MAD(i)SON - The theory of the plot
Well, I think that Blue Knees is the demon Madison was trying to summon via the ritual (but it wasn't in that form yet)
Following the failure of Madison to complete the ritual, the demon was tied to her camera which became a cursed object. At some point Lucas' family moves into a shared house and the grandmother starts spending more time with him.
However well before that, she buys him (the father, Johnny) a children book about the story of Blue Knees, as well as Madison's camera... probably from an estate sale (mention in the news report on the TV). The demon tried, but failed to possess her over a period of time after she acquired the camera. (1 believe this started around 1987, or shortly after)
Presumably the demon took the form of Blue Knees because it was trying to interact with Luca Johnny.
Likewise at times it was in the form of Madison because part of her soul was still tied to it, due to the incomplete ritual. Presumably the gas mask guy is also form it took, but more on that later.
There's some statements from the priest in the tapes about the demon merging with it's host via the ritual. That the demons are formless, until they succeed at merging with their target. So the demon itself wouldn't have a specific form, but could present itself via the hallucinations to be anything it wanted.
So it used Madison's form in some visions. Blue Knees in others.
Now it is also possible the gas mask guy is the demon too. Which ties into Madison. The scene in the church with the woman in confessional mentions her husband Hans ran gas chambers for the Nazi's.
That she turned him into the authorities in 1951.
(One of the years you can visit in the church)
Madison dies in 1987 (another year you can see in the church)... at the age of 43. However her coffin mentions she's born in 1944. Meaning in 1951
Madison would have been 7 (maybe 8). Madison likely imagined that her father, a gas chamber attendant in WW2, likely looked like that. (It's also possible the demon took that form in order to influence Madison into doing the ritual)
Yes the demon is the true antagonist.
But I'm not saying it's working "through"
Madison and Blue Knees (through indicates, to me, that both are servants of the demon). I'm saying Madison and Blue Knees are the demon, every time we see them. (Madison was, at one time, a human. But we never see her... because she dies decades before, in 1987)
Keep in mind Madison and Blue Knees aren't physically there. Likewise the house and warping of space and time are not physically happening. (Relisten to the tapes from the priest, he describes how possessed people go into a catatonic state for days and hallucinate)
We're playing as Lucas, who is hallucinating everything. He was "infected" by the demon before the game started. This is why his dad was screaming at him that he wasn't his son (and why the dad just disappears in a section of house we can't get to). In reality Lucas may very well be still sitting in that room imagining he's going around the house discovering clues.
The dad knew because the grandfather knew. The grandfather had set up a number of traps trying to contain the demon. We know he played with magical rituals, trying to connect with his wife (who died). We also know he sought help from the priest (in the tape).
They are all part of the same demon (the demon absorved them so to speak) but i have a different theory.
The timeline starts with Hans, goes to Madison, and then Luca.
I was looking at blue knees story and trying to understand if it was actually just a random story of there was more context to it, and maybe blue knees explains Hans appearance.
According to the story he crawled searching for his eyes therefore he had blue knees from bruising.
1. Maybe blue knees was once a gas chamber victim that was possessed before everyone. Dont forget nazis used zyklon-b in the gas chambers and zyklon has a blue taint. Even today you can still see walls in gas chambers in poland with blue stains on them. Considering Blue knees has a blue tone, it could symbolize that he was once a victim of Hans. Just like Luca is a victim of Madison (still the same demon).
2. People are claiming Hans could be Madison father but during the game it is revealed Madison would be maybe too young to kill Hans. Also during the morgue/elevator episode you have to take pictures of Madison victims in order, the second one is the father and his name is not Hans, but, that is not impossible since nazis who fled germany after ww2 had their names change once they were in spain, south america and so on, so it could also be a possibility.
