The father being the narrator this whole time was a plot twist that I would have never expected, Isaac deserved a happy ending and he got one

"Okay daddy." Isaac said, as trillions of jaws dropped in shock.

imagine showing this to Ed back when he uploaded a demo of the flash version to Newgrounds

-Could you tell me a story before bed, daddy? -How about your this time you tell me a story, issac? -okey dad... issac was a child who lost everything, he blames himself for everything bad that happened to his family, his father abandoned him and his mother went crazy, undressed him and then tried to kill him, then he hid in a chest and he became unconscious, in his mind he faced unspeakable demons and internal monsters, he was actually delirious because he was dying from suffocation. he died and his soul descended into hell, where the torment would only get worse. At the end of it all, he saw his life pass in front of his eyes, he realized that when he was happiest, it was when he was closest to non-existence. and then it was all over. her mother found the body when flies and the smell of putrefaction caught her attention. -wtf son

Isaacs dad: kid this story's fucked up, can't we add a happy ending in there?

I like how Isaac suddenly shiftes the tone of his story from "I died because of my mother's toxic attitude about religion" to "I singlehandlely stopped the apocalypse by beating the shit out of the four horsemen and Big Horn's dad"

The beginning “Isaac and his mother lived alone in a small house on a hill. The end “Isaac and his parents lived on a house at the top of a hill” The middle “Isaac and his Isaac lived alone in a small Isaac on an Isaac”

Isaac’s story is just......horrifying but so well crafted. The fact that this kid goes through hell in back in his own head whilst dying is just...it would be traumatizing to see what he saw.

when you reset to get a starter its literally Isaac telling his dad "hell nah story is trash do far cmon dad"

How it began: Isaac and his mother. How it ended: Isaac and his *parents.* MY HEART-

This is the perfect ending to Isaac’s story. A lot of people are saying that this is a happy ending. For Isaac, yes, but I would call it more bittersweet. Isaac is still dead, but at least he’s finally at peace.

"He saw his one true companion, alive and well." Cricket and Tammy: "are we jokes to you?"

i love how it goes to “isaac and his mother” to “isaac and his parents.” it shows how different of a story his father is about to tell

Can we just take a moment and appreciate the fact that Isaac went from running away from his parents to facing the 4 horsemen of the apocalypses to repent himself?

I cant stop listening to Isaacs voice, hes so baby.

This is splendid ending to Issac's Tale, and themeatically it is absolutly wonderful. In the other main paths, Isaac in his imagination is running away from reality, going deeper and deeper away from the terrible reality he lives in. Even if he defeats his mother in his imagination, from there he spirals into self loathing fighting and killing a fetal version of himself, as he still thinks himself evil and widcked and better off dead. The cathidral and the box has issac go up against the idealized version of himself that he can't be, and then confront himself dying in his treasure box. Hush and Delirium are his dying mind and pysche, and his last stand as death approached him. Satan and The Lamb are him confronting how he views himself, a sinful and evil monster that belongs to satan. With the True Ending however, Isaac doesn't delve deeper into self hatred and dark thoughts. Instead, he returns from his imaginary world to face reality. He defeats his interpretaion of his mother hatred, and is normally is forced to continue downwards into his imagination,.On the floor though, there is a gurenteed card drop of The Fool Card;"Where the Journey Begins". Using this to break out of the path before him, he uses the Poloriad and Negative to face the reality of his life, and ascends from his imaganiation back to the real world, where the voices of his mom and dad echo. Isaac comes to terms with how he isn't evil, and isn't the cause of his parents hardships- he forgives himself. Isaac has repented.He returns to reality in the home, where he confronts the source of the problems- Dogma. The religous broadcasts and crazed religous teachings that radicalized his mother and caused his father to leave, and the source of Isaac's hatred of himself and fear of religion. The root cause to all of the games story.

everybody gangsta till isaac speaks

I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about how the ending doesn’t fit the tone of the game. I can somewhat agree with that but my theory is that Edmund decided to give Isaac a happy ending after he had children of his own, especially considering that one of them is now the same age as Isaac himself. Also consider that the whole game is a reflection of Ed’s own childhood, so the fact that he became a successful adult with his own family doesn’t invalidate the trauma he went through at such a young age and it doesn’t make it less “real” just because he didn’t get to the point where he literally asphyxiated himself in a chest

I think the implication here is that all the diferent runs and routes and endings were them re-writing the bedtime story.

I love how they included the fact that Isaac still says his prayers at night. It shows the game isn’t anti-religion, it’s anti-zealotry. And as a Christian myself, I agree. Religion can be a beautiful thing that brings purpose and meaning to people’s lives. But it’s the radical and irrational zealotry that corrupts and can harm people. Good on you, Edmund McMillen.

Everyone gansta until we be fighting Biggest Horn

"Issac and his parents in a small house." And then the universe collapsed...

The part that shows Guppy and says "He saw his one true companion, alive and well." always makes me cry...

Isaacs mother: Isaac You are My son... But Azazel starts with brimstone

Oh thank god, isaac FINALLY got a happy ending. The boy deserves it.

So basically, every reset you do is basically making Isaac tell his father to "redo" the story to see the many different endings Isaac and his bible characters or religious symbolism alter egos could end up in.

Rebirth: we fight satan Afterbirth+: we fight our fears Antibirth: we fight our mistakes Repentance: we fight... a television?

I love how the soundtrack evolves every time Isaac goes up a level. It starts out as a song played entirely in reverse. But when a level is ascended, a layer of the track starts playing normally. This goes on until the full song is played normally. Genius.

20:40 this killed 10 years of sadness

everybody gangsta until tboi gets a story based dlc

14:45 Minor detail, but I love how Death waits until he charges into battle to draw his scythe.

The voice they gave Isaac feels beyond fitting for his character

"Isaac and his parents, lived in a small house on top of a hill..." Probably the best ending this game could ever get

Everybody gangsta until the narrator comes back with vengeance

Personally, I think that rather than a “It was all a dream” sort of thing, the events of the game did happen, and Isaac DID actually live a fucked up life and ended up dying in the chest, but is now retelling what he saw to his father in heaven. Now that he’s reunited with him, and possibly also his mother, they all have the chance to try to “rewrite the story” and finally live happily in heaven together.

Really does hit you hard when you realize Edmund confirmed Isaac died in the chest anyway

Athough the "it was all fake" is a cliché, this is the best plot twist I have ever seen.

I like how death face palms when war dies.

My favourite interpretation of this ending? Isaac isn’t telling stories with his father. Rather, with _the_ Father. In Heaven, Isaac can find eternal joy and comfort in telling bedtime stories with God, who no matter what his mother might have claimed, loves him after all.

Straight up turned into a castle crashers bossfight

This legit just made me cry because I always wondered where Isaac's father was, why he left, and why he isn't mentioned almost at all, but he is actually the narrator. That's wholesome. And what power a single word can have. Just "Isaac and his parents" instead of "mother", THAT made me cry!

Ed: "We don't want runs taking an hour and a half" Also Ed:This ending will include 10 minutes of walking"

The fact that Dogma phase 2 resembles a biblical angel is amazing

Man, the finale of Repentance sure is awesome. I like how as soon as you collect Dad’s Note, memories from Isaac’s past are heard as you ascend to Home. And when you get to Home, you sleep in Mom’s bed, and then this is where the awesomeness happens. Isaac thinking about him watching TV with his mother, and suddenly a melting Isaac’s face appears on TV, and then when you get out of bed, approaching the TV is up next, and then this... thing... known as Dogma comes out of the TV like Samara from The Ring. And I like the Dogma battle sequence. And after defeating Dogma, I love the pre-Beast cutscene. And then there’s the Ultra Harbingers, and then you fight the Beast after those 4. I love the post-Beast ending. Well, the finale sure was a success.

14:43 If you look closely at the background you can see death face palming and shaking his head before coming into battle himself almost like he's saying "pathetic" the attention to detail is astounding

The ending made me cry when the father said isaac and his parents but afterwards the credits creeped me out with the ominous singing

14:42 Love how in the background, Death is shaking his head like: "Oh for fucks sake, he's just a kid!"

"He heard the late night fights they had, that kept him up at night, and the guilt for what he believed he was causing." Growing up with parents who always fought was hard. The endings to Isaac have always been sad, but this was so realistic and relatable. Never thought Isaac would make me sob so hard.

Just noticed this sort of parallels Mega Satan: Large demonic boss that summons the Horsemen and has no HP bar, gated behind a fight with something angelic

OH THANK GOD!!! After 21 endings of just absolute despair and tragedy that made me wanna go drown in a fucking lake...... there's finally a nice happy ending.....

I like to imagine dogma doing normal things. "Hello sir, welcome to Mcdonald's, what can i get you" "LET GODS LIGHT PURGE THE SIN FROM YOUR BEING" "Will that be here or to go?"

That... that actually had me in tears. Legitimately crying as Isaac remembered so many painful and beautiful things, letting them all go as he ascended, crescendoing at the realization he's alive. That his father's there, that he's helping him process it all. That Isaac can live, and be happy. Holy shit.

So the plot with this is that the father is sorting through all of Isaac's stories and talking him through his trauma. Instead of considering him weird, he encourages his son by giving him critiques on his writing and tries to help him after gaining custody. Isaac finally gets the home he deserves. Best mod. Great boss battles too.

Am I the only one crying hearing Isaac say, “ ok daddy.”?

Bruh. The dad narrated the whole Time, and also u have to admit atleast one tear dropped when we heard "Isaac and his parents lived in a small house on top of a hill"

Man, this ending got me. Knowing this is a very personal story for the writer, and knowing it's not meant to be straightforward, I have to wonder if the ending isn't just him talking to himself, in a way. After all, you're writing the story. Why not give it a happy ending? Issac and his parents... (Fuck, this ending really got me. I hope this little fictional fetus-blob of a child is happy.)

No ones going to talk about how dope dogma’s design is?

Seeing Isaac hold Guppy makes me shed a tear every time.

That "ok daddy" at the end made me cry

20:38 Isaacs voice I can’t it so cute 🥺

Naming the static tv boss Dogma is pure genius.

It was a honor to play this game with you gentlemen. Isaac had the end he deserves, and he's happy with his father.

Isaac is still deeply disturbed but I hope him and his father are happy and safe without Maggie there. Or at least Maggie got the help she needed.

Legit makes me cry because I've been playing this game for years and seeing how bleak and sad Isaac's life has been, so to finally see a happy ending for once for the kid is too much to handle

If my child could wrote stories like this i would bring them to a psychiatric

I love how Ed's wife's name, Danielle, has this cute heart over it. That's true love right there

I thought this ending was going to be horrribly murderous and involve issac dying again but this is... a suprise. I like it

The true ending: Isaac's parents are divorced, and now his father is telling him stories as a way of therapy, since he has partial custody over him.

Im going to just put it out there that this ending probably confirms that, while yes Issac's parents did split apart his dad came back for him after hearing that his mother threatend him with a Knife (and we know that his mother wasnt hit on the head by a book cause in the repentace trailer the book actualy misses her when it falls) also this says that his father was the only one who apreciated Issac's story telling while his mom did not.

In the background, before you fight The Beast, the Ultra Horsemen silhouettes have neat little animations. Ultra Famine giggles like a psycho before he comes out to fight. Ultra Pestilence looks angry when you kill Famine. Ultra War laughs at Pestilence's defeat. And Ultra Death facepalms and shakes his head when War is defeated. It's a really nice touch that I never noticed during my playthroughs. 👍

So, either Isaac is living with his dad, or both died and now are in heaven, that ending melt my heart because at the very end... Isaac is in peace.

I love how death facepalms in the background when war dies

I like to think that the Issac in this ending was reincarnated into a happy family instead, though he keeps writing stories from a past life he somewhat remembers

"Isaac and his PARENTS lived alone on a small house on a hill" What a amazing way to end the story.

"How difficult do you want this ending to be?" "Yes!"

This ending just made all the other ending seem like nightmares a small religious child would have. And its the best ending, I'm happy Issac finally got a happy ending ;-;

Man All these years and hearing "Isaac and his parents lived together in a small house" had me feelin' somethin'

Everytime I feel down I come here to minute 19:46 and I start crying. I didn't imagine such a game could be my relief valve, but here I am, weeping at Isaac remembering the good in his life.

issac could be a good story/lore writer, assuming he literally wrote the entire story

imagine that, this entire time we were just reciting a bedtime story

The sirens dad when you ask her out on a date

" he saw his one true companion alive and well " that shit made me cry

ok ngl, I'm so happy Isaac got a happy ending poor kid's been through a lot, he deserves it

Honestly this is probably the only time "it was all a dream" is an acceptable end to a story for me, a welcome one even. Knowing how it parallels the real life creator, it gives me an air of closure. Since I'm pretty sure Isaac as a series was at least one way to sort through all the emotions of his upbringing, a happy ending for it seems to come from a place of acceptance. Or maybe I'm wrong and it's just a funny ha ha look it's a poop enemy.

Him dying in the chest, hallucinating and delirious is suppose to be the intended ending, but thanks to a mod about Isaac murdering his mom, the mod was so well made isaac finally got a good ending. FINALLY

Based on the final ending, my personal preferred take is that the past 10 years of The Binding of Isaac we've been playing is actually Isaac's new adoptive father narrating Isaac's various stories, helping him to work through the abuse he suffered from his birth parents (and the blame he laid upon himself for the breakup of his parents' marriage.) It would make sense that his mother really did try to do something egregious and terrible to him, and he managed to escape, ended up in foster care as so many abused children do, and found a new, loving family. Such an ordeal of escaping from his mother might have taken just a few minutes, but in his child's mind it would be as epic an escape as you experience in the game. I think this take is in keeping with the Afterbirth ending (him wandering into limbo is him entering a parentless, chillingly insecure phase in his life, with his bones-in-the-chest representing the decomposed childhood he left behind in that house of horrors). Some people here are suggesting that the father returned and got partial custody, but we know from the father's addiction issues and blame shifting that he was as much a cause of the marital breakup as the mother. They were both deeply flawed and irredeemable parents. And I think its highly improbable that Isaac's abuse wasn't real either, because I doubt Isaac would be coming up with all of these disturbed stories had none of them been rooted in reality.

The fact that this is The Binding Of Isaac just goes to show how much it’s changed

11:55 Absolute Terror Field

Damn that Dogma track with the preacher talking over it is fire!

I much prefer the theory floating around that this is Issac finally getting to heaven and having a happy afterlife than "it was just a dream bro." It makes the story all along matter.

I just realized that Dogma has voice lines when he fires his brimstone, he's even more terrifying now

7 years of playing. 7 years of anger, pain, and joy. 7 years of sleepless nights and lunch breaks ending with an empty stomach. Was it all worth it? Without a doubt.

SPOILERS When i Issac says: "yes daady" and realized than all of these years was a fake history narrated by his dad and our boi was fine all this time hearing his dad histories i feel a mix between cry and happines.

I love the dogma fight so much, the audio gives me goosebumps, the stuff that is being said is so fucking interesting

So in the end after isaac's religious mother freaked out, he moved in with his father. Telling stories of what happened?

So, let me just get this straight... Isaac made the choices in the story of “ The Binding of Isaac, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth and The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth +” and Edmund Mcmillen was the farther of Isaac himself..........THIS IS MUDDLING MY HEAD UP!!!

Binding Of Isaac theorists: * SPEND COUNTLESS HOURS TRYING TO DISCOVER THE LORE BEHIND ISAAC'S STORY * edmund and florian: *bUt It WaS aLl JUsT a DreAm !*

ALL THIS TIME THE DAD WAS WHAT omg man I can't believe it he was the narrator all along standing beside isaac reading the stories his own son created. This has brought true tears to me and I'm really happy isaac got his happy ending.big thanks to the producers man

ok here's my theory on what the ending means: Throughout most of the binding of isaac, isaac is in purgatory. The purgatory is a manifestation of the several traumas he's experienced such as the abuse from his mother (mom and mother), suffocating in the chest (hush), to manifestations of his religious guilt. He spends his time in hell thinking that his father left without ever saying goodbye. This is his unfinished business he needed to take care of before he could go to heaven. Isaac finds his dad's note, most likely a letter saying goodbye to isaac. Realizing that his father still loved him even when he left, Isaac's unfinished business is taken care of and he ascends to heaven. As he ascends he leaves all his guilt about his parents and his religion behind, represented by isaac defeating Dogma and the Beast. In the end, Isaac reunites with his father, and they spend their time making up and telling stories to each other about Isaac's life. Isaac is finally at peace. The End. That's just my theory though, even if I'm wrong it's still a perfect ending to one of the best indie games out there imo.

bro this is just... phenomenal... honestly, props to the whole team this is incredible