In love was pride born

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Q: Is there anything off limits to ask about?

A: This pertains only to Sincere Deceit as of current, but things pertaining to how areas such as the Tower function. It is a headache to figure out. Depending on what is asked about the Outside's and Sheol's mechanics, I may only be able to answer privately, as I want to preserve the mystery of them as much as possible. Questions about Heaven's mechanics must exclusively be done non-anonomously or I cannot answer them.

Any noclip secrets within the Outside and Sheol are off limits for being shown (unless they are mentioned outright in an ask). I can give cryptic hints as to what they are, but no more.

There is also one secret that is too important to post or discuss publicly.

But enough of that.

Abram uses this dream to his... advantage, in a way that differs from Zaphkiel's. Zaphkiel makes himself seem more divine. A being of grand power whose very appearance emphasizes The Batter's holy mission. But Abram is the opposite in regards to The Batter: his appearance is a cruel reminder of the monster— the imposter— he was seen as before everything went dark. The one who felled mother and child, exploited the broken promises of long-lost friends to carry out his purpose, and brought everything to an end.

But unlike Zaphkiel whose avatar makes him appear grander than he is in reality, Red Dream Batter isn't demonization for the sake of demonization: he is surprisingly accurate to how Abram actually looks at that moment in time in reality as the Husk.

One is an illusion meant to fluff up and sweeten that which is shallow in reality. The other is that hard-to-swallow truth laid bare and impossible to ignore. Not only that, but rubbing salt in the wound. To make sure you're never able to forget its existence.

Escaping one's purpose is impossible.

One is just using the puppet's likeness to communicate to him, while the other is using the puppet's likeness moreso to be derogatory to himself while doubling as cruelty to said puppet.

A puppet.

A puppet.

How different the meaning behind the same words depending on who says them...

A puppet with no choice but to be led by the strings that are his fate.

How unfortunate.

But to circle back to your question, as to why the Hugos are there in Window 15 at all, I do not know. Though given Abram has the most power over the Tower by default in contrast to Zaphkiel who can only have any sway over what is shown within its walls through having obtained the Grand Items— something Abram doesn't require despite being in that state, they're likely there for a similar reason the Red Dream Batter was as he was.

The Tower is the heart of it all. μԍɑ𐑊ϝ

A cage for them both.

Pain and jealousy left to fester for decades within that heart. Buried, and now resurfaced.

A home undone and a family photo cast to the flames.

Every room in the Tower portraying Abram's side of things is nothing but pain. Zaphkiel at least tries to conceal his.

When will it be shut off again?

Have you seen my friends? We're supposed to get started but they haven't come back yet.

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For Vader Eloha being inverted in the Outside Tower like how she is in NULL & VOID, given the states of all the other Guardians and entities within its walls, that just may be what she came to look like after having reached the same level of Corruption they had. It's just that in the main story, in the normal Tower, she hadn't reached that point yet.

She is similar to The Judge in that regard: both retaining their awareness and mind but lacking control over their actions.

But also like him, while he is so broken he can only speak in binary, she had become so broken her colors inverted (but only in the overworld).

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As for the "eyes Hugo" in Window 2, I also discussed this in Abram's analysis that after I finally came to the conclusion that only the ones in Window 15 were representative of him and not the others, I determined that the Hugos in Window 2 (and NULL & VOID) may be emanations of Hugo himself with which to interact with the world— if only in a highly disconnected manner since Window 2 is implicitly on a different plane of existence from the rest of the game. If the Tower is described as a "null area" then Windows 2 is even more "null" than that. It is, after all, in terms of the ordering of maps, the closest to complete nonexistence.

You brush against that upon flipping the Switch after learning the sins that were the Guardians' undoing.

And it makes sense. Since just a step farther beyond that boundary of nonexistence, there he is.

But no more on that matter, the point is, is that I believe the Hugos in Window 2 are more accurately some aspects or other of Hugo but aren't him himself.

But... it's also just as likely that it's Abram as well— but not in the same vein as Window 15. Window 15, for that matter, is not the same as Window 2 in terms of its existence. It is similar, but it is relegated to specifically that relevant section of the Tower. Window 2 is... unique. It's not in black and white and full of Dusks, but is in color— The Batter himself, both past and present are there as well.

But first and foremost, I think the one speaking is Hugo, but by fact of Abram being Hugo's diseased blood, of course he would also have seen what Hugo saw.

Of course in Window 15, Abram's avatars take the likeness of his Father. A Him-shaped vessel.

Abram is the true son of Hugo as birthed directly from His remains. The blood of God, diseased or no, became the next God.

I saw a comment expressing frustration with colored dialogue referring to either Abram or Hugo using the same shade of red. While for some, the intent is to discern who is being talked about through context, for others I believe that's the point. The point is that sometimes it's not easy to discern whether it's cleanly one or the other, because in some instances, what is being talked about could refer to both.

The reason the Corruption manifests as it does, is, because of Him. And as He is the son and very blood of the Guardian of Meat and Life, it is only sensible this aspect of Hugo could be exaggerated to magnitudes that surpass that which He could control. As the very raw essence of His power without the flesh to balance it.

Like Father, Like Son.

The Son that had become the new Father. He who would father a lineage and become an ancestor to numerous nations. Had only greed, pride, and envy not warped what could have been.

But for the seeming animus expressed by Hugo in NULL & VOID... I think it's just that Sheol is itself an area of pain and a way of venting that pain. An area that actively punishes you for caring too much. Tries to push you away at every turn through crashes, jumpscares, and traps to dissuade you from getting too close. And when you overcome all those hurdles?

Your reward is nothing.

Everything you have done has always amounted to nothing.

This is just a game, after all.

This place is worthless.

If you want an ending more kind than is found in the deepest pits of damnation, then go back from whence you came.

Of course, you can bring that pain back with you, if you so choose.

But the game is asking you to care.

If you care too much, you get punished.

If you don't care or not enough, you get punished.

If you walk the middle line, you get punished.

It seems there is no right answer, doesn't it? But the truth of the matter is, is that in order to see all this requires replaying the game many times.

To defy His final wish.

And yet that is exactly what you do. Because you're curious. You want to know more. Dissect this game and learn every aspect of it. Seeing it as code and becoming increasingly disconnected from its characters and its world as people; as those to sympathize and empathize with.

Turning back the clock over and over again. Just like with the first iteration of this world. Time that can never truly progress to an end. The player themself refutes finality. Perpetuates that recursion into infinity.

...A hug from someone who doesn't want to let go.

And that's why you are punished.

Because you simply can't let the story end.

Here, at the end of all things, shall the world be reborn.

...

But the game expects you to do this. Offers you the advice that when beginning anew, to SMILE.

But even then, it seems, the game— its world— eventually grows tired of all this.

We are all... tired.

When you've found the final secret, what else is there to do now but finally put the book down?

What do you do when the story itself— not just its characters— has grown tired?

Do you cease caring?

Or do you continue, because you simply can't stop?

Regardless, it is powerless to stop you from turning its pages anew.

Because maybe...