Jester is the leader of the group. He earned everyone’s admiration and knows how to handle the others. He is looked up to and respected; his advice is taken to heart. We have heard his praises from Pierrot and Ticket Taker. He is the soul and heart of the circus for a reason.
Now the question I ask is how much of that is influenced?
It can be safely assumed that Jester’s abilities are some sort of manipulation or influence. Examples are from his own show.
His eyes are glowing as are the Fools. His motif is the Diamond. Where did we see Diamonds? In a certain missing co-worker’s eyes.
Also get away from that mirror. TicTak did warn you to not trust your eyes, right?
So, has Jester just been manipulating his fellow circus members? All this time? Is it all a lie?
No, not lately. He has before, yes, but he had to make a choice. He did warn them already.
Jester is a “Protective Manipulator”. He will do what he needs to do to protect those he cares for. He has his family to protect and that is difficult in a world that fears and hates them on a wide scale.
He did truly earn the leader title. Neko confirmed that portion.
Jester and Ticket Taker work together to keep the circus running. TicTak calculates numbers. Bobo calculates risks. He grew up calculating risks, making choices, and doing what was necessary to keep going.
Then he once more got put into a position to make a choice. He made one…
“The wise fear, the kind that knows it’s too late to run…”
… but at a cost.
Harley blames him and TicTak.
While he won't admit he had anything to do with it, He made a choice and like the rest of his life, he has to live with that choice.
"Jester used his abilites on Harlequin to influence him a bit years ago. It caused a chain reaction I don't think he saw coming or did and felt he could deal with it later."
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Ticket Taker (1)
Doctor
Pierrot
Jester (You're here!) (2)
Harlequin
Columbina (1)
(They will be updated as they are completed and posted.)
The Mirroring of Harlequin's and Jester's Story Performances
(I truly hope I got my point across with all this mess)
Harlequin's --> Ticket Taker's --> Jester's
We have 3/6 sides of that night told to us so far. They are told through various means. The forms they are presented as reflections their abilities, but the order they take place in is important since it tells a story too. The three are a sequence and what it means the performances are in an intented ordered: Harlequin's → Ticket Taker's → Jester's
The Performances: Puppet Show → Mirror→ Theatrical Performance
The Mediums: Crafted Puppets → Reflection/illusion → "Fool" Puppets
So the set up isn’t random. It can be seen as a ramp, symbolism and an extension. The tents are their tents after all and in their tents, their abilities are made an extension of the show.
Harlequin's Puppet Show
Harlequin’s Green Tent: Puppet Show
Medium: Puppet Storytelling, “Tale with a Happy Ending.”
Ability Extension: Vines/Threads/Tentacles.
Key Duality: Harlequin plays puppeteer, but is also positioned as a puppet in the story.
Harley creates the characters and makes the puppets.
His show is retelling—a controlled narrative, framed as a safe “fairy tale” structure.
the characters are constructed objects
the events are staged
the “truth” is filtered through the form
That form is important because it lets Harley push a version of the story that feels more “manageable.” His version notably frames elements differently (ex: downplaying romance and reframing the death as something like a willing sacrifice).
Green Tent(Puppet Show) = "I can control the narrative."
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Ticket Taker's Mirror Reflection
Ticket Taker’s Blue Tent: Mirrors
Medium: Mirror Performance.
Ability reflection: Mirrors/Reflections/Illusions.
Function in the sequence: The bridge between puppet symbolism and puppet-puppeteer reality.
TicTak’s mirror “signals” the reflection of the next show.
His performance feels like a message—less “story” and more “warning/statement.”
Perception, distortion, and truth—what you think you’re seeing vs what’s really happening. His verison plants doubt into your mind and question what you are seeing.
Blue Tent(Mirror) = "I can control what’s seen."
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Jester's Theatrical Performance
Bobo’s Purple Tent: Theatrical Performance
Medium: Theatrical Show with “fools"
Ability reflection: Influence/Manipulation.
Story framing: “Forbidden” and Consequences.
Bobo doesn’t need handmade puppets—he uses people.
His tent is where the metaphor turns literal: puppetry is no longer art; it’s coercion.
Power, taboo, consequence—control as violation. His version is where consequences are put onstage.
Purple Tent(Threatre) = "I can control what happens to people (or at least that’s what the story threatens)."
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Their Tents = Their Abilities
Each tent’s performance is a demonstration of its owner’s power:
Bobo = manipulation → human puppets → agency removed
Escalation
Object puppets → reflective warning → human puppets
That’s a rising intensity:
Control as art and story (safe, crafted)
Control as perception and signal (uncertainty)
Control as domination (consequence)
The performances stages a deliberate progression of control: Harley’s crafted puppets show control as storytelling, TicTak’s mirrors act as a reflective hinge that questions what’s real, and Bobo’s theater culminates in control becoming literal—humans turned into puppets—shifting from “performance” to “consequence.”
Strings -> Doubt -> Consequence
Control → Perception → Outcome
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Closing - The tent order reads like a deliberate escalation of the same confession told three ways: Harley starts with strings—control you can see—turning what happened into a puppet show with a shaped, survivable “ending,” like he can stay safe as long as he’s the one pulling the narrative. Then TicTak hits you with the mirror—the doubt layer—because reflection isn’t truth, it’s an angle, and suddenly you’re forced to wonder whether you’re seeing the event… or the version you’re being guided to accept. And finally Bobo lands on consequence—the theatrical “forbidden” end-state where control stops being metaphor and becomes cost, where obsession and manipulation aren’t pretty stagecraft anymore, they’re what ruins people. Put together, it feels like the game whispering: they were puppets once, and now they’re trying to be puppeteers—maybe successfully, maybe desperately—but the mirror in the middle tells you the scariest possibility: the strings might still be attached.
So perhaps it is more of...
Puppet -> Puppeteer -> Fallout?
There is certainly someone pulling more than they can handle, perhaps even backing themselves into a corner they refuse to acknowledge.
Separate Thoughts: So I'm replaying the hidden scenes specifically from the tent of mirrors of Columbina's mirror and we see her reflection. There is discussion f that was her or TicTak's reflection of her.
(btw how i see the mirrors of TicTak's tent are they are the reflections of the circus crew of how TicTak's sees them. They are his reflections of them. This thought is important to understand more of my thoughts under the cut, I promise.)
Moonless Nights Thoughts:
There is always some truth in the stories, we know this. From Harley's, from Bobo's and from the mirror.
We all know how it goes by now, so they started outside then end up in the cages inside.
Pierrot was the first to be put up for the night, then Bobo, Harley, Doctor, then TicTak and Columbina. There is difference between them and Columbina - they are in cages and Columbina is chained. This could be for easier transport later, a normal thing, or a combo, but it can be assumed that just like the circus crew, the humans of their past also did not see Columbina as a threat. She might've been truly defenseless.
This is TicTak's representation of that night.
We see from the view of a spectator(behind Columbina) which makes sense because WE WERE PULLED INTO THE FUCKING MIRROR.
He pulled you in if you let him. It's his favorite mirror, but you have the option of ignoring it. (I love him so fucking much.) But he couldn't tell you anything, but she could.
(After all, You saw something you shouldn't have, but you still came back. You listened and came back - here's your fucking reward from TicTak.)
He is telling you his side, by using Columbina's reflection because he already warned you too; mirrors sometimes say more than they should.
They are the same color - This is TicTak's side.
It is the same for Harley's and Bobo's.
We already know there are some truth in each story. We have 3 out of 5 now.
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Pierrot was labeled as a problem. I would not be surprised if the reason why he has the rule to be silent is because it is safer for him to be silent. He is not weak and he is dangerous; and he gets murderous. Harley commented on it when he gave us his ticket the first time. That might have been part of the reason why he was labeled a problem, he spoke out in rage. It is a way to keep him in check.
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Pierrot is laying in the cage in a pool of his own blood at this point.
Bobo was going to feed Pierrot, but Harley stopped him. How? There are two thoughts - Bobo was going to give himself up or use his influence to get a human of the circus to come closer to feed Pierrot. It is safer to assume the second because during this time, they were being put away and Bobo couldn't move. Harley stopped Bobo because more than one was coming in. From that, they lost their chance. All the humans left for the night and well....
We know what occured that night.
Also... Columbina - I wonder if she was referring to Harley or Bobo or both about not being sorry. You can always do something and feel guilt, but not feel the slightest bit sorry about the action. Especially if it was necessary... like for survival or influence about a choice you would choose anyway.
Spoilers Ahead - You were warned. I will be expanding on these and am working on other theories. I am very behind since I got dumped with three different projects at work that take most of my time and energy.
EDITED - Drug Resistance Thoughts Changed due to new info found
Members are more important than circus - will abandon the circus before the members (not including the Fools).
Yes, It would be incredibly hard for Pierrot to completely leave the circus even for the player.
They have been together for years.
Pierrot and Harlequin have been together for the longest. They can beat each other to a pulp, make them bleed, etc, but they will never kill each other. Pierrot will never kill Harlequin from the bond they still share. And same for Harlequin.
The drugs enhance Jester's (Bobo's) abilities.
The Doctor makes the drugs.
The drugs are tested on the crew members.
Ticket Taker (TicTak) , Harlequin and Jester(Bobo) have medium tolerance for drugs. Bobo, Harlequin and TicTak from highest to lowest tolerance for it.
Doctor have higher tolerances for the drugs, nearly immuned.
Pierrot has a lowest for tolerance.
The Fools taken do not return. (Fun fact - when I first read the Fools part with Harley, I read it as food. So he said "Of course he (Pierrot) would compare me to some street food.." It is still funny.)
It took the entire crew to get Pierrot to calm down when he lost his mind. Jester used his abilities on Pierrot to get him under control.
Jester used to use his abilities to get them food when they were starved. When Pierrot was down for the count on the moonless night, Jester was going to get him food but was stopped by Harley.
Jester used his abilites on Harlequin to influence him a bit years ago. It caused a chain reaction I don't think he saw coming or did and felt he could deal with it later.
