"Think about the implications" "...okay" "Now....are you frightened!?"

The way Max says “who will pray for me, when I’m gone, or until another Richie comes along?” Is obviously projection. No one cared when he died. He was replaced near instantly by someone he deemed unworthy of his title. No one prayed for him when he was gone, and another Max came along. And now he wants to make a Richie fear the same thing. Poor guy.

I kinda saw the "I'm not a loser" as a kind of security blanket. Kinda like an attempt to reassure himself.

You missed another piece of evidence: the opening of highschool is killing. "The blood is all but draining from my head. The nightmare started there but now has spread. My pulse is certainly droppin' and my life is hangin' on by a thread."

I think using the expression “finished the job” implies Ritchie was still sentient to some extent while he was being torn up (and I mean TORN UP since there are references to guts being displayed, like internal organs). Why would you have to drown a corpse?

i forgot richie had asthma, that's so sad

Also, not to throw even more salt on the wound. Think about right before Max died. How his Dad shows him love is by scaring him. So when the nerds try to scare him back he is like 'That was really special'. And he is literally about to view them as his buds, because only people who care about him would bully him - right? So when he dies and Richie is one of the last people he sees, maybe it is more than just him getting revenge over his death or revenge over the school 'crumbling' in his eyes. It's over the fact that he is either A - upset over an almost friend doing such a thing to him [even though it was an accident but whatever] OR B - he feels EMBARASSED that right before his death he almost befriending a bunch of nerds and then those nerds were clever enough to kill HIM, the Jaggerman of all people. Like how humiliating. So therefor, he had to make Richie's death as humiliating as possible to 'set an example'. I know its

It hurts how Max was kinda right in the whole “Who will pray for you” part. Even though he was projecting a little even Ritchie’s friends didn’t notice he was missing from the game. It’s not until days later when the cops are questioning them that they even think about him.

I love the way they show how Max views the nerds. He doesn’t call them by their names unless he feels the need to. He dehumanizes them every way he can, like how he does with Richie. He says his name but does it mockingly, as if that’s not his name at all. He doesn’t see them as human, just nerds

I find it so interesting that Richie has arguably the highest social climb after Max’s death and also the biggest fall. Ruth may have gotten a couple of compliments and isn’t getting visibly bullied, but she’s still a stagehand for the theater club and not on stage. Pete may be hanging out with Steph without being terrorized for it, but he still is pretty much Pete. Grace is still out there being Grace. Richie infiltrates Max’s kingdom, his football team, even just as a mascot. He gets to join in on their team rituals. They say they *need* him. He’s become an accepted/ needed part of what Max thinks is the top high school social group. He didn’t stay in his lane, he swerved across the highway. I think that goes in well with your point about how Max had to gain back control and remind him who he was and always will be in Max’s eyes

Oh no... I didn't think about the implications.

I'd also like to add, that maybe the reason Max struck at the football game specifically is because after he loses his kingdom he starts attacking as soon as his prey reaches a moment of clarity/hope Ruth is attacked after just for once when she finds her desire for the spotlight Mayor Lauter is offed after giving the black book Steph and Pete are interrupted when they finally admit that they love each other And of course, Richie is killed after he finally feels accepted and cared for in the school

Btw, lacerations are notably worse than cuts. It implies the wounds are jagged or torn. Max didn't just cut or stab, he more accurately carved.

As someone who has hyper fixated on Hatchetfield since watching NPMD after it was on KZfaq I've always thought there's been a lack of quality videos breaking down and analyzing Starkid shows, cause they deserve it. And this is exactly what NPMD deserves, this was such a good video. To thinking about the implications.

I think there’s another reason Richie could have ended up in the bathrooms - I’m a bit of a nerd myself so I mainly attached it to my own experience at first but we actually see it earlier in the show with Pete too! The bathroom is presumably a space where you can be safe from bullies (by locking yourself in a stall). Pete uses it to avoid Max earlier on. I think that, as soon as Richie noticed he couldn’t leave the school itself, he went to the closest place he could LOCK MAX OUT OF - a bathroom stall. But obviously, since Max is a ghost, it didn’t work.

Another interesting point is that Ruth didnt try standing up to Max during her death. When Pete stood up to him before he died, Max made a point to beat him worse than he originally planned. This is evidenced by Richies hallway incident at the beginning, having still gotten hurt but much less for a similar infraction. Richie trying to say he's not a loser and going against Max's decision, especially when he was already enraged, caused his death to be drawn out significantly longer and become the most torturous thing Max could think of. Pete and Steph were continuing to defy Max, and he decided to toy with them for as long as he could to make their death far more painful. If any of them had chosen to "accept their place", Max would've likely given them a "merciful" death like he did to Ruth.

It's worse to imagine Richie running through the halls, yelling for help and bleeding from the attack at the end of the song. He thinks freedom is right there, thinking that if he can reach the others at the game, they'll see his wounds and know something happened, even if they think he's crazy for claiming Max Jägerman is back. The most tragic part is that all his hope is lost after everything he's endured after all he has lost everything.

Also max first sings "who would pray for me, when I'm gone" alone, he just saw no one was gonna pray for him once he was gone

Whereas in High School Is Killing Me, where Ruth talks about being scared and unprepared, Ritchie says 'Im dead, the blood is all but draining from my head. The nightmares started there but now have spread,' etc, which is so much more gruesome than Ruth's.

max was really just like 'if you arent a loser, then i'll make you one'

Also, the first time we hear about the characters death in Highschool is Killing Me, though it’s been mentioned that Ruth’s death is clearly less gruesome as she just talks about being scared, Richie’s verse confirms the worse. He says that the blood is draining from his head, the nightmare STARTED there, his pulse is DROPPING (implying present tense), and his life is HANGING ON. Everything about his verse tells that he was still alive as the laceration wounds from his head were made and continued to bleed out as he was still alive, unlike Ruth who was mentioned to have died quickly

Based on personal experience (assuming the locker rooms are not in fact connected to the school, but their own building near the football field), I imagine that Max let Richie out of the locker room, chased him around the stadium parking lot, then ultimately cornered him BACK in the locker room for the swirlie drowning and whatnot. Either way, it's freaking terrifying, and this is the analysis to prove it.

Apart from everything we know about Max, i realized he references being remembered a lot. He is angry about not only losing his power, but also being forgotten. Hatchetfield High forgot about him, nobody would "pray for him" or remember all the damage he caused. His "slaves" stopped fearing him and forgot the social status he created. And i mean, we could also take in account the line about his father's toxic masculinity but tbh steph has an awful dad too and doesn't torture classmates lol

What’s worse is after all this torture- the only good thing is that he wasn’t killed at the Waylon Place, because then he would’ve gotten to see that no one even noticed or cared about his death- they didn’t even realize he was gone, and if he had seen that after all the torture, I think that would’ve almost hurt worse😭

It’s interesting to see the implications of what Max says. On a more surface level, he actually foreshadows his end during the scene in “literal monster”, where he says “I will not rest until I taste grace chastity’s little peach” and uhhhh yep. Great video! :D

Plus it kinda mirrors before he died. We never see him bully ruth. We saw it with Richie and Pete but not ruth. I think Richie and Pete were his main targets. Ruth was just for the lolz Tho this is just me yapping

another thing that I noticed was that Richie was completely forgotten and his death was unnoticed by his friends they didn't notice Richie wasn't there when their names were called to the office they didn't think to look for him..

I like how the only clip you used during the timeline was Richie screaming "I'm not a loser." It helps to show how important the line is in the musical!

That was awesome, and sad but mostly awesome. As the signature scene of NPMD (alongside the Summoning) Richie's death was always something that was interesting to look at. Plus, while this does not relate to his death itself, the fact that no one found Richie's body for the entire weekend is sad in it of itself. Imagine the feelings of everyone Richie knew when he disappeared that night. The team and fellow students possibly thinking he ditched them for no reason, his family being terrified and lost when Richie never came home, the rest of the nerdy prudes being so focused on the big game and the situation with Max to even notice Richie was gone from their lives until it was too late, the reaction of the unfortunate janitor who found Richie's body. I guess Max's, 'who will pray for you line' during Nerdy Prudes Must Die was true. Because aside from a brief moment of horror from Pete after they find out about his death, and a slight mention from Steph as she, Grace and Pete prepare to summon the LIB. We do not see any other real reaction to Richie's death. People go missing every day in Hatchetfield after all, what is one more dead kid. Imagining how things would have been on their end is impossible but just being able to think about it at all truly shows the magic of the Hatchetfield musicals and their powers to make my heart ache in a million ways.

I didn't think about the implications! I am indeed frightened! Thanks Jon Matteson, for providing the very accurate quote to describe the death of another of his characters...

What an amazing analysis, I can't believe I never thought about the implications! Something else I noticed: idk if it's been confirmed if Max can slow time but that's what him catching the bullet in act 2 seemed to imply. If he does have that ability then he potentially could've dragged out Richie's death for much longer which is honestly horrifying to think about.

Ive thought about this before which is why I want to see a movie adaptation of Nerdy Prudes Must Die, it could show all the gory details that can't happen on stage. Richie's death because we can finally get definitive answers for what happened. Ruth's death so its more clear what happened (ive seen people I know irl confused on why she died, not realizing she was literally split in half with the wedgie). This was a great video, I cant wait for more Hatchetfield stuff, theres not really many video essay style videos about the universe.

this analysis was amazing! richie's death had always been the most devestating for me and this has made things so much worse (in a good way). the way you dive into the subtleties of characters that on the surface look very stereotypical (jock bully, nerdy anime fanboy) speaks to both how well you break down their complexities and how much work starkid took to craft them. despite being a richie-centric video, i also love the breaking down of max's motives at the time of richie's death. 10/10! i'd love to see more of these if you make them!

In addition to what you said, I think Max decided to kill Richie right then was because Richie finally saw hope of getting the thing he wanted but couldn’t get while Max was still in control. All three members of the main need group have similar a similar “want”, with small differences: to not be a loser. For Richie, he specifically wanted to have friends and to be popular. We can see this through his deep para-social relationship with fictional characters, his jealousy of Pete becoming friends with Steph, and his “resolution to social climb” that he mentions in Go Go Nighthawks. Max waited until Richie felt hope that he could achieve this goal, after the pep talk Cory and Kurt’s characters gave him, just so he could strip that hope away from him. This is what I interpreted the “you have lost everything” line to mean. He has lost all hope. I think this also explains why Max let him out to call for help, just to hammer in the point that he didn’t have any friends; they weren’t there, and they weren’t going to save him. It was a similar thing for Ruth, where her want was to be noticed, to be “the center of attention”. We can see this through her telemarketer calls, the entirety of “Just For Once”, as well as just her general horniness. She wanted someone to be thinking about her for once. That’s why Max decided to attack her after “Just For Once”, after Ruth felt she might be able to achieve her dream of becoming an actor. Max wasn’t there to bully her anymore, so she didn’t have to be nervous about being in the spotlight. I think thats why Max’s teasing in that scene was difficult to watch; she started to put herself out there for the first time, just for Max to belittle her and reinforce her anxiety that she can’t do anything and she is stupid for wanting to. Even her death via wedgie reinforces this. Ruth wanted her dreams to be noticed and taken seriously, so Max killed her in a funny way, so she would never get taken seriously again. The situation with Peter is a bit different, but its the same general set up: Peter wanted Stephanie to love him and vice versa. Max attempted to kill them not when they hoped they could have each other, because they didn’t think that was possible, but when they hoped they would have had each other if the situation was different. Max probably could have tried to kill them at the same time, but he tried to kill Stephanie first to show Peter that he could not love her and she could not love him. His choice to kill them as the bullet was literally flying was for sure a power play to give them hope of escape before killing them. Also, I absolutely love the repetition of “As Cool As I Think I Am” in all three of the moments that I just mentioned. It’s a very hopeful “I Want” song, so its use in all of these moments soon-to-be-broken hope and desperation breaks me. I also love how when its repeated again, when Grace is singing “Dirty Dudes Must Die”, it focuses more on the “and if I break the rules, I will know of my world, I’m the ruler” line more than the “and if I can finally be cool, I will know that I’m not a loser” line. It really shows how the power she has is going to her head, and how she doesn’t really care about helping the losers anymore, she just cares about control

Another little tidbit that just adds to the tragedy and supports the idea of Max being angry about Richie taking his place: right before inviting him into the huddle, Jason & Kyle call Richie the most valuable member of the team. Not Max, Richie. To the star quarterback, for whom the whole town roots, whom the whole school fears and obeys, hearing his former lackeys not only accept a nerd into their circle but *tell the nerdy weeb mascot, who doesn't even play* (and whom I'm sure Max thinks is a bad mascot, based on his character and the line where Jason mentions Richie "falling all over himself" as he dances in support of the team), *that he's the most valuable member of the team* has got to be a huge slap in the face to everything Max values. And I think it's part of why Max decides that Richie is the nerdy prude who must die first and worst. (Fantastic video! It literally is the reason I finally got around to watching NPMD; I fell off the Starkid wagon before the whole Hatchetfield trilogy, so thank you for bringing me back on!)

It's heartbreaking that the statement Richie thought would be his saving grace was the final nail in the coffin. Doubling down on the very reason Max wants to kill him, abandoning the old social hierarchy. This also makes sense why Max went after Ruth as she was taking her first concrete steps towards her theatre dreams.

I think another important part in this is how Max dies himself. A big theme in the Hatchetfield universe is that the Lords in Black are always in control. In the end, they always win somehow. TGWDLM, the infection reaches mainland; Black Friday, the world gets nuked; Time Bastard, Ted ends up in the Bastard's Box; Honey Queen, Linda is fed to Nibbly; Yellow Jacket, Hannah and Lex are Hatchetfield's saviors and leave forever; etc. etc. There is never a happy ending. The Lords in Black don't allow it. Hatchetfield High is a microcosm for the town as a whole. Who keeps people like Lauter in power? Who keeps the Monroes rich? Who says nobody can remember Miss Holloway? It's the Lords in Black. The power structures in the town are there because they willed them into being. But unlike Max, they actually are gods. That makes them bigger bullies, in a way. As Max dies, Wiggly does everything Max did to Richie (during the song). He takes hold of him telekinetically, mocks him with his name ("Hello, Maxie"), and even parallels his patterns of speech ("You're in my world now, bitch" / "That ain't good news for you, ya bitch"). And Max acts just like Richie does. He's terrified of the eldritch horrors. His mind is probably melting just seeing them in his mind. But he refuses to go down on anyone's terms but his own ("Whatever! It was fucking worth it!" / "I'm not a loser!") Also, amazing video. Liked and subbed.

I think there’s actually another layer. Max reacts to Richie’s line with pure anger. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” I think there’s a bigger reason for that. Max is trying to make Richie feel like he’ll be forgotten, just like Max was, but when Richie says that it reads as though he’s saying he WONT be forgotten. Like he’s saying “I didn’t live the kind of life where people would happily forget me.” Which inversely implies that Max IS a looser because people DID happily forget him and move on with their lives. That’s how Max sees that line, until Richie begs for his life with it. That’s why he calms down so much after Richie begs, he sees he’s still in control. But he reacted with anger because he thought Richie was calling him a looser.

I thought people knew his death was very gruesome..I'm actually quite surprised not many people take seriously about his death multiple stab wounds in his head and chest, and it didn't even end there DEFINETELY WAY MORE horrible way to go than Ruth. Though I can't tell which one is more painful Ruth had to endure all those slow pain as her body gets split in half, while the ending might be quick, the process must've been PAINFUL On the other hand, Richie's death feels like it hurts A LOT at start, and the pain just builds up from there, you have to keep holding onto your fleeting last consciousness while running away from your bully as your blood drains out, which I also heard bleeding itself is very painful than most people think. But I don't think he would've felt all the pain at the same time because he was running away for his LIFE and when you're running away from something, usually adrenaline might kick in and MIGHT subside the pain a little bit, but still very painful. But now that I think about it Richie's death is way more painful because while Ruth was fairly quick, Richie, considering how long he ran away with all those wounds, I bet it took way longer than Ruth to actually die so yeah, very horrifying.

If he never had overactive sweat glands he'd still be alive.. RIP King

It's interesting that with the implications of how his dad treated him, that Max never went after his Dad with his new found powers, it's not even hinted at. Despite now being stronger than ever, Max still chooses to exert his power at his old stomping grounds, the School. So even though Max is no longer in that home dynamic, it's losing the power the had at the school that is more important to him. Where he felt like a 'God', he had power over the nerds, he chose who the nerds were, he was stronger, faster and could intimidate peple into doing what he wanted. Max was able to fend off the ghost after being scared, but when the skeleton comes in he says 'Should I run away? What so Dad can call you a little cuck? Can't even fight off one lousy ghost'. Cuck is the informal word of cuckhold. The definition of 'Cuck' is a weak or servile man. Being weak to Max is a requisite to being a loser. So, Max overcomes this fear and goes for the skeleton. The idea of his Dad calling him weak, almost forces him to act in strength. However, his perceptions of people are capable of change, he mentioned that the ghost prank they pulled on him was 'The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.' He even says 'I thought you guys were just a bunch of nerds but...' His viewpoint on the group changed in that moment. He was treated with what he viewed as kindness. In the moment that the nerds provided for him, Max overcame his fears. Going against something he actually was afraid of, instead of picking on nerds that in comparison were 'easy' to go up against. It was a true test to his own strength, one that he overcame, which made him feel GREAT. Which is why I think Max viewed the prank as a nice thing. It gave him a chance to solidify the idea that he is a God outside of the School, not only that but in a siutation he actually finds terrifying. It's not just within the things that he can control that he can be brave and strong. He can be out of control and still fight for his life and win. He even says 'The skeleton, that was really special' and then bows to Ruth! A sign of respect, and not even mockingly, he means this. Which is why his death scene hits the audience as hard as it does. We see there's actually more to Max than what we see, and he's capable of growth. Then, in a situation he had no control over, he falls gets impaled and dies, and all of that work comes undone. They're back to being Nerdy Prudes. Max allowed himself to not be in control in that situation, he let himself think that they weren't actually nerds, and the second he did, he died. In that moment, he became weak, because a weak person doesn't die that way, through an accident. This solidifies Max's ideologies. If Max doesn't take back the control that he's lost, according to the ideology that seems to have been ingrained in him from his dad, he's a cuck. He's weak. You could say, he's a loser, and it's all because his Dad said so. 'I willed it into existence'.

I can't wait for the deep dive into Max (you've started it off a bit here but I'm *ahem* "hungry for more"). In the initial breakdown, I was thinking "why Richie?" and then you EXPLAINED IT SO WELL. (Bravo!) Also, thank you for bringing up Max's status quo logic because it's all I've been thinking about since rewatching NPMD. Poor Richie thought believing in himself would actually work...

I was literally thinking last night about the context of Max saying he hadn’t come back because they killed him, but I couldn’t figure out why or if it was because he was being sarcastic. This tied it together so I can finally sleep peacefully omg

This is the kind of analysis we've been sorely needing for Hatchetfield

not only is richie's death the most horrifying, its also the most tragic (insert crying emoji since im on laptop) i still havent gotten over it :( he didnt deserve to die like that

Another layer to this: In Literal Monster Max says that he "don't need no one to tell me highschool will be my peak, so i'm willing to take advantage" this shows that he knows highschool is going to be the most power he ever has over people. In death he not only lost that, but Richie is actively undoing all of his work. he's losing the only influence his life ever had or would have had.

I can't belive how fucking GOOD???? this VIDEO IS???? deserves more views fr fr, this is some top-tier analysis

As if I haven't cried enough over Richie😭

speaking about characters in npmd, I'm not sure if this is intentional but whenever Max is in ghoul form he noticeably takes a lot longer time to make his quips and responses. e.g. during his talk to the mayor he has several long pauses between his quips against him as if he's trying to find the right insult. another one is with Ruth because he's basically been sitting there through the entire song thinking "what are some good murder/theatre puns I can make" and then absolutely bombards her with them as if he didn't have enough time to figure out which works best. noones talked about this so it might just be me

One other thing that I would like to add is that when Richie says "I'm not a loser" during the height of Max's song, that small act of defiance alone is enough to incur extra wrath from Max. We see the shock on Max's face when Richie has just enough gall to not go along with everything Max is telling him. Max's immediate reaction is "What did you say???" which is both expressing shock and rage. I think Max would absolutely make Richie pay dearly for exercising his free will and reminding Max through his outburst that Max isn't God, no matter how much he tries to be.

I love this breakdown! I also wonder if Max is deflecting when he says, "you have lost everything" because that's how he feels, and he can't stand that, so he flips the coin, so to speak.

I kinda thought the "I'm not a loser" for Richie was kinda him saying his last words. Like right then he thought he was probably going to die (before Max gave him a false hope). Instead of only crying out for mercy, he chooses to stand up for himself. To finally scream out that he's not a loser, he's not weak, he's not "a nerd" even though Max deems him so. After so much pain and suffering in his life, when he felt like he was going to die there was no reason for him to hold back. Idk though I'm only on my first watch. Amazing video btw

This is a fantastic analysis! It's amazing how much they imply/state about Richie's death, down to opening with him running away from Max in the beginning, yet by the time we get to the end of act one I think many of us had completely forgotten he was going to die until the "I'm so glad to be alive" line and I think it was all down to pacing and Jon's performance. NPMD is just sooo well written and so was this video!

Amazing analysis, you brought up so many points I haven't seen anyone else point out (or even haven't considered myself). Ritchie's death really has a lot of gruesome implications, no wonder his death was the set-up for the slasher-style musical. Particularly, never seen anyone think about Sam being mentioned, him hurling at the sight really says something. The Hatchetfield-universe really invites so much analyze, so seeing such a well-made and thoughtful one is great, especially the analysis on Max, especially since his actions as ghost!max is so easy to dismiss as him being warped from returning from dead, since it has been mentioned to be an expected effect, mayor lautner saying hate is all he is now. But it's still Max, and how that curse is channeled through him, that's why almost everything about him and his mindset is kinda already introduced before he dies. I always thought Ritchie's attempt to stand up to him for the first time, is something that really set Max off (more than he already was), and it mirroring the way Max in the past treated someone standing up to him, through a violence his victim can't hope to match or return. "Does it feel like I lost my power" indeed. It's also interesting that mayor Lautner, despite saying Max can't be reasoned with, still attempted to convince him that he wasn't a loser, but even before his death, Max didn't care for any reasoning you could give for not being a loser. That's why the only character who actually fit "nerdy prude" and who was arguably the most guilty in his demise, is the only one who he not only doesn't view as a loser but doesn't want to kill, Grace Chasity. Because Max said she wasn't a loser, because Max wasn't trying to avenge his death or the latter defiling of his body I wonder if he felt less need to draw things out against Ruth since she didn't stand up to him or try to deny the status he had given her, contra Ritchie's "I'm not a loser". He was still motivated to kill her but not make a point and reclaim that power in the same way. You could view the way she was killed as a "standard" bullying session albeit a fatale version, while Ritchie experienced things in addition to "standard" bullying practices, such as those cuts and the bloody message - Max quite literally sending a message.

in the song Hatchet Town, it's even worse to think about the lyric where they say, "I heard that the brains were soup, their intestines were cut in two." plural. and that's before Ruth's death, so they could only be talking about Max/Richie. that has wayyy worse implications about what Max might have done to him.

I want to bring up the blood on the wall and guts bit further as upon implication, the lacerations were probably so deep and big that Richie's Actual Intestines Were Hanging Out Of His Body. Which would supply a lot of blood for wall writing to be that big and why that one cop tossed cookies upon seeing Richie. It's clear that Richie was mauled by Max. It's probably even a surprise they were able to identify him based on how bad the implications can get.

I love how the show literally continuously prepares us for his death, but we all cry when it happens (also the implications are so terrifying, i loved this video, can't wait for the max analysis!)

Like, Max's death was brutal, agonizing and horrifying: He fell several stories and got impale through the chest by a bunch of wooden planks and splinters, his internal organs bruised beyond repair and his arms and legs probably broken and cut by debri. But it was an accident. The nerds didn't *mean* to kill him, they only meant to scare him and make fun of him, not *kill him*. Ruth's death was intentional, and agonizing, and humiliating; But it was quick. Richie's death was neither of those things. It was just intentional humiliation and agony, probably for at least an hour.

…this is what happens when a single moment lives in your head rent free.

I'm so glad someone else is talking about the fact that the shows logo is written in richies blood cuz it's such a cool idea. this vid was awesome but I have a ton of things to add since I was hyperfixated on this show a while back. 1. based on how the title is written I'd guess than max used 2-4 fingers to write it out which either means there was a lot of blood on the floor or he dug his fingers into richie's wounds as that would be a a good way to gather enough blood to write with cuz you'd be re-dipping your hand a decent amount to write all of that. 2. his death would also be affected by his asthma, obviously there's all the running which can already make breathing a bit difficult when you aren't super sporty, a lot of blood loss can cause low oxygen levels and apparently that can cause asthma symptoms to get worse, it would be extremely stressful which could lead to a asthma attack and if someone's gasping for air that would probably make drowning them easier since they might inhale the water a bit faster. 3. blood loss would cause a lot of affects by itself: first 14% you might get a little dizzy; at around 15-30% you get nauseous so there's a chance richie could've thrown up; at 30-40% you get disorientated and your breathing can become more rapid which obviously gets worse with his asthma, this is also around the time you might pass out and a person can still drown after passing out so there's a chance richie was no longer conscious; a person usually dies after 50% so it's safe to say richie didn't lose this amount when he was a live at least. 4. I'd assume most of the lacerations were done by hand and that richie was probably already bleeding during the song. usually slasher chase scenes get quite bloody and they obriousely can't show that during the performance but it can still be implied which I believe it did. when max puts his hand on richie to stop him running when he's singing ''does the math club comfort you'' you can watch richie start clutching himself and his face looks to be in pain, when max takes his hand away it looks like he's shaking something off it and since max has shown zero disgust in touching richie previously my best guess it that it's blood he's getting off. and when richie is running through the crowd he's clutching his stomach and staggering meaning that he's most likely hurt. he also probably would've hit his head a couple times too. also at the end of the song it looks like he goes to plunge his hands into richies side. 5. at the start of the musical you can hear the sound of wind meaning that richie may have made it out of the school towards the end and was probably dragged back inside. since nobody heard him and he wasn't found till the following Monday (I think) that means no one went back into the area of the school where richie was so there's a chance that he wasn't killed until after everyone had left which means things where going on for much longer than you thought. 6. a person can have some of their organs removed without dying. 7. since he was finished off by drowning that means he was still alive and alive enough to breath in the water cuz you can't exactly finish of someone who is already dead. 8. something that might add to why richie was targeted was actually back when max dies, after max sayes that he pissed himself richie makes the poorly timed comment of '' mission accomplished?'' I'd imagine pissing himself would've felt pretty humiliating for max and richie of all people was rubbing salt in the wound. would add to why some elements of his death was so undignifying. 9. max isn't using richie's name he's using his nickname, the one that his friends call him, something that usually means something good and safe to richie is now being used to taunt him, it's honestly some much worse and more personal then if he'd been calling him Richard. 10. there's also a lyric change that I think adds to why max killed richie, in the original musical max sings ''who will pray for me, when I'm gone, or until another richie comes along'' this to me implies that part of why max is going after richie might be cuz nobody else but richie cared about his death, that richie has taken his place as part of the football team, since football seems to be rather important to him, and that nobody will care about his death once richie is gone, especially since everyone will more on to caring about what happened to richie. part of why I think that part of it is about how richie clearly felt the worsted about what happened to max is because the lyricts get changed in the official sound track too ''will you pray for me, when I'm gone, or until another richie comes along'' the last line makes it pretty clear that max is talking about himself rather than richie and how richie replaced him and will continue to replace him even after death since people would care about his death more than max's disappearance. also max is asking richie specifically if he'd pray for him unlike in the musical when he is asking who will, this makes is seem like max might know that richie is the only person to feel negatively about his death. theres also a chance that since max was revived due to the house that he might not completely be in control or he might not be himself especially since this version of max acts a lot differently than he did when he was alive, I think what we see is more a ghost manifested off his rage and desires from the moment of his death. the two things he wanted, for nerdy prudes to die and to fuck grace both of which are the only things he does, his personality also changes a bit after both he becomes more playfull after richies death and more affectionate/tender/even more playfull after achieving the second one seemingly to return more to his original self, usually ghosts stick around for unfinished business and those two things are his unfinished business which explains the change in personality and could explain why he asked richie to pray for him. since max references the bible towards the end with the line ''you fucking judas'' and the '' forbidden fruit'' line at the start makes me think that max may atleast be from a religious family especially with how graces parents are perfectly fine with him being interested in there daughter and parents that religious don't seem to be the type to let a none christen kid date their daughter. which him being religious would add more depth to him asking richie to pry for him. though the line could also be to do with his god complex since typically Christians pray to their god so this could be max asking richie to worship him, only for richie to then go against him in a single act of defiance. 11. after looking into what causes a god complex I found out that it shows up alot with people with narcissistic personality syndrome which based on the symptoms and traits max being a narcissist seems likely. there's a very popular fan theory that richie is autistic which I strongly believe cuz I was exactly like him in high school too. autism and narcissism do not mix well due to clashes in personalities and stuff. which while not cannon I think is still too interesting to not take note of. I'm gonna end my notes here cuz it's almost 4:30 am here and I'm getting sleepy. sorry for going on for so long but if you read though it all thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. I've been wanting to make fanart of how violent richies death is for a while so I might use this as a excuse to draw it and use it for my own analysis cuz I could go on for hours and I feel really inspired by you. once again amazing video🥰

Something I saw someone write also adds a layer of tragedy to Max. Oh yeah he was 100% a rotten guy, but he is now condemned for eternity to Wiggly and his brothers, the who will pray for me bit him seems like he knows there’s no release for him given what Richie and the others did to him. He was a bully and was definitely not a good guy but didn’t deserve that fate. Not justifying what he did though

So in comparison to the acts of murder depicted across the stage company's productions, Richie's death is implied to be an actual physical assault, with a slashing weapon, torture from the purple nurples, and a drowning execution. Where the cop who killed people was more of an assassin killing cleanly and discreetly with drugs, poison or other non-confrontational ways.

I also noticed that Richie is the only one of Max's deaths that gets their own musical number. Considering Pete is the protagonist, it would've made sense for him to get this moment during the finale except that he's just an accessory for the important events.

You sort of touched on it, but I feel there’s definitely some crucial connection to be made between everything you talked about. Richie reaches a high point in his life by being accepted, so to kill him quickly after would mean nothing, as it’s the sort of thing you’d see and say “at least he got what he wanted”, like he completed his arc and still succeeded. By having Max go to the extent he does with Richie’s death, he takes this all away to restore his “order” at the school. -He starts by making him think his friends are teasing him. -He then reveals himself and threatens Richie, which scares him and makes him question things. -He then makes him obey him once again, returning to the old power dynamic. -When Richie challenges this and tries to suggest he is “not a loser”, Max draws out the torture to let him fully accept the fact that he is in fact a loser, and he is in fact going to die. By drawing out the pain and fear as long as possible, he takes Richie down from his highest point to a new low. He takes back control.

Something I wanna note as an asthmatic myself; Drowning being his death is SO sad honestly, because of one simple fact. Asthma attacks are most often described as "drowning on air." When someone chokes on food, the general rule of thumb is "if they're coughing, they're still getting in air". But with an asthma attack, it's moreso that as you cough, you use up more oxygen, and can't really get any in because your throat is continuing to tighten. I bring this up along with drowning because it means running to the point his asthma flared in any way; followed by drowning, which is so closely related to an asthma attack; after what very likely was a LIFETIME of struggling to breathe and having to routinely be tested and possibly face asthma attacks in the past, KNOWING he wouldn't survive this time? It's SO saddening.

I feel like the music stopping right after "I'm not a loser" isn't just because it simply throws off Max's power. It almost feels like Max switching gears the second his victim threatens his god complex (by threatening to take the spotlight of the song). The swelling music goes from giving Max power to giving Richie power *right* before the cutoff, so it could also be Max ripping that power back by fully interrupting the song with his "What did you say?!" God though, the acting of that line backed by the music is so heartbreaking when you know from an understanding of narrative and foreshadowing what comes next.

Another thing to note: The police have to go to the school to interview Grace, Ruth, Peter and Steph, meaning they were not already there. Richie was chased all the way to a *different* building, on foot, screaming for help.

this analysis is so excellent - i never thought about how max waited two weeks before attacking anyone! i want a short film of max’s two week period of just watching him crumble and gain his powers 👀

13:30 and some of the bits from the im not a loser section i just wanted to expand on because i REALLY loved the points you made. (13:30) I think that during that part, when the students join in and Max is standing triumphantly to the side, fists clenched in front of him (almost like a ruler with an iron fist) while richie cowers on the ground, that part feels like the crescendo of Max's fury and also his sense of gaining back control. I mean, the music literally gets louder and Max is the dominating voice. For a moment, he feels like everything is back to how it was when he was king of the school. But its not the same. The students are in the back, whispering the lyrics "if i can finally be cool i will know that" and then along with richie they all sing "IM NOT A LOSER!" This lyric is loud, its disruptive, it overturns everything Max has been building towards during this part. Max has been heading towards a decleration of his control over the losers, while the students + Richie have been building towards a decleration that goes against that. The lyric itself and Richie screaming it break Max out of his momentary trance of feeling like everything is back to the way he's used to. For a second, he loses his power. It's why he sounds so pissed when he says "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" He is enraged that Richie would ever utter those words in front of him, especially after he'd spent an entire song proving that the opposite was true. It's like "I came back from the dead, i trapped you, i control you, im mocking you,and you STILL have the nerve to defy me? Get the fucking hint!" Max's yell is his anger at the way the hierarchy has changed, the hierarchy he created. But soon, he'll make it all the way it used to be again, which is why he regains his composure. After all, Richie has no chance of escaping.

Thank you!! I've been thinking about this dor MONTHS. And it kinda bothered me that noone (either in universe or... As a fan) really cared about Richie's death. And, boy did you made me envision it and fear it. I keep thinking about how it is stated that the chorus in the background of Nerdy Prudes Must Die are actually all of the people on the big game without knowing that Richie's being murdered. Fun. Thabk for this video! I always love to see more Hatchetfield fans doing content

The bit I love about the "Who will pray for me, when I'm gone?" part is that when Richie dies people are upset. We don't really see it, because our main cast are scared for most the time; but Richie's friends are obviously upset. What's really big is at homecoming the woman acknowledges the losses that the community suffered *"in the past couple weeks"* - which we know includes Richie and Ruth as it also includes the big game and they died after. However, there's *at least* 2/3 days between the game and Homecoming and as is established earlier in the show in the section, "Two weeks later", Max Jagerman's death was 2 weeks ago by then game (so more than two weeks ago). So, if you read it right, it doesn't seem like they're even including Max's death as part of the losses. So it seems like the whole part really is just Max projecting.

Man. Richie is my favorite character, and I was heartbroken about his death. …. Now I’m even more heartbroken. Excellent job.

this is an awesome analysis! it made Max so much menacing! it's also a bit strange that right after appreciating the nerds for what he believed was a helluva party and him accidentally falling to his death he blames the nerds for his death, like it's an impulse for him to blame everything bad happening in his life (or the end of it) on nerds, explaining why he's always brought them down. they were his go-to scapegoat

THE IMPLICATIONS!!! Absolutely loved this

Okay so I understand your interpretation but I’ve always even Richie’s death being more of an expression of Jaegerman toying with his prey. Like this man, out of pure shitiness, picked out the least enthusiastic of his murder. Then LET him feel better about himself, let the boys befriend him and let him break the hierarchy just to kill him. “You thought I was gone. You thought you were free. But you HAVE to learn that there’s no place for nerdy prudes.” Like you get what I’m saying? Because I truly don’t think Max cares that much about the hierarchy just that it just gave him an outlet to toy with his victims. Of course still great video and still great points made. I did NOT notice how bad Richie’s death was 😭

I personally thought that it took him so long to kill someone because he got all of his limbs cut off and was buried under the floorboards, so I think he just took a bit to pull himself together

Unfortunately, dead bodies don't tend to bleed, so if it was all written in Richie's blood, his heart would at least still have to be bleeding

Max knew highschool was his peak which is why he wasn't mad that he died. He died before he had the chance to become a loser.

i didn’t think about it… OH GOD I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT IT

i had deliberately been ignoring the implications of all these lines so i wouldn't have to think about my favorite character in the show enduring hours of violent torture so thanks for bringing it all to the surface 😭😭 i yelled "richie no!!" out loud at 3am when you were emphasizing that the swirly was the LAST thing jägerman did to him

I think another awful part people like to gloss over is he was murdered during the game in the locker rooms and it starts as they run out. That means he was near the field with all those people calling out for help and they even noticed he was gone but he still got chased and brutally killed. Max legitimately crumbled every ounce of hope before he finished the job in a way where he was basically fully conscious the whole time. It’s genuinely awful when you look past the silly intro lines

Knowing all this, the fact that some people ship Richie and Max just gets even more amusing (not the right word, but idk. It's just a really strange phenomenon). One can not underestimate the power of a fandom...

Never watched this theatre production ever..- AND NOW I NEED TO BC HOLY CRAP THIS SEEMS WELL WRITTEN.

Great vid, thanks! 👍 Subbed! Unrelated-ish side note: 13:37 when I heard ''I'M NOT A LOSER!!!' in one of the trailers for NPMD, without seeing who was singing, I thought it was Bryce... Jon has a great voice, and its awesome seeing his vocals strengthen over time. 🔥

I want to learn to draw so I can animate the “not a loser” scene and address how gruesome Richie’s death was. Not only was he beaten and drowned to death, people forget that they didn’t find Richie until Monday

They thought about the implications-

this was REALLY REALLY good! i’ve been a starkid fan for a long time now but embarrassingly, i literally only just started to actually watch NPMD 5 hours ago. however i rewatched the beginning and realised that richie’s death was much more horrible than what we saw on screen but i didn’t see comments talking about it, i was delighted to find this video and was shocked to see it was posted just a day ago! just a little coincidence i found cool, again i really loved this analysis, it’s so well done and my heart hurts for richie

YEEEEES IVE ALWAYS WANTED A RICHIE D**ATH ANALYSIS OMGG AMAZING VIDEO !!!!

Stg when this musical came out, while i was in criminalistics, i was SHAKING abt the implications of the entire opening segment after finding out Richie was a character we actually knew, and not just the guy who died at the opening of the show. The sheer amount of effort Max put into his murder and mutilation is absolutely monstrous, I'm both glad and horrified someone pointed it out. Keeping Richie alive to absolutely torment him, most likely writing the "Nerdy Prudes Must Die" note while he was still living, just to prolong it, just to drown him???? Incredible characterization of Max. It makes me nauseated thinking about it all.

uhhhh i have whole body chills. sent this to every one of my friends. this video has changed my life. cleared my skin cured my depression watered my plants hoLY shit. your storytelling and ability to build up suspense while still analysing the text ..... oh my god man .... the implications

just finished Nerdy Prudes and it was such an awesome show! Richie's defiant "I'm not a loser!" met with the abrupt jump out of the song by Max's "WHAT DID YOU SAY" gives me chills every time! Really liked your analysis of it and the comparison of Richie's death being done more out of anger than the others because of the implications for Max's post-death power loss.

this analysis was legit so good. so so excited to hear that you're interested in doing more. hope you get to take a look at some or all of the chars, but whatever you'll wanna take a look at should be cool. awesome work :D

someone said that Max is projecting in the lyrics: he's been forgotten in less than 2 weeks and says that it'll be the same for Richie. but when he says "i'm not a loser" it totally sounds to Max that Richie considers Max as a loser (and that the threats won't happen because he's not a loser like Max) while IMO Richie really means it as a consolation of sorts, to Max, it's just adding insult to injury

Something else I noticed is the posters in the background. Most of them are praising Max (with the All Hail Jagerman) being the one that catches the eye the most). Even when Max is gone, despite all the signs proclaiming his greatness, nobody seems to be doing things like setting up little vigils for him, writing that they missed him in the signs (this was probably because they had to reuse the set pieces) but it was almost as if Max didn't want to be pulled down to Richie's level after he died: just another face in the hallway people would forget about or talk in passing.

I think the main reason the "im not a loser" line is when you hear it as an anwser to max's question "who will pray for you when your gone?" The response people will pray for me because im not a loser is devastating when you realize no one prayed for max he was forgot and no one cared richie didnt mean this but was right when the team lost their game the next day they didnt even think it was due to missing their star player they remeber that they were missing a mascot people remebered richie and 3very forgot and was glad max was gone because he unlike richie he was a loser who no one cared about.

I've always felt like his death was worse than Ruth's, but I didn't really thought about it untill now... Just an intuition... And her death felt much more quick and much less malicious It's "nice" to see that I was somehow right in my feelings, but I DON'T want to think about it

I think another evidence of Max taunting richie before his death is the use of "cool as I think I am" in the background, a song about pete trying to hype himself up for his hangout with steph and more importantly about gaining a self esstem and standing up for yourseld (at least imo) Max using that song in the background to mock Richie as a way of saying "you were stupid in thinking that you could be anything but a loser" I fucking love this musical man

“I’m not a loser” hits hard. But apparently not as hard as Max hits.

You're right, this is way more horrifying that I thought 😳

Richie was always my favorite character in NPMD (I have a bit of a Jon bias, though, to be fair), so his death struck me as cruel and horrific right away. Watching this, I realize it was even more so than I had initially thought! Poor Richie... I'm subscribing--this was a great video!