Octodad: Not-so-dark theory
From top to bottom, Octodad looks like a fairly innocent game, A simple story about an Octopus trying to survive in suburbia. But, through subtle hints and references, and inconsistencies with that premise, it is revealed that Octodad is no mere cephalopod. He is, in fact, something far more horrifying, on paper at least⊠What do I mean?
Octodad is not, in truth, an Octopus, Heâs a Cthulhi. For those not familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Cthulhi are also called âThe Starspawn of Cthulhuâ and âXothians,â and are a race that looks like Cthulhu whoâs true origins, as with everything in the Cthulhu mythos, are debatable and vague as sin, the only things known for a fact are that they look like Cthulhu (Or, in their first appearance, like Octopi), worship him, followed him from their home dimension/universe into ours, and then perished en masse while what remained of them went into a death-like sleep, same as Cthulhu.
Now, Star Spawn arenât often seen in the works of Lovecraft, but they do have a sliver of popularity in the fandom. Not as big (in the popularity sense) as Deep Ones, but not as unknown as the humble Penguins of Leng. Now, again, itâs worth noting that common interpretations of Star Spawn are basically baby Cthulhus, just tiny versions of their dark and malevolent master, but to start with, they were described as âa land race of beings shaped like octopi and probably corresponding to the fabulous pre-human spawn of Cthulhu,â in the story âAt the Mountains of Madness."Â
Octodad highly RESEMBLES an octopus, but with some interesting tweaks. Namely: His eyes, two of his Tentacles, and something weâll talk about in just a minute. But letâs talk about Octodadâs anatomy when compared to another octopus, namely, the one in the "Wold of kelpâ at the Aquarium.
Now, this is Octopus is a giant, climbable sculpture one might see at a water park, so in a technical sense, some liberties could have been taken with its anatomy, but it looks semi-accurate to real octopi, down to the slit-like pupils and the tentacles all being at roughly the same spot despite them spreading out for kids to climb on. Now, if you pay attention, a patron of the Aquarium will note that the âWorld of kelpâ was something else before it was the world of kelp, though they THINK it was âSquids or somethingâ before. Based on how the section played out, I have to believe the whole affair was either cephalopods in general given how many bases of just kelp they went over, or just Octopi because HOLY CRAP there are lots of octopi out there. Failing that, I donât think the statue was a squid to begin with, the eyes are far too forward on the head, what can be seen of the tentacles makes them all look the same, and most species of squid have circular pupils and irises, not slits/rectangles.Â
Octodad, in contrast to the sculpture, has vertically ovular pupils, far rounder than the slits on the larger statue, on top of that, his eyes take up a slightly larger portion of his head. Then we take a look at Octodadâs tentacles, namely the two that form his mustache. These two tentacles are set away from the other six in a way that makes no real anatomical sense for an octopus. Not to mention that the two are preposterously shorter than the others, itâs less like another pair of tendrils and more like a strange growth coming out of the middle of his head. Moving on from that, thereâs also a certain disparity with his other limbs, his âarmsâ are shorter than his âlegsâ when he stands, however, when he enters water, his limbs, save for his mustache, are all of equal length, this strange effect carries over to when heâs buck-ass naked, so no, he isnât just scrunching two up while heâs in the suit⊠Speaking of naked octodad:
What the hell is that THING in the midst of his tentacles? Itâs a lighter color than the others, heâs still using two tentacles per leg, one per arm, and his mustache is basically vestigial. Octodadâs anatomy makes no fucking sense unless you consider the idea that he has some level of shapeshifting power⊠and wouldnât you know it, Cthulhi have just that. To what end is a little shakey, as with most things in the Lovecraft universe, but still.
Also worth noting is the church Octodad got married at, a Church dedicated, at least partly, to Cthulhu himself. Now, we only see one window with any kind of figure on it, Cthulhu, wereas the others are all decked out with a strange symbol, as are a few paintings lining the walls of it. These paintings may be of religious significance to the practitioners of this particular faith, but a lot of it looks like some minimalist âIf you get it you get itâ kind of stuff, and then one is literally a crayon drawing of a child with a smiling balloon. The last vaguely Lovecraftian thing in the church is the treasure chest Octodad gets his wifeâs ring from, all the coins within have a squid/cuttlefish-like creature printed on them, In the story âShadow over Innsmouth,â the people of a town called âInnsmouthâ start breeding with fish people. They did it specifically for the undersea gold the fish people (called Deep Ones) give out for the service. Deep Ones worship multiple gods, cheif among them are their great parents, Mother Hydra and Father Dagon, though worship of Cthulhu isnât against their laws or anything.Â
The game takes a break from the hints of Eldrich horror while the family is at home, though it is worth noting that we donât REALLY know where Octodadâs children came from. Hell, the game makes a joke about it at the end, Tommy asks, plain as day, âIf dadâs an octopus⊠Then where did me and Stacy come from?â While his parents laugh the question off, it has a few possible answers: The two of them (Or just Tommy) are leftover from a failed relationship/marriage Scarlet was a part of before Octodad came in, the two (Or just Tommy) are adopted, or, in a manner not dissimilar to deep ones, Cthulhi may just be able to breed with humans in this universe.Â
Now, I say Tommy may be adopted/Not Octodadâs specifically because Stacy says something concerning in the âDeep seaâ exhibit at the Aquarium. She apparently has dreams wherein a deep, dark spot in the ocean seems to call to her. This turns out to be a sea horse ranch. Cute as that is, dreams are a recurrent theme in Lovecraftâs work, sometimes compelling people into the service of Great old ones like Gla'aki, for example. Or there was that one story when a guy met Yog-Sothoth, the omniscient and omnipresent god of the universe just because he dreamed that deeply. Also âThe Dreamlandsâ are a place in Lovecraftâs fiction. I could keep going down that rabbit hole, but Iâm lazy and I think that point is made.
There is also another reference (Possibly) to âShadow over Innsmouthâ and âDagonâ with the character of Chef Fujimoto. Now, Fujimoto himself is not a reference to anything in particular, but his backstory has some Lovecrafty bits. Namely, Fujimoto was once a soldier (Dagon) who cut open a combatant. Instead of human guts, âPiles of fishâ were inside. (Shadow over Innsmouth.) This one might be a little more of a stretch but remember that Fujimoto is OBSESSED with Octodad and believes very firmly that there are fish people everywhere. (âWhy is everyone fish!?â) There are several Lovecraftian stories where the character feels he is being pursued or is surrounded in some way. Call of Cthulhu ends with one of the characters feeling that the cult is gunning for him, partly because some dude looked at him funny, and Dagon ended with the main character fearing that a servent of Dagon was coming up his stairs after him, so he threw himself out a window. The crippling paranoia experienced by Fujimoto is another hint that SOMETHING Eldrich is happening in the universe of Octodad.Â
Also worth noting is that a magazine entitled âInquisitorâ can be found at Gervasonâs, Octodad is on the cover, and they think heâs an alien. Which begs the question: Why is it that most humans will let an obviously strange man do things without much concern at all? Hell, there are three lines present in both the main game and one of the extra shorts that imply EVERYONE sees something is wrong with Octodad. And I quote/paraphrase:
âI thought he was a lawyer?â âHeâs slimy enough to be one.â
âIs it just me or did the captain look jigglier than usual?â
âHmmm, I donât see a blurblerulb on the list."Â
These lines imply on some level that people recognize SOMETHING is wrong or different with Octodad but they donât carry the thought far enough to do anything with it⊠Unless perhaps at a distance, hence that cover of âInquisitor.âÂ
Another thing that tends to happen in Lovecraftian horror is the mind not making proper sense of things. For example: Canonically in the mythos, the image of Cthulhu mankind sees, humanoid body, octopus head, draconic wings, etc, is not what he really looks like, itâs just our perception of Cthulhu because our minds arenât equipped to comprehend the real deal. Looking too long at just what we can see of Cthulhu will unravel your mind, causing both insanity and death if exposed even longer. I think thatâs part of Octodadâs effect. When heâs dressed, the humans around him perceive what their mind makes sense of. Heâs in a shirt and pants, therefore he is appropriately dressed as a human, therefore their minds SEE a human even if heâs not QUITE right. We see, rather obviously, that he doesnât have human hands, he has tentacles with suckers, but Scarlet refers to it as a "Handâ still, this implies she and others see his appendages as hands or feet when heâs disguised or doing something âHuman enough.â Only really undone if heâs naked or does too many strange or seemingly malicious things like accidentally smack someone with a bag of doughnuts.
This is why you can get away with randomly dragging things across the floor, their minds are telling them something is a little off, but their ability to perceive might be telling them heâs just got a medical condition or something. Itâs nothing to judge him for, heâs just got a disability.Â
So at the end of that trail, what are we left with? Octodad as a Xothian/Deep one hybrid? Does that fundamentally change the gameâs story? Does this mean Octodad is a dark horror from beyond? Does he secretly seek to kill and maim and destroy all the things we hold dear? Will he one day help awaken Cthulhu and usher in the new age of the great old ones? No. See, Octodad, despite his horrifying inspirations, is a benevolent creature. He âblubs with a love for all mankindâ in the ending for Dadliest Catch. He still obviously loves and cares for his family, whether they know his secret or not. Heâs just an alien from another dimension⊠or at least he has ancestry from another dimension.Â
Now, why is that? Iâve got two little ideas for that: Itâs an often found interpretation that most of the original writings of Lovecraft focus on the idea that âIt is different, therefore it is bad.â Xenophobia of an extremely high sort. Mind you, I often find this interpretation lacking, but we can probably discuss that later. I feel Octodad may be a natural extrapolation of the idea that it isnât bad because itâs different, in fact, Octodad, despite keeping a secret, is an all-around âgoodâ guy. Upstanding, moral, all that garbage, he just happens to be non-human.Â
Something supporting this being a running theme is the scene with the Snugglefish. For those who have yet to play Dadliest catch, a section of the game takes place when the power in part of the Aquarium goes partially out. During this event, Octodad and Stacy come upon a large sculpture of a creature called a âSnugglefish.â which is covered by the dark. We shine lights at the supposedly malevolent creature, complete with monstrous teeth and evil red eyes, partially with the intent to âBlind itâ despite the fact that its obviously a statue. That whole section up to then is nothing but fumbling in the dark, looking at the strange and some might say âalienâ life living in the deep ocean, you can also learn some stuff about them if you pay attention.Â
The whole thing ends when you fully light up the spots on the statue, revealing it to BE a Snuggle fish as opposed to some giant monster. As a result of revealing this, Stacyâs fears of it go right out and she feels she understands the creature better, as with most things, learning and understanding quiet oneâs fears. when we learn what something is, we stop seeing it as an immediate threat is the take away from that section, I think, which is, again, Iâd say, a call to Lovecraftâs writings and his fear of that which was different and unknown and how itâs so easily thrown out with just a LITTLE understanding.
Another plausible explanation for Octodadâs kindness may be that Octodad is not a Star Spawn of Cthulhu, but of Kthanid. Kthanid is not an original creation of H.P. Lovecraft, but a bloke by the name of âBrian Lumley.â Lumleyâs creation is the brother of Cthulhu, and is considered the main reason Cthulhu is sealed away these days. Kthanid is said to look almost exactly like Cthulhu but to have âGolden eyes that radiate peace.â Heâs a loving, benevolent âElder Godâ that wants the best for not just Humanity, but for all things. It would logically follow that if a creature dedicated itself to Kthanid, or was one of his spawn, it would be at least mostly as loving and kind. So, if Octodad, or âblurblerulbâ if you prefer, was a purely hypothetical Kthani instead of Cthulhi, his disposition may well fit within the actual mythos.
So, what do y'all think? Does this theory hold water? Or does it sink harder than Cthulhu going back down for a nap?
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