Dear esther story explained4/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Perhaps it will be back on the table when I wake. Maybe it will wash back up through the caves and erupt from the spring when the rain comes, making its return to the hermits cave. When I have pulled the last shreds of sense from it, I will throw Donnelly’s book from the cliffs and perhaps myself with it. When the oil lamps ran out I didn’t pick up a torch but used the moonlight to read by. The Narrator wishes to be free of Donnelly, but this aspect of his mind cannot be shaken: My disease is the internal combustion engine and the cheap fermentation of yeast.ĭonnelly’s book serves as a guide to the Narrator, because it is Donnelly who in fact created the island the Narrator’s shattered psyche is a direct result of his drinking. For the syphilis, a drunk driver smashing his insides into a pulp as he stumbled these paths, I can only offer my empathy. What to make of Donnelly? The laudanum and the syphilis? It is clearly not how he began, but I have been unable to discover if the former was a result of his visiting the island or the force that drove him here. Several times, the Narrator compares Donnelly’s madness to drunk driving, and the Narrator even admits his own guilt in this passage: If the subject matter is obscure, the writer’s literary style is even more so, it is not the text of a stable or trustworthy reporter. Again and again, the Narrator speaks of Donnelly as unreliable, even mad. Donnelly represents the Narrator’s alcoholic, irrational side. The most important facets are Donnelly and Paul. With the exception of Esther, each of the characters represents a facet of the Narrator’s mind, fractured by the grief and guilt of Esther’s death. There are several characters mentioned throughout Dear Esther: Donnelly, Jacobson, Paul, the Hermit, and Esther herself. The course of the game provides a metaphor for his psychological journey toward acceptance of his guilt, and his reunion with her through the only conclusion he can see: suicide. He had been drunk when the accident occurred, and he feels responsible. It’s taken me longer than I anticipated to really get this together, so I apologize for the delay, but without further ado, here’s my thoughts on the story of Dear Esther.ĭear Esther, at its core, is a story about a man, the Narrator, who lost the woman he loves, Esther, and his struggle to come to terms with her death. I have strived to stay away from other analyses on the forums, and the only tool I’ve used other than my own insight and the game itself is a script of the possible monologues and a couple of wiki entries on the Bible. Dear Esther is certainly not for everyone, but those who cue to its curious flavors will find something quite memorable on this cloudy, windswept island.Dear Esther’s meandering and ponderous narration has many valid interpretations, and the following is simply how I viewed the story. In the end, it's perhaps not so much an interactive story as a multimedia rumination on the search for understanding and meaning in the seemingly random events of our lives. This, coupled with the shape of the tale itself (which at times seems intentionally vague, meandering, and difficult to understand), will be enough to send some players off the deep end as they fruitlessly attempt to work out what it all means.īut there also will be some who find beauty in the poetry of the language used, who marvel at the game's undeniable visual splendor, and who appreciate the subtle but atmospheric score that enhances the game's dark, lonely undertones. ![]() There will be those who walk away believing it's not a game at all but instead a new form of media-based storytelling driven by players pressing directional keys on their keyboards. Dear Esther challenges players' conception of what a video game can be. ![]()
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