Replaying the LN1 dlc chapters again because I love to suffer!! Time for some thoughts and observations on the Lady and the Residence chapter as a whole.
(Please keep in mind that I am only making observations about what I see as I play the game! I missed a lot of external content and fandom activity so please don’t be rude if I say things that are considered obvious.)
I like how it’s immediately obvious that this area is much more lived in, and despite the mess of books on the floor it seems otherwise very clean compared to the rest of the maw! The hearth is still glowing with embers, and clearly sees frequent use. Books are left open near comfy chairs, or set aside for later reading and sorting as if someone got halfway through picking up the mess when a book caught her eye.
About that hearth: it’s goddamn COLD in the Residence. Despite the luxury here compared to the rest of the Maw, RK’s breath fogs up in the air in several areas. I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a side effect of the Lady’s presence or just an unfortunate reality of living in a big metal boat?
The ladders and stepstools are perfectly sized to allow kids like RK to get around with relative ease. Same for the stairs. There’s no real struggle to use them as intended. The Lady is more petite than many of the Adults in this world, but not THAT small. It’s almost like this place was designed with children in mind, to an extent.
Similarly, there’s places that are intentionally difficult for kids to get to on their own. The secret room behind the bookcase for one, or the hall of broken mirrors. It feels like there’s a defined “safe area” where those hypothetical children can roam, and as long as they don’t touch anything they shouldn’t it’s actually VERY safe???
Which brings me to the Lady herself.
I’d forgotten that when we first pass her, she’s playing her song on a music box. That detail certainly feels different after playing LN2
Dolls. There’s SO many dolls! Shelves full of them, carefully lined up in rows. More on that in a bit
The Shadow Children. God I have so many thoughts about them but no idea where to start??? I forgot about their dash move, which is a) annoying, and b) really cool! I’m not sure if it’s more like a temporary speed boost, or a baby-steps version of the way the Lady can appear out of nowhere. Plus they sound like they’re having a good time, and a lot of the time they don’t even really attack until you point the flashlight at them (or provoke a different Shadow Kid near them). They just kinda stand there menacingly until you get too close? I have to wonder how they came to be. Might make another post on this later with more details about their behavior and some thoughts I’ve had about them.
The above two points plus some other environmental clues lead me to believe that the Lady might actually want to be a mother? Which is a fucked up desire in the LN world already, before you even think about the fact that she feeds children to the Guests on a regular basis. But… the dolls treated with such care, and the way the Shadow Children are given porcelain masks to match her own and allowed to roam her Residence, and the fact that many of the library shelves are made accessible to someone RK’s size even though the books are LITERALLY their height…
It’s possible that the Lady’s problem with mirrors (and her appearance) is about more than just vanity. Like, it’s one thing to be upset that you aren’t beautiful and can’t regain your lost youth. It’s another thing to resent your appearance and age because you wanted to do more? If you wanted to start a family, and raise children of your own in as much luxury and warmth as you could offer, and now that you’re at the end of your life you have nothing to show for it but corpses and shadows and sagging skin…?
I think this adds another layer of complexity to her character. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still definitely not a great person (and who would be, surviving in this world?) and I like Evil Women as much as the next guy, but… vanity and greed and a genuine desire for companionship or family are NOT mutually exclusive. She can be self-obsessed and okay with doing terrible things and STILL be upset that she doesn’t have any children of her own to pass her Fucked Up Cannibalism Boat down to.
Of course there’s also the idea that she DID have children and none of them lived, but that’s another concept entirely.
On a lighter note! She likes tea :]
She also seems rather forgetful, at least with her belongings? She’s the type to sit down with tea and a book, then just kind of get up and leave the teapot on the bookshelf if something else captures her attention.
That being said her security measures are SIGNIFICANTLY more refined and clever than any of the others in the Maw. She’s pretty damn intelligent! She might just also be scatterbrained at times.
It probably isn’t meant to be funny but. The big portrait over the stairs. She’s just doing the Mona Lisa pose but backwards. Babe?
Side note. There’s SO many paintings around and WHERE are the artists? Did the Lady paint them herself? Is there some wandering Painter that goes around making dozens upon dozens of portraits for the monsters of this world? Has someone made that oc? I want to see them
The huge grandfather clock ALSO feels very different after playing LN2. I doubt that one was as much of an intentional callback when they were making LN2 tho? Clocks are just always sort of ominous
Never noticed before but the decoy book doesn’t have a big eye design on the cover! I never bothered to look at the decoy much before
Why does the secret bookcase door have skid marks in FRONT of it? You push it BACK to open it. What
I really like how RK will carefully set a Flotsam bottle down so it doesn’t fall over, but if they’re carrying one of the Lady statuettes they just. Open their arms and watch it drop directly to the floor.
I could definitely read into the idea that the Lady made a mechanism where the only way to enter one of the wings is to BLIND THE WATCHFUL EYE. I could read a lot into it. I could also find meaning in the fact that the wing hidden behind this puzzle has several statues of faceless children in it. Maybe a post for another day but probably not <3
Spiders :] in all seriousness! The presence of spiders and cobwebs generally means this wing has gone untouched for quite a while. That’s in pretty sharp contrast to the way the rest of the Residence feels like a home. A weird home, but still.
I am currently assuming that there are bedrooms behind those green doors we pass at the very start of the Residence chapter? Because we only really explore the huge library and gallery areas.
Might replay that part of Six’s route later to knit together a mental map.
Forgot about the little shrine of lady statues inside the wall. Who’s leaving offerings? The Lady herself definitely can’t fit in there. Is it the Shadow Children?
Speaking of them again. They kill you by rushing INTO your body and seemingly possessing you??? I want to know more about them PLEASE
May or may not be a child or doll in a birdcage near the end of the Shadow Kid section. The cage is open but the figure inside sits motionless. Reminds me of the end of Six’s route, where she’s ripped open the doors of her prison but can’t actually go anywhere. She’s forced to sit and wait for some outside force to act on her again.
That fucked up little moment where the Lady herds RK into a room where there’s a mirror waiting, just the right size for them to pick it up and fight her like Six does… except it’s already shattered. They never had a fighting chance. All the doors were already closed and locked before they could see the sun.
That’s all for now! Leave a little like if you read this far <3 I appreciate it!!
