WMG / Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Why Principal of The Thing Is Barefoot...

Baldi has very sensitive hearing, so perhaps the clicking of shoes on the tile floor was irritating him and preventing him from teaching properly. So now, everyone either wears soft shoes or no shoes, like the Principal.

• He's actually wearing socks, but this theory still stands kind of.

The school of this game is actually a normal school as seen through the eyes of a young child, possibly one with a disability of some kind.

A kid who doesn't do well in school simply because he or she doesn't understand it. They don't understand why they're being asked to do these math problems, or why their teacher gets mad at them for doing it wrong. They could be trapped in the school by Baldi, however.

• This theory video uses this idea, attributing the weird things that happen in the game to a disorder called childhood schizophrenia, claiming that the child we play as is simply seeing their school through a lens influenced by actual Edutainment Games they've played.
• The protagonist might have dyscalculia. This would explain why they see the math problems as a bunch of tangled up numbers, which is similar to how a lot of people with dyscalculia describe it.

The game takes place in a Witch's Labyrinth.

And the character you control is a magical girl.

• Which begs the question... Who is supposed to be the Witch? Baldi or NULL?

The game is a satire on not only educational games, but also horror games with a lot of lore.

The game is faking a facade that there is something deeper to it besides its horror elements, but it's all just Red Herring after Red Herring. It even jokes about it with a chalkboard that says "Place lore here."

Alternatively, the game is a satire of the education industry.

Perhaps it's best not to go too into detail on this, but it's possible.

Baldi is the modern version of The Schoolmaster

All this time he's been trying to flay you into shape.

Baldi's Basics is about a scared child running from a physically abusive teacher.

Similar to the first entry, the game is a real experience through the eyes of a child. The child goes to school and is taught by Professor Baldimore, nicknamed Baldi by the kids. Baldi is really kind and friendly at first, but when the child is repeatedly unable to answer simple math (the problems looking like gibberish to him), he begins to show an abusive side. And the child runs away when Baldi threatens physical force. The other characters are twisted versions of people from the school. The principal is, of course, the real principal, who the child sees as a shouting, angry-faced man roaming around looking for him. Playtime is a blind girl who keeps stopping him to help her, unknowingly bring doom closer. Gotta Sweep is a large janitor that unnerves everyone, causing them to move away when he wants to sweep. Arts and Crafters is a hall monitor, at first not concerned about the child, but chases them on Baldi's command when they try to leave. And 1st Prize is a special needs child in a wheelchair, forcing people aside as he rolls through the halls.

Arts and Crafters was a previous victim of Baldi's.

As Filename_2 tells us in the secret ending, Baldi's Basics is a cursed game In-Universe. Arts and Crafters was once one of the unlucky people who decided to play Baldi's Basics. He died to Baldi and became another NPC to roam the schoolhouse, albeit with a fraction of his humanity left. He realises that the 7 Notebooks are his only way out of the game, which is why he attacks you once you have all 7 notebooks. However, the game's coding doesn't let him get the notebooks, and so he ends up teleporting you instead.

By that virtue, all of the NPCs were victims of Baldi.

But Arts and Crafters is one of the few who has any trace of sanity left (other possible candidates being Principal of The Thing and most definitely Filename_2). Others, such as Playtime and Gotta Sweep, are presumably far gone, with the AI completely overwriting their original personalities. (Justified, as who could actually bear to be stuck in an MS Paint girl or a talking broom?) And you know how the recent update added 1st Prize as a new character? Maybe that's because another person was captured by Baldi at that time…

Alternatively, the Principal of the Thing and Filename2 are the only humans trapped in the game

That's why they're the only characters who appear to be photographs of real people, though large chunks of Filename2's body have been erased thanks to his corruption, and the Principal's legs are partially erased in a similar manner. Everyone else are actual NPCs that may or may not have sentient Artificial Intelligence, with Baldi possibly being more self-aware than the others. The Principal of the Thing could even be the In-Universe creator of the game, hence his position as the school's principal.

However, Baldi may not necessarily be the one who trapped them in the game. Instead, the Principal could've been obsessed with his own creation and intentionally trapped himself in it, dragging Filename2 along for unclear reasons.

Baldi is in fact the creator of the game.

He sucked himself into the game, and he has some coworker who distributed the game for him to capture unlucky people for some evil plan. Whether that is a fictional Mystman12 or some other random dude is anyone's guess.

The school is an Eldritch Location or Egopolis created by Baldi himself.

Baldi created this place because he wanted to be famous and beloved as a Cool Teacher, Edutainment Game mascot, or both. The other NPCs were also created (or brought in from somewhere else) by Baldi to fill the roles that his vision of a perfect school would contain. That's why it's called "Baldi's Schoolhouse" despite him seemingly being just a teacher working there. Maybe he also wrote the posters describing each character, which would probably explain why his own poster praises him so much. It's worth noting that, if he did write the posters, there's a bit of Hypocritical Humor here — Baldi will hunt you down if you get a single math problem wrong, but his own grammar and spelling need some work.

The Principal's surname is "of the Thing".

Prove me wrong.

Baldi gets angry about wrong answers because his job is threatened by them

We've seen how strict Principal of the Thing is to his students. It's possible he is just as strict as an employer, and will fire Baldi if even one student gets an answer wrong. Baldi could still be out to give impossible answers just to screw with the player, however.

When Baldi catches the player...

The player is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by the ruler.

Filename2 was corrupted by Principal of the Thing for disobeying the "No fourth wall breaks" rule.

Filename2 corrupted Baldi in the secret ending, turning him into that stretchy Baldi you see.

Playtime and Filename2 are related

Hence their similar color schemes: dark hair, red shirt, blue jeans.

• Maybe after you get all wrong answers and escape, the game is not coded In-Universe to expect you to survive. The code trapping Playtime as well, Playtime has a logic error along with much of the other code due to the game breaking and Filename2, the true form of Playtime, manages to escape with the other people trapped as NPCs (albeit in imperfect condition due to being pretty much a coding error still in the game) and corrupt his captor. After the game crashes, the NPCs are finally out of the game to live their real lives and Baldi is destroyed. That is what I call a happy ending.
  • OP here, I was thinking maybe Playtime and Filename2 are related as in they're family members (i.e., Playtime could be Filename2's daughter), and their similar outfits are meant to be Coordinated Clothes.
    • That would also explain why Playtime's sprite looks so bad. The sprite looks like it was made by a four-year-old or so, so if either real-life Playtime drew the sprite, or the game made the sprite based on the fact that Playtime was, quite morbidly, four years old if/when they got sucked in, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that Filename2 and Playtime are father-and-daughter.

1st Prize was created by the Protagonist

That's why it only follows us around even though there are plenty of other people that it can hug.

• They must be a pretty lonely kid to make a robot just to praise and dote on them constantly.

Gotta Sweep is possessed by the ghost of the old janitor.

The old janitor tried to escape and tell the police about Baldi's secret plan to kill every student who is unlucky enough to join the schoolhouse. Baldi killed him in an attempt to keep his secret plan, well, secret, and his ghost somehow ended up in his broom, aka Gotta Sweep.

Filename1 IS someone trapped in the game, unlike he implies

Keep in mind he states that some things he says are censored, and he can't say some phrases, which leads us to believe he really IS trapped inside the game since he might just be using reverse psychology on the auto-censor in the game.

Playtime is the Principal of The Thing's daughter

Which explains not only why he'll punish you for cutting her jumprope, but why such a young kid is in the same school as the protagonist.

May also explain why Playtime can run around the school playing in the hallways with her jump rope without receiving instant detention.

Baldi has a form of Aphasia that prevents him from properly expressing all but the most basic equations.

He doesn't want people to know, so he tries to kill the player character when they find out. He works as a teacher despite having this problem and trying to keep it secret because he is not very bright.

Filename2 is the "Doug" referenced on one of the chalkboards.

"Doug, dab again tomorrow and pay." Filename2 is seen T-posing, so maybe he likes dabbing too.

"PlaceFace" is actually the protagonist.

The face, which was previously only a Dummied Out model found in the files, actually makes a proper appearance in the Camping demo. If you go out of bounds and look at the schoolhouse from a certain angle, you'll see the face trapped inside the schoolhouse, with "NO" signs next to it. What if this is meant to symbolize how Baldi has the protagonist trapped, in that they have to go along with him whatever he does (like camping). The "NO" seems to indicate that Baldi (or the school in general) has some sort of vendetta for this kid. Considering that PlaceFace is often compared to It's a Bully, maybe It's a Bully is some sort of Evil Twin to the protagonist, created by Baldi or someone else to rub it in the protagonist's face that they're (supposedly) a bad person?

Alternatively, PlaceFace is the player's friend mentioned in the game's Excuse Plot.

And he and It's a Bully are one in the same, as he was Reforged into a Minion.

Baldi actually has a Jekyll & Hyde problem.

Baldi actually truly means well and wanted to just help the player. He was about to just simply help teach the player to correct their mistake, but his alternate personality just so happened to take over him when the player got a question wrong.

Baldi is actually a rogue AI.

He was created to be a digital teacher as a new way of teaching children. But for whatever reason, his programmer never instructed him on what to do if a player got a question wrong, so Baldi decided that the best solution is to eliminate them.

• Considering that some of Baldi's math problems are all messed up, maybe he was already faulty, and that's why his programming was never completed.
• If this is true, maybe Baldi is actually an acronym? Basic Assistance in Learning and Digital Instructor?

Baldi doesn't actually kill the protagonist

Instead, he just punishes them. But from a child's perspective, getting in trouble could be seen as the equivalent of being killed.

• This seems pretty likely. Kids will often see punishments as being much more horrible than adults do (see Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, where George and Harold are mortified and quickly get depressed when they are assigned to separate classrooms), and if you combine this with the theory that the game is actually about a child with a learning disability, it makes even more sense.

In the corn maze minigame, Baldi is trying to save the player.

As seen here, the corn maze can be cut down by a giant combine harvester, which is seemingly triggered by the player taking too long in the maze. After that, Baldi catches the player, but there's seemingly no jumpscare sound, and Baldi's expression is hard to judge, but he doesn't quite look angry. What if, instead of punishing the player for not solving the maze, he's actually trying to save them from the harvester? Granted, he doesn't reach the player until after the harvester has passed over them, and the harvester doesn't actually hurt the player, but his behavior doesn't seem so malicious here.

Mrs. Pomp is also a robot

Considering she ignores the Player's status of being chased by Baldi, and never actually teaches anything in her class, not to mention her strange design, it is possible she is a robot Principal of the Thing may have commissioned to be built, maybe the same student who built 1st Prize built her afterwards.

Filename2's plan

Step 1: Find the kid with the most destructive power.Step 2: Hide from them all day.Step 3: Convince them the world is a simulation that you're trapped inStep 4: They try to "free" you from the "game", school is destroyedStep 5: ???Step 6: PROFIT

Baldi's Basics is actually a corrupted educational game (similar to Sonic's School House) that the player was sucked into

Just like how it is the the Musical. A normal person was trapped in the game and is now trying to get out. All of the characters are supposed to have different roles in the non-corrupted version.

• Baldi: Is the host of the game, similar to Sonic from SSH. But now tries to kill the player.
• It's a Bully: Probably similar to Dr. Robotnink, where he would steal the player's notebooks, but now only takes regular items.
• Playtime: Part of a minigame that would help kids learn how to count.
• Gotta Sweep: Could be another obstacle like the Bully. Or he could be there to reset the game by clearing the area.
• Principal of the Thing: ... I'll admit I don't know. Probably just meant to be a Creator Cameo in the form of an image on the wall (like how Knuckles and Tails only appear as pictures) but became sentient during corruption (if someone else has a better explanation, please tell).
• Arts and Crafters: Is supposed to be the player's avatar during normal gameplay (like the animals from SSH), but isn't because the player themselves takes that role. This is why he is looking for notebooks too.

But what about 1st Prize and Filename2? Red the below theory to find out.

The v.1.3.1 update is actually a sequel to the original version

Carrying on from my other theory above, it's possible that Filename2 is a previous victim of the game. Though he survived, he was unfortunately unable to escape. So in his spare time, he decided to hack into the game and alter it as best he could so that subsequent victims would have a better chance at surviving than before.

One of the most important things he did was create 1st Prize, a character that would help the victim travel around the building at a fast rate.

He also did some minor changes as well, including (but not limited to) replacing the "No Eating" rule with "No Bullying" (allowing players to use energy bars when they like, and giving them a way to move It's a Bully without sacrificing an important item), creating the scissors (to cut Playtime's rope), and stop the player from slowing down after losing the energy to run.

Alternatively, the game really is just a parody of DDLC-style horror games, but there will be a prequel starring Arts featuring the roles in the above theory.

Of course, then Filename2 couldn't be some liar trapped in the game, so maybe he's a substitute teacher for Ms. Pomp who just has a huge Manipulative Bastard streak. (That explains why Ms. Pomp is absent in Classic, too. She got sick and File subbed for her, but his insane Batman Gambit requires Capsule Collider not to see him for most of the game.)

The whole game is All Just a Dream

Kind of a cop-out theory, but still: The main character is a slightly mischievous kid who's gotten on the bad side of most of the school's faculty. One night, he has a dream about exaggerated versions of the people he deals with at school.

• Baldi: The stern math teacher. He carries a yardstick around, not to actually spank kids with, but as a pointer and a very effective noisemaker for distracted or sleepy kids. But since the protagonist is scared of him, in his dream, Baldi is a violent murderer who comes unhinged over a single bad math problem.
• Principal of the Thing: The school's principal. Because the protagonist is a rule breaker, he spends a lot of time in detention. Thus, the dream principal gets the protagonist in trouble for every little thing.
• Playtime: A little kid in a younger grade who constantly pesters our protagonist to play jump rope. In dream world, she's even more insistent, so she traps the protagonist instead of just asking him to play.
• It's a Bully: A portly older kid who harasses the protagonist for his candy. He seems insurmountable in the real world, so in the dream world, he's literally immovable.
• Gotta Sweep: An overexcited janitor. He's so into his job that he's accidentally bowled over kids trying to sweep the halls, hence why in the dream he blasts everyone around. He's a big guy in the real world, so all the protagonist ever sees of him is his broom, hence why he's just a broom in the dream.
• Arts and Crafters/1st Prize: Art projects that creeped out the protagonist in the real world, so they're monsters in the dream world.

This theory even explains other things about the game too. Magical power-ups? Dream logic. All of the enemies having twisted or distorted faces? Details aren't as clear in dreams. Everything turning black when Baldi catches you? Just the protagonist snapping awake from a nightmare.

• Or the kid could be stuck in a video game. A less cop-out theory that can actually be explained by what has been demonstrated in-universe rather than by comparing a fictional universe with its own fictional laws to reality.

The Protagonist of Baldi's Basics is a young student with anxiety.

Baldi isn't actually evil at all. The character you control is just psyching themselves out and worrying about nothing. Baldi doesn't hunt them down and this is all just in the player character's head. In short, the whole game is just through the eyes of a child.

• Part of this could be attributed to Classic Remastered's secret endings after Null's demise, where Baldi is seen interacting with the student with no malice whatsoever, such as Classic Style's secret ending where he genuinely tries to help the student understand more about the math topic.

The game is completely normal (if not very, very buggy). Null was just making things up.

After defeating Null, the game turns to a more normal-ish state with Baldi no longer being interrupted when you get the 7th notebook and showing up in each of the secret endings. Null just wants to keep you out of the game for some reason, but it's not actually any threat to you and his reasons are entirely selfish, disguising them as trying to save you from a fate worse than death. Note that he starts to sound more and more upset as you get further through the game. Not in a concerned way that you're making a genuine mistake, but more in a childish way where he's the only one allowed to be here. Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning is genuinely supposed to be a education-turned-horror game, but Null keeps pushing the idea that something's wrong with the game other than his own presence and that you should stop playing.

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