[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[MyRedNeptune]

I disagree quite severely about the characterization being implausible. Mandus' actions boil down to a mixture of obsession, repressed hatred and class warfare, all bound together by the cultural context of the industrialized Victorian period.

That is made rather clear by the narrative. But where did it come from? Why does he hate the world? Why is he obsessed? I still haven't been able to find the answer to those questions.

Class warfare, sure, but that alone doesn't spawn irrationality of such magnitude. Otherwise humanity would have long destroyed itself.

He's certainly insane, but it is an insanity that can be understood much more than, say, the Joker from The Dark Knight. He's not to be dismissed as generically crazy, given that a significant portion of the story is about understanding his motivations.

Well, thank god he's not like the Joker at least, lol.

We get to understand the motivations, but not the cause. These "motivations" are just a rationalization created by Mandus himself.

Also, Alexander was driven by desperation and lost love, not because he was an inscrutable Cyclopaean horror.

So first they say that he's driven by love, then they try to claim that he doesn't care about torturing humans because he's an alien and can't empathize?

It all boils down to how much thought you're willing to invest into the story. If you didn't enjoy it, then you won't spend much time trying to make sense of the information you were provided. You may call it over-analysis, I just call it part of the fun. Making logical sense of gaps in a horror story can make it more enjoyable. If I apply your surface-level reading to Daniel, I can say that there's no logical reason why he jumps from 'scared archaeologist' to 'gleeful torturer/child-murderer' when given little evidence for the value of his crimes other than the word of his friend.

I'll have you know that I spent a considerable amount of time after release reading all 75 pages of this thread and others, looking for possible explanations, debating with people and trying to apply analysis of my own, all to find something to latch on to. I found nothing and came to the conclusion that the character was poor. My level of investment is hardly "surface-level", as you put it.

Let's try to have a constructive conversation instead of resorting to baseless claims and accusations.