My buddy @danstillcreates and I recently went through the "Welcome Home" site together & left with awe for the gorgeous art, writing and voiceacting... as well as a few theories.
Specifically what we've started to call the "Black Mold Theory"-
-which reminded me of another moldy man who did not ask to get put into situations™... Ethan Winters.
I'll do my very best to keep this as short and as coheerend as possible - which will be a feat because Dan & I came up with the details of it throughout hours of going through the "Welcome Home" site.
The "Black Mold Theory" focuses on the black-ish growth that is both visible and referenced in one way or the other on several main- and hidden pages... and how it is a harmful entity towards everyone in the Restoration Project, the puppets & everyone who is interacting with "Welcome Home" in-universe, even just the smallest amount.
Now, why do I call it "black mold" specifically? Well, it looks, behaves and causes harm similarly to black mold in real life.
But with a conscious entity behind it.
The current events start with the WHRP crew receiving items that were part of the production of "Welcome Home" - with the first person to handle them remarking that everything "feels wet".
This continues as more people get brought in to help restore or simply file away art, photos, writing, merch, vinyl records... with now even a proper rule being put in place to "not touch any item with bare hands".
While that is a common rule for handling any old and damaged thing you're trying to restore... it is worrysome that the WHRP are very instant on that rule, as it is something the restoration folks would do so anyway.
Then... look at how the exibition looks like on the "Staff Only" page.
(Please go look through it yourself, it is so well-made! https://www.clownillustration.com/staff-only)
The walls are overgrown with a dark substance, looking either red or blue but mostly black, with clear hand prints on the walls and splatters of it on items & WHRP folks' notes-
It's on so many things, even seemingly pouring out of the safe from the inside. A safe that is seemingly holding old production items that were supposed to be given out as random prizes to the exhibition visiors.
And then there's the entity on the ceiling. You know, the blue-ish black mass clinging to the pipes and more notes by the crew, its fuzzy tendrils reaching out to hold itself in place on said pipes.
To observe? To watch as visitors touch the items that looked so prestine in the daylight, only to be shown to be contaminated with something when the lights are off? To now know that people are carrying parts of it our into the real world and into their own homes through having had hands-on contact with all the items present?
That is horrible enough for the people who touched it in real life - but... what if I told you that we have seen this thing in Home as well? Or more like... under Home?
When the "Welcome Home" site first went online, the mass on the Characters Page below Home looked like this. Something in the depths barely aware of the attention on it as we look into the dark abyss it's in.
Now, after the most recent update? Oh, the abyss is looking right back at us. And the black mass around it is growing as well.
The mold is actively spreading from under Wally's house, leaving him to deal with the brunt of its influence on the world he lives in.
Just how it is in the Real World, it is in the World of Welcome Home.
As above... so below.
Like the spiral imagery both Wally and the WHRP crew keep sketching on little notes.
Now... here is the part where I explain in detail why I call this thing "black mold" -
I've had to deal with the influence of black mold on the human body personally... and too much of this haunting entity reminds me of it.
The way black mold grows out in webs and clusters... how it thrives in wet and dark places - something that 100% happened to the items that the WHRP crew got their hands on, because old things rarely get stored in a way that keeps them from receiving lasting damage, especially water damage-
-and what it does to the human brain. Auditory halucinations (the phone ringing to one of the WHRP folks), visual halucinations & nightmares (perhaps the same member recalling a nightmare (?) of them seeing Wally sit at the end of their bed with a phone that kept ringing), sneezing (it's what the moldy bolders of the "Staff Only" page are named too), coughing, nausea, migraines, troubles with breathing, flat-out fainting... and heavy memory issues.
Everything we have seen the WHRP crew deal with... or, at least the person who is writing the newsletter, who also seems to be the person who opened the parcel that started all this - is not just happening in the Real World either. It is happening in Home too.
Memory issues are something Wally himself is dealing with as well, as we can see from the Guest Book sketches he left us so far. He can't seem to remember his past with everyone else in Home, but at least he still remembers that he loves all of his friends dearly & thinks about them a lot, even if he can't reach them right now.
We can hear the difference in Wally's voice recordings as well. To me, there is such a noticable difference to how he sounds in the actual show recordings (when things were still okay™) compared to the soundbits we have gotten through the bugs.
In those, he sounds like breathing is hard for him and like his focus isn't entirely there. Which is something that can happen if you're spending too much time in an area with high humidity, even without mold. It's exhausting to deal with and I feel so sorry for Wally, because he can't physically leave Home right now.
... now, we could leave the horror at that. This is already a dire situation for everyone in-universe.
But... what if this has happened before? What if the mold has spread so far throughout the country (or even other parts of the world) by speading itself through merchandise? And, remember - handling just a bit of something infected with it makes you forget so much already... would forgetting the entire show existed be so out of place now?
It got so much attention and so much of itself out there in the few years so much merch was produced by the Marlow company...
And look at what we're doing now. The WHRP is powered by people with their hands stained with the mold... and we keep spreading it further and further.
With every sticker we get told on the homepage to put on our own homepages, with every fanart, with every type of creative project related that we share online in so many places...
Meanwhile, Wally and his friend have no control over any of it. What can a being made of fabric, locked away in a dark moldy place do? There is no sunshine to dry the mold out. All they can do is yearn to be let out into the light as they try living and surving as the mold is trying to fully taking hold of them.
(It also is interesting how the Sally's house in Home is the only one with lights still on inside too, while everyone else's is dark. Is symbolism of light enough to keep the mold away at least in the world of Welcome Home?)
In my & Dan's opinion, the black mold is using Wally and the others like the puppets they are, Wally especially, because he is the face of the whole project after all.
Perhaps it is even taking advantage of now unfortunately ongoing thing with "mascot horror" on the internet, by focusing so much on him, but that is admittedly a reach on my part.
A last fun thing (genuinely, I'm having so much fun with these horror theories) to think about in combination with this theory that it is mold that wants to spread through merchendise-
Well, the new Makeship plush would be quite the addition to the storytelling of this, wouldn't you think? :)
This is the best way I can explain Dan's and my theory, though I am sure I might've forgotten smaller bits that lead to us crafting this theory. I don't think I will talk more about it because I rather observe than make up things for "Welcome Home", but theorizing with friends is always fun!
Again, this theory is based only on a few things we have gotten shown through the site so far, there is still so much Clown and their team want to show us, so please do not take this theory too seriously!
I for one will be genuinely excited if I have to throw this theory out the window after the next update! I am simply here to enjoy a beautiful and haunting story made by so many skilled folks! :>
After two nights of going through the "Welcome Home" webpage with my buddy Dan - (reading text to eachother and taking our time admiring the art & voice acting) - we've been going ham with the theory crafting! Nothing too serious, but it's just pondering how the few puzzle pieces we got so far could fit together.
So in no perticular order and with no further context -
Wally is not to blame for what is happening & we do not get how people can genuinely still think otherwise
Sally is up to something.
We went from "I don't trust the Question Answerer" to "The Question Answerer did nothing wrong, they just got got."
A big commission I drew for @danstillcreates - of his characters Ardee, Jammy & Soph taking a small break from their adventures & relaxing in a forest clearing~!
