Hey I was gonna quickly ask what you feel about people making connections with Baba Yaga and the whole story of From. (If you don't know what I'm talking about them look at the Baba Yaga stories.). Because it actually makes sense if you look into it. ( Plus I think it would benefit your fanfics.).
When I saw this, I was all like—well, I know of a Baba Yaga, but not the actual folklore. Let's look into it. And then to open up google only to be met with more characters being nicknamed Baba Yaga was kinda funny.
It felt like that moment in Spongebob, like:
Anywaysss, from what I have gathered, in the older tales, Baba Yaga presents a test. She gives impossible tasks that aren't about strength or heroism exactly, but about morality, bravery and cleverness. If you fail, she might just eat you.
Baba Yaga expects you to follow certain rules as well. If you stumble across her hut, she'll offer something like food or set up a difficult task. If you reject either, that's a game over already. Asking too many questions could get you killed as well. You take what you get. And of course, she expects to be asked humbly if you question her. It's all about politeness. She'll reward those she deems worthy, but even those rewards are usually with a heavy cost.
She walks between the realms of life and death. Her hut walking on chicken legs might represent rebirth. With her challenges, she pushes people to see light in the darkness.
So Baba Yaga tests the morality of those who stumble across her and won't let naivety act like an excuse for those who try and meet the challenge. She's also able to shapeshift, either (usually) presenting as an ferocious looking elderly woman or a younger, more beautiful one. Swinging between a judge of sorts and a nurturer. And that nurturing seems to be all about maturing in one's good qualities. In 'newer' tales she is said to eat children (if they bothered her). But that's more to use her as a boogeyman.
In some ways these aspects can be found back in From. We're stuck in an impossible place with strange rules and even stranger hazards. Naivety won't make you exempt from the unwritten rules. If you fail to follow them, you're dead, and any hope and maybe fear is 'fed' to the forest.
But that aside, I'm unsure whether Fromville presents itself as a testing ground. It feels more like a supernatural trap that feeds on its victims and puts people through a narrative they don't know. Only Victor may know parts of the tale that seems to be retold time and time again. Probably with some variations, but the ending is likely always more or less the same. Or at least, was the same. Maybe Victor surviving was never meant to happen. Maybe it's still part of the tale being told.
And while Fromville puts you through the wringer, whether it's to challenge your morality and courage, I'm also unsure. The place is relentlessly cruel, always finding ways to dangle a sliver of hope before your nose and destroy it shortly after. People aren't exactly being rewarded with anything regardeless of how they behave. And, talking about the Creatures, they used to be people. If they were subjected to similar challenges like the current cast, yet were rewarded (or cursed depending on how you look at it) with immortality by doing something heinous—then yeah, I can't imagine Baba Yaga's exactly the instigator, but something like her may still be in the forest. Just waiting to aid in her own way.
Because I feel like some things might be more on the side of the trapped residents. The crows seem to almost warn people. The Boy in White is also quite ambiguous. Perhaps they try to aid in their own ways too. And of course, there's the talismans and such. Artifacts that might have been granted by a kinder entity or just someone with the right knowledge. But it could also still be a false hope thing however.
Putting all that aside, some core aspects do feel startlingly similar to tales with Baba Yaga. Even if Fromville isn't necessarily meant as a testing ground, I still think this place presents challenges to people's morals. Just look at Boyd. He pushed back and is immediately targeted. And now we watch his morals fall apart. If this gets him killed or rewarded by the place is the question. The Creatures were rewarded after all, even if I can't imagine they fully knew what they agreed to. No sane human would agree to become cave dwelling monsters, stuck in a supernatural trap and forced to come out only at night at the cost of children. Let alone one's own children.
We also see themes of rebirth, but more in the terms of trying to set past failures straight. Tabitha and Jade are continuously drawn back to face their one impossible challenge: save the children.
Whether other characters are in similar positions is unknown, but there appears to be a potential correlation with personal items and people's souls returning. I think Acosta might be Abby for one. Maybe getting buried in Fromville or monsters taking items or freaking teeth from victims will draw those souls back in again and again. Or maybe getting buried prevents souls from coming back and that's why the BiW tells child Victor to bury people's stuff after the massacre. That's the mystery of it all. We don't know enough to truly conclude anything.
One last little thing that has Baba Yaga vibes is the Man in Yellow, purely because he can shape-shift and behaves more ambiguous. He is absolutely not friendly—Baba Yaga isn't either typically—and wants to stir the pot seemingly for shits and giggles. Not to push people to grow, but to throw everything into chaos and potentially feed the forest, himself or something greater. He feels more adjacent to a trickster god than Baba Yaga.
But now I'm really curious what you came across tho! Because this is just my read on things with the information I found. Only if you want to share of course!
