The Oldest Horror Show

Prologue

Orpheus reveals his dissociation and memory issues are particularly significant regarding his dreams. From Oletus' Symphony, we know that the Novelist has struggled to recall any dreams, so it's possible that this dissociation has worsened over time.

In what little he remembers of his dreams, they remind him of Alice in Wonderland, which is curious since the story is usually associated with the game's Alice. It highlights how tied the two are, given in the Prequel Storyline, Alice is Orfeo, not Orpheus.

Orpheus feels as though the Dreamweaver Rabbits (represented by the Will Brothers) from his dream are key to solving "the mystery." We know from Orpheus' Cloister and Orpheus' Cage that, even though he can recall the past, such as who the culprits are, Orpheus' relationship to his memory is becoming increasingly damaged, and he wants to know what happened.

We know what happened, though. There are many gaps, many uncertainties, but we know that the Blanches were abusive towards Orpheus, which lead him to feeling the DeRosses were parents, which they reciprocated, giving him the piccolo key. The Blanches, to lengthen Mrs. Blanche's life, but to also punish Orpheus for becoming a DeRoss, helped murder the DeRosses (with intent Orpheus died as well). When Orpheus survived, either the Blanches abandoned him or he ran away a year later to escape their abuse, leading him to become vulnerable to who knows what, culminating in him being manipulated by Dennis' friends. A mixture of extreme fear and desperation to protect his real home and loved ones (the 3 Bs and Alice), combined with the manipulation, lead him to start the Manor Games.

So, let's see how we got there.

Meanwhile, in the dream world, Orpheus enters a whimsical garden to search for the Dreamweaver Rabbits. I find the choice of a garden interesting because, in the Eden storyline, Orpheus and Alice's childhoods are represented with the Garden of Eden. It seems that, similar to Eden, the dream represents positive aspects of Orpheus' childhood, the ones that the Novelist carries to make himself more presentable, the ones that the Nightmare lacks. But, like Eden, it will soon be lost.

Diary One

It appears Orpheus had a grandma on the Blanche side of his family that he was close to, one who seemingly cared more for him than his biological parents did, such as taking the time to check if the sweaters she had sewn were the proper size and adjusting them if they weren't.

There's a common occurrence where one family member's presence acts as a mitigator of abuse. Whether it's because the family member actively stops it or because the abusers don't want to be detected depends, but the loss of this family member precedes an intensification of abuse.

We also start to see the confirmation that Mrs. Blanche was abusive towards Orpheus as well, as alluded to by Burke in Bonbon's Fourth Deduction. Orpheus' grief towards the loss of his grandmother is overbearing. Mind, Orpheus is a child.

The school mentions are interesting given most implications Orpheus went to school are a workhouse after the DeRosses were murdered. It makes me curious what exactly this "school" was and whether Orpheus stopped going to it, when, and why.

Orpheus' grief adjusts after his grandmother visits him in a dream, using a rainbow scarf-turned-bridge. The "rainbow bridge" is curious since there's Bifröst in Norse mythology and the Rainbow Bridge first conceptualized by Edna Clyne-Rekhy to grieve the loss of pets. He hopes that his grandmother will return in another dream. He accepts the death and moves on. This will never happen to Orpheus again.

The quick change in Orpheus' emotions is disquieting. At first, it seems to be the natural process of grief. Sometimes grief cools quick. But something feels... off. Saccharine. Too perfect. Especially in contrast to the cold winter, to the behavior of Mrs. Blanche. The wholesomeness feels like an anglerfish lure.

This feeling grows worse in the next entry.

In the dream, Orpheus finds the three Dreamweaver Rabbits, using the grandmother's loom to help create the dreams. When they spot him, they run, and he chases after them.

With the loom, we are seeing there is a connection between Orpheus' dreams and processing grief and trauma. Orpheus' inability to dream in the Prequel Storyline then may represent his struggle to grieve the murder of his adopted family, the deaths of his abusive family, the presumed death/loss of his sister, and Burke and Bane being gone. Orpheus keeps losing others but can't grieve.

Diary Two

The second diary entry features Orpheus finding the Dreamweaver Rabbits: one who makes roads, one who paints flowers, and a rabbit who carries a knitting needle. These rabbits are not only responsible for the great architecture of the dream world but the dreams of children as well. They turn a child's imagination from the daytime into the wonders of the night. Sadly, before Orpheus can participate, Mrs. Blanche wakes him up.

The dreamland is fantastical. A pink sheep in overalls invites Orpheus, there are rainbow-knitting rabbits, singing morning glories, an ocean in an ice cream cone. Too fantastical.

Something feels very, very wrong though. The more you look, the more it almost feels too saccharine. Overly cheerful, in a way that children's dreams never are. So the question is, why is it so? I have a suspicion that some of this could be willing, to make the best out of a bad situation, but it could be unintentional. Imagination is a great way to find comfort, and some studies have found proto-DID alters manifesting in children as more intensive imaginary friends who take the roles of caretakers or protectors in the absence of external ones (Trujillo et al). I believe we are seeing Orpheus' dissociation.

Orpheus seems to having extreme sensory inputs from dreams which, while they can happen without dissociation problems, but are concerning with the interpretation he is already suffering from dissociation.

There is an interesting association with Mrs. Blanche and the crushing of dreams, but not in a "waking up is healthy" way depicted with the DeRosses, but the punishment for dreaming at all. Dreams can lead to a disconnect from reality, but they can also lead to processing emotions. Mrs. Blanche represents the denial of emotions, denial of childhood, denial of personhood. If one is denied childhood, they are denied growing up, too.

In the dream, Novelist catches one of the Rabbits, who explains they are in the dream, which Novelist notes is sweet like toffee. This is interesting since Novelist says he doesn't like sweets in the Oletus Symphony, with the sole exception being his Toffee Pudding Dish. It's also interesting in conversation with young Orphy loving sweets and Nightmare being shown baking or other candies. It seems that a distaste in sweets is representative of trauma rather than any individual Orpheus identity.

Diary Three

Orpheus' third entry is a letter to a Sprite he believes lives in an oak tree. He's been leaving milk for them to drink, which the Blanches insist was just a cat. In the dream, though, Orpheus finds the entrance to the Sprite's workshop, where he hears them tinkering, but they don't open the door. He offers a marble before he wakes up and muses about the one time the Sprite appeared, they encouraged him to become a writer. No one else encourages this. We receive the rather sad detail that Mrs. Blanche doesn't believe Orpheus could be a writer. In theory, one might say this is Mrs. Blanche being concerned due to their financial position, but in context with the other diaries, it appears to be an extension of emotional abuse. This is also placed in contrast with both of the DeRosses encouraging Orpheus' gift for storytelling. In Ashes of Memory, Alice recalls Orpheus writing stories in the Dining Room. They also performed plays together. We know that Orpheus is an incredibly talented writer, but we also see how his ability to write has been affected by his trauma, with Detective no longer being able to write due to trauma. It is sad to see how the circumstances of Orpheus' life have made something that brought him so much joy into something that brought him suffering.

The conversation following in the dream regards identifying good dreams and bad dreams. If you dream of a locked chest in an attic, you're an adventurer. If you dream of a toad and a forest, you're a wizard. But if you're an evil wizard, you're in a nightmare. One of the Dreamweaver Rabbits explains that they refuse to weave nightmares, for they are bringers of bad omen. Nightmares can be transformed into good dreams, but the rabbit is very tired.

The discussion of nightmares is most interesting given Nightmare himself. The Dreamweaver seems to identify a nightmare on the basis that it harms others rather than harming oneself. Being an evil wizard, for example. I think this is incredibly important to why Nightmare calls himself Nightmare. Given Cage of Yesteryear calls one scene "Birth of the Nightmare" where Orpheus attempts to distract, and Nightmare's extreme self-loathing compared to the Novelist, Nightmare identifies himself as "evil" due to his capacity to hurt others. But his capacity to hurt others by being the backside part of the Manor Games (in contrast to the Novelist's frontside) has become blurred with the belief he's hurt the DeRosses or that he failed Alice (or Burke and Bane). Nightmare is the personality who regrets the Manor Games, but this regret is tied to things Orpheus had no control over. It's quite possible that, if Orpheus' dissociation was distinct enough at the time, he was the identity that would blame himself for the crimes of the Blanches (Bonbon Fourth Deduction0. That way, he would be hurt less.

The process of creating a dream, with sewing and weaving and editing, brings to mind Nightmare's relationship to handling Orpheus' trauma, through editing his memories to cope. While the Novelist is usually represented as the "good dream" to the Nightmare's bad dream, I think that simplifies what Nightmare is. Whatever he is, he seems to have existed to protect Orpheus at some point. He could be a good dream, but his position a sin eater and consumed by self-hatred leaves him feeling caged as a bad omen.

Diary Four

This letter is... unusual. It feels like an interlude between the third and fifth diary entries. Mr. Blanche appears, briefly, to explain that Vienna is filled with art.

In the surprise setting of Vienna is a dream about a robin in an opera house whose song could make the stars glitter. The opera house is forgotten when a tear is found in its curtain. To save it, the robin uses its crown, a thread, and its feathers to patch it up, at the cost of it ever being appreciated for its art again. But the opera house still stands, remains loved, even as the robin remains an unsung hero. They try to tell Orphy something, but as soon as he wakes up, he forgets it. He hopes to meet the robin again.

One possibility my friend suggested is that we are seeing the presence of the supernatural. The Orpheus of Ancient Greece was treated as a prophet. Dreams are often seen as a way to predict the future. Some of the characters we have already seen seemingly represent characters we already know. The Sprite could easily be Burke Lapadura. With the mention of Vienna, an opera house, and a forgotten bird, we see the shadow of none other than Frederick Kreiburg.

We know from Frederick's Concerto that there is an unknown relationship between Orphy and Frederick. What this could mean is difficult to ascertain. We can say there are many parallels: Frederick trapped in an aristocratic abusive household, while Orphy was caged in the abusive household of two forest rangers. Orphy found a (temporary) escape in an adoptive family while Frederick found a (temporary) escape in music. Both left their abusive households to follow harsh paths. Amalia Kreiburg was helpless to stop her family's abuse while Mrs. Blanche participated in the abuse. Given Mrs. DeRoss was a friend of the Kreiburgs, did the Kreiburgs ever visit Oletus Manor before. Is it possible that Orpheus and Frederick and Alice met, briefly, in youth, only to forget?

This is all speculation, but it's certainly ominous.

In the dream, the Dreamweaver Rabbits reveal they were once performers, who still miss the spotlight, but come to weave dreams for children instead. We can see the return of the "Performer" motif in IDV, one that ties the Breaking Wheel and the Novelist together. The life of a performer is beautiful, but it is temporary. The Dreamland Rabbits found a new life, even if it gave them less appreciation. Orpheus, currently with Detective and Villain Charm, hasn't found that new life, but he might.

Diary Five

Well.

The confirmation finally happened.

The diary entry is a series of wishes: a scab on Orpheus' knee to disappear, that Mrs. Blanche's medicine tastes better, that Orpheus' tin soldier (Ike Wilks) comes to life, that it doesn't rain, and the ability to talk to the white cat that visits each night. Orpheus has to keep the wishes secret, though, because if Mr. Blanche finds them, he'll beat him. He then decides his last wish is for Mr. Blanche to not find this list.

We have a confirmation now that Orpheus was physically abused, which leads to the "scabbed knee" comment's ambiguity. It brings to mind Hernando Romero's Sixth Deduction, which implies that Hernando was being abused by his uncle. Orpheus' dissonant cheer about his physical abuse is just as disturbing as the reveal itself. He is not mentally okay.

The mention of Mrs Blanche taking medicine provoked a thought: when does this occur in the timeline? Mrs Blanche was diagnosed with tuberculosis at some point before or after the Oletus Manor Massacre. The Anniversary Package placed it in the same year, but the timeline is no longer reliable, and other pieces of evidence such as the TOR Muse Corridor imply that Mrs. Blanche was sick for several months beforehand and she and Mr. Blanche would remain alive for some time afterward, with Orpheus either running away or being abandoned at age 10/13 (depending on which age you take for him). We also know from Burke and Bonbon's Deductions that the DeRoss.

At first, I thought the diary took place before the Oletus Manor Massacre, but then why is there no mention of the DeRosses? Orpheus adored them and preferred to spend his time with them. Having no mention of them feels bizarre at best. Orphy says that only the Sprite believes he would be a good writer, but we know the DeRosses encouraged it too. Was it before they even met? But there are implications the DeRosses and Blanches had known each other for years (Burke Fourth Deduction), potentially even bringing them to the forest, or knowing them beforehand in some form. This is part of why I've speculated on whether Orpheus is an illegitimate child. Still, the absence is notable.

But, as my friend proposed, what if it's after the Oletus Manor Massacre? With the medicine Mrs Blanche having being the kind the Blanches could now afford. But then why is Orpheus not weeping?

One possibility for how it could be after without Orpheus discussing it is a consequence of his dissociation. We can see from his reaction to his grandmother dying and his parents' abusive behavior that Orpheus is experiencing significant emotional dissociation to survive his abuse. Perhaps we are now seeing Orpheus' memory dissociation develop as well, though I feel doubtful, given it seems Orpheus' memory dissociation worsened in his young adulthood rather than his childhood. It certainly worsens after the murder of his chosen family, though.

Either way, I think it's a sign just how much Orpheus' dissociation was escalating in childhood. The thing about why DID occurs in response to extensive childhood trauma before a certain age is that it affects the brain's ability to integrate and properly emotional states. Many people are capable of conversing with "characters" or "personalities" in their minds, or have entirely different modes of behavior depending on life's demands but unlike DID, these do not distress the person. Intense trauma before the mind can develop this, such as emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, disrupts and causes distress. Intervention can mitigate or even prevent the total development of DID.

Orpheus did not have that.

Epilogue

The final diary entry takes place an unknown amount of time after the fifth entry.

We see that Orpheus' writing tone is growing somber, more like the tone of voice he uses in Cage of Yesteryear and as an adult. He finds a fairy tale book in the attic, which renews his desire to write stories. The Dreamweaver Rabbits appear, weaving dreams one final time. It's not clear if Orpheus is dreaming or dissociating into a daydream, but it provides him comfort. He hopes he dreams of them.

I suddenly wondered: are the Dreamweaver Rabbits representatives of the DeRosses? While their personalities don't align well with the DeRosses, there are three of them, and they were performers (Mrs DeRoss was a composer and Dennis DeRoss an artist). They encourage Orpheus to write and comfort him when the waking world provides none. If this takes place before the Blanches worked for the DeRosses, perhaps it's an omen. If it takes place after the Massacre, perhaps it's a way their memories can comfort him even when he has tried to dissociate away from his grief.

In the dream, the Novelist realizes that the fragmented dream he's been looking for is none other than his own. Unlike most moments Orpheus recalls his past, this is not a moment of pain, but of resolution. He starts to write again, finding some joy in the shattered dream.

Something curious that, again, asks when this happens is that the Novelist notes the wish was made 10 years ago. In the Final Game storyline, the Oletus Manor Massacre happened 15 years ago. There are a couple options to explain this.

This takes place 5 years before the Final Game, with Orpheus being around 19.

Orpheus stayed with the Blanches longer than a year after the Oletus Manor Massacre

Timeline is fucked

In the end, though, the Novelist begins to write down his dream before the daylight consumes it (and potentially he switches, given a theory of mine is that time of day is a switch trigger for Orpheus).

For once, he seems happy.

For eight years, there has been the strong, silent implication the Blanche household was abusive. Orpheus has DID and was (mis)diagnosed with BPD. Both disorders are associated with extensive childhood abuse.

We see that Orpheus suffered from physical abuse from his father and emotional abuse from his mother. This is a common dynamic in many abusive households, where one form of abuse primarily comes from one parent and another kind of abuse from the other. This means there is no escape for the child, which increases the likelihood of severe trauma and mental illness. Orpheus was set up to develop DID.

Beyond that, the circumstances for the Oletus Manor Massacre highlight how extensive this abuse was. Bonbon's Fourth Deduction implied an unknown "custody dispute" between the DeRosses and the Blanches, with Orpheus and burke considering the DeRosses Orpheus' actual parents, which the Blanches responded negatively to. It's believed that this was a factor in the Blanches' choice to murder the DeRosses was to "keep" Orpheus. He was property to them and the DeRosses were intruding on their property. The Blanches' willingness to let Orpheus die in the Oletus Manor speaks enough. And we don't know why Orpheus ran away or was abandoned a year later, either. But it's safe to assume the abuse didn't end with their custodial "victory" over the DeRosses.

There is very much the unspoken possibility that Orpheus experienced sexual abuse as well. Sexual abuse is a common predictor of DID. Some of Orpheus' parallels, such as Sangria, have implications of surviving sexual abuse in their backstories (Sangria Character Backstory). Mike Morton, a parallel to Alice who also features Orpheus parallels, had a relationship to his adoptive father Bernard that bordered from indoctrination to grooming (Mike Sixth Letter; Mike Seventh Letter; Mike Fifth Deduction, etc). Alice DeRoss is also implied to have survived sexual abuse; Vilhelm Lamb is based off Lord Melbourne, who was known to have whipped orphaned girls he adopted for sexual purposes (Hilton 500). Given IDV's censorship restrictions, it will likely never explore it in depth, but its shadow covers the diary entries.

The sad thing is there isn't an option out of this. Abused and/or illegitimate children were not accounted for in legal structures at the time. Custodial disputes often ended with the abused child, bastard, or orphan (or all of the above) being dropped into a workhouse rather than a family they preferred. So long as the Blanches lived, he was theirs. No wealth on the DeRosses side could change it. It also adds the question of whether the DeRosses didn't give their all to help the Blanches medically? If the crack theory Orpheus is illegitimate is true, then Mrs. Blanche would be the only Blanche that had custody of him. Is it ethically right to let someone die of a painful disease to take custody of their child, who, in spite everything they've done to them, still cares about their parent? It could be argued that's the same thing the Blanches did to the DeRosses, if quicker through murder. The characters would have their own perspectives on the subject, but it would be a question left for the interpreter to decide.

You are going to be relying on my memories of, viewer beware, but I believe that, in the old return events for players who left for several weeks, the diegetic explanation was that Orpheus had a dissociative blackout and when he came to, Miss Nightingale and an unknown person had set up a letter to get him back into mental shape to convince him to stay. Detective commented that Miss Nightingale was from his memories. We have three major women from Orpheus' childhood: Alice, Mrs. DeRoss, and Mrs. Blanche. Of the three, Alice and Mrs. DeRoss have the nightingale motif and Orpheus has positive associations with as his adoptive family. So, given Detective expressing curiosity about Miss Nightingale rather than intense fear (compare his reaction to GO HUNTING QB whom he seemingly perceives as Mrs Blanche), I think it's fair to assume Miss Nightingale has some connection to the two. The Fandom Wiki seems to partially record it as a transcript, but given it lacks screenshots of the dialogue itself (only Miss N), treat it and myself with doubt.

Combined with her running Oletus Manor as the shopkeeper and customer service, her appearance in game modes like tarot, the pet, and now her appearance in Cryptic Notes as a "final boss," I think it's safe to say Miss Nightingale acts on the will of Oletus Manor in some form, whether as its leader or its avatar. She's not malevolent, but she seems to desire Orpheus stays in Oletus Manor (the other guests, too), but she will also attack those "invading" it. She will use whatever methods to make sure these goals are achieved. I would liken to her, with what little information we have, to a fairy tale dragon. Oletus is her lair and she shows affection for the few she likes, but she will not be gentle, and may even toy with those foolish enough to enter. I think it's telling she has similarities to the NM identity of Orpheus who, while tragic and very capable of gentleness, will be cruel to those he sees as threats. Curious how the mirror the Cryptic Notes players must shatter begs them to stay. This doesn't match up with Alice. Alice wants the cessation of the Manor Games and, regarding Orpheus, she wants him to be freed from Oletus, even if it means sacrificing herself to do so (such as her TOR Note and Fifth Netherwalker Package Letter). Alice has a martyrdom complex. She believes the idea of atoning for herself is through self-sacrifice rather than the sacrifice of others or her own morals (which is faulted in a different way), and believes in this so strongly to avoid the subconscious insecurity and guilt, which doesn't align with Miss Nightingale's defensive approach. This is also why Alice has is a Survivor Swap instead of a Hunter. Her self-perception of guilt with martyrdom syndrome contrasts with characters like Hullabaloo and Nightmare who envision their capacity for harm/monstrosity in regards to guilt.

We don't know enough about Mrs. DeRoss to say whether this would've been in or out of character for her. Remember, she was friends with the Kreiburgs, so she kept questionable company.

But in order for Miss Nightingale to be Alice, I think that Alice's character traits would be distorted in a way that do not align with a "Hunter Swap," for as close of a comparison to what Miss Nightingale is, due to being a threat to Survivors, though I doubt she will become playable. Hunter Swaps require self-perception, perception of others, and supernatural cause. The last requirement is there, with the idea she's become part of the Manor, but I do not see the Da Capos viewing Alice in such a way that would manifest as Miss Nightingale for the buildup, nor Alice herself (as mentioned before) due to her self-blame manifesting as martyrdom. This is not to say that she doesn't; the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the malice potentially shown towards Alice is not fear-based. Most notably, the character who says Miss Nightingale is from his memories, Orpheus, seemingly is unable to see her as anything but his little sister to protect, even if her plans go against hers and he must escalate the situation to protect the Manor Games and her. If Miss Nightingale is only a supernaturally-caused distortion of Alice, then I feel the only explanation would be death of a personality, which has not been true of previous character transformations. The past is gone.

On the other hand, it's still weird that Miss DeRoss, for her faults, would turn into such a frightening specter, even if she has (barely) more basis for it than Alice. We need to consider alternative approaches.

So, another possibility is that Miss Nightingale is her own entity, one that takes physical inspiration from others like Mrs. DeRoss or even Alice, but isn't them. She's from memories, but that's not the same as being the same individual(s). Memories are reconstructive. If Nightmare was born from childhood trauma, Memory was born from childhood nostalgia, Novelist from dreams, then maybe Miss Nightingale is the memory of Oletus itself. An amalgamation of all the people Orpheus associated with it. I think this could explain why in some artwork, the Miss Nightingale pet is shown with Memory and Novelist, while Alice (well, the distorted reflection of adult Alice Detective recalls; note how she has red shoes like Memory) is in the background. Miss Nightingale is a reconstructed amalgamation of feelings, rather than an individual.

There is one thing that could potentially tie all of this together: we already have a character associated with Orfeo's game with similar clothing inspiration as Miss Nightingale, veiled animal eyes instead of human eyes, and is portrayed as a "host" of an event in a version of Oletus Manor?

I'm bringing in Envoy Yidhra, who is placed in opposition against Eurydice/Memory and On the Way/Alice regarding Orpheus and Orfeo's Game. She will entertain the false dream she will resurrect Eurydice/Memory/Alice to keep Orfeo/Detective in the dream, until Orfeo breaks the cycle. On the Way/Alice tells Orfeo to let her go.

Now, Orfeo's Game is not the full version of events. It is a dream of Detective's, so he cannot recognize Alice, and characters were either altered (Norton, Melly) or excluded (Frederick) based off Detective's pov. Since we cannot take it as a literal depiction of what happened and what will happen, all of this is speculation.

I'm curious as to whether Miss Nightingale- The Traveler in your Dream- takes the place of the Envoy due to being the shopkeeper and customer service. The messenger. In turn, it makes me curious as to whether she (or Oletus as a whole) is kindred to Yidhra. The IDV Board Game, out of all things possible, was the one to be the strongest evidence the post-game mode/Manor Realm is in the Dreamlands, so if Miss Nightingale is connected to Oletus, which is connected to dreams, she is likely connected to Yidhra. Note: I tried linking the image but it was too big and too crunchy. I can link send the picture in response to a private ask.

Perhaps we can look at Miss Nightingale and Oletus, then, as being a part of a set, which leads to Mnemosyne.

The number of Muses and who was the "og muse" is variable. Hesiod goes with Mnemosyne and Zeus as the parents of the Nine Muses, Alcman says the Nine were the children of Uranus and Gaia, and some sources said there were only Three Muses instead of Nine. Some sources don't confirm how many Muses there are, only their parents, so it appears to have been regionally dependent in earlier periods.

Some later sources attempted to reconcile with the numerical and genealogical differences. Pausanias the travel blogger reports that some believed in the Titan Muses: Mneme (Memory), Melete (Contemplation), and Aiode (Song), with Mneme being Mnemosyne. Additionally, there were the Apollonian Muses, who were three daughters of Apollo, as noted in the Eumeles fragment. Diodorus Sicilus discusses some of the changes here. (I have some issues with Theoi but it's a great link to old English translations of even older Ancient Greek/Latin. Better than Wikipedia.)

Since IDV likes to take from a multitude of sources, from Orphic, to Roman, to Italian opera, there may be a combination of sources. I could easily see how Alice could fit into the Mneme/Melete/Aiode trio, with Miss Nightingale as Aiode and someone else as Melete, perhaps Yidhra as Contemplation. What is a dream but contemplation?

The Clues

Moonlight pours over him as stands between silver radiance and shadow. Across from him lingers the dream of home. On this side, he has nowhere to return to.

Ganji's motivation for arriving at Oletus Manor was to obtain a new identity and return home (Ganji Character Video, Tenth Deduction). Previously, when he had tried to escape under his own identity, he had been apprehended. Additional, given the implication he killed Duke Elgin, it would be exceptionally difficult to smuggle himself out without being noticed. He needs another way and Oletus Manor offered it.

His brow is often furrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line, as if an anger he cannot release burns within his chest.

Ganji is seen as an angry character by the other participants, due to having mania and impulse control struggles (possibly adhd, autism, both, or something else), but it's also a denial of righteous anger, the context of anger. Ganji was a gift, an object, a "companion," a tool to be used for praise or for spice (or "spice." Delphi?), and when he wasn't that, he was a threat (Ganji First Letter).

Ganji's anger was policed when it became obvious. When he had be arrested under a dubious allegation, then detained on Duke Elgin's request, Ganji's pyrophobia resulted in him being thrown in the dungeon. The guards were unable to handle mental distress. The writer advised sedation to control him, but Ganji escaped, at the cost of medical records highlighting his homesickness, and what few reminders of home he had. Ganji was medicalized, his homesickness, his fear, his mania a burden for his captors. It could be anything but something justified (Ganji Second Letter).

This anger is associated with fire. Fire was what Ganji used against Duke Elgin and the Duchess who kept him from home, except Elgin's son whom he spared. Fire was what would kill Ganji when yet again he was something to be contained, uncontextualized. Encouraged by the Manor Staff, but that is not the same as causing it.

Worn bright by use, the bat carries the weight of sweat and passing years. Far from home, it is the only thing he can cling to.

Ganji's bat is both the reason why he's far from home but a reminder of how he could return, too. Ganji was taken from India because of his skill in cricket, a trophy of the civilizing effort of Britain. Ganji, of course, resisted this. By any means necessary.

But it didn't get him home, it only brought him to Oletus Manor. He lost every other piece of home, such as his communications to his mother, his proof that his suffering was real. It is an anchor for him, a way to retain his stability even as Delphi worsened his fears (Ganji Third Letter). If Ganji were to get a Hunter Swap, it's likely he would retain his bat as his weapon due to its significance to him.

He is taught with strain, like a beast forever poised to strike, yet also like a man wrestling the flames that would consume him from within.

The "beast" refers to how Ganji portrays his relationship to cricket against the British Empire in his Character Video. Ganji is portrayed as a ram while the Empire (and Duke Elgin) are represented with a wolf. Because sport was used as a symbol of civilization and imperial supremacy, beating a colonizer at the sport they introduced was an act of resistance, signifying that the colonized were more civilized than the colonizer. Ganji's complicated relationship with cricket, one of both internal and external struggle, ties to the history of cricket in India.

This ties into a greater theme of injustice or aristocracy being associated with wolves in IDV. Emil was severely abused to fight in a dog ring and, even afterward, was never entirely not treated like an animal due to systemic ableism, so IDENTITY Swap is a werewolf. Frederick is portrayed as a werewolf and potentially the "rising star" of the eugenicist Kreiburg project, until he leaves out disgust for the Kreiburg method. Dogma, who is framed by Philippe to be an aberrant killer due to her gigantism, is portrayed as a wolf. When something is wrong, both the victims and the perpetrators can be wolves.

The flames of Ganji's anger both call back to his complicated relationship with fire, his past, but also his fate, to be burned himself, murdered by Annie and Ganji. They call to a divergence between the internal and external self, too...

A corner of the paper is charred black, and the writing is hard to make out. What remains suggests it was once a medical report.

This harkens back to Ganji's Second Letter, where he had a medical report detailing the cause of his "impulse control disorder": he was desperate to go home. Ganji's mental illness, like almost every mental illness, was worsened by a stressful situation, which Ganji was trapped in. He would be trapped in it again in Game 3-1, where context was deliberately removed by the Manor Staff to see what would happen.

Like the other. Game 3-1 is heavily comparable to Game 9, where every character could understand each other, yet they didn't, which aided in the efforts of one participant to kill the others. For Game 3-1, part of the cause was the confirmed (or implied) autism of each of the characters, part of it was the letter communication system tampered with by the Manor Staff, and part of it were unconscious biases like xenophobia, sexism, and ableism. Anything that could have averted this, could've added communication, context, such as medical records, had to have been burned by both Manor Staff and the cruel hand of fate. The audience deciphers the ashes.

A Message

Ganji Gupta once treated every swing as a defiance of fate. But when the promised shore of his ideals dissolved in fire, he could not change the path of even a single ball. Even now, he stands beneath the moon, bat in hand, gazing forward as though waiting for one more chance to return home, to the land where he could finally rest without fear.

Ganji had fought so hard to escape his face, only to watch it burn away, an uncontrollable wildfire. Still, he watches and waits to attempt to defy again. We see the relationship between fire and the ultimate attempt to change one's fate, as we have seen with previous characters such as Matthias, Frederick, Florian, Sangria, and more. Something that interests ms is the continued use of present tense to refer to Ganji. On one hand, even with the implied "Manor Realm" post-game, no one barring Orpheus is implied to have survived Oletus Manor, even some characters with confirmed eliminations who have present tense portraits. On the other hand, some characters who were eliminated have portraits in past tense. So, what is going on there?

The most notable thing to bring up is that Ganji's Shadow depicts him as burning alive, either from the fire within himself, or from his murder via Annie and Aesop. But it could represent something else...

Could this mean Ganji's going to get a Hunter Swap?

Possibly.

There has been a theory since the first character portraits in 2023 that the shadows of character portraits predict whether they have a swap. So far, the majority of characters with ID Swaps have unusual shadows, with their Survivor in the foreground and Hunter in the background. Characters with unique shadows such as Joseph, Robbie, Vera, Burke, Ann, and others are predicted to have ID Swaps under this lens. But, with the confirmation Galatea is obtaining a Survivor Identity, we see that the "shadow theory" is partially broken. Galatea doesn't have a shadow in her Portrait and is instead sculpting her younger self. Some other characters with abnormal shadows, such as Joseph Desaulniers, have shadows that reflect a truth about them, but not necessarily a truth that'll be reflected as a playable character. Joseph, for example, has his pre-Photo Ritual self as his shadow. Given his video showing how he arrived at Oletus, I doubt we will receive his pre-Ritual self as a playable IDENTITY (Joseph Character Video).

So instead, I think we need to look at shadows from the idea that they could be a sign. They could also reveal something else. Something like the fate of a character, such as Kreacher's scarecrow, or something about their true nature, like Antonio's demon horns. In cases of characters with imminent events (Mike) or already-revealed IDENTITY Swaps (Joker, Luchino, FG, QB) or both (Emil), they most likely represent the IDENTITY Swaps, but Galatea shows a character without a true shadow can obtain an ID Swap. Combined with characters receiving a Second Portrait for their 10th birthdays and it's possible some characters will receive Swaps after their initial portraits.

There has also been debate as to whether Annie will receive a Hunter Swap, but this doesn't disqualify Hunter Ganji. So far, non-Da Capo games have followed a "Two Swap" rule, with one Survivor and one Hunter. Weeping Clown and Hullabaloo, Herztier and Survivor Galatea. Considering there are no Hunters in Game 3-1, there would have to be two Hunter Swaps instead of a Survivor-Hunter Swap. Aesop's surprisingly comfortable with his identity issues and Victor seemingly lacks the character arc to create an ID Swap.

While rewrites to Ganji's Third Letter have made to soften their relationship (look at Weibo responses on his 3rd birthday and before), Ganji and Annie's relationship is adversarial, worsened by issues between themselves such as Annie's fear of men, systemic biases, their drugging with Delphi, and sabotage created by the Manor Staff. Something I've noticed with the previous two and upcoming "Side Story" Swaps is that they feature characters on "opposite sides" of the story. Mike seeking justice, Joker the hidden culprit. Galatea the corruptor of Helena and ally of Roy Kafe, Emil implied to know more than anyone assumed of him, perhaps even deliberately sacrificing himself (alongside being trapped in the statue, still alive, by Helena). Oletus is like a play. Ganji and Annie could potentially fit this dynamic, since, even though there were manipulators like Aesop (or Roy in Game 0), it's about the dynamic. Joker was Mike's foster brother, in a way. Galatea and Emil two pets of two different, twisted love stories. The two could fit.

However, it would be the first time in a Side Story where both IDENTITY Swaps are eliminated before the end. Mike and Joker eliminate themselves at the end of the game, while Emil is seemingly killed midway (given Galatea's Second Letter, there's a worse alternative), while Gala lasts to the end, likely to meet her demise from the Manor Staff's hands (potentially Helena or Roy instead, but Roy is possibly Manor Staff). If this pattern were to continue, the ID Swaps for Game 3-1 must include either Victor or Aesop.

This letter is an Experiment File, which is a relief since there hasn't been any for a while. What's more surprising is that it reveals the existence of Game 12 and Game 13, with Shiyi participating in Game 13.

Shiyi is designated as 13-1-2, with the "1" designation meaning she was introduced to Delphi. Whether Shiyi had a supernatural reaction is left ambiguous, but it's clear in the Experiment there were supernatural objects.

Shiyi's listed as having stress suppression, compensatory survival, and survivor's guilt. She is also designated "An imposter who uses others' will as leverage." Given Shiyi is an Orpheus parallel, it's unsurprising he feels so harsh towards her.

Shiyi is designated the best at hiding the danger she poses as a participant. She was falsely labelled easy to manipulate, but instead was disconnected and unemotional, even in response to distressing stimuli. Orpheus (or whoever the file writer is) regrets underestimating her.

The theme of the game seems to be inducing fear or emotional breaks in the subjects, which highlights just how much Orpheus' Manor Games turned into a coping mechanism. The criteria for both the subject and the experiment are now unclear, the methodology becoming messier and messier. This is vengeance without a target. Fittingly, it's the same time the games embrace the supernatural.

Shiyi was the first to realize the atmosphere was experimental, then locating the data left by "12-1-4" from the previous game. We do not know anything about Game 12 beyond what is revealed here: there were at least four members and that the fourth was given Delphi.

The writer initially assumed that emotional suppression was defensive, with active emotions beneath. This was true for the others, but not Shiyi, whose suppression had turned to dissociation, with nothing beneath.

We learn that there's a supernatural object in participation, one that causes hallucinations and cognitive distortions. This object is labeled "12-1-1-C." so the first participant on the last game is somehow tied to this object, and they, too, were administered Delphi. Shiyi destroyed the device, despite the pleas of the others.

This act revealed a "killing instinct" beneath her dissociation, leading to the others to conclude Shiyi had to be killed for their own safety. Shiyi didn't attempt to argue for herself, but her behavior changed after the Manor Staff altered her Delphi dosage, triggering more cognitive distortion without the presence of supernatural objects. She finally cracked, turning obsessive and searching for something she could take, leading to the writer to conclude she was "driven by the will of the hallucination itself."

Given the Manor Staff, I'm curious if this was actually a "hallucination" or was it a supernatural presence. The third part implies the latter.

Shiyi is a paradoxical figure in the report. She had no will to live but would defend herself if physically threatened. She seemed to continue have lived for others, an oath she had to uphold. Yet she broke down so spectacularly. The writer proposes the reason why: the "souls of the deceased" are a way to cope with guilt and trauma, created internally and continuing to exist so long as the host bears guilt. There is no need to fake a ghost when there's one inside you.

Given Oletus Manor, those "souls of the deceased' may not only be internal.

It's curious to see a Manor Game with the theme of ghosts being set up. There have been two previous games featuring the confirmed presence of the supernatural (Wu Chang in Game 5, Michiko in Game 6-2), while other ghosts exist in the setting, such as has Robbie the Axe Boy (Mary's complicated).

The destroyed supernatural object is curious. Right now, there is one supernatural object owned by Orpheus but having yet to be featured: Joseph's Camera. It feels a bit anticlimactic for Joseph to be destroyed after his game, though, so I will remain cautious.

I wonder if the theme of ghosts could be potential introduction for Dolores. While Robbie and Dolores now have connections to the Colosseum, and are tied to the White Sand characters, they still lack Manor Game connections. This could be the moment. I will have to look at characters missing Manor Games to determine if they, too, share the themes of guilt and ghosts.

I'm very excited to see Shiyi hit a breaking point. Due to external circumstances, Shiyi has often been denied the ability to show a wider range of flaws and has mostly been defined by stoicism under pressure. Her dissociation to a breaking point, falling into obsession to cope with guilt, highlights her position as an Orpheus parallel.

Speaking of said parallel, it's interesting to note that this breaking point sets up the opportunity for Shiyi to have an IDENTITY Swap. The key piece to a character featuring an ID Swap is an extensive disturbance in their identity, one that pushes past the general layer of ID issues every character in the Game has. Mike's despair (and possible DID), Norton's two-faced personality exasperate by some sort of Mine God's urgings, Melly's collapse of everything she fought for to embrace social Darwinism, Emil's implied conscious choice to embrace an animalistic nature (as did Luchino), and many more. Something drove Shiyi to embrace what was already within her. She has the set up.

We know Shiyi's companion (Tang Si) went to the Manor herself and Shiyi went after her, so it's quite possible that Si was in Game 12 or a previous one. This would match up with similar occurrences, such as Evelyn being implied to be in Game 7 while Martha was in Game 6. It does not bode well for either of them and could potentially lead to Si being one of Shiyi's many ghosts, alongside Shiyi's family.

To be more cynical, I'm disappointed there's a Game 12 and 13. I had suspicions they were going to do so but I'm disappointed nonetheless.

On top of disproving the "clock theory," (The Final Game being 12 on the clock) it means Game 1, Game 2-2, Game 3-3, Game 4-2, the rest of Game 6-1, Game 7, and Game 9-2 are delayed more than they've already been. Arthur and Miles shall languish even longer in the basement, never mind Dolores.

Sadly, IDV is a live-service game, and the model rewards new content rather than a satisfactory conclusion.