Game Theory: The Curse is a LIE! (Edith Finch)

Now we wait for matpat to remember that he promised us a franbow theory all those years ago…

I remember seeing a theory about how historically many “family curses” were actually mental illness being passed down, I think that’s what this is about, many of them died because delusion or how they see the world

Joseph Anderson YT video from like 5 years ago said it best….Edie was the villain of the story, but not because she caused the deaths, but rather because she forced the family to be so comfortable with death, mortality, and the family “curse” that they fail to take basic precautions to ensure their safety….they were all doomed anyway, so why worry about it.

Quick note: Milton's disappearance is a bit of an Easter egg to "The Unfinished Swan", and earlier game by Giant Sparrow, where he is heavily implied to be the character "The King". The game is also heavily covered in metaphors and symbolism to the point that it's hard to tell what's actually 'true,' but it's likely Milton not only survived, but fathered a child of his own, the protagonist of Swan. He didn't get killed, he ran away.

Me: Wait so did Walter die by a train? MatPat: “Well yes, but actually no”

Game Theory: Dead kids! It's basically a fast track to a theory. Game Developers: Write that down! Write that down!

personally, i think that Molly’s death was as result of her being sent to bed/ not being allowed to have meals for multiple days or even weeks. i think she had eaten the halloween candy in a last ditch effort to eat something a day or so previously, and when Edie found out she had gotten angry. during the different animals she switches through, it depicts her as being starved, and eating the different things that the animal she is, well is. and i can’t remember the exact line, but at the end after the sea monster climbs under her bed and molly is writing. she says something along the lines of “and i will be delicious” and i think that is alluding to her body literally eating itself from starvation. and all of the story’s she made up are from her starving and trying to trick herself into a happy place

I think one of my favourite things about this game is how most of the deaths were totally preventable if edie wasn’t so adamant on keeping the delusion of a family curse alive

The fact that you represent Edie as an old woman in a suspicious hat, reminiscent of a certain British monarch, is incredibly humorous to me

Honestly, I don’t think she is a serial murderer but her refusal to believe there isn’t a curse causes so many deaths. The many poor decisions she made were never fixed because she blamed it on a curse instead of herself and thus never grew.

The one thing I noticed is that each generation only has one surviving child left to make the next. Since Edith only had one child, this might break the curse because there are no spare siblings to die. If Christopher only has one child and that child only has one child, most likely no one will have an early death.

“Every Finch is buried in the library.” If the journal is indeed a confession, this line makes a lot of sense. Edie is saying that the real stories of every Finch’s deaths can be found in that library.

Matpat didn't even mention the baby, Gus or Lewis, and when you bring them into the equation it really does change things up, I would say this is game is more about neglect and not being able to deal with the consequences of it properly.

Can't wait for a sequel, "What remains of Matpat's Sanity."

While I’m not sure if Molly was deliberately killed by Edith there was definitely something weird about her death. I mean I found it strange that Molly mentions a lot of the animals she is hunting are mothers (the mother sparrow and mother rabbit ect.) does that show Molly has a grudge against or even blames her mother for causing her death as she is dying?

Here's something I've never seen anyone else do: list out the timeline. 1880 - Odin born Jun 17, 1915 - Sven born Apr 8, 1917 - Edie born Jan ???, 1937 - Ingeborg dies in childbirth; Johann is stillborn Jan 7, 1937 - Odin sets sail for America with Edie and Sven Dec 11, 1937 - Molly born Dec ???, 1937 - Odin dies (57), the old Finch house sinks 1938 - Sven starts building the new Finch house Oct 31, 1944 - Barbara born Dec 13, 1947 - Molly dies (2 days after turning 10) Apr 25, 1950 - Calvin and Sam born Aug 26, 1952 - Walter born Oct 31, 1960 - Barbara dies (16th birthday) Sep 21, 1961 - Calvin dies (11) Oct 31, 1961 - Barbara's comic is published Aug 26, 1964 - Sven dies (49) on Walter's 12th birthday Sep 6, 1966 - Sanjay Kumar born Sep ???, 1967 - Sam sleeps with and impregnates Kay Apr 25, 1968 - Sam (18) enlists and marries Kay May 7, 1968 - Dawn born Nov 1, 1968 - Walter (16) enters the bunker Jun 20, 1969 - Gus born Jan 12, 1976 - Gregory born Dec 8, 1977 - Kay and Sam begin divorce proceedings Dec 19, 1977 - Gregory dies (1) 1977 - Kay and Sam divorce Nov 8, 1982 - Sam remarries an unknown woman; Gus dies (13) Jul 16, 1983 - Sam dies (33) Aug 18, 1986 - Dawn and Sanjay take a photo together June 12, 1987 - Dawn leaves for India 1987 - Dawn marries Sanjay Dec 27, 1988 - Lewis born Summer, 1989 - Edie refuses to leave home because of forest fire June ???, 1991 - Edie gives a big interview about a 'moleman' living under the Finch house May 19, 1992 - Milton born Feb 14, 1999 - Edith Jr. born; Edie "revisists" the old Finch house Feb 22, 2002 - Sanjay dies (36) 2002 - Dawn brings her children back to the Finch house May 19, 2002 - Edie gives Milton a "castle" for his 10th birthday Oct 23, 2003 - Milton disappears (11) 2003/2004 - Dawn seals up the old bedrooms (except for Walter's), as well as Milton's castle and the library; Edie drills in peepholes Mar 31, 2005 - Walter dies (53) (Edith mentions seeing Edie sneak down to the basement with packages; was this when Edie went down to the bunker to make a memorial for Walter?) 2005 - Edie tells Edith that the "dragon" in the pond killed Sven 2005/2006 - Lewis graduates high school Nov 21, 2010 - Lewis dies (22); Dec 5, 2010 - Dawn and Edith leave; Edie dies (93) Oct 12, 2016 - Dawn dies (48) Oct ??? 2016- Edith returns to the Finch house Jan 18, 2017 - Christopher born; Edith Jr. dies (17) ??? - Christopher visits the Finch house

Calvin theory: his broken leg likely implies he broke it by jumping off swings like he did in the tale, Edie knew he liked doing this, so that’s why she built one in front of a cliff.

The only issue I have with this theory is that MatPat doesn't even acknowledge Odin's story, where it is stated that he left Norway to try to protect his daughter, Edie, from the very same curse that Edie would recite to the later generations of the Finch household.

18:18 I always speculated that Molly died by falling out of the tree outside her window. She was hungry, and didn’t want to go out her bedroom door for fear of being punished further, so she goes out the window to try and get to another room. Instead, she ends up falling to her death. I could be totally wrong, but that always made more sense to me than her starving to death after one day without dinner.

One thing that really bothers me is that in the pink bathroom there’s a chair in the tub. That made me think that Edie used it to help while she showered since she old, then I realized Gregory drowned in that same tub and idk about you but I would not be comfortable using the same tub my young grandchild drowned in.