Tell Me Why is DONTNOD’s newest release, acting as a sort of spiritual successor to the Life is Strange series, while some avid fans even speculate that it might be in the same universe due to the reprised element of a supernatural ability. Tell Me Why uses the same DONTNOD formula of a point-click adventure with some additional gameplay mechanics to guide the player through the story. And along with the twin’s telepathic ability called “The Voice,” the game provides a piece of symbolic storytelling, The Book of Goblins. This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Tell Me Why Chapter One.
The Book of Goblins was originally created by Alyson and put together by their mother. In it, many major characters throughout Tell Me Why are represented as a creature or animal. For example, Alyson and Tyler are the Crafty Goblins and their mother, Mary Ann, is the Princess. While it’s not specifically stated, discovering figurines representing characters from The Book of Goblins, along with the stories in the Book and intuition of past events, implies which creature represents who, such as Sam represented by the Bear and Eddy by the Ice King. But one character was added to the tales by the mother rather than Alyson: the Mad Hunter. He also makes two appearances in the final section of Chapter One, but who is the Mad Hunter?
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The main theory of Tell Me Why with the most evidence is that the Mad Hunter represents the twins’ father. At the beginning of The Book of Goblins, it’s told that the Princess was being chased by the Mad Hunter, but ultimately loses her when she finds solace in the forest, representing Delos, the town where the twins grew up. Later, in the chapter “The Goblins Trick the Mad Hunter,” it tells the story of how the twins lured out the Hunter by using one of the Princess’s dresses and putting it at the bottom of the lake. The Hunter, trying to capture the Princess, jumps in after it and is claimed by the Moon Hag.
The theory is that the father chased after Mary Ann for some reason, perhaps he was abusive or didn’t want to let her go. Wanting to keep the father out of the twins’ lives, this would’ve prompted her to create the character ‘The Mad Hunter’ to keep her children away from him or curious of him. Additionally, it could be posited that the father, thinking the mother was drowning, jumped in after her into the icy lake. Many fans have pointed out the wanted posters seen around Delos’s police station, theorizing that the father drowned and was reported as missing. If this theory is true, the harrowing tale of Tell Me Why is about to get much darker.
This theory is more abstract than the last, but this isn’t the first time DONTNOD uses mental health elements in its characters. It’s clear that the mother is suffering from a psychosis of some kind, such as schizophrenia or split personality disorder. Perhaps Mary Ann, not wanting her children to be scared of her episodes, created the Mad Hunter as a symbol the children could scapegoat her terrifying behavior onto. If fans are correct that the mother is suffering from a split personality disorder, it would make sense that she would write the Mad Hunter as a separate character for the sake of the twins.
Firstly, the Mad Hunter seems to physically appear at the end of Chapter One when Tyler is being chased by his mom, implying that he is hallucinating in some way. It’s also been posited that some characters in Tell Me Why are represented by more than one persona in The Book of Goblins. For example, the Moose and the Ice King both symbolize Eddy. This suggests that it’s possible Mary Ann is both the Princess and the Mad Hunter.
Also, looking again at the chapter “The Goblins Trick the Mad Hunter,” it features the Princess’s dress hiding at the bottom of the lake, running parallel to their mother falling into the lake and dying after Alyson stabs her. “Mad” as in mentally unstable and “Hunter,” alluding to the moment when Mary Ann is on the doc with young Tyler; rather than looking towards her son, she seems to be looking at something else and possibly point the gun at it instead of the boy.
Additionally, the location of the collectibles can provide some insight. While the Princess figurine can be found in Mary Ann’s bedroom, the Mad Hunter collectible is found beneath the house. Also underneath the Ronan house is Tyler’s stuffed moose with his deadname ripped off the bottom, compared to Alyson’s moose, which is still in the house with a name intact. It’s worth noting, however, that these points could also apply to the father theory, should the mother want to suppress and bury the memory of him.
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Lastly, the other main theory of the Mad Hunter’s true identity in Tell Me Why is a seemingly innocuous man met early on. As Tyler and Alyson travel by ferry to their hometown, another man and his car travel alongside them for the brief ride. Upon speaking to him, Tyler learns his name is Alex Gershwin, who says he’s in town to see family, a vague yet possibly on-the-nose explanation. By speaking to him and exploring his car, it’s clear that this man is also an avid hunter.
Some fans believe it’s very likely Alex Gershwin is, in fact, the father of the twins. This would ignore the missing person posters but otherwise makes sense when analyzing the conversation with Tyler. If the player provides his full name, Alex gets visibly uncomfortable, though this could simply be due to knowledge of the incident with Mary Ann. Whether or not Alex Gershwin is also the father won’t be known until future episodes release. But so far, all characters introduced have had some significance the story, meaning he likely wasn’t just some random old man on a ferry ride. It’s possible that the player can expect to meet him again.
Chapter One of Tell Me Why is out now for PC and Xbox One. Chapters Two and Three will release on September 3rd and 10th respectively.
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