Amanda The Adventurer and fairies

 originally posted on tumblr, May 31st 2023

 imo we're too focused on christian mythos with all the demons and sacrificial lambs, and forgetting the very pointed celtic mythology cues in this narrative and I'm here to be the change I wanna see in the world, so let's go!

game spoilers below, you know the deal uwu

I think the biggest hint that we should not get hung up on Christian mythology, is the fact that in the very introduction with the letter by Aunt Kate, she pointed says "by the gods." Not "by God", gods plurals. We're to take a polytheistic angle with this, but which exactly is nebulous at first.

Behind the Catching Up With Colton news clipping, there's news about a Celtic relic, the crown of the stag, being stolen, and suspicion of a gang called the Demons. This was pointed out as an easter egg from another game, but I feel there's more to it.

For the most obvious lead, there's the Pied Piper theory for Hameln entertainment, which is a fairytale. In the Coffee Break tape, we see how Sam wanted to "show the world is a magical place" which I do believe he meant as just that, being optimistic as he's characterized, but that's also a lot of settings in fairytales. There's the known world and the fantastical, magical world. And to expand on that, the setting of the story being limited to a single city and community instead of being something with a broader reach matches the usual setting of a fairytale being restricted to a single village or town. Not that unlike the Pied Piper story itself, set in the city of Hamelin.

If you really want to squint at it, things such as baking and sending cookies as a form of thanks, while pretty common daily life things are also linked to rituals to pacify the fey and offer thanks to magical beings. Cookies and pies are also incredibly common baked goods in fairytales, and for instance, the tale of Hansel and Gretel has a house of candies that lure them inside, to a witch who would fatten them up and eat them. While sweets are present in the tapes, they are often exchanged for pieces of meat and organs, almost as if they are interchangeable.

Bringing it back to the Celtic Relic clipping, there's a long explanation that the crown was given as a peace promise between the Fey and the human kings. As such, let's take a look at Celtic mythology.

Foxes in myth are messengers between worlds and are often connected to the afterlife. Also, foxes are often portrayed as fey-aligned creatures, due to their mischievous and cunning nature. Also to go broader than that, there are the myths of Reynard the Fox, a trickster spirit in folktales across Europe that often coexists with Isengrim the Wolf. It's also a common trope that foxes can shapeshift.

Picking a fox to die in a hidden bear trap is quite symbolic in itself. The fairytale character who outwits all and escapes the most difficult situations has been bested, not only defeated but killed. "Silly Mr. Fox" can not only be a display that there is no clever way out of this trap, but also that traveling between worlds is impossible or will kill you.

Now to the "Lonely Kitten", she's clearly representative of Rebecca, caught in a trap as well and without help in sight. When you try to help her, you end up as one more hanging piece of meat. Cats however are more deeply connected to fairies than foxes, with myths like the Cat-sìth which steal souls from the deceased and can curse folks who won't pacify them. One is even described as "the king of cats." While these cats are described as big as dogs, and black with a spot of white on their chests, choosing a cat is quite the artistic choice.

As for Wooly, sheep have in christian mythos the symbolism of the sacrificial lamb and so on, but let's take a look at Celtic tradition.

In Irish myth, the goddess Brigid (associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, smithing and domesticated animals) was the owner of Cirb, a castrated ram who was king of all the rams and sheep of Ireland. Brigid was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of gods that became the Aen Seidhe. The fairies.

Furthermore, Cirb rules even over the seven sheep that belong to Manannán, a warrior god and ruler of the Otherworld, a realm of gods and the dead. He's responsible for keeping it hidden with a veil of invisibility, and it has been pointed out that at least two of the demons Rebecca is made to recite the names of are also granters of invisibility. Not only that, these sheep were fabled to produce enough wool to clothe every man, woman, and child the world over.

In a crossroads of christian and pagan, there's a myth that animals gain the power of speech after the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, including sheep. On most stories, it can only happen when they are observed and are unknowingly overheard by humans. There's also the common trope that children can hear the voice of animals while adults cannot, as a show of the magic of innocence.

I can't quite especulate much beyond this, but I think there's something to chew on here.