You've killed us both

[Zoridium JackL]

problem 1: the red goo never acctually hinders you, it follows, and traps you further in the castle, so it is infact bringing you closer to alexander

Alexander doesn't want you to escape the castle, either. Hence the goo just tries to hinder/kill you. It doesn't succeed, of course.

, also, and i'm not too sure about this one, but there was no way for alexander to find out about the orb before someone is already killed by the shadow, not sure, i need to check it, but i'm pretty sure he finds out about it from daniels letter, at least, thats when he finds out daniel has one,

In the Revelations chapter of the diary, Daniel mentions that, while he was sent back to England, the dig party was attacked by something in the night, and that most of the workers were missing. Alexander was looking for the same Orb that Professor Herbert was, and he could have found out that Daniel had recovered something from the tomb.

and another thing, you claim that maybe daniel was more powerful than alexander because he had the orb earlier, this is a pretty big assumption, considering that daniel had no idea of what the orb was capable of and no concept of how to use it, and the first time he realises it has a substantial amount of power is in the first ritual, this is shown in one of the notes, and alexander, while having destroyed his old orb, is at least more adept in using them than daniel.

Alexander himself said that the Orb imbues power to whoever possessed it, as long as they're not too weak. Also, remember that Daniel had a nightmare, then he suddenly knew how to reconstruct the Orb. The Orb was giving its power to Daniel.

Also when Agrippa found the first Orb in a cave in Alstadt, he didn't know how to use it. But when he was being chased through the forest(by Alexander's servants, according to my theory), the Orb began to glow, and he was teleported beyond the Alps to safety. (In a later note Alexander mentions that he obtained the Orb found by Agrippa, which he accidentally destroys). So even though Agrippa didn't know how to use the Orb, its power protected him.

ok, so assuming everything you have said is true, not saying it isn't, i just don't believe it, but anyway, if the orb had imbued power within daniel, which it probably did, alexander would still be more powerful, in the case of agrippa being teleported to safety may be for alterior motives, much like clarence keeps you alive in penumbra, although less sentient.

one thing i feel is being neglected is the feeling daniel has that he is being followed by something bigger than himself, while it could be argued that alexander is following him in such a way as to scare him, but it is implied that this thing is there and very very dangerous, and that the orb want daniel to know it, it almost tells him he is being followed, so really, alexander couldn't be behind this, he has no other worldly powers, none, he lives forever through vitar, but he isnt a magician, and he has no human servents, at least not in his castle, and i doubt he acctually trusts any humans for anything other than vitae, the exception is daniel, he has the orb, alexander wants it, now why not just kill daniel and take the orb if he is more powerful, because of the shadow, why put yourself in the shadows firing line when you can remain at arms length from the orb, right up until the point where he needs it, and i remind you that at this point daniel has learned about the orbs power and is versed in using it to an extent (such as in torture) so he is more powerful here, yet alexander still takes the orb reletively easy, again, he just kept him alive because he was useful, and not in torture, but as a distraction from the shadow.

i think that to remove the shadow completely from the story is more twisting the facts to suit the theory than a reliable deduction of the facts, but i will say that it is plausible to an extent, so, you know, just keep thinking what you want, its a good thing to do.