When I read the page about the Cult of the Tree's origin, I remember thinking something in the lines of "look, guys, I know you're trying to help, but I think you should leave this to the FBC, they are professionals, they know what they're doing". One DLC later ...
@@Xehanort10it’s mostly trench and darling fault. In control we learn that investigation sector of the FBC ordered trench and darling to shut down the prime candidate program because it’s unethical and in violation of the ash act. Trench was infected by the hiss and his need for control. Jesse and co. literally have to fix so much stuff.
@@Xehanort10the lakehouse experiment are in violation of the ash act. Btw Ash act definition: The Ash Act is an regulation that is enforced by the FBC, this act prosecutes individuals and groups who take illegal advantage of the paranatural world. (Also counts for violation of human rights kinda)
@@Xehanort10 the investigation department of the FBC did say what trench and darling did is unethical and should be stopped. Trench then proceeded to have a rant at the investigation leader and he quit.
Up until now we have seen only three administrations for the FBC. Northmore was a puppet for the Board. Trench was all about control and regulation then got infected by the Hiss. So far we haven't seen Jesse in charge enough to know how she handles thing. Our experience with her is just dealing with a crisis. We will have to wait and see what kind of peace time director she will be.
He really was. Hearing uis excitement in AW1 about painting anything. So happy to be engaging with his favorite thing again. As compares to where it ended. Its heart breaking.
I'm a photographer. And I felt some emotion when Alice appeared on the videotapes until her final moment. But when I played The Lakehouse, the only thing I felt was emptiness, the emotions added into that DLC made me think more about my art and every time I capture a photo. I'm still not healed after finishing the DLC. I might have to play it again.
To Rudolph's credit, the remnants of will left within his Last Painting could easily have killed Estevez at any point. It reflects the gentle man he was that even in paranatural death, Lane seemed to recognize that she wasn't one of his abusers and indeed seemed to direct Kiran to where she needed to go.
Rudolph Lane was always my favorite 'tertiary' character from the original game. The fact you had to go a little out of your way to find him, coupled with the view of Cauldron Lake from where he stood, with the rumble of the coming storm lingering on the air, and the mysterious nature of his naive dialogue and his paintings. I remember theorizing for a long time that he was the reason there were so many Taken; that the Taken with strong personalities and things to say were real people who had been turned, but that the hundreds of wordless, snarling shadows Alan fought were the accidental creations of Rudolph's misguided creativity, being used to pad the Dark Presence's forces. I don't know if that theory still holds water (heh,) but it made me so happy and heartbroken to see Rudolph again after all those years. I hope that somewhere, somehow, he can eventually be restored and given peace. So many characters from AW1 have suffered horrible fates in the sequel, and he was one of the least deserving.
Jonathan Harden did such a fantastic job at voice acting Rudolf. That audio recording of him asking to leave is actually hard to listen to, he sounds so convincing.
12:27 "what makes it worse is that he got out". That line stings. Lane was forced to endure what he was already liberated from. To have your freedom granted and then stolen away, damn.
I love that Remedy is going back and pulling characters from the very start of the RCU. I completely forgot who Rudolph was until I saw people on Reddit talking about him and I just think it's so cool that a more obscure guy like him is still key to the overall Alan Wake storyline.
There are a ton of characters too. Emerson was mentioned in AW2 as the new head of the Bright Falls film society. There are two patients of Hartman that we do not have information on. Wendy Desole 'the singer' and the Sculptor I mentioned in my stream. Never got a name for him.
@@GamingUniversityUoGcould Wendy be the woman who wrote a song to escape from the lake house ? You know the recording in sub level 4 “six deep breaths forget all the rest🎶” please do a video on that
This is clear evidence that for all the good we remember the FBC doing in Control they are still human and as such there will be those like the Marmonts there too
FIRE IN HIS EYES AND HANDS AND BONES! Fr tho, Rudolf was such a powerful character. Metaphorically but also literally. Creating life as practically invincible as the painted. Fbc out there creating anomalies 😅
Very good video, but I think there were things that could have been included. Rudolf Lane's pseudonym was P, this is mind boggling, which means the whole story of the DLC is an echo of what the FBC did to Dylan, plus as you mentioned a repeat of what Hartman did to him, the repetition of the past. The point of origin of this story is Dylan, the developers mention that this DLC, is the FBC through Alan's lens. It is because of all this, that Dylan appeared in the DLC, because Rudolf became an echo of the candidate. We now know that Dylan is a hell of a painter. This DLC I think is a hint of what we can expect about the dark past of the FBC, what if actively in other facilities atrocities were committed on humans, how to prove that these crimes happened? Yeah, even director Trench himself approved of the inhumane treatment of Dylan.
Given that Rudolph Lane's tragic fate is a metacommentary on the suppression of artists' vision by buttoned-down executives, imagine what a creatively suppressed Sam Lake by Microsoft would look like, had he been transformed by the power of Cauldron Lake... He would definitely become a gigantic pissed-off typewriter. Now, I'd love to see that 😂
Man, the tragedy of Rudolf Lane. I was upset when I thought Hartman got him killed in the comic. Overjoyed when I found out he was alive And crushed when I heard what happened to him in The Lake House.
I honestly wonder if in base game AW2 the Dark Presence was pissed and through Scratch ruined the lives of all those who stood in it's way. The Torchbearers, Cynthia. Such horrible ends. Rather petty
Epic. I really enjoyed The Lake House DLC and the story of Rudolph Lane. Also, this channel is my go-to space to satiate my undying thirst for more Remedyverse!
Great video! One of the things I keep coming back to is if the Painted are of the Dark Place, since they aren’t affected by light at all. I wonder if that’s intentional or if they just wanted a monster that only the new gun could answer. It also makes me wonder what Rudolph was connected to. It doesn’t seem like the Dark Place had sway over him, even as he was drawing Alan’s story. That combined with the Painted not being affected by light makes me think he might have been tapped into something else. I’m not even sure it was his final painting that even opened the Dark Place. I think it might have just been Diana’s sabotage of the experiment combined with the Lake House being primed for any opening it could get.
even in the base game we have enemies that are not really affected by Light in the same way, the wolves that Saga is attacked by. they don't have darkness shielding them. but just like the Painted, they don't follow you into safe rooms.
@@yellowbat79I’m pretty positive they are affected by the light, they’re just way harder to hit with the flashlight since they’re so fast, so I don’t think people bother. They don’t seem to have the same shield as Taken but pretty sure they are stunned by it in the same way.
Well we have all kinds of entities that are not dark place related. This dlc really focused on a Golem like entity with the Painted enemies. A creation that obeys the will or emotions of its creator
thats really awesome how they incorporated this character in the expansion for the second game. I finished it yesterday and while the expansion is short I was in awe, so good
Honestly I would love to see stand alone campaigns like this every now and then. So much creativity packed into a small package. Lore dense. It really is cool
@@GamingUniversityUoG the creativity for both of these expansions for aw2 were off the charts, I mean every single episode was so creative and full of incredible ideas, the 2nd episode was imo the weakest for me, but the first episode of night springs along with the fantastic third one was just so goood. Same goes for the lake house, incredible. As you said, I wish they did more of these.
For me, the story of this man tells a lot about an organization like the FBC and the fact that the things can go pretty dark without any kind of "control", yes control not just other the AWE but also the Bureau itself and how it managed things, we already see this in Control, the FBC is not exactly a model ethical behavior and Dr Darling is not an exception ot that, but he himself wasn't ok with the way the Marmonts managed the vicinity. It also shows why there's a break between field agents and researchers among FBC's staff.
The more we see of the Bureau the more I see how screwed up they can get. When I started Archivist I was mostly focused on complaining about procedure being inefficient. But as time goes on it feels like the whole institution needs to get the Phoenix treatment
I genuinely had a feeling that Rudolf Lane was a potential BTS character from either Alan Wake 1 or 2 (knowing Remedy), but replaying the lodge level in the first game made my eyes bulge from amazement
Hello, Dean! It's been a minute! I just recently finished Alan Wake 2, so I had resisted the temptation of watching your videos/streams. I've been binging them after finishing the game, and they're all fantastic. Looking forward to the next video!
I think Rudolph Lane Echoes Alan Wake. the Entities, VICTIM and MURDERER. Alan the character played and Mr. Scratch. Both, a self-portrait in Alan the Writer. Also, the sacrifice of the corporeal self for the Art.
It's like when The Artists are not what The Dark Presence wants it makes them suffer with a Creative Drout but when it does get the right one it sends out a wave of creativity to the others to get them to create something in can now use because it's been realised by The Artist it wanted/Needed just my thought's. Respect and keep up the epic work. ⏰🗡 lol.
Since you're way smarter and my brain sucks I'll just share this and maybe it'll actually mean something coherent but it's a message/pattern that keeps repeating. Rudolf Lane "murdered" himself making a final painting "To make them see what they did." Alice Wake: "I just wanted to show the world what I see. [...] From artist to art." then proceeded to "murder" herself. (bonus: She will be missed but will live on through her art) Lost at Sea song, which I consider Zane's theme: "An artist dying for his art, to make you finally see". and we all know he also "murdered" himself.
there is also Mr. Scratch going after Alan Wake and overtaking him to "Show the World his Deerfest" and Alan/ Scratch firing upon himself to create the Void.
11:00 This makes me think on Address Unknown. John at the hospital talking with the Doctor. John get release and kill then with the drill...Lane gets the painting.
I'm lowkey proud of myself for guessing it was Rudolf early on in the DLC. I saw the mentioning of a painter in one of the early notes and was like "oh, like Rudolf Lane from the first game?" Next level down and I found the note stating his name 😃 Poor, poor Rudolf...
Where the pages that we find on the Lake House that are narrated by Alan Wake wrtitten by him? I didnt truly understood if they where or if those pages where the outcome of trying to force his writting style
I personally think they were done by Alan. I was on the fence until the end where it shows Estevez having an overlap with him. Where he directed her to arrest him in the woods.
@GamingUniversityUoG Yes now I think so too, I replayed the dlc yesterday and now firmly believe the pages that the Marmonts and then Estevez found in the Lake House where directly written by wake and are part of Return
@@GamingUniversityUoGhow important is it to Quantum Break; is it necessary for the overall narrative or is it just a book that has no purpose/no meaning to the game?
When I read the page about the Cult of the Tree's origin, I remember thinking something in the lines of "look, guys, I know you're trying to help, but I think you should leave this to the FBC, they are professionals, they know what they're doing". One DLC later ...
I think how they treated Dylan proves that most of the FBC don't actually know what they're doing.
@@Xehanort10it’s mostly trench and darling fault. In control we learn that investigation sector of the FBC ordered trench and darling to shut down the prime candidate program because it’s unethical and in violation of the ash act. Trench was infected by the hiss and his need for control. Jesse and co. literally have to fix so much stuff.
@@Xehanort10the lakehouse experiment are in violation of the ash act.
Btw Ash act definition:
The Ash Act is an regulation that is enforced by the FBC, this act prosecutes individuals and groups who take illegal advantage of the paranatural world. (Also counts for violation of human rights kinda)
@@Xehanort10 the investigation department of the FBC did say what trench and darling did is unethical and should be stopped. Trench then proceeded to have a rant at the investigation leader and he quit.
Up until now we have seen only three administrations for the FBC. Northmore was a puppet for the Board. Trench was all about control and regulation then got infected by the Hiss. So far we haven't seen Jesse in charge enough to know how she handles thing. Our experience with her is just dealing with a crisis. We will have to wait and see what kind of peace time director she will be.
It's such a tragedy that the last part of Rudolph is his inconsolable despair and rage. He was such a sweet man.
He really was. Hearing uis excitement in AW1 about painting anything. So happy to be engaging with his favorite thing again. As compares to where it ended. Its heart breaking.
I'm a photographer. And I felt some emotion when Alice appeared on the videotapes until her final moment. But when I played The Lakehouse, the only thing I felt was emptiness, the emotions added into that DLC made me think more about my art and every time I capture a photo. I'm still not healed after finishing the DLC. I might have to play it again.
To Rudolph's credit, the remnants of will left within his Last Painting could easily have killed Estevez at any point. It reflects the gentle man he was that even in paranatural death, Lane seemed to recognize that she wasn't one of his abusers and indeed seemed to direct Kiran to where she needed to go.
Rudolph Lane was always my favorite 'tertiary' character from the original game. The fact you had to go a little out of your way to find him, coupled with the view of Cauldron Lake from where he stood, with the rumble of the coming storm lingering on the air, and the mysterious nature of his naive dialogue and his paintings.
I remember theorizing for a long time that he was the reason there were so many Taken; that the Taken with strong personalities and things to say were real people who had been turned, but that the hundreds of wordless, snarling shadows Alan fought were the accidental creations of Rudolph's misguided creativity, being used to pad the Dark Presence's forces. I don't know if that theory still holds water (heh,) but it made me so happy and heartbroken to see Rudolph again after all those years. I hope that somewhere, somehow, he can eventually be restored and given peace. So many characters from AW1 have suffered horrible fates in the sequel, and he was one of the least deserving.
That’s a great theory, and is a good way to explain away copycat enemies. Nice thinking. 👍
Jonathan Harden did such a fantastic job at voice acting Rudolf. That audio recording of him asking to leave is actually hard to listen to, he sounds so convincing.
It hurt to hear him sounding so broken and afraid
12:27 "what makes it worse is that he got out". That line stings. Lane was forced to endure what he was already liberated from. To have your freedom granted and then stolen away, damn.
That's the worst thing. Ince youvlose upper nothing else is as bad. But giving someone back their hope then stealing it away is torture
I love that Remedy is going back and pulling characters from the very start of the RCU. I completely forgot who Rudolph was until I saw people on Reddit talking about him and I just think it's so cool that a more obscure guy like him is still key to the overall Alan Wake storyline.
There are a ton of characters too. Emerson was mentioned in AW2 as the new head of the Bright Falls film society. There are two patients of Hartman that we do not have information on. Wendy Desole 'the singer' and the Sculptor I mentioned in my stream. Never got a name for him.
@@GamingUniversityUoGcould Wendy be the woman who wrote a song to escape from the lake house ? You know the recording in sub level 4 “six deep breaths forget all the rest🎶” please do a video on that
9:13 In terms of human villains in the series the Marmonts were even bigger monsters than Hartman.
yeah and I already hated Hartman so much
Yeah. At least Hartman kept his subjects in pleasant resort-like accommodations, rather than locked away in a concrete cell far from the light...
I never thought I'd hate characters more than Hartman. But these two really cranked it up to 11
This is clear evidence that for all the good we remember the FBC doing in Control they are still human and as such there will be those like the Marmonts there too
"What happened here!?"
Rudolf: "Do i need to paint you a picture?"
That's a terrifying line considering haha
FIRE IN HIS EYES AND HANDS AND BONES!
Fr tho, Rudolf was such a powerful character. Metaphorically but also literally. Creating life as practically invincible as the painted.
Fbc out there creating anomalies 😅
I love the idea of imprinting emotion into art. Creating life with it. The ramifications of this are insane.
Ah! Yes, the Vaatividya of Alan Wake.
Haha that is high praise thank you
@@GamingUniversityUoG I speak only the truth
Very good video, but I think there were things that could have been included.
Rudolf Lane's pseudonym was P, this is mind boggling, which means the whole story of the DLC is an echo of what the FBC did to Dylan, plus as you mentioned a repeat of what Hartman did to him, the repetition of the past.
The point of origin of this story is Dylan, the developers mention that this DLC, is the FBC through Alan's lens.
It is because of all this, that Dylan appeared in the DLC, because Rudolf became an echo of the candidate. We now know that Dylan is a hell of a painter.
This DLC I think is a hint of what we can expect about the dark past of the FBC, what if actively in other facilities atrocities were committed on humans, how to prove that these crimes happened? Yeah, even director Trench himself approved of the inhumane treatment of Dylan.
Given that Rudolph Lane's tragic fate is a metacommentary on the suppression of artists' vision by buttoned-down executives, imagine what a creatively suppressed Sam Lake by Microsoft would look like, had he been transformed by the power of Cauldron Lake... He would definitely become a gigantic pissed-off typewriter. Now, I'd love to see that 😂
A lot of Alan Wake 1 dealt with that theme. This one I feel is more mass production and recreation of existing art. I'll have a video on this shortly.
@GamingUniversityUoG Thanks for the reply, Dean! I can't wait for your next video!
Man, the tragedy of Rudolf Lane.
I was upset when I thought Hartman got him killed in the comic.
Overjoyed when I found out he was alive
And crushed when I heard what happened to him in The Lake House.
Poor guy seriously was just used as a Guinea pig by messed up people over and over. It sucks what happened to him.
@GamingUniversityUoG It broke my heart.
I hated this. This man did not deserve this. He is not the first person in Alan wake that didn’t deserve there fate either.
Poor Cynthia Weaver, also...
@ that bit of the game made me tear up. We can’t escape the darkness, without the help of someone.
@@christophercomtois7175 Well said, my friend! 👍👏
I honestly wonder if in base game AW2 the Dark Presence was pissed and through Scratch ruined the lives of all those who stood in it's way. The Torchbearers, Cynthia. Such horrible ends. Rather petty
Epic. I really enjoyed The Lake House DLC and the story of Rudolph Lane.
Also, this channel is my go-to space to satiate my undying thirst for more Remedyverse!
Great video!
One of the things I keep coming back to is if the Painted are of the Dark Place, since they aren’t affected by light at all. I wonder if that’s intentional or if they just wanted a monster that only the new gun could answer.
It also makes me wonder what Rudolph was connected to. It doesn’t seem like the Dark Place had sway over him, even as he was drawing Alan’s story. That combined with the Painted not being affected by light makes me think he might have been tapped into something else.
I’m not even sure it was his final painting that even opened the Dark Place. I think it might have just been Diana’s sabotage of the experiment combined with the Lake House being primed for any opening it could get.
even in the base game we have enemies that are not really affected by Light in the same way, the wolves that Saga is attacked by. they don't have darkness shielding them. but just like the Painted, they don't follow you into safe rooms.
@@yellowbat79I’m pretty positive they are affected by the light, they’re just way harder to hit with the flashlight since they’re so fast, so I don’t think people bother. They don’t seem to have the same shield as Taken but pretty sure they are stunned by it in the same way.
Well we have all kinds of entities that are not dark place related. This dlc really focused on a Golem like entity with the Painted enemies. A creation that obeys the will or emotions of its creator
thats really awesome how they incorporated this character in the expansion for the second game. I finished it yesterday and while the expansion is short I was in awe, so good
Honestly I would love to see stand alone campaigns like this every now and then. So much creativity packed into a small package. Lore dense. It really is cool
@@GamingUniversityUoG the creativity for both of these expansions for aw2 were off the charts, I mean every single episode was so creative and full of incredible ideas, the 2nd episode was imo the weakest for me, but the first episode of night springs along with the fantastic third one was just so goood. Same goes for the lake house, incredible. As you said, I wish they did more of these.
Poor Rudolph Lane, he didn’t deserve this!
My man should have been left alone.
For me, the story of this man tells a lot about an organization like the FBC and the fact that the things can go pretty dark without any kind of "control", yes control not just other the AWE but also the Bureau itself and how it managed things, we already see this in Control, the FBC is not exactly a model ethical behavior and Dr Darling is not an exception ot that, but he himself wasn't ok with the way the Marmonts managed the vicinity. It also shows why there's a break between field agents and researchers among FBC's staff.
The more we see of the Bureau the more I see how screwed up they can get. When I started Archivist I was mostly focused on complaining about procedure being inefficient. But as time goes on it feels like the whole institution needs to get the Phoenix treatment
I hate to feel that his soul/essence is in the Dark Place... In HIS WORST form... That is just... Not good
If he got that painting trapped in the Dark Place then it literally could affect any point in time.
@GamingUniversityUoG Scary thought
I genuinely had a feeling that Rudolf Lane was a potential BTS character from either Alan Wake 1 or 2 (knowing Remedy), but replaying the lodge level in the first game made my eyes bulge from amazement
Thomas Zane
Alan Wake
Rudolph Lane
Two syllables, one syllable.
Hello, Dean! It's been a minute! I just recently finished Alan Wake 2, so I had resisted the temptation of watching your videos/streams. I've been binging them after finishing the game, and they're all fantastic. Looking forward to the next video!
I can tell you put your soul into this channel, and it's paying off
I hope to see a video on Poe fits in the Remedy verse soon.
Oh trust me it is coming. Mostly I need to learn more about her story before I discuss it. I know there is a lot of insanity she went through.
I think Rudolph Lane Echoes Alan Wake. the Entities, VICTIM and MURDERER. Alan the character played and Mr. Scratch. Both, a self-portrait in Alan the Writer.
Also, the sacrifice of the corporeal self for the Art.
"The shape of a man!"
Poor Rudolph
Wonderful essay! A very tragic story indeed, with a powerful lesson.
Lingering will of hatred...was that an accidental Kingdom Hearts reference Dean?
Hehe maaaaaybe 😎 I'll never tell.
"And now, Darkness within Darkness awaits you....."
@@Fragmentsinfractals488 Barbara Jagger is technically a heartless ;)
Heck yeah, been interested in seeing this ever since the streams.
Poor Rudolph.
I hate sad stories. Dude had it rough.
True, true.
It's like when The Artists are not what The Dark Presence wants it makes them suffer with a Creative Drout but when it does get the right one it sends out a wave of creativity to the others to get them to create something in can now use because it's been realised by The Artist it wanted/Needed just my thought's.
Respect and keep up the epic work.
⏰🗡 lol.
It took me like 4 playthrough's to figure out, OH that dude mentioned in the first game.🤯🤯🤯
Yeah he has been around for a while and ended up here. I hate it.
@@GamingUniversityUoG i had that Oh Yeah! Moment
Since you're way smarter and my brain sucks I'll just share this and maybe it'll actually mean something coherent but it's a message/pattern that keeps repeating.
Rudolf Lane "murdered" himself making a final painting "To make them see what they did."
Alice Wake: "I just wanted to show the world what I see. [...] From artist to art." then proceeded to "murder" herself. (bonus: She will be missed but will live on through her art)
Lost at Sea song, which I consider Zane's theme: "An artist dying for his art, to make you finally see". and we all know he also "murdered" himself.
there is also Mr. Scratch going after Alan Wake and overtaking him to "Show the World his Deerfest" and Alan/ Scratch firing upon himself to create the Void.
11:00 This makes me think on Address Unknown. John at the hospital talking with the Doctor. John get release and kill then with the drill...Lane gets the painting.
I'm lowkey proud of myself for guessing it was Rudolf early on in the DLC. I saw the mentioning of a painter in one of the early notes and was like "oh, like Rudolf Lane from the first game?" Next level down and I found the note stating his name 😃
Poor, poor Rudolf...
Nice videos congrats from El Salvador really nice script and edits keep going you're doing great
Thank you, Dean!
I had a feeling, during the DLC, that the topics studied in the Lake House were things that would feel at home in your videos ahahahahah
Oh yes haha. I have another one written already. This stuff is my bread and butter.
awesome video man
Silly rudolf
Where the pages that we find on the Lake House that are narrated by Alan Wake wrtitten by him? I didnt truly understood if they where or if those pages where the outcome of trying to force his writting style
I personally think they were done by Alan. I was on the fence until the end where it shows Estevez having an overlap with him. Where he directed her to arrest him in the woods.
@GamingUniversityUoG Yes now I think so too, I replayed the dlc yesterday and now firmly believe the pages that the Marmonts and then Estevez found in the Lake House where directly written by wake and are part of Return
You cant draw blood from a stone
They tried. They F***cked around and found out.
I know its unrelated, but thank you for posting today. Im sure all of America needs a distraction from today.....
Hey Dean are you remember Quantum Break: Zero State?
I have started it a few times but never finished it.
@@GamingUniversityUoGhow important is it to Quantum Break; is it necessary for the overall narrative or is it just a book that has no purpose/no meaning to the game?
W
TY