History WMG / StardewValley

** The Farmer died from overwork at Joja or (TW: suicide mention) was DrivenToSuicide. Haley's and Emily's parents are still alive in the material world. Kent only shows up after dying in war. The Wizard and Emily can pass through the dimensions due to spiritual practice and/or drugs. Alex is in a coma from a football injury and may or may not survive to go pro in the material world. Sebastian is conflicted - does he want an eternity of static peace with which he is bored, or a life in the material world with all its problems? Etc...
** [[MegaCorp Joja]] wants to mine and pillage ''even the afterlife'' so people can't even sleep or die without its influence.

** JojaCorp wants to mine and pillage ''even the afterlife'' so people can't even sleep or die without its influence.

"But isn't that canon?" Not in this specific way, no. The Shadow People are the remnants of the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent clowns]] that routed them. They held occasional trade with a far-off Elven civilization, hence the elven jewelry. But once the dwarves were for all intents and purposes gone, humans moved in. It's even arguable that "Stardew" was the human translation of the dwarvish name Mulzatobes.

* Seems logical to me. For one, there's a book in the library that says "Is war with the Gotoro Empire really worth it?" Nobody's likely to ask that in a defensive war. And of course, the Ferngill Republic is very much the USA, which hasn't been in a defensive war in almost 80 years, but we've been in countless offensive wars, official and unofficial.

Does a Putin-like figure rule the Ferngill Republic, and is Kent part of an army akin to the Russian invaders in Ukraine, the Americans in Vietnam or Afghanistan, or the Germans in the USSR? Like those examples, the invaders are bogged down (see Sam's event with Vincent where he wonders out loud if his father is coming back alive and "everyone's heard the reports"), and Ferngill is losing the war and headed for a humiliating withdrawal?

The valley is directly north of the Empire, making it a likely target in the event of an invasion. However, since this is a family-friendly game, no warcrime will occur and the invaders will merely occupy the town peacefully until they are driven back. The player can either choose to be a patriot and undermine the occupiers every step of the way, or be practical and do business with them. Doing the former will earn the player hearts from a conservative like George and or a former soldier like Kent, while doing the latter will improve relations with greedy people like Pierre. Since many goods from the Empire are illegal in the Valley, this will also be a good opportunity to acquire rare items from the Empire.

* On a meta-level, Sebastian and Shane are both the same archetype: the cynical bad-boy loner who's grumpy to everyone until you win them over and discover the [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold hidden heart of gold]]. Both are also [[NotGoodWithPeople kind to animals]]: Shane dotes on his chickens, and Sebastian pays close attention to the local wildlife and the farm animals (plus there's his penchant for void eggs). As noted above, they even look alike: dark-haired men who favor hoodies. Their main differences are a case of AgeAppropriateAngst: the younger Sebastian's self-esteem issues are largely connected to his family, while the older Shane's esteem issues are down to the general direction his life has taken...but they still have basically the same issue: they are uncomfortable around people and have low self-worth. It's possible that it was done for realism (in real life, you meet people who have similar issues to each other all the time), but in a game with a limited cast, it's unusual to see two characters occupying the same niche unless there's history between them.

The only interaction Sebastian and Demetrius are ever said to have had is the one where Demetrius made Sebastian take down his snow-goon. They don't talk in-game and Demetrius never says anything to acknowledge him (either as part of the family, or a presence in their home), so it seems pretty clear that Sebastian's feelings of alienation aren't based on nothing, but there ''is'' a book about being a first-time stepdad on his shelf. Demetrius seems to be somewhere on the autistic spectrum, or at least takes things fairly literally. He married Jodi and set himself the goal to "become a parent", but once Maru was born, that caused him to literally become a parent instantly, which (to his very literal mind) satisfied that goal right away.

The valley is directly north of the Empire, making it an easy target in the event of an invasion. However, since this is a family-friendly game, no warcrime will occur and the invaders will merely occupy the town peacefully until they are driven back. The player can either choose to be a patriot and undermine the occupier every step of the way, or be practical and do business with them. Doing the former will earn the player hearts from conservative like George and or a former soldier like Kent, while doing the latter will improve relations with greedy people like Pierre. Since many goods from the Empire are illegal in the Valley, this will also be a good opportunity to acquire rare items from the Empire.

The valley is directly north of the Empire, making it an easy target in the event of an invasion. However, since this is a family-friendly game, no warcrime will occur and the invaders will merely occupy the town peacefully until they are driven back. The player can either choose to be a patriot and undermine the occupier every step of the way, or be practical and do business with them. Since many goods from the Empire are illegal in the Valley, this would be a good opportunity to acquire rare items from the invaders.