WMG / Among the Sleep

The family lives in Night Vale.

It would certainly explain a lot.

Teddy represents the baby's father.

This was actually guessed by Jesse Cox after he finished his playthrough, but it makes a lot of sense. Teddy was a present from your father, constantly worries about you and your mother, and he helps you and takes care of you when your mother's being absent and neglectful because she's getting drunk.

Teddy represents the baby's grandfather.

From the camp that wants to find the mother sympathetic, the boy's father was even worse, and his abandonment drove the mother to drink. This is why Teddy and the final man sound older. It's her father, not the boy's.

The mother eventually regains custody of the toddler. She kicks her drinking habit, and finds religion

Provided the toddler's name is Isaac

This game serves as Gordon Freeman's backstory

(Guess courtesy of the Something Awful Let's Play.)

Signs pointing to yes:

• He never talks, despite being a two-year old who really should be trying out some words at this point in development
• He is, like, ridiculously competent for an infant even if his perception of reality is off
• He runs in fear of trenchcoat people (which translates to a mistrust of GMan when he grows up).

There were multiple factors that led to the parents' divorce.

Just about every scene with them suggests that some turmoil was brewing between them. The mother might have started drinking at that point and her husband was trying to get her to stop. Then again, something could have been going on with the father. Whatever was going on with him in the DLC could have been resolved with some counseling and him changing who he might have been.

Heap is not representative of The Father.

In fact, all three monsters of the base game are aspects of The Mother at various stages of her drinking.

• Harald is dressed in a trenchcoat and gloves, while carrying an umbrella. It is raining at this time, so the umbrella is necessary to remain dry while out shopping for alcohol.
• Hyda is the monster the woman becomes after drinking. This is the most obviously abusive stage, where The Mother is drunk and not thinking clearly.
• Heap is not just in a trenchcoat, but also so heavily covered that the face is not visible, only the glowing eyes. This is The Mother while hungover, covered up to prevent bright light worsening the headache, and becoming very angry when the toddler makes a loud noise by breaking things. In addition, The Mother is found after The Reveal to be holding the parts of Teddy that Heap took away.

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