META. *
/ spoiler warning for the game OFF.
the batter is someone who is almost wholeheartedly driven by fear. the very idea of his “mission” is to end his fear. before the game starts, the batter had begun to realize that his world is rotten, and decides to go on a purge to erase the impurities of his world. this somewhat ties into my idea that the batter is metaphorically a fatal sickness.
throughout the game, all the batter does is destroy. of course, he starts off as harmless enough, eradicating the specters that haunted the elsens’ mines and being a good, if not a little monochrome, sport for a while. then as we progress thru the game, things before to slowly turn the other way, and the batter is soon eradicating elsen that has come to attack him, as well as the guardians that want him to stop.
this very much looks to me as a fatal sickness. because it starts of as destroying, yes, but in a way that’s harmless at first. then it moves on to destroying things that are needed, going up in importance as it progresses.
now, what if i told you the batter was the personification of hugo’s, the batter’s “son,” sickness? well, we do know that hugo’s soundbyte in the game is a harsh cough. i always understood this as meaning that hugo is terribly sick. and there was speculation that hugo is the creator of the batter’s world, which would explain why hugo’s room is so close to the off switch / end of the game. but this is all just my (as well as some others’) speculation.
