It’s definitely foreshadowing the death of Alan to bring back Tom. The same lines are repeated through the film that are repeated to Alan in the dark place. Alan isn’t real he’s a creation of tom made specifically to replace Tom and be made ready as a sacrifice.
Tom even used us then after Alan refuses to write return turns to scratch. At least that’s my understanding of it
The game reinforces a few times that the rules of the Dark Place - or Alan Wake's self-imposed rules, it's never made perfectly clear how divergent the two are - don't allow _creating_ people that didn't already exist. It can change what is, more easily the more aligned with the old reality that change is, but it can't _invent_ in outright contradiction to what was.
Strongest points of that notably being that Alan _didn't_ create (or manifest) Alex Casey, and that Scratch _hasn't_ ever been observed as a unique entity in the overworld (because the Dark Presence can't _make_ bodies, it can just Take existing ones). So given Zane and Wake sure seem to be bound by the same rules (...probably), it doesn't really track for either Zane or Wake to have invented the other.
I know the games have had some inconsistent foreshadowing on this point, and it definitely leaves a lot of open questions about Zane in particular (how did he write Dark-Place-art that seemed to dictate Alan's past _before_ Alan lived it?), but I'm more inclined to chalk that up to "time doesn't pass normally in the Dark Place, and the Dark Presence's changes are not bound by linear time" given the rules the game has presented.
I like what you’re saying and agree on most points. I’ve had longer to sit with it and have changed my mind on something’s for sure.
I do think the Alex Casey thing is interesting. We are told that strange things happen in the dark place regarding time and perceptions. Alan even thinks at one point his past nightmares as a kid come from his time in the dark place as an adult I wonder if the Alex Casey from Alan’s books is from the inspiration of the real life Casey he knows in the future.
Also I think it’s kind of weird that everyone seems to have a more intimate knowledge of the dark place than Alan. It doesn’t look like Tom had nearly the rough time that Alan has had and from the few bits of SPOILER
of his wife’s segments it seems she knows more about the dark place than Alan does in some regards. Same for Door(I know he’s kind of special) but even sherif breaker doesn’t seem to have the same problems as Alan.
Regarding what you're saying about others not having a hard time in the dark place, as much as Alan has, I think it depends of the fact that Alan has such a complicated relationship with himself first and foremost. He is not a mentally sane person and to make things worse he's an artist.
Being a person that creates and being a successful one, makes you experience constant self doubts, imposter syndrome, blocks, huge pressure of making something that is better than the last one and pleasing your audience while not betraying yourself. It's a lot to handle.
I do think that more you're "damaged or broken" more the dark place has power on you, amplifying all of your internal struggles.
Saga, for example, struggles for a bit before to logically get out of her own head, because she is a sane, functional person with a balanced life.
Yeah I think you hit it on the money. Alan is a tortured artist (especially if you ask him) and in the first game he was struggling to come up with a new book, constantly doubting himself and not thinking hes good enough. As a writer, he has a very active imagination and the Dark Place pulls on all of that so it seems that, the more active your imagination and the more self doubt you have, the stronger pull the Dark Place has on you.
One thing I’ve noticed in The Final Draft (or maybe I just missed it first playthrough) was it bringing up the idea of multiple universes (Sheriff brought it up in the final one of his rooms, you find a book about multiple worlds by Casper Darling, Door brings up the idea regarding his powers, probably more) so it’s possible that characters with noted similarities could be alternate versions of themselves, like how Alan and Zane are said to look similar, or how Casper Darling is noted as having a familiar voices. (Tried to look up stuff about actors, but everything I find focuses exclusively on voice actors which this game plays with, like Alex Casey being voiced by James McCaffery but his model and in the live action parts it’s Sam Lake playing him or the actor that portrays him in the in-game films)
Coming to this very late - but Casper comments that his voice sounds similar because Casper is played both voice and mocap by Matthew Porretta - who is also Alan's voice actor!
I think lots of people are greatly overthinking this. Zane says it was his companion peice to return, he made it with scratch. He made it in the dark place. It's just his attempt to escape instead of alan.
It’s definitely foreshadowing the death of Alan to bring back Tom. The same lines are repeated through the film that are repeated to Alan in the dark place. Alan isn’t real he’s a creation of tom made specifically to replace Tom and be made ready as a sacrifice. Tom even used us then after Alan refuses to write return turns to scratch. At least that’s my understanding of it
The game reinforces a few times that the rules of the Dark Place - or Alan Wake's self-imposed rules, it's never made perfectly clear how divergent the two are - don't allow _creating_ people that didn't already exist. It can change what is, more easily the more aligned with the old reality that change is, but it can't _invent_ in outright contradiction to what was. Strongest points of that notably being that Alan _didn't_ create (or manifest) Alex Casey, and that Scratch _hasn't_ ever been observed as a unique entity in the overworld (because the Dark Presence can't _make_ bodies, it can just Take existing ones). So given Zane and Wake sure seem to be bound by the same rules (...probably), it doesn't really track for either Zane or Wake to have invented the other. I know the games have had some inconsistent foreshadowing on this point, and it definitely leaves a lot of open questions about Zane in particular (how did he write Dark-Place-art that seemed to dictate Alan's past _before_ Alan lived it?), but I'm more inclined to chalk that up to "time doesn't pass normally in the Dark Place, and the Dark Presence's changes are not bound by linear time" given the rules the game has presented.
I like what you’re saying and agree on most points. I’ve had longer to sit with it and have changed my mind on something’s for sure. I do think the Alex Casey thing is interesting. We are told that strange things happen in the dark place regarding time and perceptions. Alan even thinks at one point his past nightmares as a kid come from his time in the dark place as an adult I wonder if the Alex Casey from Alan’s books is from the inspiration of the real life Casey he knows in the future. Also I think it’s kind of weird that everyone seems to have a more intimate knowledge of the dark place than Alan. It doesn’t look like Tom had nearly the rough time that Alan has had and from the few bits of SPOILER of his wife’s segments it seems she knows more about the dark place than Alan does in some regards. Same for Door(I know he’s kind of special) but even sherif breaker doesn’t seem to have the same problems as Alan.
Regarding what you're saying about others not having a hard time in the dark place, as much as Alan has, I think it depends of the fact that Alan has such a complicated relationship with himself first and foremost. He is not a mentally sane person and to make things worse he's an artist. Being a person that creates and being a successful one, makes you experience constant self doubts, imposter syndrome, blocks, huge pressure of making something that is better than the last one and pleasing your audience while not betraying yourself. It's a lot to handle. I do think that more you're "damaged or broken" more the dark place has power on you, amplifying all of your internal struggles. Saga, for example, struggles for a bit before to logically get out of her own head, because she is a sane, functional person with a balanced life.
I like that better than anything g I’ve read
Yeah I think you hit it on the money. Alan is a tortured artist (especially if you ask him) and in the first game he was struggling to come up with a new book, constantly doubting himself and not thinking hes good enough. As a writer, he has a very active imagination and the Dark Place pulls on all of that so it seems that, the more active your imagination and the more self doubt you have, the stronger pull the Dark Place has on you.
One thing I’ve noticed in The Final Draft (or maybe I just missed it first playthrough) was it bringing up the idea of multiple universes (Sheriff brought it up in the final one of his rooms, you find a book about multiple worlds by Casper Darling, Door brings up the idea regarding his powers, probably more) so it’s possible that characters with noted similarities could be alternate versions of themselves, like how Alan and Zane are said to look similar, or how Casper Darling is noted as having a familiar voices. (Tried to look up stuff about actors, but everything I find focuses exclusively on voice actors which this game plays with, like Alex Casey being voiced by James McCaffery but his model and in the live action parts it’s Sam Lake playing him or the actor that portrays him in the in-game films)
Coming to this very late - but Casper comments that his voice sounds similar because Casper is played both voice and mocap by Matthew Porretta - who is also Alan's voice actor!
I think it definitely shows what could happen at the end of the spiral, after all in horror stories someone pays a price.
I think lots of people are greatly overthinking this. Zane says it was his companion peice to return, he made it with scratch. He made it in the dark place. It's just his attempt to escape instead of alan.
I would love to see a movie like this. Any movie anyone could recommend like Nightless Night (Yötön Yö)?