[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[afroduckie]

SPOILERS AHEAD

There are a lot of questions I have about the game. I'm no english native, so maybe I missed some details here and there, but I guess a lot of the story is also open for interpretation. I think I dont get the ending at all.

Are Mandus and his antagonist the same person?

Who is that guy in the coffin at the end?

Why is there a heart build in the machine?

Why is there a huge temple in the machine? And what exactly does Mandus do at the end when he straps himself into the chair?

What about all those colored pig masks?

How did Mandus' children die exactly? And why has Mandus visions about them (opening their chests and showing their hearts)?

Why has Mandus created the man-pig hybrids in the first place? And what is that electro pig?

Maybe someone could just write down the whole story? I'm kinda curious...

My guesses/answers to your questions:

Yes, I am almost 1000% sure that Mandus somehow transferred part of himself to the Machine. That may also be the reason why no owner of the first heart was shown. It was Mandus's. He used himself as a host so as to drive his goal to cleanse humanity.

I think the guy in the coffin is just an unnamed man (or the professor in the music boxes) that was used to host Mandus's alternate personality (the one that wanted to exterminate humanity).

I have a feeling that is Mandus's heart. Some of the notes and journals hint that Mandus gave up part of himself to fuel the machine.

The temple looks like a native Mexican temple, hinting back to the original expedition that gave Mandus the sickness that killed them all in the end. Im not sure why it was under the factory/machine though.

The pig masks were a symbol for the machine. I also think they were ever present in the game due to the fact that Mandus hated the upper class and would often through fancy dinner parties only to throw the rich to the pigs for fodder.

Mandus killed his children to power the machine. That is why I also think it is possible that the voice in the machine is a manifestation of both of his children. The children were connected to the machine next to the chair. My guess is that Mandus used the chair to put himself in the place of his children, allowing them to rest in peace. This also explains how Mandus could see London and comment on the new century.

I think the electric pig is a hallucination, or a physical embodiment of the machine, but the manpigs were made for extermination. He wanted to use them to exterminate the filth of mankind so he could give way to a new race and a cleansed world.