Those of you who have played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, or have seen Lets Play videos of it, may be interested in some of the trivia I found on the Amnesia Wiki. I personally like the speculations regarding The Shadow and its connections to not only Daniel, but most of the other characters as well. (Warning: long post is long) -One of the Loading Screens states that the Shadow is not some vengeful spirit, but the very universe catching up and trying to contain the Orbs. If this is true, the manifestations of its fleshy matter imply that the cosmos that Daniel and everyone exists inside of is actually alive and sentient. It maintains itself, guarding the Orbs and hunts down whoever seeks to use them because if they try to leave it, that is the universe, these escapists may threaten its stability. -The religion Mithraism seems to be connected to the Orbs in some way, so it is possible the Mithraists believed the Shadow was either their god Mithra himself, or the giant bull being slaughtered in the iconic scenes monuments of which Zoroastrianism interpretations depict him or another deity slaying the primordial bovine Gavaevodata whose fleshy matter becomes the progenitor of all life. -It is not explained how the Orbs contain their unnatural power, or why the Mithraists could invoke them without getting hunted and killed by the Shadow. Weyer and Daniel (temporarily) were able to use the Orbs without incurring the Guardians wrath. Its possible the Orbs choose their holder. Or maybe the Shadow deemed them worthy of handling such power, but not Alexander, Agrippa or Herbert, who would likely use it for their own advantage. -Daniel may be branded or owned by the cosmic guardian simply because he touched the orb and by doing so, became tainted, inadvertently invoking the relics powers and channelling them into himself. This might be why his intuition is so high and how he can recall foreign memories not belonging to him. The Shadow may now regard Daniel as much of its possession as the mysterious artifacts it usually guards, hence why its so obsessed with him that it would kill anyone who dared make contact with him, and even ignore the two orbs currently residing in Brennenburg, making no attempt to recover them. -While the Shadow is hunting Daniel relentlessly throughout the game, it is plausible that the nightmarish force originally had no intentions of harming Daniel, even though he took one of its orbs from the archaeological expedition to Africa. It did not actively hound him down to start with, merely content with following behind its orb carrier. -Why the Shadow didnt simply take back the orb or dispatch Daniel as soon as he left the burial grounds is unknown. Its possible it chose the young man to wield the orb as it saved his life in the tomb. It could have also spared Daniel in the beginning since he did not take the relic to wield its otherworldly powers for personal gain (indeed, he was oblivious to them) but simply to preserve it in a museum. He also did not remove the orb from the burial grounds, he was unconscious and forcibly carried away by Herberts men with the broken orb shards in his hands. -In the Choir Daniel is taunted by Alexander via telepathy who tells him hes responsible for all the deaths because if he had only submitted to the Orb when he first discovered it none of the bloodshed in Brennenburg would have happened. If true, if Daniel had not tried to flee from it but merely accepted the Orbs Shadow and yielded to its superior will, the events of The Dark Descent would not have occurred. -Daniel, spellbound by dreams, fell overboard from the SS Hortensia headed for London. Beneath him in the dark Atlantic waters something very large tried to take him away. The current caused by it moving pulls him underwater and Daniel nearly drowns, but then he is raised up and put back onto ship, by what he doesnt know. The crew of the ship did not respond to his distress. It happens so calmly that he wonders if it was all another dream. This unseen beast may have been the Shadow making an attempt to abduct him, and then abandoning the course of action. -There is no explanation given for why the Shadow did not consume Daniel in Africa or during his stay in London. It could have easily done so at any point. Herbert recovering the second orb may have served as a distraction initially, but it wouldnt have taken it long to catch up to Daniel who eventually arrived back in London on the 22nd of June 1839. The Shadow only mercilessly murdered those who Daniel contacted enquiring information about the ancient relic, it made no attempt to take Daniels life. When he learns about Professor Taylor and Sir William Smiths fate, Daniel immediately jumps to the conclusion hes next. Fearing for his own safety he flees on 17th July 1839, but does not once rationally consider that hes been staying in the same area for 25 days and yet no harm befell him during that entire length of time. -Given that Daniel was not himself attempting to study the orb, merely asking others to do so, it could be that any attempt whatsoever to harness the orbs powers, including simply studying it, is enough to provoke the Shadow. Seeking Alexanders help and performing the warding rituals could perhaps be seen as attempts to use the orb, thus ironically bringing the Shadows wrath upon Daniel. -After taking the orb Daniels sleep was strangely plagued with nightmares, as if a voice were calling across the void. The vivid dreams enabled Daniel to rebuild his orb. This may have been the Shadows early attempts to communicate with him. -If the Shadow was trying to use nightmares to converse with Daniel, it would explain why it murdered Dr. Tate despite Daniel not taking the orb along with him, or discussing it. His physician simply gave him medication to stop these frightening dreams. His interference no doubt antagonized the monstrous force. Evidently as it killed him within 48 hours, whereas it gave the marked Prof Taylor and Sir William Smith each over a week to live. On the other hand if The Shadow regards the branded Daniel as its property, the doctor simply examining him for a check-up would anger it in much the same fashion as inspecting its Orbs. -It is possible Alexander provoked or angered the Shadow thereby deliberately turning it against Daniel, since it was merely content to slaughter only those Daniel had been in contact with. When Daniel fled to Brennenburg, he believed that Alexander would protect him from this force and convinced him they can banish the guardian of the orb. However, on 8th of August 1839 Alexander tampers with the artifact, Daniel has no idea what he is doing with the strange tools. Suddenly the invisible force around Daniel now materializes, and the walls burst with pulsating tissue. After this point the Shadow is notably enraged, it roars and cries constantly, and now threatens to consume the entire castle and Daniel along with it. -Why Alexander would risk the guardians wrath is unclear, he may have attempted to simply tame its power or intentionally doom Daniel in order to usurp the orbs power from him and add its energy to the one he took from Agrippa. Either way, it now threatens Daniel giving him the incentive to cooperate fully with the baron since the Shadow is brought out in full-force and is actively hunting him. The blood wards Alexander has Daniel perform cannot banish it. These only serve to distract the guardians blood-lust and anger it further. It could even be holding Daniel personally responsible for allowing Alexander to invoke its orbs power and why itll devour him in three of the four possible endings. -When Daniel gets imprisoned in the Cells, the Shadow realistically gives him plenty of time to escape. It does not appear for some ten minutes. It eventually loses patience if Daniel stands idle, and doesnt leave. If Daniel leaves the cell, its spread stops immediately. Only when Daniel escapes the chamber does it give chase. This can be interpreted that the Shadow if anything, wants Daniel to stop Alexander, and is hurrying him along, willing even to give him a head-start should he stupidly get caught first-time round, because being ambushed by the Gatherers has wasted a lot of precious time needed to stop the baron. Its fleshy matter manifesting behind Daniel can only signify the entity is not hunting but forcing him to go forward, its advancements remind him there is no turning back from this dark descent. Any reluctance on the young mans part to defy Alexanders expectations enrages the relatively-patient guardian. -Only when the Shadow absorbs the Chancel does one of Daniels diary entries appear. Its the one marking his downfall as he realises what he has become after murdering Zimmermans innocent daughter. By bringing it back The Shadow may be forcing Daniel to relive the crippling guilt of his former-selfs actions, specifically the awful memory that old Daniel couldnt bear to live with before taking the Amnesia Drink. Also, in the Bad Ending, it may be haunting him with the awful memories of all those he tortured to death in Brennenburg. -The Shadows claim on Daniel also provides a plausible explanation for why Daniel resurrects whenever he ends up dead in the castle (unlike Justine, who only gets one chance). The Shadow has no intention of letting Daniel die, wishing only to hold his feet to the fire via terror, and make him experience purgatory. This is showcased when it taunts Daniel should he fall down the well in the Nave when it intentionally traps him in a sealed room, then releases him. The entity wants to see whether Daniels intentions with preventing Alexander misusing the orbs, are met with its approval. Alexander may also know this, hence his determination to quash Daniels resolve - he cant permanently kill Daniel if the entity keeps reviving him, so he wants Daniel to give up so he can escape unscathed. This would also explain why, in the death screen, it gives Daniel a piece of advice to not die or say you must carry on as in saying Daniel must keep going to stop Alexander. -In order to use the orb long enough to perform the ritual without being killed the Baron may have turned Daniel into a sacrifice for the Shadow. Alexander hints at this several times, saying that things can be done, but at a price and urging Daniel to offer himself up. It might offer another explanation for the entitys strange behaviour, since it is hounding Daniel, but ignoring its orbs. -If Alexander did infuriate the Shadow this would explain why it only killed him in the Revenge Ending, and left the redeemed Daniel completely unharmed. -In the revenge ending Daniel flees Brennenburg, but it cannot be certain if the shadow has departed forever, or turned back into its original invisible-state prior to Alexanders meddling. What is interesting is that castle Brennenburg collapses once Daniel leaves and not before. Whether this was the Shadows doing, i.e. waiting for him to get to a safe distance, or purely coincidental is uncertain. -A strange red aura is visible around Daniel as he walks back out through the castle. The guardian may be following him again since Daniel is still branded or because it cannot reclaim its stolen orbs back, as theyve already evaporated away. ~Lyrica
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 07:34:10 +0000
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