A Ridiculous Analysis of Chapter 2’s Title Panel
Roughly broken down by element because I do want this to have some semblance of a structure.
!! This argument is based on the assumption that everything is intentional !!
1) The Title Itself,
Titles are the first piece of information one can get about a piece of media and arguably the most important. They serve to grab the reader’s attention, and, paired with their cover (or poster, for movies), can imply a lot about the content of what they represent. The plot and the tone, especially.
Now, “The View From Here” is a pretty flexible statement. It can carry several tones. It could be the title of anything from a romance novel to an angsty, multi-chapter fanfic. It’s reliant on its font and color, as well as the image’s other elements.
But let’s keep our focus on the text itself for now.
A) Color
Red is a very versatile, very energetic, color. It’s the color of passion and ambition, but also that of aggression and danger. This may imply that “The View From Here” is going to be a high energy chapter, full of new dangers and focused on certain goals.
Considering that 4/5 of the Quest Crew now have an uneasy alliance going on, and the Mysterious Caller being on their tails, it’s not a far cry to say that red fits the outline.
But there’s also the positive sides of red to consider. We’ve just been officially introduced to Shelly, the final Quester. She’s already proven to be ambitious, both in her reference card and in the comic. She’s pursuing knowledge that Dandy has apparently told her to keep away from, and has been caught doing so enough times for Astro to immediately know what she’s doing.
She feels like they aren’t doing enough for the people, and something—probably related to the Blot and what the Dept. of Health is (or isn’t) doing—is going to happen and lead her to the other four and away from her friends.
(Side note: The exact shade of red used here is E93628, referred to as Deep Madder Lake by color-name.com. If this was an intentional choice, it could imply some sort of fall into madness for a character. *glances at Dandy’s ominous red pupils.* But if it’s not, it’s not.)
B) Font
Shift your focus to Chapter 1’s title panel for a second—remember that simple, bubbly font? Compare it to ‘The View From Here’s sleeker, more detailed lettering, and consider how the tones of the chapters have differed thus far.
This font may be implying a return to society, or a shift in POV to characters or a character higher up on the social ladder.
Now, we can shift our focus to another question. Where is ‘here’ and what is it referring to?
Based purely on the other motifs present in the image, I think of two different statements: “The view from [down] here,” and “The view from [up] here.” Either way, it brings to mind distance, and the longing that comes with it.
It could be referring to Ortensia’s death, and the family she left behind. Oswald and how distant he is from his children. Bendy and Dandy’s past, and how the distance between them both emotionally and in social status has affected them. The Stars, and how high above and removed they are from the general public. The Dept. of Health and the people they have failed. And so on.
2) The Dagger
Daggers are very ambiguous as symbols. They are associated with courage and daring, but also treachery and deception because they are easy to hide. So perhaps we can expect to see those concepts at play during this chapter.
This dagger sits in between the two hearts, signifying some sort of event causing a split between the people they represent. And considering there is a demon’s tail and a flower wrapped around the hilt, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that they represent Bendy and Dandy, left and right respectively. But we’ll worry about the hearts later.
Both the tail and the flower are wrapped around the hilt, neither any tighter or looser than the other, implying that both Bendy and Dandy played an equal part in the pain that separates them now, or that they were both involved with The Blot and share the blame for whatever happened.
But the dagger is ultimately tipped with ink. This could mean that Bendy was ultimately the one hurt the most by what happened between them—as he is often associated with ink for, um, obvious reasons,—or that Bendy contracting the Blot is what ultimately caused the most hurt between them and/or drove them apart.
However, the dagger is partially colored in yellow, which is associated not only with Bendy, but also the Celestials. Maybe the Celestials are involved with the Blot, and Bendy and Dandy got tangled up in things they shouldn’t have.
(Side-note: The dagger is reminiscent of a a kris, or keris, a weapon created by the Javanese people. It symbolizes heroism, martial prowess, power, and authority. But, as a weapon, it represents violence, death, and bloodshed.)
(Side-note 2: the way the flower and the tail wrap around each other is reminiscent of the rod of asclepius (not the caduceus—thank you melodylyricx for the correction), a symbol of medicine, and Dandy is the Star of the Dept. of Health. So that’s fun.)
3) The Hearts
On the left — A black heart, broken down the middle and bleeding from the wound. The bottom is dripping, as well. It has a double border. (I know the double border was probably for the sake of having the shape make sense but shhhh, lemme over-analyze this in peace…)
On the right — a whole black heart, covered in blood. It has a single border.
In the middle (not pictured), The Dagger.
“Hearts represent the center of emotion, including affection and love.” & “It is sometimes accompanied or superseded by…a "broken" heart symbol in two or more pieces, indicating heartbreak.” & “Heart symbols are frequently used to symbolize “health” or “lives” in video game.” —Wikipedia’s article on the Heart symbol.
These two hearts represent Bendy and Dandy’s state of being.
On Bendy’s side — he was hurt by what happened between him and Dandy (broken heart) and is still hurt by it (heart still bleeding). The heart being broken and melting may also refer to his health, with him having the Blot and being permanently down a heart. This has led him to toughen up, though you can still get through to him if you aim at where he’s been hurt before (double barrier broken only where the heart is broken).
On Dandy’s side — Whatever hurt he may have experienced then has been either healed or internalized (unbroken barrier, blood in heart), and seems to be the same as he was before. Also, he is still in good health (unbroken heart).
The blood on Dandy’s heart may also refer to the blood he has on his hands; he is the Star of Health, but no one we’ve seen so far, besides probably Shelly and Astro, has been particularly fond of him. He has failed the people; Toons have died because of his apparent inaction. And that’s not even getting into that one ‘the searchers were experimented on’ theory I’ve seen floating around.
4) Final Commentary
can you tell that I was getting tired near the end of this? I’ve spent like 2, 3-ish hours on this, I think. (EDIT: six. It was six. I spent six hours on this.) And I regret nothing. Absolutely none of it.
If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment or ramble in the tags. Consider reblogging this, too? I put a lot of thought into it. :’}