Ln3 - Tumblr Posts

So I made this thing for the au I made

I haven't figured out the colors yet tho so it ain't good but yea

ASK ME ABOUT OTTO FROM THE SOUNDS OF LITTLE NIGHTMARES BY GOD I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIM.

I'm thinking I'm just gonna' make this entire tumblr sounds of nightmares centric because I've been listening to the podcast and drew otto a little bit, the first one is the final concept, the last two are scrapped ones, esp the third, baby face lookin ass !!

but hope y'all like this !!

I am Thriving.

" time and again, boys race to be men. impatient they start, fearful they end. but, here was a man mourning tomorrow. he drank, but finally drowned in his sorrow. oh, he could not break surface tension. he looked in the wrong place for redemption. don't look at me with those eyes. I tried to anaesthetize, turn back the time that drew him. but he couldn't be saved. a sadness run through him. "

a sadness runs through him by the hoosiers

finished that otto artwork !! it's not very rendered as it's meant to be very sketched up and rough, but I hope y'all like it !! tried to make sure hues were mostly purple, red, yellow, blue, and white.

this was based from the chapter 5 episode but works as an overall character artwork !! and oh yea', this was referenced off of some photos I took to try and get the feel for the hands and the fear in his eyes specifically <3 so, just hope y'all dig it !! now time to make an otto playlist because all these hoosiers songs really vibing with him and noone rn

wips of otto and noone's refs ! some soft design notes OTTO DESIGN NOTES - I like to think the eye clothing is something he seemingly picked to try and be more connected to cece in some sense, a lot of spirals and areas were he is just littered in eyes that are scattered just as much as are his goals and motivations - his coat is meant to be a little too big for him, people theorize about the candleman / ferryman being like otto or that they're one in the same and while it is interesting, I like to think they're parallel to one another and I use that as a means of the coat being kind of like the candleman / ferryman's - mismatched sock supremacy !!!!!!! - broski carries sweets wherever he goes, I like to think he has a general sweet tooth because he kind of eats candies in the middle of the night while going over noone's session tapes, mans got have his girl dinner NOONE DESIGN NOTES - theys got a tooth gap because honestly with the way noone's voice actor speaks, I just think it's funky doo silly and makes it even more precious when she has moments where she smiles because you get to see her tooth gap reflect itself - traditional patient clothing but with a little more detail, just to make it kind of cozy + some shorts - I like to think she and otto have molees and that noone's moles are moreso on their legs or around their shoulders - dirty feet because you gotta be so real with me that noone just is an outside kid or likes to play with bugs or collects them like they explained with the moths so girlie is watching stick bugs dance you can't prove otherwise - and the scars are from nightmares, I like to think a little of the nowhere creeps up more than just mental / internal in them so it might've been from just times where nightmares got particularly difficult or she cut themselves at some points while running and otto often helped with cleaning up the scars / could be an accident from gardening or etc.

if anyone's got any questions abt their designs, lmk

otto doodle because I am really crazy about my fixation on him now huh also also a thing to kind of compare notes on his og doodle I did of him

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME LITTLE NIGHTMARES THREE WAS COMING OUT

And so, the adoption count grows by 2.

The new kiddos i love them already can’t wait for it to come out!

Hate to break it to you but they're not "distancing" from anything, Dave Mervik, the man in charge of the lore for the first two games, said in an interview that they had a lore bible that explained why everything is the way it is, LN is not and never has been a "make what you will of it" type of game in terms of lore. The return of dialogue does not change that, the podcast is in effect the same as hearing someone describe a level from the games.(the biggest change being the episode written by SuperHorrorBro having dialogue for the monsters)

Also, Tarsier used "The Nowhere" as a name for the LN world in item listings for LN2 in all languages, with the N always capitalized, it's not something new.

And on last thing: LN3 looks to be the least cohesive or grounded story and setting in the franchise up to this point, and considering we've seen so little, it wouldn't surprise me if this game answers less questions than any prior installment, instead, setting up for even more future content.

I super excited and know Supermassive will do Tarsier and the fanbase proud!

My initial thoughts on what we've seen from Little Nightmares III so far:

okay, first of all-

ohmygodohmygod it's happening this is the best day of my life I'm eternally grateful we get more of this oh my god I'm so happy-

okay, with that out of the way, I have more in depth thoughts. My overall feelings on the reveal are incredibly positive, but with the caveat that this is still visibly missing some elements from the initial LN formula. This isn't to say that this will be bad in comparison, just different, and I feel it's worth it to put a spotlight on that.

The most obvious example of a change in philosophy is the inclusion of multiplayer. To be totally honest, I was actually worried about the idea of them including multiplayer, because the idea seems to stand against the linear artistic experience that the series is recognized for, but the way they've pitched the multiplayer does sound pretty unobstructive, so I'll bite my tongue on that. I do think it has a risk of making the experience less cohesive though. It's clear that the decision was inspired by LN2, but that undersells the amount of individuality that six has in that game. You can't recreate the volatile emotions of your interactions with her if there wasn't the moments where she's not there with you, and you can't have the scripted moments where she acts of her own accord to serve the narrative, if she was meant to serve the dual purpose of being a vessel for another player. idk, I suppose we'll see.

The other visible element that branches out from the original philosophy is the very clear push towards grounded, overt storytelling. Little nightmares from the beginning has presented it's story in a very deliberately vague way. Typically, it pushes the story beats through implication, and let's your brain fill in the gaps to get the intended story beats alongside some lingering uncertainty of the conclusion you've come to. it's not a game that is meant to be explained (contrary to what some youtube videos might tell you lol. the truth of little nightmares story is, explicitly, what you personally take away from it. some people view six as sympathetic, some people view her as purely heartless, and neither conclusion is wrong (please don't fight about it ; ;)

anyway, point is... this new entry is distancing itself from that element that's been inherently baked in until this point. like in the initial development of the first game, they removed all references to real world language, there is deliberately no spoken language in the series. the only exception so far, out of every piece of media in the series, has been the comics, which were cancelled and decanonized (though those characters still exist in that universe somewhere, in my heart ; ;) and the press release material, which has been the backbone of all explicitly stated Little Nightmares facts. we wouldn't even have character names if it weren't for that stuff, there are no names stated in any of those games!

with that said, and while it is cool as hell that they exist... making the new announcement of additional story media in this universe be through audio drama is a bit of an odd choice, isn't it? like... inherently? with this in mind? Like I'm over the moon with excitement, I'm not complaining, but the change in philosophy is pretty visible, right?

also, speaking of the universe, another example of the shift to more overt and clear storytelling is that they've officially given the setting a name. this isn't strictly new, we have "The Maw" "The Nest" (still canon in my heart ; ;) "The Pale City" and the new game, in turn, has "The Necropolis"

and yet, another name in the marketing has been "the Nowhere," a name that has been exclusively described with language implying we are already familiar with it, e.g. "welcome back to the Nowhere" and "are you ready to return to the Nowhere?"

This name has never been used in any previous media, as far as I know, but I think it's pretty clear that the underlying implication is that "The Nowhere" refers to the entirety of the LN universe.

not to sound like a broken record, but... my reaction remains a simultaneous "this is cool as hell" and "this was made with a very different philosophy in mind."

I predict that LN2 will have a much more cohesive story, grounded in a specific and defined setting. We've lost the ambiguity present in the series' identity, but that could lead to some cool things in the future.

overall? I'm extremely excited and incredibly optimistic, but do think that we should go into this new experience with the understanding that it might be a different one. There is visibly a new team working on this one, and while they may not have put as much focus into the subtleties of this franchise's identity, they are very clearly trying to stay true to the overall identity. you can tell in the art style, it's borderline perfect, and it's very clear that the people working on this knew how important stuff like that was to this game, and to us. This won't be the same experience that Tarsier would have made, but Tarsier was content to not make any more of this experience, so a new direction is far from blasphemous. I'm overjoyed that we're getting this new experience, with all it's little differences, and I can't wait to see what they do.

(also, to anyone who's curious about the design philosophy of the original game, I highly recommend this presentation. I feel like not enough people have seen this, and it's so interesting)

So apparently the next episode of Sounds of Nightmares is called "Theatre of The Mind" and I am so excited to see what passes for preforming arts in the Nowhere. Gets me even more hyped for the LN3 circus.

Holy crap, that's amazing, I'm totally stealing this when I play with my friend.

prediction of how my friend and i are gonna play as low and alone i can't wait

I love your version of this slimy bastard!

Can't wait to see what you do with the LN3 monsters when we get a better look at them.

SENT ON A FERRY UPON OUR SEAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The Sounds of Nightmares episode 3 analysis: A Triple Bill of Memories

I can safely say I was not expecting 95% of what happened in this episode. That said, there's a fuckton of things to cover, so let's get started!

The Voices of the Lonely Mall:

So @queen0fm0nsterz made a great post showing that the chain woman from episode 1 is an inverse of the Lady, and it's pretty clear that the same thing is going on with the Mall and the Tower.

The Mall is also our first non-malicious antagonist in the series, which is doubly surprising given how inhuman it is.

I don't actually see the various PA voices that chastise the "brain" for scaring Noone as other personalities, since the Mall says "Don't leave ME" as the dream ends. I think a better description of the PA voices is false personas, possibly based on previous visitors (the way it uses their memories to lure visitors in), that the Mall has deluded itself into treating as real and separate from it by way of the PA system due to it's unbearable loneliness. I'd be astonished if we get a more tragic one-off monster in the remaining episodes.

One last thing about the Mall, it scares Noone away with it's desperation, like how Otto scares her with his desperation to know more about the Ferryman. Neither have inherently villainous motives, but hinder themselves due to their obsession with said motives.

How is the ferrying buisiness, anyway?:

I've said it before, the Ferryman is WAY scarier in the podcast than in the comics. With the expanded knowledge about the Nowhere we get in this episode it's clear that the Ferryman is intentionally taking Noone to certain places in the Nowhere, and it would seem she's far from the first to be taken to the Mall, as it seems to dread him taking it's new patrons away, above all else, not to mention that the bathhouse water reminded Noone of the water that got her sick and the "familiar" dress from episode one possibly being like one worn by her mother.

Also noteworthy is that, unlike all other characters whose dialogue Noone quotes, which we hear from the character themselves and slightly ahead of Noone, we only hear what the Ferryman said through Noone's mouth. (I'll be discussing the implications of what he said in another post)

The old paper:

The paper Otto reads from to finish the episode seemingly implies that the human world's function is to feed into (in more ways than one) the Nowhere, again, I'll expand on this in a future post.

The title "Little Nightmares" finally makes sense!

If, as the ending of episode 3 of TSOI implies, the human world is supplemental to to the Nowhere, then the fact that it cherishes qualities associated with kids (curiosity, honesty, playfulness), which the Nowhere punishes at every turn would make the human world, other worlds like it and their inhabitants the Nowhere's "little nightmares".

I'd argue his encounter with Six actually does have the choice, just a crude version: Go with him or get torn apart.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Ferryman used his shapeshifting to convince one of Humpback's friends into going to the mirror house and then coming by to "clean up".

The brief thing with Low and Alone is interesting since my current theory is that only one will manage to escape the Nowhere, since all the promotional stuff is building up how close-knit the two are and tearing them apart would be classic LN fuckery.

I get the feeling the Ferryman's not strictly tied to the Maw, rather he just makes sure to get the kids that matter to the right places at the right ties to upkeep all the various operations needed to keep the various regions of Nowhere running. It could be argued he's a conduit for the will of the Nowhere itself.

So a post by @softichill made me realize that, by having Noone take off the pendant and escape the Mall, the Ferryman is essentially returning to his MO from the comics: He saves a kid from a (usually) non-humanoid resident before whisking them away for his own ends. Just something worth thinking about.

MASTERPOST (haven't linked it in a while :0)

Indeed! He is returning to his roots. Although I think Noone is different from all cases of him going into action before because of the nature of the other encounters. All of them are pretty different one way or another.

In the case of Six, he was chasing after someone who had already resided in the Nowhere for some time, with the specific purpose of taking her to the Maw. He did not come to her rescue, nor did he offer his hand to her: he instead pointed his finger at her chest in an accusatory way － or at least Six perceivs it that way.

It is worth noting that, unlike what happened with Noone and the pendant, the Ferryman did not wait for Six to take anything off her person.

This time it felt much more like an "I found you" moment. Like he was looking for her. It was so imperative that he took her there that he (presumably) chased after her and immobilised her to get her on the submarine.

This is the only time when a child found by the Ferryman is not given a choice on whether to follow him or not.

Or. Well. The illusion of a choice.

Which brings us to the second child taken by the Ferryman, the Refugee Boy. Considering that he might be originary of the Nowhere, since his village gave out charms to protect them against the North Wind, implying that he has always been a threat to the village, this is yet another peculiar case because it indicates that the Ferryman also looks for live, Nowhere-born children to bring to the Maw. He doesn't seem to make distinctions.

In this particular occasion, he had actually made a bet with the monster who was interested in the Refugee Boy. I wonder if the deal was struck when North Wind killed the girl and the Ferryman was "not in time" to offer his help to her as well, but considering how he deviously smiles when transforming back... I have my doubts it comes from a good place.

And also, I think that the next story I'm about to touch on points to the Ferryman only pursuing single targets rather than groups.

The next time we see the Ferryman is when he arrives at the end of the Humpback Girl's tale, after she's already faced the Mirror Man and has been abandoned.

The only thing that perplexes me about this is that it doesn't seem to be happening in a dream, but the Ferryman is also stepping into the "real world". I doubt the Humpback Girl is like the Refugee Boy because the other children who were with her make fun of her for being afraid of monsters, with the underlying message that monsters do not exist.

The presence of the Mirror Man, however, would imply that the Ferryman is not the only monster who can cross the bridges between various realities. And with this in mind, I am also thinking of whether or not he can only manifest through a specific kind of mirror in the real world, which are the ones we see in the comics and would explain why they were sealed away.

Maybe the choice of not destroying them could stem from the belief that maybe someone could return through them... (thinking hard about Low and Alone.)

Anyway. Back to the man of the hour, who, rather cowardly, shows up when the action has already finished. And this time, he just... vanished with her holding his hand. Like a boogeyman, taking yet another victim away.

There was no build up to this, like for Noone, who instead sees him in her dreams becoming more and more vivivd and to whom he even speaks -- something he has never done before.

And remember: all these kid, he is not taking ALL of them to the Nowhere. His objective is to get them on the Maw. Which is where I am afraid Noone might end up in at the end of this podcast -- whichever version of it, at whichever point in time.

It has me wonder when in the timeline the podcast takes place. I have a feeling this podcast will be revealed to come first in the timeline, dating back to a time even before VLN, but we'll see.

The Sounds of Nightmares episode 4 analysis: Head in The Clouds

HOLY FUCK, ACTULLY HOLY FUCK, BEST EPISODE ,BEST EPISODE

Forgive me, now that I've disposed of the build up of hype, we can sort this into two parts, what this means for TSON and for LN3

The young blood:

Given this is our first exposure to teens in Nowhere, and Noone's comments about them "being there for a long time" we can safely say they've at least partially turned into residents, especially with how they're being conditioned to only see themselves as their given roles.

Considering the series is implied to be the earliest point in the timeline so far, I'm wondering if we might see the magician and fire breathers as adults when LN3 launches, though I'm highly doubtful we'll be seeing Rusty alive.

A place of joy in the sky:

The idea that the Circus is an airship is definitely one I didn't consider before, but makes it's similarities to the Maw much more interesting.

On a side note, Noone describing the Fairgoers as having faces like bad drawings lines up with the lumpy looks of their faces we see in the trailer, further proving it's the same places.

Double act:

Now on to who I'm sure would be delighted to be called the main attraction, the Ventriloquist(s?)!

No two ways about it, they are HORRIFYING, and line up great with Tarsier's old philosophy of making Residents look like grisly version of childish misunderstandings of what they represent.

Gameplay-wise I have a suspicion one may function like an alarm, alerting the other of our presence, though I may be completely off on that. From a lore perspective, it feels very LN-like to not clarify if they actually run the Circus or not.

The (not quite) best boy:

Rusty was a pretty great companion to Noone in this trip to Nowhere, he seems to be the most capable kids she's met so far (no offence, episode 1 kid who's probably RK). His confession of fear and hate in the ferris wheel might imply he was closer to becoming a resident than the other kids we've met so far.

The absent local:

Our slightly blobby old friend not appearing was a slight surprise, though he's certainly there in spirit, it helps that he's all but confirmed to actually hail from Nowhere, further solidifying my theories regarding him.

Noone's allegory:

Noone describing the Nowhere as a place with many connected but individual places with unique functions confirms, at least to me, that there is no central force controlling literally everything, rather, there are forces that drift from region to region, upkeeping the nature of the world as a whole-

A few notes:

Since every episode has a different color for the background, I'll go out on a limb and say the finale will be yellow, for fairly obvious reasons, leaving green as the most likely color for episode five.

The idea of fleeing the Circus (in chapter FOUR) reminds me of @queen0fm0nsterz idea that one of the cancelled LN1 comics would be about escaping a facility, and that it would parallel the FOURTH Lady, might be nothing, or it might be a sign we should revisit past episodes with the Ladies in mind.

Am I the only one who sees what appears to be a Voldemort-like face in the far right stump hole, right? I'm almost sure that's a monster, maybe even the pipe man.

This is amazing, the best fanart of the Circus monsters yet!

Want to join the show? 👁

Further thoughts on Deluge of The Inevitable

Unlike in episode 3 we DO actually hear the Ferryman's voice which I think was subtle foreshadowing that he was going break through to the Counties (and possibly Otto's screen). I also can't stop thinking about Otto's comment on feeling like Ferryman is speaking through Noone, it's a creepy as hell idea.

I almost hope we never see the Ferryman in the games just so he can stay this mysterious badass who's just always loomin' and schemin'.

I have no sweet clue what Lonnie has up his sleeve for the finale, but considering the first episode, the only other one he wrote on his own, had the most properly dream-like feel, I know we're in for a treat.

It'll actually be pretty weird going back to no regularly scheduled, official LN content. At least we can look forward to the (highly likely) trailer at the Game Awards.

The Sounds of Nightmares episode 6 analysis: Going Nowhere

An interesting finale, one that leaves the door open to further expand from the ever-growing gnarled branches of this universe we've grown to love.

The Dressing Room:

The dream Noone, or rather Ruth, recounts at the beginning is quite interesting, the parallels to past episodes, especially episode 4 are interesting but lack enough focus for us to say anything for sure. The Mannequin woman's actions being noted to match that of the Nowhere itself is very fascinating. Perhaps she's more significant than we can currently know.

The Threshold:

The barrier to the nowhere being a semi-existent, pitch black mist is something that lines up well with the smoke pouring from the mirror in the LN3 banner, especially given it's the first game where the protags aim to leave Nowhere entirely.

Crossing Over:

The fact that the Ferryman knew Noone's real name contrasts with the Mall who only knew her as "No one", almost as if that was their to symbolize that even the eye structures (or at least some of them) are inferior to the Ferryman in terms of grasp on visitors and other worlds in general.

The fact Ruth's voice audibly distorted when the door closed tells me she was likely to become a resident very quickly, possibly due to all that she experienced before ending up in the CPI.

The Real Aim:

The final reveal of the Ferryman speaking to Otto all along makes some question more interesting to ponder, why is Otto the only adult we've seen the Nowhere take interest in, was taking Cici another way of "pushing" him to "plunge", was that alone meant to be enough and the kids at the CPI are now a back up plan? Is Otto being pursued becomes he would have a special power in the Nowhere, one that is crucial for one reason or another, or is it something we have no current hints about? Is Otto getting to Nowhere even possible or is he just being used to basically deliver kids to the Ferryman? We can only look to time with hopes of eventually answering some of these questions.

Closing Thoughts:

The Sounds of Nightmares was an incredible experience and I applaud everyone who contributed to any language version of it. I eagerly look forward to what other ways we'll see of exploring my favorite horror franchise, maybe even through another podcast at some point, again, time will tell.