EricaPortfolio

If you look around the Data Center at the end of Chapter 5, you'll find a journal entry by Leith Pierre that I am including in this post.

PLOT TWIST! LEITH AND POPPY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE SHE WAS TURNED INTO A TOY!!! Even Leith was shocked that the toy was her and she recognized him years ago. This revelation could mean two things: Either Leith knew Poppy while working for Elliot, or they were childhood friends/besties. And get this: Poppy and Leith share the same initials reversed. Poppy Ludwig, P.L., Leith Pierre, L.P. In a way, Leith and the Prototype are both the Skeksis to Poppy's Mystic (YES! I am comparing this twist to The Dark Crystal), and Leith Pierre's name was actually a foreshadowing hint to Poppy's true full name this entire time! Currently, we don't know how old Leith is or his origins, except that he was Head of Innovation and led the company into corruption. However, in a video, Leith's voice actor, Robin Nelson (AKA Xycron), confirmed that Cave Johnson from the Portal franchise inspired Leith Pierre's voice. Robin describes the following at 5:26-5:42 into the video:

How I became Leith Pierre! - YouTube

"the third thing they (Mob Entertainment) asked me to do, which was portray a cave Johnson-like character that's always haunting the narrative and pestering the player from afar."

For context, for those who have or haven't played the Portal games. Cave Johnson was a founder of Aperture Fixtures, a shower-curtain manufacturer, who later turned the company into Aperture Science, a scientific research company. The company then invented the Handheld Portal Device and hired volunteers, and later forced employees to test their inventions, with results that led to injury and death. Even the underground caverns in the Portal games are very similar to Playtime Co.'s underground caverns. Around the same time, Cave would have a relationship with his secretary, Caroline. Years later, Cave would die from toxic moon rocks. However, before Cave's death, he was trying to find a way to cheat death and have his brain put into a computer. If he does not live to see that day, he requested that, either with or without consent, Caroline's brain be put into the computer. Long story short, Cave dies, Caroline is forced to become the antagonistic GLaDOS, who then gasses everyone at Aperture to death except for one girl, Chell, who may or may not be Cave's and Caroline's daughter, and becomes the protagonist of the Portal games.

Coincidence? I Think Not! Based on the information I have gathered, I can break this down into two possible theories.

Theory 1: Backstabbing Family Friend

Leith Pierre knew the family because he had worked for them for years as he rose through the company ranks. It would be how he met Poppy Ludwig. He could've been the uncle figure to the young girl until her unfortunate death. Since there was no heir when Elliot Ludwig died and his daughter, Poppy Ludwig, was no longer around, Leith took charge to fill in for him. However, when the Prototype and Poppy Playtime experiments were discovered, it set off a downward spiral in Leith Pierre's villain arc, as he greenlit the Bigger Bodies Initiative to turn orphan kids into living toys when Playtime began facing financial hardships. Strangely, Leith had no idea about the research being conducted before Elliot Ludwig's death, and possibly about the Young Geniuses Program. Though Pierre was not yet an executive, it could explain why he didn't know. But this leads to my second theory.

Theory 2: The Fourth Child Ludwig Failed and Turned Into A Monster

Now here is the theory I'm dreading that could come true. Given Elliot Ludwig's track record as a horrible father figure, it would not be surprising if he took in a fourth child like Leith Pierre and taught him at a young age to fill the role Poppy Ludwig would've had. Sadly, there would be consequences in doing so, as Leith would grow up to be a greedy monster. But why Leith? Perhaps there was a chance Poppy and Leith knew each other as kids, either at school, or because both Leith and Poppy's families worked together at the factory and befriended each other that way. Whatever happened when Poppy died hit Leith hard, and Elliot Ludwig might have taken pity on Leith, so they both grieved together. It would then explain why Leith had no idea about the experiments or the Young Geniuses Program. The only issue would be why Leith was already Head of Innovation when Elliot Ludwig died. The only thing I can think of is that Ludwig gave Leith a leg up, and that's why Leith rose quickly through the ranks at Playtime Co.

As far as we know, Harley Sawyer's pet project was focused on cloning someone and/or their conscience. Regarding which theory is true, was Leith trying to find a way to turn Poppy back into a human, either make a new human body for Poppy, or force someone to swap brains with the Poppy Doll? For the latter, could Leith have wanted to use someone like Stella Greyber, and did Stella find out Leith was going to backstab her as he did to Harley Sawyer? Did the Prototype find out what was going to happen from someone like Stella and decide to cause the Hour of Joy to keep his control over Poppy? No matter what's going on here, the golden path on this yellow brick road leads back to Poppy.

Currently, we don't know what happened to Leith Pierre. Either we're going to get a tape on how that idiot died, or the Prototype decided to make that same idiot into an example and gave the same Lily Lovebraids treatment to Leith Pierre, but worse. If the latter, then there's a chance Player will have to take down Leith-turned-experiment with the help of Doctor Harley Sawyer and Giblet.

First off, Elliot Ludwig is still alive in the 1990s, but the clock is ticking as he's nearing his final days. What does that mean? Every executive in Playtime Co. will have to decide if they're going to take advantage of a possible power grab or watch a disaster unfold. Especially if Poppy Ludwig, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Playtime Co., will take the reins from her (adopted) father, hand the reins to someone else, or sell the company entirely. Elliot probably didn't go down the rabbit hole of horrible deeds, but he still made questionable deals that will haunt him before death does his part, for sure.

For Oliver (Ollie) Ludwig, he's a now scientist at Playtime Co. in this AU, but a troublesome one. His antics get so bad that when the previous Head Scientist up and quit, Elliot had to ask Leith Pierre to send a letter to a former member of the Young Geniuses Program, Harley Sawyer, to come back to keep Ollie under control. When the news broke that Ollie's adoptive father was dying, he started going downhill to the point that he started his villain arc. Oliver would rather destroy livelihoods like Leith Pierre's to make sure nobody tears his only family apart.

In this AU, I might consider this idea too, unless we get any other lore reveals on Poppy's past. Rumor has it that Poppy is indeed the biological daughter of Elliot Ludwig. How? According to gossip, after Elliot's wife divorced him, he began dating another woman in private who worked in the Innovation Department during Playtime's World War II days and was from a wealthy family well known in the area. But suddenly, the woman left her job and Elliot out of the blue, and a month later, she wasn't seen by anyone who knew her since. One unexpected night, a group of people showed up at Elliot's home with a baby and some paperwork, saying, "Here! It might be yours since the mother is dead. Don't you DARE say anything about that thing being related to us, or we'll ruin you!"

Nobody has evidence to prove the rumors, and Poppy lives in bliss, assuming she's adopted. But little does she know that her own daughter is about to discover the biggest family secret that might blow up into a scandal. Will Playtime Co. in this AU survive its Chaos Years?