Don't worry! Be 🫧💕Peachy💕🫧 with a heart so full of whimsey ˚(✿˵❛◡❛˵)ﾟ*✧˚⋆｡♡˚⋆｡Digital artist/Doll Collector/Glamourista!! ﾟ*✧˚⋆｡♡˚⋆｡ ---- ⛔DO NOT REPOST MY ART⛔
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.
how i felt watching/playing ln vs whatever the fuck reanimal was
(would like to clarify that this is based on my own feelings/how i felt playing and in no way trying to pit the games against each other. hope that's clear)
Your art taste like a bag of sweets with a pretty bag💖💖💖💖
Wow wow wow, thank you so much for saying this to me today a a a a a h!! (∩´͈ ᐜ `͈∩)♡💕💖✨💕💖💕💖💕💖✨💕💖💕💕💖💕 I'm glad my art could leave a sweet taste in your mouth
Everybody shut up, it's my son's birthday today!!! (∩´͈ ᐜ `͈∩)♡✨🎉🎉 he's five years old now 📺✨🩵🩵
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Happy Anniversary LN2!!
⛔DO NOT REPOST MY ART⛔️
It’s just euphoric that LN2 carried me through my hardest years all the way to my college graduation + improved my art style so much! Love this game to death, it means so much to me. No matter how many times I play it, the story is still 100/10 ✨💕💕
I don't care how doomed they are by the narrative, they'll be best friends forever!!
(✿˶˘ ³˘(^∀^˶ )! 📺🩵✨💛🍌
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⛔DO NOT REPOST!!⛔
Based off that adorable TV Girl video I saw the other day! (˵✧ ∇ ✧) 📺💖💙✨ I associate TV girl with the gremlins so much at this point, the hyperfixation is becoming almost inescapable.
tell me more about this "mono isnt a human" theory thats really interesting
Thanks for asking! A few people have asked for my thoughts on Mono’s identity, and because I will take any opportunity to ramble about Little Nightmares, I wrote up my (hopefully intelligible) interpretation of Mono, and why I think he was always a Resident of The Nowhere, instead of a kidnapped human child like most of the LN kids. This theory is super connected to a few other ones I have, so I’ll rattle descriptions of them at the start for context. Also this post is insanely long I’m sorry
The Nowhere
The Nowhere is its own world that real children get kidnapped to, it feeds off of humanity and kinda functions like your local mall. A weird amount of emphasis is put on jobs in The Nowhere, Residents are often referred to solely by their job titles (The Janitor, The Doctor, The Teacher, etc. etc.)
Besides having a job in The Nowhere, a Resident's proximity to humanity seems to give them a higher status as well. In a LN1 interview, it was said that ALL residents wear masks (as opposed to just the Twin Chefs); we even see in LN2 that The Doctor makes and presumably sells these masks. A humanoid appearance is something that most Residents want. The more humanoid a Resident looks, the more powerful they are perceived to be (not always, because of The Ferryman, but he’s just chill like that.)
Kids and valuable teens/adults (like the circus performers and Otto from the podcast) feed The Nowhere kinda like how animals feed humans. Some Residents are given jobs to maintain this system. Some jobs require more power than others however, typically these are the jobs that require a Resident to keep control over an entire area, which leads me to…
The Cycle
The head honcho Residents like The Thin Man and The Lady are more humanoid and more powerful than the others, this is because they are handpicked and raised from birth to inherit these forms that are passed down over time. This one is super important to most of my points about Mono, so I’m going to spend some time defending it.
The Lady (prior to the Six stuff) had 4 predecessors, each represented by a different mask/hat that you can collect in VLN; This means that The Nowhere (at the time of the first loop in LN2) is on its 5th cycle. The Thin Man is also a mantle that is passed down, we see the previous one interact with Mono before Mono has even entered a time loop in the LN2 comics. This Thin Man, when datamined, notably wears a different hat than Mono’s iteration.
Furthermore, when asked if Thinny Lad is a mantle that is passed on or Mono in a timeloop in an interview, the devs had this to say:
The Pretender (VLN) is a good example of what I think Mono is supposed to be, and what the child forms of the 5th cycle Residents were. The Pretender is a humanoid child with supernatural powers and a strong sense of loneliness. She has her own mansion and Resident servants. The Pretender is the heir to a currently unknown position. She has a portrait of her and five past iterations on her wall, followed by another one of her and her two Resident parents. The Pretender is native to The Nowhere.
But… who is the boss of all the Residents? Who assigns these jobs? Who creates the natural Residents and brings others into The Nowhere?
The Eye
(you could argue its the ferryman but i think he works under the eye too. employee of the year)
I think most fans agree on this one so I won't spend too long on it, but basically I think the Eye is the unseen overall antagonist of Little Nightmares, overseeing everything and everyone in The Nowhere all the time. The Eye feeds off of misery and has a fate planned for everyone, it is not happy when anything throws a wrench into these plans. I don’t think we are meant to know The Eye’s motives, not yet at least, but if I had to guess; they have something to do with an extremely misguided and angry feeling of loneliness, as that is a prevalent theme in an insane amount of Residents. This finally brings me to Mono.
Mono’s Familiarity with The Nowhere
Mono is very familiar with Pale City, he is much more aware of his own fate, abilities, and world than he’s given credit for.
In the door/boat cutscene, Mono watches every TV in the water until it exits the frame. This early in the game, Mono already has an inherent connection to TVs.
Before Pale City comes into frame for both Six and the player, Mono is already standing, he is familiar enough with the route to Pale City that he knows they arrived without even having a clear view of their destination. This is because Mono has been to Pale City before, in the sixth episode of the LN2 comics:
In this comic, Mono met (and wasn't killed by) The Thin Man shown earlier. So to list off the amount of things Mono was already familiar with at the start of LN2: His connection to TVs, his connection to The Thin Man, and how to navigate Pale City. Mono having a lot of experience living in The Nowhere is demonstrated somewhere even more prominent too:
Kickass Character Design
Six’s character design intentionally makes her not fit in with her environment. While the color scheme of The Nowhere and its residents is mostly bland, monochrome, and washed out (sans the lighting), her jacket is highlighter yellow. This represents that Six does not belong in The Nowhere, she’s from the human world.
With this information to ride off of, Mono’s design becomes interesting. Mono’s design is a beige button up, tan trench-coat, and tan pants: A monochrome, muted outfit that fits in perfectly with the aesthetic of The Nowhere. Mono’s outfit including a key ring and a useful color scheme for camouflage further implies familiarity and experience with the way The Nowhere works. If Six’s simple, bright design represents her not belonging there, Mono’s muted, practical design represents the fact that he does.
His Mask
We actually know why Mono wears his mask, we have a direct answer:
You can interpret this as a representation of Mono being shy or insecure or a combination of multiple things, but I think it’s mainly meant to represent, as the description states: Mono hiding from The Nowhere, Mono running away from his fate. The Eye wants Mono to grow up and be the next Thin Man, but he doesn’t want to. Mono’s mask represents his fear, his refusal to use his Thin Man powers, his refusal to do anything that connects him to the world that hates him and wants him to fail; he wants to hide from that world, his future, and the reality of what he is. But ….
(straight up a post of Mono running from his fate)
Unexplained Powers
Mono’s OP reveal was the moment that shook me the most when I first watched my sister play the game; I’ve honestly always been shocked at how little it’s talked about in the community. To me, it was a reveal that told us we Did Not REALLY know much about the character we had been playing the entire time, and that was exciting.
When Mono fights the Thin Man and contorts the structure of Pale City, it is with ease. This is not his first time doing any of this, his body language does not match that of someone who just discovered/unlocked a new ability, him busting out the moves is framed more like a choice that he decided on just before removing his mask. The Thin Man boss battle is easy on purpose; because it's not too hard for Mono in universe, all he does after is wipe off his head nonchalantly and then he proceeds to warp reality. The ominous boss theme that plays during this fight isn’t even for the Thin Man, its MONO’S boss music. The Thin Man is the one who helps control The Signal Tower’s influence, Mono is the one interfering with it, he is the “Signal Interference.” The theme continues even after he’s defeated The Thin Man, further hammering in that it is his.
Mono has his own ominously powerful boss theme and the abilities of one of the most powerful Residents at his disposal; he is not a normal kid.
Mono even shares a power with the established Resident heir that we already know; The Pretender.
When The Pretender sees RCG eavesdropping on her crying, she yells so loud that it physically hurts RCG, causing the screen to glitch. I don’t think this is just a visual effect to show how loud it is to the player; I think this is an in universe ability. You know where else we see a powerful child amplify their voice on purpose to harm an enemy with a screen glitch/distortion effect? Mono in Chapter 5.
Mono and the fifth Thin Man
I think that Mono ran away from wherever it is he’s supposed to be, (probably the Signal Tower) and The Eye/ Thin Man want him back; this is why Mono is not killed by The Thin Man in the comic, just pursued by him
Loneliness
I don’t think I even really need to dissect how loneliness relates to Mono’s character, but he’s not the only character who deals with it. A huge recurrent theme with Residents is loneliness; the sense that they need something, they are missing something. The Lady has a bunch of dolls, The Janitor has.. a bunch of dolls in his own way. The Hunter too. The Pretender runs off to cry when her human doll friend gets messed up at her dinner party. The Resident we meet in Chapter 3 of the podcast is the most direct example so far of intense loneliness in a Resident, and not so coincidentally, it has a ton of parallels to Mono.
Narrative
For the rest of this post, I’m going to focus on how I think this theory fits into the story; because I think factoring in the cutscenes and storytelling beats is important when putting together something’s lore.
A little chatter about Mono
Mono is often characterized as a shy little boy who plays the straight man to Six’s feral goblin who loves eating rats, which is a whole other can of worms, but with this characterization I feel like some fun and interesting parts of his character are neglected, such as: The fact that Mono is an ominous little weirdo. His attempt at trying to save and comfort someone is to hack down her door with an ax with no warning, then proceed to chase her through the house she’s been trapped in; Mono is not too familiar with human interaction. Mono isn’t really a dashing hero who tries to save every kid he comes across either. In the comics, Mono finds an area that is away from the monster killing all the kids, but it’s not like he tells the other kids or tries to bring them with him or anything. I don’t think that this means he is a toxic manipulative character or anything because he is. 9 or 10 years old. I think if anything, this is a trait that experienced characters in The Nowhere have: RCG and Mono both know that indifference is the way to survive in The Nowhere, good deeds usually get you killed. It’s the way things are. I think overall Mono is a well meaning boy who just talks and acts ominously, because that’s what he is used to; he’s an eldritch overpowered being who lives in hell if it had a 1940s aesthetic.
I think that Mono doesn’t start the game a sweet perfect little boy whose ending is sad because he gets betrayed, that’s not a character arc. I think Mono starts off relatively morally gray out of necessity, mostly helping Six out because it was kinda his fault she got captured. He develops into someone who is willing to fight his fate, fight the Nowhere and stop resorting to the escapism his mask provides, only to get crushed to rock bottom in spite of his growth. After all, the villain of Little Nightmares is The Nowhere itself.
How this creates character conflict in the plot
Anytime Mono goes into a weird TV trance, Six is horrified. Her body language tenses and she moves away from him. Six has seen first hand that even the kids like her in The Nowhere cannot always be trusted or relied on (RCG shutting the door on her). Some kids like the Pretender aren't even normal kids, they have powers they use to kill people. The one person Six is starting to trust, and he’s showing signs of possessing supernatural powers? Terrifying. Mono notices these reactions, they give him more cause to hide what he truly is from her. Residents scare and disgust Six, he doesn’t want to lose the only person he has.
This conflict leads me to another point; you know those moments of Six being sadistic and angry towards Residents? How an ominous music cue plays when she kills the bully and breaks the mannequin’s fingers? Earlier in the game, when Six first catches Mono, his part of Togetherness II plays briefly to show his feelings in that moment, which implies that the music cues we hear when a story beat happens are Mono’s reactions. I don’t think these scary music cues are because Mono is scared of Six being creepy, Mono himself likes to beat up Residents. I think that Mono is scared in these moments when he sees the extent of Six’s hatred towards Residents, because even though he doesn’t like them either… Imagine how she’d react if she knew about him.
It is only the Thin Man fight when Mono is finally pushed to the point of using his powers, because in the plan to get Mono to the Signal Tower: The Thin Man took Six as bait. Six was constantly pulling Mono out of his TV trances, Six was supposed to die back at The Nest, Six has been a problem for the Eye since the start and now it’s time to kill two birds with one stone, to sentence Six to her new fate and to crush Mono’s spirit so hard that he finally resigns to his.
The drop is its whole own debate, but whatever you think about it, I think at least one factor in Six’s decision is that from her perspective: Mono has revealed himself to be an entity she cannot trust, he didn't tell her either; he's been hiding it this entire time. Why didn’t he use this power to help them all the previous times they were in danger? What are his motives? What IS he? This, mixed with other factors, causes the drop. (a lot of manipulation on the part of The Nowhere is involved too imo but this isn't a Drop analysis)
Mono is crushed, he loses Six and any true feeling of empowerment that he had before. Rather than The Eye trapping him in the Signal Tower and forcibly transforming him into a resident, I think Mono actually accepts his fate because hes just. That depressed. He actually ages pretty normally for most of the sequence (except for being straight up like 12 feet tall, the podcast confirmed that Residents are just super super big as opposed to the kids being really small, bros got Resident genes) This sequence from the art book leads me to think that Mono knows what the hat entails, Mono chooses to run the Signal Tower like The Lady runs The Maw. The chair sequence is not actually him sitting in a chair for that long, I think it just represents his resignation more than anything.
BUT! Mono is an “uncommonly single minded boy,” who also has control over time, i.e. Mono Thin Man slowing down time in his chase just to fuck with you or the clock sounds in The End of The Hall. Whether you think he goes back for revenge or to stop the downfall of everything, he goes back in time. I think it's on purpose, I think every TV in the background of the first scene implies that Mono has gone back to this point in time over and over again, failing repeatedly, leaving a new TV behind and forgetting the past attempt each time.
This could all be wrong, maybe Mono is just a really badass 4th grader from the human realm who got his abilities like Six, just off screen. But one thing I love about LN is all of the different, creative and interesting interpretations of the fans. So here’s mine regarding Mono lore. Sorry this was so long and I write posts weirdly it is 4 AM. I hope you enjoyed
I find that when defending Six, this a popular take that I don't (fully) agree with. Usually the argument goes like this: Six has every reason to dislike and not trust Mono because he constantly drags her into dangerous situations, and even when he saves her, he still got her into that mess in the first place.
I don’t disagree with this entirely- I believe Mono’s learned tendency to prioritize his own survival vs Six’s trauma-fueled trust issues is a clear point of conflict between the two. There are moments where Mono’s actions directly put Six in danger, such as the release of the Thin Man, and possibly his lack of immediate aid in the first LN2 comic episode.
Where my issue actually lies - is that this argument is commonly levied at *the whole game*, their journey in general. I think the argument that Six is dragged into everything and it is squarely Mono’s “fault” robs her of agency. Here’s some rambling.
Point 1: Six is an active character.
Six has the choice of teaming up with Mono. In the first half of the Wilderness, it is essential for her survival-but beyond that- she has every opportunity to leave him behind, and no reason she needs to stay. In fact, Six holds her hand out to Mono on her own, and quickly starts calling him the second he’s in a room inaccessible to her during the chapter transition. She doesn’t feel secure, but is trying to learn how to trust someone. Six is tough, active, and able to be on her own- but she takes the chance on trusting someone else in an unfamiliar world that’s given her no reason to.
(This- and the “SixTrustMotif” described in the files.)
tldr for this point: There are plenty of points throughout the story where Six could simply leave Mono behind, where she would be able to handle herself fine-but she doesn’t, even when things get bad… and it costs her.
Point 2: They both share a goal of getting to the Signal Tower.
The reasoning for why is vague at best, but we know Mono and Six share the goal of getting to the Signal Tower to get to the root of “the world”s distortion.” While it could have been left by another child- there is a prominent drawing of the Signal Tower in the Hunter’s basement that could further imply this being Six’s goal. Since we don’t get to hear them talk, we don’t know the specifics of the plan or their individual thoughts on it, but all evidence points to them both intending to get there.
Point 3: The Nowhere is inherently dangerous, sticking together in the increases that.
The more experienced a child is in the Nowhere- the more they understand that indifference is the key to their survival. While Six is much newer to the Nowhere than Mono, her experience in VLN gives her a reason to not trust the other children from the jump. While RCG does end up saving her in the finale, she previously ran past an injured Six and locked the door on her during a chase-proceeding even during Six’s frantic knocks. Six has seen a child murder other children with superpowers, and experienced Nowhere-mandated indifference from RCG already. Six and Mono both are familiar enough with the Nowhere by the time they meet to understand the risk involved in their friendship, their goal, and their journey. That’s what makes it narratively effective. The “Prison Toys” leitmotif seems to be linked to hope in the Nowhere,notably having a reprise during Togetherness 1. The spot of hope in LN1 is that Six survives, while the spot of hope in LN2 is Six and Mono’s attempt at friendship and trust in a world that hates them, where all the odds are stacked against them… and that is why it crushes us to see them fail.
In honor of being fed a FULL COURSE BUFFET OF LN ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡ WOOO!!! I shall post my recent magma drawings of Mono ✨🩵📺 + bonus floomf doodles.
We're going to get so much LN2 content for the VR, I'm genuinely so pumped!! ✨📺🩵🩵 Although for the Comic, I hope Mono isn't a boy from the counties because I've always just liked him being a resident of the nowhere. Still, I'm so ready to see him again, that's my son 👀✨✨✨
When the hyperfixation drags all the way into.... NOT EVEN THE 3RD GAME!?? I CANNOT BELIEVE WE'RE GETTING SO MUCH CONTENT, A A A A A H- !!!
If you're all interested, here's a link to the previous LN illustrations! ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝) 💕💕💕
💬 0 🔁 10 ❤️ 65 · Yesterday was the first day of spring break and I literally spent it drawing from 8am to 2am on Magma (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ
Yesterday was the first day of spring break and I literally spent it drawing from 8am to 2am on Magma (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+ best time of my life! 💕💖✨💖💕💖💕💖💕💖✨💖💕💕
I call these drawings 🖤✨ Goddess of the Maw 🖤✨🥩🔪 (ft.Thinman)
Our sleep is already restless enough, we might as well have a...
｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡જ⁀➴
ﾟSLUMBER PARTY!! ( ˵•́ᴗ•̀)人(^∇^˶ )
ﾟ･｡･ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁
Monix Pjs because they deserve to be comfy 🧸🍪 ✨🧁Sweet dreams, little ones~
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⛔DO NOT REPOST!!⛔
Today is my birthday everyone (✿•́ω•̀˵)ﾉ🎂 Please gather around and have a slice of imaginary cake while you're here! 🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰,🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰 I'm officially 22!!
I've been working on these three parts since the summer! It began as a redraw of a piece I created in 2021 during those early LN fandom days, but I had a better idea. Anyway, do you ever feel like art improvement can be so surreal? (✿❛///❛)💕💖✨Wow!
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