popped back into my second playthrough of Psychonauts2 for an hour or so today, did Bob’s Bottles, and someone may have made this post before but who cares.
The memory vaults.
Tia’s Greenhouse.
I’m not here to talk about the contents because whatever i have to say could be more eloquent than the slideshow itself - but I can’t stop thinking about the placement of this vault. I thought a lot about it on the first playthrough and I’m thinkin about it again.
Because why was it placed in the third bottle, in the wedding grotto? It’s waaaay off to the side, through a corridor away from the main path, but it’s there in the third bottle, all by its lonesome. And I cant help but think this has got to be intentional.
It’s just too simple to say they couldnt find a place for it in Tia’s area, right?
but on both playthroughs, as soon as i finished flicking through the slideshow it clicked for me - He missed her dearly at his wedding, knowing she should have been there if she was alive.
The wedding grotto is very much be about Helmut... The way both that and the memories of his mother are drenched in grief. Love turned bittersweet, turned just plain bitter under the weight of loss. Theres another flavor to this that I can’t ignore, though
It doesnt really seem clear how old Bob is when Tia dies. (at some point he mentions dinner being ready - old enough to cook a meal? and yet we also hear him say “it’s bedtime” - young enough to have a bedtime? or just concerned that shes out there in the dead middle of the night?)
Losing a parent when you’re young is hard for obvious reasons but something I still struggle with, even ten years later, a little thought that will probably always scritch at the back of the inside of my skull, is knowing they’ll never know who you grew up to be. Knowing you can tell yourself they’d be proud but you can never be certain. That something (be it the pain they were under or just dumb luck) took that from you. From the both of you. It hurts. Even joy can start to sting.