My first time playing Alan Wake after playing CONTROL, I heard the two games were connected so I decided to give it a try.

I hadn't seen it before.

that sequence with Koskela brothers in the holding cell and that plot twist!?

What an atmospheric mind fuck of a game. Playing this in the dark with headphones on, it’s close to midnight and I’m on baby duty. This game is a damn trip when you are sleep deprived I tell you whawt.

Already plan on NG+ after taking a small break so I can possibly forget certain events and be charmed again. I feel like it’s gonna be similar to watching and then rewatching a movie such as Memento; first time around you are just thinking wtf is happening and enjoying the ride, and on a rewatch you get to appreciate nuances in the storytelling even more.

TBH, initially I wasn’t a fan of Saga’s mind place concept and it felt like a cop out mechanic to lazy game design… boy was I wrong. What a crucial component of the game.

Remedy nailed it with this one. I get why Sam Lake said this game took them 13 years to make it right. An interactive cinematic experience.

Edit: for spoiler tags

Intro

Well, It’s been 3 years since I've beat Alan Wake 2, and the Mystery of Zane has gotten a hold of me yet again. To approach the mystery this go around I thought I'd keep things broad and explore key questions with multiple perspectives.

What is the Dark Presence?

To kick start this post, let’s begin with something I think we have the most solid understanding of, namely the Dark Presence. To put it as simply as possible, the Dark Presence is a shadowy being that steals aspects of others and wants to use an artist to escape the Dark Place/Cauldron Lake where it is bound.

A related topic to consider is that everyone has a “Shadow,” which to be brief contains the parts of oneself that are subconscious and repressed by the conscious self. As such, it tends to involve traits typically perceived as “negative.” The Dark Presence seems to feed on/amplify these Shadowy aspects of a person. Here are four quick examples.

What is important to note moving forward is that in AW2, the Dark Presence seems to have become an embodiment of Alan’s Shadow in particular, becoming what we know of as “Scratch.” Thus Scratch in AW2 is synonymous with the Dark Presence as there are multiple pieces of info that seem to indicate this (see the first section of my Tom Zane Info Dump for those details).

So The Dark Presence is a Shadow being that steals from others, wants to use artists to escape the Dark Place and appears to have become “Scratch" in AW2. Lets keep that in mind as we move to the next more perplexing question.

Who is the Filmmaker and what does he want?

The Filmmaker’s goal seems to be to escape the Dark Place by using an artist other than himself which is of course similar to the Dark Presence's goals. To do this, it would seem The Filmmaker wanted to setup an artist commune in the Dark Place, aka his own “House of Zane,” to lure others in to help him escape (see newspaper clipping for the “House of Zane/Artist Commune/Oceanview Hotel” connection). Consider also that the Filmmaker’s only known works of art are based on others. Tom The Poet for example seems to be based on Departure, Yoton Yo) is based on Return, and even Death Rally) could be considered based on the video game because the film appears to be a prequel as it seems to star Tom The Rhymer whilst he was alive (he was dead/defeated in the Death Rally game).

With this in mind lets examine possible identities of The Filmmaker.

IDEA 1: The Filmmaker is Alan Wake

This idea supposes that The Filmmaker is the original “Tom" who later became Alan Wake after losing himself in the Dark Place through a series of changes to reality/himself. Because the The Dark Place does not adhere to a standard view of time, this idea supposes that The Filmmaker can interact with his future/other self (aka Alan). Since The Filmmaker is also heavily connected to the Dark Presence, this idea would suppose that the Filmmaker represents the original part of Alan who “settled for the Shadow” and who wishes to escape the Dark Place by any means necessary.

The main piece of info that might lead one to think in this direction is that Alan is consistently called “Tom” and “Zane” by the Andersons and Ahti explicitly refers to Alan as the Filmmaker (see Alan and Ahti's conversation in AW2). Two additional pieces of information that might subtlety hint in this direction are the following. When Alan speaks with the Anderson’s in AW1, Tor asks, “Hey Tom, got any booze on ya?” as if expecting him to have an affinity for alcohol like The Filmmaker does. Moments later Tor quips, “leather patches on the elbows? That’s not very rock and roll” and Odin says “Tom’s just lost is all” as if expecting Alan to be wearing something more “rock n roll” like what the Filmmaker wears in the Dark Place (see Alan and the Anderson's conversation in AW1).

This idea can be roughly visualized in the following way through the lens of the Hero’s Journey.

Under this idea the original Filmmaker would have become lost in the Dark Place from his original version of reality (whatever that truly looked like), but along the way was transformed/split into a writer named Alan. After completing the Heroes Journey, Alan returned to an altered version of his original reality. This would explain why Alan returns to a version reality that contains the Filmmaker’s past in AW2. The tricky part of course is explaining how this would work in detail but these two ideas may be involved.

Sub idea #1: The Filmmaker could be Alan due to his self becoming split or transformed. The idea that a persons self can be split and moreover interact with itself has already occurred in the RCU (see my comment here for a list). In Control Resonant, Jesse Dylan Faden is heavily implied if not outright confirmed to have originally been a single child that was split into two, further adding precedent to this idea.

Sub idea #2: The Filmmaker could be Alan because he is playing the role of Alan in one or more of his movies. While we know The Filmmaker played the role of Veikko Alenin (The Writer) in the film “Yoton Yo,” the most common way to interpret that film is as a companion piece to the original dark version of Return which presumably did not come true (see my Yoton Yo Analysis for info on that idea). So, either Yoton Yo actually did come true in some way, or it did not. In the latter case, it is still possible that there is some secret higher order movie that was made that explains the why Alan could be the Filmmaker.

IDEA 2: The Filmmaker is a Doppelganger/Mr. Scratch

This idea supposes that The Filmmaker we see in the Dark Place is some kind of Doppelganger/evil double such as Mr. Scratch, who has become/pretended to be “The Filmmaker.” Moreover this dark double would be working with the Dark Presence and may want to literally become Alan Wake (as Mr. Scratch boasted about wanting in AWAN). Alternatively this idea could suppose that The Filmmaker is a whole new trickster being, such as Loki, who found himself stuck in the Dark Place (see Loki section of my Zane info dump for information related to that).

Here is a simple diagram illustrating this idea.

First is Mr. Scratch, a dark double of Alan who takes on the role of the tuxedo wearing Mr. Scratch in AWAN, and who under this idea, survives its events and eventually becomes/pretends to be The Filmmaker (see my Zane Info Dump for connections between the Filmmaker and Mr. Scratch). You might also imagine him taking on the role of “The Bad Boy” as well.

One important thing to consider regarding Mr. Scratch is what Mathew Porretta had to say regarding his connection to Scratch in AW2

"In Alan Wake 2, Scratch changed. The difference between Scratch in AN and AW2 is that Scratch has got that monster underneath like a garbage can... its like a bomb that's ready to explode and in AW2, BOOM, that's what's in there. He's like this sophisticated guy [Mr. Scratch in AN] but his core is what was in AW2.” - Behind The Voice interview

This comment seems to say that the the Dark Presence was in/connected with Mr. Scratch in AWAN and that when Mr. Scratch was defeated it was released, ultimately becoming Scratch in AW2. Alternatively Porretta could be suggesting that Mr. Scratch was literally the Dark Presence/Scratch (rather than merely being a vessel/servant of it). It seems up for interpretation either way.

IDEA 3: The Filmmaker is Scratch/The Dark Presence itself

This idea supposes that The Filmmaker (as he appears in the Dark Place) is a literal manifestation of the dark presence. While the Dark Presence is typically thought to be formless (needing to possess others) it may be possible that in the Dark Place it can manifest a “body.” One point that may hint at this idea is that in the Cult play, the actor (who may have been Tom The Filmmaker) emerges from room 666 to fulfill his role in the play as he goes on a murder spree. When examining the room Alan finds it is pure darkness, and the Dark Presence emerges to get him.

So either the Filmmaker is a manifestation of Dark Presence/Scratch itself, or is a separate entity/person that is simply working with it.

IDEA 4: The Filmmaker in the Dark Place is the dark half of the original Filmmaker

*minor Control AWE DLC spoilers regarding Zane ahead.

It is interesting to note that the first time we see The Filmmaker in Control’s AWE DLC he appears more similar to Alan than the next time we see him in AW2. Almost as if this is the original Filmmaker who, either succumbed to his own Shadow or the rock n’ roll style Filmmaker is an actual manifestation of his shadow separate from himself that won out (his own “Mr. Scratch” if you will).

Here is an image illustrating the view that the leather pants Filmmaker could be the original Filmmaker's darker half, akin to how Mr. Scratch was/is Alan’s dark half.

Summary

The common thread across each of these ideas is that “The Filmmaker” as he appears in the Dark Place wants an artist/other person to help free him, makes derivative works of art, and seems to have similar goals to the Dark Presence who he is intimately connected with.

Important to consider however is that these ideas are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, the original Filmmaker who supposedly existed in his own reality might be Alan, but The Filmmaker we see in the Dark Place is not necessarily this original Filmmaker (it may instead be Mr. Scratch/Loki in disguise). There are other ways to combine these ideas as well.

Think also to the Deerfest newspaper which states “Wake is Seine is Scratch. Shifting Personalities! Fractured mirrors!” which could mean there is much more overlap between the ideas in this section than one might initially think. In any case, Lets consider another related identity of the Filmmaker.

Who was Tom The Poet?

To address this question lets first begin with the Poet’s shoebox which supposedly contains items that cannot be affected by the reality altering powers of the Dark Place.

Here we see the original image of the Poet on the left that was found in the shoebox. Its easy to dismiss the image as a place holder by Remedy but i think we may be forced to take it seriously given its appearance in a shoebox and the fact that Samantha’s blog is referenced in AW2 and elsewhere. Who the Poet was seems to have changed in AW2 where we are introduced to a new photo, one depicting the Filmmaker, instead.

Another change we see in AW2 is that the Poet became fictional (see Alan’s final draft monologue where he states “a fictional poet once wrote…”). The reason he is said to be fictional is because in AW2, "Tom the Poet" is a film. So It would seem that the Filmmaker may have, in a paradoxical/retroactive sense, become the Poet, possibly due to the film “Tom The Poet” fictionalizing these events.

Edit: On the topic of realities becoming fiction consider what the Deerfest newspaper said about the ending of the original dark version of Return. The newspaper suggests that reality would have been rewritten such that Alan never drowns. Instead it says that Alan arrives in Bright Falls, writes the Hero's Trilogy (Departure/Initiation/Return), and then is worshipped as a writer by the whole world, thereby fictionalizing the events of AW1 & 2.

In any case, the purpose of the entire Poet’s story seems to involve two ideas.

Idea 1: The Poets story may have been a genuine attempt by the Filmmaker at escape by becoming him through film. The Poets story (according to Samantha’s blog) ends in a fanciful tale of his soul having escaped into a paradise baby universe to live forever more while his Body/The Diver lived on. Sounds a bit too good to be true, like one of Alan’s failed happy ever after endings in his Night Spring tales, but we don’t know for certain. It may be true that the Poet soul got to live happily ever after (even if fictionalized) but regardless, one part of him remained in the story and that was The Diver which leads us to our second idea.

Idea 2: The Poet may have functioned as both guide and lure for Alan. The Diver is implied to have written about Alan’s childhood, going so far as writing about Alan’s clicker having darkness banishing properties. With the clicker (and Bright Presence) entering the story, Tom the Poet/Diver helped Alan defeat Barbara, and in so doing lead Alan into the Dark Place and ultimately to The Filmmaker. One is reminded of the following image from Alan and Tom’s flash back scene in AW2.

Summary

The Poet (who may have been a real person in some version of reality within the sea of night) has been made fictional within the reality of AW2. The Poet’s past belongs to a version of reality that seems to have been real, and had important effects on the overall story, but was ultimately a fiction as of AW2.

Moreover, it seems as if the Filmmaker could have successfully stole the role of the Poet, but by virtue of the ambiguity or the lack of power of poetry was unable to actually escape the Dark Place through that story alone (if that was ever even it’s purpose). Instead the Diver seems to have functioned as a guide/lure for Alan Wake, who got stuck in the Dark Place where Alan meets The Filmmaker. This entire thought process is just an interpretation of course but it is one that provides a little bit of clarity as to the possible role/identity of the Poet and his connection to Alan and the Filmmaker.

Why does The Filmmaker help Alan escape?

Alan meets many individuals who guide/lead him along while stuck in the Dark Place, one of which is The Filmmaker. Throughout Initiation The Filmmaker informs Alan of the location of each murder site ultimately culminating in Alan’s escape. The Filmmaker we see in the Dark Place is likely the Grand Master in Initiation, who is at the same time, colluding with Scratch/The Dark Presence (You can hear a Scratch-like voice alongside The Filmmakers voice when the Grand Master speaks and the voice file name contains “Zane_Scratch”)

The following image illustrates the idea that The Filmmaker adopts the role of Grandmaster in Initiation through a connection with Scratch/The Dark Presence.

But why help Alan escape? The main idea I have is that The Filmmaker wanted to help Alan escape into a reality ruled by darkness (as the original Return would have accomplished) and then to become/unify with him via Yoton Yo (see my Yoton Yo Analysis for info on this idea). Thus if The Filmmaker helps Alan escape then becomes/unifies/steal the role of Alan, then he will have escaped too. Consider how in Alan and Tom’s flashback scene Alan says “its called Return because we return,” as if to suggest the dark outcome where Alan/Tom/Scratch escape as one was The Filmmakers plan all along (flashback scene). Alan may even say “Yoton Yo” during said flash back as well, potentially hinting at its connection to the Filmmaker’s plans (timestamped flashback scene).

In any case, at the end of AW2, Alan escaped into reality having become the Master of Many Worlds. Or did he?

Did Alan really escape the Dark Place?

The mysterious caller from AW2 says that Alan “will and will not” escape the Dark Place and that it is “by your own choice.” Additionally, Alan says that it took him 13 years to escape but that “Zane never did.” This leads us to wonder what Alan’s return really entails. There has been much speculation on this point but I’ll quickly highlight a few of the main ideas.

Idea 1: A version of Alan (the master of many worlds) did escape, but there still remains version(s) of Alan still in the Dark Place/Sea of Night.

Idea 2: Alan did escape as the Master of Many Worlds but his original dark version of himself (The Filmmaker) is still in the Dark Place ready to cause trouble.

Idea 3: The “reality” we assume that Alan escaped into wasn’t reality at all. Instead it is still the Dark Place in some way. Consider how Ahti tells Saga "no use crying in the Dark Place" while she was in the nursing home (was this this simple foreshadowing or something more?)

This question is very relevant to the new information we got in Control Resonant. The “Master of Many Worlds” teaser shows a version of Alan dealing with “The Scratcher.” Either this is some past escape attempt (Night Springs style) or it deals with something more substantial about Alan’s current predicament. Are one of the aforementioned ideas involved or something else entirely?

Conclusion

I hope by exploring the mystery in this way the possibilities and ideas surrounding it have become a bit more clear, even if definitive answers allude us. Maybe the reality altering powers of the Dark Place are such that Remedy can leave us perpetually steeped in an ever evolving Mystery of Zane. Just pondering Remedy’s mysteries is fun in and of itself though, so I for one am not even opposed to that idea.

Anyway, if you have anything to add/correct in the comments feel free.

I hate games that give me an option to play out of order because I always feel like I’m missing content. I guess that’s my question, is it possible to miss content?

As of now, I’ve come finished coffee world (although not the lighthouse), drove back. Cult invaded the hotel and I escaped out the back with AW until the Bureau of Control grabbed me. Now in control of Saga again heading towards Nursing Home

Basically have I screwed up the order or missed anything by not switching back and forth? Like could I have the lighthouse key if I had switched before?

Thanks!

Remedy’s entire obsession with shapes, patterns, cycles and etc. is known, but i just can’t shake off this feeling.

SPOILERS

Some part of the Resonant made me feel as if i was revisiting Alan Wake 2. The Last Taxi quest, alongside with The Unknown environment especially reminded me of Alan sequences. You are brought back into seemingly normal Manhattan, but with tiny crisp of wrongness. The taxi, which also played some background work in AW2 reminded me a lot of Alan.

In the end of the game, you get Casual Outfit (Body Category), With Severed Circle 2 as one variation of it. It is Jesse’s and Dylan’s favourite game as known, and even it is about circles.

So, in the main Quest “Rebuild”, you finally get to see the Ordinary AWE, and the “jumping” back to the Oldest House when Dylan was still P6 candidate. After you collect 4 shards, you regain your “Current Dylan” appearance, get the Gap slide, and go to the Ordinary’s landfill for Slide Projector. You see how Past Dylan gets “bureaucratically-kidnapped” and sight of Jesse near. Current Dylan tells Past Jesse that she was right to run and that she always will be the best older sister. On which Jesse reacts.

So it made me think: What if time in Manhattan is also patterned, but not as in the Underpass? Hedron, after you sever the links, forces(?) you to enter this pixel dimension, loosing your memories, and seeing and interacting with your past (Current Dylan, when inserting the Gap slide: “It isn’t how it was. But it’s how it’s now.”)

What if the Pixel/Fault dimension is the Dark Place, or its projection? Or, if the Dimensional Fault is some kind of projection of Dark Place? Alan said that the Dark Place is home not for only the Dark Presence, but to many more. During AW2, Alan could’ve somehow project the part of Dark Place into patterned Manhattan, allowing the Other Manhattan (The Last Taxi quest) to be. The OM also follows the strange, almost dream logic. That’s how Dylan could interact with his memories of the past.

So my take is that Hedron can pattern time not only as in the Underpass, but in more subtler way. It could’ve reacted to the Dark Place (in the end of AW2, Alice is still there) and pattern Alan’s writings into Manhattan.

I know this post is probably full of plot holes, but the whole interconnection RCU has, i think it has place to be.