So there’s this psychologist named Carl Jung, who developed the theory around the collective unconscious. Between different cultures, you may find repeating motifs and symbolic characters pop up over and over. These fantastical images within someone can’t always be explained through lived experience, or the personal. Instead, Jung theorized these tropes and other unexplained phenomena within the human psyche came from a collective unconscious–an inherited consciousness that has been shaped throughout all of mankind’s evolution. ...In case you’re wondering why Easterman talks like that, Jung is partly to blame.  

Here’s what I find most important for Outlast: 

The collective unconscious is attached primarily to myth, to fantasy. This is where the Jungian archetypes that Easterman loves so much are spawned from: These archetypes include the Mother, the Shadow, & the Anima/Animus. And many more! 

This operates differently from the personal unconscious or psyche. It’s something formed on its own level of consciousness that people only access through their dreams. 

Finally, all humans are a part of and affected by the collective unconscious, as they inherit it from birth. 

Previously defined in Part 1, “Egregore” is a collective thoughtform, primarily used in a religious context. This actually isn’t something Easterman personally has set out to achieve (though we'll talk about Skinner Man later). Egregore is Wernicke’s primary interest. This has since been confirmed to be his primary interest with Liliya Bogomolova. 

"Oh, Wernicke doesn't even care about her...It's everyone around her."

This causes Easterman great distress, given the connection Egregore has to Wernicke (and Amelia). But, there’s something really important said just a few lines above this: 

Wernicke is openly talking about THE WALRIDER while talking about LILIYA, since these butterflies are meant to kill the Walrider. You wouldn’t mention one without the other. 

We do know there was a brief appearance of the Walrider in 1938 and/or 1944 (Outlast 1 has the most frustrating timeline inconsistencies, so keep that in mind whenever I do have to talk about the timeline). Both years are before Liliya was brought to Mount Massive in 1952, but it does mean she could have heard about these experiments prior to her surrendering to Murkoff. (Mount Massive is closed first in 1968, but fully by 1971, which is a decade from now in current Trials time of 1961.)

In that note, Billy talks about seeing a "white place." This is the footage of the 1944 event captured on film. What we’re told by Wernicke is that the footage presented is unedited. Whatever we’re seeing in these flashes is supposedly real, and is being shown to everyone in Mount Massive, causing them to hallucinate (and more). 

This imagery is also found directly in Sinyala, brainwashing the Reagents. We see similar imagery within Liliya's teaser trailer, which wasn’t imagery used with the Franco Barbi or the Kress Twins’ teasers.

Wernicke’s dream therapy is a part of Sinyala’s general program makeup, and he is able to take control over Sinyala when he wants to, like with Project Geister. It’s clear to me that Wernicke’s bringing the Morphogenic Engine with him wherever he goes. 

The other Nazis talk about the 1938/1944 events like they opened a physical doorway to somewhere else. Well, whatever or wherever this is, the “white place” described by Billy, is a place where time seems to no longer be linear. And that has bled over into our testing grounds.

Doctors at Mount Massive and in Sinyala both lose complete track of time, unable to exactly remember when they went outside and saw their families. Billy Hope and Dorris Ritter both can see the future in their dreams, at least as it relates to seeing and describing people who have, at some point, been under the Engine’s influence. 

Billy Hope talks about a Doctor Trager, when the doctors note there’s only a Richard Trager in M.R.D. Billy is somehow seeing future dreams of a Trager that doesn’t exist quite yet—or he’s seeing the dreams of someone now who is currently not around the Engine, but will be in the future. Either is a terrifying possibility.

“They’ve always been here.” Liliya has a line of dialogue similar: “I was here all along.”

Variants in Massive are haunted by Wernicke in their dreams, even though they’ve never seen him before and currently believe him to be dead. Wernicke IS alive, but I’m unsure if this is something Wernicke wanted to happen and purposely was in people’s dreams, or if it’s something Billy is spreading due to how much he talked to Dr. Wernicke over his years in the Walrider program. A vision of the past?

Dorris Ritter can see multiple entities in her sleep: The Skinner Man is in her present, everyone in Sinyala sees the Skinner Man. The ‘Ghost’ (Walrider) and ‘Man with the Baby’ (most likely Blake Langermann and Lynn Langermann’s child) however, are both in the future. All of which are connected to the Engine in that future. (And yes, I did notice that mention of hope at the end.)

Ex-Pop in the Resort have dialogue about how Liliya has affected their perception of time. How is Liliya doing that?

And while I personally don’t like using datamined/unused dialogue for my own analysis, this source is being added because it felt silly to ignore. In datamined dialogue from Dawn (The Resort victim/"The Lot"), she also mentions this time phenomenon around Liliya. 

I made note of Liliya's "one eye" motif in Part 1. That has only become more important since that first observation. Pain seems to be a requirement for what characters have referred to as "true vision."

Chris Walker tears at his face to gain access to a third eye; Sullivan Knoth cuts his eye upon hearing the voice of God; Dorris Ritter is blind in one eye and can literally see the future; Hendrick Easterman burns one of Amelia Collier’s eyes and is currently getting close to cutting one of his own; obviously the Engine itself is so excruciatingly painful that Billy Hope is kept under heavy sedation. Liliya Bogomolova encourages her followers to hurt themselves (and consistently her victims have cut one of their eyes out), and Variants throughout Mount Massive engage in self-harm. Liliya’s mask only has one open eye. Liliya’s life in general has forced her to endure a lot of physical and mental pain before (possible) Engine integration; the same thing happened to Miles Upshur prior to his becoming a Walrider host. 

Both doctors are talking about the same war here, though from opposite sides.

Perhaps this pain is how one can see into this other dimension, the collective unconscious, and then gives one the ability to “Egregore,” that is, actual manifestation of a thoughtform from this dream dimension into our reality. This is the definition I will be using from here on to describe successful Egregore creation.

This creation seems to require a few key components: that being the Engine, a group of people all agreeing on how the Egregore will manifest, and of course, a host. For Mount Massive, our Egregore is the Walrider. For the Cult of Ezekiel…well, I’ll be saving that for the Outlast 2 connections (which will make up the eventual Part 3 of this theory). I’ll just say that met these requirements as well!

After all, a way to make a group of people manifest the exact same thoughts could be through religion. It’s very easy to connect Sister Liliya to the religious Fathers of Outlast, that being Father Martin and Father Knoth. 

Those under the Engine’s influence will often see and hear a God through it. Wernicke links this to the Walrider’s powers in general, but that feels like only a half-truth. Wernicke, possibly influenced by Easterman’s work and how he kept control over the Reagents, wanted the Variants to stay connected to the idea of a God and the family unit. Ensured later on that “Father” Martin would have no other coping mechanism BUT religion and a Mount Massive family by taking away his paint supplies. 

Added the date because this note is from the same time period as Trials. Sinyala seems to be influencing Massive, as much as Massive influences Sinyala.

The goal Murkoff wants is ultimate control over these entities, that much is clear. This is where the Skinner Man research comes in, the thing that the CIA and Murkoff are obsessed over when it comes to Trials. The Skinner Man is where the “Spider Eye Lamb” trigger phrase is stored and then takes control over a Regent’s mind, which we see in most of the Rebirth endings. Skinner Man causes lesions and death, like the Engine…though Easterman can’t tell what these lesions are actually doing here.

From “The Unborn Homunculus" file. Of course there’s no correlation, Easterman doesn’t have the knowledge to make the correlation. (Note: The “unborn” aspect makes me think Skinner Man is NOT an actual Egregore yet. Hasn't crossed over fully to our world.)

Right now, I consider Easterman to still be unaware of the actual goings-on of Murkoff. That Egregore has always been the true goal underneath everything. Or that he's directly a part of the experiment, including the experiment with Liliya. Like the doctors in Massive, it is always important to remember no one is not immune to these things just because they helped make them. The film presented in Outlast 1 I mentioned earlier has the note that no researcher should look at the screen when it's active. You hear the same warning with the televisions screens in Sinyala.

But back to religion. Father Martin heard a God in the Engine, and he convinces others in the asylum to see the Walrider as a God. To listen to the static until it starts making sense. Perhaps like Liliya’s glossolalia shifting to English? 

(In Part 1 I theorized Liliya’s speech was at least partly a hallucination; now the doctors in Sinyala are looking out specifically for echolalia, repeating words after hearing them, and auditory hallucinations present in Reagents.)

Father Martin has an intense sway over the other patients, loyal to the point they kill him when directed without any qualms. Loyalty like that, we’ve definitely seen repeated through Liliya and through Knoth. Father Martin preaches a few things to Miles, this so-called "Gospel of Sand," over the course of the first game. There’s one tenet that sounded very…familiar. 

“...as we deliver those who do evil for profit.” 

Martin isn’t a character we spend a lot of time with, so it’s entirely possible this thought could have spawned organically in his own mind. I’m sure almost every Variant and Reagent has major issues with being used in military experiments so the rich can get richer. It could even be something Billy believes, if he’s the one influencing Martin here. 

But…there is an obvious connection that if Martin is getting his Gospel from the ‘Sand,’ this collective, could there not be a hint of a past person within that collective? If people can see the future within the Engine, why not the past? Could a part of Liliya—perhaps EVERY SINGLE PERSON who's ever been under the Engine’s spell—still be there, still be present? Father Martin does seem to think that those who die will live on through the Walrider. Perhaps he isn’t wrong.

(Note: The document explaining his reasoning for self-immolation is titled, “The Gospel of Judas.” That seems important to mention during the current season, “Project Judas.”) 

“Write your gospel in my flesh,” sounds almost more like a Liliya follower, no?

Which all reminds me. WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT ANTS AGAIN! Sorry if you didn’t read Part 1 and that was a sudden jumpscare. Ants have been a consistent bug found all over this franchise, and I think helps to explain what is literally happening here with all this talk about collectives. Why are there so many ants in this series?

A lot of people connect ants to a hivemind. It would be more accurate however to call it stigmergy, as all ants are still individual but have a shared external memory. Ants leave pheromones to develop trails between their homes and food, so that other ants, or agents, can follow it and strengthen the trail through their own pheromones.

Stigmergy is also connected to things like how humans work in online communities such as WikiLeaks (Simon Peacock founding VIRALeaks comes to mind), or how algorithms work within complex neural networks. Or within nanorobotics. Stigmergy is a type of swarm intelligence.

As described in Part 1, the goal of the Morphogenic Engine is to turn a human being into a machine. This necessarily has to include the brain—If I had to guess, what is happening here is that the Engine forces a person to leave their individual organic body (which is made to experience extreme pain and then kept in a catatonic state), and instead function within the ‘swarm,’ the collective, an external memory that may also actually exist as a place within the Outlast universe. 

…A place perhaps Liliya has seen. 

What horrors Amelia must be dreaming of, then. As a reminder, the first time we hear the term Egregore in Trials is not from Liliya, though it’s become way more prevalent since her introduction. We've definitely heard plenty of misspellings, misunderstandings. The newly acquired “Ed Gregor.” …Everyone Greed Regret. 

The religious sway Amelia has with the Reagents, whether planned or not, HAS happened, and seems to be a necessary component to properly manifest an Egregore. Simon Peacock called religion “an effective delivery mechanism,” a way to get a group of people to agree on what something should look and act like. For most of the Reagents, they didn’t know Amelia, but they got her messages. One could interpret that as a type of gospel--Father Martin saw that potential use of video recordings too.

Something important in regards to the Engine is that catatonia, while it can be a sign of failed integration like with the Screamers mentioned from Part 1, does not necessarily hinder someone from being within the Engine’s influence. Or vice versa. Amelia has been active still.

She’s smiling in her sleep, “like a penitent finding blessings in church.” Much like Billy Hope's reports on his sleep habits. "Self-directed lucid dream states."

Amelia’s followers continue to paint her letter on the walls. Specifically in her handwriting. That can’t just be her directing or the Reagents hoping, right? Unless the Reagents are training themselves to write in her handwriting because they’re that devoted, which I guess is possible? It makes more sense to me that she is somehow participating within the continued revolution of the Reagents despite her body’s condition. Just as Billy through the Walrider continued to kill and fight and claw throughout Mount Massive, despite his body’s condition. 

Dorris Ritter did see that buildings will burn. But who knows which buildings she was seeing.

Liliya is also aiming to topple a city right now, according to her Babylon poem. I know, it’s been a second since we talked about her, despite this theory being named after her! It’s almost better to say that I think everyone in Sinyala is under the Engine’s effect, making everyone a Variant.

But I focus on Liliya Bogomolova as the central piece of my findings because of how much she ties everything together, through her dialogue and current story beats. And how she seems to be using the Engine for her own purposes. The fact she even knows that you form an Egregore together through these specific actions speaks to her being very aware of what is happening. 

She’s avoiding surveillance and stealing stuff right now? Who knows for what. She's playing a very active story role, even writing her OWN evidence file, something we've literally never seen before for a Prime.

However, I find it important to mention that I don’t think Liliya personally is an Egregore. I don’t think an Egregore has been accomplished in Trials yet. Wernicke sent Liliya specifically to make an Egregore happen, so it can’t have happened yet! Which leaves us with two questions:

What Egregore would Liliya seek to make here? (I assume if she had to manifest anything, it’d be some sort of copy of herself?) 

More importantly, who would be the host of this Egregore? 

So Amelia and Liliya are reaching out and affecting the world around them, despite any current hindrance. Both want some form of revolution against Easterman, that much is clear. However, I don’t think they necessarily are working together. Liliya seemed angry and distressed to see her A on the walls. But they both seem to be operating, shall we say, within the same space.

(And of course, how did Liliya even know about Amelia’s A? Did Liliya get assigned reading before being inserted in the Trials? Or, MAYBE, she’s been hearing Amelia through the Engine too?) 

To me, the possible hosts of our next Egregore has to be one, or both, of these women, simply due to their connections to the Engine/Egregore. We can't forget the Walrider had two hosts, so that's still on the table. But given Dawn's position in The Resort, I don't think Liliya would be against using Amelia as a host.

But what actually comes next in Trials, well, I can’t answer that for sure. Easterman is currently aiming to stop Liliya by ensuring all our other Prime Assets can be seen as godly. For the teaser for Coyle's new map, it appears they're using someone affected by Liliya's voice (The "Guff" evidence file) as the next Trial victim. Easterman is also trying to get the voice of Liliya out of his head via self-harm and drugs. Who knows if he'll be successful.

Maybe another Prime awakens to the reality of the situation (I’m very curious if the Kress Twins ever caught wind of Wernicke’s experiments. They’re still the face of Project Judas, after all). Maybe Easterman learns about the Engine and what it can do. Maybe he does cut his eyeball out and starts to see it all for himself. That’s a really worrying possibility. Obviously if Easterman is manifesting a thoughtform, it’s 100% going to be the Skinner Man, right? And there’s really only one host I can think of that he’d want to use, too.

Only time will tell. 

TO RECAP, here is Variant Liliya Theory so far:

The Morphogenic Engine gives one access to a dream dimension, a collective unconscious, a shared memory. This has been repeatedly connected to religious contexts, specifically as a form of ‘afterlife’ that spans across time and space. Characters like Dorris Ritter are able to see the future likely due to their connection to the Engine. 

Through the Engine, a host, and a group of people all believing in its manifestation, an Egregore is created. The Walrider is our primary example of the phenomenon, the one thing Wernicke is trying to make through all his experiments up to 2013. 

Wernicke has talked about Liliya Bogomolova creating an Egregore with the Reagents, and mentioned the Walrider within that discussion. Easterman is getting affected by Liliya's abilities and is worried about Wernicke’s current interference in regards to her. We do know Liliya is planning something, just not what.

Liliya is repeatedly connected to the Engine through dialogue and imagery. Even more important is that her presence is felt even in Outlast 1 (and 2, which we’ll discuss next time). If her words are being heard in the far future, that speaks to her being a Variant now.

Amelia is also connected to the concept of Egregore, and uses similar abilities on the Reagents as Liliya, though used for nobler purposes (for now). This makes her and Liliya possible hosts for the creation of an Egregore for Outlast Trials.