they/themrey agenrey

Gets the crowbar

That is when Boots shows up

My conclusion?

Boots is Barney Calhoun

(Some theorizing below, but also spoilers for both HLAGE and HL2, if that matters to you)

darnold or bubby: understandable, loyalty to current-day colleagues, established friendships etc etc

tommy: basedbasedbased

benrey: insufferable option but undeniably hilarious, gordon bound to cope poorly

This time it's about Stain and The Gnome.

Now, quick note before I start: do I think this will come true? Probably not, and that's okay, but it'd be cool if it did!

I think Stain has an equal chance of being Emmet / Emmett as him being Benrey- listen. Hear me out okay?

Also feel free to disagree or add to this! I have not fully watched either of The chronicles of Benrey yet. So... I probably am missing stuff.

So. The Gnome mentioned how he'd like to play as Benrey's brother ' Emmet Calhoun ' in the sequel(? I think he said that. He definitely talked about Emmet Calhoun)

Now. Another thing is that Stain seems to not have his memories(?), who had their memories in the process of being stripped away? The Gnome. At the end of HLAGE

Also. ALSO. The sunset scenes. THE SUNSET SCENES.

Both in the same positions and everything!!! Except Gordon is looking down at The Gnome and up at Stain. Coincidence????

ALSO. The Gnome spent most of HLAGE trying to stall The Player. But The Player had to drag him along to complete the challenge. BUT. The Player gives Stain the choice to stay!! It's like. Like. Like like like like like * pointing aggressively * AAAAAAAAAA

ALSO. The Gnome's text was yellow.... Stain's text is purple. COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS.

Stain is also easily injured just like The Gnome, I know those were both bits, but still. If The Player even placed down The Gnome he'd spit out lifecoins and we all saw how many times Stain died / got injured.

That may be a stretch, but ya know. Still.

Also... Stain's facial expressions. The Gnome had no facial movement at all, he had no movement full stop. So, maybe Stain's odd movements are because The Gnome isn't used to being able to move.

Edit 1 : AND the whole thing with Alex and Gordon looking at the slide in act 1 ( not in the edit tho... ) The Gnome is haunting the narrative as much as Benrey is.

Benrey: okay, smart guy, you make your own virus. then you can make the nicknames.

[He folds his arms, grumpily turning away as best as he can while in the necklace.]

Don't get me wrong: I investigate warnings, and I act on them if they're true and relevant. But callout posts are, on a very fundamental level, not about what people say they're about. There are exceptions, but generally speaking they're made for one or more of the following reasons:

OP didn't like the subject to begin with (often for bigoted reasons), and they wanted a reason, and a following, to justify and validate that.

OP wanted to gain popularity, so they made themselves look like either a victim, a hero, or both.

OP wanted to claim victim status in a private falling-out in order to preserve good standing with their own friends/their community.

OP didn't like what the subject was saying, and wanted to silence them (often for bigoted reasons).

OP genuinely just wants "revenge" on the subject, or otherwise wants to ruin their reputation and have them sent harassment.

Again, there are exceptions: there are "callouts" that just unravel a subject's lies, or point out problems in already public actions. If OP is claiming to have been personally victimized in a legitimately serious way, and especially one that indicates the subject might be a danger to others, I'm definitely more willing to believe it- one obvious example being sexual violence.

But oftentimes, callouts are incredibly personal, misleading, emotionally manipulative, blatantly untrue, or all of the above.

This person came to me on anon; I have absolutely no way of knowing what their motives are or how trustworthy they are. There is no credibility or accountability here.

And I did read the post. Lo and behold, it's riddled with emotionally manipulative language, false accusations, and the biggest reaches I've ever seen:

"DON'T READ THIS CALLOUT, IT'S SO TRIGGERING TO EVERYONE, JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. But the proof is here if you REALLY don't believe me"

"Proof" is a scarce handful of screenshots taken out of context that contain emotionally evocative language, but do not support the accusations at all.

Some accusations are genuinely just weird logic leaps with no support, others are matters of personal opinion obviously driven by bigoted motives.

OP themselves expresses very publicly that they believe people who are marginalized in the ways the subject are, who speak on that marginalization, should be silenced.

I try to assume good faith here, and I want to believe this anon was just guilt-tripped and manipulated by the post in question. I don't hold any ill will here.

But anon, I want you to ask yourself:

Are the accusations you're making something you have personally investigated and found to be true?

Does this person deserve the harassment and ostracization they will likely receive as a result of your accusations?

Will you hold yourself accountable for the damage you've caused if you're wrong?

“let’s go back home.”