Wilbur Friske Theory *spoilers*

[gandalf91]

So..around my second playthrough of Black Plague I began to develop this theory about Wilbur Friske, the former overseer of Shelter, and later the monstrosity you face in the Kennel.

First off, though you do not know of him yet, I actually believe you meet him in Overture...fairly early on in fact. Yes..I believe him to be the man who drags off the man locked behind the door (spider-eater) at which point you are in an old, spider infested basement area. My first thought playing Overture is that it was a giant spider that came through the wall, however a couple pieces of evidence made me alter that notion. Obviously, one piece of evidence is manifested first hand in Black Plague. Wilbur tunnels through walls. You also find a note from Elof Carpenter conveying an experience in which he awoke to find one of the medical staff dead, bitten, and Wilbur fleeing into the darkness. It was also mentioned that Wilbur had possibly been sneaking out into the mines...now the most compelling bit of information..the dead man was missing his tongue.

The next segment of my theory centers on his transformation from human to dog man..or whatever the hell he is. Anyway, as stated in the note, he fled to the Kennel near the onset of the Turngait infection. He is cited as "locking himself up with the dogs for protection". Now for the interesting part...who is to say the infection didn't spread to the dogs? Okay, and why is this relevant? Well, one of the most prominent attributes of Turngait is the whole hive mind aspect. Only, the infected humans became a hive...who is to say the dogs that were infected did not become part of a hive. Indeed, I think his present state is the effect of the virus in conjunction with his surroundings that formed him into this beastly humanoid with dog-like compulsions. As a part of the dogs whom the infection was spread to (in this theory), he began to think as part of the pack.

The only hole I see in my theory is why then would the other dogs be killed? I have synthesized a hypothetical explanation for this as well. Perhaps the dogs are merely carriers, but cannot contract symptoms of Turngait. The virus may drive Wilbur the human to become part of a pack of dogs, but not terminate even the most subtle trace of individuality in a dog. And we all know the anthem of the Hivemind, "there cannot be one, there can only be us all."

Hope you enjoyed reading these musings on such a curious matter.

[Crabski]

Interesting read! I was reading the other thread you linked from to here, but I love your thought out ideas here. Until today, I had never made the connection that Spider-Eater might have been dragged away by Wilbur... brilliant.

While the recurrence of tongues being missing is certainly a interesting connection, I'm not sure how it directly connects Wilbur to Spider-Eater; didn't Spider-Eater cut off his own tongue? I think he wrote that he did; but even if not, it's evident that it happened a fair time before he gets attacked, since it's neatly lying on his shelf.

He says that his tongue started swelling as a result of some chemical in the bodies of the spiders. So maybe it's really the Tuurngait virus, passed to him through the spiders? Maybe the Tuurngait virus causes some strange repulsion to tongues: causing Spider-Eater's to overgrow and later prompt him to cut it off, and causing Wilbur to rip out the medical staff member's tongue on instinct?

You'll have to forgive my forgetfulness, as it's been quite some time since I played Black Plague. Wasn't the Tuurngait virus transforming people into something closer to its own kind? Changing their bodies and allowing them to communicate as a hivemind? So maybe the Tuurngait species doesn't have tongues, which is what caused all this strange behavior. As far as I remember, we don't ever see any tongues on the Infected (although I never looked long or close enough to be sure ).

[gandalf91]

Thanks for the feedback! I guess in all my detail-oriented enthusiasm, I had one lapse of attention in noticing all the missing tongues...hmmm. I thought only the spider-eater was missing the tongue and that's why I had used that evidence to so conclusively pin Wilbur. Yes, he did cut out his own tongue too. Elof merely noted the body Wilbur fled from was that of a man missing his tongue, (one of the medical staff I believe).

[Bek]

You can find his tongue on the shelf in one of his rooms too. Can't miss it, it's huge.

[gandalf91]

You can find his tongue on the shelf in one of his rooms too. Can't miss it, it's huge.

Yup. The door through the entrance to the right, with the big gaping hole in the wall.

[Roy595]

Spider Guy cuts off his tongue sometime before you arrive as a result of it swelling because he'd eaten so many of the spiders. I think the simple fact that the Spider Guy was missing his tongue, and the note mentions Frisk dragged in a man who had no tongue, says that it was Spider Guy. It can't be a coincidence as it expressly mentions the body missing a tongue. Besides, I dont remember hearing anything about dogs burrowing through the walls (the creature that gets Spider Guy makes distinct dog-like noises) AND it did mention Frisk wandering off into the mines and he did burrow through walls. It had to be Frisk that got him.

Besides, there were people still alive in the Shelter when you get there, so it isn't too much of a stretch to believe that the whole ordeal occurred between Phillip's arrival and his exploration of the Kennel.

It just makes sense.

[Bek]

What makes you think people were still alive in the shelter at that time? What's the date on the note that talks about the guy with no tongue? I should play this again heh.

[Oscar House]

I remember some poor fella getting killed right at the start of Black Plague, so there's that.
The kennel note doesn't have dates towards the end, it just says Entry 9. But it's after October 2000 according to the previous entries. When did Philip arrive again?

[spukrian]

Philip arrived in the Shelter in May 2001.

[Roy595]

I remember some poor fella getting killed right at the start of Black Plague, so there's that.
The kennel note doesn't have dates towards the end, it just says Entry 9. But it's after October 2000 according to the previous entries. When did Philip arrive again?

This. Also, Amabel's computer has a population graph that shows something like 1-5% of the population was still alive at the time Phillip was in the Shelter (the line stops a little after 2000, presumably at/near 2001). I don't see who else that body without a tongue that was dragged in could be. Also, it makes sense to conclude that, because Frictional specifically chose to mention him missing a tongue in the note, it was supposed to lead us to believe that it was Spider Guy from Overture. I think it would be logical to conclude that Frisk killed Spider Guy first, dragged him back to the Kennel for the doctor writing the journal to find, and then the good doctor was subsequently killed by Frisk himself shortly before Phillip arrives in the Kennel.

Edit: Just watched a lets play of Black Plague and the note says the Tuurngait problem became a full-scale epidemic in May 2000, a full year before Phillip arrives. However, the note stops recording the date after October (even he includes an ? next to the date as the actual month may be suspect; the passage of time can be quite quick when you dont have a means of measuring it, it also grants a fair bit of leeway for when this actual date was). The next entry he writes has no date and is simply an evaluation of Frisk, surprisingly stating he has "outstanding efficiency". It also notes that there were plenty of rations left at the time. The very next entry is the mention of the corpse with no tongue, Dr. Roberts, who had escaped into the mines at the first sign of the epidemic (this was in late April 2000 according to the journal; if memory serves, Spider Guy had a journal himself in Overture that detailed his time in the mine being well over a year, which easily fits the dates of Doctor Roberts's fleeing into the mines, and the time Phillip shows up). This fits with Spider Guy. However, there is a very large passage of time between the start of the full-scale epidemic and Phillips arrival, but there are several entries after "October" so I suppose it still could have been a few months in between then and when Phillip arrives, as it says there are plenty of rations left. It would also take quite a bit of time for Frisk to mutate as far as he had. Its a little hard to believe the doctor writing the journal would be able to live in the Kennel with Frisk for about a year, but everything else fits perfectly.