i got the ending where you enter the eye and i got the ending where you take the warp core to the stranger
i saw the prisoner at both
i fucking sobbed
im dying
i need a hug
prisoner...solanum...feldspar...im gonna die
Day 3 of the Campfire Fest at @outerwilds-events! Yippee!
The prompt was Artifact! (... Get it? Because it's an artifact of the previous universe?)
[ID: Fanart of the game Outer Wilds, representing three aliens from the new universe. One is tall and vaguely pufferfish-looking. It wears a dark cloak and holds a lantern in one hand. The other two are smaller and bug-like, with a fluffy mane around their necks. One of them is perched on their taller friend's shoulder while the other is sitting in its lantern-free hand, and is holding the little scout up for its companions to see, who are inspecting it curiously. End ID.]
yellooo ::]]] for your own ask game, i'd like to give you a feldspar and/or an esker !!
Hello there! ::)
Feldspar: I'd say that I had medium Feldspar-iness during my playthrough. I often preferred jetpack flight to normal walking, and I tried to use speed to traverse the Interloper. Funnily enough, the most Feldspar-y maneuver I did was when I found Feldspar. Outside of having the advantage of the signal scope, I pretty much got to Feldspar's camp in the exact same way they did. Came in unprepared, ran away from an anglerfish, and arrived with my ship decently damaged before getting out to talk to them.
Esker: Since it didn't end up happening in the last ask game, I kind of feel like yapping about the ending to Outer Wilds, so major spoilers under the cut. Also, it's kind of long. 😆
So, the hatchling has successfully gotten the warp core to the vessel, and now they're at the eye. Not yet aware of what comes next, they take a tentative step into the warp that will take them to the surface of the Eye, then drop into the Eye itself...
The Drop: It's interesting how, in a world that had such consistent patterns if you look hard enough, the source of it all would be so chaotic in appearance. Yet the patterns are still there, in the repeating space and the large curves that make up its appearance. I remember something I read in Minecraft: The Island when I was younger. "Just because the rules don't make sense to you, doesn't mean they don't make sense." I think this drop demonstrates this pretty well. While it's hard to understand how the space works, it's consistent with itself. It doesn't need your approval to exist, but you don't need to worry about why it exists either. "The universe is, and we are." From here, it has to be fully headcanon since there's no universally agreed upon interpretation of the ending.
The Quantum Museum: A conscious observer collapsing the possibilities is what happens at the final campfire. Your own perception of reality is what makes the new universe exist. I always thought of this museum, and the rest of the Eye, as the Eye itself communicating to you. So what's being communicated here? Each museum exhibit explains the history of your journey, the past and present of what you've discovered. You're not expected to be satisfied, you're just being given a conclusion to your own findings and major questions. If you missed something, it's too late now.
But there is a museum exhibit of note here. "Of all the life forms that will perish in the oncoming death of the universe, we will miss the anglerfish the least." Not that it won't be missed, but that it'll be missed the least. It's okay to be sad about loss, it's okay if you find it difficult to move on. Even the anglerfish weren't a complete waste of carbon, they had some form of value that you just couldn't see, so you can't be expected to be completely okay with losing what you love. And the same goes for you. You have value, even if you can't see it.
The Forest: Your home environment. A forest is what's most familiar to you, so it's how the Eye will work with you. The lights fade out, signifying the end of all the old universe's stars, and then you hear your own breathing. You, the last remnant of what was, and you are going to facilitate the creation of what will be. This time, the lesson won't necessarily be about yourself, but about demonstrating some last lessons to carry over through the help of your old friends. These lessons will serve the new universe in maintaining a good order to things, and they can give the player an insight into their own life. Most of the demonstrate a good and bad principal each.
Esker, the loneliest Hearthian. They're the ones to inform you that you can hear music. They're the first around the campfire, your indication that you're going to need friends. Total isolation can break a person, so it makes sense that one so lonely would be the first to hear the music.
Chert, the most scientific of the Hearthians by self proclamation. They were always looking through their telescope, always looking at what they couldn't affect. When their greatest fears came to pass, they were so used to observing what they couldn't affect that they didn't have the needed experience to contain their own emotions, one thing they could affect, causing a full emotional breakdown into numbness.
Riebeck, the Hearthian that was most afraid. They tried to stay in their comfort zone, built up walls that they hoped would keep them safe. Though it's good to be prepared, they were so reliant on the walls and comfort they had built up that everything came crumbling down when they were confronted with what they hadn't prepared for.
Gabbro, likely the most relaxed of the Hearthians. They were never concerned with what happened, all things pass after all. But they became complacent, doing only the things that weren't overly difficult, and leaving them unwilling to take action when it would have been most helpful to do so, even though they did have the tools they needed for it.
Feldspar, the bravest Hearthian. Their bravery was valuable, and it got them far enough to help make your journey possible. But they didn't guide their bravery into their reasoning, and in the end their own recklessness led to them being stranded without help.
Solanum, the last Nomai. The Nomai were incredibly intelligent, their technologies made the hatchling's journey possible. However, they went too far with this curiosity, being willing to blow up the sun if it meant achieving their goals, making them a danger to themselves.
The Prisoner, the only inhabitant of the stranger that had accepted the end. The inhabitants single mindedly pursued what they perceived to be best, destroying their own world in the process. When what they thought to be a blessing was found to cause destruction, the prisoner was the only one with the courage to keep looking, the only one with the courage to realize the truth and give others a chance to seek the opportunity themselves.
The Final Campfire: Here is where the Hatchling, and the player by extension, gets one final lesson. You can't do everything alone. If the hatchling had been on their own, the forest would have been the end. But they had friends and found new ones. With the help of those they know, the hatchling is able to make the new universe possible, make new life possible. As for why you can talk to Solanum and The Prisoner, I think the eye is giving you a chance to say goodbye to everyone. You decide when you've accepted this, and you decide who to say goodbye to. You don't get to decide how or when the end comes, but you get to decide how you treat the people in your life before you go.
This was a bit of a weird one to draw. I had to go over the sky a few times to get all the colours and lines right, and then I just kinda made the rest up as I went along.
I love the Eye's design. It's so strange, and I love how it's simultaneously stormy and yet feels like the most calm place in the game. Very fitting. Bye, I have to go cry some more.
