There is another theory which kind of ties up with the drowning theory. The family curse was mental illness, and Milton was schizophrenic hence The Unfinished Swan. He got lost and drowned during an episode
That is a good theory, and certainly looking at the Finches through the lens of mental illness is worth exploring. I looked at it more through what little we know about Milton in WROEF, which is simply that he liked adventuring places needlessly (like the crawl spaces between rooms.) Whether mental illness is involved could go either way, I suppose!
What if that house out in the middle of the ocean was the door he went through? The grandma was implied to either have been found dead OR was missing, and she said she wanted to tell Edith something about that house, and what she saw in it, and the white light that radiated from the upper window.... What if Milton wandered off, as he has a proclivity to do, and found his way there? It's unlikely- as the house is in the WATER, but.... Somehow, it just feels right...
@@caitsithplays EXACTLY. If the entirety of An Unfinished Swan is in fact canon- who's to say that old house didn't have a magic door? That white light that radiated out of the window keeps sticking in my brain- as well as the fact that it was specified that Edie was _already gone_ and not _dead._
PLUS... It would kind of make sense for there to be something Wrong or Weird with the original house- why the hell else would you literally drag it across the ocean and take it with you when they proved they could clearly make a new one!
Or perhaps the thing edie was trying to tell eidith in that book was that the light she saw in the window of the old house was from Milton using the magic paintbrush for the first time, and inside the original house he painted a doorway that would connect to the other doorway he painted on the canvas in his room! And the day he went missing, he used the two paintings like a teleportation pads to get back inside the original house where no one could find him, where he would then paint another doorway that would lead him to the world of the unfinished swan! And the reason nobody found a body or him is because the way into his kingdom is inside the original house, now re-submerged under the water meaning that nobody can get in or out! Until the events of the unfinished swan, where perhaps the orphanage is near enough to the island that the character we play as simply walks out to the original house during a similar event to what edie experienced and then after finding the doorway the events of the unfinished swan inside the kingdom begins!
I really feel like theory 2 is really much more plausible than theory 1. Milton might have crawled through the tunnels in the house and found the old house out at the sea one night when the waters are receded, in all his imaginary fiasco (hence the unfinished swan) and then fell asleep in the old house, eventually the water came back flooding the house and he drowned in his sleep (reference him being asleep throughout the unfinished swan). Yes, theory 1 is more optimistic in nature compared to theory 2 but I think ultimately WROEF boils down to one realistically cruel and tragic truth in the Finch family - that creativity and recklessness runs simultaneously in the family and ultimately causes parents to be negligent and children to be unaware of danger, leading them to their deaths prematurely. But there are two exceptions to this so called “family curse”, one is Edie and another Edith’s mom. Despite being so obsessed with imaginary stories, being reckless and living in the past rather than the present Edie managed to stay alive to the age of 90 nonetheless, her eventual “death” is actually by choice not by fate. Edith’s mom ( I’m sorry I forgot her name) despite being grounded in reality, unlike the rest of her family members, her eventual death was actually by fate (not by recklessness, negligence or anything of her own fault) which I really think is the ultimate irony to this situation. I think this is why WROEF is so special because there’s so many layers and themes to it to explore.
Also I wanted to say that the one really being cursed here is Edie, because ultimately she had to go through the death of every children, grandchildren and great grandchildren she ever had and had to suffer having the last of her families to leave her as a punishment for her being negligent of her children and refusing to look into the future and staying in the past. It was a curse on Edie herself because she caused her own misery, but to cope with the pain of both losing her family and knowing that she is the cause of all of these pain she and her family are suffering she glorified the mystical, imaginary parts of each of her family members’ death story. (First part of grief - denial and she never walked out of it) that’s why so many theorists thinks she’s the true villian of the story but I never saw anyone explain why good enough.
I just saw this. I do think you're right in a lot of ways. I truly cannot imagine being Edie and losing everyone like that. Though I am confused by what you mean - Edie's death was her choice? You believe she mixed medication and alcohol with the intention to die?
My theory for the rooms being locked is since Milton was known to travel through the house in the crawl spaces Dawn spent a lot of time looking for Milton inside the house probably going into all the rooms and being constantly reminded of her family’s misfortune. This upsets her greatly so she seals the rooms after making sure Milton isn’t inside them. Every time she would enter a room she would be reminded of her search for Milton so she sealed them so she wouldn’t have to relive that. My evidence for that is when Gus passes away she moves her bedroom so that she doesn’t have to walk into Gus’s or Greg’s side of the room. When she loses her father she copes with religion and leaves her home as soon as she can to do missionary work where Dawn meets Sanjay. When Sanjay passes away she returns home as she’s alone with 3 kids. And then when Lewis passes away she just packs up and leaves. Not wanting to face the reality of the situation. I truly loved the story, I believe we would have had more of a story if Dawn had a different character but she also had a difficult life, if she didn’t runway the grandma would have been able to pass on more than half of one story. I don’t think there’s anything magical, just a series of unfortunate events. That magic is in the way that the Grandma Edith remembered them and the way the children remembered their deceased relatives. Dawn running away destroyed the magic as that was the catalyst for the stories being forgotten. All the stories are true in some sense, so if you remember the story you remember a version of your deceased relative. But sadly that’s not what we get. 😢
Interesting idea! I have a video I want to make that touches on some aspects of what you are talking about here. I'll have to make it, because I'd love to know your thoughts on it. :)
The fact you got in my fyp with this master piece of a video gives me hope for smaller content creators. I myself am one but definitly lower quality than you are. This video is great and you genuinely deserve more recognition. Hope you rise up to the top gamer
this game is my favorite video game ever and Milton is my favorite finch to. in the game what remains of Edith Finch does have a bunch of the king's symbols hidden everywhere in the game. from a rug to a painting in Milton's room. i believe 1000% that theory 2 is correct and honestly my favorite outcome yet.
The second theory actually makes sense because if you pay attention to the game, it says that Edie went out on the day she was born. I don’t know if this exactly lines up with Milton, but she went out on the day. She was born and she was how she saw something, but we never got to finish the book…..
What I find interesting is that in Unfinished Swan you play as another character at all. Milton is talked about and referred to but you’re not him, implying he has to be alive and observable. If we were playing is final moments would we not play as him? But the drowning theory also makes sense. I feel like we’re all missing just one clue 🤔
Also the game is prob simbolic(the unfinisht swan) and Milton is just a strugling artist not a king the door could represent "peace im out I dont belive în this curse bullshi"
There’s a connection I just recently found and it goes like this. In what remains of Edith finch, Milton goes through a door right? I also remembered that he also had a dream where he went through a door as well facing an empty space. This could tell us that Milton just went to another place made out of canvas where he could paint everything he wanted, and yes he died not from the finch curse… but cuz he got older.
@@caitsithplays so I guessing your theories are correct he might have drowned…and hi there!! (this is actually the first time a TH-camr replied to my comment!)
@Yamoru_the_lazy_person Hi! I hope I'm not the last :) I actually saw something else that points to this theory as correct. I keep meaning to make a short as an addendum, but I haven't yet.
the first one is interesting because in the flip book in milton’s castle in the end he goes through a door so maybe the magic isn’t real but the kingdom is a metaphor of the outside world and the reason monroe saw the kingdom was becuase he was isolated by milton to keep monroe away from the curse
Interesting theories. 2nd one does fit the lore of the game (though I like Theory #1 best, too.) Lol at your kitty interrupting the video, it was cute ^^
Another theory could be a mix of the both. There is something mystical on the house that Milton discovered, but the curse isn't exactly real, and let me explain. Imagine a house, built on a cliff, where a family with a supposed curse established. But what if the the family isn't cursed but the land is? When they started building, that gateway was accidentally being closed and covered with wood or concrete, and Something told Edie to build the graveyard, like a magic that leaked from the portal trying to free the portal. And, through the years, that magic leaks. The Finchs made up the curse, but that thing, that powers lurking around twists their minds. The deaths that were provoked by the parent's neglect like Gus or Molly, it was because the parents, but the hallucinations on Molly are caused by the magic. But when Milton went missing, when he entered the portal, the portal closed. Sam went mad because of the drugs, but hadn't he grown up in the house? Dawn didn't believe in the curse very much and "escaped" to India, and Edith only lived there until 11, so they somehow survived the madness. The curse will only turn real if you believe in it, and believing in it means opening up to the magic. And then what of Grandma? I think, as she was the one who built the graveyard, the magic forgave her? Idk if I explained it well. And it's a bit far-fetched, but it kinda represents the whole game. They went mad and were reckless with death, but there is something up with that house that's paranormal and that kinda encouraged it all.
That's a good question! Honestly, I think it's mostly to connect him to his role in the Unfinished Swan - the King. But looking at it from a character perspective, what does it tell us about who Milton is? To me, it suggests that he is playful and imaginative, the kind of child who likes to dress up and play different roles. It suggests his favorite (or perhaps only role) was as a king. He liked the idea of being royalty so much that he wore a crown of his own making, and his self-portraits always had a crown. In theory 1, this explains why he created a whole world and set himself as king - it's his imagined dream fulfilled. In theory 2, it explains why we perceive him as a king in the Unfinished Swan: This is how he presents himself. Interestingly, someone else in the family also has imaginings as royalty: Lewis. I can't help but wonder if that's Milton's influence.
i do think theory 2 was correct i think he had some sort of mental illness and that caused him to go adventuring or see something cause it him to get stuck in the building when the tide came in
Don’t know a thing about this game or who on Earth you are. This video just popped on my recommended feed. I’ll just say you’re HELLA cute ma’am, drop my like and bid my farewell.
@@caitsithplays I don’t believe that there is any sort of definitive amount of time that mentioned how long he was missing. In The Unfinished Swan, he was a king and looked much older and probably died somehow, probably drowned, while in this other world. Then again, maybe he was running away from the family for some reason and his loss was too tragic to recall, hence the reason why he was “missing.”
![Peppermint [stop motion animation meme]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hoYxHBlT-4I/mqdefault.jpg)
![Peppermint [stop motion animation meme]](/img/tr.png)
There is another theory which kind of ties up with the drowning theory. The family curse was mental illness, and Milton was schizophrenic hence The Unfinished Swan. He got lost and drowned during an episode
That is a good theory, and certainly looking at the Finches through the lens of mental illness is worth exploring.
I looked at it more through what little we know about Milton in WROEF, which is simply that he liked adventuring places needlessly (like the crawl spaces between rooms.) Whether mental illness is involved could go either way, I suppose!
What if that house out in the middle of the ocean was the door he went through? The grandma was implied to either have been found dead OR was missing, and she said she wanted to tell Edith something about that house, and what she saw in it, and the white light that radiated from the upper window.... What if Milton wandered off, as he has a proclivity to do, and found his way there? It's unlikely- as the house is in the WATER, but.... Somehow, it just feels right...
Wait, yes, I like that! Edie claimed the water went far enough for her to venture to the house. What if it happened again?
@@caitsithplays EXACTLY. If the entirety of An Unfinished Swan is in fact canon- who's to say that old house didn't have a magic door? That white light that radiated out of the window keeps sticking in my brain- as well as the fact that it was specified that Edie was _already gone_ and not _dead._
PLUS... It would kind of make sense for there to be something Wrong or Weird with the original house- why the hell else would you literally drag it across the ocean and take it with you when they proved they could clearly make a new one!
Or perhaps the thing edie was trying to tell eidith in that book was that the light she saw in the window of the old house was from Milton using the magic paintbrush for the first time, and inside the original house he painted a doorway that would connect to the other doorway he painted on the canvas in his room! And the day he went missing, he used the two paintings like a teleportation pads to get back inside the original house where no one could find him, where he would then paint another doorway that would lead him to the world of the unfinished swan! And the reason nobody found a body or him is because the way into his kingdom is inside the original house, now re-submerged under the water meaning that nobody can get in or out! Until the events of the unfinished swan, where perhaps the orphanage is near enough to the island that the character we play as simply walks out to the original house during a similar event to what edie experienced and then after finding the doorway the events of the unfinished swan inside the kingdom begins!
I really feel like theory 2 is really much more plausible than theory 1. Milton might have crawled through the tunnels in the house and found the old house out at the sea one night when the waters are receded, in all his imaginary fiasco (hence the unfinished swan) and then fell asleep in the old house, eventually the water came back flooding the house and he drowned in his sleep (reference him being asleep throughout the unfinished swan). Yes, theory 1 is more optimistic in nature compared to theory 2 but I think ultimately WROEF boils down to one realistically cruel and tragic truth in the Finch family - that creativity and recklessness runs simultaneously in the family and ultimately causes parents to be negligent and children to be unaware of danger, leading them to their deaths prematurely. But there are two exceptions to this so called “family curse”, one is Edie and another Edith’s mom. Despite being so obsessed with imaginary stories, being reckless and living in the past rather than the present Edie managed to stay alive to the age of 90 nonetheless, her eventual “death” is actually by choice not by fate. Edith’s mom ( I’m sorry I forgot her name) despite being grounded in reality, unlike the rest of her family members, her eventual death was actually by fate (not by recklessness, negligence or anything of her own fault) which I really think is the ultimate irony to this situation. I think this is why WROEF is so special because there’s so many layers and themes to it to explore.
Also I wanted to say that the one really being cursed here is Edie, because ultimately she had to go through the death of every children, grandchildren and great grandchildren she ever had and had to suffer having the last of her families to leave her as a punishment for her being negligent of her children and refusing to look into the future and staying in the past. It was a curse on Edie herself because she caused her own misery, but to cope with the pain of both losing her family and knowing that she is the cause of all of these pain she and her family are suffering she glorified the mystical, imaginary parts of each of her family members’ death story. (First part of grief - denial and she never walked out of it) that’s why so many theorists thinks she’s the true villian of the story but I never saw anyone explain why good enough.
I just saw this. I do think you're right in a lot of ways. I truly cannot imagine being Edie and losing everyone like that.
Though I am confused by what you mean - Edie's death was her choice? You believe she mixed medication and alcohol with the intention to die?
This game is one of the most significant examples of video games being art. Great video!
Thank you! I 100% agree. It's a beautiful and thought-provoking piece.
My theory for the rooms being locked is since Milton was known to travel through the house in the crawl spaces Dawn spent a lot of time looking for Milton inside the house probably going into all the rooms and being constantly reminded of her family’s misfortune. This upsets her greatly so she seals the rooms after making sure Milton isn’t inside them. Every time she would enter a room she would be reminded of her search for Milton so she sealed them so she wouldn’t have to relive that. My evidence for that is when Gus passes away she moves her bedroom so that she doesn’t have to walk into Gus’s or Greg’s side of the room. When she loses her father she copes with religion and leaves her home as soon as she can to do missionary work where Dawn meets Sanjay. When Sanjay passes away she returns home as she’s alone with 3 kids. And then when Lewis passes away she just packs up and leaves. Not wanting to face the reality of the situation. I truly loved the story, I believe we would have had more of a story if Dawn had a different character but she also had a difficult life, if she didn’t runway the grandma would have been able to pass on more than half of one story. I don’t think there’s anything magical, just a series of unfortunate events. That magic is in the way that the Grandma Edith remembered them and the way the children remembered their deceased relatives. Dawn running away destroyed the magic as that was the catalyst for the stories being forgotten. All the stories are true in some sense, so if you remember the story you remember a version of your deceased relative. But sadly that’s not what we get. 😢
Interesting idea! I have a video I want to make that touches on some aspects of what you are talking about here. I'll have to make it, because I'd love to know your thoughts on it. :)
The fact you got in my fyp with this master piece of a video gives me hope for smaller content creators. I myself am one but definitly lower quality than you are. This video is great and you genuinely deserve more recognition. Hope you rise up to the top gamer
Thank you for the kind words! I hope you do well in your video endeavors :)
Theory 2 is interesting. Never thought of that.
Thanks! It suddenly came to me when I realized the similarities of the location of the monument in Unfinished Swan and the old house.
this game is my favorite video game ever and Milton is my favorite finch to. in the game what remains of Edith Finch does have a bunch of the king's symbols hidden everywhere in the game. from a rug to a painting in Milton's room. i believe 1000% that theory 2 is correct and honestly my favorite outcome yet.
I'm gonna have to play again to look for more signs of the king.
Thanks for commenting :)
The second theory actually makes sense because if you pay attention to the game, it says that Edie went out on the day she was born. I don’t know if this exactly lines up with Milton, but she went out on the day. She was born and she was how she saw something, but we never got to finish the book…..
Edith birthday by the way is what I’m talking about the day. Edith was born.
What I find interesting is that in Unfinished Swan you play as another character at all. Milton is talked about and referred to but you’re not him, implying he has to be alive and observable. If we were playing is final moments would we not play as him?
But the drowning theory also makes sense.
I feel like we’re all missing just one clue 🤔
I agree! That's the part that makes it the most confusing.
@@caitsithplayshes the frikin king you blind?
Also the game is prob simbolic(the unfinisht swan) and Milton is just a strugling artist not a king the door could represent "peace im out I dont belive în this curse bullshi"
There’s a connection I just recently found and it goes like this.
In what remains of Edith finch, Milton goes through a door right? I also remembered that he also had a dream where he went through a door as well facing an empty space.
This could tell us that Milton just went to another place made out of canvas where he could paint everything he wanted, and yes he died not from the finch curse… but cuz he got older.
That could be it!
5:39 if you look closely on one of the pictures you see one of them is similar to the other one that Milton made
@@Yamoru_the_lazy_person ooooh you're right
@@caitsithplays so I guessing your theories are correct he might have drowned…and hi there!!
(this is actually the first time a TH-camr replied to my comment!)
@Yamoru_the_lazy_person Hi! I hope I'm not the last :)
I actually saw something else that points to this theory as correct. I keep meaning to make a short as an addendum, but I haven't yet.
@@caitsithplays nice that someone else had pointed out that this theory is correct! We will soon solve what happened to or where is Milton!
the first one is interesting because in the flip book in milton’s castle in the end he goes through a door so maybe the magic isn’t real but the kingdom is a metaphor of the outside world and the reason monroe saw the kingdom was becuase he was isolated by milton to keep monroe away from the curse
@@sillyboyjiggly2060 huh. That's an interesting perspective.
Interesting theories. 2nd one does fit the lore of the game (though I like Theory #1 best, too.)
Lol at your kitty interrupting the video, it was cute ^^
Yeah, I agree. I am going to choose to believe theory #1
And thank you! The cat can get needy, but I kind of love him for it.
i really love this theory! makes me wanna replay the game now :3
Thanks! I love the game, so I will always recommend a replay. :)
Another theory could be a mix of the both. There is something mystical on the house that Milton discovered, but the curse isn't exactly real, and let me explain.
Imagine a house, built on a cliff, where a family with a supposed curse established. But what if the the family isn't cursed but the land is?
When they started building, that gateway was accidentally being closed and covered with wood or concrete, and Something told Edie to build the graveyard, like a magic that leaked from the portal trying to free the portal. And, through the years, that magic leaks. The Finchs made up the curse, but that thing, that powers lurking around twists their minds.
The deaths that were provoked by the parent's neglect like Gus or Molly, it was because the parents, but the hallucinations on Molly are caused by the magic. But when Milton went missing, when he entered the portal, the portal closed. Sam went mad because of the drugs, but hadn't he grown up in the house? Dawn didn't believe in the curse very much and "escaped" to India, and Edith only lived there until 11, so they somehow survived the madness.
The curse will only turn real if you believe in it, and believing in it means opening up to the magic. And then what of Grandma? I think, as she was the one who built the graveyard, the magic forgave her? Idk if I explained it well.
And it's a bit far-fetched, but it kinda represents the whole game. They went mad and were reckless with death, but there is something up with that house that's paranormal and that kinda encouraged it all.
Sorry thought I had replied to this! I actually really like this idea!
What a great video!
Thank you!
Why does he have that goofy crown on his head?
That's a good question!
Honestly, I think it's mostly to connect him to his role in the Unfinished Swan - the King. But looking at it from a character perspective, what does it tell us about who Milton is?
To me, it suggests that he is playful and imaginative, the kind of child who likes to dress up and play different roles. It suggests his favorite (or perhaps only role) was as a king. He liked the idea of being royalty so much that he wore a crown of his own making, and his self-portraits always had a crown.
In theory 1, this explains why he created a whole world and set himself as king - it's his imagined dream fulfilled.
In theory 2, it explains why we perceive him as a king in the Unfinished Swan: This is how he presents himself.
Interestingly, someone else in the family also has imaginings as royalty: Lewis. I can't help but wonder if that's Milton's influence.
i do think theory 2 was correct i think he had some sort of mental illness and that caused him to go adventuring or see something cause it him to get stuck in the building when the tide came in
Sorry, I just saw this! I don't know if it's mental illness, or just that feeling of invincibility some kids have, but I do think it's more likely :/
I think your theory is correct
Thank you!
I've actually noticed something else since this time that also aligns with this, so I think it may be right, too.
Don’t know a thing about this game or who on Earth you are. This video just popped on my recommended feed. I’ll just say you’re HELLA cute ma’am, drop my like and bid my farewell.
Uhh thanks? Haha
if you like story rich games, I highly recommend "What Remains of Edith Finch." It's incredibly sad but so beautiful, too!
What if both of your theories are somehow right?
@@Rlambdin1985 hmmm how would that work?
@@caitsithplays I don’t believe that there is any sort of definitive amount of time that mentioned how long he was missing. In The Unfinished Swan, he was a king and looked much older and probably died somehow, probably drowned, while in this other world.
Then again, maybe he was running away from the family for some reason and his loss was too tragic to recall, hence the reason why he was “missing.”