THE MYTHOLOGY OF Layers of Fear 2 EXPLAINED | [Theory Part. 2]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2024
- ➡️ WATCH PART. 1: • THE TRUE STORY OF Laye...
Are you ready to take the analysis of Part. 1 to the next level? In this Part. 2, we will dive deep into the lore of the Layers of Fear universe, uncovering the true nature of the characters and their motivations, along with shining a light on the underlying mythology of the two games.
🔸 And there it is, two years of work finally coming to an end! Now you know everything about Layers of Fear 2, although many things are still out there for you to discover and speculate upon, so don't hesitate to give it a shot!
🔸 I can also understand if you are still puzzled about this whole theory, the videos are pretty dense and there's a lot going on, but I'd be glad to answer all your questions in the comment section, so go for it!
🤍 Acknowledgements: ZerachielAmora and the Bloober Discord, my friend AssMatiK, the LoF speedrunning community (Lanzaa, Shirako, Playful, SoftBoyo, EkkuMaru, Craisi...), DilvAime, Zerator, and my beloved Twitch community always supporting me.
⚠️ Keep in mind that everything I talk about in this video is my own opinion, and you have all the rights to disagree with it! There's a lot I didn't specifically mention, like the many consequences of my statements, psychological interpretations, relations to real life traumas etc, but I tried my best to give you all the keys to understand 100% of LoF2's events. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to respect everyone's opinions: it's just a video game :)
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🟪 Twitch: / kaweedfull
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00:00 - Introduction
00:37 - Act V
01:39 - The Director, a spiritual guide
05:14 - The 3 endings
06:03 - The Rat Queen
07:27 - The Rat Queen's identity
11:42 - James and the Rat Queen
12:29 - The Director's identity
14:03 - The Mysterious Objects
16:02 - The Interviewer
17:27 - Wrapping up Layers of Fear 2
18:51 - Conclusion
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WAIT OMG IT JUST HIT ME.
the green tree?? the painter's attribute??? i think he is actually talking abt rat queen
"My lady…she has chosen me. [...] Her gentle features, as if painted by the finest brush. Fangs aglisten, a seductive smile on her lipless face."
- she has chosen him because (as u said) he gave her the daughter's body
- "painted by the finest brush" refers to the original portrait
- "fangs" and "lipless face" speak for themselves 👁️👄👁️
Ooooh well yeah I think you're right, awesome! I don't know why I didn't even pay attention to the fangs, it makes much more sense!
Thank u so much for your extensive and well exposed research on the lore. It’s so refreshing to see someone actually praise and truly appreciate bloober’s team work on these games.
Thanks a lot, I'm glad you had a good time!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WORKING ON THESE VIDEOS FOR TWO YEARS BECAUSE THEY MADE ME UNDERSTAND SO MANY THINGS THAT IM ACTUALLY CRYING RN. BOTH GAMES ARE INCREDIBLE AND THE CONNECTIONS AAAAAH IM SPEECHLESSSSSSSS
This is a very cool video. I really appreciate all the effort you put into it. I also like your theory regarding the deities and you do a good job backing it up. I hope they make a third game and make that aspect more prominent.
This. Was. Amazing. Your narration was like a rollercoaster. Whenever you would pause before the big reveal, i would also pause the video to try and connect the dots myself.
That's so cool! Thank you so much!
In the inheritance dlc of the first game there is a true ending called The Tree and Apple ending where the Artist’s daughter realizes her true inheritance was her father’s insanity if you collect all the pictures of her drawings from when she was a kid, you unlock that ending. She ends up being like her dad staying in that house and I think possibly does become the Rat Queen since she’s become insane and embraced it. I know I’m late but that’s my theory for this game about the formless ending. I also think this game is about finding balance between masculine and feminine energies being if you choose to stay Lily, you don’t have any balance and are always in denial where if you choose James you let yourself know it’s okay to move on and find that balance you’ve been missing inside. That’s also my opinion too.
That's an interesting take for the Rat Queen! The true ending is definitely very interesting, but I didn't think it was the best one to explain how the daughter became the Rat Queen. The detail that definitely convinced me was the "Salve Regina" cubes, because I don't see why they would be there otherwise. But yeah, it's just a theory!
And yes, I agree about that concept of finding balance, as well as peace and forgiveness. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I thoroughly enjoyed this two-part series and I think it was very well edited, good job!
But might I suggest a wild theory that I have on this game?
I think the whole story might actually be about a person who identifies as the opposite sex. I think that person starts out as James, a boy. During his childhood he acts like a girl while struggling to appeal to society. His father often scolds him for his girlish behavior, and for killing his wife.
James is at a struggle to find his "true self", often resorting to "act" as a man to avoid society's shunning eye.
With this theory, Lily is instead a fictional character within James, representing femininity. Although Lily is not your stereotypical "shy" and "sweet" girl, she is interested in pirate adventures and going on dangerous voyages, this could be allusive to James' struggles to become fully "feminine"
In the end, he either embraces his feminine side and goes on with a complete transformation, or obeys what society tells him to do and stays a man but he is still lost.
I know this seems a far-fetched and "edgy" theory but honestly to me it makes much more sense than whatever the fuck I experienced during my first playthrough lol.
Thank you for the kind words and for sharing your theory! I actually think I heard something like this before, although your explanation is way better. Many people saw the game as a questioning of gender and identity, which is totally true, so in a way, your theory is absolutely valid! After all, if the game is dealing with James figuring out his own identity, it could work just as well with finding his sexuality and/or gender. I really like this idea!
You almost got it… 😉
So, I’m pretty sure the Painter dies at the end of LoF, and while the notion of reincarnation or something supernatural is an interesting possibility, the director does not need to be the Painter for his identity to hold narrative intrigue.
In my research into the Mysterious Objects, one phrase that jumped out at me was “fearful symmetry.” I had heard it before. I traced its origins to a poem by William Blake. Now, Blake is a fascinating figure. A writer and a painter, among many other things, he also professed to have had visions, religious in nature, seeing angels and the Judeo-Christian God watching him. A bit of an eccentric, Blake rather fits the mold for a LoF protagonist: A brilliantly talented artist, with a bit of a slant towards madness. This tangent made me wonder if Blake might have a larger influence on the LoF series. Perhaps, if the entities such as the Rat Queen are indeed ancient, Blake was a previous target of theirs, like the Painter and James would later be.
To me, it’s very possible that the significance of the Director is to tell us that the Rat Queen has targeted many artists, not just the ones we play as, but that it is also possible to escape her. I think the Director was another brilliant but mad artist who was trapped in the Rat Queen’s maze so to speak, but found his way out. Not unscathed, but alive. He has figured out that James is a new target of hers, and has taken it upon himself to guide James out.
There’s also something to be said for the Rat Queen’s connections to the story “The Call of Cthulhu,” in which the titular eldritch horror is influencing the dreams of artists and creative types all throughout the world. The climatic confrontation with Cthulhu also occurs on a ship at sea. So, that’s another element at play here.
Anyway, as a huge fan of these games, I’m grateful that people are finally starting to delve more into analyzing the story, as it is a rich narrative, yet and dearth of discussion amongst the fan base. I hope to see any future analyses of yours, you’ve made some great observations!
Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I really like your point of view. I intentionally avoided using too much real life documentation like books for example, cause my take on the game was to use everything it offered to craft my theory, you know like we had every piece of the puzzle while playing and you just had to piece it back together. But your take on this is totally valid as well, it looks like it fits! I'm pretty sure there can't be one true explanation to LoF2 (and tbh I'm not even sure Bloober thought about 100% of it, as it's impossible to contact them...), so it's cool to see other points of view like yours, especially when it's so well researched for!
The fact that the Rat Queen and the Director could be antagonists is quite convincing now that I think about it. Other people already found some mistakes in my video, so I don't claim to have the unique truth on this. As I said, there might even not be one!
Anyway, thanks for watching and sharing your research!
Both of Layers of Fear 2 videos are very well edited and narrated, I appreciate it a lot. I just finished the game yesterday, and now that I understand much more i'm going to play it again and see what comes up. Thank you, new sub
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
So in part one you bring up the house from the bloody roots chapter and how it has the same layout as the house in the first game. You never touched back on it and was curious to see how you think it ties into things.
Oh yeah you're right, good observation! It's my bad, I must have forgotten to get back to that detail in the script.
To be honest, I don't think I have a clear explanation here. At first glance, I would say it ties up to the Director being the Painter and constructing this "mental maze" for James to find his true identity, so the Director could have gathered his own twisted bloody roots to allow James to see his own... Not sure here, nothing tells us explicitly what this house layout is doing here, so as far as we're concerned it's just a design choice. The only thing we have left is interpretation...
It's also important to notice that the basement and the first floor are indeed identical to the Painter's house, but the second floor is very different, and only the rooms are about the same disposition, so that's interesting. Maybe the house of the Burns family was in the same neighborhood as the Painter's house, which would explain the similarity of the room pattern? And even the interviewer says "This particular area holds a special place in my heart as I grew up not far from here myself", could it imply that these characters knew themselves before dealing with supernatural stuff?
That's as far as I can go I think, thanks a lot for pointing this out!
@@KaweedFul thanks for elaborating!
That was my theory too (based off your video) that the house was fashioned after the painters house.
Again really great work. Such a deep game needed a video like this.
@@kclanton54 Well thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed!
It actually makes so much sense! Thanks man
Amazing video ! The in depth theory is so well developed and fascinating, it made me want to play the game !
Thank you so much Muninnn! ^^
Excellent videos, both of them. Such a shame that this great game got so little attention. It has so many layers. Thank you.
I binged both of your videos explainin the game and im so impressed! Theres a new Layers of Fear combining both games and adding the perspective of a writer who is writing these two stories. Uve gotta play it!
Thank you so much! I am currently playing the new Layers of Fear and thinking about the script for a 3rd video, stay tuned till the end of 2023!
@@KaweedFul id love to see it. Its an interesting point of view!! I finished it in two days 😂
Howdy! I’m late to the party but I recall when Layers of Fear 2 came out I was bummed that there was little talked about on the implied otherworldly elements of it. I’m so glad I’ve found this today lol. Believe it or not, but hunting for the models of the monsters in the Blair Witch game is what led me here (and hey, if you have any clue as to what those darn twig bastards are, I’d be very intrigued lol).
But yeah, this was awesome! Seriously, great work with this theorizing and connecting of the dots. I look forward to more stuff from you!
Hey, thanks for the kind words! I haven't played Blair Witch yet but I'll definitely look into that
Perhaps the Director is another deity, (the one mentioned by the third mysterious item - the wooden cube). A deity that represents balance and symmetry, trying to guide James to the path of “order”.
Yes, this is a possibility. I tried to make the interviewer fit somewhere but it's true that the Director would also fit the wooden cube's description. Let's hope we have more details about that in the upcoming game!
a thing that might suggest the daughter is the rat queen is that, probably a stretch but, in the painting of the daughter in the dlc she is holding a while lily. which could suggest her control or whatever of the actor/actress in the future.
This is so well done
Amazing work, thank you so much 😃
Well, with the new game we know that the rat queen isn't some creation of the painter or his daughter. She's just some malevolent force that latches on to despaired artists with trauma.
I agree, but I think there's still something to dig here. There is one precise sentence said by the Rat Queen in LoF3's ending that lead me to believe that she was indeed created, but not only by the Painter... There's some research to do
About the 4 mysterious objects: I dont know how to connect all this but the wooden box has te voice of the man on the movies from the beginning of each act 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then, the voice changes a little bit in the 4th object, pretty like the voice of the man in the intro movie of act 5. I dont know if he is the same person or not... and dont know what to think of it ¿Is he an another character, possible a "storyteller"? Another theory: I think the DEER is a deity. It appears on LoF 1 several times and here too.. There is a video of word on the Ouija that cointains the word "666". When you put this on the Ouija, it appears a bear with deer antlers. Another thing: there is a secret room on LoF 1 that shows a Deer head on the wall, and it appears with red eyes in a moment. Maybe, im thinking, the deities are represented with animals: Rat and Deer.
👀👀👀
Incredible work! Thank you! Now i love this studio even more.
Mais quel travail ! Félicitations pour l'achèvement de ce projet ! Les raisonnements se tiennent très bien et la partie théorisée donne envie d'avoir encore plus de Lore, vivement le prochain jeu lié à cet univers ! :D
Merci beaucoup pour ces commentaires de qualité ! Très heureux que le résultat t'aies plu ^^
I think The Rat Queen is the daughter of the painter but isn't dead. Instead, she accepts the madness of her family and decides to help others decide what to do.
Yeah, this is another take on the birth of the Rat Queen and I have to say I can't disagree! Both endings of the DLC can explain it, so it's completely valid 👍
I just finished watching the lets play, and now i just watch this- everything makes sense ! Thanks!!
i can't begin to say just how much i needed this theory explenation!! having it all put out like this it all makes so much sense. only having played half myself and having sene the rest played by streamers i only got as far as the young boy having grown into an actor, but i kinda missed what the actor was trying to potray, other the a retelling of his youthfull voyage with his sister
I think your on the right track. Especially with the mysterious items belonging to deities, buy I think it's a mistake to assume that the protagonist became ancient beings. I would argue that the painter definitely cursed his family, by accident in his grief. The curse is insanity (not actually insanity but mischievous manifestations that only each protagonist can see (the mysterious note at 15:40 makes reference to this)) through art.
I think that the Rat Queen is a deity that takes the form of a twisted version of the painters wife. The Rat Queen clearly was messing with the painter in the first game. And in the second is messing with his descendant by making him insane through his art of acting, by playing his sister. This is the deity that James first meets as you can tell from his drawings and memories you hear in act 5. But the drawings give a hint at her true form which looks suspiciously like the weird rat creature slowly coming out of James' cabin.
Anyone great video, and great theories! Here is hoping we get a Layers of Fears 3.
AMAZING video! Thank you so much for spending the time to gather all these interesting theories and evidences. 👍👍
So the most importent Question is still not answered... What the fuck is the Metronome for?!?!
Thank you for explaining this to me!
nice vedio you deserve mutche more sepoort
Amazing video
Well done 👍🏾❤️
You were abosolutely amazing. I got it. I got it all, thanks to you. I didn't quite truly connect the dots, but now puff! my mind's blown after undestanding it all.
Thank you so much!
Well explained, good stuff :D
The guy who composed the piano piece in the first game was an occultist. After hearing this theory, I'm wondering if that is why "Lotus Land" was included in that game.
I enjoy both videos, I have to admit that I had too much things that I did not understand of layers of fear story ... But I have to say that I'm pretty sad and frustating though, the thory of the rat queen, I realized of that since the second game was realeased, but I was too afraid of doing something that no one will take like a serious thing so never did that, now that I wanted to do it I search theories of the game to see if anyone made somthing ... and well, everything I have think is in here so ... f for me
Wouldn’t the wooden cube be the director?
A. I love this interpretation! It's fantastic!
B. I just realized how much the voice of the director reminds me of the original Batman the Animated Series Harvey TwoFace. More reasons to love this game!
Thank you so much!
The voice actor for the director is Tony Todd, if you want to check out his work!
@@KaweedFul I will do! Thank you for the information!
Why doenst this video have more attencion, is so well done ;_; thank u so much for your work
i have one question tho because if the daughter returned to the mansion after her father died then how could he reach her during his rituals if he was dead?? i may have got something wrong here
That's a good point! Well the way I see it, the Father built the ritual in the secret room before dying (with the portrait of his daughter, the Salve Regina cubes, items that belonged to her, etc) but the ritual could only be done with the sacrifice of the host body; either the Father couldn't resign himself to sacrifice his own daughter, or he died before having the time to do it.
This is how, decades later, the daughter is able to come back and complete by accident the ritual that had been on pause for all this time.
@@KaweedFul OOOOOHH right thank you so so so much for this theory
You are awesome
Nice
I just finished all the endings and now I find out about the lemons? XD
🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋
what was in the chest in the ending?
The way I see it, the chest is a metaphor of all the demons of James that will stay with him forever. What he did is irreversible, but it will inevitably leave some scars on him. You can even see on the wall behind the chest the posters of Schizo and King Lear, the 2 "evil sides" of both Lily and James (as the community sees them), so the chest opening at the very end is basically a nice way for BlooberTeam to say "hey, this is not a happy ending!"
I guess this is only one interpretation, there could be others!
@@KaweedFul that's what I was thinking too. Nice video btw
good job for the theory i think you on it