Thinking about at one point in Wilson’s cycle when the cyclebreakers might’ve had a conversation where Henry tells about the cycle to them, and they ponder about how long it must’ve taken for them to be able a sane conversation. And then
(for the sake of simplicity, we’re going to use Sammy)
Sammy : So you’re gonna reset the cycle?
Henry : Yeah.
Sammy : But then you’ll lose us.
Henry probably knows he might never get the chance to talk normally to them ever again, and he’s still gonna reset the cycle and undo everything with no promise that anything will get better. (He doesn’t know Audrey is gonna take the cycle, or even if she has the ability to do so)
Something something time loop victims becoming so used to the idea of trying to fix mistakes by rewinding to the past that their only solution to anything is rewinding time despite it probably feeling like trying to nail jello to a wall.
I like the headcanon that Wally knew something supernatural and dangerous was happening at the studio but faked being super oblivious and incompetent so he lasted longer.
The tapes were everywhere, Wally had more access to the studio and seen more than Norman, no way he was that oblivious. He heard people getting closer to the truth and who would subsequently go missing then there after. The ones who lasted longer were the studio nobodies or the ones that just didn’t get what was happening. There’s no way he could stay hidden if he didn’t play dumb as Joey would be aware this goof has keys to the entire place, one tip off that Wally knows something and he’s outta there!… but not in a good way.
So Wally sees a pile of ink move and blames in on slanted floors or a draft or exhaustion or bell gremlins! As long as he’s not letting it known he’s suspicious. People start disappearing? They just left for greener pastures, no reason their office was destroyed or none of their personal items were taken. Joey just saw him as a harmless doofus and that helped Wally avoid getting inked long enough to retire and get outta there.
Fandom treats Sammy like some fanatical weirdo like every other word was Bendy’s name. As funny as that interpretation is, like there is a reason Sammy lasted so long and had all those lost ones under his control.
I get the ideas that he could easily be a deranged cult leader that killed anyone who crossed him but you gotta remember he’s way out numbered by the lost ones and searchers. Sammy doesn’t seem manipulative in his preachings and would most likely do what he does whether they followed him or not. So it’s my understanding that they are willingly at his side. Allison directly states that Sammy keeps them tamed, meaning that before the whole cult thing they may have been feral or at least way more hostile than simply idly crying or moping about. Sammy is the prophet, their prophet and that makes Sammy a powerful entity when everyone but like 4 people are on his side and follow his every word. (Even the butcher gang attack Henry during the chapter 5 village battle) No one fucks with Sammy cause he’s both unhinged as fuck and he has like an army of a devoted congregation ready to swing on you the moment they feel you threaten them or him. Say what you will but I would not mess with him if I was aware of this like everyone down there already is. Of course, Malice still attacks him in BATDS cause he’s on her terf and she has the advantages of her machines and weapons and a gun.
I also feel like people get the type of prophet he is wrong, (even he does) which enforces the idea he gets no respect or has any leeway in the studio.
A prophet by definition speaks or conveys a message for a divine being, Sammy believing that Bendy is his divinity. We know this is not true by the way Bendy treats him, but if you have read DCTL, you know that the ink in general speaks to him and only him this way. No other character describes the ink with such adoration as Sammy does when infected by it; Malice hates it, Allison describes it as a nothingness before something and everyone else actively avoids touching it. This implies the ink chose him and the ink itself is his divine entity… that he rejected. Sammy is a prophet, but has been following the wrong denomination essentially. so he’s a heretic but that’s a whole other can of worms. Of course, he can’t appease someone he was never meant to serve! Sammy is meant to be a seer but acts as a servant. The ink in the book wants him to sacrifice, to spread itself and it’s influence to as many “non-believers” as possible. Sammy in game disregards it, instead honoring one of its machinations, like a golden calf situation read the Bible to get this reference kids.
Even if he is wrong, the ink still chose him and a lot of the ink creatures know not to mess with things the demon or the ink favors. This kinda gets into headcanon and interpretation territory but it’s heavily implied Bendy doesn’t directly control the ink. He can pass through it and is more resistant than it but he again is something born of it. He is a separate being at this point, somehow shambling about with out a soul despite the ink that is full of them. The demon scares everyone cause it can send you back, not because it has any real influences or power over anything down there. It just acts like it does. If this is the case, it makes sense that the ink still influences and controls some of the discretion of its followers. If it really did choose Sammy, and still believes that he can give it what it wants, than whose to say it doesn’t influence the others to follow its prophet? Sammy is devote to his cause, loyal and literally the only protector and being down their that treats them with a twinge of humanity and respect. Mix that with the ink telling you he is a seer than you get people who would follow whatever inane bullshit he spouts.
The other characters are locked into areas or have few allies. Malice stays hidden in heavenly toys, not even waking her own hall due to the threats. Tom Boris and Allison make camps and avoid all other ink creatures. The only ones that seem to travel around willingly are the searchers, butcher gang, lost ones and Sammy. You can call him stupid for it but I see it more as he knows he doesn’t have to worry about much else attack him… disregarding his lord and a few or the more feral butcher gang.
I just think too many people play up the groveling part of Sammy’s devotion when you have to remember how much he has control of down in the ink. That his focus was appeasing Bendy and helping his flock survive. He’s not a god nor invulnerable (Tom Boris made us very aware of that) but I do remember Joey saying he can presented as such over the domain he oversees.
Just like the music department, his congregation is his domain and it benefits him greatly that it is so scattered.
Sammy didn’t truly worship Bendy more as he worshipped the ideas that there was something that could end the misery for everyone.
I stopped believing Sammy worshiped bendy as genuinely and feverishly as everyone depicts. Like yeah he’s his prophet and leader of a cult based around the ink demon but that doesn’t mean he has to believe im what he’s selling in it’s entirety. Sammy acknowledges that Bendy is dangerous even if it is his god. He knows to stay clear of his path unless necessary and does not try to attract his attention unless something with needed/wanted; in the case of sacrificing Henry, freedom.
The way Sammy talks to Bendy during the summoning and sacrifice is so not prophet/“I worship you” like at all. He’s demanding of rather than minding his Ps & Qs with his lord and even orders Bendy get away as if he’s on the same level as the butcher gang and insisting that he’s Bendy’s prophet like it means something to the demon. If I was a disciple I’d be begging for mercy and a lot more subservient in that scenario unlike Sammy who was provoking and dare I say, acting like a blasphemer.
I think not so deep down Sammy knows bendy is no god and can’t free them but does all the rituals and things cause what else would he and all the other lost ones have. Without a reason to keep going I feel like a lot of them wouldn’t and Sammy figured out a way (albeit not a completely sane way) to do it. Mind the fact that it only took one failed attempt to pls his lord (who is known to maim indiscriminately) for Sammy to want to box him.
It just doesn’t seem like Sammy was all the way in it after all the years of the demon doing nothing, but he couldn’t just drop the act.
My biggest question about the toons in BATIM is if any of them can be perfect. A perfect toon has never existed. There’s Buddy Boris but as Malice mentions in the elevator monologue, “he’s the most perfect Boris I’ve ever seen” meaning something about him isn’t completely right. Which in it of the self is odd as the other clones look damn near perfect as well, so why was he so close yet not?
It could be something with the soul contributing to the toon. If the bond is not strong enough or perhaps the mind of the person fights to hard (this case Buddy) hinders them being perfect and it’s only a thing toons/inked creatures can tell.
Perhaps toons can’t be perfect cause the initial concept came from nothing. It came from the mind of a person and put on paper. There was nothing to rewrite in terms of soul or mind or sentiments, just conceptualizing. Maybe it’s impossible to create a perfect real life toon cause the ink machine isn’t creating toons, it’s reworking existing people into preexisting entities. Of course errors are abound.
I heavily debate if Alice (Susie ver) was strong enough to physically hurt Boris or Henry.
Like she goes down with one stab, only tries to attack Henry once and stays walled off. We can assume the last part is disgust in the ink creatures but what if it’s because she’s really not that tough?
She has machines and contraptions at her disposal, she runs the entirety of heavenly toys, Malice doesn’t need to get physical. Everyone running from her in Batds could genuinely be more of a reputation thing: She indiscriminately tears ink creatures apart for her own gain, stay away! Put on equal footing and without any of her machines, she’d probably fair worse than Sammy as she wouldn’t even have allies.
I always find it fascinating when she’s made to be a real physical threat more than a situational one in fan content when she more or less acts like the evil version of the bridge troll from Dora.
My biggest fear for the Alice Angel book (whenever it comes out) is that it’s gonna like have Sammy (cause it’s technically a susie book too) in it and he’s gonna be: A) an abusive boyfriend or B) Mr. Casanova.
Like having him either the best or the worst would gloss over any further complexities in his relationship with Susie and how they were both in very hard places between their relationship and their jobs and Joey.
I think my fav personal theory (sorry if I stole this from someone before me) is that Malice has the voice of Allison’s Alice Angel and a subtle Susie voice being suppressed in her.
If you listen very carefully, Malice’s scream when running at Henry it’s layered, along with her gasps after being stabbed. The voice has an echoey legion like effect at all times and at first I chalked this up to her speaking over the speaker system. But what if because Susie was replaced by Allison, the ink no longer saw Susie’s voice the proper one for Alice? What if it tried to fully replace Susie’s voice for Allison’s and due to Susie’s rejection of it, it warped her and her voice further? Allison Angel’s voice is perfectly normal. If she truly is Allison Pendle, then the ink could’ve seen her as a better fit due to being the last voice for the character. Not to mention, Susie’s normal speaking voice is not the same as Malice’s, not even when she’s upset or cold. The softer voice is, however, like Susie’s.
Credits support this as the voice actors for Tape Susie is Alanna Linayre while Allison and Alice Angle share one with Laureen Synger. Malice and Allison even sound the same, Malice is just colder and more flat with Henry, which could be Susie’s subconscious attempt to sound different than the woman who replace her.
