Why didn't Saga let Alan have the Clicker at the end? Alan's Heroic Sacrifice had Scratch possessing him once again. Letting Alan keep it would just give it right back to Scratch. More importantly, a Sudden Downer Ending fits just as well with in the horror genre as No Ending, so the Dark Presence would allow it.
Alan's Binge Montage with Zane is hilarious and adds to the Mind Screw of their encounter, but it's also a lot more understandable when you remember that Alan's been trapped in the Dark Place for 13 years.
Although it slips into Fridge Horror territory when you learn that it wasn't Alan who took part in the montage, but Scratch.
And then slips back into being hilarious because this means that Scratch is responsible for the line "It's called Return because... we return". Also, wasn't he originally based on all the rumors about Alan, including being a hard partier?
I bet those "raccoons" the FBC technician mentions in the memo in the monitoring station were the Koskala brothers breaking in to read all the data.
It's little wonder Scratch became so feral after American Nightmare, given that he's presumably trapped in the same Stable Time Loop as Alan. He's essentially reliving his defeat from that game over, and over, and over...
"Dark Ocean Summoning" most likely didn’t work as intended because the Andersons didn’t specify when Alan would come back, which the Dark Presence could freely exploit.
Plus they didn't explicitly mention any names in the song, which meant Scratch could also come out as a result.
Alternatively — Odin's counterspell (incorporating Alan's name through homophones and wordplay, as listed below) couldn't have predicted that Scratch would be included as a passenger alongside Alan.
The spoken section of the song all but outright deliberately summons Scratch alongside Alan and causes him to remain dormant within him until unleashed. Possibly the brothers were aware that a Stable Time Loop was in play, since if Scratch didn't come out, the summoning wouldn't have happened in the first place.
For silent lies that which colours the night / And it may ride in your step from the other side of the moonlight
"Dark Ocean Summoning" contains the lines "by name I will summon him" and "rise up by the name I'm calling", which can odd, considering Odin never mentions Alan by name in the song (or outside of it for that matter, since both brothers always call him Tom). However, he manages to, either intentionally or unintentionally, work Alan's name into the lyrics twice anyway.
Once again, the ocean's a lake / So alike a land awakenote He also noticeably doesn't enunciate the "d" in "land" very well in this line. Come save your soul / Awakenote A. Wake new and whole
Speaking of Dark Ocean Summoning, the lyrics are on-the-nose for Alan's situation despite the Old Gods not having spoken to Alan in thirteen years, from the "spiral" madness of his mind to knowing he's in the "city of dreams". There shouldn't be a way for them to know details like that... except as already established, the Anderson family has some form of telepathy letting them know things they otherwise shouldn't.
