So I've been seeing a lot of takes saying that the Ink Demon is Bendy's bad side and that Baby Benders is the good side and seeing Benders in the real world is saying that the Ink Demon was banished, and I'm just over here like
Me, in a business suit: we don't do that here
So I wanted to put my thoughts out there!
Spoilers under the cut, though if you made it this far, you've either made it through the whole game, or you don't care. Also, keep in mind while reading this that I haven't read TLO yet, so this might change if I get the book.
So! To start it off, there is no 'good' side and there is no 'bad' side to Bendy. Well, there is, but it's just morals, not his forms. Lemme explain
In one of the last audio logs we get back in BATIM, the log about Joey sending a memo to Thomas Connor (Conner? I can never tell.) about Bendy's...less than ideal form. He's all pissy but it's said that old Lanky, that's Bendy's true form. It's not evil, it's not good, it's just...him.
Then when he's created, he's immediately rejected by his creator and locked away, and called a freak and an abomination! At first he just existed in neutral, but then he was exposed to nothing but rejection and hatred from the moment he was born! Now, what do you think being surrounded by nothing but negativity does to your mental state? Is it-
A: Chuck you full of self loathing?
B: Make you hate everyone around you, cause clearly they hate you?
C: All of the above!Ā
Did ya guess C?Ā
Congratulations, you pass your pop quiz!Ā
So now we have a lanky inky boi who's stuck thinking everyone hates him. Now what comes next? VIOLENCE.Ā
Yeah, we're heading into my personal favorite of the Bendy books (again, haven't read TLO), Dreams Come To Life
If you recall, Bendy hunted Buddy and Dot down in the studio, nearly killed Dot, and then dragged Buddy into the dark puddles. Now, lemme say this here; what Bendy went through does NOT justify him hurting other people.
That being said, it does to some degree EXPLAIN what he did here. Buddy had let him out (not to make a frozen reference) for the first time in forever! Now, I've been raised around dogs. Whenever someone came inside, they would immediately jump up and nip on them. And yeah, it kinda hurt, but they were just trying to play. In this situation, it might be a higher stakes of a dog trying to play.
Bendy has just met new people for the first time and is probably thinking "OH MY DREW! PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT HATE ME! LET'S PLAY!" But since Bendy is...y'know, a demon, he actually ends up almost killing them.Ā
And then Buddy chopped up his leg
And then Dot chopped his hand off
This has shown Bendy once again that he's a freak, that people are always going to reject him, except now it got physical.
And it's also the first time he struck back against the rejection, against the pain, by essentially dragging Buddy into hell.
And then the studio closed! And then he was forced to be alone for 12 years! And during that time, he was forced to be the villain.
At that point, I think he just accepted it. He leaned into all of the hatred and rejected and became the Ink Demon. The monster, the villain.Ā
Can't be villainized and demonized if you're already calling yourself a demon and a villain, right?
Even his original creator rejected him on sight! Granted, later on, Henry had understandable and logical reason to run from him, but even at the start of the Cycle, when Bendy hadn't done anything to Henry yet, he was still feared and rejected on SIGHT. And at every beginning of the old Cycles, he had to be reminded of that.Ā
And then Wilson showed up!
HOO BOY CHEESE CRACKERS AND JACK BLACK'S CURSEĀ
(i don't...i don't know where i was going with that)Ā
As we're all aware by now, Wilson's arrival gave BendyĀ
EVEN MORE TRAUMA
Aside from the literal torture that the Keepers put him through, they also showed him that not even being what everyone wants, being the demon everyone was CONVINCED he was, not even that could keep him safe!
Now he's been compressed and forced out of his natural form! And don't get me wrong, Benders is adorable, but he's also the result of getting tortured and once again being rejected simply for what he IS.
And then he broke out, (which i have an Idea for oh my god) which probably wasn't fun, and had to hide from the rest of the studio for god knows how long cause he can't defend himself when he's Benders, and he made a lot of enemies, who wouldn't be so sympathetic towards his current state.
And then he met Audrey, someone who for ONCE was friendly and didn't try to reject him or torture him.Ā
And then she accidentally tased him.Ā
And that unleashed the Ink Demon! But I like to think that the way the forms work got changed a LOT (thanks Wilson) Now, he can only become the Ink Demon when he's really distressed, like being attacked. (i don't even wanna KNOW what makes him upset enough to go Beast)
That's why Benders and the Ink Demon are seen so sporadically. Man's the king of emotional dysregulation.
And then when he sees Audrey again? And she apologizes for hurting him?? When literally no one has ever done it?? Ithink that's what made him choose to stay with her, even when she makes it clear she's heading to the GENT workshop, a place he associates with, y'know, t r a u m a!
I also think that he kinda took on the Demon form in GENT as a last ditch effort to keep Audrey away. He cares about her and he's desperately trying to make sure she's not hurt like he was.Ā
And then Audrey sees firsthand his secret. And he runs away.Ā
Now he's convinced that she hates him now, doesn't she? Everyone always hates him, always rejects him once they see the Demon he really is.
Besides, it was always a matter of time, wasn't it? She only got near him when he was harmless, if she really cared why did she run from him when he was powerful?Ā
He convinces himself that it was only a matter of time that she saw the truth and left him, so it's better that he leaves her instead!Ā
Until he hears Wilson about to kill her. Then, not even Joey Drew could keep him from dragging that bastard into hell.Ā
Then he sees Audrey, and just self-projects on her so hard. He just goes off on his tangent that's everything he's internalized but he's trying to frame it as an insult at her.Ā
Then he sees the state she's in, and offers to save her the only way he knows how, by dragging her down to the dark side with him.Ā
And then, the two of them see Joey Drew.Ā
The man who started Bendy's downhill spiral.
Honestly, while I can sympathize with Audrey for being messed up about seeing her dad get murdered in front of her, I also kinda agree with Bendy about snapping Joey in half. Man had it coming.Ā
Then Audrey goes and restarts the cycle, even as Bendy tries fruitlessly to stop her, to reestablish his dominance like he's supposed to-
And then the reel plays.Ā
And, this is what started this whole post. Audrey bringing Bendy with her into the real world. Cause while some people have been viewing it as Audrey banishing the ink demon so Benders is all there is, you know what I see.Ā
Audrey breaking the cycle
Lemme explain
So in some of BATDR's earlier marketing, we had the tagline, 'Break the Cycle', and Audrey...didn't really break the cycle of the studio, she's just kinda making it more manageable.
But! She did break A cycle!
Bendy's cycle. Bendy's cycle of being hurt. For the longest time, Bendy was stuck in a cycle of being rejected, hated, and left to rot and hurt, but Audrey broke that cycle.Ā
How? It's simple.Ā
She saw Bendy both as Benders and as the Demon. She saw the monster that was hunting her, that everyone feared, was also her friend. She saw all of him, both the good and the bad, and she still chose to save him and bring him with her in the end.
She broke the cycle of rejection by choosing to love him with no conditions whatsoever. And yeah, he might be Benders for a majority of the time, mainly cause the Demon's a lot bigger and more attention gathering, but if he chooses to be the Demon at any time, she'll still care about him because she understands that he deserves to be cared about no matter what form he is.
TL;DR: Bendy's a f*cked up little creature, but Audrey loves him irregardless and by doing that she broke the cycle her father started, just not the one that we expected.
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