lost records: bloom & rage theorycrafting
Apr. 30th, 2025 03:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
requiemsLike Life is Strange, Lost Records pays homage to its inspirations by including them in licence plates on vehicles. It wasn't until after I finished Tape 2 and saw some very Control Remedy stuff that I remembered Control was indeed one of those inspirations.
Interestingly, most licence plates are typically title abbreviations. Control's is AWEFBC - Altered World Event, Federal Bureau of Control. Some of the stuff going on in Velvet Cove is very much an AWE by Control's definition, and the more I started thinking about the unresolved paranormal aspects through a Control related lens, the more intrigued I got and the more sense it made.
These theories are unanswered thoughts that likely will not be resolved for many years to come if ever, but I digress. I might add more to this later as things occur to me.
THE ABYSS
The Abyss is a hole to another universe (like that one Life is Strange graffiti) that opens and closes of its own volition, and exists outside of time. It has a visual overlay, usually a coloured light and two wavy white lines over it. This is how it indicates its presence. It seems to have some sentience, and communicates without language.
The Abyss responds to energy, most notably demonstrated by amplified emotion. It has four coloured "moods" that we see in Bloom & Rage - teal, red, pink, and purple.
Teal we see twice in tape 1 briefly when Swann figures out the lock inside the cabin, and again after Kat does her knife finger game and nicks herself; this is the first time the Abyss is seen in a colour other than purple. Interestingly, Kat actively uses the power herself instead of being a conduit when she slams the knife into the table; we never see this any other time.
Purple is its natural state around the girls and represents their bond - the harmony between them, when they do things in synch. Whilst they bloom.
The Abyss spends a lot of time attuning with the girls. When it does, and they bind their lock and their fates to this cabin, when they dance that last night, the colour is pink. They are lifted towards the sky in something akin to possession - it was this moment that reminded me very much of The Hiss in Control and sent me thinking about this in the first place (entities that communicate without speech, AWE's, etc).
Teal we see again in tape 2, when the deer attack Corey to save Kat. This seems to be a selfless desire or an act of love, the deer paying her back for her kindness, but it doesn't obviously fit in with the knife game in terms of a matching mood, nor unlocking the cabin. The similar would be a desire to be free or to escape.
It could also represent justice and vengeance (the two ways that Swann can recall the curse Kat describes). These are two things that are subjective to point of view, a nuance for effectively the same end... much like making a wish with the Abyss is described as a trade/gift/sacrifice. Teal could also represent the woods itself (the woods are fond of Kat) or it's Kat's own magic, but this seems less likely.
(However, Kat does describe her being able to get to the Abyss when she asks the girls to meet there on the final night as she was only able to do so because a raven broke into the house - ravens are tied to the Abyss, and represent Kat. It's possible she's helping herself via shadow Kat here, or the Abyss knows she's close... much in the way we start seeing moths, to represent Swann...)
Red is anger: rage. The Abyss really likes Corey's anger. It resonates back and into him hard. It doesn't have to lure him in, he willingly takes it. Purple dotted lights are in the girls' eyes when the Abyss is present but Corey has a full two red rings on the outer edges, full Abyss overlay. Whether his fate is being pushed or forcefully claimed, he belongs to it now.
It isn't picky or choosy or morally good or bad. It sees something it resonates with it takes it. It isn't benevolent. It calls. People answer with what's already in themselves.
And when it wants out, it's particularly visceral. High pitched, blue lights in their eyes, flashing imagery and something in their head - this moment is the reason the start of the tape has an epilepsy warning.
In every variation of the game, no matter what outcome you get or choose, Kat and Corey are in the Abyss and their shadows have been popping up the whole time. Are shadows an extension of the Abyss and how it observes, or still separate entities? They still respond to mood. Whenever the girls have been afraid of something or someone Corey's shadow is there. Whenever they've bonded Kat's shadow has been there. When Kat is remembered, her spirit is present when she was happy and loved from the middle of summer, the point of their strongest bond, how she sees herself.
Is this a separate Kat - or the shadow from the Abyss, fleetingly herself?
Much to think about.
THE BOX'S CONTENTS
When the girls lock themselves in the cabin, Kat specifically says, it will keep us safe.
The lock was on the cabin when it burned - but in the present it's on the box. On a box that was locked prior to this night.
The contents of the box were things still at the cabin when it was torched and things previously given to the Abyss. When memories were changed, these things should have been taken away. They weren't. The lock kept those pieces of them safe, instead of erasing or altering them entirely.
Kept safe until they needed to remember.
THE BOX
Kat instructed Dylan to send the box, but obviously she didn't because of rewritten memories. Dylan broke up with Corey, and the blame for the fire at the ranch was shifted unto him (it was implied he did this in retaliation to Dylan breaking up with him). This tracks with the Abyss protecting the girls by helping them to forget - it writes Corey unceremoniously out. But because it isn't a good or bad force, Kat is also assumed missing and is never found before she presumably passes away.
The box is wrapped in news clippings from 1995. These clippings are from events that did not occur when Kat in the forgotten timeline would have finished assembling it in its original state - and the articles themselves could not have been altered by any ripple effect on the timeline later because the fire it's describing happened hours after she sealed it (her letter is from the night they set the deer free).
The box is full of things Kat could not have had at that time either because they were either in the Abyss (the trades) or going to be given to the Abyss (the camcorder). The cabin is implied to be a connection to the Abyss itself, and the box is filled with things that were in the cabin too... or, y'know, also the Abyss.
In Control terms, the box is absolutely an altered item. It doesn't play by the rules of our plane of existence anymore. It shows up exactly when it needs to for the one person that always sees its contents in every reality.
Swann never fully forgot the Abyss. And the Abyss never forgot her.
I still believe Kat sent the box. That the Abyss exists outside of time, because Swann's camera still works, and when you use it in the present it records the date as August 20th 1995, the same day it was thrown into the Abyss. Kat sent the box recently, on purpose. The box is scrawled all over with "remember me, remember us" and "you have to remember" and I don't think that's a selfless act of wanting to gift them back their memories after all this time when they promised to forget. There's something more going on here, we just don't know what (yet).
Either the Abyss wants something (Swann), and to do this, it operates by its own rules of exchange (a trade, a gift, a sacrifice) by needing to offer something first--
Or Kat is defying the Abyss. She wants to get out but she can't. She needs help, so she helps them to remember.
I have so many questions re: paranormal stuff.
Interestingly, most licence plates are typically title abbreviations. Control's is AWEFBC - Altered World Event, Federal Bureau of Control. Some of the stuff going on in Velvet Cove is very much an AWE by Control's definition, and the more I started thinking about the unresolved paranormal aspects through a Control related lens, the more intrigued I got and the more sense it made.
These theories are unanswered thoughts that likely will not be resolved for many years to come if ever, but I digress. I might add more to this later as things occur to me.
THE ABYSS
The Abyss is a hole to another universe (like that one Life is Strange graffiti) that opens and closes of its own volition, and exists outside of time. It has a visual overlay, usually a coloured light and two wavy white lines over it. This is how it indicates its presence. It seems to have some sentience, and communicates without language.
The Abyss responds to energy, most notably demonstrated by amplified emotion. It has four coloured "moods" that we see in Bloom & Rage - teal, red, pink, and purple.
Teal we see twice in tape 1 briefly when Swann figures out the lock inside the cabin, and again after Kat does her knife finger game and nicks herself; this is the first time the Abyss is seen in a colour other than purple. Interestingly, Kat actively uses the power herself instead of being a conduit when she slams the knife into the table; we never see this any other time.
Purple is its natural state around the girls and represents their bond - the harmony between them, when they do things in synch. Whilst they bloom.
The Abyss spends a lot of time attuning with the girls. When it does, and they bind their lock and their fates to this cabin, when they dance that last night, the colour is pink. They are lifted towards the sky in something akin to possession - it was this moment that reminded me very much of The Hiss in Control and sent me thinking about this in the first place (entities that communicate without speech, AWE's, etc).
Teal we see again in tape 2, when the deer attack Corey to save Kat. This seems to be a selfless desire or an act of love, the deer paying her back for her kindness, but it doesn't obviously fit in with the knife game in terms of a matching mood, nor unlocking the cabin. The similar would be a desire to be free or to escape.
It could also represent justice and vengeance (the two ways that Swann can recall the curse Kat describes). These are two things that are subjective to point of view, a nuance for effectively the same end... much like making a wish with the Abyss is described as a trade/gift/sacrifice. Teal could also represent the woods itself (the woods are fond of Kat) or it's Kat's own magic, but this seems less likely.
(However, Kat does describe her being able to get to the Abyss when she asks the girls to meet there on the final night as she was only able to do so because a raven broke into the house - ravens are tied to the Abyss, and represent Kat. It's possible she's helping herself via shadow Kat here, or the Abyss knows she's close... much in the way we start seeing moths, to represent Swann...)
Red is anger: rage. The Abyss really likes Corey's anger. It resonates back and into him hard. It doesn't have to lure him in, he willingly takes it. Purple dotted lights are in the girls' eyes when the Abyss is present but Corey has a full two red rings on the outer edges, full Abyss overlay. Whether his fate is being pushed or forcefully claimed, he belongs to it now.
It isn't picky or choosy or morally good or bad. It sees something it resonates with it takes it. It isn't benevolent. It calls. People answer with what's already in themselves.
And when it wants out, it's particularly visceral. High pitched, blue lights in their eyes, flashing imagery and something in their head - this moment is the reason the start of the tape has an epilepsy warning.
In every variation of the game, no matter what outcome you get or choose, Kat and Corey are in the Abyss and their shadows have been popping up the whole time. Are shadows an extension of the Abyss and how it observes, or still separate entities? They still respond to mood. Whenever the girls have been afraid of something or someone Corey's shadow is there. Whenever they've bonded Kat's shadow has been there. When Kat is remembered, her spirit is present when she was happy and loved from the middle of summer, the point of their strongest bond, how she sees herself.
Is this a separate Kat - or the shadow from the Abyss, fleetingly herself?
Much to think about.
THE BOX'S CONTENTS
When the girls lock themselves in the cabin, Kat specifically says, it will keep us safe.
The lock was on the cabin when it burned - but in the present it's on the box. On a box that was locked prior to this night.
The contents of the box were things still at the cabin when it was torched and things previously given to the Abyss. When memories were changed, these things should have been taken away. They weren't. The lock kept those pieces of them safe, instead of erasing or altering them entirely.
Kept safe until they needed to remember.
THE BOX
Kat instructed Dylan to send the box, but obviously she didn't because of rewritten memories. Dylan broke up with Corey, and the blame for the fire at the ranch was shifted unto him (it was implied he did this in retaliation to Dylan breaking up with him). This tracks with the Abyss protecting the girls by helping them to forget - it writes Corey unceremoniously out. But because it isn't a good or bad force, Kat is also assumed missing and is never found before she presumably passes away.
The box is wrapped in news clippings from 1995. These clippings are from events that did not occur when Kat in the forgotten timeline would have finished assembling it in its original state - and the articles themselves could not have been altered by any ripple effect on the timeline later because the fire it's describing happened hours after she sealed it (her letter is from the night they set the deer free).
The box is full of things Kat could not have had at that time either because they were either in the Abyss (the trades) or going to be given to the Abyss (the camcorder). The cabin is implied to be a connection to the Abyss itself, and the box is filled with things that were in the cabin too... or, y'know, also the Abyss.
In Control terms, the box is absolutely an altered item. It doesn't play by the rules of our plane of existence anymore. It shows up exactly when it needs to for the one person that always sees its contents in every reality.
Swann never fully forgot the Abyss. And the Abyss never forgot her.
I still believe Kat sent the box. That the Abyss exists outside of time, because Swann's camera still works, and when you use it in the present it records the date as August 20th 1995, the same day it was thrown into the Abyss. Kat sent the box recently, on purpose. The box is scrawled all over with "remember me, remember us" and "you have to remember" and I don't think that's a selfless act of wanting to gift them back their memories after all this time when they promised to forget. There's something more going on here, we just don't know what (yet).
Either the Abyss wants something (Swann), and to do this, it operates by its own rules of exchange (a trade, a gift, a sacrifice) by needing to offer something first--
Or Kat is defying the Abyss. She wants to get out but she can't. She needs help, so she helps them to remember.
I have so many questions re: paranormal stuff.
