About the war and immortality in REANIMAL
This is my own little theory about what caused the war. Considering the coffin scenes that show The Boy getting hanged, who dresses similar to other hanged soldiers we find during the last stretch of the game, we can assume that it has been going on since before the sheep ritual and the flood.
Now, the vast majority of animals that we meet throughout the game have been historically associated with sacrificial rituals of some sort. We also see them being taken care of during the farm segment, with food, shelf and water. Then there's the location of the pig mask, a hidden room that almost looks like a shrine for the image of a pig, leading me to believe that there exists some sort of adoration for the animals we meet, and that they serve a pretty important role in this island.
Now, why is Reanimal's society so obsessed with sacrificial animals? Because the sacrifices work.
Throughout the game we meet a multitude of mutated specimen, like talking giant pigs or that one undead horse that somehow lives underwater. To me, this indicates that the animals have suffered through a lot of occult influence caused by the constant rituals conducted by the humans.
So what were the rituals for?
I believe that some sort of immortality was achieved through these rituals. Not complete immortality, as the soldiers seem very capable of killing themselves, but we meet multiple things that should definitely be dead but aren't. Including our characters themselves!
(as a side note: I think the kids are alive specifically because the sheep needs them to complete the ritual, as it grows bigger with every one it eats. so it probably brought them back itself. it's worth pointing it out because it wouldn't make a lick of sense for an immortal society to hang someone if they knew hanging wasn't effective. it is!)
There's the dry people during the Sniffer's segment, and the soldiers that are still very much alive despite being split in half. Since soldiers seem to die by damaging their own heads, either by bullet or explosion, that may be the only weak point left.
I would also like to add that the proportions of Reanimal's humans are VERY weird. The Sniffer and the soldiers have these alongated, deformed bodies, that contrast heavily with the children's seemingly normal appearances. As if the ritualistic immortality took it's toll on their bodies.
Now, we know that this little island in the middle of nowhere somehow discovered immortality (and who knows what else more) throughout occultism. I believe that outside nations saw this as a threat. Immortality, like oil, is a resource, and whoever controls it has power over others.
The war may have happened because of incursions trying to take control of this resource. Maybe the sacrificial ways were deemed as diabolic and prompted a cruzade like extermination, or maybe the people from the island didn't agree with global terms created to control their powers. Either way, I believe that the imbalance caused by the sudden surge of immortality and the desire to control it is enough tension to cause the war.
So there we go! I'd also like to add that, with the war happening before the sheep ritual, we can assume that was conducted with the intention of bringing peace in the first place. And in a very monkey's paw way, it definitely will. There won't be anyone left to fight a war after this thing's done.
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