Badeline just wouldn’t make as much sense.
- At the end of Chapter 1, you come across a large tombstone that reads as such: "This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb." At the beginning of Chapter 2, it's impossible to read, as the text continuously scrambles itself, presumably for ominous effect. It's actually because, in a dream, it's impossible to read anything without it being a jumbled mess.
- Why does Chapter 7 have you revisiting the first five chapters? Because Badeline knocked you deep into the mountain depths at the start of Chapter 6. You're scaling the mountain from the base a second time via a different route. If you really were continuing from where Theo and Madeline camped out at the start of Chapter 6 (close to the summit), the presence of trees in the background at the chapter start and the elevation indicators in the intertitles (which start at 500 m) wouldn't make sense.
- Out of all of the possible collectibles, why strawberries? Well, Golden Ridge and The Core have heart-shaped rock formations, the more difficult collectibles you can get are hearts, and the story itself is largely about dealing with emotions, so it's safe to assume the berries are fitting a motif here. To be fair, it could just be keeping continuity with the Pico-8 original.
- On her way down from the mountain, Madeline sees Mr. Oshiro cleaning his hotel, apparently helped by the red mould creatures that he produces when agitated. Much like Madeline did when merging with Badeline, he's apparently learned to channel his negative feelings productively.
- The reason in Chapter 8 that the lava rises while the ice falls down is because hot air rises while cold air falls.
- Why didn't Theo end up with a shadowy personification of his own negativity, like Madeline did? The answer: it wasn't necessary. Theo has shown in the game's official Instagram account that he's the type to quit while he's behind, and doesn't really know what he wants out of life. The mountain likely believed that he would eventually quit— and it was partially right, seeing as Theo is never mentioned to have made it to the top. Madeline, on the other hand, will keep trying no matter what obstacles the mountain throws at her. The only thing that can stop her is herself. To boot, Theo doesn't carry the same problems that Madeline does. A dark Theo likely simply wouldn't be as dangerous as a dark Madeline, seeing as there's not as much to use against him.
- One of the photos on Theo's instagram shows Madeline experimenting with archery. Several months later, we learned that she's going to be a guest fighter in TowerFall, a game focused on archery.
- Chapter 9 is basically the 5 stages of grief in video game form.
- Denial: Madeline can't believe that Granny's really dead and starts chasing after her bird thinking that she's a Part Of Her like Badeline is for her.
- Anger: Madeline and Badeline have an argument and Badeline is chased away.
- Bargaining: Madeline convinces herself that if she can catch Granny's bird she can somehow bring her back to life.
- Despair: Madeline realizes that she can't bring Granny back and asks the bird to "take her with it."
- Acceptance: Badeline finally talks some sense into Madeline, and the two of them and the bird work together to escape the dreamscape before Madeline says goodbye to dream-Granny.
- Additionally in Chapter 9, Badeline once again insists against pressing forward, this time to chase the Blue Bird further into the bizarre dreamscape. Why, when she misses Granny just as much as the rest of Madeline? Remember, she calls herself the pragmatic part of Madeline: on a subconscious level, Maddie's already accepted Granny's death, but the less rational parts of her are stubbornly clinging to the hope of either capturing the bird and using it to pull Granny's spirit back across the divide, or at least give it the goodbye she couldn't at the funeral she missed.
- Considering that climbing Mt. Celeste is treated as an analogy for overcoming one's own personal troubles (particularly mental illness), the memorial for those who dies climbing it can be seen as a metaphor for people being Driven to Suicide.
- Based on a teaser coming from Theo's instagram account
, it hints that Madeline and Theo haven't been in contact for a while. Remember that in Chapter 8, the ending shows Madeline floating in the void holding onto the crystal heart, raising questions about how long she was at Celeste's core, and how she's still alive. However, Chapter 9 confirms that she's fine, and didn't respond because she's been in a deep depression ever since Granny died.
