Thin Man Little Nightmares - Tumblr Posts

Media: Little Nightmares

Characters: Six, Mono, Thin Man

Fic Type: AU

Summary: Six isn't the only one with secrets.

Spoilers for Little Nightmares 2!

Mono could only watch as Six got taken from her hiding spot under a table. Her terrified shriek rang in the boy's ears, repeating like a broken record and making his head hurt. He burrowed deeper into the darkness of the shadows and waited until he saw the Thin Man glitch away with Six in hand to pull himself out from underneath the bed and back onto his feet.

The small boy started walk to the door before stopping and turning to stare at where Six was taken from just moments before. After a moment silent staring, he set his jaw and headed off back to the room with the TV and warped through to a new room. He clambered to his feet, made his way outside and, after a lot of running, jumping, and swinging, found his way into a post office. Mono traversed through the office with minimal struggle and baited the viewer away from the TV in her living room. He crossed the plank, climbed up the ladder, tricked another viewer, and warped through another television set. He kept traversing the Pale City, seeming suspiciously at ease. He showed neither care nor fright for the Viewers that he should have been terrified of.

He had no issues deceiving viewers or hopping over electrified puddles of storm water. He didn't care about the Viewers who so thoughtlessly threw themselves off of buildings just to be closer the the Broadcast. He moved through the city without struggle or concern, appearing rather calm for somebody who was trying to find their recently kidnapped friend.

He felt no fear as he zig-zagged between store shelves and avoided the manic crowd behind him. He never flinched at the crashing and thudding of shelves hitting the floor or Viewers crushing each other in the frenzy. He hopped through the TV and tumbled out of the other screen onto the cold, hard floor rather gracelessly, but quickly recovered and stood back up. After brushing some dust off of his coat and hat, he made his way into another room containing a TV with the dark figure of Six inside.

She had her hands pressed against the screen, banging on it in an act of futile desperation. Upon seeing the girl's image, Mono walked up to the screen, but instead of helping, he simply stood and gazed upon the screen that had claimed his friend. He stared at the silhouette, doing nothing until he saw the thin shadow of a boney hand reaching out to grab her. As the hand appeared, the boy raised his own, however he did not reach out to help. He merely waved and giggled as the girl he'd pretended to befriend got ripped away from the screen with a burst of static. He smiled at the sight, though nobody could see it underneath his paper bag.

After watching Six disappear, Mono took a few steps back from the static-filled screen and gazed upon the tall figure that emerged from the monitor. His face was set in an expression of expecting praise, hidden behind his paper bag.

"You did well, child," he praised with a small smile.

The Thin Man emerged from the television and looked down at the small boy in front of him. crouching, he put his hand out before the boy, and in response, the boy to climb atop his palm and sat down. The man then rose to his feet and gave the boy's head a few gentle pats with the tip of his index finger. As he did, he spoke in his deep, ever-glitching voice.

"Now, shall we see our 'guest?'" The man in the hat asked as the air flooded with the sound and feel of static.

Mono grinned giddily and thanked the man vigorously, for he was always eager to please his caretaker. The man chuckled at the boy's excitement, having taken a liking to his younger self.

--

An excerpt from my work-in-progress Little Nightmares au, Son of the Broadcast!

Little Nightmares Character Analysis

!Trigger warning for generational trauma/abuse!

Spoilers for the endings of the first and second games

One thing I find interesting about the relationship between Six and the Lady is how it compares to Mono and the Thin Man's relationship.

To me, Mono and the Thin Man are a metaphor for generational trauma. A child (Mono) is hurt by somebody, usually a parent or guardian (Thin Man), and tries to free themself from the situation. In the case of Mono, it's him trying to get out of the Pale City. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the child, for whatever reason, grows up to be just like the person who hurt them (Mono growing up to become the Thin Man), perpetuating the cycle of abuse.

Six and the Lady, depending on how you interpret them, can also be a metaphor for generational trauma, but now the abused (Six) breaks the cycle (leaving the Maw). It's safe to assume that in most cases, the previous Lady of the Maw will raise the next Lady to take the job of running the Maw, thus continuing the cycle of trauma and passing it down to the next generation. Though the situation is different with the current Lady and Six, it still ends with Six choosing to stray away from the path that all the others before her chose to walk down. She chose to end the cycle.

Both situations are representations of how trauma and abuse are passed down from generation to generation, but one ends with the cycle continuing on, while the other ends with somebody finally putting a stop to it all.

"3 Years of Nightmares in the City...."

Happy (Late) 3rd Anniversary Little Nightmares 2.