[SPOILER] Questions about the ending

[artician]

I just finished the game. I didn't quite understand a few elements.

Did Mandus move the Temple back to London? I got no suggestion of that until seeing it.

Who was the guy in the iron-lung? Was that the Machine? I thought "The Machine" was a relic of some kind. Could have sworn it was suggested in some of the notes.

Who's heart was in the Electrogravitic Suppression Tower? The doctor Mandus murdered?

Finally: What the fuck happened at the end? What was the purpose of the operation chair that seemed to stab(?) Mandus? Clearly he felt he had to kill himself to atone and end everything, but what does the crazy setup at the top of the underground temple have to do with it? Does that mean The Machine was part of him, ala split personality?

Good game. Ending was very slow, but was also some of the best sequences in the game. Forced-chase scenes are rarely ever done well in games, but this one did it very well. Favorite part, and also the scariest for me, were the invisible electro-pigs in the maze.

Thanks for any answers.

[Lightice]

Did Mandus move the Temple back to London? I got no suggestion of that until seeing it.

No. The temple is either something that Mandus found under London (he makes comments about finding remains of ancient civilizations underground), or something that he built specifically to be the heart of the Machine.

Who was the guy in the iron-lung? Was that the Machine? I thought "The Machine" was a relic of some kind. Could have sworn it was suggested in some of the notes.

The Machine was built around an Orb, or at least as much was implied. The Machine itself is everywhere around you, ofcourse. I have no idea who the guy is, most likely just one of Mandus's unfortunate test subjects.

Who's heart was in the Electrogravitic Suppression Tower? The doctor Mandus murdered?

One of Mandus's twins would be my best guess. He didn't seem to consider Professor A any way special and the Machine was already finished when he introduced it to the man. It's implied that he simply crushed his skull with a mallet and threw him into the production line.

Finally: What the fuck happened at the end? What was the purpose of the operation chair that seemed to stab(?) Mandus? Clearly he felt he had to kill himself to atone and end everything, but what does the crazy setup at the top of the underground temple have to do with it? Does that mean The Machine was part of him, ala split personality?

The Machine mind was implicitly a part of Mandus's own soul that split from him due to the influence of the Orb and became the insane sentience that drives the Machine. The Machine states that before Mandus came along, it was nothing but a rotting piece of architecture. At the end they reunite through Mandus's actions, but die or become forever paralysed in the process.