Life is Strange is an interactive episodic video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment with its first episode being released on January 30th, 2015. It came out with a pretty interesting premise, lonely high school nerd wakes up, watches someone get shot and poof MAGICAL TIME TRAVELING SUPER POWERS because that's how the world works right!? Well, when we are first introduced to the game we are greeted with lots of witty quips, a bunch of eighteen year olds talking like what old people who have no interaction with real teenagers imagine they must sound like and some time travel. Who would have thought that eight months later 1.2 million fans of this game would be finding themselves in giant cuddle piles trying to get over the ending of the games most recent chapter and the game isn't even over yet! With at least two more months before this game sees it's conclusion that means that people like me will have to make our own answers to some pretty looming questions.
This article will be covering pretty much everything from Episode 01 - 04 and possibilities for Episode 05 so if you haven't finished the game yet you need to stop reading this and go do that now!
Nathan Prescott
Nathan Prescott is presented as the primary antagonist for the majority of the series and we spend the entirety of Episode 04 attempting to provide solid evidence that he is behind the disappearances of Rachel Amber and drugging of Kate Marsh but what do we really know about Nathan? We know that he has mental health issues. In Episode 03 of Life is Strange, we look into Nathan's gym locker to find his prescribed medication.
Diazepam is a Benzodiazepine class drug used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms and seizures. Knowing Nathan's pattern of behavior in the game we can make a safe assumption these drugs are for the anxiety. It should also be noted that Diazepam is prescribed to those for alcohol withdrawal and Nathan is known to drink and do recreational drugs.
Risperidone is an atypical anti-psychotic used to treat schizophrenia and problems caused by bipolar disorder. I would go on the safe side and guess that Nathan is a paranoid bipolar disorder patient in this regard as we have seen him fly off the handle in high pressure situations and go from normal behavior to very expressed forms of rage including waving a loaded handgun around in public. He has a mental illness that is not being properly treated as seen in a document left by his psychiatrist.
Sean Prescott attempted a simple solution, send him to the psychiatrist, pray for a magic pill to fix all of his problems and when that failed he turned to a different solution. Instead of fixing a problem that wasn't simple to solve, why not just get someone to teach him to explore his urges in a controlled environment. Welcome Mark Jefferson, former world famous photographer and serial... something. We will go more in depth about my theories on the Mark Jefferson character later but right now we'll focus on how he connects directly to Nathan and Sean Prescott. Nathan has bipolar disorder at least and paranoid schizophrenia at the worst and combined with a fascination with death and enough parental anger to fuel the spiral of the tornado heading to destroy Arcadia Bay is a recipe for a serial killer. Why not train his son to be a serial killer that doesn't get caught. From letters found inside of the Stormbreaker Bunker, the things Nathan Prescott says following Warren beating him up and the construction of the bunker itself we can make a safe assumption that Sean Prescott knows about the oncoming storm. How? We don't really know. The entirety of the game's world hasn't been explained to us. We know that it follows the same principles as our world but with Max's introduction to time travel we cannot rule out other magical/supernatural abilities in this universe. Perhaps there was a prophecy that foresaw the destruction of Arcadia Bay and the Prescott's rise to power, it seems to be the goal for generations for the family as Sean Prescott himself said "I must pass onto you my vast wisdom as my father did for me."
Somewhere down the line, Sean Prescott found out about Mark Jefferson. Perhaps the two of them went to school together at some point or killed together. We're not sure. However, we do know a few things that connects Mark Jefferson and the Prescotts. The Bunker is the primary link between the two, built by Sean Prescott and used as a studio and killing ground by Mark Jefferson; the bunker even holds his trophies for his victims, the Red Binders, which would be Mark Jefferson's most prized possessions. We also know that he is a world famous photographer in the 1990s (with the game taking place in presumed present day) and has written and published works and books. Why would he become a high school teacher when he could make so much more money writing books, teaching seminars around the world or just continuing to be a photographer? Unless Sean Prescott is supplementing his income and providing security to teach his son how to kill or to at least satiate his desires? The Prescott's own all of Arcadia Bay, no one will question them even the police are in their pockets. Mark Jefferson has a rich feeding ground of select victims that he can choose from, he has a paid for completely hidden and secret place to take them, is supplied with the drugs and means to dispose of them and no one will ever come asking questions. Sounds like the perfect reason for a serial killer to come teach high school photography.
This cell phone conversation is what tipped me off about Mark Jefferson and Nathan Prescott's relationship. At first glance, we assume that this is a text from Sean Prescott. However, I believe this text is from Jefferson, who is attempting to mentor Nathan to become a serial killer to control his urges.
Who was the person responsible behind the choosing of Rachel Amber as a victim? It honestly could have been either Nathan or Mark Jefferson or possibly the both of them. In Episode 01 of Life is Strange, Stella tells us that she heard a rumor from a credible source that Rachel was sleeping with Mr. Jefferson. Rachel Amber was looking to become a model, Mark Jefferson is a famous photographer who photographed in a black white style that was described as Gothic and all featured women that we have seen. Chloe Price tells us that Rachel told her that she "met someone who changed her life" right before she disappeared. Although, we don't know if this was in reference to Mr. Jefferson or Frank the drug dealing boyfriend she was hiding from Chloe. Although it was very apparent that Nathan had a crush on Rachel based on our conversation with at the Two Whales Diner I think the one behind this one was primarily Mark Jefferson.
Nathan Prescott's first real victim was Kate Marsh. Everything about Kate's disappearance, drugging and photography is nothing like what we saw with Rachel. Rachel was abducted suddenly, had pictures taken unbound, posed and leads to believe she was kept for a long period of time. Kate Marsh was drugged with GCD at a Vortex Club party that she had no real business even being at. She specifically remembers being around Nathan a lot but no one else. She forgets what happened to her other than being in a bright room as we now know as the Bunker. She is photographed very simple, with duct tape and at the very least conscious even if she couldn't remember what happened to her. Most notibly, the difference in Kate and Rachel's binders is that Rachel has nothing but her picture's while Kate's has writing on the inside of the binder, very little of it can be deciphered however... the writing seems to be in neatly scrawled cursive belonging to neither Mark Jefferson or Nathan Prescott. She was then let go which is the big red flag to me. Although we only know the fate of one other victim, Rachel Amber, it would seem really dangerous to let someone you just abducted in front of a whole party of witnesses (regardless of whether or not they would say anything about it) and who could possibly recover her memory and ruin everything just walk out to tell whatever story she can. Maybe Rachel Amber was the exception, perhaps all of the other victims of the red binders are alive and well with just the memories of going to a party, getting really drunk and forgetting everything but I don't buy it. One of the pictures in the Red Biner, is described by Max as Rachel being fully awake and looking extremely angry. Jefferson more than likely drugs the girls and does in fact kill them, not keeping them completely drugged for the duration of the photo shoots so that he can get real emotion out of them. If she was awake and conscious enough to be angry then she understood the situation that she was in and they couldn't let her live. I think all 30+ girls in the Red Binders are dead and Nathan Prescott attempted to go solo and picked Kate Marsh as his own victim without Mark Jefferson knowing about it which is why he had to play damage control and try to get Kate to commit suicide so that it wasn't suspicious.
Finally, the big question we are left with at the end of Episode 04... where is Nathan Prescott now? He makes very few actual appearances in this episode save for getting beaten up by Warren and his jacket appearing in the Bunker when you search it but he couldn't be found at the Vortex Club party or anywhere else through the rest of the game. Many people theorize that Mark Jefferson has killed Nathan and this is the reason why he no longer appears in the game and why Mark Jefferson contacts Chloe through Nathan's cellphone. I don't think Mark Jefferson would ever risk killed Nathan Prescott as the Prescott family would probably have something on Mark Jefferson and all of the evidence points to Nathan and Mark Jefferson if he is caught in the act but nothing indicates Sean Prescott is directly involved. It would be suicide for Jefferson to kill Nathan. I believe Nathan is alive and well and may even be redeemed by the end of the final episode.
Mark Jefferson
I'll be honest. I knew there was a plot twist coming at the end of Episode 04. You don't play a game like Life is Strange, spend an entire episode searching for clues like the Scooby Gang for the guy that you pinned for it to be the actual guy. I never expected Mark Jefferson though and looking back on it now I really should have. He is everything you wouldn't expect from a serial killer. He is attractive, charismatic, articulate and a person who we mindlessly put our trust in based on his title alone. He is teacher at a high school... if you can't trust your teacher than who can you trust? Years and years of CSI and Criminal Minds has taught me nothing and I am ashamed. But that's the beauty of it right? You feel betrayed that a character that is supposed to represent safety and trust turns out to be the person you should have been running from. And I have spent the last week thinking way too much about this guy.
How long have the killings been going on and how many victims are there? Well, assuming that the amount of binders is even on the right side of the top shelf of the cabinet there are a total of twenty-seven binders, which includes his next victim choice of Victoria with a total of twenty-six confirmed victims assuming that these are all of the victims that he has ever taken. Mark Jefferson, no matter how deep in with the Prescotts he is could not have abducted twenty six different girls, or even just simply drugged them all and let them go without a very obvious pattern showing up that would get State or Federal police involved. I believe that most of these victims have been taken over the course of about twenty years. He was a famous photographer in the 1990s, assuming that he broke out in his 20s in the 90s it pins him at being in his very late 30s to early 40s and gives him a large window of time to kill. Most serial killers don't get their patterns down until after a few kills in assuming that they haven't gotten caught by this point. If we make the assumption that he possibly killed a few girls, possibly with Sean Prescott when they were teenagers, his kill count could be around thirty or so. A traveling famous photographer is also a very easy cover story to lure girls into dangerous situation and constantly moving around for jobs, possibly in different countries overseas can attribute to the fact that he hasn't been caught yet. If his kills took place across multiple states and countries over a long period of time there would be very little to tie him to any particular murder as long as he never stayed in one place for too long.
What do we know about his Modus Operandi? Unfortunately, not much as we have only seen two victims and the game did not allow us to explore the other binders. Rachel and Kate however are two very different scenarios in handling of the victims. Rachel was kept and was not drugged the entire time as seen in some of her photographs while Kate was completely drugged for the duration and couldn't remember a thing. The way the photographs were taken were generally similar with the
exception of the photograph taken in the Junkyard. Rachel was killed and buried while Kate was set free. The time between victims seems to have been very short. Rachel Amber was kidnapped in April of 2013 and the main story line of Life is Strange occurs in October 2013. There has been a lot of discussion as to the dead body of Rachel Amber in the Junkyard not being Rachel because of the fact that the body smelled bad when they ripped open the bag and they could presumably recognize her face. We are however, assuming that Rachel was killed soon after she was kidnapped, this doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Nathan and Mark could have kept her captive for multiple weeks and even months after they first abducted her and her death (whether it was accidental overdose or intentional) could have been what sent Nathan spiraling out of control. It also might have been what caused him the need to find another victim in Chloe and Kate since Rachel had died. The time between victims seems to have been very short. Rachel was abducted six months ago, Kate then drugged and less than two weeks after that the next victim, Victoria, was being planned out. This supports the theory that Jefferson keeps his victims for a long period of time and disposes of them so that he can go and find a new girl to abduct and Kate was not one of Jefferson's intended victims.
Who was Mark Jefferson's next chosen victim? Max. There's a reason why Mark Jefferson needed Max to enter a photo into the everyday heroes contest. Max was not the type of girl to go to a Vortex Club party and therefor needed a different excuse. Mark Jefferson needed a reason as to why Max would be able to be drugged and have it not seem suspicious; this couldn't be covered up by a Vortex Club party so he needed to feign the San Fransisco trip in order to get her into a position where she would be alone with him. He could make up any manner of excuses then, it was a long trip and losing hours at a time (probably during the night when she should have been sleeping anyway) would be a good window of opportunity or he could easily just not show up to the trip at all, keep her in the bunker for the entire trip and have the school make up some sort fo story as to why they never showed up. Max was always Mark's intended victim but since she never entered a photo into the contest he couldn't choose her and he had to go with an alternative in Victoria.
Does Mark Jefferson know about Max's Rewind Time Ability? All initial signs point to yes. There's a reason why he specifically injected Max with the drugs before he shot at Chloe. It wasn't powerful enough to completely knock her out before he shot and killed Chloe and she got a chance to look at his face. He also could have easily shot Max in the back of the head but he is keeping her for a reason. Is it just as simple as wanting to add her to his collection of binders like he originally wanted or is there something more. Needless to say the next question to come to mind is how did he figure it out? My personal theory is that he figured it out through her Journal. There is quite literally no reason for the feature to be in the game other than cute little notes and a summary about events that have already happened that the player themselves don't need. They played through the game and don't need a summary of the events that happened to them.The Journal itself has manifested physically in the game and Max has gone places without it; and Jefferson knows about it, it was sitting next to her on her desk during our first encounter with him in the opening sequence of Episode 01. There have been multiple instances of Max sneaking out at night it is entirely possible that at some point Mark got ahold of her journal, read her entries about time travel, saw that she was researching the disappearance of Rachel Amber and knew that he had to drug her first or risk her rewinding time and foiling his plans. It could have been something else, maybe this possible storm prophecy brought with it a passage about a girl being able to rewind time and that is how Mark knows about it. Or maybe he simply made a lucky guess and just wanted to keep Max around as she was always his intended next victim and he had no idea she can rewind time.
Episode 05 Possible Endings
Choice is something that is important in an interactive game like The Walking Dead or Life is Strange. One of my biggest gripes with the former TellTale title is that there was no real choice involved in the game, saving or killing a character had no real weight as they would die to other causes or die whether you chose to save them or not soon after. However, I think our choices in the last four episodes are going to impact one very important outcome. Who will come to rescue Max? There are seven total outcomes that I have come up with of possible people who can come and rescue Max based off of how you treated the other characters in the game leading up to Episode 05.
Nathan Prescott Saves Max - I feel like this has a possibility to happen. There are a lot of things that contribute to my "Nathan is just a pawn of a corrupt system that he can't get out of theory". I think he has a mental illness that causes outbursts of rage that he can't control because he isn't getting the proper help that he needs. Being sick does not excuse these behaviors or make them in anyway okay but if you stick around long enough in the bathroom scene where Nathan shoots Chloe he tries to shake her awake to see if she is okay. If you allow Warren to beat up Nathan in Episode 04 he starts crying saying that everyone hates him and there are unused voice files of him apologizing to a "her" and that he "couldn't help it, she just kept pushing him". We can assume this means Rachel or maybe even Kate. However, throughout the game you have several opportunities to not blame the situation on Nathan (not reporting him to the principle, not throwing him under the bus after Kate's attempted or successful suicide) and if you do not blame him there could be a possibility that he comes to Max's rescue as he is only one of two people outside of Mark Jefferson, Chloe and Max that knows where Mark Jefferson is at this exact moment and he is one of two characters confirmed to be carrying a firearm.
Frank Bowers Saves Max - Frank and Max have the ability to walk away as friends if the select options are shown when trying to get Frank's client list cipher from him at his RV. He even sends her a text message saying that he finds comfort that someone is trying to find Rachel and that if she ever wants to party to come and find him. Frank delivered drugs to Nathan the night before the Vortex Club party that Kate was drugged at at the barn that holds the bunker. If Frank shows up to Chloe's room and finds the evidence, he will be able to remember the coordinates of the area as he delivered there before and he also highly likely to have a gun on him even if it is not necessarily confirmed. He gives Chloe the gun he took at the train tracks back and it was the only gun we could find the RV but it is safe to assume a drug dealer probably has his own gun.
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David Madsen Saves Max - If Max's rescue is fixed and choices don't affect this particular outcome I believe this is the most likely scenario of who will rescue Max. He has been tailing not only Nathan Prescott but also Mark Jefferson (one of the Liscence plates and Car Pictures on the evidence board belongs to Mark Jefferson as he is seen pulling away in the same car with the same plates at the end of Episode 02). He knows where the barn is as he has taken pictures of it and followed Nathan there; there is also strong evidence that he has been inside of the bunker. Most of the food supplies inside of the bunker are the exact same items that he bought for his own mini survival shelf in the garage of the Price home, Max even comments that David and the Prescott's "must shop at the same store". We also know he is carrying a firearm as we make note of it in Episode 04 that another gun that wasn't the one Chloe stole is missing. He also has direct access to Chloe's room, all of the evidence Max and Chloe found is still hanging up in Chloe's room and he knows how to decipher it.
There are a few other possibilities for people who could rescue Max however the three listed above are the best suited for the job and make the most sense as they are the ones able to decipher the information they need to find them or know where they are already. Victoria, Kate and Warren could also have a hand in possibly rescuing Max. However, there are some complications with many of them. Victoria, even if you did warn her about the attack and you have built enough rapport with her to believe you she would have no idea where the bunker is unless she is able to possibly get it out of Nathan but if she believed you about Nathan she would have no reason to talk to him. Warren is seen outside of the Vortex Club party seemingly very intoxicated even after claiming to have only had half of a beer. This points to a possibility that he has been drugged as "getting hit hard after only one beer" are the signs of a date rape drug being used. Jefferson could have drugged Warren's drink in the case that Max told him anything about what was going on he wouldn't remember anything. There is a possibility that Kate, while in the hospital, suddenly remembers something about where she was held captive and manages to convince someone (David most likely) to go with her to rescue Max assuming that she survived in your playthrough. And finally, there is Samuel. There is just something about Samuel that I can't put my finger on. Every since I foudn those photos of Rachel in his supply closet I wasn't sure whether he could be trusted or not. I do trust him, after the interesting conversation you have with him in Episode 04. I don't know if he would be linked at all but he seems like a character who knows too much about the happenings of the world to just sit by and do nothing.
Max using a photo to go back far enough to fix everything. This is a very popular theory and assuming that Life is Strange does infact get a happy ending we can assume that Max will use a photo, whether it be the Warren selfie they took together outside of the party or the butterfly photo that started it all (or even an older photo pre-Rachel disappearance) we are very likely to go so far back in time with everything we know to arrest Mark Jefferson before he can kill anyone and happily ever after... if it really was that simple. I want something more heart wrenching where we have to choose between we save to lead them to the bunker as the storm is about to hit and we throw Jefferson out into the Tornado as he bangs on the door begging for his life.
Loose Ends...
There are somethings are really bothering me about very minor things in the game that may never be explained or will be a... just because go with it. The biggest being... What on Earth Is This Storm? I don't believe we'll finish the game without finding this out of course, it's the main plot devise and I honestly am really confused behind the entire thing as I stated above we don't know completely what we're dealing with in this universe. The Prescott's seem to have been building up to this storm for generations. Building off site estates, funding a bunch of buildings that they expect to be destroyed anyway, building this bunker specifically called a "Stormbreaker Bunker" that put them $1.3 million dollars in the red. You do not spend $1.3 million dollars on a survival bunker unless you're absolutely sure you'll need it or you're just plain crazy. Either or could be the case but since we've seen the tornado we can rule out entirely crazy. Is this some sort of prophecy or witchcraft or demonic bargaining? We don't really know because we don't know what is all possible in this universe. Supernatural events such as time rewinding, full on time travel through photographs and spirit animal guides are possible but what about any other sort of supernatural phenomena? We just don't know yet.
Which came first, the super powers or the Storm? We know that Max had her nightmare about the storm before she realized and used her time traveling abilities. However, the game itself is suggesting that the possibility that Max herself might be causing this giant tornado with the use of her powers. Dead birds, fish and other marine life dying in the ocean, beached whales, ants in the shape of a hurricane, snow in October during 80 degree whether, a Solar eclipse and two moons in the sky have all been shown to appear after Max begins using her rewind power which makes us assume that rewinding time is dangerous and gives an unnatural balance to the universe. But with time travel comes the ultimate question that usually cannot be answered. If you go back in time to a place where you fix something that would have caused you to gain this ability you would then lose it which means you wouldn't have the ability to go back and change it assuming that time is a flat circle (however this universe seems to imply that there are parallel universes and going off of String Theory). So the question becomes... Did Max get these superpowers because of her dream of the storm and the divine purpose was to be able to change enough so that the town survives or was the storm itself a manifestation of using her time travel ability too much; had she not used it at all would the giant storm still be happening?
What Was the Blood Oath Frank Took for Rachel? What on Earth does this even mean!? This was a small tidbit of information Nathan gives to you when you talk to him in the dinner. However, Max never brings it up to Frank when she is attempting to get his keys to the RV or when she is attempting to get his client list cipher. I cannot even begin to theorize what this means as I don't know the rules of the universe and it annoys me! Does it mean Blood Oath as in witchcraft, possibly body possession should she die or maybe it was just a really terrible secret she wanted him to swear to her in blood to keep because she was weird. My first assumption would be that the blood oath was "if I ever go missing, you need to promise to come look for me" but Frank doesn't seem to have any interest in looking into Rachel's disappearance himself.
Lastly... there is this.
This has been bothering me for a very long time. In the middle is graffiti you find in the Junkyard. It is signed by all of the girls and is painted over by someone and they are telling Max and Chloe that not only is Rachel's body in the Junkyard but that they are also going to die. We don't know this until the end of Episode 04 but Rachel was in fact buried there and Chloe did die there. Now, when I first saw this I figured, it had to be Nathan right? There are only two people that know that Rachel Amber's body is buried in the Junkyard... Nathan and Jefferson. If you ell the Principal about Nathan brandishing the gun and don't mock Victoria, Nathan will trash your dorm and paint grafitti on your wall. I assumed that if you put the two side by side specific letters would match and tell us who wrote the message. However, Nathan's handwriting does not match the message in the Junkyard at all. Most notably the capital Is are completely different. On the right is the labels of the red binders in Mr. Jefferson's handwriting and this does not match the message at all. So who wrote the message warning Max about the events about to transpire there? It wasn't Max, her writing is shown throughout the game and looks nothing like that. It isn't Nathan Prescott and it isn't Mark Jefferson. Someone else out there somewhere knows what happened to Rachel Amber and knows what the future has in store and tried to warn Max and Chloe but was unsuccessful. But who?
Needless to say, when a game comes around that has people theorizing and writing essays about possible outcomes you know you have to be doing something right! Life is Strange is definitely a video game to pick up if you are interested in story driven games.
