History WMG / LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and hair is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. Compare https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v to http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/rememberme/images/d/df/Homeless_Profile.png/revision/latest?cb=20150403183247

** Confirmed in Episode 2!

[[spoiler: For Chloe, the raven is a messenger to mortals and connects between life and death. This is evident when it appears in Chloe's nightmare, which William was present giving her insight and advice about Rachel. It also symbolizes prophetic insight, supported in Chloe's nightmare that Chloe's journal of Max is three years later and Max's text saying she will see Chloe when Chloe is dead. For Rachel, the raven represents her trickster and manipulative nature that even Chloe calls out that Rachel likes to play games, act, and lie. Rachel also seems to be manipulative, especially getting Chloe to open up while revealing little about herself and influencing her on bad habits such as stealing bottle of wine. ]]

[[WMG: Rachel has superpowers.]]
[[spoiler: When Rachel and Chloe are burning Rachel's picture, Rachel started the forest fire. We see her scream triggering a strong wind that fanned the flames. It is also be interpreted that Rachel is the storm in the main game Life is Strange. A sign at the beginning would be that Rachel plays Tempest’s Prospera, a sorceress with power to create a storm. There are a few possibilities if Rachel is the storm. As Rachel died likely knowing Jefferson and Nathan’s schemes due to her angry expression in the Jefferson picture, the resulting storm could be not Max's fault at all but instead Rachel's curse or revenge on Arcadia Bay due to her dreams being destroyed and her dislike of Arcadia Bay from her eagerness to leave. There's also a deleted line from Life is Strange episode 5 that had nightmare Rachel speaking directly to Max in the dark room about now she can never reach her dreams now that she is dead. Another interpretation of the storm would be that Max's vision of the storm is a message from Rachel to Max and is the catalyst for Max’s powers in order to guide and reunite Max and Chloe to find out the truth about her death and other women by Nathan and Jefferson. Her doe spirit also leads Max and Chloe to her buried body and guiding Max and Chloe to the beacon of lighthouse. ]]
** [[spoiler:Another explanation is that Rachel's existence created a kind of balance of the winds, which was disrupted by her death. This caused the massive storm over Arcadia Bay.]]
** [[spoiler:If Rachel causes the storm as revenge for her death, then that puts the ending of the first game in a new light. It's not that Max's powers cause the storm, it's that Chloe needs to die so that she can soothe Rachel's spirit and they can pass on together]].
** Jossed, at least in reference to [[spoiler:the forest fire]]. Rachel herself seems completely unaware of having powers assuming she does unlike Max or [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2 Daniel]], nor does she confide in Chloe about them. WordOfGod [[https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/03/27/deck-nine-talks-deleted-scenes-and-queer-characters-in-life-is-strange-prequel.aspx states that]] the implication and ambiguity of Rachel having powers was entirely deliberate, but never supposed to be taken as absolute fact, and that Rachel's actual "power" is her charisma.

[[WMG: The mistress will be an antagonist.]]
[[spoiler: There is a mysterious woman in a white dress smiling at the forest fire at the end of the episode. This woman appears throughout episode 1. She was kissing Rachel’s father and was waiting under the tree when Rachel and Chloe were just arriving at the park. When this mistress was sitting close to the forest fire, it's possible she knows that Rachel and Chloe started it. It seems the woman knows much more about Rachel than Rachel about her. Is she also plotting against Rachel in her murder? Or she is going use her knowledge of the forest fire to blackmail Rachel and Chloe in the future?]]
** [[spoiler:Jossed. One could say she might even be a HeroAntagonist for the first episode.]]

[[WMG: The mistress is the homeless woman.]]
[[spoiler: Crack theory: They both have similar hairstyles and both know of Rachel and Chloe since the mistress could be watching Chloe and Rachel burning the forest. Also, the homeless lady knows a lot about Arcadia Bay and its residents and says she sees everything while no one sees her. ]]

[[spoiler: She looks similar enough to Rachel to be related. It's plausible that Rachel is the result of an affair years ago and abandoned by her mother to be raised by her father and his wife. Now that he's a District Attorney she could be trying to get back in the picture.]]
** [[spoiler: CONFIRMED]] in Episode 2

** [[spoiler: Confirmed: His actions form the basis of an important choice in episode 2 (so he's officially an antagonist) and he clearly isn't done]]

[[WMG: Samantha will be DoomedByCanon]]
* The fact that she has a crush on Nathan opens the possibility of her being [[spoiler: one of Nathan and Jefferson's first victims]].
** Potentially jossed, [[spoiler: There's no folder with Samantha's name on it in Nathan and Jefferson's creep cave. It's entirely possible she wasn't even around when Jefferson arrived at the school.]]

* This could also relate to why the storm in Arcadia Bay centers around Chloe's survival, and doesn't appear if [[spoiler:you let Chloe sacrifice herself]], even though that too overextends Max's time travel: because in reality, ''she'' is the cause of the storm, creating it with her own emotional turmoil over learning Rachel Amber's fate.
** Also, why birds and whales keep dying in [[spoiler:the alternate timeline: Chloe's own desire to die causes animals to.]]

[[WMG: [=PissHead=] will be successful, allowing Skip to resign and leave his job open for David]]
This will be the impetus for David marrying Joyce (thanks to the increased income). Note that an advert for one of their concerts can be seen in Chloe's room in the alternative reality during Chapter 4 in the original game.
** The demo Skip plays can be heard on the radio in Episode 2.

[[WMG: Ruth is [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Raven]], and is TheSvengali for Rachel]]
Based on that bit of Raven trivia Chloe can find, Ruth gave Rachel her wind powers, then started her affair with Rachel's father to piss Rachel off and help her develop her powers.

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Sera is another time-bender, or something equally powerful]]]]

** [[spoiler:Jossed. She's just been keeping tabs on Rachel for a while since she's been wanting to meet her for years, and she's finally sober enough to do so.]]

[[WMG: Rachel doesn't have any powers.]]
Her possible weather control is just a RedHerring that [=DeckNine=] put in place to guard a bigger twist.
** Confirmed. Deck Nine intentionally made the fire seem supernatural and strengthened by Rachel's anger [[spoiler:later being put out as soon as Rachel is wounded]] to give off that impression, but it's all completely coincidental.

He knows that she knows Frank thanks to her [[spoiler: "we have the same dealer!"]] outburst, and [[spoiler:when Frank sends you into Blackwell]], one of the dialogue options when you're asked what you're doing on campus is to sarcastically say you're on a secret mission from the district attorney. Foreshadowing, much?
** [[spoiler: Jossed. James is in cahoots with Damon to keep Sera from seeing Rachel, and Chloe finds this out, using all of the evidence in his office to track down Damon and rescue Sera.]]

[[WMG: Steph's crush is actually on Chloe]]
While she seems (and claims) to be planning on making a move on Rachel, her questions also confirm/deny whether or not Chloe is single. If you want to find out if your crush is single, it makes more sense to find out from them, than someone they might be dating. This would also fit in with her giving Chloe the DVD (for having good taste in movies -- i.e. liking something she does), warning her about Wells and trusting her if she texts asking for information about Drew (even though she knows there's bad blood between them). Not to mention she tells Mickey off for "showing off for Chloe"...and proceeds to do just that by acting all KillerGM.

[[WMG: Hospital employee in blue is the homeless lady]]
After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and hair is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. Compare https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v to http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/rememberme/images/d/df/Homeless_Profile.png/revision/latest?cb=20150403183247
** Furthermore, she lost her job at the hospital because she didn't keep an eye on the vending machine and let the snack be stolen.
** The snack was stuck in the vending machine, meaning someone had already paid for it. If Chloe stole it from anyone, it was the person who put the coins in and got nothing for it. They wouldn't fire someone for costing them nothing. This does not, however, mean that she didn't get fired for some other reason off-camera and become the homeless woman.

The Rachel of Before the Storm and the Rachel implied by Life Is Strange seem to be completely different people. How does a straight A student with a loving best friend/girlfriend become a drug addict who sleeps around in just three years? When [[spoiler: Chloe tells Rachel the truth about her father]], this shatters her worldview, leading her to act more and more irresponsibly, culminating in [[spoiler: her death in the Dark Room at the hands of Nathan, who was trying to impress Jefferson]]. Yes, the Dark Room stinger plays regardless of the player's ending choice but Rachel's implied character traits in Life Is Strange make no sense unless she suffers a huge trauma.
* As a corollary, the events of Life Is Strange don't happen or happen very differently in the [[spoiler: Hide the Truth from Rachel]] ending, with perhaps [[spoiler: Rachel being alive]].

* Except that flashforward scene at the end makes it pretty clear that it happens either way

[[spoiler:Jossed. She's just been keeping tabs on Rachel for a while since she's been wanting to meet her for years, and she's finally sober enough to do so.]]

[[spoiler: Jossed. James is in cahoots with Damon to keep Sera from seeing Rachel, and Chloe finds this out, using all of the evidence in his office to track down Damon and rescue Sera.]]

* What happened to Damon, then? Simple...[[spoiler: Pompidou ate him :)]].

** The demo Skip plays can be heard on the radio in Episode 2

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Sara is another time-bender, or something equally powerful]]]]

It is implied that Frank managed to overcome his injuries in his first battle with Damon to defeat and kill him. Yet, the body of Damon was never shown, and his grave wasn't shown. What happened to Damon, then? Simple...[[spoiler: Pompidou ate him :)]].

[[WMG: Life Is Strange takes place after the [[spoiler: Tell Rachel the Truth]] ending of Before the Storm]]

** Furtermore, she lost her job at the hospital because she didn't keep an eye on the vending machine and let the snack be stolen.

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and mouth is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. Compare https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v to http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/rememberme/images/d/df/Homeless_Profile.png/revision/latest?cb=20150403183247

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and mouth is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. Compare https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v to http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/rememberme/images/d/df/Homeless_Profile.png/revision/latest?cb=20150403183247

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and mouth is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and mouth is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. https://imgur.com/uBG2NXl

After Rachel is checked in at the hospital, Chloe can slam the out of order vending machine to get the snack. The game briefly shows the hospital employee in blue scrubs working at the desk. If you look closely, her face and mouth is very similar to the facial features and hair of the homeless lady in the original game. https://imgur.com/a/6gQ8v