Is there a connection between the Winter Lanterns and Clocktower Patients?
Feel like I’m the only one still talking about the lore of this game here on tumblr, but screw it. One thing I never noticed until now was how similar the headshapes of the Winter Lanterns and the Clocktower Patients are. At first, I chalked it down to coincidence, but this is a From game, so it's fun to put on tinfoil hats every now and then.
We know that Lady Maria took care of the patients (they call out to her, revere her even), and we know that the Plain Doll was made in the image of Lady Maria. What we also know is that the Winter Lanterns are nightmarish versions of the Plain Doll (same garments). Could there be a connection with these somehow? The patients and the Winter Lanterns only appear in the Nightmare realms, though the patients only exist in the Hunter's Nightmare exclusively.
Beyond their shared realms, the heads of the Winter Lanterns are an amalgamation of a brain and several eyes + dead messengers, similar to the Brain of Mensis, a Great One.
Winter Lantern:
Brain of Mensis:
Curiously enough, the clocktower patients also have a strong association with the brain and eyes. From the wiki regarding the patients:
“Brain fluid writhed inside the head, the initial makings of internal eyes.”
It was said that the Great Ones were linked to the ocean, hence why the patients' heads were imbibed with water, so that they could somehow communicate with the Great Ones. The most notable connection with the Winter Lanterns are the bound patients that move by crawling, as well as the ones without bodies.
Their attacks involve sporadic tentacle sprouts, which is the same type of attack Winter Lanterns employ. They also cause frenzy to build up, another signature feature of the Winter Lanterns. Is it also a coincidence that Winter Lanterns can drop Cursed Damp Blood Droplets? As I recall, the clocktower patients are always rhyming to themselves about raindrops. Where do we find the two Winter Lanterns in the Hunter’s Nightmare? Down in the Fishing Hamlet, where it’s closest to the waters.
Sounds like a whole lot of forced connection of dots, but there's just too many similarities between them for it all to be unintentional, I think.
