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Spoiler Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*
Lazoriss Offline
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RE: Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

Ok you guys. I've spent the last two nights going through this thread (and I still feel I haven't been thorough enough), and two days thinking about the your theories and such. I have a lot of thoughts, but for right now I think I'll stick to one plot device/point... for now, at least, haha.

So who wants to talk about orbs? c8

Orbs appear in both TDD and Justine. They play a major role in the story of the game as well as act as the main source of motivation for the character you play as. There's also a nice little short story about Weyer collecting an orb in France, which is also very interesting in itself.

So wtf is an orb and what does it do? Also what is THE GUARDIAN exactly? Remember that what follows is my own opinion and interpretation base on the story.

1. The essence/god/deity inside an orb is not the same being as the guardian. The guardian is part of the orb, yes, but is a supernatural creature that protects it and, at the very most, might be an extension of the orbs consciousness itself. When an orb is misused or is taken by someone it deems unworthy, the guardian is awoken and it effectively punishes the wrongdoer.

2. There's a reason a star shape is the call sign of an orb. The sun itself is a common symbol that represents God. it makes sense that a star symbol would often appear to mark the location of an orb. The orb holds inside it a massively powerful -something- that can be described as a god of sorts. I was kind of surprised not to see the star or hear it mentioned in AMFP. Unless I missed it.

3. Orbs all hold a separate deity. This is mooooostly speculation. There might be some overarching power or upper God with some control over each orb, but I like to believe each orb contains its own deity with its own desires and ambitions.

4. Orbs see people as tools and will use them to their advantage. Although orbs can grant a user power, they will usually try to manipulate a potential and worthy user to get what it wants. They will often manipulate via visions and "whispers". Most mortals (even those selected worthy by an orb) are often overpowered by an orb. The orb's visions and speech brink upon or are simply beyond human comprehension, causing a user to often become ill or delusional. I'm not sure what Daniel's orb wanted its user to do. Daniel actively resists the orb and eventually passes it on to Alexander. But Mandus falls under the sway of the orb and ends up building the machine he dreams about, exactly as the orb wanted.

5. Mandus' orb wanted to "hatch". Basically the deity within the orb wanted to be unleashed. What this means exactly, I can't be sure. I would guess that the machine would double as both a gatherer of vitae and the new vessel for the orb's deity. However, it's also possible that the the machine would gather enough vitae and ultimately bring whatever was in the orb completely into our mortal plane. The orb was always manipulating Mandus. The visions it showed him were deliberate, and threw the man onto the path to building the machine and unearthing the temple under London. The orb may very well have intended Mandus to kill his children, perhaps seeing his love for the boys a hindrance.

6. Mandus' soul is probably thrown into the mix somewhere. It would seem that when the orb splits in half, the soul of Mandus was also split. This is, uh... where I'm a bit confused still. I didn't pay close enough attention to the overall timeline, whoops! I always guessed that an orb splitting acted as a sort of test for a potential user... or it could just be a result of stress on the orb for some reason idk. But although a split orb can be used to a degree, it still would serve best to be rebuilt. I THINK that the orb Mandus had split right after he killed his sons in Mexico. The emotional turmoil of killing/sacrificing his children might have been what split the orb in two, and through paranormal shenanigans, also split Mandus' soul. He might have even killed the children while still actively and heavily connected to the orb and the visions it was feeding him, which could further explain such a volatile rebound. Mandus returns to London with a new-found disgust and pity for mankind. He begins turning the servants and degenerates into man-pigs (an attempt to create a more perfected "human" race), builds the machine (as the orb was instructing him to do in his dreams), finds a temple under what existed of the machine (woah), and is also putting people through the pig-line and feeding the meat to other people (ew). I'm guessing that he hooked the orb halves up to the machine and fed it his own blood to give it sentience. The Machine itself is a kind of hybrid between himself and the orb deity. Its goal also a blend of the two. It wants to cleanse the world by eradicating the human population. it seems to do this out of pity and to prevent mankind from eventually destroying itself in an agonizing down-world spiral, as suggested by the visions of the Great War and WW2. But it is doing this by consuming them, and therefore taking in their blood and vitae. If it takes in enough the orb will "hatch".

7. The two glowing objects you see hooked to the machine at the end of the game are the orb halves. I'm totally convinced of this. Although the orbs appear in the shape of hearts, remember that orb shards change their shape, color, and texture. They also might just appear as hearts to Mandus' deranged mind. Likewise, I don't think the bodies of his children are literally there. It does provide a nice correlation to the halves thing, though. A note had described the twins as akin to one soul in two bodies. Two parts of a whole being. Mandus lost his sons and gained the orb. The orb is the heart of the machine, split and deranged. It desires peace through destruction. You have to sacrifice to get back. the heart is such a prevalent symbol in the game, and I suppose it does replace the star symbol. The Machine is in between the mortal world and the Temple. It is one part God and one part human. The orb is halved and appears as the hearts of twins that almost seem to share a soul. It sees Mandus as its father, too. It isn't a God, or a person, but something in between. The Machine is terrible and cruel, yet still seems to show some level of compassion and sympathy for the people.


Things this theory does NOT explain.
-Who da heck is in the Lung.
-Whether Mandus was split physically as well as spiritually. (As well as who you play as)
-Why there are notes written by the twins after they've died. (no srsly this really bothers me)
-How there are water monsters in this game (although they might have been dwelling in the Temple and migrated into the Machine once it reached that far down)
-How the Machine intended to consume the entire Earth's population with only a bunch of pig-men. Good luck there, buddy. XD

It's hard to pin down a lot of the story since you can't easily tell what in the game is literally happening, and how much is delusion or just symbolic. 9_6
09-20-2013, 07:14 AM
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Messages In This Thread
RE: Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert* - by Lazoriss - 09-20-2013, 07:14 AM
The birth of a new century - by Integria - 09-27-2013, 01:32 AM



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