Trying to Decipher Limbo's Ambiguous Story
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Years after Limbo's release, people still go back and forth regarding its story.
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"uncertain of his sisters fate, a boy enters limbo". because these are the only words we get we have to study em closely. "A BOY enters limbo" not his sister too. maybe the boy went to limbo after dying (falling out of the tree house) to see if the sister also had died, only to find her by his grave/his body at the end of the game
i also found this "The butterfly is a widespread symbol of tombs" so the butterfly guiding the player through the game could mean that its guiding the player towards his toomb/his dead body
That is really interesting. The sister is never in Limbo.
I did not know the butterfly is a symbol of tombs, that ties in perfectly with the boy heading to his own grave. Wow. Thanks for sharing!
Woah I love this one !
All we see is from the boy's perspective.
The fact that he's stated to be in limbo, whereas her fate is unknown, doesn't have to mean she isn't there.
But true, it IS an option
So, since he is uncertain of his sister's fate after his sister's death he enters into limbo. So she has to be in limbo and he voluntarily enters limbo in order to search what her fate is.
Luhur Nifar but it doesn't necessarily says she's in limbo/entered it too, it just says he enters it
I honestly believed the boy isn't dead, or at least did not die in the "waking world", which is what brought him to limbo. He chose to enter it himself, how isn't clear but why is because he was uncertain of his sisters fate.
Only the boy has glowing eyes. No one else in the game has those, and when the boy dies he loses them. This means he's the only one who's alive in the entire game and it is in fact his sister who died and all that you encounter is a manifestation of him coming to terms with his grief.
How she died is up to debate; car crash or falling from the tree house are strong contenders in my opinion
But either way, she is dead. As a boy, and her being someone he loved so dearly, he may be unable to come to terms with her death or believe that the afterlife is truly where she is. He is uncertain. That's why he goes to Limbo to check. He may have had a hand in her death, even by accident such as being with her when she fell from the broken tree house ladder, or he fell with her but survived
The fact that he is uncertain is really important because he appears to partake on a journey of realisation which is corroborated by his sisters jolt of shock at the end
He himself does not react, he just stands there and she appears surprised that he's even turned up
Maybe because he wasn't supposed to be there because he never died like she did, but in him travelling to Limbo, he is now trapped himself.
This ties in with the loop theory as the starting area and ending area do look similar, as does the menu screen
He can't settle and inhabit the world much like the other individuals you meet, he can't just sit beneath a tree and play with the ground - he's the only one on a journey and with a purpose, the one to find his sister
And he has the drive to carry on with his journey and make his way through this world because he is alive whilst others are not
Sadly this means he can never have rest, and so finds himself doomed to repeat his adventure over and over again
There is no leaving Limbo. Whether he died in real life or not, he is there now and he is there to uncover the truth of his sisters state either indefinitely, or until he accepts that she is dead and gone. Lacking the glowing eyes that signal life.
The butterfly, possibly a manifestation of what is left of her living spirit; maybe his memory of her or love of her that drove him to track her down to find certainty in the first place
If he feels her presence with him, in memories and his in heart, then that could be what makes its so difficult to believe she is gone and why he has to visit Limbo in the first place
A child coming to terms with death guided by his love and memories, until ultimately he does reach his sister
And all he does is stand there and stare. He barely reacts before the screen cuts to black, could this be hin refusing to accept her state of being dead before him? And that's why he returns to the beginning of the game and starts the journey all over again
Uncertain of his sisters fate because he doesn't want to be certain. Every time he reaches the truth, he goes back unable to reconcile with it and starts again
He is stuck in Limbo until it is a reality he accepts. He has that butterfly with him and so she isn't truly gone, but a concept of allowing a loved one to live on within you is simply not an easy thing for a child to handle
I think you should make a video of your own. Great insight.
@@AdamMcDermott too late
How much time did you have in your hands?
Wow how many hours did you need to make this
Very well written and a profound insight. It was like candy to read
The scary thing is that nobody knows if the ending is supposed to be happy or not. Seriously, how could the sister feel his presence without feeling a bit happy that he's still here?
Bc he died and she buried him so shes confused how it could be he s still alive
How such a small game can have such a deepth lol. I love it
It is amazing. I love it too :)
@@AdamMcDermott yep full of mysteries.
I love bick c0cks
True
And now people make big games with little meaning
Worth noting that the storyline follows the human evolution. From struggle with beasts and elements, to struggle with other nations (the boys trying to kill him.. also interesting that they imitated the spider for malevolent purposes). It morphs into industrialism and the quotidian nihilism he feels with it, and near the end, it is full of guns, which could represent the unprecedented scale of war that has followed the industrial revolution. Perhaps the boy is a microcosm of the human narrative, being ingenious, inventive, violent, creative, and at times, sociopathic. This is likely not the only meaning of the game; most great art has a plethora of layers.
2:37 the top right corner of that picture actually looks a lot like the game :)
xD
Hieronymous Bosch
The two of them were in an accident of some kind (I think falling from the tree house but possibly a car crash also). The boy enters limbo and desperately seeks the fate of his sister (it's possible he feels guilty having had some role in causing the accident). At the end, he comes full circle and finds her mourning at his grave in the real world. The breaking through the glass signifies his ghost travelling from limbo into the real world. She has a chilling reaction at the sudden sense of her brother's ghostly presence. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she doesn't turn around out of fear. A normal reaction for any child. Having discovered his sister to be alive and well, his soul can now rest and move on.
That or... he awakens again in limbo having forgotten the fate of his sister and the cycle repeats itself in an endless loop.
That's the general gist of what I thought was going on. I could go into more detail with the symbolism throughout but I think there's just far too much conjecture there.
"Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters limbo". And you wake up in limbo. My interpretation of the phrase is backwards. The boy enters limbo AND he is uncertain of his sisters fate. It's a variation of the treehouse theory only the boy dies, not the sister. He dies and is now in limbo having no clue as to what happened to her. How he died is complete speculation, maybe they were playing and it got dangerous fast, he died maybe after falling and he doesn't know if she died as well or not. He escapes limbo at the end, he finds his grave where his sister is mourning. There's only the wind blowing and she is startled, to me this indicates a presence more than anything. He gets startled by her startle, meaning he didn't expect her to know he's there. Closure - the boy "reunites" with his sister, he's no longer trapped by his uncertainty and he ascends.
What I can't put together and would like to is why there's something so specific as - glass - at the end and what are those mind controlling things. Along with his eyes, the butterfly and the nemesis of those infecting things, you guessed it, they're among the only distinctively white things in the game (excluding light).
If I were to have created the game, every detail would have contributed to the story in some way and it seems like the way he did it as well. So as Adam said, there's a LOT left to interpret.
And to end it ambiguously, the "Hotel" sign is definitely a huge part of the story but the only explanation i have for it is "the way he died" which contradicts with the treehouse death. Notice there's the arrow pointing downwards which you jump on from the "Hotel" so maybe he did suicide? I don't know man :(.
Ion ZaBici agreed, the boy is dead but his sister probably isn't.. Maybe the boy was responsible for what happened to his sister.
The reason he died is already there
The broken rope ladder in the ending
a hotel is also a place you go to temporarily stay at, like a treehouse. it can also be an anagram for helot which is a intermediate status between slaves and citizens the maggots' that control where he goes can be seen as making him a slave and citizens could reference the people that live there and keep trying to attack him. it could also be an anagram for thole which is a pin, typically one of a pair, fitted to the gunwale of a rowing boat and on which an oar pivots, or in scotland it means "to endure"
i found an interesting theory about the final scene. someone, i forgot who, but someone other than me said that the final scene where the boy has to use gravity to break through the glass, could resemble a car crash. the gravity representing being tossed around in the car, and breaking through the glass representing the boy flying through the window. this could be the final trial of limbo: facing your own death all over again. this could be how the boy, and maybe even his sister, died.
Edit: Lol didnt watch the full video before commenting sorry lol. Though, i dont agree its just his sister. he had to face his fullest fear to reach her, his death all over again. this ties in to limbo being a test
I think that the sister might be an angel. She was grieving over all the times they spent together. She guided him through limbo and was showing Him the butterflies. She probably died in a tragedy and the brother was looking for her, hence the start of the story and the whole thing was him looking through her eyes with what happened, bullied: possibly pushed underwater, they might of killed an animal in front of her, and hung her upside down. The end is the boy realizing what she had to go through and she was possibly standing over her own grave, not believing that she’s dead.
Just a theory, hope you enjoy
I also noticed the Inferno allusions, but I think the spider is actually a reference to Arachne, who Dante meets in the beginning the Divine Comedy, in Purgatory (Limbo). I'm not sure what I think about all the car crash/coma/death theories, but I do think that perhaps the gamemakers were thinking of Beatrice's role in Divine Comedy as being pseudo analagous to the role of the main character's sister. (in Divine Comedy Beatrice is in essence the "guiding light" for Dante throughout his entire journey, which ultimately ends in Paradise after they are reunited and Dante's heart has been fully sanctified). Also, the Divine Comedy both begins and ends with the same word- "stars", just as the game Limbo begins and ends in the same place. And just like Limbo, it too ends on a bit of a hard to understand cliffhanger. All we know is that Dante has finally found Beatrice, is brought to reconciliation because of Love, and beholds the image of God.
As far as the general changes in setting goes, I felt like this might be a bit of an analogy for human progress & technological advancement - in that it goes from "nature" & something quite primitive, then moves towards industrialized society and WWII allusions, and then becomes a bit science-fictioney with the anti-gravity chambers, all of which I felt were not only part of this overall Sisyphean metaphor of the futility of human progress period, but also wrapped up in imagery that I felt was a nod to German Expressionist films like Fritz Lang's Metropolis, a film including themes very aesthetically similar to this game Limbo, including a flooded city powered by underground machinery.
He is inside of the limbo because he chosed to go there, it is in the description of the game, his sister is dead and he doesn't know her destiny, so go there to see her, he is not dead he has the eyes that are the mirror of soul, so he is alive.
All the people are child in limbo, so it is the place where all unbaptized child go after dead.
She is died falling in that place you see at the menu and at the end she is most likely searching is body that died there.
That big spider could be the limbo's cerbero, if he appeared at the beginning (I played long time ago so i don't remember). Limbo is a creation of God to punish the unbaptized children, of course Limbo is a no-real place, so all the places are inspired by the sister and by the sins and the fear of unbaptized children but are tailored to punish.
I'm not sure if Limbo is only for the sister and all there are inside are no-living object or all in Limbo are "alive" (I mean with soul, "real").
The butterfly is a guide, a hope, if it appear close to the sister could mean that sister could go to heaven because the butterfly is something that do not belong to Limbo, a hope, something of beautifull, and the final crash mean that we are in a safe place, the gravity changes could be correlate with the fall of her sister, so the final crash could be the sister's time of death.
I like it! Good explanation.
cherubino95
“”Chosed” to go there”
Chose* to go there
Lol horrible grammer? It’s grammar
FazBear Fredbear who cares also you have worse.
in the end of the game, if u walk backward instead of forward u will see a cliff ,and at the start if u do the same u will see the same, pls answer me as quick as possible
It's deeper than just two siblings falling off a tree house.
Limbo is about the dark nature of life itself, the soullessness of natural phenomena and the indifference of the world to our desires or actions. It's about how most of humans were viciously killed and removed through evolution, and how those who remained were still doomed to struggle surviving life's crushing challenges.
Limbo is about how the universe doesn't care that we lose our loved ones or if we die of cancer or different horrific accidents. It's about how we're just another organic matter waiting to die someday and be forgotten forever as if we didn't exist in the first place. Most importantly, Limbo is about how, no matter how hard we try to ignore it, we are alone in this godless universe.
The Boy however desperately tries to find a path to hope; something that shows him all this is happening for a reason and that there's something behind the painful reality; something that shines through the trees in this dark forest; a meaning to life, a path to happiness, an escape route from The Limbo.
что то родное в этой игре и в этом мальчике
вернее не в игре а в этом мире.
часть меня...
"Limbo" is the name of the dream world created by the experimenters in the sequel game INSIDE. All those people that are plugged into those machines in the game INSIDE are in so called "Limbo". The sister is an illusion, she is implanted in his mind in the dream world so he thinks he has some goal or direction but really Limbo is completely pointless. In Limbo he never dies he just thinks he dies. INSIDE on the other hand you actually die. But you control numerous copies of yourself, each time you come back to life you are actually controlling a different clone of yourself (you can see yourself off in the distance in INSIDE running into buildings for example). The clones are indirectly being controlled by the blob you save at the end, controlled through method of a goal structure rather then specific movements of the boy not unlike the "find your sister" goal structure in Limbo. The second hidden ending in INSIDE takes place after the first blob ending. In the hidden ending the boy INSIDE has been ejected from the blob, no longer directed by that goal structure he locates the machine keeping the first boy in LIMBO. By beating the second ending INSIDE you are beating the first game Limbo in the sense that you have finally gotten that boy of Limbo. The experimenters INSIDE are trying to create a form of conscious nesting, similar to the different dream layers in the movie Inception. That is my theory anyhow
I like this. I like this a lot.
Holy shit INSIDE, LIMBO = INSIDE LIMBO
Sauce plz?
I'd also like some sauce. And is there anything in the games that actually point to this?
If inside was a sequel to limbo, your point would have made sense
Spider: means fear
Kids: people around him
Gears: where they were born
Treehouse: they build it together
Hotel: trivago
@@jabbahatt8082 Nice One..
@@jabbahatt8082 underrated.
In some scenes of the game after he leaves the forest, it seems that the boy was in some kind of a facility. A large air vent fan, a small factory window, all at the background...
I'll just go with I found my sister the end
In my theory, the sibling both died. The cause is not important to me, but what important is that they died at the same time. Being dead at the same time and being people of the same blood, they experience an "overlap" Limbo, means that the path/structure is generally the same, but the detail can be different (there may be no giant cogs, spider, hotel sign,... for the sister). This explain why the boy has eye and no one else does, it's his Limbo, and his alone.
The sister already completed her trial, the white butterfly represent the path she took. Following them will lead to her location. This is why sometime you (as the boy) see the butterfly goes right into the most deadly traps, and despite seeing all those horrible things, the boy still goes forward.
My idea for what in Limbo represent is pretty much like everyone, aside the weather machine and gravity switch. I see it as the boy's dream of super hero-like powers. Limbo granted him power, but in a very twisted way.
The final glass, to me it's just what it is, a barrier. Behind that barrier is some kind of "room", where the boy and his sister are allowed to see each other (while still stand at their own Limbo, which explain the sister doesn't has eye). The setting is a tree house in the forest, because this place is where they had beautiful memories with each other.
After watching this video I understand why arnt didnt give people an official story line.. because he wants people to think of it they’re own way and wants the player to be able to relate to it other then having a story line
I believe that he died and went to limbo AFTER falling out of the treehouse and stumbled upon his sister burying him that’s what she was doing in the dirt
That's what I believe, too. :D
The boy died and the sister was mourning his death spot. It was clearly his death spot because the flies at the end of the credits
I love the Dante'd Inferno theory but I propose it's actually a retelling of Purgatorio as well, which is the second book in the Divine Comedy. I believe when you switch gravity in the game, this is symbolic of the devil's naval of Inferno, at which point Dante crosses to purgatory. After climbing Mount Purgatory, Dante reaches heaven and is no longer guided by Virgil but by Beatrice. The boy's sister is Beatrice, and she takes him to heaven. The glass he breaks through is breaking through the celestial sphere of fire separating purgatory from paradise. The boy sees his sister, his guide to heaven, and realizes her fate: She got into heaven. The sister waited for the boy to make his way through hell and purgatory before ascending. The game ends with their forms replaced by their rotting graves, as their souls have finally ascended.
Just a theory!
Wow. Your theory does fit and is really interesting. Fair play to you.
I literally just completed the game and the ending puzzled me, if you are up to the part where the "boy" goes though the glass and everything goes slow mo, when the "boy" gets up, I go left, and the everything is gone, this puzzled me, then I continued right and the game ended. The coma ending is most likely the explanation
Honestly the Dante's inferno theory works even better than you think, if I remember correctly virgil is sent by Dante's dead girlfriend to guide him through hell, and the sister could very well be a stand in for Dante's girlfriend, who meets him in purgatory right after he gets out of hell
Theory, he got close lined playing limbo.
Your voice made the explanation even better. The game was a masterpiece, wish I could forget it so I could enjoy the experience again.
To play Limbo for the first time again would be wonderful.
Guess who's back, back again Adam's back so tell a friend… i can now sleep Adam McDermott you're my hero
My original thoughts were (after completing the game) that he crossed the river back to the real world (from previously dieing from the tree house) to check to see if his sister is ok. Doing anything & everything for family, though dead, for a brief moment she feels his presence.
However.. after laboriously finding all eggs (with out a walk through) and seeing all the candles, I think he went to the underworld to bring his sister back! (Doing what ever it takes to save his sister)
By no means am I saying I'm correct, but those candles I'm sure have significant meaning, yet the bonus level and entrance to it were not mentioned.
Incredible game and great video as I was looking forward to seeing other peoples thoughts!
ImmortalInflames huh, I didn’t think about that!
@@recognizemeson3332 What are your thoughts? =)
He died but dosent know if his sister is dead so he travels the only derection he thinks is right straight trying to look for his sister in the mysterious world he finds shes not there and is alive then mirror represents him breaking back into the real world and seeing his sister alive but the sister is shocked he is there because she was at his bearial which was under the tree house where he died
Really enjoyed this video actually. :Þ
I think the first and second theories are the most convincing.
Taco D. Kitty when we're you here?
were*
What if the boy killed the girl? He pushed the girl out of the treehouse (which would explain the frequent hanging bodies) and whether or not he meant to, he is consumed by guilt and decides to follow her to attempt to guide her to heaven.
That would go against "Uncertain of his sister's fate", the text the game starts with.
Literally the only thing, more explicit than the 'being thrown forward (from a mechanical construct, through large uncontrollable movement) through glass is how you got to the place, your journey in limbo starts'.
Did anyone else see the two butterflies circling around each other at the end if you walk left instead of right? That could represent him and his sister reuniting
0:04 3:30 9:25
0:38 - 1:34 devs quote
3:00 ouch
7:53 chapters 29 and 39
8:58
The best two theories imo
8:16 Limbo is a Test
12:57 Dante's Inferno
This game looked pretty lame but I gave it a try and beat it in one day. It was great. Long enough to feel substantial but not long enough to overstay its welcome. Pretty amazing game. Haven't enjoyed a game this much for quite awhile.
I've considered this game as some kind of post traumatic event, army related. The boy is grown man, but reliving his life with mix of events from some scenes related to life in his army, while the symbolic aspect change to fit that of his younger self and childhood. Maybe him trying to go back to find his lost youth and maybe his lost sister in the process of healing himself. I feel it has something to do with war related story.
the crossing on the boat is a pretty common symbolism of a journey to the undead world.
Crossing a sea of LAAAVVVVAAAAAAAA
sorry
It was a very emotional game when I finished it. Fyi just now- I still dont have a theory speaking of this video is 2+ years old.
It was emotional for me too.
Haha, I was mostly clueless about the meaning of it all before I started delving into the vast array of theories out there.
@@AdamMcDermott Yeah, same for me also
Omg your back your finally back second happiest day of my life
I think his sister survived and the reason for limbo was for most likely a: he died and didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his sister and she felt his spiritual presence at the end (he possibly died from falling from the treehouse, I think yes because its decrepit form at the end means she stopped using it) or less likely b: he was trying to find his gravesite
I feel comfortable believing in the "Car crash theory" but with some own minor changes & one more clue to it. The clue being the gravity arrows towards the end. Besides their function, they look to me a bit like road-signs. Also the 2nd time we see the Hotel sign, near the end, everything around it looks a bit like road-signs & such to me. My theory being that the boy or the two loved the nature & the forest especially, outside the for kids especially so stressful city.
So their parents took them to their tree house in the woods again, but due to rain that happened earlier, the ground was wet, so it was slippery & at a turn (Roadsigns* + The final gravity-switch moment*) the car lost traction, crashing against probably a tree, or something.
Anyway, I believe that the sister died a few moments earlier, while her brother died slower. For example : He could have been knocked out, while he already went through his Limbo, walking towards the light, getting closer & closer to his final, actual death. While his body may be bleeding out slowly while he is knocked out. But because he is just knocked out, he is technically still alive for a moment, explaining his lit eyes.
There are these stories of people in coma, that they left their body for a moment, but they did return.
Maybe the boy could have stayed alive, but it is exhausting to fight for keeping him alive, by passing & going through all his memories (as many people state it that you see your whole life rolling by in your final moments), when he finally exits Limbo returning to the forest, he stands up even slower than at the start of the game, which could represent his weakness eventually. When he finds his sister being already dead (indicated by the non-glowing eyes), her spirit playing underneath their tree house. He realises his fate, letting his barely living body go & moving on to rest in peace at this peaceful place at the tree house.
The flies & two spots in my personal opinion just symbolize that they died in the forest near their favorite place to be, maybe they got buried there. Anyway, with the tree house being rotten, I just think that this a picture of their grave years or sometime later.
Their are a few more details for my imagination of the full story, but it would took me to much lines, to much effort, to write them down, so I just keep it for myself. I'm sure there are some questionable spots or little plot holes in my explanation / or rather theory, but I think I feel comfortable enough with it.
But does anyone have a story related explanation for the hidden eggs, the (10) candles & the candle spot & the hidden "The Ding!" level/path, the elevator & why it does only go near the end & not entirely to the end, back to the woods?
Or do you think it is not related to the story at all?
Please tell me, because so far I have no idea!
Cheers! :)
I have no idea about those either, buddy.
The spider at the beginning of the game isn't the same one that eventually attacks him later on... if it is, then, well, I must've never saw his broken legs because it looked like a healthy spider to me.
Theory: My boy over here strugglin'.
Lol, the sister grew all those brain viruses. She raised a spider. The sister was the mastermind and brainwashed 4 male idiots trying to fight over her and made them kill her brother who was trying to kill her for making the world this rotten. In the end, the ladder broke because they got in a fight and the sister tried to kill her brother with some acidic spider fluid, but missed on the ladder. The boy kills her, and after a few decades, that place still remains there. I just thought of this crappy idea in a few seconds lol.
It's been 6 months already without a video. :(
Come back on Sunday ;)
Adam McDermott wow I can't believe you replyed I can't wait for your next video
Oh man at first when I finished the game I thought the sister was eating a dead body
Yikes. That sounds horrific.
Turns out his sister has become a zombie after all.
Finally you are back ! I have asked you numerous times if you would make another video but no response.
I'm afraid I've been busy and don't log into my account all that often.
Music does not fit the atmosphere of the video but I found this very interesting
Cheers!
Damn, you are still reading, liking, and responding to comments even though the video came out in 2016 good job man
I wish it was as nice as you make it out to be. RUclips sorts comments by newest first. So even if the video is old, if the comment is new I see it first. Still nice getting comments on videos several years old though.
Thanks for that great collection of analyses. The Dante's Limbo theory is phenomenal. Have to go play the game again.
You are more than welcome. Dante's theory is my favourite. Any excuse to replay Limbo is always a plus :)
I like the coma one and the car crash theory
there's also the theory connecting Limbo to Inside, suggesting that the boy and the other people within are all part of the labs and experiments. That the forest and mechanisms being so close together and able to be manipulated are part of the experiment and that the boy is another test subject.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I love this video. It hits so close to home. It hurts. I'm depressed. but your insight and over all look into a game u love helps. It helps. you helped. Thank you
I'm humbled that I could help in any way. Things will get better for you :)
Wehey! I've been waiting so long for a new video! Love this channel!
Thank you for being so patient :)
Adam McDermott Thank you for making the video! I really love small chanels like this. I get a feeling of being a part of something special before it really kicks off and gains a huge fanbase. Keep up the good work man!
Will do!
Why did you remove you platinum journey video of dishonored? well at least I watched it
I forgot to add something, had to re-encode it :( Uploading new version now.
You're his biggest fan
I’d love a direct sequel to this. It could be done.
Nah it was meant to be as vague af. No sense in making things clear.
This is a brilliant analysis video.
It's very well done.
I like to think that the butterfly is the Holy Spirit guiding the child towards his sister.
Thank you for the kind words. Yeah, that would be interesting for the butterfly to the Holy Spirit.
"Unsure of his sister's fate, a boy enters Limbo".
The boat at the beginning would represent the crossing of the river Acheron that seperates the densely wooded forest that Dante mysteriously awakens in with no memory of how he got there from the actual entrance to hell. The first level of hell being Limbo. When i say Dante I'm referring to Dante from the story Dante's Inferno. But I think pieces of Dante's Pergatorio are also spliced into this game.
As for the boys glowing eyes, the eyes are said to be the gateway to the soul so perhaps the boy having glowing eyes is a representation of his potential to overcome and transcend from his current circumstances. Perhaps similar to Dante he is also on a mission from God.
The butterfly guiding the boy would represent Dante's guide throughout both inferno and pergatorio, Virgil. Virgil was sent by Beatrice, Dante's love interest, to guide Dante through hell seeing as the only way up out of hell is to venture all the way down and through it. So the only way to go back is to go forward.
From here interpretations can be many as to what certain things represent. I believe the phallic shaped worms that turn you around and give you little control over your movements represent lust in some manner for example.
The spider would probably represent Arachne that resides on the first level of Pergatory which is Pride. The punishment for those paying penance on the level of pride was pushing a giant boulder up a mountain. The boy crushes Arachne with a giant boulder and i don't think that's coincidental. Arachne pays for her crime of pride by being thoroughly humiliated by the young boy.
Arachne is a spider trapped on the level of Pride for challenging the God Athena to a weaving challenge. Arachne won the challenge whilst depicting the gods negatively in a beautiful tapestry. Athena tore her tapestry to shreds and Arachne hung herself. Athena then turned Arachne into a spider to continue to hang and weave.
I really like how the spider, a commonly used symbol of fear, starts off so scary but is completely dismantled one leg at a time by the protagonist and is ultimately used as tool/bridge to help further the boy's own journey to save his sister. It's rather poetic.
So the game, imo, is a test of a young boys virtues and determination to find his sister and with her escape Limbo/Hell.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading that.
I want someone to make a story theory with the dance limbo
What about the minigame or that thing where you have to squish 10 eggs and in chapter 26 u have to go down and there are 10 candles and a hard level. What could that be ?
Do you mind sharing the track names of the music you used in this video? Really like them, thanks!
Right there in the description, buddy.
@@AdamMcDermott Got it, thank you very much!
I never played the game but love the storyline. So my interpretation from all this is maybe, the girl was in danger, the boy went to save her life but fail and she died. In result he loses become distant, loses all his friends, haunted by fear-reliving death, and is all alone, however he fight and have a breakthrough where the story flips where he dies in results of saving her lives and the sister is at his grave attempting suicide but felt his presence and stop!..... Maybe?
An alternate theory: the boy is a sadistic murderer and loves pain. He represents the permanent reminder that no matter how hard you try to repress something, it always comes back in the end (the environment could be his sister's defense mechanisms, her knowledge of his failings/fears).
Interesting theory. Thanks for sharing.
Absolute classic. The atmosphere and spider always scared me.
Welcome back! :-)
I recently replayed Limbo for the forth or fifth time. I'm not too sure what it is that I like about it, but I've never felt annoyed that it was so mysterious, I love the theories people come up with, and you just don't get that from many games.
The Dante theory is quite convincing, but out of the ones you've included, I hope it's the angel one. For some reason I quite like that idea, it's almost sweet xD
Thank you :)
Same. I kept coming back to Limbo over and over again and at times didn't quite know why.
The Dante's theory is really convincing and brilliant. The angel one is heartwarming.
I personally like the test theory the most. I also like the angel theory.
EDIT: the Dante theory is amazing
The Dante Theory is amazing! That is my favourite.
gote what’s this?
I love open ended Stories. To me, this flips everything we believe it to be about and creates a double sided mirror. The game is about us interpreting it, with the boy being us entering limbo, each enemy representing what we see in them. Simply a reflection of our own views which is SUPER meta, but not far off from what Inside gives us.
6:06 - 6:11 those are actually the same areas only the one in 6:11 is jumbled around. Small detail, but I wanted to point it out because I think it's possible that could represent something.
Very cool details. Thanks for pointing it out.
Adam being back = Day made!
Glad to be of service.
He's back
Love your channel, you are very inspiring.
Thank you. That is lovely to hear.
It's been 4 years since this guy has made this video and he's still hearting comments now...
It is not as impressive at is sounds. RUclips sorts comments by new. So even if the video is old, I see the most recent comments first. One of the beauties of the platform. Release a video and for years to come people can still be watching and commenting.
So your "I'm alive"-video is about limbo. That's an .. interesting connection.
Funny how that worked out. The video also took so long to make that at times it was in production limbo. The video about Limbo was in limbo - go figure, haha.
ADAM YOU ARE BACK! WOOO
WOOO :)
My new favorite thought is that the developers themselves had so many good ideas for a story, that they didn't want to decide in only one. So they left it open for all of the ideas.
When you think about it, if those guys had officialy come up with ANY of those stories as cannon, everyone would think "yeah, cool, makes sense". So why compromise with only one?
I'm not a fan of stories that have multiple interpretations, but in this case I like it.
My favorite is the "boy died in car crash" and his sister is alive, taking care of his grave. The treehouse is decayed at the end when we see the flies in their places, so maybe many years have passed and the sister eventually died too, but of something else.
Well said. Why compromise with only one story.
"Boy died in car crash" is a cool theory.
Limbo can mean a psychological loop, not just purgatory. Isn't it just as possible that the boy simply dreamed the whole game while he was supposed to be watching his sister? I know everyone thinks she's "burying" him, but do you have any idea how difficult it would be for a little girl to do that with her bare hands on a whim? Wouldn't she more likely go for help if her brother looked dead? I always thought she was just playing on the ground like a child, or even trying to fix the broken ladder. The few planks that broke off aren't very high off the ground. Her falling and yelling while the protagonist is napping could be all the fuel he needed for his nightmare if he's dealing with the angst in real life that seems to be symbolized in the content of the game.
All I’m saying is. What else in the game glows? The Mind Controlling slug. So my theory. The reason the boys eyes are glowing is because we are in control and the story is our own to tell.
Damn i thought it was just a simple obstacle game that commonly same to the other games but when i search it has a deep meaning. Now im in with love this game
Maybe you Can do to the platinum journey series is that one goes op on YT then Siftd and then YT and the Siftd and so on to People who doesn't want to spend Money on a amazing episode. Plz like so he notice this comment
can't wait for a LIMBO 2
You might be waiting forever. The team are currently working on a sci-fi game and have shown no sign of working on a sequel to Limbo. Although, they do have a sort of spiritual sequel called "Inside."
Theory: a boy and his sister died and he goes through limbo to find het
I think Limbo is uncertainty and confusion - because I have heard the expression of ‘being in limbo about it’ - and that is where the title/description come into play. i also think that the boy is the only one who truly understands what is happening and is why he can move on through the game. When he finds his sister, HE leads HER to understanding of the situation (which I haven’t decided upon) I feel like the machinery and cogs are markers of progress and the butterfly is just a guiding light and of no pure importance other than that
I love this game. I have it on my PS3 and PS4. I believe that he has been in limbo and still in limbo where he is still looking for his sister even though he have found her many times
Has anybody mentioned what I'd call the »bottom-up« hypothesis? (»Theory« being such a big concept, I prefer »hypothesis«.) -- I think, the developers used a bottom-up approach in implementing some cool 2D-game mechanics, then assembling them into a demo reel for their company; later on, hints of a story are added, and »Limbo« gets published. A few years later, following its success, additional ideas are assembled into the »Inside« game in a similar fashion. Not as mindblowing as the theories proposed here in the video, but maybe closer to the truth.
The open ending mentality the director has is what makes art, well... art lol. Every piece of art is open to different sorts of interpretation, the only ones who can really know what it means are the ones who created it on the first place.
ps - I'm pretty definite that the boat crossing the lake is symbolizing "crossing over" from death to life or vice-versa
But if you don't agree, please explain why - I'm eager to atleast have a decent understanding of the stories basics
(yes I'm very late to the game, just bought the PS4 twin pack a couple weeks ago)
I think the crossing of the river bit could represent the River Styx; from the real world to the underworld
Also when he crashes through the window and wake up, if you walk to the left its a closed off woodland and not the industrial hell so i think he died and then woke up into or from limbo to his reward; his sister
I just think they both died because of the flies, obviously from the treehouse, the girl finished first and he just went after her.
I read a theory where the boy is a villain. Everything trying to stop him, the traps, the other kids, the spider, are there to impede him from reaching the end. I don't know the story aspect to this theory, maybe he killed his sister or is leaving Limbo to kill her in real life? Anyone heard this theory?
Just played/beat game today. Wow I agree I really like the treehouse and Dante's inferno
Pretty cool theories indeed :)
Shame this game doesn’t have a platinum trophy. You know Adam would have a journey on that !
It would 100% get an episode :)
I personally get frustrated with games that the creator didn't bother to actually present a full and logical story in (like in Limbo or Five Nights at Freddy's), but of the theories you presented, the more violent Inferno one seems the best to me.
It is my favourite one too.
Adam McDermott Aww. You should stand by yours.
The LP I'd watched had also led to me something related to a car crash, if only because of that pane of glass near the end.
A lot of people thought the same. It is one of the most popular theories.
Thank You for your work
You are more than welcome.
All your speculation is amazing! But I have a theory of my own... this one is dark, so the boy has died, he is stuck in limbo between death and life, He wants to bring his sister in limbo with him (maybe for revenge or loneliness) the kids are trying to prevent him from doing so, knowing that he has to kill her in order too. There are a lot of fatal flaws in my theory, but maybe the boy is the monster the whole time?
Btw I subbed
That is a pretty good theory.
Welcome to the channel.
as for the rock and the spider. In arabic culture, the only thing that can fill the deep seated hunger of man is soil. I think it symbolizes that death is the only thing that can satiate it, and once someone is buried that he finally stops desiring more.
He's baaaaaaaaaack
My own theory seems so obvious to me. I can understand other people's points of view, though. It is only that I feel this is the best way the puzzle pieces can come together. It may have been theorized the exact same way before, or not.
The boy's sister falls from their treehouse and dies. The boy, uncertain of his sister's fate, enters Limbo to find her. In the process, he promises his own soul in exchange for making sure his sister's safe. In that dark, unforgiving realm, his greatest fears come to life worse than they were in the real world. (Insert all the fears here). Since he's the only one who's alive in this place where usually only dead souls go, he's the only being whose eyes glow. Their light fades away when he dies in this world's makeshift tests, though, representing him giving up the soul he promised prematurely, before he can finish his quest. Finally, he finds his sister, and now he knows she's fine, right? Or is she? How could she be fine in this hellish landscape? Before he can judge that, his deal strikes him and he fades away on the spot, joining his sister in Limbo, forever. At least they have been reunited.
In the real world, his body appears next to his sister's in the same place where he died in the impossible realm. Nobody will ever know what happened to the boy. They'll assume he fell, like his sister, despite the lack of evidence on the corpse, just to put their disturbed minds at rest. They will never know, that this little boy didn't die in vain. That this little boy, died a tragic hero.
YES!!! My favourite RUclipsr returns!!!
Aww :)
I just realize the spider has another similarity with Cerberus, the first time the boy meet the spider it acts like a gatekeeper, the boy can't pass throught also the spider only use 3 legs, just like the three heads of Cerberus
Nice spot!
I think the boy died from the fall at the tree house (possibly accidental fall chased by bullies etc.) and his sister died from severe head trauma in a car crash near the hotel. The boy starts his journey through his own fears then from the point where he sees his sister (fake out time and then hit with brain parasite/head trauma) his journey is through her purgatory. The intertwining timelines (possibly represented by the clock in the factory) His journey then follows through her purgatory up until her eventually death in a car crash next to the hotel eventually smashing through the barrier/windscreen head first. He finds his sister who has been on her own journey through her fears and then through the boys eventually falling from the treehouse like her brother. At the end shes digging up where he died trying to find him... when.. He finds her... Their respective journeys now at an end. (all theory and borrowed heavily from others)
It is a nice theory. Ties everything together.
Oh, and thank you for the video and your insights.
You are more than welcome.