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10.1 Theory: The Vase – Things Aren’t As They Seem
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10. 1 Theory: The Vase – Things Aren’t As They Seem
(This next part isn’t really story related, though I try to relate it to the story. It’s just something interesting I noticed that makes me wonder things about the story. Hope that’s not too confusing)
There’s one weird thing I’d like to point out involving the scene where Kreacher tries to punch Emma. During that scene, Emma knocks over a vase in the laundry room
What I find odd about this is the fact that this vase is only here during this scene on that day. It’s never there at any other time or in anyone else’s diary.
I did notice that, during all this, there is (normally) a vase behind the screen in the hallways that leads to the laundry room and guarden.
This same vase disappears during the scene where Kreacher tries to punch Emma.
Maybe it’s nothing, and just something officials failed to add in. But it seems like it should’ve been an easy enough fix to add a vase in the laundry room if that’s what they needed. When Emma knocked a chair over in a different part of her diary, they still used a chair that was already there. Why did they purposefully add something that wasn’t there before for this scene? And what makes it especially weirder is the fact the vase behind the screen disappears at the same time. If they just wanted a vase in the laundry room, why also add extra effort by making another vanish? Suspicious. Coincidence?
I don’t think the officials are ones to put things in unnecessarily (not with all the effort they put in to all the small details for everything, like how they can make a simple skin for a character relate to something regarding their character, or how they connect certain people together via small details in the deductions or letters. One example is with Emily being the one to kill Emma’s mom or how Emma was the one to electrocute Emma. None of these things are specifically said, but the details are there. Another example we already saw is the use of the “Home Sweet Home” banner mentioned in Kreacher’s and Robbie’s deductions. In Robbie’s, it seems like just a random, stray detail. But once you connect it to Kreacher, where that banner also seems like just another random detail on its own, you realize it’s a way to show the reader that these 2 characters are connected: they knew each other.
So what could the meaning here be? It’s probably a clue to something, but I can’t say I know exactly what. Personally, I think it might be a way to question whether or not this scene ever really happened. We know Emma has a condition and is a little mental after the electroshock therapy she had for close to 10 years, what with the personality disassociation and obsession with objects. Out of anyone, we need to question what she sees in her diary the most. She hallucinates. That’s why she’s so obsessed with the scarecrow.
10. 2 Emma
To help me build up here, let’s go back and talk some more about Emma. Emma’s father, Leo Beck, runs a small textile factory (a different one from the Minerva Arms Factory we see in the game), while her mother, Martha Beck aka Martha Remington (not the Coordinator, that’s Martha Behamfil) takes care of the house and Lisa Beck (aka Emma).
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Freddy enters Emma’s life when Leo brings him along to Lisa’s first birthday. Freddy, a lawyer that specializes in financial services, was hired by Leo or Martha (possibly after they see an advertisement of his) to be a business partner. Freddy eventually becomes jealous of Leo.
Let me explain. Leo starts out as being at the bottom, the lower class, due to being just a simple manager. Eventually, he becomes the owner of a small factory, which causes him to be bumped up to middle class. At the same time, Leo’s life is pretty good. He has a wonderful wife, a baby girl, a happy life, and a fairly good job. The reason Freddy is jealous is because he’s mad someone who started out as beneath him, from a less fortunate background, is living a happier life with more success than Freddy is. His business currently isn’t doing well. His career so far has been unsuccessful or not profitable enough.
It’s around this time Freddy falls in love with Martha. Freddy wishes Leo could “disappear”. To do this, Freddy convinces Leo to buy a small gun factory (the Minerva Arms Factory from the game) that is actually in a lot of debt. According to Freddy’s letter, he also convinces Martha that this is a good decision (when in fact it is not), which is something karma will get him for later (when Martha finds out and leaves Freddy because he lied to her). So either around now, or when Freddy first appears, Martha starts failing to return home, as well as begins quarreling with Leo (she dislikes how “dirty” he is when he comes home from work. Compare this with the clean, spiffy looking Freddy she has her eye on). Eventually, she leaves and marries Freddy.
Leo is devastated, and turns to alcohol at this point, as well as begins selling stuff from their home (or just lets others break in and take it). Due to the alcohol, it is also likely he starts getting angry at Emma (we’ve seen this sort of thing happen all the time in real life, so this isn’t too much of a stretch to believe). It’s possible he even breaks some of the items in their house when he gets angry. Eventually, it’s been enough for Leo, and he sends Emma off to an orphanage, after which he goes into the factory that’s caused him so many problems, and sets it on fire while he’s still in it.
We know the rest of what happens to Emma after that.
Once she escapes the asylum, she is invited to the manor.
12. Lisa Beck's Invitation Letter: We sincerely invite you to join a special game. In the manor, you will meet a long-lost " friend". There is a flattened thistle flower between the pages of the letter.
This “friend” is referring to Leo, who had been found by the manor owner and turned into a hunter for his game. From Leo’s deductions, we see that Leo has been consumed with rage and a desire for revenge (on Freddy most of all).
(Leo) 3. Secret 2: After the fire, people found burn marks and a few pieces of tattered clothing in what remained of the building. They also found these words on the wall: I will find you.
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(Leo) 4. Leo Beck is filled with fury. You'd better pray that you don’t run into him.
Leo REALLY wants to kill Freddy. At this point, Leo is more like the “living dead” than anything really human anymore. The reason I bring this up is due to the mention of the “thistle flower”. There are a couple meanings to it. It could represent endurance, which relates to how Leo has “endured” and is still around despite the factory fire. It could also represent retaliation or a threat (you need to wear gloves when handling thistles, since they can stab you otherwise). This is the meaning I’d like to discuss. Emma may have initially thought she was there to meet and be reunited with her father. The actual meaning the manor owner may have been trying to imply is “revenge”. Leo, the hunter we see in game, is no longer the father she once knew. He’s unrecognizable, twisted, completely dominated by anger.
But to get to Emma’s story, she likely didn’t know about the fire until after she escaped the asylum, what with how long she was in the asylum with who knows how much if any freedom. She possibly searched for some sign or trace of him after she got out, before mainly finding out through reports and pictures of burning arsenals/factories.
(Emma) 11. Residual Image
I never thought I would meet him like this. No, this can’t be true!
Photo: A building in flames. Its worn signboard reads, Minerva Armory
She didn’t want to believe that her father was dead. She told herself he couldn’t be. Not when they couldn’t even find a body. This is where Emma’s complex comes from. I believe her obsession stems from her strong feelings for Leo.
(Emma) 9. Destroy
If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that you'd better nip a problem in the bud before it gets out.
Little Girl's Diary 4: Father drank too much and began selling things from home. Sometimes strangers would break into the house and take things. I don't know what has happened, but this feeling is awful.
She is likely obsessed with the scarecrow because she imagines it to be her father.
The things Emma says in the diary are likely because she imagines she is talking to her dad.
After her mom left and Leo started drinking, Emma doesn’t know what’s going on. She just wants him not to be angry. She possibly even blames herself. That’s why she apologizes to the scarecrow and worries if he’s upset with her. This is how she felt when her dad got angry with her when he drank.
The reason Emma could be thinking these things goes back to her condition. Specifically, the personality disassociation. One personality is there to deal with the pain of reality, to protect the other personality from things she can’t handle. This is the more dangerous side (likely this same one is the messed-up part of her that decided to “fix” the broken handrail in the manor). The other personality is the one that always smiles. This personality is the Lisa before disaster, before her dad killed himself, before she was sent to an orphanage, before the electroshock therapy. This 2nd personality is the one we see when Emma interacts with the scarecrow. She’s thinking back to Leo drinking, resurfacing those same feelings she had at that time.
The scarecrow and Leo are similar in size (build) and temperament (quiet, like how we see Leo not responding to the mom in Emma’s deduction when she’s hating him for how dirty he is). The scarecrow and Leo are also similar in appearance. Like I said Emma’s mom left, with one of the reasons being his “dirty” clothes. This was from all the work he did at the factory. The scarecrow is also dirty.
Emma’s mom fell for Freddy, so this is likely a feeling they both shared. And if Freddy thinks it’s dirty, this goes back to the mom thinking Leo being dirty. Thus more reason why Emma thinks the scarecrow is Leo. Also, unlike Emma’s mom, Emma continued to love her dad anyways, even after Emma’s mom left him. That’s why we see Emma hugging the scarecrow. Even if Leo was “dirty”, she still cared about him. That’s why, when her parents start to quarrel, she tries to help her dad out by trying to repair things and turn “waste into treasure”.
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(Emma) 6. Curiosity
I want to know what’s inside!
All junk. At least this stuff is somewhat usable. I mean, we should turn waste into wealth.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to stop her mother from leaving. As a result, Leo starts selling things and others start to take other things away. Leo likely broke other things when he got angry, so this is where Emma gets this tendency from (her skill in game is to break chairs). Emma possibly starts to destroy some of things at home to keep strangers from taking them away.
Going back to Emma’s love for her dad, she still dreamed of the day they could be a happy family again, even when she was in the asylum.
(Emma) 10. I often think, if only there was someone that had lent me a hand. Then maybe now I could help others?
This is why she has an obsession with the scarecrow. Because she’s obsessed with her dad and she (or some part of her) thinks the scarecrow is him.
But her mental state deteriorates.
Emily, the very doctor that electrocuted her for nearly 10 years, shows up at the manor. And Emma doesn’t have memory loss (Emily says so during Emily’s diary). This means Emma knows who Emily is as soon as she sees her (at the very least, her 1st side that isn’t stuck in the past would know), even if she doesn’t recognize the name since the doctor changed it from Lydia Jones to Emily Dyer. Then there’s how it gets revealed that Emily is also the same person that killed her mother (I can’t quite say if she actually learned this from Freddy. We don’t see everything that goes on in the diary. It’s possible, but I don’t know for sure. For now, I was just brining this up for the sake of mentioning all ideas). This ruins Emma’s image of Emily as an “angel”.
After this, Kreacher getting into (and pretending to be) the scarecrow ruins her image of it as her “dream lover”.
(Emma’s background)
Having found " the one, " Emma can finally focus on perfecting her gardening skills. Maybe dear Mr. Scarecrow still needs some new duds. Replace the rotten straw, throw on a new hat. Of course, appearance isn't the only thing she cares about. But, hey, what's wrong with dressing up your dream lover? As long as you have the money.
As a result, her mental state worsens after the destruction of these “images”. And then there’s Leo, who she sees when she goes into the game. He has a different face, he’s dominated by anger, and he is unable to even recognize her (Emma) anymore at this point (that’s why he chases her once the game starts). It’s at this time she has a mental breakdown.
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