Aug 212017
Today is a total solar eclipse!
Not only that, but this is the eclipse that some fans speculated was the eclipse in Life Is Strange, displaced from time.
Warning: This post will include Life Is Strange spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk.
What’s that? Oh, just an unscheduled solar eclipse, no worries.
Of course, now we know that wasn’t the case. It was…
Uh…
Chaos theory…?
If you’ve read my review of Life Is Strange, you know I wasn’t thrilled with the lack of explanation for some of the more supernatural events.
The game gradually shows more and more things going wrong with the world:
- Early snowstorm
- Unscheduled eclipse
- Dead birds and beached whales
- Two moons
- Massive storm/tornado
It all culminates in the appearance of the storm (which Max has an unexplained vision of before getting her powers), and the game finally suggests it’s due to chaos theory. Basically, tiny changes have major effects.
All right, I can see that with the unusual weather and dead animals… but the eclipse? Two moons in the sky?!
How did one girl not dying on a specific day cause the moon to change positions and a second moon to briefly appear? When I first saw the second moon, I thought it was evidence of two different timelines overlapping somehow, but the game gives a rushed explanation of chaos theory to say this is all because of Max’s decision to save Chloe.
And it really does seem linked to Chloe’s death rather than to Max’s powers. Rewinding time and saving Chloe leads to the tornado. Rewinding time and not saving Chloe prevents the tornado.
Some people have argued that saving Chloe put you on a path where you had to use your powers over and over, so all those changes add up. However, the Polarized timeline shows this isn’t necessarily true. Max can save Chloe, give David the information he needs, and never need to use her powers… but the tornado still occurs.
I kind of prefer the thinking that led to the theory that their eclipse was this eclipse, that Max’s powers were messing with time on a larger scale and causing time-based anomalies in Arcadia Bay. Snow appeared out of season. An eclipse occurred several years too early.
Would that mean a giant tornado awaits in Arcadia Bay’s future, and sacrificing Chloe just delayed it?
(Talk about depressing.)
Then there’s the other theory, that Dontnod originally intended more supernatural origin for the storm.
Evidence for this includes the early references to Native American lore and spirit animals, Max’s vision occurring before she gains her powers, unresolved build-up about Sean Prescott and the Prescott family, and unused audio files in which Nathan knew about the storm.
Will Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, due out at the end of the month, shed any further light on this? Will the sequel, which will feature a new location and cast of characters, tie into this at all? That’s hard to say. And it’s not that I think Life Is Strange was bad… but when I look back on this, it makes me think that the final ending could have been so much more interesting.
What do you think caused the weather and meteorological anomalies in Life Is Strange? Was it just chaos theory? Do you believe there was a different explanation that was removed?
And for those of you in the path of the eclipse, enjoy!
I think all strange phenomena are caused by Max’s subconscious. The tornado = because of the Vortex Club, also the deer = because of the snow globe in Chloe’s room, it represents Rachel (the globe is broken = Rachel is dead, the deer is also in the junkyard where Rachel’s body is buried), the whales = the Two Whales Diner where Joyce works. The eclypse is due to the second moon in the sky but it beats me what they represent.
Also: of course the snowstorm = the snow globes collection in Chloe’s room.
That’s an interesting theory. I hadn’t thought about all the parallels with other things in the story.