As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- A mechanic like Abella knowing how to craft weapons or traps might seem strange, until you learn she's a member of the NLU and could've gained both skills while working with them. Crafting weapons means that she'd be able to defend herself if a member of the Bremen army attempted to ambush her, while crafting booby traps can be one way of protecting potential hideouts.
- Why can't you just try carving different sigils on your face or your party members' faces without getting the skill from Marina's soul? It's likely that due to her studies in the Vatican, Marina would be aware of the proper way to do so while greatly reducing harm. Attempting it without proper knowledge could risk an infection or injury that could only hinder you and it's quite possible that without the training or knowledge required, you wouldn't carve a proper symbol, so the injury and infection would be for nothing.
- The reduced need to saw off limbs either to stop an infection or to have an "emergency ration" might seem like the game making itself less challenging, but it also makes sense when you consider that it's set in a more advanced time period compared to the first game. By now, there'd be more widespread knowledge on medicine or how to preserve food, so of course those two are more widely available!
- Daan being targeted by Rher to become another servant of his is strategic on the Moon God's end for a variety of reasons:
- Rher is known for being greedy and jealous when it comes to knowledge of greater forces, not wanting humans to learn about them. Daan having knowledge and experience on that front, and with two gods no less, means that he will likely be unable to share his knowledge to other people once he's been converted.
- He often interferes in the schemes or plans of the other gods, who usually try to use humans as tools to achieving them. Daan being previously connected with Sylvian cults, even if he is a Cult Defector, makes him a likely candidate for if ever Sylvian decides she wants to do something similar to Nilvan's scheme in the first game. Thereby taking Daan, Rher takes another possible pawn of Sylvian's.
- Compared to the other contestants, Daan's background also makes him an ideal candidate.
- He doesn't have any loved ones left who would try to investigate his disappearance and thus, possibly intervene, which also leaves him vulnerable to be mentally worn down enough to take Pocketcat's deal. If someone like Marcoh was taken, then their still living relatives might start to try looking for them and could become involved with the Gods.
- He's likely easily moldable to carry out someone's will if the right methods are used. It's a depressing fact that cults in real life often employ different manipulation tactics in order to keep their members compliant, and Daan himself was raised by cultists so it's likely he was subjected to similar tactics. Samarie and Marina, while also being deeply involved in another oppressive religious institution, might not be the best targets for this since the former isn't likely to last long while the latter is strong-willed enough to not so easily bend to others if her rebellion towards her father is any indication.
- Unlike say, Levi, he isn't addled by any sort of addiction so much so to the point that he's barely functioning.
- His reason for going to Prehevil is purely personal and doesn't involve any other living person, so it'd be easy to pull a "Shaggy Dog" Story on him.
- All three endings match up tonally with the general playstyles that they encourage.
- Ending A is most easily completed with a full party, as the Boss Rush at the end is far easier with a coordinated team of contestants working together compared to a solo player. You can more easily split damage across the Platoon and Sylvain Trooper, keep Kaiser pinned down by continually severing his limbs, and spread Logic's damage out far enough to keep healing with Loving Whispers. Working together to achieve a good goal falls in line with what Logic wants to achieve.
- Ending B can only be completed solo, as interacting with the tower while you have party members causes them to mutate into their Moonscorched forms. Thus, this ending is much easier to achieve if you powerstack all of your soul stones and abilities onto a single unit, as they can burst down Per'kele before he can move and cover themselves with a green-spiced Blood Golem. This requires murdering every other contestant in Prehevil, encouraging a Solo-Character Run.
- Ending C requires the player to speedrun through Prehevil and kill all thirteen before Day 3. Per'kele is impressed at your enthusiasm for murder and invites you into the Cult of the Sulfur God, reflecting your selfishly evil ways.
- Why is it that Pav eventually dies of the wounds inflicted by the Kaiser on Day 3, yet survives his injuries if you get Ending A before that? Most likely, he's suffering from organ failure and/or internal bleeding, which is something that can't be treated in Prehevil (as nobody has access to surgical tools, and only Daan would be able to use them in any case). Once the train departs Prehevil, it's likely that he would be taken to a hospital, allowing him to get proper treatment.
- The fact that O'saa starts out as middling and potentially grows extremely strong at the end is rather fitting for him, as he has the Enlightened Soul (meaning that he's constantly looking for new knowledge), and he came to Prehevil in order to seek occult knowledge. Thus, in the process of gathering soul stones to learn new skills and spells with, he also learns more about Prehevil and the gods.
- In Daan's backstory, his parents were stated to be followers of Sylvian who engaged in bunnymask orgies. Already distressing enough, given how exposing children to sex can possibly harm them, but then it's also stated that they tried passing Sylvian's healing gift to him. As seen in the first game, Sex Magic is one of the ways that Sylvian heals her followers, with participation in a bunnymask orgy also granting affinity with Sylvian. Did Daan's parents also try that method when they tried giving him Sylvian's healing magic?
- Daan's transformation into Pocketcat reveals that he can transform others into a copy of himself. Given the fact that Pocketcat has gained enough notoriety to have folktales surrounding him, it's likely that he's been around for centuries. Which could also mean that many others in the past have been transformed into other Pocketcats, making the legend go on. It's also not out of the question that the one encountered in the first game was another unfortunate soul, either a different adventurer or a former prison guard, who was driven by madness to take another Pocketcat's deal and transform.
- When investigating St. Domek's Orphanage, there're ritual circles inscribed on the floors, one of these being for Gro-goroth and the other... for Sylvian. There are also Fallen Cherubs that appear around the establishment, who are most likely moonscorched children and appear to be naked (most of the other moonscorched humans still have remnants of clothes on). You also encounter Father Hugo, a rather creepy priest who has the tendency to strip off in battle and also seems rather fixated on trying to embrace you. Just what has the priest been doing to the orphans before the events of the game?
- B-Endings:
- Levi is essentially barred from ever truly finding some peace or respite, since it's quite likely that he'll have to be on the run for the rest of his life. After all, he did desert his post prior to the events of the game so unless he wishes to get arrested and punished for desertion, he can't stay in one place for too long. That, combined with his other host of issues, means he'll probably be unable to form any positive long-term relationships.
- It's unclear how much is being done to suppress knowledge of monsters or other supernatural phenomenon, but it's very likely that the remnants of the Bremen army would still be going around trying to spread propaganda and try to keep their secrets hidden from public knowledge. Karin is most likely going to be labeled as a fugitive by the Bremen army and thus, would have to constantly be on guard and much like Levi (as stated above), might have difficulty forming any meaningful connections or finding any sort of peace after the Termina festival.
- Just how is Samarie still alive in Marina's ending? It's possible that it's a Doppleganger of her, but given how aggressive they can be in combat, that just seems to spell doom for Marina.
- In Karin's backstory, she was badly injured by the Army officers who were brutally suppressing a protest, only avoiding arrest due to being recognized by the Bremen embassy. What would've happened if she wasn't noticed? Would she have been tortured and/or executed on sham charges?
- The dopplegangers can actually be quite disturbing once you think about the implications behind their presence and behaviour.
- While some of them don't seem to be as developed enough and are barely able to communicate, such as Levi's, there are others who seem to be able to mimic human behaviour save for the fact they repeat certain phrases, like Marina's. And then there are those who act so perfectly human that you wouldn't have guessed that something was off unless you saw them in the same room as the actual person, with the only example of this being Karin's doppleganger, which has a news broadcast that you can watch on the TV in the apartments. If they can perfect copying humans, then it means that they could've been stalking the original person, maybe even before the events of Termina.
- What exactly is their goal? Given how they try to convince you they're the original, to varying degrees of success, it's possible that they intend to replace the original. Heck, the Samarie we see in Marina's B-Ending might be her doppleganger deciding to take over her life!
- Do all the contestants have a doppleganger? We only see five confirmed ones, and one implied doppleganger as stated in the previous point. But digging into the files shows that Abella has one too that isn't actually in the game, but the very fact it was intended but scrapped for unknown reasons also brings up the possibility that there are other dopplegangers running around we just don't see.
- It is entirely possible for Ending A to end with Marina dead and Samarie alive. The latter saw the former as her sole reason for living, and coupled with the fact that she already doesn't have long to live, it is plausible for Samarie to end her own life.
- August states that he has two children in Valland if you talk to him. While they are being taken care of by their mother, one can only wonder as to what will happen to the family should August die during the festival.
- Daan's fiancee, Elise Von Dutch, is shown to have become Stitches after being sacrificed in a ritual by her father. However, in Ending C, the player gets remade into a sulfur cultist (after being killed) only if they agree to it. Does this mean that Elise was always a psychopath obsessed with unethical medical procedures, and did she agree to take part in the baron's ritual?
- Daan doesn't start with Sylvian affinity and spells by default, unless he chooses to try to become a pickpocket, only to be forced to make a living as a magical healer. Considering that his parents were bunnymasks, this implies that he may have started his business and obtained affinity by performing Sex Magic. Combined with the fact that he was underage at the time, this effectively makes him a child prostitute.
