Alpha's wild imagination

Reference panel:

So called "mint" version without color misalignment or wear; as well as just the lineart:

Before I get too into my ideas for him for AW2, I want to say that Zane stood out to me in the first game because he was the character who introduced my favorite concept of AW, the idea of manipulation of memory. For some reason, I assumed that art around Cauldron Lake could only alter the present and future, as that was how Alan's story largely operated, and what Alan wrote about the past was copied from Barbara’s editorial control and Zane's writing.

The moment that made me fall in love with the series was how funny the tutorial is where Zane hands Alan a gun, and the moment that got me obsessed with the series was the shoebox scene. It's efficiency in surgically removing Alan's fear of the dark as a child to scripting him to jump in the lake casts all of AW1 in a completely different light. Regardless whether you believe Zane edited Alan's memory after meeting him, created him wholesale, or some mix and match combination thereof, everything you saw in Alan's life before, the very premise of the game’s core mechanic, is an altered continuity of memory. It also made me reevaluate how the past that Alan references is Zane's writing. In the two playthroughs I've watched, the person playing the game reflexively refers to Zane as god in the tutorial. And uh, well….

And then, onto AW2! AW2 has a much larger focus on memory, the same origin story of necromancy through erasing memory repeated over and over in different contexts. When Saga *scratched* out evidence of Logan's death, that's when it finally clicked for me.

And in that spirit, because he's the Original Guy to do memory rewrites, I think the game supports the idea that despite his claims, Zane is fundamentally the same guy. Him being a filmmaker is a rewrite----aside from the audience seeing the evidence in AW1, we can stitch this together from details such as the cabin/retirement home, and how Yötön Yö and Tom the Poet were both made retroactively, by his own admittance for the first case, with the second being "based on the writing of Alan Wake." (My personal idea is that Tom the Poet is AW1.) There is no evidence for him being a filmmaker, while we have tangible evidence of him being a poet. Zane expanding his influence to gaslight the audience is really fun, and seeing that Cynthia has the same continuity of memory as the audience near the end of Old Gods is both validating and heartbreaking.

I've heard people propose that Alan is the one who rewrote Zane to be a filmmaker, but Alan wouldn't have much reason to. Zane has plenty. Odin's journal establishes that if you rewrite your own memories, you remember all versions--even if he knows they're fake, memories of a more glamorous life, one with more time with Barbara, would be nice. There's also the idea of doing "movie magic" with Alan---if Yötön Yö worked, I think it would've resurrected Zane in Alan's place. And in the darkest interpretation, covering up his actual past erases any history with Cynthia, and only further dismisses her experiences as detached from reality. 

I'm often frustrated when people discuss Zane in depth and leave out Cynthia, both because of how badly he treated her, and because she acts as a thoroughline for his character. I went into aw1 knowing how he presents himself in aw2, and he started to sound like "himself" when she describes how he manipulated her feelings for him, and he sounds a bit more like Ilkka when he’s being more cryptic and unhelpful in the bridge scene of the aw1 epilogue. In contrast, in aw2, he sounds more like his idealistic presentation in aw1 from Cynthia’s more positive memories of him. Any speculation on motivation aside, as he was the catalyst for breaking the memory of the world and the beginning of the cycle of necromancy through forgetting, having him point at his past self that we saw with our own eyes and claim that nope! Wasn’t me! Is completely in character.

And frankly, other than that difference, while he presents himself differently, as a character he has the same components by my eyes, the same modus operandi, just with aspects of his character hinted on in the first game focused on or expanded. I liked how they expanded on the femme-fatale-esque aspect of his character, of using people’s attraction to him and his sympathetic image as an axis of manipulation. On the femme note, I think making him bi and gnc was genuinely an excellent choice! It seems like Ilkka had a huge hand in that, and his thoughts on Alan vs Zane's presentation, and how happy he is that Zane is free to be himself, genuinely warms my heart. 

Speaking of freedom, having him be unsettlingly carefree in AW2 was an excellent choice, expanding on how his solution from the beginning is erasing death and fear. I think part of why he hasn't escaped yet, despite being more than capable of doing so in terms of raw ability, is that he still treats forgetting and denial as a solution. Door and Alice do their best to hold Alan accountable, and balance between meeting Alan where he’s at and breaking him out of his cycles. In contrast, while it’s heavily implied that Zane is working alongside them, if he has an issue with Alan, he mocks it, distracts him, or rewrites it. Oh Alan, you get so worked up! Don't worry! Have a drink! I'll make you forget all about your fear of the dark! How he treats Alan is condescending at best, but it becomes a bit sad when you see how the way he thinks has effectively trapped himself. The only people who remembered his old self are in a nursing home. Door and Alice's areas of the dark place have tangible physical spaces, but Zane's room is solely in yet another layer of fiction through the projector, the hotel room outside of the colorful film dusty, grey, and neglected.

On a more lighthearted note! I LOVE Zane and Darling together. They're super fun on both a meta and character level. Despite each of their evils they're genuinely really cute together, and seeing them flirt was wonderful. And sincerely, I think that they're what each of them needs, in terms of a relationship! Even if Zane is repressed on the emotional front in a different direction, he's an extremely harsh contrast from Trench, especially in being very positive and affectionate. Facts and evidence have been shown to be an effective method of escape, and even outside of escape, being with a scientist romantically could potentially help ground Zane back in reality. Zane loves exerting power over people, Darling is drawn to people and objects of immense power. They're perfect for each other!

There’s two elephants in the room with their relationship, though. One is that they might be responsible for the localized apocalypse in Resonant. Maybe. But the more factual one is that neither of them have great track records for their personal relationships. However, if one or both of them shows up in Resonant, I honestly think it would be more impactful if they're doing well and continue to be sincerely happy together. If Dylan gets to see that Darling moved on and found happiness and love, while he's still contending with and suffering from the childhood he gave him, it would be devastating.