History Fridge / TheBindingOfIsaac

* The Steam Sale, seemingly a very useful item, looks like some blatant butt-kissing. Once you've gotten it on The Womb [[spoiler:or later]], you realize [[BitingTheHandHumor sales sometimes come infuriatingly late]].
** If you manage to take the Steam Sale to the [[spoiler:Blue Womb's shop[[note]]which Greed will never spawn in[[/note]]]], though, you might find yourself taking advantage of a sale at the last minute.

* ''Rebirth'' adds a secret character, [[spoiler:The Lost. The only way to unlock this character is to die repeatedly. In other words, ''lose the game.'']]
** And why can't this character gain any hearts? [[spoiler:He's a ghost, so the food health upgrades just pass through him. He's already a soul, so soul hearts are ineffective, and since he's a [[GeniusBonus holy ghost]], dark hearts are rejected by him.]]
* There are 31^8 possible seed combinations (excluding 5, I, O, U, and V). This turns out to be a Bible passage -- Deuteronomy 31:8. What does the passage read? [[spoiler:"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”]]

* Many of the [[spoiler:Keeper's]] unlocks either benefit only himself or are just straight-up not very good. [[spoiler:Then again, he is pretty much a playable Greed, and given Greed's tendency to be, well, a greedy jerk...]]

* The final ending explains a lot about the story. It's shown earlier that Isaac's Mom has put up posters for her missing child, and [[spoiler:she eventually finds his bones in the chest he's suffocated himself in. Now, Isaac's remains have clearly been there a long time, given they've decomposed already... why did it take her so long to simply look in the chest? The final ending explains this ''and'' Isaac's method of suicide: the chest used to contain their family pictures, with Dad burnt out of all of them. ''Of course'' a chest stuffed to the brim with terrible memories would be the ''last'' place Mom would look!]]
* Why is [[spoiler:Delirium]] immune to the [[OneHitKill Chaos Card?]] Because [[spoiler:it already represents chaos itself, mainly Isaac's mind breaking down.]]

* Credit cards let you buy things and pay for them in the future. That the Credit Card item lets you have things for free is foreshadowing [[spoiler: that Isaac has no future.]]

* Considering the truth of Isaac hiding in the chest, [[spoiler:the murderous incarnaton of Mom in his dream turns into a delirium-fueled interpretation of the thought "Mom's gonna kill me if she finds out".]]

* Why does Isaac start with a bomb? [[spoiler:He wants to die quickly.]]
* During the fights with Mom and Mom's Heart/It Lives, Mom keeps yelling "ISAAC!" Just the crazed bellows of a child murderer, right? [[spoiler:Wrong. They're the desperate shouts of a mother frantically searching for her son, filtering into his DyingDream.]]
* The final revelation of [[spoiler: Isaac's death is pretty horrifying when you realize how ''long'' he must've been in the chest. One would at least hope he would've suffocated relatively quickly, but then one has to consider Delirium. Not the boss, but the condition itself. It can cause serious mental confusion and hallucinations, which can explain Isaac's DyingDream, but it doesn't occur as a result of suffocation. Something that can cause delirium? Severe dehydration, which sets in after one to two days without water. Three to five days without water, and the skin will start to turn grayish blue. What color does Isaac turn in one of those shot in Ending 20? At minimum, Isaac must've been in that chest, slowly dying and hallucinating, for almost ''a week.'']]

* Demon Beggars take your health, and usually give you pills or syringe items in exchange. They're drug dealers.

* Azazel is usually portrayed as either {{Satan}} or [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils a demon working for him]], so it may seem odd that in this he's on Isaac's side and not Satan's. However, if you look at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_of_Abraham Apocalypse of Abraham]] it actually makes sense. For the unfamiliar, in the Old Testament, Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac to prove his devotion to God. He prepares the sacrifice, then at the last minute God sends an angel to tell Abraham to kill a ram instead of Isaac. The Apocalypse of Abraham also gives an account of Abraham's sacrifice (what he's going to sacrifice is not explicitly stated, but it's reasonable to assume that it's Isaac). As Abraham prepares the sacrifice, Azazel turns up and tries to convince Abraham to leave. Yahoel, an angel who is guiding Abraham, tells Azazel off then [[TurnInYourBadge takes Azazel's angelic clothes]] and gives them to Abraham instead. Abraham then performs his sacrifice and receives a vision of heaven. If the two accounts are combined, this means that at the very least Azazel tried to save Isaac's life. YMMV on whether God simply changed his mind at the last second or [[AllAccordingToPlan planned it all]], and whether Abraham actually intended to sacrifice Isaac, but it's possible that Azazel might have actually saved Isaac by buying time for God to change his mind and the messenger from God to arrive.

* ''Rebirth'' added a character named Azazel, a demon that starts with flight and a [[FrickinLaserBeams short-range laser attack]]. He's considered to be the most powerful character in the game. However, [[ItsEasySoItSucks some people think that he's so powerful that winning a game as him isn't as much fun]], which takes away some of the game's soul. That's right -- when you play as Azazel, you are [[DealWithTheDevil selling your soul for power]].

* ''Rebirth'' added a character named Azazel, a demon that starts with flight and a [[FrickinLaserBeams short-range laser attack]]. He's considered to be the most powerful character in the game. However, he's so powerful that winning a game as him isn't as much fun, which takes away some of the game's soul. That's right -- when you play as Azazel, you are [[DealWithTheDevil selling your soul for power]].

* Why does the Bible beat Mom instantly? Besides the story reason, I mean. Well, she's obviously deranged and could be considered a Christian InNameOnly, considering she only seems to follow her own bizarre interpretation of the Scripture. By showing her the Bible, you're revealing to her how off base she really is and she's unable to handle having her worldview shattered.

* Considering the truth of Isaac hiding in the chest, [[spoiler:the murderous incarnaton of Mom in his dream turns into a delirium-fueled interpretation of the thought "Mom's gonna kill me if she finds out" as he dies.]]

* Another of the Sins, Wrath, only attacks you with bombs. He can be damaged by these bombs, which doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense...except that angry, or wrathful, people often do things that end up being '''self-destructive.'''

* May fit under Fridge Horror, but ??? starts off with "the Poop." At first, I assumed this was purely because ??? is the LethalJokeCharacter, so he starts out with the joke item. However, when someone dies, the muscles within their body relax, resulting in [[NoDeadBodyPoops a post-mortem bowel evacuation]]. ??? starts out with Poop because that's actually all he had!

* During the fight with Mom and Mom's Heart/It Lives, Mom keeps yelling "ISAAC!" Just the crazed bellows of a child murderer, right? [[spoiler:Wrong. They're the desperate shouts of a mother frantically searching for her son, filtering into his DyingDream.]]

** Or maybe he's not the posthumous version of the Haunt so much as the "didn't bother to get dressed" version.

* [[DesperationAttack Whore of Babylon]] transforms the character into a demon with high attack power, but only when you have only one heart - AKA when you are near death. ??? does not have regular hearts, ever, therefore having [=WoB=] always active. Makes sense, since he is a Dead Blue Baby, and therefore as close to death as possible.

* A recent patch finally allows a method to remove The Tick, how? The matchstick. After all, [[KillItWithFire you're burning the bug to death so that it falls off.]]
* The final ending explains a lot about the story. It's shown earlier that Isaac's Mom has put up posters for her missing child, and [[spoiler: she eventually finds his bones in the chest he's suffocated himself in. Now, Isaac's remains have clearly been there a long time, given they've decomposed already... why did it take her so long to simply look in the chest? The final ending explains this ''and'' Isaac's method of suicide: the chest used to contain their family pictures, with Dad burnt out of all of them. ''Of course'' a chest stuffed to the brim with terrible memories would be the ''last'' place Mom would look!]]

* May fit under Fridge Horror, but ??? starts off with "the Poop." At first, I assumed this was purely because ??? is the LethalJokeCharacter, so he starts out with the joke item. However, when someone dies, the muscles within their body relax, resulting in a post-mortem bowel evacuation. ??? starts out with Poop because that's actually all he had!
* The Whore of Babylon is a curse effect when you drop to half a heart. When Eve ate the fruit and became the first sinner, she was cursed by God and cast out of paradise; this why Eve in game has to carry this curse no matter what.

*** This is continued with the items you get for beating the Lamb in Rebirth, where these items were moved. Azazel's unlock, though, doesn't make any sense. This is because this is unlocked through the Sheol path. However, if you beat ??? as him, you get Abbadon, which is a representation of the entrance to hell. So, if you take the Cathedral path, Azazel has lost his way home. Isaac's item was changed to the Missing Poster because he "lost" himself. Lazarus's item, the Pandora's box, doesn't make sense because Lazarus was one of the people whose life was touched by Jesus. Lazarus was essentially pure, of course his item would be pure evil and because of that, his item doesn't make sense. None of Eden's items make sense because Eden isn't human. The items don't make sense because they wouldn't be recognizable. And to top it all off, The Lost's items for beating Satan, The Lamb, and ??? are all things that The Lost has lost. His mind, his body, and his soul.

* There are 31^8 possible seed combinations (excluding 5, I, O, U, and V). This turns out to be a Bible passage - Deuteronomy 31:8. What does the passage read? [[spoiler:"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”]]

** On a similar note, Bad Trip is normally just some drug that hurts Isaac. But when he's at 1/2 heart, it becomes Full Health. Isaac's so hurt that giving him the Bad Trip drug makes him hallucinate and more pain resistant, allowing him to keep limping along.

** Many of the "Humanoid" monsters look like Isaac, Why are there so many of them? Unless "God" demands many a sacrifice....

* Afterbirth gives us the Burning Basement. While the environment combined with the music is pretty awesome in itself, it does make you wonder - why IS the basement on fire in the first place? Is Isaac's mom that determined to sacrifice Isaac that she is willing to burn the whole house to the ground just to take him down?

* [[DesperationAttack Whore of Babylon]] transforms the character into a demon with high attack power, but only when you have only one heart - AKA when you are near death. ??? does not have regular hearts, ever, therefore maintaining [=WoB=] always active. Makes sense, since he is a Dead Blue Baby, and therefore as close to death as possible.
* Look at the names of the playable characters: Isaac (a sacrifice to god), Judas (a traitor), Cain (a murderer), Magdelene (a whore)[[note]]Mind you, that reputation is undeserved, but [[CommonKnowledge most people don't know otherwise]][[/note]], and Eve (the first sinner). Says a lot of what Mom thinks of her kids, doesn't it?

** Also, when you think about it, Isaac being a sacrifice for his mother means he's most likely thinking about being killed by mother, and thus decapitation. Also, the head joins you like other, dead or imaginary, familiars.

* Why does having flight allow you into a Curse Room without taking damage, but still hurts you on the way out? It's because the spikes in facing ''into'' the room, meaning that Isaac must prick himself trying to squeeze his way back out!

* There are 31^8 possible seed combinations (excluding 5, I, O, U, and V). This turns out to be a bible passage - Deuteronomy 31:8. What does the passage read? [[spoiler:"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”]]

** Although, as it is likely that the Mulligans, along with all the other enemies, are actually Isaac, then killing him would be the only way to truly commit suicide and end their existence... The non-bomb varieties tend to run away from Isaac as well - like they don't like him much like themselves.

* Afterbirth gives us the [[spoiler: Burning Basement. While the environment combined with the music is pretty awesome in itself, it does make you wonder - why IS the basement on fire in the first place? Is Isaac's mom that determined to sacrifice Isaac that she is willing to burn the whole house to the ground just to take him down?]]

* [[spoiler: The Forsaken. Why is there a posthumous version of a ghost?]]