Iām confused Iāve never understood why itās up to interpretation that Nathan is drugged in the image. To me itās always come across as thatās what the reveal was supposed to be, that āif heās drugged who took the photoā aspect seemed pretty clear to me imo. it kind of feels like the take that Nathan posed himself takes away from Jeffersonās actions and the reveal that he was abusing Nathan too, when Iāve always interpreted the photo as having been really important of a reveal Because heās drugged
Yeah, I agree. I think the main reason the "Nathan posed himself" interpretation just doesnāt really work is that it makes a lot of the later revelations about Jefferson, and his supposed relationship with Nathan, feel oddly disconnected from the photo itself.
I know I've repeated myself a few times at this point... but if Nathan was consciously participating in the photoshoot, suddenly we're supposed to believe Nathan willingly posed beside Rachel's corpse, understood the implications, and somehow never considered how easily that photo could be used against him. That requires Nathan to be either implausibly reckless or completely incapable of recognizing that Jefferson was setting him up.
Like, you're really telling me Nathan posed for the picture like this?š:
And anyway, Jefferson makes it clear to Max in his monologue in Ep5 that he saw Nathan as a useful resource, not an actual equalā Nathan was merely someone whose money, family connections, and psychological/social vulnerabilities made him easy to exploit. The game goes out of its way to emphasize that Jefferson never genuinely respected him. If Nathan is drugged in the photo, and the photo was shot, intended to be used to frame Nathan to cover his own tracks (as Jefferson clearly states was his intentions after killing Nathan), that feels far more consistent with Jefferson's general modus operandi.
As you said, I think the goal of the photo is to be a reveal that subverts the player's expectations. For 80% of the game, the story frames Nathan as the primary perpetrator: the entitled rich kid abusing his privilege and connections to terrorize Blackwell from the shadows. But then, the Nathan photo reveal recontextualizes that: Nathan is still responsible for his actions, but he's also being manipulated and exploited by someone who understands exactly how to prey on his instability, his loneliness, and need for validation š I think that's why Max's reaction to the photo isn't, "I knew it, it was Nathan all along!", but more, "holy shit, what even is this...?"
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