[caramsels]

Six lore masterpost: Cici, Identity, and Belonging

This will be a longgg post regarding my theory and interpretation regarding Six’s lore! I ask that even if you are a fan who is very against her being Cici, you give this a chance if interested. For a preview: I believe not only that Six is Cici, but that Six is adopted, originally not from the Counties, ripped from her culture and past and placed into a life she doesn’t feel she fits into - leading to her choosing the Nowhere. This fits well with not just her story, but her character writing.  This’ll include evidence and analysis from all corners of the franchise, and near and dear to me.

Part 1: The “Original Owner of the Raincoat”

 Fans in my experience tend to treat this theory as if it is baseless or random, so a big first step is to lay out some evidence and address the most popular “debunks” of it - starting with the most common but wildly misinterpreted moment, Otto’s recognition of the yellow raincoat. Typically I’d lay out evidence chronologically but this is the HUGE moment that is brought up as a debunk for Six = Cici so I’ll begin with it.

In TSON episode 6, when Noone finds a yellow raincoat, Otto is clearly alerted and reminded of Cici (we can tell because of context clues and the musical motif that plays, more on that later.) The point often brought up here by fans to prove it cannot be Six and must be RCG relies on Otto recognizing the yellow raincoat as a specific article of clothing Cici wore in the Counties. If this were true, then Cici could not be Six due to Six only acquiring a raincoat in the Nowhere…But here’s the thing, Otto does not even note the fact that Noone found a raincoat - he specifically focuses on the color yellow. If the raincoat were an exact article of clothing Cici wore, wouldn’t his reaction be even stronger here than asking if anyone else was around? Regardless, Otto never specifies that the outfit being a raincoat is important. This alone isn’t immediate proof of Cici not having owned a raincoat or being Six - but here’s what it does prove: Six being Cici would not retcon RCG originally owning the raincoat, because Otto does not latch onto the fact that it’s a raincoat. It is not canon that Cici wore a yellow raincoat, meaning RCG’s existence does not debunk her being Six. This means the criteria here for Cici’s identity isn’t that she wore a raincoat in the Counties, but rather, a connection to the color yellow.

Does Six have a connection to this color? Yes. When Six dons the raincoat in LN - the track played is called “true colours.” David Mervik in an interview (https://youtu.be/mPPNOb0RqBY?si=y0bEbpyJU7EtCFNg) when asked about the paintings of the girl and The Lady - said “If you think in terms of a dream or nightmare, maybe there’s a character in there pulled directly from your real life. But maybe there’s a character in there who just has one element of something from your real life, and that’s colored how they look there so yeah maybe you see a picture of a kid in a yellow dress or coat.

This painting in the files is included in a set named “Six paintings.” LNAE further backs the fact that this girl is intended to be Six from her past, as it is again spammed in her personal distorted childhood bedroom hallway and Transmission room, amidst other paintings of Six. Mervik describes the dress not as white, but yellow. 

One more note on the color topic, look at the small Hypnotist’s design. Yellow glasses and a yellow tie. Given his trauma and fixation on what happened to “his beloved Cici,” this design choice communicates that the color yellow by itself  is important enough to Otto to be reflected in his exaggerated Resident form. 

Therefore, Six does have connection to this color outside of her acquiring the raincoat, and RCG being the “original owner” does not interfere with Six being Cici.

Storytelling through music 

While TSON reuses most tracks, it still utilizes them to tell the story in a way that gives us  “reveals” via usage alone. In Episode 5 of TSON, Noone confronts Otto, asserting that maybe Cici chose to go to the Nowhere in order to get away from him. In this moment, the second Noone says the name “Cici,” Six’s theme begins. Her theme builds and builds throughout the rest of the scene as though it is haunting Otto and rising to the surface. This theme is not there for Noone either, as it continues strongly when Otto has gone to a different room and is reflecting on Cici. In this scene, Six’s theme is used to represent Cici’s presence in the narrative. The only other time Six’s theme plays in TSON? …when Noone finds a yellow raincoat. The music is communicating the reveal - Cici and Six’s theme is one in the same.

The Institute

In the near final concept art for Otto’s office within the institute, there are photos of Six. (4 but my pic here is of the clearer side) We know from TSON that Otto has a photo of Cici in his office, which based on this concept art- originally would have been exaggerated to multiple, communicating his desperation to find Cici. Funny fact here is this is a fan render using the official model, meaning they even googled “Six little nightmares” to get these. So Six’s theme has been used to represent Cici, and Six herself has been used for photos of Cici.

Since this is concept art, you can technically shrug it off if you really want…. but here’s why it’s harder to do that.

Six is still prominently featured in the Institute in the final game. With Descent to Nowhere, we now know for certain that Residents’environments are largely shaped and pulled from their inner lives in the Counties. The Stone Giant is full of jails due to Homer being a sheriff and imprisoning children, chains again reflecting her occupation + her leash for her pet ferret, an indoor zoo reflecting this unique pet of hers, a large amount of clocks, and her watch. This is what we see with The Hypnotist as well - the majority of the institute reflects Otto’s inner life in the Counties. The sweets, the Zahir’s Gaze painting, the Ferryman. etc. This is reflected in the paintings. There are paintings of the Stone Giant due to Otto’s “alliance” with Homer for example, and a room + painting representing Otto’s desperation to forge his own gateway to The Threshold. These are not all things Low would know about, they, like The Stone Giant are mostly pulled from Otto’s mind. Given this, the Six painting that can be found in The Institute is a huge piece of evidence that proves Otto somehow knew Six, in a way where she was prominent enough to get her own Nowhere generated painting.

But what if it’s not Six? What if it’s Noone? Isn’t she also an important character that Otto lost to the Nowhere?

She is, but here’s why this painting can *only* be Six. 

QUICK NOONE DEBUNK

This is actually the exact VLN concept art of Six but traced and reworked to fit its new context.

A picture of Noone does appear in LN3. Here on Otto’s conspiracy board, the only picture that is connected to Noone’s brain scan is a reused picture of Spoon Girl from

LN2 - but with the scribbles placed so that it looks like she has short hair and side bangs. This photo represents Noone. 

Furthermore, a photo of Six in this exact style exists in LN2. If Six were meant to be Noone, why not use that instead? If the painting is meant to be Noone, why use a design other than Noone’s?

4. When Myra is looking through Homer’s belongings in LN3, the panel focuses on the file of a CPI patient we don’t see on floor -1 that gets an odd amount of focus. In DTN, Otto claims Homer chose him to tend to floor -1 due to him being the only one to care about the children… but this is his unreliable narration. A child went missing under Otto’s care back in TSON. Homer is the chief of police and a former elected official in the Counties.. I think the real reason she chose him to tend to floor -1 is because she had blackmail. This means that this file Homer had in her “scheme” files is Noone, which is why it gets emphasis as DTN references many existing and future LN stories. It matches the edited Spoon Girl model used for Noone in LN3 as well. Lighter short hair and a side part.

Therefore, our one candidate is Six. Six is undeniably the character in this painting. But she’s wearing a hospital gown, so could it be that she was just a patient of Otto’s? No. Here's why (...aside from it being a very odd direction to place her story and a weird choice given we have three other characters, including the protagonist of LN3 who could be used in a painting simply meant to represent one of Otto’s patients.)

Painting analysis: 

 In this scene, Otto’s trauma has just been brought to the surface after hearing the Mall’s dialogue. He mentally reverts to Cici’s disappearance.

He is speaking to Cici here, not Noone…. making this line very interesting in what it implies about Cici.

"You're not sick."

This is why Six is in a hospital gown. Not because she was a patient of Otto’s, but because this painting represents the last time Otto saw her before she was taken to the Nowhere… a time where she would have been physically sick. 

Here’s why this is Otto’s last memory of Cici.

Sinking, drifting away, and crossing over an “ethereal ocean” to get to the Nowhere are all constantly used as metaphors for transitioning to the Nowhere in TSON.

DTN has a cool and tragic detail here, in that one symptom of The Sleep is their stomachs sounding like waves… because the coma patients are mentally in the Nowhere. Drifting away to Nowhere and crossing the ocean is exactly what Six is doing in this painting. On a bed no less. To Otto, this painting shows a sickly Cici being lost to the Nowhere during her sleep/final nightmare.

The placement of this painting is in the middle of The Ferryman catching a child, and Noone’s flower. This shows Otto’s chronological mental connection of these events. The Ferryman caught Cici. Cici became sick and drifted away to the Nowhere in her nightmares. Decades later, he meets Noone, who brings this trauma to the surface again.

The more analysis heavy stuff is done, but here’s a host of other evidence or neat links as well

Six is deeply tied to music. Even in the LN1 comic, the music box is obviously important to her. While it’s a myth that “Cecilia” means “six,” it does originate with Saint Cecilia - the patron saint of music.

Cici is the character who gave the Ferryman his official, canon name. This feels like a very relevant feat to give to a character named “fake six” in the files of a mobile spinoff (I love VLN this isn’t a stray)

You could say that the Hypnotist’s Resident design and boss fight parallel Monster Six’s in many ways with the stun feature, huge bodies, long arms and chase sequence structure.

In LNAE, a game stated to include hints towards Six’s story and echoes of her past, present and future - there is a shattered Spiral mirror in one of the levels. Given that these levels are largely influenced by Six’s mind and given form within the Transmission - I think this is an echo from Six’s future. A peek at what her brother is up to.

In the chest of clothing Noone finds, Mono’s trenchcoat is also there. I find it hard to believe personally that the outfits of our former protagonists are meant to be a reference to Mono and… raincoat girl.

Part 2: What was Six’s life like before the Nowhere?

This is the more character analysis/lore speculation section that I held off on in the evidence section. If Six is Cici, how does that add to her story? What does it tell us?

A really interesting moment included in TSON 5 is that when Noone first sees the photo of Cici, she bluntly comments that her and Otto do not look alike. Otto does not respond to this, instead getting prepared for the session, stuttering and sighing. The fact that Cici looks very different from Otto is important enough to get a little scene dedicated to it in the penultimate episode of TSON. To me, this implies that Otto and Cici are not related by blood, and not the same race. Otto’s reaction in this case shows him deeming Noone’s comment as somehow socially taboo, as she is a child who doesn’t know yet that this is a blunt thing to say. Cici/Six being adopted is something that I believe can be linked to so many aspects of Six’s story and journey through the Nowhere, so let’s get into it starting with some environmental storytelling from LNAE.

It’s important to note (so I don’t look like I’m grasping at straws) that LNAE is stated to have hints regarding Six’s story, and echoes of past events. The whole game after the very beginning takes place in the Transmission, which seems to give form to Six’s memories and struggles with “identity and belonging.” This is why LNAE is not just a retread of her time in the Nowhere. Thus, I will focus on analyzing the levels and paintings under the lens of how they relate to Six and her life/struggles.

The Train: Pre-Adoption. A runaway

There are three paintings of Six in the mansion level of LNAE - she is the only Visitor depicted in all of them, and the features match perfectly. Each painting of her is next to a family portrait, which will be important later. This painting is definitely her roughest. She’s in a nightgown with no shoes, a horrified bulging eye, messy long black hair poking out, and a giant box concealing her identity — this is where the train nightmare comes in. We can borrow some character analysis from Mono here - in LN, when a character’s face is covered, they are hiding something.

When you break down the fears present in the train chapter, it’s easy to see how it could relate to Six’s past as a runaway or refugee. She’s on a train going to a location she doesn’t know, surrounded by the upper class, and she is the only one on the train who does not belong there. She doesn’t have a ticket. I believe this can be tied to this painting of her, the earliest in her timeline, because she is distraught and hiding her identity. Wherever it is Six was running away from, she can’t risk being found out… and (a running trend you’ll notice) she feels out of place when surrounded by the upper class. Therein is her struggle with isolation and identity for this stage. Throughout Six’s story, there’s this repeated theme of her not belonging anywhere. She cycles through many Nowhere locations, is directly told she doesn’t belong in the LN1 comics, and as Cici, did not feel she truly fit into her new life. 

Her not originally being from the Counties (the city where as of now, it seems the Nowhere takes either all or most of its characteristics from with DTN’s reveals) works wonderfully with this theme. On a sad note, perhaps this is why Six is shown to be quick, outpacing all other kids so far. She’s used to looking out for herself, she is very familiar with how to run away.

The Orphanage

The next painting of Six takes place when she has arrived in the Counties, and in the care of some sort of orphanage. She is no longer hiding her identity, her face is visible and she has access to stuffed toys. This painting of Six is again, clearly lower class. Her hair is long and messy/uneven on the outside lines, her nightgown is tattered, and her stuffed bunny is torn and the stuffing is pouring out. An important thing to note about this stuffed bunny, is that Six is holding it with obvious care. It’s tattered and broken, but she’s hugging it closely and sincerely. Her hair is messy and her gown is tattered, but we can see her face. While her situation is unpleasant, Six is herself in this painting.This will be important in a bit.

Little Nightmares 1 Interlude:

Before AE, I had this same theory for the most part thanks to LN1’s possible hints towards Six being adopted. We know that the places Visitors are put are “the best continuation of their journey.” Six is put on the Maw because, according to Mervik, there are characteristics that reflect her life and shape how she views it.

Looking at LN1 through a lens of how it could relate to characteristics and fears present in Six’s life, The Maw’s “childcare” facilities  heavily resemble a twisted orphanage. What really stands out to me however, is the fact that the Lady, in files, is also referred to as “The Governess,”  a woman employed in a private household to teach, train, and educate children. This isn’t simply an outdated title either, as it appears in LN3’s files again to describe new assets related to the Lady. In the infamous blogpost where Mervik debunks Six being the Lady’s daughter (or even being remotely motherly in her dynamic with Six), he notes that the two are unrelated and thrown together by forces against their will… and that the Lady “wants to keep the child (Six) trapped forever.” Given this… what fear/ element of Six’s life does The Lady remind her of? A wealthy female authority figure that reflects Six’s culture, a governess that rules over an orphanage, and the need to keep Six trapped forever… Since we know that “mother” is ruled out…. I think we have a good candidate. To Six, the Lady represents the head of her orphanage, and Six’s fear that she will be stuck there forever, unable to escape. This would also be why Six envisions her orphanage-self (long messy hair, white gown) at the Lady’s side in this painting.

(quick sidebar that I don’t think the Lady IS the head of Six’s orphanage (though In not against speculating it), just that this is largely what she represents in Six’s mind. In TLO, the protagonist is reminded of the angry faces her parents would make by the antagonist’s anger. This is how I see it.)

“Riches” - post adoption

The final painting of Six parallels the previous.. except her class has clearly changed. Her messy long hair has been cleanly cut and brushed, she now wears a large fancy white gown instead of a tattered nightgown, and as opposed to her old brown and broken stuffed bunny - she now has a white, perfectly intact bunny doll. In this painting however, she is holding the bunny doll roughly, without care, and her face is scratched out. To me, this can be read as Six not feeling like she belongs in this new life. Separated from her culture and home, given this clean hair cut, fancy gowns and dolls… it’s not where she fits. There’s the identity and belonging theme again. She’s technically better off now, but doesn’t feel like it.

Family

In AE, we get this family portrait, often next to one of the 3 Six paintings. I believe this is a Nowhere representation of Six’s adoptive family: the parents, and young Otto. It’s worth noting that there is a prominent room in LN3 in which young Otto might also be represented by a bully.

The Hunter’s stuffed family that is also present in the mansion level has the same structure of mother, father, and son. The tables and other assets throughout the mansion are designed for four people. This is a family of four, but Six is left out.

LN2 interlude:

I don’t think the stuffed family is merely asset reuse, I think it shows that Six’s capture by the Hunter was thematically connected to her life in the Counties. Six is alone and trapped in the basement of this house, while a rough replica of her family structure (parents and brother) “eats dinner” above as a family. Isolation, even with her new family.

Interestingly, the stuffed dad has the son on his lap. This is similar to how in the family photo, the son is all the way on the father’s side instead of in the middle or by his mother.

Perhaps with her husband and son already having a tight bond, the mother latched onto Six as a perfect daughter to treat essentially like a doll. Ripping her from her old life and culture, and forcing one into a world where she doesn’t feel like she belongs. The mother gets the most emphasis, and shares traits with quite a few antagonists Six is put up against. Her face looks similar to the Pretender’s, with the circular blush and small face, while her neck is like the Teacher’s. This could help explain why Six is initially put on the nest, and is constantly put up against the upper class. The Pretender to her represents the type of child her adoptive mother wanted her to be.

For the school, I think it’s the clearest in terms of how it relates to Six’s story. While it calls back towards some moments in LN2’s school chapter, I think the implication goes deeper- Six was bullied in the Counties. There’s a locker you can open where you can see a plushie strung upside down just like Six, with gashes (remember the painting?) in it leaking cotton, and a drawing of a spiral and girl with her face crossed out next to it. Six is both being mocked for being strung up in chapter 2, and implied to have been bullied in her previous life as well.

The main emphasis seems to be on the Teacher however. Perhaps the Teacher treated her worse than most students in the Counties, or Six was reminded of her adopted mother in some ways by the Teacher’s strict demeanor. Whatever it is, Six’s new life in the Counties was fraught with identity issues and bullying at school.

Cici and Otto:

Visitors have been officially described as  “kids who felt out of place in the world.” 

I believe Six’s tragic tale of being forced to leave home (possibly on the run based on the hidden identity) and eventually being adopted by an out of touch upper class family could tie in really well with her feeling out of place and isolated in her Counties life. In terms of her dynamic with Otto, it explains why he never truly knew or understood her. Even though she clearly was kind enough to him to tell him about the Nowhere and seemingly look out for him, she had a whole realm of baggage and untold stories that he wouldn’t be able to grasp at that age… and so she chose the Nowhere. When Noone accuses Otto as being the reason Cici left, he remarks that he was “just a boy.” as a self defense coping mechanism. Based on the bully Otto, perhaps there was a point where he joined in, or did not stand up for Cici in the way she did for him. Otto says himself that he has always been cowardly… So at the end of the day, to her, he became just another bully. 

Cici was someone he looked up to, but could never understand. She had already been through so much, and still felt alone, emotionally neglected, and out of place. The Ferryman told her she would belong, somewhere safe and whimsical, somewhere she could just be herself again, not a perfect child or older sister.

Six’s character:

I’ve always disagreed with the popular interpretation of Six as this very icy character. I could go into it for a long time so I’ll try to keep this section clean, while Six is ominous and strange at times, she is also very whimsical. She’s a bold and intelligent kid who struggles with loneliness, identity and self destruction. Due to her hardships in life, she had to become someone who looks out for herself at a very young age. Just because this is the way she’s learned to be though, does not mean it is what she truly wants. Based on LN2, and the devs consistent comments about Six feeling vulnerable and alone in LN1, she *does* crave companionship, and for someone to care. During togetherness 2, Six seems genuinely shocked that Mono came back to help her - it’s a moment that clearly means a lot to her on a personal level. When you consider Six having been an isolated, self sufficient child, emotionally neglected by her family and relied on by her spoiled little brother, this makes a lot of sense. 

At the end of LN2, the Transmission shows Six a fantasy- and if I had to guess what it was, I’d say a place where she feels like she belongs and is safe. When it’s ripped away, this creates a hunger. She needs to chase down that feeling again. In LNAE, Six (literally) runs away from her memories and the person she was up until her capture in chapter 4. As she runs away, these memories fade into what the files call “oblivion.” Massive black holes that absorb her memories… she’s shutting them out and trying to get rid of Dark Six. My read of this is that Six rejects herself at the end of LN2, she rejects her past along with that. If there is nowhere she belongs, maybe the Nowhere’s next plan for her will involve giving her the twisted ability to forge her own at the cost of identity and warmth.

 If I let myself talk more about Six in AE outside of just the theory beats this post will be a monstrous size so I’ll cap it off here! I have a lot more thoughts and speculation regarding this stuff and I hope that even if you hate Six = Cici, you enjoyed reading this perspective!

[randybutternubber]

I FINDIHED WATCHING ALTERED ECHOS

I really loved it

I’ve seen a lot of people dislike it and write it off but I honestly loved it. I think it does a great job at showing how six’s past has affected her. I think a LOT of people wanted LNAE to be LN2 but from six’s perspective but I don’t think that really works. LN2 is not strictly from mono’s perspective even if it follows him, it lets you come to your own conclusions about the relationship between the children.

Also realistically I don’t want to play two hours of six picking her nose in the hunter’s cabin and hospital while they wait for mono. I also think a lot of people wanted to see six’s perspective because of the belief that she’s being mistreated/clung onto by mono which I don’t really think is true. Mervik described LN2 as both six and mono not being sure about each other, and if you look throughout the game mono isn’t very clingy, he shows no signs of distress when separated from six initially, where as six repeatedly calls out for him. I think she’s afraid of being left behind because early on, she doesn’t know if she can trust him to come back.

I think they’re two kids trying to work together in a world that hates them, and ultimately what has happened to them ends up tearing their friendship apart from the inside. A huge theme in LNAE is self destruction. The columns of memories and items related to six’s past drown in the dark shadow which is referred to as oblivion in the game files. Oblivion when it comes to the mind can refer to supression and erasure of memories. Six’s model also shows signs of self harm on the forearms; they’re covered in her own bite marks. LNAE further compiles this and I think it adds a lot to her character for those who are willing to give it a chance.

She feels this need to escape, to find sources of escape from her pain, and she never stops running. Her dropping mono is something that both stems the music box- her ultimately unhealthy source of escapism- being destroyed, but also from her own issues. I think six dropping mono is honestly more of a self destructive act than one of retribution, hence why shadow six is dropped- she’s harming herself in an attempt to run away, especially because she no longer has her music box to soothe her.

[caramsels]

i helped write this!!! it came out great please check it out

[caramsels]

What do you think compelled Mono to cooperate and help Six? Judging from all the external media like DTN and the digital comics that wasn’t normal behavior for him. In DTN he would at most help Hush once because she showed kindness first and it was “reclutantly” as described by the developers.

So what might have changed? What or why exactly did Mono decide to help and save Six, so many times?

Thank you so much for asking! I have revolved the same question in my brain since the LN2 comics and I am thrilled DTN still left it “unanswered.” I personally believe in… a mix of reasons. Familiarity from their “real” lives, repayment of a debt, a shared goal that develops into a genuine bond, and the two being incredibly similar.

REASON #1: Interdimensional Familiarity (this is most theory - based one)

Six is usually a very focused and strategic character. She slips up at times of course, being a child in a world that hates her… but her first encounter with Mono feels markedly different compared to choosing the wrong hiding spot or falling for a trap due to hunger. I also don’t see it as (just) shock at encountering another child, as we know Six has already encountered children, dead and alive, in the Nowhere at this point. Six doesn’t just seem surprised here, she seems to be in some sort of awe. Her jaw is dropped, and most notably — she moves out of the cover of the tree as if in a trance. I personally read this as Six experiencing some sort of familiarity that she can’t place. We know from TSON, TLO, and LN3, that Visitors can just… feel when a character or location is familiar to them. As both are from the Counties, the transmedia implies Six went missing decades ago, and Mono’s (Thin Man more accurately lol) human self is an adult in TSON and DTN’s timeline, it lines up that these two could have encountered or at least known about the other in the Counties. Whatever’s going on with, I think they are connected in both worlds.

REASON #2: The protectiveness towards Six is developed, rather than Mono’s base state

I personally don’t see LN2 as a“Mono is naively fixated on Six and Six is over it” situation. I see the dynamic as much more mutual in terms of their character development, trust, and distrust towards the other. Mono’s different behavior towards Six, rather than an immediate compulsion to go save and work with her specifically (which he’d suck at if this is the case since she’s down there for a Good While) could be that while he is pragmatic and survivalist character, he is still a child who hasn’t given up hope. He is >sometimes< empathetic and operates on an “eye for eye” system. Hush saved him in the first issue, and so when her situation was dire, he saved her back and that was that. In episode 6 of the comics and issue 4 of DTN, Mono is in equal danger compared to the other children present and thus might mentally lack a debt to repay. This can also tie to him immediately suspecting and accusing Hush of being a threat when he notices her arm. Neither is at more risk than the other, so no one owes each other anything. In this case, upon encountering Six again (the tallies imply he did not come to help her immediately) He, in addition to the possible #ANOTHERLIFE connection, feels compelled to repay her for the fact that he was the one who distracted her into getting caught in the first place. He repays her by helping her escape imprisonment … then the rest of his actions towards her are more of a gradual build than an immediate attitude switch. Six repeatedly shows that she is active, intelligent, and interested in working with him throughout chapter 1 after their rough start. She shocks him by tricking him to run free, is the one to initiate the hand holding, when she catches him you can hear his part of togetherness play, and she gently shakes him to see if he is alright after the Hunter’s death. All this to say, I believe their dynamic didn’t start with an immediate “ride or die” from Mono. We get a lot of cues in the first chapter that can be read as him starting to really value her beyond just following through on a debt… which is one of the reasons I think he becomes protective of, and decides to stay with her. This is a part of my read of the wonderful “boat” cutscene that connects them to Pale City. If you watch the animations, Six is seemingly rattled from the Wilderness/Hunter’s death, while Mono is unphased and staring at her in thought. He’s going over whether or not he should break his usual stride and stay with her for this “mission.” To note, I think Six has a similar perspective, but the ask is about Mono’s behavior and perspective so I’ll stay focused on that. Just wanted to shout her out

REASON 3: Their mission

If they initially act out of their usual parameters and stick together for some sort of goal, what is it?

This one is just canon but not talked about much, but Mono and Six share a goal in LN2.

(This is one of multiple times it’s been stated but it’s my favorite because it’s sweet, naive and tragic so I’m using it.)

We don’t know why it is that Six is aware of the Transmission and aims to stop it, but even outside of game descriptions and blogs, this is communicated environmentally by the large central drawing she did of the Signal Tower in the Hunter’s basement. I think this is a huge reason why they decide to work together, they are working towards the same location, for similar reasons. It’s intriguing in what it implies about Six. Her goal is not to escape the Nowhere, but to make it more habitable. It is this binding goal that initially causes both characters to step outside of their comfort zone and trust/work with another child.

Even with moments of distrust and uncertainty between the two, their relationship grows into something very genuine but fragile. That’s why I believe he saves her so many times, and she saves him back. They go from a partnership of necessity, to accepting the vulnerability and risk of friendship and connection in the Nowhere. They end up caring so much (despite being on edge about whether the other cares about them in return at times) that they both can be seen risking their lives to save each other.

A final point is that beyond all this, the two are very similar. While their dynamic starts with a possible inter-dimension mystery link and a shared end goal, they connect on a lot of shared traits. They’re both strange and ominous children who are used to being on guard and working alone. Mono and Six are both constantly described as active and driven characters, which is something they match wavelengths on compared to a duo like Hush and Mono. (Love Hush though and I am 100% intrigued by protagonist duos who are incompatible as a team)

Even in the ways that they differ, I think are often complimentary. Mono’s blunt fighting style + Six’s strategic flight. Mono being native to the Nowhere with his muted colors and locked fate + Six’s presence as this brightly colored thorn in the Nowhere’s plans, and more I will cut myself off from yammering about.

To conclude because I could talk about this for days probably, I interpret it as a mix of these factors. Rather than an inciting incident causing Mono’s personality or behavior to flip prior to the beginning of LN2, I think he’s the same character as he is in DTN and the LN2 comics. He starts the story with a more pragmatic view of his rescue- but is pushed to grow by his blossoming friendship with Six. They have the same goal, connect on a personal level, work well together, and possibly knew each other in another world.

Thank you for reading if you’re down here, AE next week!!!

[caramsels]

this moment is tragic in what it communicates about both characters but it’s also darkly funny that mono’s reaction to hush grabbing his collar for comfort is to jump like 5 feet into the air

[d1n6]

Noone is such an underrated LN protagonist…

(This is just kind of how I imagine her)

[caramsels]

kid orders in perfect Nowherian, SHOCKS patrons and staff

[caramsels]

Hush Analysis/Interpretation

Descent To Nowhere #4 is out! I adored it. A wonderful ending that really stuck the landing for me. I have so many things about it that I couldn’t just write it all together so this post will be an analysis of a character I think was the biggest stand out of the final issue: Hush. (Jailer/Homer too but this isn’t about her.) A compelling, kind, self sacrificial child who secretly harbors resentment towards her situation and treatment.

It’s made abundantly clear to the reader that in The Counties, Hush suffered from severe neglect. Her hair is cut in uneven chunks and she wears an oversized button up made for an adult, likely owning no clothing of her own. Her parents didn’t even give her a name, but based on her own recognition of “Hush” as her name - they frequently commanded her to be silent. Both households favored her brother, with his rooms including a large number of store bought toys - contrasting Hush’s isolating, small bedrooms with hand made toys scattered across the floor.

The one thing that seemed to give Hush comfort in The Counties was her sock puppet, Punchy. The name “Punchy” is a reference to Mr. Punch, a famous puppet character known for his mischievous and violent personality. Mr. Punch started off as a comedic character intended for adults, but over time became something of a lovable rebellious anti-hero amongst children. I believe this is how Hush views Punchy, a comfort item through which she can communicate what she might be scared to otherwise. A conduit for feelings she has been discouraged to share. She is always seen wearing Punchy in The Counties, and upon waking up after the accident - he is the first thing she asks for. Punchy clearly means a great deal to Hush. Without him, she loses an outlet.

This makes The Ferryman puppet especially sinister. Hush had no one who cared about her, and he exploited this. Based on how much she values Punchy, hand made crafts, and her keeping the Ferryman puppet in a hidden spot - it’s clear that Hush strongly valued The Ferryman. Her neglect was so severe that a nightmare creature from another world brought her enough comfort to make him his own puppet, even signing it with her “name.”

As for the accident itself, I think it was orchestrated by her mother, Mrs. Kay. DTN 4 confirms that to become a Resident, you must do something drastically awful, as with Myra’s story about the bus driver. In all photos of Hush prior to the events of DTN, she does not have the tape on her mouth… but during the accident she does. I think it’s possible that Mrs. Kay, in a deeply distressed state due to her comatose ex husband selling her entire inheritance and leaving her with the children - taped Hush’s mouth (linking to how she and Mr. Kay would always tell Hush to… hush.) and somehow arranged the horse accident. To get rid of burdens. Thus, The Sleep got Mrs. Kay on the exact day of the accident… and Hush was effectively left behind by every single person in her family. Her parents in the coma ward, her brother dead, and her left without her only comfort and communication tool.

In the Nowhere, Hush is established to be a clever, and deeply kind child. She spots another kid and immediately helps him escape… only for him to immediately run off on his own. This panel in particular shows just how much of a hard blow this is to Hush. Her whole world goes dark, as she has been isolated and left behind once again. This is a narrative thread that will keep building from here onwards. Hush continues searching her new prison, and is seemingly infected by a shadowy parasite… on the Punchy arm.

I’ve talked about this in an older DTN post already, but it’s relevant in building up to issue 4. Mono is a character who is deeply familiar with The Nowhere and what it takes to survive in it, but that doesn’t mean he’s an evil or malicious character. He’s still a child who does not want others to die brutally, so he lends a hand to Hush when she’s close to death. The tragic part about this moment is that it again shows us how severely Hush has been neglected. This is an intense reaction to a moment of kindness from an unreliable character that has already burned her once. Hush doesn’t have a good frame of reference for anyone caring about her to even the slightest degree. Mono is uncomfortable with this, and sends Hush ahead on her own to clear an area that he will progress through afterwards. This is intentional distance created by Mono as a reaction to Hush’s hug, and Hush catches on. The next time we see Hush, it’s after Myra and Marion have discovered the isolation and neglect Hush faced. We see her naively reach out to a chained Guard - because she empathizes with it. The Guard is trapped and alone, the same way she has always felt. Mono comes through the entrance and shushes her. As the reader, we know he is right about The Guard being a threat she shouldn’t wake up… but you can see Hush looks sad here. Being shushed likely reminds her of her parents. The wounds of their neglect keep being nurtured and brought back into her mind. Hush is no stranger to indifference, so she takes the hint and wanders off to venture alone rather than attempting to follow Mono…. and then the parasite becomes active. 

I believe “Punchy” (how I’ll be referring to the arm) is the beginning of Hush’s Resident-ification. It’s the impulse, her “monstrous urges” with no inhibitions. In psychology terms (since this is very important to Resident lore and LN in general) Hush isn’t *just* being puppeteered by a fully external parasite. It *is* a parasitic shadow…. but it’s her shadow. Hush is curious about the TV, but consciously she knows she shouldn’t wake up the guard. The impulsive part of her, now given physical form as Punchy, immediately satiates this curiosity.

Hush at this point has received the message from Mono that he isn’t interested in being a team, and is now being weird about the TV. As such, she heads off on her own, determined to escape. Issue #3 is where we can see her truly adapting to The Nowhere, solving puzzles, managing the pain of Punchy, and progressing to the exit on her own.

Hush again encounters creatures that are trapped and alone. She reaches out to them, resonating. They are like her.

Hush, again, is a sweet child. She feels bad that Mono got caught, but does not attempt to save him. She’s learning the way things work in the Nowhere, and based on her reactions to Mono’s indifference so far… she felt a certain way about her neglect in The Counties as well, even if it was stifled and pent up inside. Punchy pulls her back into danger… possibly to become whole. Unlike before, the area Hush lands in is covered in the same black substance on the floor. Punchy pulls her down a path of this substance, until it reaches the Jailer’s lair. Therein lies a large vat of the substance that Punchy clearly wants… so Punchy impulsively acts on this impulse and knocks over the vat.

Hush is a kind kid even when it would make sense not to be part.5000 -  so she helps Mono out despite his consistent distance and indifference. After getting slammed into a cage by the Jailer, Punchy breaks out. Note that for most of this issue, Hush’s actions with this arm are still voluntary. Hush wants to escape the cage, so she uses Punchy and brings the prison bar with her. This starts to challenge the assumption that Punchy only brings her into danger … it just worked in tandem with her, to aid her survival.

Mono doesn’t help her up here, hasn’t been waiting up for her, and reacts in shock and suspicion to whatever is happening with her arm. Note that I don’t think Mono is evil or monstrously selfish for any of this, this post is simply analyzing Hush’s perspective and how her life experience shapes it. If you saw another kid with a monster arm in active necrosis you would also be on guard. You can even see that Hush shakes her head holds out her hand to assert that she isn’t a threat here. 

Here, the theme of Hush helping someone only for them to be indifferent/neglectful towards her is once more brought into play. Mono takes the prison bar and parries the Jailer’s chain, an action that causes Hush to fall off the cage even *before* the whole rope snaps.

Next up from her perspective, Mono says something here in Residentese that is not directed towards her, that she cannot understand. He gets caught by the Jailer immediately after… and here lies the climax of Hush’s development throughout the comic. We can see Hush hesitating to help him …*before* Punchy becomes active.

She isn’t reaching out to him or trying to get to him in these panels, she’s reflecting. Reflecting on how she’s always been treated, on what she has learned about survival in this place already, and maybe for a moment… she feels as though for once she would like to put herself first. To get back at the neglectful behavior that has hurt her for her entire life. Before she can choose what to do, Punchy acts *for her*. Hush’s superego (the part of a person that includes their morality and conscious) does not want to leave this kid and escape on her own…but her darker impulse, her “id” does. 

As I noted earlier, up until this point, the comic descriptions have described Punchy as driving Hush into more and more danger, so we assumed it was purely a malicious and parasitic outside force … But the final issue essentially reveals this can’t be the full story. Punchy only assists in Hush’s survival in this issue, implying that in a twisted way, it *is* linked to Hush. She uses Punchy to escape the cage… and Punchy removes her from Mono’s dangerous situation and guides her towards freedom from the Stone Giant. 

This culminates in a final reveal of sorts, where Hush, once outside the Stone Giant… is rewarded for this action. The Nowhere gives her what she wanted from the start: her Punchy. Hush uses both of her hands to retrieve and put Punchy on, before moving onwards, past the Stone Giant. In a darkly twisted, trademark Nowhere fashion - Hush has gotten her form of self expression back. Her source of comfort and conduit for her true feelings has been maliciously distorted into her painful, shadowy impulses, given physical form. A fragment of what it is to become a Resident. Hush is SPEEDRUNNING the Nowhere experience.

I was a little apprehensive about where Hush’s character would go, and DTN 4 really stuck the landing for me.  I would love to see Hush again, farther along in her journey at some point.

[randybutternubber]

Hi, can’t believe the last issue is already out! Please talk about issue 4 of DTN I don’t mind the spoliers.

Okay so hush’s hand- I feel like it represents that inner id all residents are stated to abide by. That shadow side that Jungian psychology talks about. Basically a basal and instinctual part of ourselves that is repressed.

That shadow stuff seeped into her, just like how it seeps into everyone else. The parasite that’s in her arm is less of an outside force and more of something that exacerbates these instinctual and often harmful impulses and urges that everyone has. Residents are basically humans that have been dehumanized. They listen to the id. They just have urges. They don’t think in the same way we do or operate in the same way

From my understanding, some residents are grown visitors, some are nowhere natives, and others are from the counties or other places.

For this final category, basically you have to be a real massive piece of absolute shit to be sent to the nowhere. This might be unpopular but this isn’t a new concept in LN lore, it’s been around forever, just not super discussed or seen. And yes, it’s canon

They become their own shadows essentially.

And also yes they can exist at the same time as their human counterparts it’s a little confusing. Like chief downes is the jailer, and yes they both exist at the same time.

It’s a horrific fate. You’re made inhuman, turned into a caricature of yourself and a slave to all your worst vices. You will never get the chance the change or better yourself, you will never reflect, and you will never escape. Your humanity has been snuffed out, and what resembles it is just an echo of something that no longer exists. A ghost of nobody there.

The way I see it is that hush’s hand is basically that. A compartmentalized piece of her own eventual residence, one that, just like the shadow, is hidden. And eventually, it comes out fully, and so she gives it a familiar face. Punchy, her sock puppet

Punchy is named after a puppet play, and it’s basically boomer humor the puppet show where this big bitch named punch beats his wife and like 11 other puppets along with killing people. Basically punchy is the way that hush initially expresses herself prior to the nowhere as she seems to be nonverbal beyond just the tape rendering her unable to speak. In the comic we see hush’s infected arm act erratically and impulsively- doing things based off of this instinct.

In the nowhere, “punchy” becomes an expression of her darker or simply more impulsive urges. I’m not saying this to imply hush is evil, everyone has “a shadow” really, regardless if you believe in jungian psychology or not, we all have morally questionable fleeting thoughts. The shadow not even necessarily a bad thing, but it’s instinctive and something that is very often tied in with vices, which again, everyone has. Even kids. And sometimes. Your instincts tell you to punch someone in the head because you just don’t like them. But, I would hope at least, that you don’t do that.

That’s what the nowhere likes, it wants to exploit these flaws, make the shadow come out and snuff out the rest. It puts kids into situations where they open up, and then it leads them to yet another situation where they’re attacked at their weakest points.

Six and mono grow to trust one another- then the nowhere puts them in positions where they end up hurting each other where it hurts the absolute most, that trust that was being nurtured after being beaten into a bloody pulp is then basically napalmed, and boom you get LN2 storyline

The nowhere is looking for kids in which lies a shadow that can be nurtured into a resident basically. Not every shadow is fit though because of the child they’re attached to. These children are not evil, but like I said, every human ever is flawed, and the nowhere feeds it, coaxes it out of you after basically telling you to smile and then kicking your teeth in.

Hush doesn’t necessarily circumvent this but she compartmentalized it by separating it from herself, yet it’s still a part of her- still her shadow. And even worse, it’s the part of her that speaks. Basically this kid is absolutely fucking cooked.

(Small aside but this also applies to Myra in some ways. Her descent into nowhere is her indulging in her vices like drugs. Not saying she is evil or going to become a resident or stuff like that I’ll talk more abt it later ily Myra )

Also, hush is given something she wants. That’s another thing the nowhere does. Noone is promised a cure, ruse feast and mim make friends, and hush gets her punchy back. It’s a monkeys paw though. It extends an olive branch to these children who are on the edge, and then it uses it to beat them over the head. It’s horrible, and the ultimate goal seems to be to turn these victims of circumstance into perpetrators of the very same abuse they experienced.

Anyways that’s how I saw it. Big thanks to @caramsels for the screenshots and also spitballing with me. Most of these are my own thoughts but the stuff especially about the nowhere basically playing “grow a resident”with the kids and their flaws was something that they especially had a big hand in.

(Also small note idk why people are saying DTN is mono and hush being friends because quite literally “what Batman movie did you watch” 😭😭😭😭)

[caramsels]

Sorry if you've already answered this before, but do you think it's possible that Mono might have ALWAYS been a resident? This is a theory I've held for a while due to his visual differences from other children (both canon and concept art), the extent of his powers (with TTM being one of, if not THE most powerful resident in The Nowhere), and his deep connection to the world itself (being unable to resist the pull of the Transmission and clearly spending a LONG time surviving in The Nowhere). For some reason I just can't see him being another child from "reality" or The Counties, to me he's always felt distant from the other children of the franchise, even Low, a canonical counties kid who also wields teleportation abilities. I'm not sure if this theory will ever be proven or disproven, but it's not something I see regularly discussed in-depth. I'd love to know your thoughts!

Thank you for asking for my thoughts on it! I have a TON. This post will be long, be warned 😭 When DTN was announced, I thought maybe I was initially wrong to speculate that Mono was not a traditional visitor- instead, I believe DTN CONFIRMS that he isn’t one. DTN gives us all the missing pieces we needed to fully explain what is going on with Mono. Mono, the character we play as, is not a human child who went missing… but he is based on one. His human self got to grow up in The Counties, into a character that we have already been introduced to peripherally in transmedia. This is my comprehensive theory/analysis on the final parts of the puzzle that DTN hands us - one that explains the nature of Mono and the Thin Man’s existence from a lore, and narrative standpoint. I am pretty confident that this is Mono’s lore, solved. Happy LN2 anniversary!

What is a Resident?

There are many official definitions/descriptions of Residents across interviews and websites, but the most compact and clear one that I’ll use as the jumping point for this theory is this passage from the LN2 guidebook:

“The game takes place somewhere born out of people’s worst impulses and desires, where manipulation, conformity, consumption, evil and death thrive. A place where the worst from the real world are reborn as a grotesque version of themselves, continuing their descent into the darkness.”

This definition has not been retconned or altered, as post LN2 media only SPRINGS this part of Resident lore to the forefront with Otto/The Hypnotist and The Jailer/Homer Downes. The nature of Residents’ existence makes the logic for Mono’s human self straightforward. If The Thin Man is a Resident, and Residents are the worst of the real world reborn, then it must follow that The Thin Man was originally one of the worst people from the Counties.

Which came first? Mono or The Thin Man

Before continuing, I’ll address a quick counter argument: Visitors can simply be turned/age into Residents, so wouldn’t that mean that Residents don’t necessarily need to have an adult human counterpart from The Counties? This is true, but I think Mono’s case is not so cut and dry. It cannot (only) be that Mono created the Thin Man by naturally aging into him, because The Thin Man existed before the loop started. We see proof of this in the LN2 comics, where the mysterious figure in the files is The Thin Man, complete with a music cue used for the Thin Man’s presence - along with the fact that Thin Man has murdered several children outside of LN2’s timeline. Since he already existed before the loop, this rules out the explanation that Mono just created him by aging… bringing us back to the main blurb of Resident lore: The Thin Man has to have been one of the worst people in the Counties.

(As a quick little summary of the loop’s place in this theory since I know it gets debated a lot- I fully believe that Mono is in a self imposed time loop that affects himself exclusively in LN2. This theory isn’t me claiming that there is an overall loop that everyone is in on, or that there is no time loop. I simply believe that all of the evidence points to Mono and The Thin Man existing before his loop/cycle started.)

Who is he then?

Residents are grotesque versions of their former selves, according to Mervik, they are “people whose inner life has shaped their outer form.” While whispers of their humanity echo in some fleeting moments, they do not think or behave in ways that are sane or logical. “All of the residents of Little Nightmares…they don’t really have motivations, it's like the id- it’s the base instinct of people… They don’t have a goal in life that they want to achieve, it's just this urge.” (Mervik again.)

I believe that the more power a Resident holds within the Nowhere is directly linked to how much influence they had in the Counties. Every location in the Nowhere is shaped off of “a system that acts in accordance with a basic principle or concept.”, so naturally, the people chosen to maintain and reside in these areas must be those who upheld these systems when they were human. So then, what character have we been given glimpses of that strongly upholds and contributes to the population’s habit of escapism in the Counties? DTN (and a small shoutout in TSON) hand the audience a dead ringer: The host of REMs FM, the “voice of counties,” is Mono/The Thin Man’s human form.

To illustrate my point, Here is a break down of every REMS FM appearance in DTN:

This one is the least suspect, but establishes a few important details. REMS fm considers itself to be the voice of the Counties, Myra listens to it in the mornings, and its dialogue is a little ominous in tone. “We’ll be here, in your ear, as we always have been.”

The next time the broadcast appears, we see that Myra, in order to shut out the couple in the neighboring room, tells Marion to turn the radio on. This is a direct thematic connection between REMS fm and escapism. Myra effectively shuts out unpleasant stimuli by turning to familiar entertainment that distracts from it. The lyrics of the song themselves are ominous and negative, stating that their minds are unraveled, and warmth can only be found in “the black below.” It’s these lyrics from the broadcast that push Myra deeper into her investigation of The Nowhere. It’s “like that song said”, she has to keep falling. It’s easy to be misled into thinking this is a positive development, since readers naturally want Myra to find and save Hush… but we know how the world of LN works. In reality, even though she is well intentioned, whenever Myra pushes harder into the Nowhere - it is framed as self destructive. It’s repeatedly linked to her struggles with drug use. In order to even access more details in her Ferryman memory, Myra has to do hard drugs. She’s “descending to the Nowhere” in her investigation, but she’s also descending in terms of her struggle with addiction and mental health… and words from REMS fm directly influence her to continue.

In the third issue, after she “takes the plunge” for Marion by getting high before he arrives, we find out that Myra listens to REMS fm at night as well. This radio station is a constant part of her life. Lonnie makes sure that Myra always specifies who said what on the broadcast, implying importance. There’s music, there’s a host, and there are guests. At night, the host of REMS fm openly speculates about the nature of the Counties and the Nowhere. Either he directly knows something about this link, or he has been catching on. Once again, these words are shown to encourage Myra’s beliefs about the investigation, and the reality of their world. They solidify her theory. Another detail to note for later is that Myra opens up the bunny nesting doll while talking about this peripheral unreality that surrounds them- linking the bunnies to the concept of *realities*. We will get back to this in Mono’s section.

Even though this is the first occurrence of REMS FM in DTN, I saved it for last because it’s the juiciest. When she is about to jump off the bridge, Myra recalls negative advice from the broadcast as justification for her imminent suicide. This further strengthens the link between the broadcast’s influence, and Myra (literally) descending. However, instead of mentioning that these words came from the host, Myra cites a quack. A quack is someone who pretends to be a(typically) medical professional, when they don’t truly have the skill/qualifications. For us, this would be someone like Doctor Phil. Someone who would be giving crude love advice with a medical spin on a popular broadcast, comparing love to an infection. Someone like… a celebrity doctor. A celebrity doctor we know exists in this timeline due to TSON, and a celebrity doctor that perfectly fits what we know about LN2’s Doctor.

When asked about the connection between Six, the Lady, and the mysterious paintings in LN1 - Mervik had this to say:

“If you think in terms of a dream or nightmare, maybe there’s a character in there pulled directly from your real life. But maybe there’s a character in there who just has one element of something from your real life, and that’s colored how they look there so yeah maybe you see a picture of a kid in a yellow dress or coat ... you still don’t know how that fits, in the logic of this place it could be very literal or it could be something… influenced by another. “

I believe the second part is the case with Six and the Residents of The Maw - given the fact that Mervik has also described them as strangers to Six in a LN1 blogpost. The first one, about the characters being pulled from your real life, pertains to Mono. The Residents in LN2 all connect to the “real” Mono’s life in some way, which is why he fits in and is familiar with Pale City. The human version of The Doctor, in the Counties, is directly linked to the broadcast…. connecting him to the host/Mono.

The broadcast clearly influences Myra’s mental state and her beliefs, but how does that pertain to Mono’s human self being the host?

In issue 1, Myra gives us this critical line, “Entering someone’s home is like entering their brain. Everything’s laid out bare.” We know from TLO, TSON, and descriptions of the Maw and its guests that The Nowhere puts similar things together. It puts people, places, and objects where they “belong.” Thus, our cast of characters in the Stone Giant are all connected by something that makes them similar… and I believe it is the influence they have on Myra’s mental state.

The Jailer is the antagonist because she is Myra’s long-time boss, and is directly opposed to her goal of making a difference in the Counties. Chief Downes is the central obstacle obstructing her investigation into Hush’s case - her pursuit of the Nowhere. Hush and Mono are the protagonists because in Myra’s brain, they are the two major forces pulling her down to Nowhere. Hush, because she feels a connection to the kid and wants to save her, and Mono, because his Counties-sona is the host of the broadcast that repeatedly influences her to sink deeper, to the black below.

A quick revised analysis of Cover 1, given this;

The nesting bunny on Mono’s side being halved demonstrates how Mono is technically two entities - one that originates from the Counties (Thin Man) and one that originates from the Nowhere (Mono). I speculated this prior to its release, but Myra describing a reality and unreality while opening a bunny nesting doll in issue 3 solidifies it. The pills inside of the bunnies also represent something that Marion has noticed about Myra, that while these two motivate her to rediscover the Nowhere … it’s not good for her. It’s destructive to her health. She’s well intentioned, but she’s descending. This isn’t the only time Mono has been given a “half” motif in connection to the Nowhere and the Counties either.

It’s a holiday render, sure, but every other character is on a side that makes sense for their lore. All of the characters who either died or remained in the Nowhere are on that side, Low escaped so he is on the Counties side, and Mono is… both.

Before I get into more direct evidence/lore talk, I’ll address an elephant in the room: If Mono is a radio host in the Counties, why is he connected to televisions in the Nowhere and not radios?

The short answer is that the Nowhere exaggerates aspects of The Counties, meaning they can change and manifest in different forms than their “originals.” As per Mervik, “this is a world that takes real experiences and twists them into unfamiliar shapes, so what they have become here is as important as what they were.” If this alone isn’t satisfying, note this cool connection in issue 2, where Lonnie directly connects the Counties’ radio to the televisions in the Nowhere.

Another neat connection here is that Mono’s name, links to a type of audio signal used on radio broadcasts. Monaural sound, typically always shortened to just “Mono.” He more specifically reminds me of a specific audio configuration known as “dual mono.” - an audio configuration featuring two entirely separate, independent signal paths for the left and right channels, from input to output. Two independent signals, that when played at once - get amplified reach.

So what is up with Mono then?

If The Thin Man is the host of the broadcast as a Resident, then Mono is essentially a supernatural clone of The Thin Man as a child. This is why prior to LN2, both are able to exist at the same time and technically be the same person, but different characters. Whether he has the memories of his human self at that age or has only ever known the Nowhere, this theory explains a lot of the factors that have made fans raise eyebrows about Mono being a Visitor who got taken to the Nowhere by the Ferryman at some point. It explains why he is intentionally designed to belong in that world, why he understands the Nowhere better than every other kid we have met so far, and why he has TV powers, connection to Thin Man, and familiarity with the Signal Tower and Pale City *before* the loop even started. His existence began in that tower. He isn’t fully a Resident, but he’s not fully a Visitor either.

This theory makes perfect sense of Mervik’s response here: He isn’t being coy or vague, it really is all of that. Mono and the Thin Man are the same person in that they are both entities that come from the same source, so Mono is always doomed to become the Thin Man eventually.

But then… would you be the same person if you were thrown into an entirely different environment during your adolescence? Or would you have different goals, feelings, and views on the world?

Thus, they are two separate characters, and Mono is the successor. A good example of this is how Mono is officially described as “a threat to these systems of escapism.” Systems that the Thin Man manages. Of course he is capable of being a threat, since it is an overall system “he” manages in the first place, but there’s a purposeful divide between the characters here. Is a “bad person” inherently bad? Was Mono just evil to begin with in the “real world?” No. That’s the tragedy. When in a different environment, Mono was a rebellious threat to the very thing his human self upheld. The Nowhere, deeply unfair child-hating lovecraftian world that it is, forces his. path to be inevitable. No matter how different Mono is from the Thin Man, no matter how much his character progresses, his future is set. He is held accountable for the actions of another version of himself. He can’t escape it. This fits perfectly with this overarching narrative thread in LN - that of the odds being severely stacked against these children, of the world hating them, and wanting them to fail.

What’s the purpose of Mono’s existence/Whats up with the Thin Man:

These are directly linked so they get a conjoined section. If all of this is true, then what is the point? We know that non-traditional children exist in the lore (such as Alone or the Pretender).. but why?

I think that Mono exists to keep the Thin Man in an eternal loop of escapism (indulging in his impulse), and to make the Transmission stronger. Recall the official Resident lore - they do not have humanistic, complex motivations for their behavior the way that we would traditionally expect of villains. The thing Thin Man is looking for is Mono - but not because of a desire to save him. Mono makes the Transmission stronger. Like with dual Mono, the transmission reach extends if the two independent signals become one. The Thin Man takes kids at random because Residents do not remember their former lives or associations- Mono is the intended target. He’s needed to fulfill Thin Man’s urge. This is why, in the LN2 comics, Thin Man immediately follows Mono after he leaves the room instead of continuing to murder the kids downstairs. This is why the Signal Tower keeps “calling Mono to come back.” and finally- this is why Six’s theme is intentionally blared on the TVs whenever Mono gets near them in chapter 4. It’s all centered on getting Mono. These two entities becoming one as they do at the end of LN2, extends the reach of the Transmission. That’s his impulse. Maintain the transmission, and spread its influence as far as possible.

I won’t get too much into my analysis of the Thin Man here since this is already monstrously long and I still have around 20 things I could talk about from this point on, but I believe he is so ghostly and inanimate in comparison to other Residents because his human self did not have much of an “inner life” to pull from. He’s a puppet for the Signal Tower because REMS FM was his whole life. Negatively impacting the people of the Counties and encouraging their bad habit of escapism was the center of his reality, and so he is given a role that reflects that in the Nowhere. Mono’s existence essentially provides the Nowhere with an opportunity to give this Resident an inner life, to tempt him with escapism - the very vice his “original” self promoted. The official twitter has referred to the time loop as Mono’s escapism - Which could imply that even when they join together, Mono is so single minded that he is still fixated on his own goal. The tragedy of this is that it actually aids the Thin Man’s too, and only traps them forever. It seems as though each loop strengthens the Transmission, seeing as it has reached the Spiral in LN3’s timeline.

As always I have way more thoughts on individual parts of this theory - but I’m very confident in it. It fits the lore, the narrative of both LN2 and DTN, and makes sense of many long standing mysteries regarding the two characters. Thank you for reading! I’d like to thank/shoutout @randybutternubber for letting me bounce the concepts for this theory off of him and overall being a joy to talk to. I will leave off with some miscellaneous links to the theory/analysis that I would’ve had to awkwardly squash in if I included them earlier.

1. They were cut from the final game, but LN2 used to have radios. Including one particular creepy broadcast of a man hanging himself.

2. I briefly mentioned this, but Otto mentions REMS FM in TSON as well, describing it similarly to Myra as simply “the broadcast” to Noone. This further implies that the channel has hegemony over the radio broadcast scene in the Counties. It’s so popular that citizens don’t have to specify what channel it is, just that it is the broadcast. This shoutout also shows generally that it is a consistent detail in the Counties’ world building.

3. The official LN twitter back in 2021 (and yes, they had access to the lore,) has at one point referred to Mono’s transmission impulse as “The broadcast”

4. Whenever Mono comes out of the TVs during the “broadcast” sequences - he isn’t organic. He momentarily appears to be made of static and glitched material. He also is able to absorb souls during LN2 which I don’t see mentioned a lot.

5. In LN3, in the “past/Counties” view of the Institute - we can see one of the logos associated with the Pale City/transmission. This further implies that the “transmission” has a real world counterpart - or possibly was seeping into the Counties in Low’s timeline.

[caramsels]

The boys being on a higher level than the girls. Hood being the only one who is physically turned away from the Girl… The composition of their coffins before entering the barn at the end is haunting.

[caramsels]

i’ve written like twenty paragraphs about why i’m very confident six is cici but the REAL proof is that being named “cecilia” and shortening it to just “cici” is totally something she would do 😭

[randybutternubber]

My thoughts on reanimal’s lore 😛😛😛

@caramsels is the main mastermind behind a ton of the stuff in this post, we talked a lot about our thoughts so please make sure to give her the credit she deserves, especially because she’s planning to make a post too about her thoughts as well.

The way I saw it was that they killed the girl because she was a sacrifice in order to A: win the war which would mean it would end, B: keep their island safe from the war.

These kids are already in an orphanage and it’s very possible that their parents are dead/MIA due to it. The girl is also shown in most art and also the secret coffin gathering thing to be always below/far away from the other kids- excluded. It’s possible they killed her because she was innocent too, ie the rabbit and lamb symbolism.

All the kids have been stated to have been defiled in some way or something along those lines- unclean in their own eyes. But maybe not the sister.

Something brought her back, maybe it’s a “monkey’s paw curls” type thing or the ritual simply went wrong, but regardless she came back, and something came with her. The sheep growing is a representation of this secret they’re keeping, they all are stated to want redemption, but even the one who makes the most effort- the brother- never comes truly clean to her. Every time they get the chance, they don’t take it, and the sheep grows. It’s fed by their silence, because the secret will come out eventually, and she will learn what they did.

The pregnancy metaphor is because the girl was “violated” by her friends- not literally as in she was sexually assaulted but they took advantage of her kind nature ( her brother calling for her to lead her out) and her compassion for the dead lamb, which was a distraction. They violated her trust and her love, and the sheep is the result. An undeniable result, the consequence of what they did to her, presented as a pseudo pregnancy fed by their continual refusal to come clean.

(This also leads back into how reanimal comments on gender. Women and girls experience some of the most awful treatment during war; rape, molestation, sexual assault, ect. Characters like the sniffer are clearly sexual predators, and hood being the only other girl other female child, a very androgynous one at that, I think is very intentional. Especially with the sniffer having an intense interest in her specifically. I do feel like hood’s distance from traditionally feminine expression is possibly a result of the fear of predation, or a response to past experiences. In one of her cut lines when they first meet her, she says “he knows you’re here” referring to the sniffer. This implies that they are already familiar with the sniffer in some way, and as mervik I think it was said, some of the antagonists, IE almost certainly the sniffer, are past tormenters of the children.)

I want to make something clear that might not be a very popular take, but I do think that the kids are meant to well. Kinda be little shitheads tbh. First of all they are all canonically made older, and besides the darker themes I think that they are also older to in order to make their actions more conflicting. I do believe that it’s very intentional that these kids are morally quite a bit more grey than the ones in LN.

The ambush sound file is literally children laughing mockingly, and I want to say that this might be because of how the sister saw it, and not that they were necessarily laughing, but it highlights the cruelty of the actions regardless. They used her empathy and compassion against her (caramsels is going to cover this part more in her post and how empathy is seen culturally and technically in statistics a trait associated with femininity)

what separates them from the kids in LN isn’t that they made the wrong choices but that they had actual choices in the first place unlike the children in LN who, by the nowhere itself, are literally set up for failure. The Reanimal kids on the other hand were given the choice to not go through with it, the choice to come clean, and it is their refusal at every turn which makes the lamb grow.

Obviously these are kids. I don’t think they are monsters, but this was also a premeditated action, and really it makes you think above all else though, how awful everything is about their world. Awful enough that they saw what they did to the girl to be necessary. One of hood’s cut lines is even “ what for?” When one of the kids says they’re being punished. I don’t think that this is supposed to make you think that they’re evil and remorseless, I think it’s because ultimately they’re trying to convince themselves what they did was justified, or at least necessary, and I think that’s incredibly sad.

I want to make a second thing clear. All the kids are stated as wanting redemption, they know the did something wrong, but ultimately it’s only the brother who truly makes an effort, yet he still doesn’t come clean. In the cut ending he would of been the only one to stick with her. I also think that his box death could definitely be interpreted as him hanging himself. The boy and the others clearly feel guilt, why else would they not say anything? The sister is very compassionate, that’s shown a lot especially through but dialogue. It’s not like she’s going to kill them in a 1v5, their hesitance to tell her is because they, deep down, know what they did was wrong. But not a single one comes clean, and in the end, the girl is shown what happened, what they did.

She was led out by her brother calling her, she found the little shack, and she found the dead/dying lamb inside. That was the bait, and as she was distracted she was ambushed, and they killed her. But it doesn’t matter now, it’s too late. They’re all dead and gone, nobody can apologize or make it better. It’s over, and the secret has been exposed, and the sheep is free.

Also more of an aside but I do wonder if the girl was originally meant to be stabbed in the eye. Her mask is broken in one area around her eye, and I believe there are some cut lines that hint to this. I think this makes the scene with the whale make a lot more sense too- he’s trying to atone, to fix what he’s done, but he still doesn’t tell her. I could also be absolutely on some bullshit though so like. This is just an additional thought.

[caramsels]

Sorry if you've already answered this before, but do you think it's possible that Mono might have ALWAYS been a resident? This is a theory I've held for a while due to his visual differences from other children (both canon and concept art), the extent of his powers (with TTM being one of, if not THE most powerful resident in The Nowhere), and his deep connection to the world itself (being unable to resist the pull of the Transmission and clearly spending a LONG time surviving in The Nowhere). For some reason I just can't see him being another child from "reality" or The Counties, to me he's always felt distant from the other children of the franchise, even Low, a canonical counties kid who also wields teleportation abilities. I'm not sure if this theory will ever be proven or disproven, but it's not something I see regularly discussed in-depth. I'd love to know your thoughts!

Thank you for asking for my thoughts on it! I have a TON. This post will be long, be warned 😭 When DTN was announced, I thought maybe I was initially wrong to speculate that Mono was not a traditional visitor- instead, I believe DTN CONFIRMS that he isn’t one. DTN gives us all the missing pieces we needed to fully explain what is going on with Mono. Mono, the character we play as, is not a human child who went missing… but he is based on one. His human self got to grow up in The Counties, into a character that we have already been introduced to peripherally in transmedia. This is my comprehensive theory/analysis on the final parts of the puzzle that DTN hands us - one that explains the nature of Mono and the Thin Man’s existence from a lore, and narrative standpoint. I am pretty confident that this is Mono’s lore, solved. Happy LN2 anniversary!

What is a Resident?

There are many official definitions/descriptions of Residents across interviews and websites, but the most compact and clear one that I’ll use as the jumping point for this theory is this passage from the LN2 guidebook:

“The game takes place somewhere born out of people’s worst impulses and desires, where manipulation, conformity, consumption, evil and death thrive. A place where the worst from the real world are reborn as a grotesque version of themselves, continuing their descent into the darkness.”

This definition has not been retconned or altered, as post LN2 media only SPRINGS this part of Resident lore to the forefront with Otto/The Hypnotist and The Jailer/Homer Downes. The nature of Residents’ existence makes the logic for Mono’s human self straightforward. If The Thin Man is a Resident, and Residents are the worst of the real world reborn, then it must follow that The Thin Man was originally one of the worst people from the Counties.

Which came first? Mono or The Thin Man

Before continuing, I’ll address a quick counter argument: Visitors can simply be turned/age into Residents, so wouldn’t that mean that Residents don’t necessarily need to have an adult human counterpart from The Counties? This is true, but I think Mono’s case is not so cut and dry. It cannot (only) be that Mono created the Thin Man by naturally aging into him, because The Thin Man existed before the loop started. We see proof of this in the LN2 comics, where the mysterious figure in the files is The Thin Man, complete with a music cue used for the Thin Man’s presence - along with the fact that Thin Man has murdered several children outside of LN2’s timeline. Since he already existed before the loop, this rules out the explanation that Mono just created him by aging… bringing us back to the main blurb of Resident lore: The Thin Man has to have been one of the worst people in the Counties.

(As a quick little summary of the loop’s place in this theory since I know it gets debated a lot- I fully believe that Mono is in a self imposed time loop that affects himself exclusively in LN2. This theory isn’t me claiming that there is an overall loop that everyone is in on, or that there is no time loop. I simply believe that all of the evidence points to Mono and The Thin Man existing before his loop/cycle started.)

Who is he then?

Residents are grotesque versions of their former selves, according to Mervik, they are “people whose inner life has shaped their outer form.” While whispers of their humanity echo in some fleeting moments, they do not think or behave in ways that are sane or logical. “All of the residents of Little Nightmares…they don’t really have motivations, it's like the id- it’s the base instinct of people… They don’t have a goal in life that they want to achieve, it's just this urge.” (Mervik again.)

I believe that the more power a Resident holds within the Nowhere is directly linked to how much influence they had in the Counties. Every location in the Nowhere is shaped off of “a system that acts in accordance with a basic principle or concept.”, so naturally, the people chosen to maintain and reside in these areas must be those who upheld these systems when they were human. So then, what character have we been given glimpses of that strongly upholds and contributes to the population’s habit of escapism in the Counties? DTN (and a small shoutout in TSON) hand the audience a dead ringer: The host of REMs FM, the “voice of counties,” is Mono/The Thin Man’s human form.

To illustrate my point, Here is a break down of every REMS FM appearance in DTN:

This one is the least suspect, but establishes a few important details. REMS fm considers itself to be the voice of the Counties, Myra listens to it in the mornings, and its dialogue is a little ominous in tone. “We’ll be here, in your ear, as we always have been.”

The next time the broadcast appears, we see that Myra, in order to shut out the couple in the neighboring room, tells Marion to turn the radio on. This is a direct thematic connection between REMS fm and escapism. Myra effectively shuts out unpleasant stimuli by turning to familiar entertainment that distracts from it. The lyrics of the song themselves are ominous and negative, stating that their minds are unraveled, and warmth can only be found in “the black below.” It’s these lyrics from the broadcast that push Myra deeper into her investigation of The Nowhere. It’s “like that song said”, she has to keep falling. It’s easy to be misled into thinking this is a positive development, since readers naturally want Myra to find and save Hush… but we know how the world of LN works. In reality, even though she is well intentioned, whenever Myra pushes harder into the Nowhere - it is framed as self destructive. It’s repeatedly linked to her struggles with drug use. In order to even access more details in her Ferryman memory, Myra has to do hard drugs. She’s “descending to the Nowhere” in her investigation, but she’s also descending in terms of her struggle with addiction and mental health… and words from REMS fm directly influence her to continue.

In the third issue, after she “takes the plunge” for Marion by getting high before he arrives, we find out that Myra listens to REMS fm at night as well. This radio station is a constant part of her life. Lonnie makes sure that Myra always specifies who said what on the broadcast, implying importance. There’s music, there’s a host, and there are guests. At night, the host of REMS fm openly speculates about the nature of the Counties and the Nowhere. Either he directly knows something about this link, or he has been catching on. Once again, these words are shown to encourage Myra’s beliefs about the investigation, and the reality of their world. They solidify her theory. Another detail to note for later is that Myra opens up the bunny nesting doll while talking about this peripheral unreality that surrounds them- linking the bunnies to the concept of *realities*. We will get back to this in Mono’s section.

Even though this is the first occurrence of REMS FM in DTN, I saved it for last because it’s the juiciest. When she is about to jump off the bridge, Myra recalls negative advice from the broadcast as justification for her imminent suicide. This further strengthens the link between the broadcast’s influence, and Myra (literally) descending. However, instead of mentioning that these words came from the host, Myra cites a quack. A quack is someone who pretends to be a(typically) medical professional, when they don’t truly have the skill/qualifications. For us, this would be someone like Doctor Phil. Someone who would be giving crude love advice with a medical spin on a popular broadcast, comparing love to an infection. Someone like… a celebrity doctor. A celebrity doctor we know exists in this timeline due to TSON, and a celebrity doctor that perfectly fits what we know about LN2’s Doctor.

When asked about the connection between Six, the Lady, and the mysterious paintings in LN1 - Mervik had this to say:

“If you think in terms of a dream or nightmare, maybe there’s a character in there pulled directly from your real life. But maybe there’s a character in there who just has one element of something from your real life, and that’s colored how they look there so yeah maybe you see a picture of a kid in a yellow dress or coat ... you still don’t know how that fits, in the logic of this place it could be very literal or it could be something… influenced by another. “

I believe the second part is the case with Six and the Residents of The Maw - given the fact that Mervik has also described them as strangers to Six in a LN1 blogpost. The first one, about the characters being pulled from your real life, pertains to Mono. The Residents in LN2 all connect to the “real” Mono’s life in some way, which is why he fits in and is familiar with Pale City. The human version of The Doctor, in the Counties, is directly linked to the broadcast…. connecting him to the host/Mono.

The broadcast clearly influences Myra’s mental state and her beliefs, but how does that pertain to Mono’s human self being the host?

In issue 1, Myra gives us this critical line, “Entering someone’s home is like entering their brain. Everything’s laid out bare.” We know from TLO, TSON, and descriptions of the Maw and its guests that The Nowhere puts similar things together. It puts people, places, and objects where they “belong.” Thus, our cast of characters in the Stone Giant are all connected by something that makes them similar… and I believe it is the influence they have on Myra’s mental state.

The Jailer is the antagonist because she is Myra’s long-time boss, and is directly opposed to her goal of making a difference in the Counties. Chief Downes is the central obstacle obstructing her investigation into Hush’s case - her pursuit of the Nowhere. Hush and Mono are the protagonists because in Myra’s brain, they are the two major forces pulling her down to Nowhere. Hush, because she feels a connection to the kid and wants to save her, and Mono, because his Counties-sona is the host of the broadcast that repeatedly influences her to sink deeper, to the black below.

A quick revised analysis of Cover 1, given this;

The nesting bunny on Mono’s side being halved demonstrates how Mono is technically two entities - one that originates from the Counties (Thin Man) and one that originates from the Nowhere (Mono). I speculated this prior to its release, but Myra describing a reality and unreality while opening a bunny nesting doll in issue 3 solidifies it. The pills inside of the bunnies also represent something that Marion has noticed about Myra, that while these two motivate her to rediscover the Nowhere … it’s not good for her. It’s destructive to her health. She’s well intentioned, but she’s descending. This isn’t the only time Mono has been given a “half” motif in connection to the Nowhere and the Counties either.

It’s a holiday render, sure, but every other character is on a side that makes sense for their lore. All of the characters who either died or remained in the Nowhere are on that side, Low escaped so he is on the Counties side, and Mono is… both.

Before I get into more direct evidence/lore talk, I’ll address an elephant in the room: If Mono is a radio host in the Counties, why is he connected to televisions in the Nowhere and not radios?

The short answer is that the Nowhere exaggerates aspects of The Counties, meaning they can change and manifest in different forms than their “originals.” As per Mervik, “this is a world that takes real experiences and twists them into unfamiliar shapes, so what they have become here is as important as what they were.” If this alone isn’t satisfying, note this cool connection in issue 2, where Lonnie directly connects the Counties’ radio to the televisions in the Nowhere.

Another neat connection here is that Mono’s name, links to a type of audio signal used on radio broadcasts. Monaural sound, typically always shortened to just “Mono.” He more specifically reminds me of a specific audio configuration known as “dual mono.” - an audio configuration featuring two entirely separate, independent signal paths for the left and right channels, from input to output. Two independent signals, that when played at once - get amplified reach.

So what is up with Mono then?

If The Thin Man is the host of the broadcast as a Resident, then Mono is essentially a supernatural clone of The Thin Man as a child. This is why prior to LN2, both are able to exist at the same time and technically be the same person, but different characters. Whether he has the memories of his human self at that age or has only ever known the Nowhere, this theory explains a lot of the factors that have made fans raise eyebrows about Mono being a Visitor who got taken to the Nowhere by the Ferryman at some point. It explains why he is intentionally designed to belong in that world, why he understands the Nowhere better than every other kid we have met so far, and why he has TV powers, connection to Thin Man, and familiarity with the Signal Tower and Pale City *before* the loop even started. His existence began in that tower. He isn’t fully a Resident, but he’s not fully a Visitor either.

This theory makes perfect sense of Mervik’s response here: He isn’t being coy or vague, it really is all of that. Mono and the Thin Man are the same person in that they are both entities that come from the same source, so Mono is always doomed to become the Thin Man eventually.

But then… would you be the same person if you were thrown into an entirely different environment during your adolescence? Or would you have different goals, feelings, and views on the world?

Thus, they are two separate characters, and Mono is the successor. A good example of this is how Mono is officially described as “a threat to these systems of escapism.” Systems that the Thin Man manages. Of course he is capable of being a threat, since it is an overall system “he” manages in the first place, but there’s a purposeful divide between the characters here. Is a “bad person” inherently bad? Was Mono just evil to begin with in the “real world?” No. That’s the tragedy. When in a different environment, Mono was a rebellious threat to the very thing his human self upheld. The Nowhere, deeply unfair child-hating lovecraftian world that it is, forces his. path to be inevitable. No matter how different Mono is from the Thin Man, no matter how much his character progresses, his future is set. He is held accountable for the actions of another version of himself. He can’t escape it. This fits perfectly with this overarching narrative thread in LN - that of the odds being severely stacked against these children, of the world hating them, and wanting them to fail.

What’s the purpose of Mono’s existence/Whats up with the Thin Man:

These are directly linked so they get a conjoined section. If all of this is true, then what is the point? We know that non-traditional children exist in the lore (such as Alone or the Pretender).. but why?

I think that Mono exists to keep the Thin Man in an eternal loop of escapism (indulging in his impulse), and to make the Transmission stronger. Recall the official Resident lore - they do not have humanistic, complex motivations for their behavior the way that we would traditionally expect of villains. The thing Thin Man is looking for is Mono - but not because of a desire to save him. Mono makes the Transmission stronger. Like with dual Mono, the transmission reach extends if the two independent signals become one. The Thin Man takes kids at random because Residents do not remember their former lives or associations- Mono is the intended target. He’s needed to fulfill Thin Man’s urge. This is why, in the LN2 comics, Thin Man immediately follows Mono after he leaves the room instead of continuing to murder the kids downstairs. This is why the Signal Tower keeps “calling Mono to come back.” and finally- this is why Six’s theme is intentionally blared on the TVs whenever Mono gets near them in chapter 4. It’s all centered on getting Mono. These two entities becoming one as they do at the end of LN2, extends the reach of the Transmission. That’s his impulse. Maintain the transmission, and spread its influence as far as possible.

I won’t get too much into my analysis of the Thin Man here since this is already monstrously long and I still have around 20 things I could talk about from this point on, but I believe he is so ghostly and inanimate in comparison to other Residents because his human self did not have much of an “inner life” to pull from. He’s a puppet for the Signal Tower because REMS FM was his whole life. Negatively impacting the people of the Counties and encouraging their bad habit of escapism was the center of his reality, and so he is given a role that reflects that in the Nowhere. Mono’s existence essentially provides the Nowhere with an opportunity to give this Resident an inner life, to tempt him with escapism - the very vice his “original” self promoted. The official twitter has referred to the time loop as Mono’s escapism - Which could imply that even when they join together, Mono is so single minded that he is still fixated on his own goal. The tragedy of this is that it actually aids the Thin Man’s too, and only traps them forever. It seems as though each loop strengthens the Transmission, seeing as it has reached the Spiral in LN3’s timeline.

As always I have way more thoughts on individual parts of this theory - but I’m very confident in it. It fits the lore, the narrative of both LN2 and DTN, and makes sense of many long standing mysteries regarding the two characters. Thank you for reading! I’d like to thank/shoutout @randybutternubber for letting me bounce the concepts for this theory off of him and overall being a joy to talk to. I will leave off with some miscellaneous links to the theory/analysis that I would’ve had to awkwardly squash in if I included them earlier.

1. They were cut from the final game, but LN2 used to have radios. Including one particular creepy broadcast of a man hanging himself.

2. I briefly mentioned this, but Otto mentions REMS FM in TSON as well, describing it similarly to Myra as simply “the broadcast” to Noone. This further implies that the channel has hegemony over the radio broadcast scene in the Counties. It’s so popular that citizens don’t have to specify what channel it is, just that it is the broadcast. This shoutout also shows generally that it is a consistent detail in the Counties’ world building.

3. The official LN twitter back in 2021 (and yes, they had access to the lore,) has at one point referred to Mono’s transmission impulse as “The broadcast”

4. Whenever Mono comes out of the TVs during the “broadcast” sequences - he isn’t organic. He momentarily appears to be made of static and glitched material. He also is able to absorb souls during LN2 which I don’t see mentioned a lot.

5. In LN3, in the “past/Counties” view of the Institute - we can see one of the logos associated with the Pale City/transmission. This further implies that the “transmission” has a real world counterpart - or possibly was seeping into the Counties in Low’s timeline.

[randybutternubber]

My friend @caramsels uncovered a delicious Google search page 3 article written by the LN devs that explains a lot about LN2 and confirms some things that some fans have been wondering about

Little Nightmares II: A child’s guide to escapism

Return to the world of Little Nightmares with Mono and Six tomorrow.

[caramsels]

What do you think about the Nowhere segments of the third issue of DTN? Looks like Mono's really been through some shit prior to LN2 (I'm not surprised but I certainly wasn't expecting THAT)

I liked them! The Nowhere segments definitely take a little more work/rereading in terms of analysis and cohesion, but I think this makes them rewarding and feels similar to the narrative style of the games. This issue also held my attention in how it gets much more explicitly dark than previous LN media. (aside from a few lines in TLO)

As for Mono’s part of it specifically as per your ask— yup. He’s been through it. I selfishly hope this issue calms some of the LN2 takes that paint him in a very antagonistic/disingenuous light. A huge part of Mono’s character is that he is deeply familiar with the Nowhere. He’s been there so long he probably doesn’t clearly remember a life outside of it. He is a character that has been victimized by this world and its inhabitants over and over, and this shapes who he is and how he interacts with his surroundings. In the last issue, we see that despite remaining self-focused for survival purposes, a part of him does care enough to help Hush even for one moment. There’s a good kid in there who only has the luxury to prioritize one thing: survival. In my opinion, this is also a reason for him intentionally putting distance between Hush and himself.

He knows how this world is, if they work together they will likely both die a grisly death. He refuses to get attached, or to let her get attached to him. That’s the cruel reality that he knows. LN2 is his character arc that centers this conflict. Mono cares about the safety of someone else, despite knowing that this puts them both in more danger. He has to face this conflict that he previously avoided.

I know there are plenty of interpretations as to why Mono is overprotective of Six and sometimes too aggressive/offputting in his approach, but I think this is where it all stems from. Rather than a lack of consideration for her, he is a little boy who has been socialized in a world full of unspeakable horrors, where the best you can hope for is indifference. He is fully aware of the Nowhere’s cruelty, and thus knows the risks involved in their friendship. So as a result, he is sometimes overbearing and indelicate. I think this is also shown well in how he struggles with social cues. (axing down the door and chasing Six, staring at her for a large portion of the door cutscene, the ominous tone that the achievements use at times)

On Hush’s Nowhere segments, I’m really glad that the story didn’t go the route of making her a character development device for Mono as fans predicted. It’s strange because I’m both proud of her for quickly adapting to the Nowhere, and saddened by it. She clearly feels bad for Mono and is disturbed by the Jailer’s motives, but it is kinda nice to see a kid who has been so let down by everyone in her life actively choosing her own escape instead of clinging onto someone who wasn’t interested in working with her. It shows that she has some self confidence, or is at least gaining some in these new horrible surroundings. The liquid that infected her arm looks the same as the soul matter that the Jailer extracts, which makes me wonder if they are the remains of other children.. left behind. We haven’t actually encountered the shadow children that Noone meets yet in DTN. These definitions make me wonder if Hush is either haunted by them, or will become one in the end.

“Always being left behind” Certainly fits Hush.

My thoughts on the Jailer link more to the Counties side to fully delve into for this ask, but I do think she’s very disturbing. The implications with her are very dark, and The Counties- half of the story is much more explicit in this regard. I think it’s compelling and tragic how the Nowhere takes these horrific situations and exaggerates them as they would be interpreted by children. And that this issue reveals the Counties should probably just be evaporated at this point and start over again. That aside for now, it’s interesting that her dad is also a Resident- The Horologist I assume.

[caramsels]

marion our feminist king