As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Mike, Jess, Ashley, Chris, and the wolf will eventually form an investigative team.
They use the skills they learned at the lodge to travel around in a van to investigate the paranormal. Sometimes Emily joins them.- Wether or not this WMG is serious or not, it's likely that, after the experience they had, they'd never want to even hear the word "paranormal" ever again.
Someone in the local Police force knows about the wendigo epidemic.
Why else would the police have not found any off the obvious evidence of Beth and Hannah that is still all over the damn mountain while a group of scared and confused teenagers managed to stumble across it over the course of one night? Someone important on the police force knows about the wendigos and pulled people off the case if they got too close to finding out something that would give them cause to check the mines or spend a night on the scene, even at the end with (potentially) half a dozen witnesses they are trying to find a way to place the blame on the dead stranger with the flamethrower to avoid an investigation. It may seem cruel but what is the life of two girls vs potentially creating more wendigos or giving the existing ones reason to start moving outward. Presumably the only thing reining them in up until now was the crazy man with the flamethrower and the fact that the only way down the mountain was a cable car they presumably can't use. Presumably...- With their skills, they probably could have made it down the mountain, but something tied them to it. Considering they were trapped until the mining started opening the mountain up, releasing them.
- Confirmed by The Inpatient.
- Interestingly, it seems that the police aren't trying to hide the existence of the Wendigos as part of a Masquerade, so much as they're trying to hide the actions of some older members of their police force that are shown in The Inpatient, where officers began killing innocent people at the Blackwood Sanatorium, apparently out of terror and desperation. With outside observers now involved, and considering how strange Hannah's remains will look even after being burned, it's likely that this will fall apart in the wake of the game.
Dr. Hill is a tulpa
We know the sessions take place in Josh's mind. Dr. Hill acts less and less like a real doctor each time we see him and eventually leaves Josh and walks off into the cave, which fits perfectly with him being a tulpa. Tulpas are beings imagined into existence by a human, and eventually they get a mind of their own and leave their creator. This is further supported by the menu at the end of the game where Dr. Hill's face shows up. So far he was only in the menu when we were in Josh's mind, but now Dr. Hill exists outside of it.- Jossed. Dr. Hill is real. You can find notes and texts from him in one section of the game while playing as Sam.
- Just because there's a real Dr. Hill out there, it doesn't mean Josh couldn't accidentally create a meaner tulpa Dr. Hill.
The Wendigo spirit kept the cops from finding Hannah
While it's entirely possible the cops are just incompetent, we also know that Makkapitew was killed and released into the air immediately after she was dropped. What if he saw Hannah as an opportunity to come back to life and manipulated things (somehow) to ensure she would resort to cannibalism? That would explain how they missed things that the friends were so easily able to find within walking range of the lodge. If the Wendigo have that capability, then all those wendigo that were released during the games events are going to be manipulating hunters, hikers, etc. into becoming cannibals.- That's exactly what the Wendigo Spirit does. At least, it does cause the people to resort to cannibalism. Which then causes the transformation. The spirit possesses it's host, causes an insatiable craving for human flesh, and once the host succumbs to cannibalism the spirit starts the transformation within it's host's body. I believe the state of the mountain and it's surroundings, and the weather are the reason so much was never found. Most everything to be found was in the mines, That were deemed too dangerous, so they definitely wouldn't have been searching down there.
Depending on how you played, some of the protagonists might go to prison. Specifically…
- Mike; for shooting Emily or even attempting to.- Ashley; for letting Chris get killed by a wendigo.
- The only witness to that was Mike, and he didn't see Ashley refuse to open the door. He just saw Chris' head. Unless she admitted it later, she would get off scot free. And even if Mike saw her not open it, she could argue she "knew he couldn't be saved".
- Matt; for the “attempted murder” of Emily, since Emily tells the police that he left her to die if he had a bad relationship with her despite Matt attempting to save her.
- There is legally no duty to rescue, so unless she blames him for causing the tower to fall in the first place, there would be no legal liability for him.
There’s a good chance that some or all of the couples (Mike/Jessica, Matt/Emily, and Chris/Ashley) might not stay together.
- The events they went through were very traumatic, and it might ruin their ability to stay together. Most of them have been changed by what happened to them. This change might drive them apart. They don’t have to suffer from mental issues due to their experiences, but any mental trauma they might develop could manifest itself in ways that their significant others might not be able to handle. I think, from most likely to least likely to stay together, it’d be like this: Chris/Ashley, Mike/Jessica, Matt/Emily.
- Depending on how one plays, one "couple" is most certainly broken. If Emily gets bitten and survives, her statements to the police make it clear that whatever she and Mike still had going on is pretty much over.
- If the above happens and Matt had a bad relationship with her, then it's highly unlikely that Emily and Matt would stay together too. Meaning that it's possible that Emily loses all her romantic and sexual relationships after the events of Until Dawn.
- I think it's safe to say that Mike and Jessica would be done as well. Ashley saw Mike and Emily together, so what would stop her from telling Jessica what she saw. Especially if you played her to let Matt see what was going on. Mike relationships don't seem to last very long (not including Emily really, since it's obvious they still had an ongoing relationship even after the official breakup but, didn't want to answer to her any more.) Chris and Ashley are likely the only two that would make it work. They already spent all of their time together. Plus, Josh was right as it seems, that a traumatic event would push the two to admit their feelings for one another. They're a perfect calm for each other, and that's probably what they both would need after such an event.
- It probably doesn't help that Jessica has permanent brain damage if she survives, on top of the trauma of dealing with the Wendigos, meaning it might be a while before she recovers enough to handle a relationship. However, Matt and Emily might still be an item after the events of Until Dawn, if he was still good to her. Mike's done on all fronts, though, since he almost shot Emily on top of Jessica's trauma. Sam doesn't seem to be the type to entertain that kind of relationship to begin with, and given that it's entirely possible for Jessica to suffer from Sex Signals Death, she might have been turned off physically intimate relationships entirely.
- Depending on how one plays, one "couple" is most certainly broken. If Emily gets bitten and survives, her statements to the police make it clear that whatever she and Mike still had going on is pretty much over.
Dr. Hill was really like that, that's because he works for the Organization.
- His goal is to ensure that Josh is properly conditioned to play his part in the scenario. Zoology handles The Wendigos.
Chris will continue the Stranger's work in hunting and trapping Wendigo.
- If he survives the game, Chris is shown in the post-credits interview to be hit very hard by the death of the Stranger, and seems to feel some level of personal responsibility for his death. Considering how he behaved in regards to Sam possibly being under threat from the Psycho, Chris certainly seem to have the strongest moral code out of the game's playable characters, and it's conceivable that, coupled with the death of Josh and/or the death of any of the other main characters, he would feel compelled to do for others what the Stranger had done for him.
- If Chris and Josh both survive, then Chris would likely end up hunting and capturing/killing, or being killed by, the Wendigo version of Josh in this scenario.
- This, most certainly, if Chris was able to recognize Josh in the same manner that Josh does Hanndigo, he would for sure die by the hands of him.
Until Dawn shares a universe with Supernatural
The Wendigo in both series are fairly similar, and the Stranger could easily be a hunter.- Have to squee for moment. Anyways, this could definitely work. Only Sam and Dean are the ones to finally abolish the curse off the mountain after seeing the reports of the teens deaths. Or, having the teens that survived, search for Sam and Dean after coming across some of the Stranger's belongings with their contact information to have help avenging their friends. Lastly, Sam and Dean could have Bobby inform them of a hunter (friend) going missing (with or without the information of what the Stranger was doing) and have them investigate what happened to him. Eventually they could discover 1.) the reports of the dead teens, 2.) the reports of survivors claiming of a strange encounter (interview them), or 3.) a mix of both survivors and dead teens. Leaving to interview those still alive and their experience. There's so many possibilities with this scenario.
You, the player, are more important than first thought
At first it bugged me that no one reacted to the visions of the totems as well as that in some flashbacks the information is based on something the characters themselves didn't witness or know about. But then I thought about what that could mean. First with the totems. Did you ever notice that it's the screen that zooms in? The reason for this is obvious, but it is also important because it implies that it is us specifically being shown and not the controlled character. Now think about some of the flashbacks. Mike apparently has knowledge of the wendigo crawling along the cave ceiling despite the fact that neither he nor Jess witnessed that. Both Hannah and Josh apparently recognize each other to the point that it is the closest you can get to saving him, and yet the information needed for that outcome is found by Sam and Mike. But look at the way these scenes happen. The camera, us, zoom in on the corresponding face and then the flashbacks occur. But what if these are not flashbacks but some type of information transfer. At these points they need the information to be properly informed and we are literally giving it to them. This might not make the most sense but honestly it does seem to explain things which seem like plot holes.- Yes, Sam finds the pertinent information to "save" Josh, but she does try to tell him about it before they get separated again. He probably put two and two together and recognized Hannah from the information Sam gave him.
- Not sure about the flashbacks because they can be different for example, If Mike chooses to not to jump down in the mines with Jessica when she falls, you'll never see Hanndigo behind him. Instead, you will see a flashback of when Mike looked through the telescope and Hannah appeared in view as you hit the button to back out. But, the totem's are definitely for the players and not something the teens can see themselves. Otherwise it'd make no sense considering some of the teens get totems that show another character, whom they either don't see the rest of the game or wind up dead before they do. Thought this would explain something that certainly makes no sense.
- Well, we already know from the Wendigos that there are spirits on the mountain... maybe you, the player, are a benevolent one?
Hannah subconsciously saves Sam during the final confrontation
During the end sequence if you complete all the QTEs and allow all of your friends to escape from the lodge with Sam as the last one remaining, when she runs towards the door you see that the clothed Wendigo is inches away from getting Sam's head, only for the other remaining one, Hannah, to grab onto it from behind and seemingly pull it down. Granted it was fighting its kind the entire time anyways, but maybe it's possible that Wendigo Hannah was subconsciously aware of her friends, namely Sam (who was one of the only ones not involved in the prank), being in danger, and thus ended up preventing the possible death for Sam as she flicks the light switch.- It's made pretty clear (IMO), that Hannah is advanced in her Wendigo from. The fact that she never kills Mike herself is proof of that and your opinion here as well. The Stranger says that Wendigos retain some of their humanity and based on the actions of Hanndigo this certainly proves to be true from what he said. Even the way she chooses to kill some of the teens, if not all of them shows this too. So it's easy to believe that she was trying to save Sam. The only real argument against it is that she herself can and will kill Sam. Though, you can go back to say that she killed them to have them close to her again. Because she sure seems to keep Beth like she was a valuable possession rather than food.
The "canon" ending for Josh...
... is survival as a Wendigo. This ending is only unlockable if you find Hannah's diary. If you do, Josh's fate is automatically sealed; there is no further affects you can make during game play that can alter it. And since you need to find it in order to understand the whole story and confirm that Hannah is a Wendigo, the game sort of demands that you do find it to completely understand its story. So the game wants the player to find Hannah's diary, which then automatically "saves" Josh and results in him becoming a Wendigo. Additionally, speaking only from the perspective of the horror movies Until Dawn is made in the style of, there always needs to be something at the end to suggest that it's not quite over yet, which Josh's post-credit Wendigo transformation scene serves as nicely. If he gets killed instead of turned, there's no scene like this for the traditional horror film ending and Until Dawn is left as an "incomplete" horror film game. Mike is Grant Ward
In the possible ending where only Mike survives, the Washingtons pin all the events of the night, including the disappearance of Josh, on him and with no evidence to back him up, Mike is jailed. A few days later, a certain John Garrett shows up to recruit him to a secret organization... Those ball jointed dolls set up in the dollhouse belonged to Hannah.
She seemed like someone quirky enough to collect dolls as a hobby, and Josh seems like the kind of guy who would use his sister's dolls in a revenge plan for her death.- I thought this was actually true. I can imagine this better than I can Josh going out to get it himself. Or it could have been a prop from one of Bob Washington's old horror films.
Josh was going to involve Matt and Emily in the second scenario with the gun, maybe as more hostages/witnesses, but he didn't expect them to go to the tower instead of staying at the cabin.
And he also had separate plans for Mike and Jess at the cabin later on, but by the time he got around to them they had already left. By the time Mike showed up at the scene of the gun "prank" everything had gone so off the rails already that he decided to just give it up.- Not likely with Emily and Matt. The cable car station was set up very recently upon the first saw trap with Josh, Ashley and Chris. And Josh knew that they were out and about because Emily announces that she's going for her bag with Matt. Plus, if you get the DLC with Matt and Emily, you can see that Josh had set that up for them to find because it was all still pretty fresh. I think he sent Jessica and Mike (the two people most responsible for the prank) to the cabin to record them? Considering he made a sex joke at them as they were leaving we know that's what he thought they were going to do.
- I don't think that really fits with Josh's modus operandi. While what he does is obviously extremely cruel, it doesn't seem like doing something that's just cruel would fit together with the rest of his actions. His entire plan is set up as a dangerous and hurtful "prank", like the one that took his family from him. He's willing enough to invade Sam's privacy, that it's believable he would videotape them having sex, but there would have to be more to it than just that. Most likely, there was something in the cabin that, when activated, would have sent them running back to the lodge. They just never found it, because they encountered something considerably more terrifying first.
Josh wanted to/willingly Become a wendigo.
When the search effort went to save Josh, they found Josh as a wendigo. However, he was most likely only was in the mine for less than a week, assuming the search effort began immediately after dawn struck. There were also parts of the mines that were completely open and available for him to flee through, assuming everyone survived. When he was dragged away, he was clearly not restrained, as he is found eating a skull. He was likely just left on the ground, and started eating a skull shortly afterward. This either implies he couldn't wait a day to eat, meaning his will power is frankly pathetic, or committed cannibalism deliberately, likely to get revenge, or due to his poor mental state.- Alternatively, his poor mental state (He "trusts" his delusions) combined with the influence of a dozen of now hostless Wendigo spirits sped up his resorting to cannibalism. Kinda explains why the Stranger says not to kill them, eh?
- Worse still, considering how excessively dominant Makkapitew-inside-Hannah was towards the other wendigos, it's entirely possible that he metaphorically shoved his way to the front of the line after Hannah was blown up in the cabin and claimed Josh. Evidence for this is that Hannah turned fast after eating Beth, while the miners all took several days to fully change. Josh also exhibits signs of a rapid transformation. If Makkapitew can fast-track his host's transformation and has possessed Josh, then the kids did little more than remove all of his competition from the mountain...
- Let's just burn the bloody mountain.
- No specified time between the rescue and them finding Josh is given. So we can't say really how fast it happened. Same thing for Hannah. No time is given for how quickly she fully transformed. Only details given are that no different than what the doctor reported on the miners once they were in the Sanatorium. Her scrawled last page in her journal wasn't her being near full transformation, but rather showing her state of mind and how much control the Wendigo spirit over her. In all it took nearly a month for Hannah to start her beginning stages of transformation. (it begins immediately upon committing cannibalism.) The Stranger's journal states that the Wendigo spirit possesses it's host then make them have an insatiable craving for flesh which results in them eventually succumbing to that craving and therefore the transformation begins. As for Josh, he was in the mines for a good amount of time and alone. So at any point after the first Wendigo spirit was released, it likely possessed him due to his mental instability and began working "it's magic". And since Josh was in such a horrible state of mind/mentally unstable seemingly have been that way for some time, he would of had no power up against the Wendigo spirit to fight off the craving of flesh. (Much like Hannah who fought it for nearly a month. As well as it seems the miners were able to fight it of for roughly 3 weeks.) Thus, being why he so quickly (if so) started to transform. He definitely didn't want to be a Wendigo.
When Josh says "I trust you," he is talking to the player.
This one's from tumblr
.- I like this idea but it seems more likely that it was Dr. Hill, Hannah & Beth, or even a Wendigo Spirit her was talking to.
Josh was taking the wrong medication
This one's from Game Theorists. Josh actually had schizophrenia, not depression.- I think the game itself, in a not so straightforward way confirms this if you find clue in the Mystery Man's workshop.
The Player is a protector spirit trying to hinder the Wendigo
Given the supernatural nature of the game, and the only one who is somewhat aware of the player is Josh, indicated from when he says 'I trust you', your role in the game isn't that of the kids trying to survive, but a spirit trying to guide them to safety as best as you can. The reason some of the choices don't affect the outcome is because you can't intervene directly. You are trying your best to protect these kids from the wendigos but your influence can only go so far, relying on the right circumstances and the kids to meet you halfway. Your most direct influence is guiding Josh, who acknowledges you through his hallucinations. If this is held to be true, it would explain why you can wait while thinking about which conversation option to have without taking up alot of in-game time, being a spirit, time has no meaning to you as you contemplate how to point the way. This would also make the player a fantastic strategist under the assumption that you can get the group to safety throughout the entire night, micromanaging everything and even having to split your attention between groups....Or you'd be a failure who allows every single one of them to die.- Josh is seen hallucinating his sisters or Dr. Hill the entire game and near the end, a Wendigo. So not sure how far this could stretch to be true, since he doesn't once acknowledge the player (and the one time he seemingly does is questionable after playing Josh and seeing what he's actually seeing) though it's kind of a neat way to view it as if it were like this.
The Player is Beth.
You never actually stopped playing Beth after the prologue, she just lost the ability to directly act due to being dead. Now a spirit, she knows about the Wendigoes haunting the mountains and that Hannah is one of them, and she's set out to save her friends from the threat. But being a ghost, she can only act through subconscious influence, represented as choosing which options the characters take, or guiding their hands towards certain things. She's the one who receives the totem visions, which is why none of the people who actually pick them up comment on whatever disturbing vision the totems grant.
- I really like the idea of Beth helping (or hurting) her friends from beyond the grave. It almost feels like that was the intended way to read the plot.
Josh wasn't originally going to target Chris...
- ...until Chris decided to play a 'killer-in-the-basement' prank on Josh and Sam in the basement in Chapter 2. Though Josh appeared to have took the joke well and even gave his closest friend a high-five for the well-timed prank, it was all an act. Josh was actually appalled with Chris' thoughtless prank considering that his best friend, of all people, should have already known that Josh have lost his twin sisters to a similar prank a year ago, in the exact same building no less, and is still trying to recover from the loss. With this incident in mind, this makes Josh's initially inexplicable motivation to punish Chris over Jessica, Emily, and Mike, appear somewhat more understandable.
- Not really. I mean, then it would make no sense to why, right before Sam and Josh enter the basement he makes the comment that it would take some tragic event to get Ashley and Chris together. The whole seance was rigged by Josh. Which just so happens to be what Josh had told Chris to go find, and what he was doing, when Chris pranked them. It doesn't really make sense that he targeted Chris and Sam, but it does if you look at it in mind that he was projecting his guilt of being unable to do anything for his sisters (as Sam and Chris were unable as well) onto them. He had individual pranks for them all. and in his state of mind, he thought he was doing something completely harmless and maybe even helping Chris out by getting him with Ashley.
The Ouija board scene was at least partially genuine and it was Beth's spirit trying to communicate
- Josh seems genuinely shocked and shaken and then very angry and accuses Ashley and Chris of messing with him before he storms off upset. Seems an odd reaction if that whole thing was entirely set up or rigged by him in the first place, so although he did set it up maybe it didn't go fully to plan.... Also Ashley and Chris seem confused and shaken too, and actually decide to follow the ghosts advice, again odd if they were the ones manipulating the board.
- Assuming it was at least partially genuine, it also seems more likely and logical, that it was canonically Beth's spirit, not Hannah's communicating. Why? Hannah is possessed by the wendigo spirit Makkapitew and her body mutated, she's no longer human, but she isn't dead. Its highly unlikely she could break free of the influence or control of the powerful wendigo spirit possessing her long enough to communicate with or warn the group, as she is not the one in control anymore, and not technically being dead her soul is probably still tied to her body anyway. Beth died in the fall, and so unlike Hannah her ghost/spirit is likely free and able to communicate under certain conditions (like the ouija board) if she wishes. The board first says "help" "warning" the spirit is asking for help and trying to warn them, then "sister" in response to who are they speaking to, "yes" (although it says that no matter which sister you choose) then if you choose Beth it spells "Hannah" quickly followed by "killed", possibly warning that Wendigo!Hannah needs to be killed in order to force the Makkapitew, the spirit possessing her, from her body and thus free Hannah? Beth seemed to be responsible caring, altruistic and very protective towards her siblings, and probably others too in life (maybe also in death?) and it would fit her personality.
- This certainly holds to possibly be true in some form. Josh definitely intended for Chris and Ashley to search for the "proof" in the library if for no other reason than to have them busy while he set up the other pranks. But I think the seance/ouija board was all Josh. The apparition that appears behind Chris and Ashley wasn't part of Josh's plan. It serves no purpose to pop up behind them where they couldn't even see. And when the big reveal happens, it's not shown of Josh hanging anything in the area it popped up like it did of him in the basement. So I believe Beth was actually present then, and it played as a ploy for the player to think the ouija board wasn't being pushed by Josh but by the apparition you see. Josh was a good actor in the sense of how surprised he acted, his dad is a horror film producer so I"m sure that helped in some way in that area.
The crying sound you hear if the wendigo spares Josh is either Beth or Hannah.
- If Hannah recognises Josh in the mines and spares him you hear a echoy noise that sounds like a young woman sobbing as he's being dragged off, but Mike is the only human to witness what's happened, and it definitely isn't him. Its also doubtful wendigo have either the ability or emotional capacity to cry, and the wendigo has no reason to mimic a human sound at that time. It sounds wrong too, the one time we definitely hear a Wendigo mimic a human is when its luring Ashley and then while echoey the crying doesn't sound nearly so ghostly...Assuming it was Beth's spirit communicating on the Ouija board, what if its her spirit still lingering around and realising what's going to happen? She's still looking out for and worried for her siblings, but she's powerless to help them. Also as to why you only hear the crying if Josh is spared and not if he is killed, Beth can't save him (or anyone else) but if he dies at least he and Beth can reunite and she'll be back with one of her siblings, if he gets turned into an inhuman monster too, she's lost both of them.
- Alternately it could be Hannah.....the sobbing sound we hear sounds less like just crying and more like someone actually sobbing out a word, or trying too at least, (I think it sounds sort of like "help" but not sure) and is heard just after Josh recognized Hannah and called out to her. So maybe the humanity in a Wendigo doesn't die when they transform and its not so much that the person themselves becomes evil and turns into savage, bloodthirsty monster, and more that the powerful spirit of the wendigo takes over and forcibly mutates and transforms their body while the spirit of the actual person is subdued/forced into submission and held hostage in their still living if altered body. Perhaps they can't stop what's happening most of the time because the wendigo spirit is the one in control and simply overpowers them but the possessed/controlled person can briefly break through and even regain limited and very temporary control under certain/specific conditions, (like if memories which hold strong emotions from when they were human get triggered, such as Hannah's bond and love for her siblings for example). Maybe Hannah is still there somewhere, but the spirit of Makkapittu now controls her body and she is trapped inside watching, perhaps sometimes dormant, other times painfully aware and perhaps horrified, but largely helpless against the supernatural entity that's taken over her and unable to break the control except very briefly.
- But, this wouldn't explain why Josh is spared if he recognizes her. If Hannah could gain that much power over the Wendigo spirit then it'd make no sense as why she'd allowed any of the killings to happen. I don't know anything about the cries heard. (I assumed it to be Josh probably whimpering) The Wendigo Spirit transforms the person entirely physically and mentally. Some humanity remains as it's obviously stated by the Flame Thrower Guy and even more so with Hannah because she's fairly advanced compared to the other Wendigos, but I don't think she's dormant.
The image of Doctor Hill isn't a symptom of Josh being off his meds - its a wendigo spirit.
- Josh had to have gone back to the mountain multiple times to set up his prank. We know that given some of the wendigo had been killed, there were some spirits looking for a host. So it starts whispering on his ear, causing him to stop taking his meds, make the prank more elaborate, and ignore the texts from the real Doctor Hill.
- Maybe. But then how come none of the other teens weren't possessed? The Stranger states in the "Event of the Past" video that the Makkapitew was the only still free roaming Wendigo on the mountain at the time of Hannah and Beth's deaths. And because they died he killed the Makkapitew to avenge them. Which he had avoided doing so that it wouldn't release the spirit. But in doing so it released the Makkapitew Spirit giving access to possess Hannah. The rest of the Wendigos had been captured and placed in cells/chains/locked down in the Sanatorium. There were no free roaming Wendigo spirits until Mike blew up the Sanatorium. Otherwise, it'd make no sense on how the Stranger hadn't turned into one as well.
- Something important to note Makkapitew was the only currently existing Wendigo spirit roaming the mountain. If anyone on the mountain commits cannibalism for any reason whatsoever it spawns a new Wendigo spirit if one isn't free to attach itself to the human, that's how it went from Makkapitw alone to him plus half a dozen lesser Wendigo miners. That is a big part of why the stranger was so firmly against killing them in the first place, in addition to freeing stronger older spirits that make stronger Wendigos, releasing the spirit inside lets them manipulate people into committing the act both solo and in groups potentially making many more Wendigos.
Until Dawn shares a universe with TheSecretWorld.
It's just that this is happening outside of any of the instances. The Wendigos look, behave and have the same origin in the Buzzing Lore: an emaciated spirit that preys upon minds in sleep or insane, like Josh or Hannah, and convinces them to eat human flesh. The Wabanaki of Solomon Island just kill the Wendigos but the Cree discovered that killing tham just duplicates the problem because it frees the Wendigo spirit and the ghost of the possesed as another one, so they made a ritual to lock them into the mountain whitout bodies following the instructions of their totems, and likely also the butterflies(who are just one of the Bees many shapes), making everything OK until some minners broke the seal...The reason Wendigos kill each other is not because of survival of the fittest or sadism, it's because they mistake each other for prey.
Their vision is based on movement, so if a human just stays still, and multiple Wendigos hunt that human, the Wendigos will see movement, just not the movement of their prey.- Additionally given Wendigo are spawned from cannibalism it isn't out of the question that they prey on each other in the absence of normal human or animal prey. Given all but Makkapitew were locked up in the asylum until the events of the game they're probably very, very hungry.
The Stranger is one-quarter Native American.
Not sure if this was already confirmed outright or not, but it's quite possible that his grandfather, who's also a Wendigo hunter, was a member of the Cree tribe that lived near Blackwood Mountain.Josh isn't Schizophrenic, he has Psychotic Depression
As another viewer of MatPat's video I decided to look into various forms of depressions and lo and behold we have a winner. Those with Psychotic Depression experience hallucinations (visual, auditory, smell, and touch), isolation, intense guilt, anger, mood swings, and personal inadequacy. All of which Josh has. The reason he keeps getting stronger doses is due to how bad his depression is but Dr. Hill amongst many others aren't able to grasp this because of the false life he lives. Thus he is unable to receive the treatment he needs.Until Dawn takes place in the Chronicles of Darkness
The Wendigo actually are Hunger Spirits from the Shadow whose Resonance Essence happens to be Cannibalism; they wander around the mountain and prey on people who find themselves starving (such as Hannah and the miners), using their Influence to get them to eat human flesh, thus making them resonant enough that they can possess and eventually Claim them, resulting in the abominations we see in the game. They cannot see immobile target because this is their Ban, and their Bane is Fire, which is why this is one of the few things that can harm them. Presumably, a Locus exist somewhere in the mountain (possibly in the mine?), which is how the Wendigo escaped from the Shadow in the first place. In addition, this would also explain why nature react so strangely agressive when you are a dick to animals; other Nature spirits exist in this area, and react badly to humans mistreating their source of Essence. You are the latest director to work with Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix, and the game's playthrough is your final edit.
Larry Fessenden, who plays the Flamethrower Guy and serves as a co-writer of the game, is a well-known independent film director and producer. He's producing Until Dawn, and you are the director. The game has some of the typical tropes that are associated with Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix, which includes the running gag where Fessenden plays a character who ends up getting killed. Also the Wendigo is also an on-going concept that Fessenden has used in previous films he's directed. Not to mention, the theater in the cabin has movie posters for other Glass Eye Pix productions that Fessenden produced. Essentially, you are the director and the game is the final cut that you're making as you go along, making decisions on how the story plays out. Josh had a separate plan for Mike and Jessica, but never got around to it
He was going to unleash his worst revenge on Mike and Jessica after he dealt with the others. That's why he sent them to the cabin to get them out of the way long enough. One Josh was done with Chris, Sam, and Ashley at least he would have radioed Jessica and Mike and sounded like they were in trouble to get them rushing back to the main cabin. The Game is purgatory and everyone is dead
The events after the prologue happen in the afterlife. All the characters were killed in the previous year. Their spirits are stuck on the cursed mountain unable to cope with their deaths and unable to move on. The whole Butterfly effect and all the various outcomes of the game are the various repeats of the hypothetical return to the mountain. The Player is a spirit trying to help them cope with their deaths by showing them all of the possible outcomes. A massive clue to this is the fact that the characters are almost completely unfazed about the cold. In the prologue Hannah almost keels over from the cold after a few minutes, but for the rest of the game none of them are bothered by the cold, except for a few comments when dipping into cold water. Sam in particular should have lost fingers to cold in the climbing sections and should have died of hypothermia due to her skin-tight clothing. Also Sam and Mike should have died of cold after wading through water and then walking around in the mines all wet. All of them keep touching cold metal objects with their bare fingers, none of them needing gloves nor losing skin. In some version Jessica spends hours lying on a cold metal crate in the mine shaft wearing only her underwear. How is she not covered in frostbites when she wakes up again? The only explanation why the freezing weather doesn't kill them all is because they are already dead and it doesn't bother them anymore. The mountain itself is a gigantic generational seal, and it is weakening.
The former Native American inhabitants sealed the Wendigos into the mountain, and prevented them leaving if they got out, along with dissuading people from coming to the mountain, which is why, despite being free, Wendigo!Hannah, never attempted to leave the mountain for more victims, especially as there is a town nearby, which despite the Wendigo being free, people never really went there, The seal is dependant on someone descended from the tribe at least staying near or on the mountain, as the Stranger was mentioned to have trouble with the Washingtons due to him claiming the mountain was "sacred to his Forefathers", back in the day when the entire tribe was around, nobody came to the mountain, however as the tribe dwindled the aspect that kept people coming to the mountain also weakened, hence the mining operation, and the Washingtons buying the land later, now that The Stranger is dead, people are going to start coming to the mountain, and once the wendigo get new bodies, they will be able leave the mountain and start spreading, as the seal eventually breaks. "Dr. Hill" is actually the spirit of a Wendigo
While Dr. Hill's actions and his physical similarity to Josh's real psychiatrist make it seem like he's ultimately Creepy Good, all that he ever really does on that side of things is to mercilessly berate him for doing things that he already knows are morally wrong, mostly after he's already done them. This could be him beating himself up for harming his friends, but it seems equally likely that it's something else trying to drive him to desperation. To begin with, he seems to be mostly okay with the idea of the "game" that Josh is playing, just warning that all of his choices will influence the future. Even at that early stage, Josh's conscience would probably be telling him that it was wrong much more explicitly, but that only seems to be setting him up for the consequences. The clear statements that it's wrong only start once it's too late for him to back out without causing irreparable harm anyway, and once he's already locked the cable car.Josh was only ever diagnosed with depression, with a popular video by The Game Theorists pointing out that this would be an incorrect diagnosis, given his hallucinations and other symptoms. Although a form of depression (called "Psychotic Depression", for obvious reasons) does exist that can cause some of his symptoms, the fact that he appears to be receiving only medication for a more typical presentation of the illness suggests that he either didn't mention his hallucinations or, arguably more likely, just wasn't having them before his trip back to the Washington Lodge in 2015.
Although not everyone with schizophrenia or other, related disorders is the same, disordered thoughts (rather than the more widely known hallucinations) are often the main presentation of schizophrenia. Given how well-planned his "prank" was and the fact that nobody else seems to notice any other, more unusual symptoms prior to the events of the game, it's difficult to believe that his thinking was as illogical and disorganized as is typical with those conditions before the shit really hit the fan. His belief that his prank would be accepted is obviously delusional, but otherwise, he only begins acting completely irrational well after things have fallen apart and the center has ceased to hold. More likely than not, he spent months getting everything together in a cold, calculating manner, starting out with a more low-key part at its nucleus, like the spirit board and ghost, that would be upsetting but might potentially be forgiven with time. Then, as it gradually became more elaborate and traumatizing (probably when he tried to figure out what the ghost would lead his friends to), he just kept telling himself that it would be okay.
In the game itself, it's mentioned that once it's released, the spirit of a Wendigo will circle the mountain, constantly searching for a new host. On top of this, it's fairly common for mythological depictions to include an element where spending too much time in proximity to a Wendigo is enough to turn you into one. It's likely that all of the major characters were experiencing some limited psychological effects from them, which might explain in-universe part of why they're willing to act in very cruel, out of character ways. In one instance, the spirit of the Makkapitew can physically pass through Sam, which would pretty much have to be unpleasant at the very least. The effect of simply being around one for a few hours, or even of having that sort of close contact, would most likely be extremely subtle in a mentally healthy person under normal circumstances. If someone were having brief intrusive thoughts about cannibalism, they would probably just find them disturbing, and wouldn't have any reason to mention them. If Chris and Ashley started salivating when "Josh" was cut in half (which is a thing that can happen to normal, sane people who see a cow or deer being butchered, and is often upsetting rather than appealing), or if Mike briefly had a flash of hunger when seeing Jess with her jaw torn off, they probably wouldn't even process that at all given how horrific the experience was, and they definitely wouldn't come out and share it with anyone. For someone who already has some serious issues, though, it's likely that the effect would be more extreme. While his hallucinations aren't related to cannibalism at first, Josh later descends into visions of gore, wandering through caverns made out of meat, and if he survives, it seems unlikely that enough time passed between the events of the majority of the game and his "rescue" for him to have resorted to eating a cadaver out of hunger alone. It's more plausible that he was marked from the start.
This even seems to be suggested by in-game dialogue. Early on, his response to the answer that rumors of the barn in a postcard being haunted wouldn't be a problem is to question whether Josh really isn't afraid of the possibility of the supernatural in general (rather than ghosts in particular), and to say that they'll "investigate that" later. That almost seems like he knows that there's an inhuman threat coming that isn't a ghost, especially since he never directly addresses the supernatural in any of his "sessions", beyond giving Josh the possibility to say that he's afraid of zombies. If the player later chooses to tell Dr. Hill that he isn't real, this results in mocking laughter, and in him asking Josh if he can even tell the difference anymore. If he were actually a Wendigo trying to take control of him, then this would be some heavy foreshadowing for events near the endgame, when he says the same thing to the Makkapitew which is, unfortunately for him, definitely there.
The "arm in the box" trap was designed by the Stranger as Wendigo bait
The trap seems pretty out of place in the abandoned sanatorium, which suggests that it was added later, probably by the Stranger since he's the only person who's visited the sanitorium since it was closed. The Stranger himself mentions that he used human body parts to bait the Wendigo, but a severed arm probably wouldn't appeal to a Wendigo because it wouldn't be picked up by their movement-based vision. Therefore, he devised a mechanism to make the arm move in order to better attract them. The bear trap wouldn't kill a Wendigo outright, but it would restrain it for long enough for the Stranger to chain it up or cage it.