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Umlaut's tokens imprison souls
Just as Tökkentäkker bears a token, so too does the Player Character. And now they're both trapped for eternity...- This idea would be worth exploring in a sequel if we ever get one.
All of the torture chamber enemies (excluding Eyeclops) are people who asked for refunds
What, they never said that the evil was exclusive to simply "Spooky" evil. Who says Tökkentäkker is not a Corrupt Corporate Executive? The entirety of Carnevil takes place in a coma
Your player character[s] was simply an employee for the carnival that got into a coma after the place got destroyed. The protagonist is a monster hunter of some sort
He was investigating disappearances from around the cemetery that were similar to local legends about "CarnEvil". The reason he starts the whole thing over again is to make sure Tökkentäkker is dead for good.- Or he could be trapping CarnEvil in a Time Loop Trap to prevent it from ever escaping.
Umlaut is the Anthropomorphic Personification of CarnEvil itself.
CarnEvil is implied to be an Eldritch Location of some sort. What if Umlaut serves as a sort of figurehead for the carnival? Being an Ax-Crazy Villainous Harlequin, he certainly represents the carnival's twisted sense of fun. Judging by the numerous places in the carnival where his visage can be seen, it's clear that he's least the mascot. Continuing from that...Umlaut is The Man in Front of the Man for Tökkentäkker.
Back when Tökkentäkker was alive, he was the ringmaster of an unsuccessful circus. So he sought out Umlaut, the figurehead of an ancient magical carnival, and made a Deal with the Devil: Umlaut puts Tökkentäkker in charge of CarnEvil, who in return helps Umlaut gain people to be turned into performers and freaks for the carnival. In other words, Tökkentäkker's got friends on the other side!- I agree. The token-styled monocle that Tökkentäkker wears has Umlaut embossed on it, rather than the standard token pattern that the Protagonist uses. That's weird if Umlaut is just his sidekick. No wonder the other enemies call Umlaut a kiss ass...
- I never noticed that! Maybe it's a symbol that Tökkentäkker is under Umlaut's control?
- Yeah it's hard to see while you're playing. Umlaut also appears on the chair in Tökkentäkker's study, though that could just be a reference to him being on top of his grave. For how much Umlaut shows up on stuff, there's probably something Faustian going on between them.
Alternative theory on Tökkentäkker's backstory, based on the above 3 theories
Way back when he was alive, CarnEvil and Umlaut lured people in to murder them and turn their corpses into "performers" for the carnival. Ludwig von Tökkentäkker was a famed monster hunter who decided to go into the carnival and destroy it. When Umlaut saw how much Ludwig enjoyed shooting down the Mooks, he manipulated Ludwig into working for the carnival with promises of fame and power. And Then Ludwig was the Ringmaster. For evidence, notice how some of his weapons are similar to the ones that the protagonist uses. There's also the fact that if the ending is any indication, the protagonist is quite a Blood Knight which made me think that Ludwig might be a Foil to him. The Damsel in Distress "bystanders" are products of Carnevil
Not only do they all look the same, but one appears reacting in horror on a poster at the Freak Show. Either they're supposed to be a distraction, or, if you subscribe to the idea that Carnevil intends to entertain the person who summons it, they're meant to make victory all the more fulfilling.- Not likely, as such a theory would contradict Betty’s official bio from the game's website (that she is a local girl who reluctantly went along on the Ghost Tour with her friends), and her appearance next to the Protagonist in the game's introduction, which was before CarnEvil’s summoning. Also, the girl on the aforementioned Freak Show poster, advertising Flap-Jack, has a completely different color and hairstyle.
The protagonist was a former member of the carnival.
That's why he seems to know exactly where he's going, and how he's able to use the cannon, tight rope, etc. in the Big Top with ease. Maybe he was part of the carnival long ago, but he left when he realized how evil Tokkentakker was. Then, years later, when he learned that CarnEvil could be brought back, he went there to try and finish it off.- Probably not. While we don't get a good look at him, based on what we do see in the intro (and knowing that this game is based on horror movies), it seems more likely that the protagonist is just a teen living in the town nearby, investigating the legends of Greely Valley.
Tökkentäkker's mustache is fake.
Looking through the files reveals that the mustache is not part of his face texture, and was modeled separately. Wouldn't it be funny if there was an In-Universe explanation for this?CarnEvil was a normal carnival that was transformed into a nightmarish hellhole as the result of something supernatural gone wrong, like in Bendy and the Ink Machine.
Tökkentäkker started with decent intentions: he just wanted his carnival to live on through the ages. To meet this goal, he started experimenting with immortality, and it somehow led to him and his performers being transformed into murderous zombies. If the theory about Umlaut being the real villain is true, maybe this was a result of Tökkentäkker making a Deal with the Devil. To resolve the Schrödinger's Player Character situation, Player 2 is Betty.
Should she manage to have both an appropriate firearm and her wits long enough to be helpful? In this case, the Betty's seen on-screen would be either other Damsel in Distress bystanders or perhaps apparitions summoned by Carnevil itself, using Betty's likeness to try to fool the Protagonist Player 1. The protagonist sealed CarnEvil away forever at the end.
Note the wording of the legend: "When the moon is full...". When the protagonist puts the token into the headstone a second time, it's broad daylight, there is no moon. Further, Umlaut's head doesn't change color the way it did the first time, despite his eyes lighting up, and his jaws clamp shut and stay shut. Carn Evil is over. Forever.- Betty's scream and the Evil Laugh heard at the end, make this theory uncertain, but it's easy to think of ways that they could support this theory. Betty could be screaming because she thinks the carnival is about to be summoned again, only to realize that it's not. The Evil Laugh sounds deep and unlike any other character in the carnival. Maybe it could be Umlaut's (or the carnival itself)'s dying gasp, in a way? The carnival lived sending dozens of grinning and laughing maniacs to kill people, so it's only fitting that the carnival Die Laughing itself.
The player characters are Tökkentäkker's descendants.
Just an idea, there's nothing much in the game to support this. It could explain why they are so similar to Tökkentäkker (if you subscribe to the theory that the Player 1 character became a Blood Knight at the end.) It could also explain why Tökkentäkker wants to make them his "masterpiece" instead of turning them into just another mook.Hambone is a failed attempt at Tökkentäkker's "masterpiece." The same might also go for Eyeclops and the bosses.
Like the gorilla, Hambone is a big, muscular freak with an Arm Cannon. It seems that Tökkentäkker is trying to create the ultimate killer.All the recurring enemies are clones of the original performers from the carnival. Some may have been just as evil as Tökkentäkker, while others may have been innocent.
Whatever dark forces gave Tökkentäkker immortality and other supernatural powers, they might have also given him the ability to create unlimited copies of his performers after he turned them into freaks. Those friends on the other side must have known that some people might be able to kill a lot of the freaks.- Performers who were probably evil:
- Dr. Klot
- Smeek
- Ozob
- Tinsel
- Gool
- Skeletons
- Performers who were probably innocent:
- Broodle, Nik-Nak, and any other animals. Bad People Abuse Animals, after all.
- Mame
- Smiling Bob
- Guilloteen (They seem like they were once just an ordinary teenager working a side job.)
- Flap-Jack
- Performers who could have been innocent or evil:
- Zombie
- Carnie the Dinosaur
- Rodz/Tort
- Flem the Fly/Mike the Maggot (were they originally just animals, or did they start out as actual humans?)
- Muertito
Each Gool contains multiple human souls, trapped together inside an evil monster's body.
Every time you kill a Gool, it explodes into multiple ghosts that quickly fade away. What if those are actual souls? When you kill the Gool, the souls inside are finally able to move on to the afterlife.Umlaut can't read.
This may sound random, but think about it: If Umlaut is such an important and powerful figure in the carnival, why would the Dr. Klots brazenly write an insult about him on their chalkboard? Maybe because he can't read it. Since they're doctors, maybe the Dr. Klots are some of the few monsters in CarnEvil who are smart enough to have figured out how to insult Umlaut without him knowing it. Alternatively, Umlaut CAN read, he just does NOT care about what the Dr. Klot clowns think about him.
