History YMMV / RuleOfRose

** Did Hoffman leave the orphanage because he was afraid that the Aristocrats [[spoiler: would try to kill him]] or did he have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment concerning his sexualization of [[spoiler: Clara and Diana]] and wanted to leave before he caused any more damage. One of the storybooks ''seems'' to imply the later, most fans prefer the former.
*** There's also the questions of whether or not he also sexually abused Jennifer [[spoiler: If he tackles you during his boss fight his movements look rather suggestive]] and if the rabbit (Peter) represented him. If it does than one can argue that the entirety of Chapter 3 was the Aristocrats [[spoiler: hunting down and killing Hoffman.]]

* DracoInLeatherPants: All the Aristocrats get a bit of this, though Diana's the most frequent. She's attractive, has the most tragic backstory (and her current life isn't much better) and Jennifer notes that when away from the others she occasionally showed kindness and empathy towards her. This doesn't of course entirely excuse the fact that she's normally their ringleader in tormenting Jennifer, and that she's horrible even to her friends.

* {{Narm}}: But while the Mermaid's appearance and implications are quite horrifying, the sounds she makes can make the fight hard to take seriously: "Wheeee!!"

** To say nothing of the Aristocrats themselves.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: If you got annoyed by Jennifer's submissive behaviour chances are you'll forgive her by the end of Chapter 9.

** The cutscene at the end of Chapter 9 that acts as both TheReveal (Twice!) and as a WhamEpisode at the same time. [[spoiler: After defeating all the Imps you end up out in the courtyard you were in during the ending of Chapter 1 where your sickly young friends Wendy gets to meet Brown. Suddenly both Wendy and Brown disappear. Once you travel to the attic (encountering several turn apart toy dogs as you go) you activate a cutscene. It opens with Imps sweeping a limp, '''dead''' Brown into the corner just before Jennifer walks in.]] As Jennifer approaches the Aristocrats she falls to her knees upon seeing [[spoiler: yet another torn apart toy dog]]. Then you suddenly hear this childish giggle. Jennifer looks up and watches as a young girl, '''the''' princess, decends down towards her with a bouquet of roses obscuring her face. Once the princess makes it down to Jennifer she tilts the bouquet to reveal [[spoiler: that she's Wendy.]] Amanda then gleefully informs Jennifer of [[spoiler: Brown's death]] leading to Jennifer to begin hyperventalating. Then [[spoiler: Jennifer's true self (a little girl no older than Wendy) appears in place of the Jennifer we've known the entire game, stands abruptly and demands that she be "given back her friend" as she takes slow confident strides towards Wendy. Upon reaching Wendy Jennifer slaps her hard enough to knock her to the ground and proceeds to give Wendy a truly epic [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat-down]]. Once done she stand and gives a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech truly scathing speech]] to the rest of the Aristocrats, telling them that she hates them and that they're scum. She then admits that she hates herself for allowing things to escalate as far as they have and throws the brooch Wendy had given her to the ground.]] The scene (and chapter) ends with [[spoiler: Wendy]] running out of the room in tears and the Aristocrats sufficiently frightened of Jennifer.
* TearJerker: The [[spoiler:real]] ending.
* ThatOneBoss: Most likely [[spoiler:Clara]] from the Mermaid Princess chapter.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's left unknown what ''exactly'' happened to Clara by the end of the game.

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: The story is probably the closest games come to literature (aside from ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' and ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''), but the gameplay is repetitive, the combat is awful, and the level design is confusing. There's a quote from Jennifer that perfectly describes why people still like it: "I came to this room every day to do laundry... The water was so cold, and the soap would sting my eyes, but I didn’t hate it, because clean laundry is so refreshing."

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: An inversion. The story is probably the closest games come to literature (aside from ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' and ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''), but the gameplay is repetitive, the combat is awful, and the level design is confusing. There's a quote from Jennifer that perfectly describes why people still like it: "I came to this room every day to do laundry... The water was so cold, and the soap would sting my eyes, but I didn’t hate it, because clean laundry is so refreshing."

* TheScrappy: Hoffman.

** Speaking of the Imps, were they representing the children during [[spoiler: Martha's death]] or did [[Martha]] simply fall down the stairs and die in front of Jennifer and her mind simply added Imps in while she was reliving that memory?

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The whole game is rife with a bizarre, surrealist aesthetic that involves, among other things, roses, butterflies, mermaids, stick figure drawings, imps and dead fish floating in mid-air. Not quite all of it makes sense.

* DracoInLeatherPants : All the Aristocrats get a bit of this, though Diana's the most frequent. She's attractive, has the most tragic backstory (and her current life isn't much better) and Jennifer notes that when away from the others she occasionally showed kindness and empathy towards her. This doesn't of course entirely excuse the fact that she's normally their ringleader in tormenting Jennifer, and that she's horrible even to her friends.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: There's a theory that claims [[spoiler: Brown was only a doll all along.]] This casts [[spoiler:Wendy's]] actions in a somewhat more sympathetic light, and casts an unfavorable light over [[spoiler: Jennifer's]].

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity - Averted, big time. The developers hired a publicist to hype up the game in the Italian press by significantly overstating its graphic and sexual content in an effort to cause controversy. It worked a little too well once the made-up story reached the UK, where its release was canceled due to the ensuing controversy.

* LesYay: A ''bunch''. And all those involved are [[{{Lolicon}} children]].
** Unlike the infamous trailer would hint, the examples are [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship quite non-sexual in nature]].

** [[spoiler: Well, the Aristocrats were torturing and bullying her the entire time, very likely on Wendy's orders, it's not like there was real altruism on Wendy's part. Jennifer might have been delusional, but it's hardly the worst coping mechanism, considering the hellish orphanage she lived in.]]
** It's unclear [[spoiler:whether the Aristocrats started their bullying before Jennifer got Brown, alienating Wendy, or not. Likewise, people have speculated that at least some of the bullying that Jennifer went through was actually hazing rituals meant to initiate her to the higher ranks of the group, as Wendy clearly wanted her to become "Prince" at her side.]]
*** [[spoiler:This would drive absolutely disgusting actions into DisproportionateRetribution at best. "Hazing" is every bit as horrendous as bullying and shouldn't apologize any actions]]

* {{Narm}}: YMMV, but while the Mermaid's appearance and implications are quite horrifying, the sounds she makes can make the fight hard to take seriously: "Wheeee!!"

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: [[spoiler:Wendy's humiliation by Jennifer shortly after TheReveal]] for not one but two reasons; first, it's some very fair retribution against TheChessmaster (especially considering they'd just [[spoiler:killed Brown]]), and second, it's the first and only time Jennifer grows a pair and [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech calls out ]][[spoiler:Wendy]] and the other aristocrats for their [[KidsAreCruel cruel games]].

** One forum moderator staunchly refused the idea that Stray Dog [[spoiler: aka, Gregory]] never killed any of the missing children, and [[spoiler: Wendy]] only blamed him for it while committing the murders directly.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation - There's a theory that claims [[spoiler: Brown was only a doll all along.]] This casts [[spoiler:Wendy's]] actions in a somewhat more sympathetic light, and casts an unfavorable light over [[spoiler: Jennifer's]].

* LesYay - A ''bunch''. And all those involved are [[{{Lolicon}} children]].

* {{Narm}} - YMMV, but while the Mermaid's appearance and implications are quite horrifying, the sounds she makes can make the fight hard to take seriously: "Wheeee!!"

* PlayerPunch - ''Brown''. Oh, ''god'', Brown.

* TearJerker - The [[spoiler:real]] ending.
* ThatOneBoss - Most likely [[spoiler:Clara]] from the Mermaid Princess chapter.
* WarpedAesop - The game's fairytale narrative is rife with these, and each episode's storybook is an increasingly appalling version of this, all to drive home what [[HumansAreBastards monsters human beings are.]] [[spoiler: Subverted in the end, as the final, picture-only storybook closes the story on a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]], but uplifting note.]]

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: An inversion. The story is probably the closest games come to literature (aside from ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' and ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''), but the gameplay is repetitive, the combat is awful, and the level design is confusing.

* WarpedAesop - The game's fairytale narrative is rife with these, and each episode's storybook is an increasingly appalling version of this, all to drive home what [[HumansAreBastards monsters human beings are.]] [[spoiler: Subverted in the end, as the final, picture-only storybook closes the story on a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]], but uplifting note.]]

** [[spoiler: Well, the Aristocrats were torturing and bullying her the entire time, very likely on Wendy's orders, it's not like there was real altruism on Wendy's part. Jennifer might have been delusional, but it's hardly the worst coping mechanism, considering the hellish orphanage she lived in.]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - The Unmarried Mermaid. So much. Any of the monsters in the game, even the lowliest imp, can be pretty terrifying.
** To say nothing of the Aristocrats themselves.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome - Wendy offers Jennifer a bouquet of roses, after showing her [[spoiler: a bloody sack that has Brown's corpse inside. Jennifer stands up, slaps Wendy so hard she's knocked to the ground, then climbs on top of her to punch the living daylights out of her. Afterwards, she delivers a speech about how twisted and horrible the whole Club is, throwing her rose brooch to the ground and scaring the Aristocrats so much that they ''back away'' from her.]]

* DarthWiki/{{Narm}} - YMMV, but while the Mermaid's appearance and implications are quite horrifying, the sounds she makes can make the fight hard to take seriously: "Wheeee!!"