I'm utterly convinced that the Bureau of Altered World Events was going to be a Tritagonist in Alan Wake 2. Everything seems like they were SO geared up for AW2... and then when Microsoft said no to that pitch, and Quantum Break started, that Sam Lake decided to write Control based off those ideas, and then after most of that had been done, the deal with getting Alan Wake back came up, and Sam re-worked the connection in. Like, he has made stuff fit together beautifully, but if you look really really closely, you can kind of see where things were supposed to be headed, and how they got patched together. I think that's great writing though.

I'm having trouble sleeping at night, so I've been watching all your vids.... this is such a pleasant surprise to see right now!!

Both Samantha and Darling says that they think something "wonderful" is coming. Both say this in their last messages. Perhaps they're both connected into this? What could Polaris/Hedron be teaching Darling? This analysis was interesting, and Samantha deserves a return, perhaps meeting her in the upcoming DLC, setting up future events? It'd be a huge tease and a welcome little info piece for big Alan Wake fans. I never thought Barry would have contacted Samantha, but it makes sense. Perhaps he contacted Samantha after his contact to Alan through the Night Springs episode, connected those two stories and giving them a relevance to the world outside the Dark Place. Also, your explanation on what happened to Zane and Jagger really helps the understanding of it. Their real selves are safe away... But, do they still have a piece of the story? Mr. Door? The Not-Mother (You should do an analysis of the Ordinary AWE, I didn't fully get to the bottom of it myself)? Anyways, fantastic video! Really liked this one, added some more emphasis on the obvious connections. Perhaps the BAWE (Bureau of Altered World Events) is the public name of the FBC? A title to hide the truth in plain sight? I just kept on talking lol, but great vid still haha

I have the impression that Samantha was the "bootleg version" of Jesse, specially with Sam Lake saying that Control came out of a Alan Wake 2 idea

I would have moved out of that house after the third blog post 😂

The outstanding issue is that if Samantha lived in Ordinary, we know that the only residents of the town to survive its AWE were the Faden twins. Control occurs on Halloween 2019 (which puts the AWE into 2008/2009?), which means either Ordinary was repopulated after the FBC was done with it or stuff changed since 2012 in more than one way, perhaps with Zane's and Wake's reality-altering meddling, since the AWE DLC all but states that Alan wrote a lot (but not all) the plot of Control into being.

This was eerie - impressive stuff truly

My guy they were hiring pay franchise director for Control. You should apply. You have a terrific grasp on their story.

My ears perked up when you mentioned the Florence song in the blog Love that song one of my favorites

Lady of the light, Cynthia Weaver, in Alan Wake states that she was involved in love triangle with Thomas Zane. She says that he still speaks to her from the beyond through television and whatnot. Alan could be using same method to send messages to outside world. And could Frank Breaker be brother or husband of Sarah Breaker from Bright Falls?

When I read the blog my first guess as to who could've contacted Samantha was Clay Steward. I think Barry would instantly drive to her house to talk to her rather than trying to be less risky by asking her to stop posting

Nothing better than seeing a new video

Holy heck! I could listen to your videos for hours on end, my friend! I just finished playing control and awe, almost done with foundation. What an amazing experience and story! There is so much there. I am so glad to know that developers are creating worlds like this with deep and complex stories. What a time to be alive!

I just want to say that your choice of background pictures is amazing, really sets the mood. It's a pleasure to watch at night

Great analysis here! One question though: if Zayne' s essence travelled into a pocket plane at the time he resurrected Barbara (as a monster), then how was he able to take all the actions setting up the events of AW, such as writing himself out of existence (except for shoeboxes), guiding AW from the past (like with the clicker), and "drowning" Barbara in order to imprison the Dark Presence? Ostensibly, that would mean the Bright Presence took all those actions and wrote the poems while in Zayne' s skin, but the BP isnt an artist and cant create reality like Zayne. So it shouldnt have been able to do that. Some big piece seems missing from the equation...

11:29 RE the "Bright Presence" - The clip you provided immediately made me think of The Former, and how it shines a light at you in the darkness. I wonder if there's a correlation there... Additionally, I wonder if there's some symbology with The Former and a lighthouse - After all, a lighthouse isn't meant to draw you in... it's meant to steer you away.

Awesome vid! Love these two games, and their mysteries

I love to see how more and more things are getting together. Remedy, just announce AWE already! I need my answers!

Another good one! I really like your explanation about Thomas and Barbara. You are satisfying all my Remedy based game connections 😂 So glad you do these videos!

Does this mean the house is altered item causing people who sleep in it to connect to those in the dark place somehow? I have to say, even though Alan Wake is one of my favorite games, I never thought that much about it, but turns out there is a lot of world building outside of games.

It’s crazy how much of this story Sam Lake has had ironed out for well over a decade by now. Dude is built different

I finally finished Alan Wake after Control made me curious about it. This is a really good wrap up of some of the top connections between the two

Is it weird that I have started listening to these to help me fall asleep? They also help me lucid dream, an ability I have been cultivating with limited but interesting results, not that these videos are unique in that effect as falling asleep to anything with a narrative to springboard off of increases the chance of lucid dreams.

I think that mytery caller is more likely to be Clay Steward

Rewatching this video, I noticed something. The Bright Falls AWE document in Control says “Mr. Kirklund was alerted by ex-Bureau agent Frank Breaker that an AWE was taking place in Bright Falls. Breaker had received a call from Barry Wheeler on behalf of Breaker's daughter Sarah.” Which makes me wonder how much Sarah knows/knew of Frank’s profession and the Bureau. Did Frank just tell her to holler if she noticed something unusual happening, whatever it might look like, or did he not keep his job a secret, either because he couldn’t or didn’t want to? Could Sarah have been an FBC agent too? Could she have been offered a job but turned it down for some reason? Questions, questions.

Here I am, after the release of Alan Wake 2. And this video is even more amazing to watch. to think they planed for this many years about the sequel is mind blowing.

I have not finished the video yet, but I am commenting now to say that previous owners leaving things behind and there were weird noises the first night? Oh friend, you got yourself ghosts, throw the house away :(

Love the emerging connections across all the IPs. I'm wondering if the shoeboxes have the same properties/effect as seen with the LIfeboat protocol in Quantum Break

The remedy world is AWEsome, well written and beautifully narrated.. remedy games are some of the few games that still care about the literary and artistic value more than cash grabbing..

The Remedy-verse is def one of my favorites!

Could it be possible that the bright presence is the former, when the former was part of the board. But because they failed to contain the darkness "the taken" the board kicked them out. And this is why the former is trying to take over alter items to try and make them oop to fight the taken. But they are still learning the process.

I've been binging your videos and in one you mention bodies of water being prevalent. Bright Falls, Cauldron Lake, Oceanview, Desert Shore. Samantha Wells also fits since a well is something that contains a small amount of water.

THANK YOU FOR THIS!

This is gonna be a overdue comment, but I don't know (given that I'm rewatching all of these again having now beaten Alan Wake II) if you know that Alan Wake and Remastered should be considered two different events. First is the Original, Second is Alan rehashing events, with newly acquired knowledge. Thus explaining the changes to the posters, and so forth. Not canon, but something I've recently considered. Given how Meta Sam is, I imagine this is how they view it. Much like the NG+ experience coming to Alan Wake II; same concept, different premise.

Just came from the new vid on Sam Clay and the Alan Wake files. I think Samantha Wells moved into the Faden's childhood home. In Control one of the houses in the Ordinary recreation map is red. That's likely the Faden house since Jesse and Dylan were the primary focus of the AWE and known powerful parautilitarians. The daughter of the previous owner mentioned would be Jesse and the poems of Thomas Zane in the reality lockbox (aka shoebox) once belonged to her. Jesse quotes the same Zane poem as Alan; showing that even though reality has been changed: making Zane a film maker; Jesse has retained information about him from a previous reality.This is likely Alan Wake's doing: connecting Zane to Ordinary and to Jesse and the FBC as part of his writing Return. It’s the same thing he did to Dr. Hartman and Alice in the DLC to set the events of the Investigation Division being abandoned into motion. It reminds me of American Nightmare's explination of being true to the character's within a story to make it believable and come alive. When Alan creates a character for them to come to life they must be real; really real, with a backstory, motivation, origin, everything.

Great work with these videos, Mr. University! :-)

Awesome story!!! Thank you!

I do not believe anyone you listed would have contacted Samantha about the shoebox and the poems, under the condition that none of them have a good recollection of Thomas Zane. The only logical person to do so must have been Dr. Hartman. He must have seen the blog and wanted the poems, lying about "keeping her safe," as he is extremely manipulative. He would have had to make this call before he jumped into Cauldron Lake and turning into a creature of darkness. To rule out the FBC and Frank, why would either one of them be so indirect about it? If they wanted the shoebox that badly, they would have just come in person and asked for it. However, Barry would be too busy with the Anderson brothers and The Old Gods of Asgard to have come across some random blog about a house. This ties back to Hartman, he would have been the only person actively searching for information in regards to Bright Falls, Zane, and Wake.

Not a lot to take from it, but they showed a trailer for the AWE Control expansion! VERY excited for it, and your take on the info it will have! Only KZfaqr I sub to for Remedy lore!

Samantha Wells…. There is a man by the name of Rupert Wells in the Bureau, the medic we meet in the Clock Threshold. Maybe they could be related

I'm honestly not sure if I like the last post, and the fact that Tom and Barbara are in their own little universe living happily ever after. Doesn't that just take away from Tom's mistake? The whole lesson Alan had to learn about how he needed balance? Why he needed to sacrifice himself in order to get Alice safely out? Why does the Bright presence act as if it is Tom? Why does Alan and Cynthia speak to it certain that it's Tom? Zane says during "The Writer" special episode that Alan finally fixed the mistake he made with Barbara a long time ago. But apparently now this isn't actually Tom and Barbara, and that the mistake was fixed long ago when he apparently easily undid it by making a happy ending for him and Barbara. I love Tom as a character because of the pain he has gone through, and the lengths he is now going to to help Alan not make the same mistake and save Alice. Whether inside or outside the dark place. This seems to just undo all that

Thomas and Alan can give a person aid only in a dream and shoe box was taken, brought back and the inside assortments were changed in the actual world. Lady of the Light probably had some personal writings and unpublished poems by Thomas. They have a connection, a history and perhaps she either knew about the other clicker, or he instructed her in a dream. Where did she get the manuscript? Barry would most likely not have the poems. Can Thomas and Alan use the shoe box to transfer objects between the dream world and the actual one - as a portal of sorts?

yknow at a first glance, those "ink blobs" are very similar to the Deer Masks lol, did they plan the concept of Cult of the Tree (and/or Word) all the way back since the OG Alan Wake 2?

6:15 "I will link the song in the description below" Just a friendly message to tell you that the link is not in the description.^^

Could Chester Blessed be the mystery caller?

a) it seems really clear to me that one of the ink blotted photos has an angry pair of eyes staring out, one in each blot b) i thought someone laid it out that the person warning Samantha was Clay Steward, after he was detained by FBC-type-people. (not sure where i read/heard this. maybe in one of your later videos?)

So… Here’s a theory… What if Zane/the Bright Presence “touched” Samantha and lied about his fate? Like, the whole “baby universe” thing seems kind of… Inconsistent with that we learn in Alan Wake 1 about the rules of drama, like, it feels like Zane found a miracle cheat code that allowed him to bring Barbara back so they could live happily ever after. So what if Zane _did_ merge with a Bright Presence… But didn’t create this universe? What if Zane tricked Samantha into believing that? “But why would he do that?” You might be asking, and to answer that: to keep her out of trouble. He knows what happens with people who get dragged into his and Alan’s stories, and he wouldn’t want his, or Alan’s fate to befall anyone else. My main point for this is how Samantha writes in the last post. After she talks about her dream, she goes on about how hopeful she feels and how everything’s going to be better from now on, seemingly forgetting about the shoebox and the pages, which seems weird, doesn’t it? You’d think she’d say something like “oh, some guys came and picked the shoebox” or something but no, she just turns into Komaeda. So what if Zane touched her, similar to how the Dark Presence touched Alan and Rose in AW1, to make sure she stays away from it? To stay safe and not end up like him and Alan? Edit: another piece of evidence I have for this is Zane’s, not the Bright Presence, or the Diver, Zane’s appearance in Alan Wake 2, if he’s in the baby universe, how can he still be in the Dark Place? And where’s Barbara in all of this?

can't imagine how far back did Remedy even set up for their connected universe !!

Im confused bc in the research sector didn't the beurau had the box and the it disappeared they were doing testing on it

The dark presence and bright presence possessing people and fighting an eternal war could be related to hedron and the hiss.. or god and devil

Can you make a video with theories about the Northmoor sarcophagus container power plant and how the control points link the board to normal reality?

Sounds like she's thinking, ah, "I Wish I Had More Lights" ...which makes me wonder if she was ever given a Boar's Head during any of this :D Not exactly on topic, but I was wondering if you're intending to do any videos on Stray I got the sense there was a surprising amount to unpack there and I'm sure my own mind didn't catch all of it.

Is it possible the man that "threatened" her was Chester Bless?

Did you ever do videos of the poems? They don't seem to be in the playlist.

The house is an apex or a dimensional link which used the person as both the conduit with the Shoebox as the only Object that is linked to the house, possibly an Area of power. The AWE personnel is possibly an alternare universe indicator which never changed their name. Alan Wake's screams may have been a dimensional scream, since he and his other him were in the middle of their conflict, enough for him to end his other Adam and himself back into the darkness. But then, the box is possibly an object that exits in all dimensions, and Alan found it, used it to have his added means with Night Springs as to influence and tip the scales of conflicts from the darkness for the survival of humankind.

Thanks

I love all three games but so far Quantum break is the one game i cant beat and its because of the KO bombs

Will there be a video of the Poems from this House of Dreams somewhere down the road?

Is this the same shoebox we use in Alan Wake 2?

Jesse and Dylan's town of ordinary was in Maine. Not Wisconsin.

Just finished AWE for Control.. I can say my biggest disappointment with Control and its DLC so far is that they never used the song "Control" by POE... which I thought would be thematically perfect for Jesse's character development and I felt, a far more appropriate song for the Ash tray maze... plus, they used her song, "Haunted" in Alan Wake so I thought it'd be a good call back. Oh also, "Ash Tray Maze"... sounds a bit like "Ash Tree Lane"... the house on that street was also a maze... but much more hostile.

Maybe the shoebox is an O.O.P already bound to someone .🤔

This is where i heard Ordinary was in Wisconsin. But isn't it in Maine? Are there 2 Ordinarys?

I’m still waiting for where Purple Guy fits into it all... :P

Could the mysterious caller be Chester Bless?

Thomas and Barbara the poet and the muse...

I think I figure it out, Samantha Wells is the "Alan Wake" for Barbara.

one (honestly not so) cool example of a real world connection the pack of pyramid cigarettes in control being this like form of worship. there is a real world conspricacy behind that and i think like every cigarette having a pyramid on it or being directly related to a deity or some spin on the name of one. like the now fairly obvious connection between baal and balenciaga, but less deniable because its consistent with all cigarettes through the years. so "conspiracy" or not, they slipped it into the game.

did gaming university ever get around to analyzing the poems? and if so, where is the vid so i can watch it?

Looking at the pictures with ink, the ink looks like deer masks now after aw2.