The BEST theory I found regarding this game which makes really good sense: 1. Leah and Birdie Much like others believe, I think Leah was actually a scientist charged with finding the cure to a plague that was killing off the population of the world. Birdie is the embodiment of that plague. On the computer, the messages were urging her to find an kill Birdie as soon as possible, which was their way of asking her to hurry and find that cure. We even get a message stating how Birdie had flown over Europe, meaning that Leah was too late in finding the cure before the plague had reached and infected Europe. Lands on the world map disappearing are indications that the plague had killed off much of the world, leaving few survivors left. Also, did you notice how the world globe had a "strange odor" coming from it? That symbolizes that the world is sick and beginning to die off, thanks to the plague. (People and other creatures that are ill often emit an odor of some sort) As time progresses, more and more lands disappear from the world map, leaving only a tiny bit left in the end. This is symbolic of the fact that the virus "Birdie" had almost completely wiped out humanity, and there is only a tiny fraction of civilization left for Leah to save. She was almost out of time. Also, the little chemistry set and the fluid sample in the room is definitely a nod to the idea that she was studying the virus hard, trying to find any weakness in it. 2. Watering the Plant I believe, again, much as others do, that watering the plant is symbolic of Leah drinking water herself. Notice how, when she first checks it, the plant is very dry and needing water badly. That's symbolic of Leah herself, being extremely thirsty and desperately needing water in order to quench that thirst and survive. The reason she is so thirsty is because she hasn't really drank any water in a while, knowing full well the risks of drinking any water in a world ravaged by a plague. She also knows that "Birdie" has touched the water, meaning that the virus has tainted much of the world's water supply. So she holds off on drinking water, even the water she had managed to store in her sink and tubs as a precautionary measure, for as long as she can. However, the human body can only go so long without water, and soon her body is so dry and desperate for water that she has no choice but to drink some if she wants to live. She hopes against hope that the water she's drinking isn't tainted with the plague. But her hopes are in vain, because it is, and once she drinks it, she too becomes infected with the virus. 3. The fire This was explained by another youtuber, and it impressed me, and definitely left me less confused about it. Or at the very least, it made a huge amount of sense to me. The "house fire" represents the plague infecting Leah's body giving her an intense fever. As sickness often does when it's serious, Her temp probably spiked out of control. Most likely, she felt dizzy, ill, and very hot. This is supported by the fact that, in order to make the fire go away, she had to go to bed and lay down. I believe that symbolized Leah maybe taking some medicine to bring down her temperature, laying down, and trying to sleep away some of her symptoms. After all, when people aren't feeling well, they often retire to their bed to try to rest and recuperate. And when she awoke, the fire was gone, meaning her temp had probably lowered at least to a manageable enough level for her to function. 4. Climbing the glowing plant Okay, so this part that I surmised is quite sad and heroic even. Leah, by now, probably knows full well that she is infected. The water she drank can also be symbolic of this. Before she "watered the dry plant", the water in the tub looked blue, clear, and inviting. That represents Leah's desperation, as at the time she was so thirsty that any water would have looked good to her. But once she had used it and was no longer as thirsty as she was, over time the water bean to show it's "true color", as it were. It began to emit a reddish-brown hue, a very unhealthy color for water. It showed that there was definitely something very wrong with it, and given that we know "Birdie" had touched the water, Leah had a good idea what that something was. So, what's a scientist to do if she's infected with a deadly bacteria for which there is no cure and will likely end her life? Experiment on herself, of course. Her continued insistence on watering the plant was actually symbolizing her drinking as much of the infected water as she could, to get as much of it into her body as she could. After all, with her being infected, she now had a living organism to experiment on in order to try and find the cure: Herself. Also, notice how once the plant grew tall enough to climb, it was infected with bugs. Those bugs represent many branching pieces of the deadly bacteria infecting Leah's body. And the pesticide she used to kill them off symbolizes the chemical experiments she conducted on herself to try to weed through the bacteria in her body to find and isolate the main core of the virus strain itself. (Btw, I really know jack diddly squat about science, this is all just the impression I got from the story. Forgive me if I'm inaccurate in my description on how chemistry works, lol) Her killing off the bugs on the plant allowing her to freely climb it represents her finally finding and being able to reach the core of the deadly bacteria and trying to find a way to cure it. Also, "Birdie's" phone call to her was also symbolic imo. Remember when Birdie asked her if she had been drinking lots of water? That, imo, may symbolize the cruelty of Birdie, as if the virus was openly taunting her by saying "Hah, you thought you could escape me by drinking stored up tub water? I'd already infected your water. You're just as dead as the rest of humanity." Also, when Birdie said "Come Leah, Birdie is waiting", that could be interpreted to mean that the virus was on it's way to claiming her as it's next victim. 5. The gunshot - Victory at a price Okay, so Leah has climbed the plant to the roof of the house, and there she waited for Birdie to swoop in and carry her away. I think Birdie spiriting her up and off the roof symbolizes that Leah was in the last stages of her illness, and the virus was ready to take her and finish her off, as it had done to so many before her. I also noticed how Leah didn't try to fight Birdie off; much to the contrary, she raised her arms and allowed Birdie to take her with no resistance at all. That can be interpreted to mean that Leah knew she was dead. The plague and the chemical experiments she performed on her body had taken its toll quickly. She was dying, but she didn't care. Self-preservation was not her goal at this point. Her goal was killing the virus so it didn't end humanity. All her hard work had allowed her to finally reach Birdie, and she was not going to waste this chance. As Birdie was carrying her away to kill her, she pulled out her gun and prepared to end Birdie once and for all. She aimed her gun at Birdie and the screen blacks out as she pulled the trigger, mortally wounding the bird. That symbolizes the instant Leah, after experimenting on the core of the virus strain, had found the anti-virus. She had found the cure at last. (Also, notice how she only had one bullet left in the gun. One shot left. I think that symbolized that Leah knew this was, quite literally, her last shot at killing the plague before it took her life.) Once the screen returned, Birdie was shown flying in the sky, but no longer carrying Leah. Birdie had dropped her. That symbolizes that the virus had finally finished her off. Leah was dead. However, then Birdie disappeared into nothingness. That symbolizes that the anti-virus Leah had sacrificed herself to create was beginning to do its job. It was beginning to spread throughout the world, killing off the deadly bacteria and wiping out the plague. Birdie was dead. And what was left of humanity survived to begin rebuilding society. In the end, the scientist and the plague killed each other.
Well I'm 3 months late to this comment but this all makes perfect sense, and cleared many question marks in my head, so thank you a lot for putting this out here. However playing The Mirror Lied after Impostor Factory, I noticed a very small detail that they both share. I don't know if you've played Impostor Factory, but when you look at the time in the manor, sometimes it says "It's 3:26". Maybe it's just a simple reference, maybe something more. Got any theories on that?
@@Mr.Komodo also late but totally agree that these actually make sense. I also like the "dream theory" at the top if comment section, tho they make less sense. To the moon is next for me.
@@fume7055I kinda late, but when Faye destroying world, continents disappear in turn with remixed music from The Mirror Lied. Disappear like in a globe from “Mirror”
Ok, so the name of the game is 'the mirror lied', and in the game, they say the birdie lies, this could mean that you're the birdie, since you see yourself in a mirror, and that you killed yourself?
GavinChase It's been too long since I played the game, I don't even remember anymore. Somehow it still makes sense in my head even though I didn't explain it properly, and now can't due to lack of memories of the game.
We blindly follow orders, and things disappear one by one, and then there's an explosion. We know how to trigger the bomb. We don't know why we decided to trigger the bomb, but we did, because it's the only thing we are aware of doing. Someone mentionned about the weird number being a reference to the WW2... As if... A little girl forced to join the army, forced to kill people around her, but then realised the damage she had done, therefore, she commits suicide to save everyone else? The bird is her... The bird is her reflection... The bird is freedom... She blindly follow orders to seek her freedom... but it's all a lie... She hopes to reach freedom by following orders, but all she is making, is destroying everything around her... She realised the damage she had done after the explosion... In the end... She is free from her orders... free from us humans... I feel like I'm close to something...
i like this theory, it makes sense there are a few things though: 1. if she fought in WW2, she would be fighting for America, because birdie has some connections to the atomic bombs dropped on japan, which would suggest american if she was connected to birdie, so she wouldn't be that young 2. kan got the idea for the game from a surreal canadian movie about eating children sooo... im not sure how much of the game is supposed to make sense
I believe it is discussing the spread of the avian influenza - things in the game tie closely with it. the liquid in the microscope is cells infected by the virus, and leah herself is a carrier (but immune) to the virus.
The fire represented some devastating event in your life, which you just ignore and sleep off. The bugs are your inner self's last attempt to tell you it's not worth it. When you climb the vine and reach your dreams, you realize that your inner self was right and commit suicide whatamievensayingnow
From the interpretations I've been getting, Leah contains the disease which resembled the one in the liquid, which is apparently airborne? and because of that she must have been locked in so that it doesn't spread..? (and when she took out nothing happened to her after so either she was immune or has already.) The birdie could possibly represent her yearning to leave and also to escape reality, while the emails are the reality trying to keep her contained. Since...
Birdie is your life goal. As soon as you are born, you start to chase your dreams, but they keep getting farther away. Watering the plant is what you do during your life to work towards your goal, and the phone calls/emails are your inner self, telling you your dreams are not worth it and to 'kill them'. The music box/teddy are your daily comforts, and as you grow older you lose sight of the world when the continents dissappear
...she is a young girl she doesn't understand at first (hence why she's got dolls and how she can carry one, which could resemble her innocence) but at the game develops, she's able to connect the pieces together (notice she doesn't have a bear to carry after the fire. Not sure what the fire was btw, it's connect to the switches, and the call that time is the birdie telling her to sleep it off. Hallucinations/Symptoms?) The things disappearing might represent her coming to acknowledge the...
I know the first thing i thought was reading it backwards as 1945, which goes with my idea that this revolves around WWII. Of course, it doesn't explain the other numbers.
61|5491...1945|16 ...what if you separated the 1 and 6? Iwo Jima? June 1st, 1945? That's a guess on my part; there could be another interpretation... How would Iwo Jima fit into this, though?
Or wait...1945, 16... On January 16, 1945, Adolf Hitler entered the Führerbunker, which was the last of the Führer Headquarters to be used. I know Wiki sources are to be taken with a heavy dose of salt, but... It's said that it became the center of the Nazi regime, and stayed as such up until the last week of WWII in Europe. Hitler married a woman named Eva Braun there, in the last week of April, shortly before they both committed suicide. ... I really do not know if this has any relevance at all to the game, but...if we're going off of a WWII theme, here, I just would like to help solve some of the mysteries behind TML.
1: Suicide during WWII 2: The birdie being a bomb, and her having a resemblance to maybe being in the war as an adult, and UGH I DONT KNOW I AM STRESSIN OVER THIS GAME!!!
On the contrary.. Some of the greatest games are left with a mystery and lets the community speculate their own meaning of what they think.. Its amazing what people come up with
...reality and the map shrinking down to Africa (which I don't know why there, birdie even said at one point something about Africa) and the bloody water probably represent the consequences of her leaving (since as she nears finishing watering, the water in the tub is red). At the end she probably took everything in, but having lost her innocence already and that she can't turn back from what she thought was a good idea, she takes the last bullet to end it all (whether she shoots...
I'm trying my best to come up with a theory myself. Mostly everyone's theories are explaining just the main part of the game and not the small details that were left in the game and before the game DOWNLOAD. (It said "A faceless girl in a faceless world." I think.) Did the pictures on the wall just go blank, or did they turn into mirrors? Why was the water red after the fire? Was that blood? O.o How come Leah had no face? The game said the globe smelled odd. And a lot of other things.
It was 12 pm and possibly the time where her disease will get worse and spread out. Like the one you see on microscope. The disease could change shape and effect, and in the end it will undetected and will became the greatest disease in the world without antidote. She don't want that to happen, tired of try to help herself, and suicide. That's why the person on the phone ask her to get out from the place at 3 pm but end up on 12 pm. Leah in hebrew could mean "tired".
I have a theory about the game, and it goes along with what you're asking. Basically, certain aspects of the game control the ending you get (let's assume there isn't one ending), and depending on what you do and don't do, certain things will happen and others won't. I've come to realised that checking the e-mails and answering the phone calls could affect the ending. I've tried out my theory a bit, and discovered that if you don't pick up the bear it ends up in a different spot than if you do.
Hello fox ? I'm not a fox man ! PS : To The Moon is one of the greatest stories I've ever lived whether it might be a game or a movie. PS2 : I consider you as a fucking GENIUS, thank you sir.
My best guess as to the story line is that this Leah is some kind of doctor/microbiologist, and she was studying that stuff in the jar, which happened to be a deadly disease. This disease was being studied to try to find a cure/solution for it due to a smell breakout of it that had been temporarily contained. Leah, probably a high up in this study, had accidentally caught it, and unfortunately one of the symptoms is hallucinations. At the same time she caught it, the containment failed, and the
...the birdie or herself doesn't show). The name The Mirror Lied might have to do with her thinking it'd be alright to escape (which is what the game makes us do and think is the right way?) when in reality she was never supposed to at the start.
I pretty much mean that if you think the creator put something in the game for no special reason, then you can interpret it so. If you think it's important, then it is. If not, then it's not. I don't know much about furnaces, but they definitely did something to create that fire. I also have no clue what those switches do. All I know is that they didn't work til later on in the story.
After I read most of the comments and think about it a lot, I start to think like this. Leah is a very sad girl. Her parents seems so bad to her and ignore her I presume? I don't really know about that, but I know for sure that Leah is sick. Her parents lock her inside the house to make sure her disease didn't spread to other people (until the key is weirdly anywhere! How nuts her parents could become?). She wants to free so she start to do some research for keys.
That depends. I mean, perhaps it was made for you to just create your own interpretation. It's not throwing it all in, it's giving cool concepts room for creativity. If a game was designed to give the player that kind of freedom then critique it that way. I found myself thinking about how what if it wasn't a cure and disease but instead creation and destruction. and how each would play those roles- To me it's just really fun to be able to have your own interp
Evidence definitely seem to point out that way! Since the email-er couldn't get in touch with the girl, but the phone person easily could. This whole game is pretty scary in my opinion.
Lord knows what happens if you don't water the plant perhaps you are just stuck until you provide enough water. Still I don't think these is a more detailed ending. If there was I imagine someone would have found it by now and dropped it on youtube.
you could have atleast made something up ...i mean for goodness sake you had un explained liquid in the jar that you seem to examine it dies when light gets on it...i mean theres so many ways you could have gone about this... however its kinda funny that alot of ppl doesn't know what its about ...and hell i played it and enjoyed every minute of it.
Do think there is a different ending? I felt as if it could of been one. If you could maybe do all the tasks. Or not specific ones would get a different outcome? like not water plant or something.
When I first saw the picture of the Oni I got so freaked out. It was burned into my memory for a long time. Now it no longer scares me. Seeing it repeatedly have it's affect. If you do play it, I wish you good luck, /salute/
I just want to know what the second switch does. What 61|5491 is supposed to mean. Why the books are blank. Why the weird liquid goes from bacteria to psychedelic to black-and-white psychedelic to nothing.why we could water the decorative foliage. What was with the bear we could carry around. Why two shelving units disappear after we search them. Why pictures are just going blank. And, most of all, are there actually any mirrors, even ones that don't lie.
I know its a 10 year old comment but if u see this look at the top comment here for some answers to your q's. As for the mirror lied part, water is also a mirror, apparently the water in the tubs and sinks turns red towards the end of the game, this water isn't safe to drink and if the fan theory is right (And likely is) then the girl and the world itself is sick with a deadly decease. Birdie lies to us, Birdie is the cause of everything and since Birdie is also in the water (which itself is a mirror), this means the mirror lied to us. To make sense of this and more see that top comment please.
I feel so bad for you. At least I went into the game expecting something creepy. I probably would have ran away screaming if I was expecting a game full of sparkles and unicorns. And the "this is not a horror game. Nothing will jump out at you" made me suspicious. At least nothing really did jump out.
A seemingly adorable game turning a bit creepy? That reminds me of a certain pigeon dating game.//smacked. I'm more scared by psychological horror I suppose (yet I still love that genre). And same here. I DO NOT go well with jump scares. AT ALL. Especially when it's at the middle of the night, I'm alone, and still doing homework.
He's a guy who basically plays video games and posts them for others to watch. He never shows his face so no one knows what he looks like and all we have to go off is his voice. A lot of people on his videos say that he has a "sexy" sounding voice that is a bit similar to this guy's because they are both low and rough. I guess people are now assuming since linked to this guys video to "explain" the game that they secretely are the same person. So, yea, that's who Cry is, lol.
Along with what you said I also think there was a disease going around. I got this from the stinking globe and the maps that slowly disappeared. Also the color of close she could get. Also the fact (Haven't played the game in a while) That someone stated that its in the water. I think the bird is freedom or realization thats why she killed herself in the end. I had other theories but I haven't played this game in awhile
2 quick question if you don't mind answering:How are the other chapters on Quintessence going? and are you going to do more games like it,i mean RPG Fantasy type. I simply fell in love with that game it's amazing and you are even more amazing for making it.Now that i'm in college i'll see what i can do about making some donations you deserve it
I just beat the game in around half an hour, but I still don't understand it! I let the music box play throughout the whole thing. It gave a kind of weird horror-ish kind of feeling. But it wasn't horror at all o.O
10/10, was very informative and helpful.
The BEST theory I found regarding this game which makes really good sense:
1. Leah and Birdie Much like others believe, I think Leah was actually a scientist charged with finding the cure to a plague that was killing off the population of the world. Birdie is the embodiment of that plague. On the computer, the messages were urging her to find an kill Birdie as soon as possible, which was their way of asking her to hurry and find that cure. We even get a message stating how Birdie had flown over Europe, meaning that Leah was too late in finding the cure before the plague had reached and infected Europe. Lands on the world map disappearing are indications that the plague had killed off much of the world, leaving few survivors left. Also, did you notice how the world globe had a "strange odor" coming from it? That symbolizes that the world is sick and beginning to die off, thanks to the plague. (People and other creatures that are ill often emit an odor of some sort) As time progresses, more and more lands disappear from the world map, leaving only a tiny bit left in the end. This is symbolic of the fact that the virus "Birdie" had almost completely wiped out humanity, and there is only a tiny fraction of civilization left for Leah to save. She was almost out of time. Also, the little chemistry set and the fluid sample in the room is definitely a nod to the idea that she was studying the virus hard, trying to find any weakness in it.
2. Watering the Plant I believe, again, much as others do, that watering the plant is symbolic of Leah drinking water herself. Notice how, when she first checks it, the plant is very dry and needing water badly. That's symbolic of Leah herself, being extremely thirsty and desperately needing water in order to quench that thirst and survive. The reason she is so thirsty is because she hasn't really drank any water in a while, knowing full well the risks of drinking any water in a world ravaged by a plague. She also knows that "Birdie" has touched the water, meaning that the virus has tainted much of the world's water supply. So she holds off on drinking water, even the water she had managed to store in her sink and tubs as a precautionary measure, for as long as she can. However, the human body can only go so long without water, and soon her body is so dry and desperate for water that she has no choice but to drink some if she wants to live. She hopes against hope that the water she's drinking isn't tainted with the plague. But her hopes are in vain, because it is, and once she drinks it, she too becomes infected with the virus.
3. The fire This was explained by another youtuber, and it impressed me, and definitely left me less confused about it. Or at the very least, it made a huge amount of sense to me. The "house fire" represents the plague infecting Leah's body giving her an intense fever. As sickness often does when it's serious, Her temp probably spiked out of control. Most likely, she felt dizzy, ill, and very hot. This is supported by the fact that, in order to make the fire go away, she had to go to bed and lay down. I believe that symbolized Leah maybe taking some medicine to bring down her temperature, laying down, and trying to sleep away some of her symptoms. After all, when people aren't feeling well, they often retire to their bed to try to rest and recuperate. And when she awoke, the fire was gone, meaning her temp had probably lowered at least to a manageable enough level for her to function.
4. Climbing the glowing plant Okay, so this part that I surmised is quite sad and heroic even. Leah, by now, probably knows full well that she is infected. The water she drank can also be symbolic of this. Before she "watered the dry plant", the water in the tub looked blue, clear, and inviting. That represents Leah's desperation, as at the time she was so thirsty that any water would have looked good to her. But once she had used it and was no longer as thirsty as she was, over time the water bean to show it's "true color", as it were. It began to emit a reddish-brown hue, a very unhealthy color for water. It showed that there was definitely something very wrong with it, and given that we know "Birdie" had touched the water, Leah had a good idea what that something was. So, what's a scientist to do if she's infected with a deadly bacteria for which there is no cure and will likely end her life? Experiment on herself, of course. Her continued insistence on watering the plant was actually symbolizing her drinking as much of the infected water as she could, to get as much of it into her body as she could. After all, with her being infected, she now had a living organism to experiment on in order to try and find the cure: Herself. Also, notice how once the plant grew tall enough to climb, it was infected with bugs. Those bugs represent many branching pieces of the deadly bacteria infecting Leah's body. And the pesticide she used to kill them off symbolizes the chemical experiments she conducted on herself to try to weed through the bacteria in her body to find and isolate the main core of the virus strain itself. (Btw, I really know jack diddly squat about science, this is all just the impression I got from the story. Forgive me if I'm inaccurate in my description on how chemistry works, lol) Her killing off the bugs on the plant allowing her to freely climb it represents her finally finding and being able to reach the core of the deadly bacteria and trying to find a way to cure it. Also, "Birdie's" phone call to her was also symbolic imo. Remember when Birdie asked her if she had been drinking lots of water? That, imo, may symbolize the cruelty of Birdie, as if the virus was openly taunting her by saying "Hah, you thought you could escape me by drinking stored up tub water? I'd already infected your water. You're just as dead as the rest of humanity." Also, when Birdie said "Come Leah, Birdie is waiting", that could be interpreted to mean that the virus was on it's way to claiming her as it's next victim.
5. The gunshot - Victory at a price Okay, so Leah has climbed the plant to the roof of the house, and there she waited for Birdie to swoop in and carry her away. I think Birdie spiriting her up and off the roof symbolizes that Leah was in the last stages of her illness, and the virus was ready to take her and finish her off, as it had done to so many before her. I also noticed how Leah didn't try to fight Birdie off; much to the contrary, she raised her arms and allowed Birdie to take her with no resistance at all. That can be interpreted to mean that Leah knew she was dead. The plague and the chemical experiments she performed on her body had taken its toll quickly. She was dying, but she didn't care. Self-preservation was not her goal at this point. Her goal was killing the virus so it didn't end humanity. All her hard work had allowed her to finally reach Birdie, and she was not going to waste this chance. As Birdie was carrying her away to kill her, she pulled out her gun and prepared to end Birdie once and for all. She aimed her gun at Birdie and the screen blacks out as she pulled the trigger, mortally wounding the bird. That symbolizes the instant Leah, after experimenting on the core of the virus strain, had found the anti-virus. She had found the cure at last. (Also, notice how she only had one bullet left in the gun. One shot left. I think that symbolized that Leah knew this was, quite literally, her last shot at killing the plague before it took her life.) Once the screen returned, Birdie was shown flying in the sky, but no longer carrying Leah. Birdie had dropped her. That symbolizes that the virus had finally finished her off. Leah was dead. However, then Birdie disappeared into nothingness. That symbolizes that the anti-virus Leah had sacrificed herself to create was beginning to do its job. It was beginning to spread throughout the world, killing off the deadly bacteria and wiping out the plague. Birdie was dead. And what was left of humanity survived to begin rebuilding society. In the end, the scientist and the plague killed each other.
Well I'm 3 months late to this comment but this all makes perfect sense, and cleared many question marks in my head, so thank you a lot for putting this out here. However playing The Mirror Lied after Impostor Factory, I noticed a very small detail that they both share. I don't know if you've played Impostor Factory, but when you look at the time in the manor, sometimes it says "It's 3:26". Maybe it's just a simple reference, maybe something more. Got any theories on that?
@@Mr.Komodo also late but totally agree that these actually make sense. I also like the "dream theory" at the top if comment section, tho they make less sense. To the moon is next for me.
really well written and fascinating to read.
@@fume7055I kinda late, but when Faye destroying world, continents disappear in turn with remixed music from The Mirror Lied. Disappear like in a globe from “Mirror”
@@ЧеловекКоторыйтамуже truly wish for more games like this where the dev lets players really think
That very much answers everything.
You son of a bird.
It a game so deep even the creator cant explain it. That is a truly deep game. T__T
Wow. That was deep. I feel enlightened and inspired now.
Ok, so the name of the game is 'the mirror lied', and in the game, they say the birdie lies, this could mean that you're the birdie, since you see yourself in a mirror, and that you killed yourself?
MissArdiah Yeah, dude.
Gina Mirage me?
Gina Mirage Well thank you then ^^
But... Why?
GavinChase It's been too long since I played the game, I don't even remember anymore.
Somehow it still makes sense in my head even though I didn't explain it properly, and now can't due to lack of memories of the game.
We blindly follow orders, and things disappear one by one, and then there's an explosion. We know how to trigger the bomb. We don't know why we decided to trigger the bomb, but we did, because it's the only thing we are aware of doing. Someone mentionned about the weird number being a reference to the WW2... As if... A little girl forced to join the army, forced to kill people around her, but then realised the damage she had done, therefore, she commits suicide to save everyone else? The bird is her... The bird is her reflection... The bird is freedom... She blindly follow orders to seek her freedom... but it's all a lie... She hopes to reach freedom by following orders, but all she is making, is destroying everything around her... She realised the damage she had done after the explosion... In the end... She is free from her orders... free from us humans... I feel like I'm close to something...
i like this theory, it makes sense
there are a few things though:
1. if she fought in WW2, she would be fighting for America, because birdie has some connections to the atomic bombs dropped on japan, which would suggest american if she was connected to birdie, so she wouldn't be that young
2. kan got the idea for the game from a surreal canadian movie about eating children sooo... im not sure how much of the game is supposed to make sense
No one (from what I have read so far...) has considered the title to their theory. The mirror lied.
I knew there wouldn't be an explanation judging from the video's short length!
Maybe there isn't one. Ken's just fucking with us
no shit sherlock
I had a little birdy
His name was Enza
I opened the door,
And in flew enza...
Wow! That explanation! I feel so complete! I feel like I now know that meaning of life and my involvement in the world! Thank you so much!
Your voice sounds like God.
I don't know why this is accurate but it is
I believe it is discussing the spread of the avian influenza - things in the game tie closely with it. the liquid in the microscope is cells infected by the virus, and leah herself is a carrier (but immune) to the virus.
Wow, that was the most accurate-sounding theory I have heard on this game yet ;-;
Lol even he doesn't know what the heck he created.
Well, at least we know that we aren't the only ones who are lost.
Haha! XD Best explanation EVER!
The fire represented some devastating event in your life, which you just ignore and sleep off. The bugs are your inner self's last attempt to tell you it's not worth it. When you climb the vine and reach your dreams, you realize that your inner self was right and commit suicide whatamievensayingnow
From the interpretations I've been getting, Leah contains the disease which resembled the one in the liquid, which is apparently airborne? and because of that she must have been locked in so that it doesn't spread..? (and when she took out nothing happened to her after so either she was immune or has already.) The birdie could possibly represent her yearning to leave and also to escape reality, while the emails are the reality trying to keep her contained. Since...
Woah, has anyone ever told you that your voice is ASMR?
I can now sleep in peace... xD
To never wake up!
Birdie is your life goal. As soon as you are born, you start to chase your dreams, but they keep getting farther away. Watering the plant is what you do during your life to work towards your goal, and the phone calls/emails are your inner self, telling you your dreams are not worth it and to 'kill them'. The music box/teddy are your daily comforts, and as you grow older you lose sight of the world when the continents dissappear
did it for the lulz, there's your answer xD
oh good lord xD what a lovely explaination.
I just...just..just...
.
.
.
but..why?
Really? O.o
Or....
The Developer Lied.
...she is a young girl she doesn't understand at first (hence why she's got dolls and how she can carry one, which could resemble her innocence) but at the game develops, she's able to connect the pieces together (notice she doesn't have a bear to carry after the fire. Not sure what the fire was btw, it's connect to the switches, and the call that time is the birdie telling her to sleep it off. Hallucinations/Symptoms?) The things disappearing might represent her coming to acknowledge the...
AHAHAHA. Well all righty then.
By the way, nice dulcet voice. Cryaotic quality voice. Really Kan. Nice voice. :D
I found this numbers in the game 61|5491, I find no answer to it, don't tell me it a random numbers with no meaning to it.
I know the first thing i thought was reading it backwards as 1945, which goes with my idea that this revolves around WWII. Of course, it doesn't explain the other numbers.
Jamie Jung
i just put the numbers in backwards, atomic bomb? e.o
61|5491...1945|16
...what if you separated the 1 and 6?
Iwo Jima? June 1st, 1945?
That's a guess on my part; there could be another interpretation...
How would Iwo Jima fit into this, though?
Or wait...1945, 16...
On January 16, 1945, Adolf Hitler entered the Führerbunker, which was the last of the Führer Headquarters to be used.
I know Wiki sources are to be taken with a heavy dose of salt, but...
It's said that it became the center of the Nazi regime, and stayed as such up until the last week of WWII in Europe.
Hitler married a woman named Eva Braun there, in the last week of April, shortly before they both committed suicide.
...
I really do not know if this has any relevance at all to the game, but...if we're going off of a WWII theme, here, I just would like to help solve some of the mysteries behind TML.
1: Suicide during WWII
2: The birdie being a bomb, and her having a resemblance to maybe being in the war as an adult, and UGH I DONT KNOW I AM STRESSIN OVER THIS GAME!!!
On the contrary..
Some of the greatest games are left with a mystery and lets the community speculate their own meaning of what they think..
Its amazing what people come up with
What are other examples of such games?
I played this game now in 2020 and this vids is from 9 years ago, wow
you know this game is mysterious when the developer does not know how to explain it
So, we figure out our own stories! Cool!^-^ I love figuring out stories!
...reality and the map shrinking down to Africa (which I don't know why there, birdie even said at one point something about Africa) and the bloody water probably represent the consequences of her leaving (since as she nears finishing watering, the water in the tub is red). At the end she probably took everything in, but having lost her innocence already and that she can't turn back from what she thought was a good idea, she takes the last bullet to end it all (whether she shoots...
its a tribute to Neon Genesis Evangelion finale
To be honest I think the End of Evangelion is quite a bit easier to understand.
I'm trying my best to come up with a theory myself. Mostly everyone's theories are explaining just the main part of the game and not the small details that were left in the game and before the game DOWNLOAD. (It said "A faceless girl in a faceless world." I think.)
Did the pictures on the wall just go blank, or did they turn into mirrors? Why was the water red after the fire? Was that blood? O.o How come Leah had no face? The game said the globe smelled odd. And a lot of other things.
Yep i noticed 2 things the painting turning blank or into a mirror, and the water turning red... that part kinda freaked me out
It was 12 pm and possibly the time where her disease will get worse and spread out. Like the one you see on microscope. The disease could change shape and effect, and in the end it will undetected and will became the greatest disease in the world without antidote. She don't want that to happen, tired of try to help herself, and suicide. That's why the person on the phone ask her to get out from the place at 3 pm but end up on 12 pm. Leah in hebrew could mean "tired".
Best Way Of Explaining Kan xD
I have a theory about the game, and it goes along with what you're asking. Basically, certain aspects of the game control the ending you get (let's assume there isn't one ending), and depending on what you do and don't do, certain things will happen and others won't. I've come to realised that checking the e-mails and answering the phone calls could affect the ending. I've tried out my theory a bit, and discovered that if you don't pick up the bear it ends up in a different spot than if you do.
Best video on the internet keep it up
Despite of people saying he might be Cry, his voice is rather sexier than Cry. :')
it made me download it.
i hope you are happy now.
Hello fox ? I'm not a fox man !
PS : To The Moon is one of the greatest stories I've ever lived whether it might be a game or a movie.
PS2 : I consider you as a fucking GENIUS, thank you sir.
My best guess as to the story line is that this Leah is some kind of doctor/microbiologist, and she was studying that stuff in the jar, which happened to be a deadly disease. This disease was being studied to try to find a cure/solution for it due to a smell breakout of it that had been temporarily contained. Leah, probably a high up in this study, had accidentally caught it, and unfortunately one of the symptoms is hallucinations. At the same time she caught it, the containment failed, and the
You're voice is LEGENDARY. Great games by the way. Keep it up!
...the birdie or herself doesn't show). The name The Mirror Lied might have to do with her thinking it'd be alright to escape (which is what the game makes us do and think is the right way?) when in reality she was never supposed to at the start.
Basically how I write my school essays.
@Reivier two small snippets.. as in- before you play the game? excuse me- i'm just so slow at this stuff. sorry!
I... was not expecting his voice to be that deep. o_o
I found the sample liquid strange though. It fades after you look at it 3 times. Maybe it's not a virus?
I pretty much mean that if you think the creator put something in the game for no special reason, then you can interpret it so. If you think it's important, then it is. If not, then it's not.
I don't know much about furnaces, but they definitely did something to create that fire. I also have no clue what those switches do. All I know is that they didn't work til later on in the story.
your voice is so perfect for this....
it was made in four days....soo yeah
this is like telling a history but withoud giving motives for the history to continue or even why it has begun
BEST Q&A SESSION EVER!!!
TO THE MOON WAS AMAZINNNGGGG, do a Q&A for that too please :)
This was just like a moment where The Doctor knows nothing.
Yea, they do sound kinda similar.
But Cry's name is Ryan.......
Thanks, this really helped me understand the story!
After I read most of the comments and think about it a lot, I start to think like this. Leah is a very sad girl. Her parents seems so bad to her and ignore her I presume? I don't really know about that, but I know for sure that Leah is sick. Her parents lock her inside the house to make sure her disease didn't spread to other people (until the key is weirdly anywhere! How nuts her parents could become?). She wants to free so she start to do some research for keys.
That explains it quite well and I love your voice.
i know there are many deep theories on that game... but the only thing i can come up with is the apocalypse
LOL, he actually is. If you were extremely observant you will see it the hint.
Speechless.
That depends. I mean, perhaps it was made for you to just create your own interpretation. It's not throwing it all in, it's giving cool concepts room for creativity. If a game was designed to give the player that kind of freedom then critique it that way. I found myself thinking about how what if it wasn't a cure and disease but instead creation and destruction. and how each would play those roles- To me it's just really fun to be able to have your own interp
Evidence definitely seem to point out that way! Since the email-er couldn't get in touch with the girl, but the phone person easily could.
This whole game is pretty scary in my opinion.
I just played the game today and came here for answers... I think this was the best answer I could have ever gotten xD
It really says something when the developer doesn't know the true meaning. I guess that just means it's open for interpretation
Lord knows what happens if you don't water the plant perhaps you are just stuck until you provide enough water. Still I don't think these is a more detailed ending. If there was I imagine someone would have found it by now and dropped it on youtube.
I thought you were gonna say: "Hello my name is Kan and I'm BATMAN!"
you could have atleast made something up ...i mean for goodness sake you had un explained liquid in the jar that you seem to examine it dies when light gets on it...i mean theres so many ways you could have gone about this...
however its kinda funny that alot of ppl doesn't know what its about ...and hell i played it and enjoyed every minute of it.
THIS GUY EXPLAINS IT PERFECTLY!!!
Do think there is a different ending? I felt as if it could of been one. If you could maybe do all the tasks. Or not specific ones would get a different outcome? like not water plant or something.
Oh my pleasure. Spamming the comments in these videos and getting slightly off topic was fun anyways~
When I first saw the picture of the Oni I got so freaked out. It was burned into my memory for a long time.
Now it no longer scares me. Seeing it repeatedly have it's affect.
If you do play it, I wish you good luck, /salute/
I just want to know what the second switch does. What 61|5491 is supposed to mean. Why the books are blank. Why the weird liquid goes from bacteria to psychedelic to black-and-white psychedelic to nothing.why we could water the decorative foliage. What was with the bear we could carry around. Why two shelving units disappear after we search them. Why pictures are just going blank. And, most of all, are there actually any mirrors, even ones that don't lie.
I know its a 10 year old comment but if u see this look at the top comment here for some answers to your q's. As for the mirror lied part, water is also a mirror, apparently the water in the tubs and sinks turns red towards the end of the game, this water isn't safe to drink and if the fan theory is right (And likely is) then the girl and the world itself is sick with a deadly decease. Birdie lies to us, Birdie is the cause of everything and since Birdie is also in the water (which itself is a mirror), this means the mirror lied to us. To make sense of this and more see that top comment please.
Wow! What a twist! I would have never guessed! Thanks for clearing that up for me!
It's @7thJun it's called Cry's Top 3 Weird Things he did as a Kid
It's an ambiguous plot. A good one too.
I like his voice.
I feel so bad for you. At least I went into the game expecting something creepy. I probably would have ran away screaming if I was expecting a game full of sparkles and unicorns.
And the "this is not a horror game. Nothing will jump out at you" made me suspicious. At least nothing really did jump out.
dont tell me its just random events and random words coming together and it was made into a game???????? I EXPECTED SOOO MUCH OF THIS...
and that everyone was the Q&A
Cry's name is Ryan, I believe...
i just went into the game after finishing it, chose 'yes' and now im even more confused.
EVERYONE HE IS NOT CRY!! even if he was he'd never show his face anyway
Ah, of course, it all makes sense now! :D
O_O when i first heard his voice i paused the video cuz my mind said "DAMN HIS VOICE IS SEXY!!" and i was like o-o
...Oh NOW I get it!
i loved the art of the game :D
A seemingly adorable game turning a bit creepy? That reminds me of a certain pigeon dating game.//smacked.
I'm more scared by psychological horror I suppose (yet I still love that genre). And same here. I DO NOT go well with jump scares. AT ALL. Especially when it's at the middle of the night, I'm alone, and still doing homework.
If so, he must be a pretty good liar. Did you see how much Cry cried in To the Moon?
He's a guy who basically plays video games and posts them for others to watch. He never shows his face so no one knows what he looks like and all we have to go off is his voice. A lot of people on his videos say that he has a "sexy" sounding voice that is a bit similar to this guy's because they are both low and rough. I guess people are now assuming since linked to this guys video to "explain" the game that they secretely are the same person. So, yea, that's who Cry is, lol.
And the bacteria changed and eventually went missing.
Batman voice.
Along with what you said I also think there was a disease going around. I got this from the stinking globe and the maps that slowly disappeared. Also the color of close she could get. Also the fact (Haven't played the game in a while) That someone stated that its in the water. I think the bird is freedom or realization thats why she killed herself in the end. I had other theories but I haven't played this game in awhile
2 quick question if you don't mind answering:How are the other chapters on Quintessence going?
and are you going to do more games like it,i mean RPG Fantasy type.
I simply fell in love with that game it's amazing and you are even more amazing for making it.Now that i'm in college i'll see what i can do about making some donations you deserve it
yep. i think this video just about sums it up.
I've been wondering, can you make a mac version of The Mirror Lied? I don't have a PC and I really wanna play the game u v u
I just beat the game in around half an hour, but I still don't understand it! I let the music box play throughout the whole thing. It gave a kind of weird horror-ish kind of feeling. But it wasn't horror at all o.O
Only thing I got is it's a story about a girl who has to accept she's dead.