History Fridge / UntilDawn

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFAGFgvwS4&lc=Ugyw3376SfRUsmsfzcl4AaABAg viewer]] notes that the reason why no doctor was able to help Josh ''is because he was being treated for the wrong problem''. After all, he was suffering from schizophrenia, yet all the prescriptions he got were of ''anti-depressants'', which leaves the main problem, his over-active dopamine unchecked (after all, they only tackled the decrease in serotonin), and it's specially appalling because it's something that anyone who has gone to medicine school should know, so the only explanation is that those doctors, simply didn't care enough to help him when he needed help the most. It explains a lot of his behaviour, since schizophrenia tends to have symptoms like auditory and visual hallucinations (the fact that he sees his dead sisters blaming him for not being there when he was so wasted that he couldn't do a thing), paranoia (he thinks that nobody cares for him, to the point that they would leave him to die even though he was about to be cut in half by a sawblade), social withdrawal (he thinks that what he does is socially acceptable, like, he even says that it was just a prank, which also, is a nice word choice, because they also thought that what they did to his sisters was just a prank) and disorganized speech (his rambling when he tells them that he was the psycho, it's so incoherent because they are portraying a book case of schizophrenia).

* In all controlled segments of the game, the player never gets a chance to run. This is because the characters are still cautious of their environment, so running around needlessly would just get them killed. [[spoiler:This becomes more apparent when the Wendigos take over, since stopping to a halt is easier when walking than running.]]
* Why did [[spoiler:Hannah go through the effort of burying Beth despite expecting to be rescued? Not out of respect, but for the same reason people started burying bodies in the first place; bodies eventually start to stink. Even with the cold, Beth would start decomposing eventually.]]
** Even ignoring the practical aspect entirely, [[spoiler:it's extremely unlikely that she thought she would ever have any, well, ''practical use'' for the body. She most likely expected to either be found or to die quickly, and would have wanted to provide a dignified burial for someone she loved. By the time she actually decided to dig up and consume her sister's corpse, she was likely affected not just by extreme hunger, but also by the Wendigo that eventually possessed her (by March, it's unlikely that there was anything genuinely edible left, even for a person desperate enough to eat a corpse)]].
* Mike promises inside the cabin that "no bear or anything else is gonna [[ExactWords open that cabin door]]". He could hardly expect that [[spoiler:something will [[BarrierBustingBlow come busting]] ''through'' the cabin door]].
* When Josh sends Jessica and Mike to the guest cabin, they arrive to find the fuses have blown. There's also a hardcover copy of the Kama Sutra left out and a framed picture of Hannah, neither of which seem like things that would have been casually left lying around; in fact, the picture of Hannah is the only picture in the cabin. [[spoiler:Josh may have intended to prank them later on. Also, his homebrew surveillance network may have overloaded the wiring, and that's why the fuses are blown.]]
** Given that Josh intended for [[spoiler:Mike and Jess, the main actors in the prank that led to the disappearance of his sisters, to go to the cabin, it seems likely that this is one part of his prank that ''actually did'' fail. He most likely had something elaborate set up in the cabin that either blew the fuses and just didn't work at all, or that they weren't able to trigger due to their not being there for long enough]].
* The absence of voice lines from the person the player controls in the therapy sessions seems like it's just to keep them anonymous, but [[spoiler:even after the person is confirmed to be Josh, he still doesn't speak when dialogue is chosen. Makes sense - do you really need to talk out loud with someone who's in your head?]]
* Dr. Hill's line in the first session - "You see no one can change what happened last year. The past is beyond our control." On the surface this is his attempt to comfort [[spoiler:Josh]], but on a meta level he is explaining the game (in particular, the introduction) - [[spoiler:Beth and Hannah]] always go missing regardless of player choice. Dr. Hill tells the player that from now on ''your choices will actually matter''. The game saves immediately after every choice, meaning that you cannot revert to previous save files and the past truly ''is'' beyond your control!
* The Hand Machine in the Sanatorium makes much more sense in hindsight. [[spoiler:Not the handiwork of a deranged killer, but wendigo bait that a human happened to blunder into.]]
* The Lodge's name: Blackwood. At first it just sounds like an ominous name for the setting of a Horror game, but then you do some research on the [[spoiler:wendigos, and one of the most notable stories about them is written by Algernon Blackwood.]]
** Also, in most descriptions of [[spoiler:Wendigo, they are described as looking close to a dead tree, with blackened fingers and toes, giving their hands and feet the look of ''black wood'']].
* Ashley's assumption that [[spoiler:Emily will turn into a wendigo due to her bite]] is generally chalked up to her panicking and being one of the more skittish members of the group. But her bio states that she's bookish and imaginative, and [[spoiler:traditional wendigo lore states that wendigo bites ''do'' turn people]]. Maybe [[spoiler:she's read stories about wendigo before (or anything that involves werewolves/vampires/zombies, adding to the confusion)]], and just didn't say anything during the Stranger's explanation because she was still comprehending the reality of what they were up against. In fact, the Stranger's own journal had to debunk the theory, [[spoiler:meaning he had considered the possibility before getting bitten himself and realizing it first-hand]].
* [[spoiler:The Stranger]] mentions how the procedure of [[spoiler:dying by a Wendigo involves being immobilized, having the skin torn off, and then eaten while alive and conscious]]. This seems to [[spoiler:contradict how he and whoever dies to the Wendigo]] will find themselves under completely different circumstances, and also the [[spoiler:fight between the Wendigos at the end]]. However, [[spoiler:Hannah is a very young Wendigo]], meaning [[spoiler:she]] either hasn't learned about it yet or [[spoiler:hunts more effectively]].
** This could also explain why [[spoiler:the Stranger dies so easily despite being an experienced wendigo hunter; Hannah behaves irrationally for a wendigo, killing her marks outright instead of keeping them alive for later. The Stranger wouldn't think to guard himself from her quick and fatal attacks.]]
** It also seems like [[spoiler:Hannah ''might have'' intended this fate for two of her victims. The circumstances are fairly telling, since the only two people she attempts to take alive are Jess and Josh]]. The first of those two [[spoiler:was also the first member of the group who she attacked]], and the second [[spoiler:was chained up in a shed]]. While they seem to be [[spoiler:superhumanly strong and fast, the behavior of the wendigos makes it pretty clear that they're ambush predators, which is its own kind of Fridge Brilliance. Ambush hunting is a common tactic for animals that hunt species capable of outrunning them over a longer distance, and (as lazy and weak as we might seem compared to deer or impalas) humans definitely fall into that category]]. When Mike [[spoiler:is in danger of catching up to her, which isn't something he could do if she were able to maintain that speed indefinitely, she'll drop Jess as a distraction. Without taking time to kill her, if he's fast enough]]. She clearly ''does not'' want anyone [[spoiler:to follow her to her "nest", or to gain ground on her when she's exhausted, which would explain why she's content with taking and storing corpses after that point, at least for the most part. They may not last as long as a live human, even in the cold tunnels of the mine, but she knows that there are multiple people who might be willing to pursue her for a live victim, and that no one will chase her to retrieve a corpse]]. The only exception is [[spoiler:Josh, who she also took alive. Since he was chained and isolated, she probably assumed (wrongly) that no one would come to save him, or possibly even that they intended him to placate her, given that she doesn't know anything about ''why'' he's there. At the next opportunity, she will simply crush his skull, provided he doesn't reveal his identity and dredge up memories of the life they once had together]].
* The difference between [[spoiler:Hannah]] and [[spoiler:the miner wendigos]] becomes even more apparent during [[spoiler:the second visit to the asylum]]. Notice the [[spoiler:black wolf, and how he was hung to a metal grate (rendered immobile) and eaten inside out.]]
* Anyone who [[spoiler:dies before Chapter 10 (besides Emily being shot) has their body strung up in the chamber where Sam and Mike find Josh]]. Although damaged and mutilated, [[spoiler:''none'' have been eaten. Even Beth's head, which has been in the lair for over ten months, is still relatively intact]]. Evidently, [[spoiler:the Hannah Wendigo treats the bodies of her victims like trophies instead of food. She seems to favor decapitation as a preferred method of killing (The Stranger/Chris/Ashley) and will even sever the head off a corpse after her victim is dead (Jess/Matt). Given how this seems to have started even as early as collecting Beth's head, Hannah might collect her prey as a way of keeping her friends near in some strange twisted way, fitting with how she doesn't kill Josh if he recognizes her and how she doesn't behead Emily (whom she'd have the most reason to despise).]] It would certainly fit her [[spoiler:black butterfly motif.]]
** This could also tie into [[spoiler:Mike's PlotArmor. On two occasions (at the Cabin where she grabbed Jessica and in the pool where she dragged him underwater), Hannah refrained from killing him]]. She will even [[spoiler:spare him a third time if she catches him in the climax by merely throwing him aside]], whereas any other character she's caught has been reduced to mincemeat by now. It's plausible that [[spoiler:her former ([[AbhorrentAdmirer at least]]) crush on him]] is compelling her to show him mercy.
** Hannah [[spoiler:fighting with the other Wendigos in the main lodge is odd until you consider how she seems to treat her victims more like trophies, and hasn't touched them despite Wendigos infamously craving human flesh. The other Wendigos want to ''eat'' their prey, while Hannah wants to ''collect'' them instead.]]
* Samson was a biblical warrior who destroyed a building in order to kill his enemies. [[spoiler:The same thing ''Sam'' does if she survives.]]

* When [[spoiler:Josh is hallucinating in the mines when Sam and Mike find him, he's initially having auditory hallucinations of quite a few people and keeps saying "I don't take orders from you" or "you can't tell me what to do". However, he changes to "Okay, I trust you" just before the player is able to control Josh for the first time in the game.]] He doesn't actually do anything regarding [[spoiler:the hallucinations]], and it's possible that Josh is [[spoiler:aware of the player, thinking they're just another one of his hallucinations, and is finally willing to let them control him outside of his "therapy sessions".]] Furthered by [[spoiler:Josh's second playable segment, specifically right after Mike apologizes for being mistaken that Josh killed Jessica. He mutters "No...no!" and sounds agitated, then starts breathing heavily and then stops, then says "I know...I know I know I know", and then "okay...", sounding calmer but still agitated. We don't get to see who or what he's responding to, but it all makes a lot more sense if Josh is subconsciously being made aware of his upcoming fate because the player is controlling him and the cutscene where he's removed from the plot (Hannah either crushing his skull or dragging him away) is ''extremely'' close to triggering (about a minute or so away).]]
* When [[spoiler:you find out that Josh is the Psycho, the scene where he taunts Sam in the video room becomes a kind of sad brilliance. He asks her, when he shows her the tape of herself in the bathroom, if those were the last happy moments of her life. Later, Ashley and Chris can find a videotape of Hannah during the prank (i.e. the last moments she was happy, thinking Mike was showing interest in her for the first time). Josh did the same thing, but with Sam.]]

* [[spoiler:Josh]] only takes an interest in two people for the full brunt of the pranks: Chris and Sam (and by extension, Ashley, since she was with Chris). Two odd choices, considering that they were the only two not involved in the prank on Hannah; Sam tried to warn Hannah against participating, and Chris was passed-out drunk. One could see it as [[spoiler:those two being his closest friends, so he feels hurt by them more.]] However, scenes with Dr. Hill keep emphasising that the past can't be changed, and the hallucinations near the end of [[spoiler:Hannah and Beth (and their strange zombie faces)]] show us that [[spoiler:Josh]] really blames himself for not doing anything to help (even though he was physically unable). It is very easy to conclude that this self-loathing is being projected onto Chris and Sam, because they did not help either.
** Another possibility is that [[spoiler:Josh, being mentally unstable and honestly thinking of what he's doing as relatively harmless (potentially even benign), was following on what he told Sam earlier (which she assumed to be just a joke): it'd take some serious trauma for Chris and Ashley to admit their feelings towards each other. Josh wanted to take revenge on everyone else, but didn't see it as an act of vindictiveness, but rather as "healing". Why ''wouldn't'' he design his prank so that, on the way to healing his friends, he could also be extra-good towards them and help his best friend hook up?]] However, given that [[spoiler:Josh couldn't possibly guarantee what decision Chris would make in either case (especially given how difficult they would be), it was equally likely that Chris would make the "wrong" choice in either scenario (which could irreparably damage their relationship and, for the second one, cause Ashley to let him die if Chris "shoots" her. The Butterfly Effect notes that Josh was then upset with Chris for having chosen Ashley, and that's why he taunted him when he was found out.]]

* Speaking of [[spoiler:Josh pranking [[DisproportionateRetribution Chris and Ashley]]]], there's a certain {{Irony}} to how [[spoiler: everyone directly responsible for the prank that lead to Hannah and Beth's apparent deaths ''wasn't'' pranked by Josh but nonetheless got their [[LaserGuidedKarma comeuppance]].]] Think about it:
** Emily [[spoiler: basically orchestrated the whole prank. She's also left literally dangling between life and death, same as Beth and Hannah were.]]
** Matt [[spoiler: recorded the prank on his phone. Later, he's forced to watch as his girlfriend falls before his eyes, same as how Beth had to watch Hannah fall.]]
** Jess [[spoiler: went along with the prank. Ironically enough, the prank lead to her getting with Matt and becoming bitter rivals with her former friend Emily, who she pulled the prank for in the first place. She's also undressing for Mike, same as Hannah. Finally, both girls were underdressed when they were at the wendigo's mercy, giving a layer of humiliation to her situation.]]
** Mike [[spoiler: was the one who lead on Hannah in order to lure her into the prank. Like Josh, he's forced to essentially lose Jess to the wendigos as he chases them in futility. What's more, unaware she's still alive, he also goes through the grieving process.]]
* Josh [[spoiler:seeing a wendigo in his hallucinations]] doesn't initially make sense. He is never present during any other moment when [[spoiler:the monsters]] are present, so he shouldn't even know [[spoiler:what they look like]]. However, Mike just recently [[spoiler:blew up the sanitarium, killing some of the six wendigos trapped there by the Stranger and releasing their spirits]]. [[spoiler:One of those monsters had sensed Josh's weak, unstable mind and picked him as its next host, attempting to wear him down by hiding inside his hallucinations. It explains why he almost immediately resorted to chowing down the Stranger after Hannah tucked him away in her lair: insane and possessed, the old man's corpse registered as little more than food to Josh.]]

* Some may be confused by how [[spoiler:Hannah as a wendigo]] would only recognize Josh if he does so first. [[spoiler:Since all wendigo are mostly blind, it's likely only ''because'' he addressed her by name that she was able to tell who her current would-be victim was before she went for a killing blow.]]
* When you read [[spoiler:the Stranger's Journal]], you'll find a passage saying [[spoiler:that the Cree people never hunted on the mountain as they believe it to be sacred, and therefore believed that bringing harm to animals on the mountain would bring bad fortune]]. As evidenced by the consequences if [[spoiler:you choose to harm animals]], this turns out to be true. [[spoiler:It's possible that Wendigo!Hannah attacking the deer Mike and Jess find on the way to the cabin and Josh bringing the pigs to the mountain and killing them is what causes their doom and death (or potential possession in Josh's case).]]
* Ashley's words during the [[spoiler:Chris vs. Ashley trap (should Chris try to sacrifice himself first) is easy to misinterpret. She shouts to him "Let me choose to save you!" if Chris tries to shoot himself first, which many may have assumed as Ashley giving Chris permission to sacrifice her in his place. Should Chris then decide to shoot her afterwards, the event with Ashley not opening the door for Chris still plays out as if Chris had tried to sacrifice Ashley from the beginning, thus making Ashley appear very deceitful and scheming. However, her words are [[ExactWords "Let me choose to save you"]]. It's very possible that she wanted to make the choice and sacrifice herself for Chris' sake, while forgetting that both of her hands were bound to the chair (due to the stress of being in a trap that is about to kill them both). This leaves Chris the only one capable of making the choice to either sacrifice himself or Ashley. But should Chris decide to sacrifice his girlfriend in this instance, Ashley will instead perceive this moment as Chris betraying Ashley's final wishes, and giving into the Killer's demands by choosing the most cowardly way out of surviving the trap. It is also worth pointing out that if Chris chooses to do nothing and let the trap kill the two, Ashley does not hold Chris' hesistation against him and will still choose to save Chris later on.]]

** It's also worth noting that, as a group, they seem to ''fucking love'' pulling pranks on each other. They keep doing it for the entire early part of the game, with basically everyone except for Ashley getting in on it. Mike jumps out at Matt and Emily, Matt pulls an intentional JumpScare on Ashley while she's using the viewfinder, Emily sticks her hand in a totem pole and makes Matt think that something's attacked her, Sam can optionally convince Josh that something is behind him, Chris makes weird noises in the house and later pretends to be a killer in a monk's robe and ski mask, and Jess acts like she's in danger in the forest (Mike can also scare Jess with a gas mask and point a gun at her, depending on player choice). [[spoiler:Josh even sees what he's doing as an elaborate prank. Had he stuck with the projector and ghost, his actions really probably wouldn't have stood out much except in how well-planned they were]]. Adding alcohol to that mix, which is already kind of toxic, is just a recipe for godawful decisions. Since it was framed as a "prank", the intended endgame was probably something childish and stupid, like getting Hannah in her bra and then having Mike snap it instead of undoing the clasp. Obviously, none of these things excuse their behavior, but it's easy to see how a group of drunk 18 year olds who are ''already'' pushing the bounds of good taste with their pranks would come to the conclusion that what they wanted to do was just good, harmless fun after a heavy binge. Sam acts almost like a sober sitter, trying first to gently talk them out of it since only she recognizes that it will cross the line, and only later going to warn Hannah, since she wants to avoid conflict and likely knows that Hannah tends to be extremely dramatic when she's a little too far gone. Even her decision to tell Mike to back off would have normally been a good idea. Any attempted apology from a person who was three sheets to the wind could have only made things worse, and the group was already pretty much doomed to fall apart.
* The answering machine message in the Main Lodge (Chapter 2). If you listen closely; [[spoiler:The "Detective" is actually Josh disguising his voice, setting up part of his prank.]]
* Black totems warn of death, giving prophetic visions of a possible death of the character who looks at the totem. According to the game, the indigenous people of the mountain believed butterflies brought these prophecies, referencing the butterfly effect present throughout the game. The black totems and butterfly effect come together in the form of Hannah's black butterfly tattoo, foreshadowing that she [[spoiler:is the killer who can cause the other characters' deaths as a result of the player's actions, making Hannah a literal, walking black totem of potential deaths. It is also ironic for Hannah herself because unlike most other characters, her fate can't be changed and she cannot be saved from her eventual death]]. Really gives the impression that it might've gone better for everyone if Hannah happened to pick yellow or white for her tattoo instead.

* Although it seems random, at first, that [[spoiler:a cannibalistic monster like the Wendigo would be unleashed by the construction of a mine]], more modern takes on the same mythology (which the developers of this game would have likely been familiar with) use the concept of [[spoiler:the Wendigo as a metaphor for types of disordered "hunger" other than literal cannibalism]]. Things like greed, exploitation of people, or destructive overuse of natural resources. [[spoiler:"Hard rock" mines, digging for minerals like tin, are infamous for the land, water, and ecosystem degradation that they can cause, and the lengths that some companies have gone to (especially in past decades) to avoid paying the extreme costs of clean up after a mine has been abandoned. Especially in an area heavy with radium, it's likely that a site like the one on the mountain would have continued causing harm for centuries, in return for a comparatively modest material gain that couldn't even begin to pay for its own negative externalities. So, in a sense, the greed of the people who decided to exploit the resources under the mountain (along with exploiting their workers, by sending them into tunnels known to be unsafe) would have been the first manifestation of the Wendigo in the region, with its more literal emergence in the tunnels as a "natural" result]].
* Ashley [[spoiler:leaving Chris outside to die, even if she first begged him to shoot her and spare himself]] is one of the more divisive incidents in the game. [[spoiler:Many players regard it as an extreme act of hypocrisy and cruelty, or even flat-out badly written and out of character]]. Unfortunately, though, it's probably the most realistic possible response to that. [[spoiler:The developers of the game, when asked if it was an oversight, said that it was not, and focused on the experience that Ashley had been through that night]]. While they didn't go into so much detail, [[spoiler:what she's endured in Josh's prank has effectively been a series of mock executions in rapid succession (the term is also applied to a situation where you believe that someone else has been executed). These are some of the most traumatic events that a human being can experience. While Chris is deciding who to kill, what she says is based solely on who he points the gun at first, because she obviously doesn't want to die but also doesn't want to see someone else die in her place again]]. She really just wants all of this to not be happening. [[spoiler:People who have been through similar things in reality will confess to bizarre or even impossible crimes or, if the sham executions are repeated, will sometimes beg their torturers to just do it already]]. Add to this the fact that, while she may mean what she's saying in that moment and would likely [[spoiler:forgive him if given enough time, if Chris turns the gun on her and fires, then he has done something that subjectively causes the same feelings of fear and outright panic that a person experiences right before they actually die. People who that happens to, even if they don't develop PTSD, will often have nightmares for years to come and will sometimes even report doubts that they are still alive]]. She has just an hour or so between this incident [[spoiler:and the decision of whether or not to risk her life to save his, with him yelling that "this thing is right behind me". Her flashback to him pointing the gun on her, followed by her backing away and acting like she barely knows that she's in the room, suggests that this was an instinctual reaction to a reminder of what had just happened (ie., not just seeing the person who pointed the gun, but seeing him there with a firearm while already in fear for her life) rather than one taken with the intent to commit murder. If that were her goal, she wouldn't have tried to talk him out of going in the first place, and she wouldn't start crying if he dies before reaching the door. She also probably wouldn't stand there staring until someone else snaps her back to reality, because she has no way to know if that thing is going to try to kill her next]]. Realistically, [[spoiler:it's hard to believe that there are very many people who would be ''capable'' of behaving differently under the same set of circumstances]].

* After [[spoiler:the Stranger gets killed]], Mike is adamant about finding Josh to retrieve the cable car key so they can all escape. But given how easily a wendigo is able to cut the cable holding up the fire tower, it's very likely that if Mike had succeeded, it would have resulted in the wendigos sending them plummeting to their deaths.
* Matt was filming the prank on Hannah. [[spoiler:Later, we find out that Josh was taping the game's events and was planning on uploading them online]]. If [[spoiler:Josh's prank is meant to parallel the one pulled on Hannah to some degree,]] it means that Hannah's so-called friends might have been planning to upload the video of her taking her top off online. Filming it is bad enough alone, of course, but that would be a pretty cruel "joke".

* Chris's throwaway line to Jess in the first chapter about eating his own leg if he got stuck in the cable car takes on a horrible new light once you've finished the game. [[spoiler:Any human flesh can turn you into a wendigo, even your own.]]

* Being [[spoiler:caught and butchered by a Wendigo]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath is a nasty way to die]], but actually [[spoiler:transforming into one]] [[FateWorseThanDeath could be a great deal worse.]] At best, [[spoiler:the infection outright kills the host and the spirit takes over]]. Yet while it is never outright stated, there are subtle implications that their [[spoiler:hosts are still alive, [[AndIMustScream trapped within a body they have no control over]] and maybe even [[YourSoulIsMine merging with the Wendigo's spirit over time]], [[TheAssimilator losing their individuality in the process]].]] As Hannah's [[spoiler:old personality]] could be influencing [[spoiler:the Wendigo she became]] (as speculated above), the latter possibility is all too real.
* Ashley has the option to stab the Psycho in the shoulder at one point in self-defense. The Psycho [[spoiler:is later revealed to be Josh]]. [[spoiler:Josh]] is lucky that Ashley went for the shoulder, and not the throat or [[EyeScream eye]] like another protagonist (such as Emily, Mike, or Sam) possibly would have if put in the same situation; [[spoiler:Josh's prank could have gotten him killed or at least seriously wounded, and Ashley would've been racked with guilt]].

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFAGFgvwS4&lc=Ugyw3376SfRUsmsfzcl4AaABAg viewer]] notes that [[spoiler:the reason why no doctor was able to help Josh ''is because he was being treated for the wrong problem''. After all, he was suffering from schizophrenia, yet all the prescriptions he got were of ''anti-depressants'', which leaves the main problem, his over-active dopamine unchecked (after all, they only tackled the decrease in serotonin), and it's specially appalling because it's something that anyone who has gone to medicine school should know, so the only explanation is that those doctors, simply didn't care enough to help him when he needed help the most. It explains a lot of his behaviour, since schizophrenia tends to have symptoms like auditory and visual hallucinations (the fact that he sees his dead sisters blaming him for not being there when he was so wasted that he couldn't do a thing), paranoia (he thinks that nobody cares for him, to the point that they would leave him to die even though he was about to be cut in half by a sawblade), social withdrawal (he thinks that what he does is socially acceptable, like, he even says that it was just a prank, which also, is a nice word choice, because they also thought that what they did to his sisters was just a prank) and disorganized speech (his rambling when he tells them that he was the psycho, it's so incoherent because they are portraying a book case of schizophrenia).]]

* Speaking of [[spoiler: Josh pranking [[DisproportionateRetribution Chris and Ashley]]]], there's a certain {{Irony}} to how [[spoiler: everyone directly responsible for the prank that lead to Hannah and Beth's apparent deaths ''wasn't'' pranked by Josh but nonetheless got their [[LaserGuidedKarma comeuppance]].]] Think about it:

* As noted under NoDelaysForTheWicked, Josh was able to turn the ski lodge into a haunted mansion with fake elaaborate death traps, a [=CCTV=] network, and fake props to sell the maniac story in under a year. This may seem to strain WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief for an 18-20 year-old to do in the mountains without his parents knowing or seeing the Wendigos. Except there are several clues dropped throughout the game that gives untold explanations:

** Also, in most descriptions of [[spoiler: Wendigo, they are described as looking close to a dead tree, with blackened fingers and toes, giving their hands and feet the look of ''black wood'']].

* As noted under NoDelaysForTheWicked, Josh was able to turn the ski lodge into a haunted mansion with fake elaaborate death traps, a [=CCTV=] network, and fake props to sell the maniac story in under a year. This may seem to strain WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief for an 18-20 year-old to do in the mountains without the his parents knowing or seeing the Wendigos. Except there are several clues dropped throughout the game that gives untold explanations:

* Ashley [[spoiler:leaving Chris outside to die, even if she first begged him to shoot her and spare himself]] is one of the more divisive incidents in the game. [[spoiler:Many players regard it as an extreme act of hypocrisy and cruelty]]. Unfortunately, though, it's probably the most realistic possible response to that. [[spoiler:The developers of the game, when asked if it was an oversight, said that it was not, and focused on the experience that Ashley had been through that night]]. While they didn't go into so much detail, [[spoiler:what she's endured in Josh's prank has effectively been a series of mock executions in rapid succession (the term is also applied to a situation where you believe that someone else has been executed). These are some of the most traumatic events that a human being can experience. While Chris is deciding who to kill, what she says is based solely on who he points the gun at first, because she obviously doesn't want to die but also doesn't want to see someone else die in her place again]]. She really just wants all of this to not be happening. [[spoiler:People who have been through similar things in reality will confess to bizarre or even impossible crimes or, if the sham executions are repeated, will sometimes beg their torturers to just do it already]]. Add to this the fact that, while she may mean what she's saying in that moment and would likely [[spoiler:forgive him if given enough time, if Chris turns the gun on her and fires, then he has done something that subjectively causes the same feelings of fear and outright panic that a person experiences right before they actually die. People who that happens to, even if they don't develop PTSD, will often have nightmares for years to come and will sometimes even report doubts that they are still alive]]. She has just an hour or so between this incident [[spoiler:and the decision of whether or not to risk her life to save his, with him yelling that "this thing is right behind me". Her flashback to him pointing the gun on her, followed by her backing away and acting like she barely knows that she's in the room, suggests that this was an instinctual reaction to a reminder of what had just happened (ie., not just seeing the person who pointed the gun, but seeing him there with a firearm while already in fear for her life) rather than one taken with the intent to commit murder. If that were her goal, she wouldn't have tried to talk him out of going in the first place, and she wouldn't start crying if he dies before reaching the door. She also probably wouldn't stand there staring until someone else snaps her back to reality, because she has no way to know if that thing is going to try to kill her next]]. Realistically, [[spoiler:it's hard to believe that there are very many people who would be ''capable'' of behaving differently under the same set of circumstances]].

* When Sam and Mike find Josh [[spoiler:hallucinating in the mines, he's saying "You can't tell me what to do" over and over at his hallucinations of his sisters/the Wendigo spirit. However, he changes to "Okay, I trust you" just before the player is able to control Josh for the first time in the game.]] He doesn't actually do anything regarding [[spoiler:the hallucinations]], and it's possible that Josh is [[spoiler:aware of the player, thinking they're just another one of his hallucinations, and is finally willing to let them control him outside of his "therapy sessions".]]