Post by diavolo on Oct 25, 2015 1:14:43 GMT -5
Apologies for how messy this is. It's a writeup based on notes I've taken while rewatching all 4 films. I know this theory isn't terribly unique, but I feel it deserves its own thread as it does make sense and doesn't require too many leaps of logic.
Everyone agrees, throughout III and IV the Tall Man is transforming Mike into a being more like himself. However, we've always been led to believe the Tall Man is a unique consciousness notwithstanding the endless backup bodies. There's no logical reason he'd need an apprentice or successor. I realize he's inscrutable, but it seems more rational with all the time travel going on that he's stitching together some more grandiose plan than that. It also seems like he's realized something he didn't know in P1 given the difference in how he treats Mike.
In P3 the Tall Man says to the effect of "you've come back to where you started, welcome home boy" to Mike. This could be taken in a more metaphorical sense in that Mike is coming back "home" to himself, and his destiny of what he is going to become.
His body (or physical appearance since I'm pretty sure Morningside didn't start off with weird insectoid anatomy and yellow blood) we know is Jeb Morningside's, but its implied to more be some sort of meat suit worn by a different consciousness (the gold sphere). What if it's the same gold sphere in both of their heads? I don't believe he was putting it in in the end of III as Mike already had yellow blood in the beginning scene. I think he was trying to take it out.
IV has a lot of parallels between the two of them (there's already a thread about it). More parallels:
• The hanging scenes. It could be Mike, while hanging, is experiencing this imaginary scene from both his and the Tall Man's perspective, symbolizing a merging of their identities and characters.
• Mike apparates through the same old-timey portal Jeb Morningside goes through.
• Mike uses the Tall Man's dagger and stabs Jody with it like the Tall Man menaced him with it in the flashback.
The biggest ambiguity is to whether these parallels are meant to imply that Mike and the Tall Man are similar, or that they're literally one and the same being. It could go either way but IMO some of the symbolism (like both of them "saving" each other from being hanged, they literally switch positions) is a bit bizarre if it's supposed to be the former.
Some of the dialogue in the Ravager trailer also brought to mind this theory. Mike is talking about alternate universes and how it's possible to be in multiple places at once. What if he's not just talking about the Tall Man's extra bodies but also about the Tall Man and himself? The Tall Man also apparently tells Reggie he's "not real, just [his] bad dream". Whose bad dreams (and their smudging of reality) have we been treated to since the beginning of the series? Mike's, obviously.
Personally I'm not sure if I believe this theory 100% (too much ambiguity in the series to know for sure) but it is fun to think about. It's wonderfully ironic to think Reggie's best friend and mortal enemy are the same person and that Mike has been fighting himself this whole time.
Everyone agrees, throughout III and IV the Tall Man is transforming Mike into a being more like himself. However, we've always been led to believe the Tall Man is a unique consciousness notwithstanding the endless backup bodies. There's no logical reason he'd need an apprentice or successor. I realize he's inscrutable, but it seems more rational with all the time travel going on that he's stitching together some more grandiose plan than that. It also seems like he's realized something he didn't know in P1 given the difference in how he treats Mike.
In P3 the Tall Man says to the effect of "you've come back to where you started, welcome home boy" to Mike. This could be taken in a more metaphorical sense in that Mike is coming back "home" to himself, and his destiny of what he is going to become.
His body (or physical appearance since I'm pretty sure Morningside didn't start off with weird insectoid anatomy and yellow blood) we know is Jeb Morningside's, but its implied to more be some sort of meat suit worn by a different consciousness (the gold sphere). What if it's the same gold sphere in both of their heads? I don't believe he was putting it in in the end of III as Mike already had yellow blood in the beginning scene. I think he was trying to take it out.
IV has a lot of parallels between the two of them (there's already a thread about it). More parallels:
• The hanging scenes. It could be Mike, while hanging, is experiencing this imaginary scene from both his and the Tall Man's perspective, symbolizing a merging of their identities and characters.
• Mike apparates through the same old-timey portal Jeb Morningside goes through.
• Mike uses the Tall Man's dagger and stabs Jody with it like the Tall Man menaced him with it in the flashback.
The biggest ambiguity is to whether these parallels are meant to imply that Mike and the Tall Man are similar, or that they're literally one and the same being. It could go either way but IMO some of the symbolism (like both of them "saving" each other from being hanged, they literally switch positions) is a bit bizarre if it's supposed to be the former.
Some of the dialogue in the Ravager trailer also brought to mind this theory. Mike is talking about alternate universes and how it's possible to be in multiple places at once. What if he's not just talking about the Tall Man's extra bodies but also about the Tall Man and himself? The Tall Man also apparently tells Reggie he's "not real, just [his] bad dream". Whose bad dreams (and their smudging of reality) have we been treated to since the beginning of the series? Mike's, obviously.
Personally I'm not sure if I believe this theory 100% (too much ambiguity in the series to know for sure) but it is fun to think about. It's wonderfully ironic to think Reggie's best friend and mortal enemy are the same person and that Mike has been fighting himself this whole time.