Why did Daniel drink the Amnesia potion?

**MassacrMan** · 09-15-2010, 07:15 AM

I think Alexander took his journal to torment him further, he is an evil man and I don't doubt it in the least that he did it.

**superluser** · 09-16-2010, 10:19 AM

Simple.

Daniel is outraged that he has been manipulated into doing things that he now regrets. Were he to kill Alexander now, it would be an act of rage against his partner in crime who had duped him.

But if he forgets, he will be carrying out an act of righteous vengeance against a dangerous and violent man.

He may also not trust himself to do the right thing in regard to the orb. His amnesiac version of himself would presumably be less prone to that desire. Daniel had seen the profit and become inured to the evil. His amnesiac version would see the evil, which would insulate him against the profit.

The irony is that Daniel is duping himself into committing acts for purposes that he does not fully comprehend, which is why he decides to take action against Alexander in the first place. Or perhaps he rationalizes duping himself by the fact that his hated version of himself will be lost forever.

**bugmenot** · 10-09-2010, 09:51 AM

By drinking the potion "first", he gets to discover all the bad stuff all over again. What fun. I guess he either didn't realize he'd have to, or maybe he thought that was better than knowing it all. He'd still have to kill Alexander though.
He'd probably be best to drink another amnesia potion after escaping or whatever.

**Jestr** · 10-23-2010, 03:38 PM

(09-15-2010, 06:32 AM)Adeno Wrote: Very strange indeed. Why steal his journal, rip pages from it, and then put them at different locations? Was the responsible person (or monster) trying to give Daniel his guilt back so that he will lose the will to continue on his little quest?

This is only a guess.. but maybe it was Johann (Weyer)? Alexander seems to be (or was) in contact with him, even though Johann is in "the other world". The letter about the ingredients reveals that Alexander and Johann had a conversation about releasing Agrippa. Maybe Johann saw another option in Daniels quest to kill Alexander. Among all those unearthly events, it wouldn't be that unplausible.

Spoiler below!

**Cactus78** · 10-31-2010, 05:06 AM

I think I've figured out a good reasoning for all this.

I question whether or not Alexander told Daniel to leave him for some reason when he was in the Inner Sanctum (More on that below*), then it was when Daniel was in the starting area that he decided that Alexander needed to be killed. Morally, he could not accept himself in letting such a man live. But he was scared... Maybe he was too scared to go back down.

Daniel knew that an attempt to even find his way back to Alex was completely futile in his current state, because he knew in his own mind that he would be killed, but AT THE SAME TIME, he couldn't live with himself to simply run from the Shadow and leave Alexander alone.--So, he devised a plan that would "Redeem [them] both". To write a letter to himself with the goal of giving his fresh-slated mind a false hope that he had good odds in killing Alexander. "He is old and weak, yours is young and strong! He will be no match for you.".. "Don't be afraid, Daniel!" He says to himself. The letter+potion idea was plainly a motivational boost to the new Daniel so that at least the former Daniel--who doesn't have the mental fortitude to act it out--knows that he's done all that he can to ensure Alex's death, and clear his conscience!

You might argue that if he wanted to create courage within his new mind, why would he mention the darkness at all? Well, Daniel needs to know that he can't fight back, or else he will, and he'll die--leaving Alex alive.

*As a side to this: I don't know about you guys, but when I was in the Morgue, and you hear Alexander say "What are you doing? I hear you breathing Daniel, do you hear me? Have you changed your mind?", I thought that he was communicating with me directly. "I hear you breathing...Have you changed your mind?" is very interesting and is what leads me to believe that Alex told him to buzz off, or even face the facts that the Shadow WILL catch up with him, and he should simply kill himself, Daniel agrees, leaves, realises his moral obligation, writes letter, potion, lamp, tinderboxes, run, hide, run, scream, hide, kill Alexander.

**iNEXSERTiON** · 10-31-2010, 05:56 AM

Just a question, why were the Gatherers and those other monster-types (I forget the name) roaming?

Were they there while Daniel was with Alexander?

**Tanshaydar** · 10-31-2010, 12:43 PM

They're servants. So they were always there with Alexander.

**iNEXSERTiON** · 10-31-2010, 04:11 PM

(10-31-2010, 12:43 PM)Tanshaydar Wrote: They're servants. So they were always there with Alexander.

They just never attacked him?
And so I'm guessing when Daniel left, Alexander told them to kill him if they found him, right?

That makes sense. Was this part explained in the game? I must've missed it.

**hollowleviathan** · 11-01-2010, 04:53 AM

My understanding is that they're the unholy results of the spiced wine Alexander gave to his men once he had Daniel's orb, knowing he no longer needed the men to proceed, and that their twisted mutated forms would mindlessly wander the castle, defending him during the last hours before completing his tasks to depart from this world.

**Tanshaydar** · 11-01-2010, 08:01 AM

(10-31-2010, 04:11 PM)iNEXSERTiON Wrote: They just never attacked him?
And so I'm guessing when Daniel left, Alexander told them to kill him if they found him, right?

That makes sense. Was this part explained in the game? I must've missed it.

Some notes, Daniel and Alexander mentions them. If you remember the scene that you were caught up, that is where Alexander told them to catch and lock you.
Otherwise, it's likely that their aim is to kill Daniel.

But when Daniel and Alexander were working together, they served Daniel too.