Quest:Ruby Quest/Theories

This is a compilation of all the current theories for Ruby Quest

They will be ranked RIDICULOUS, PLAUSIBLE, or VIABLE, based on how likely they are to be correct. If proven (Ha! Not bloody likely), their status will become CANON. If debunked, their status will change to DEBUNKED, with the old status crossed out. DEBUNKED theories require REASON FOR DEBUNK.

VIABLE theories have some/a lot of evidence behind them.

PLAUSIBLE theories have little to no evidence behind them.

RIDICULOUS theories have little to no evidence behind them, and are also very very silly.

If you create or record a theory, please write "Courses of action suggested by this theory" and list them in bold text.

Try not to hurt yourself thinking too hard.

GRAND THEORIES

Put possible explanations of the entire scenario here. Also called "Quicksand theories," because even if one of them is right, there is no escaping their consequences and no courses of action are really suggested by them. If one of them is true, it won't really change anything.

1: It is all happening in Ruby's Mind - a grand hallucination

2: Abduction by scientists?

2a: Abduction by Inept Scientists?

Perhaps the facility was some kind of research station, biological or preternatural or whatever- and accidents occurred forcing a lockdown and evacuation. The prisoners could have been guinea pigs or workers.

possibly involved in development of cures for diseases, these cures going to far, eg. ruby not just regaining her sight but also foresigh, toms arms? reds teeth? stiches recovery/healing?

3: Abduction by "God" figures or demons of some kind? (Cthulhu Theory)

4: Abduction by villainous characters seeking to test or control "God" figures, which are in fact benevolent? (Nice Cthulhu Theory)

FACILITY THEORIES

Put theories concerning the nature of the facility itself here.

1: The facility is a real installation deep underwater. Any FUCK YOU PHYSICS incidents are hallucinations or illusions.

2: The facility is a real installation deep underwater. However, for some reason it does not abide by normal physics laws. It does not abide by normal physics laws because-

3: During Tom's second imprisonment and Ruby's first blackout, the facility was not repaired. Instead, they were both moved to a different but similar set of rooms. This supports the "scientists/observation" grand theory.

4: The facility actually changed when Red used the eye pendant. The broken physics are explained by the damage to reality caused by the use of the pendant.

Broken Physics Brig Room

Red Caused The Rift

PLAUSIBLE

Red caused the enormous rift when he "cut ???" in Ruby's vision-hallucination-whiteout that occurred after Stitches gave her the cross peg.

Broken Physics Room Linked to Stitches

PLAUSIBLE

During Tom's sojourn in the broken physics room in part five (after finding the walkie-talkies) he witnessed the rift widening. From our POV, it widened toward the top-left of the screen.

This was near the moment in time that Ruby had her second (third?) encounter with Stitches- she witnessed Stitches' head begin to fall apart, with the top-left (from Ruby's POV) section becoming unstitched and falling away. This theory will be made more plausible if the broken physics room continues to correlate with Stitches' physical condition. Ha-HA! Take THAT, causality!

Courses of action suggested by this theory: Think about keeping Stitches intact, calm, and relatively safe, at least until the Broken Physics Room is no longer needed or useful.

CHARACTER THEORIES

Put theories on the characters, their purposes, their actions, and their motivations here.

Theories Concerning Ruby

Ruby is Going Insane

VIABLE

Several of the events in the story make it seem that Ruby's grip on reality is failing. Possible instances of hallucination include:

Her third eye appearing (she was the only one to experience this and her character prevents her from asking Tom to verify)

Her "waking dream" in which she seemed to wake up from bed, take a key from her dresser that may have actually been a filing cabinet, and attempt to interact with Tom. When she did, she came to her senses, and found it was the dummy.

Her corpse in the "DO NOT OPEN" box. Although she was highly perturbed by this sight Tom had no apparent reaction to it, and when asked about the box, he only mentioned the finger bowl.

The Dummy in the room where she woke up and Went through all the images, the dummy's eyes didn't move once. The eye painting in the bear zombie room both seemed to "watch" her as she moved about.

Courses of action suggested by this theory: Do not trust all of Ruby's perceptions and rely on Tom for verification of anything that seems odd, out of place, or scary. This includes threats, if possible.

Visual Hallucinations

PLAUSIBLE

Her hallucinations, however, seem entirely visual. Every time she has one, she wakes up from physical contact, leading one to believe the hallucinations are a coping mechanism, a way to deal with what is actually there a little more nicely.

The dummy room "This is my room" hallucination ended when she touched the dummy.

The "Tom is a monster holy jeezus" hallucination ended when Tom touched her shoulders and asked what was wrong.

We never had physical verification for the eye painting and the dummy watching her, the corpse in the box, and her third eye. As such, while likely, this theory has little evidence.

Warning Eye

PLAUSIBLE

Her eye is giving her warnings of either things that have happened in the past, and things that may yet happen.

The eye painting and watching dummy are to keep her paranoid of the cameras, which we know she was anyway.

Tom's transformation was to keep her cautious of him, and not be too trusting.

Her corpse was to remind her of her own mortality.

By this theory, her third eye is real, and it is what shows her these warnings/visions.

NEW INFORMATION: Her eye is giving her warnings still. However, these warnings are not sneak peaks into the future or anything - they are memories.

Ruby is Psychic

PLAUSIBLE

Ruby saw her own corpse in the 'do not open' box, and Tom seemed not to acknowledge its presence. This seemed to be a mere hallucination until we found the recording of Red beating Ruby with the cane and stuffing her into the box, and Ace discovering her afterward.

One moment Ruby looks into Tom's eye (which is hurting) and the next moment there's a physics-defying chasm and Tom has no eye. In the meantime Tom went oddly "black-outlined".

What happened then? Dismissing it as "just Ruby's hallucinations" doesn't cut it. She got the copper key from her dream. It's likely still stuck in the door and very physical, meaning her hallucinations are more than "just hallucinations".

Courses of action suggested by this theory: Apparent hallucinations should be considered warnings or visions.

Ruby is psychic/experiencing preternatural phenomena AND is going Insane

PLAUSIBLE

Superpowers and mental instability frequently go hand-in-hand in the cosmic horror genre. It could be that some of Ruby's experiences are hallucinations and some of them are "really happening."

Tom seemed to verify that the enormous fissure in the broken-physics room existed, but he didn't react to the sight of Ruby's apparent corpse in the "do not open" box.

Ruby is Dead

VIABLE

Ruby was listed as deceased in two official looking documents, and a video was shown of Red assaulting Ruby some time ago, and stuffing her body into the DO NOT OPEN box, where it was discovered by Ace. Though, he ALSO was the one who reported her deceased, and the corpse wasn't seen by Tom, so questions are raised by this theory.

A lot of recent evidence - accident form, experiment file, and video of Red beating her down, show that this is pretty likely to be true. However, we see, for a brief moment of the video, Ruby is still alive. She may not have died after all, but it seems possible.

Ruby has returned from or evaded death in order to aid Tom

PLAUSIBLE

Quote from IRC that may have relevance or may just be a red herring. The quote was in red text:

<TG_Weaver> If man is 5
<TG_Weaver> And the devil is 6
<TG_Weaver> Then God is 7

Ruby was listed in the documentation as "Subject #7" and she was being held in "Cell #7." This could possibly mean a number of things if it's not simply an attempt to throw us off. Ruby may be a ghost. Ruby may be in some sort of causality paradox or alternate dimension, or she may be living in a fractured reality. She may have even created a causality paradox, alternate dimension or fractured reality herself a la Donny Darko.

This may lend some credence to the "psychic ruby" theory, which is at the time of this writing listed as plausible.

Additionally, Ruby's third eye is in the same location that the iconic "Third Eye" or "Inner Eye" found in certain eastern spiritual traditions is in. The Third Eye is usually symbolic of someone having attained enlightenment or divine awareness in Eastern religions. Elsewhere, it symbolizes clairvoyance, precognition, and out-of-body experiences.

In any case this IRC quote warrants consideration.

Courses of action suggested by this theory: No courses of action, but it does allow us to categorize any apparent inconsistencies (such as Ruby's postmortem documentation) in the story as being encounters with an alternate reality, the "real" reality, or perhaps a "possible" reality.

Ruby is the Original Monster

PLAUSIBLE

Red beat down Ruby, apparently in an attempt to kill her. Maybe she died, maybe not. In either case, Red would probably have some motivation to do so. Red may have killed her because she is the original abomination, and he was attempting to stymie the experiments going on there by taking out the key person.

Ruby is obviously some kind of mutant due to her third eye. In her file, it seems to indicate that it is dangerous for her to get hurt or put into a crisis. If Red beat her, she may have gone all monstery. And when she got clawed by the hound zombie and lost three days, she may have done so again.

Courses of Action Suggested by this theory: If wounded, get the hell away from Tom!

Ruby is the Cure for the Monster Disease

PLAUSIBLE

Ruby seems to have the least beastly and dangerous mutation. She doesn't have terrifyingly massive jaws, or weird T-Rex arms, or a ravenous lamprey mouth growing out of her eye. Just a third eye. While she is afflicted with whatever condition, she has a fairly benign mutation. Perhaps she is able to keep the mutation from being dangerous. Red, in his desperation to escape, may have tried to kill her in an attempt to let all the monsters kill whoever is keeping them, or to create a diversion to go about the business of blowing himself up.

Her file seems to mention that it is important for her not to be hurt. This may be because she needs to be alive for the experiments to work. Also, as mentioned, she has an apparently benign mutation, as opposed to the violent and gory mutations of others.

Ruby allowed Red to Assault her Willingly

PLAUSIBLE but UNLIKELY

This theory just occurred to me while reviewing the last RQ thread. There is no real evidence to back it up and no courses of action based on it come to my mind, but I thought it'd be worth considering as a possibility anyhow. Add to it, delete it, whatever suits you. -Asp

Theories Concerning Tom

Tom Gouged Out His Own Eye

PLAUSIBLE

Tom's story simply doesn't add up. He was dragged up a ladder by a creature he did not see, which gouged out his eye, locked him in a room, and left? Sounds like something Red might do, but Tom didn't see his attacker. But in the Brig, he was sitting in the corner of the room, away from each and every entrance into the room. There is no way something could have snuck up on him. On top of that, his story is that he lost his eye as soon as we left him, explaining the blood. But, he still had his eye when we saw him on the computer monitor, well after he was taken away.

So, why is his eye missing? Maybe he was trying to save himself from something worse than loss of depth perception. What if he had transformed, down there, while he was weak on Arsenic and feeling miserable? He fled upstairs, and met Red up in the Monitor Room. Red wasn't going to deal with a monster Tom, and locked him in the room where we found him later. Eventually, Tom knew something was wrong with himself, and that he was monster. To stop the infection from spreading, he removed his own eye.

When Red eventually saw this in the monitors, he knew Tom was safe again, and let him back out. Tom doesn't remember Red from that first encounter because Tom was still a monster. Tom isn't telling Ruby any of this for the same reason Ruby is hiding her third eye - they love each other, and don't want the other to worry about it.

Variant: while poisoned, Tom hallucinated a monster and lost the eye while wandering around in confusion. It was still likely Red that locked him in, though.

PLAUSIBILITY: While initially very likely, new evidence from Part 5 has shown that the room he was taken in was the Holding Room, which means it is exactly FOR holding prisoners. In addition, his mutation was growing extra arms, and had nothing to do with eyes, so if he was crazy enough to try to destroy the mutation, then he wouldn't have started with his eye. He also identified his attacker as Ace, who we know also carried away Ruby and hid her from everyone else too.

How exactly he lost his eye is still up in the air, however, but it has become more unlikely that Ace was at fault, especially since Ace is the facility's doctor.

Thousand Toms

RIDICULOUS

Everyone is a Tom Clone.

Ruby is a Tom Clone with rabbit ears. The Bear was a Tom Clone. The Hound was a Tom Clone. Tom is 3 Tom Clones. Even the fish in the tank are Tom Clones. Red is a Tom Clone.

Or was it a Tom Clone is Red? We're not sure.

Either way, everything is Tom, even the hamsters running in wheels that power the facility.

Of course, such hamsters need a leader, and the leader is a clone of Red, who we have already established is a clone of Tom.

Theories concerning Red

-A prisoner?

-A villain?

-Prisoner in league with villains?

Red's Mobility

The pipe simply ends, right where the metal box in the back room is.

PLAUSIBLE, but UNLIKELY

Red's room was sealed by the Cross Peg most of the game. But, he was apparently able to get in and out of his room. Of course, he likely had the cross peg, and may have given it to Stitches when he hung him up on the wall (see We've Seen Stitches Before). But, how would he get down from there without being able to open the floor hatch?

Well, there is a tarp on the ceiling of his room. Maybe there's a secret passage. And the image to the right gives a good hint where it goes - the blue line pipe is in Red's room, goes down the monitor room, into the Z Hatch room, and simply stops at the back room, inside of a metal box. We know the pipe can't go anywhere between the back room and the dummy room, because that window there shows the walls are somewhat thin. So, it is quite possible that the metal box is a secret exit, and unlike Tom, Red is more than thin enough to crawl through to the Z Hatch room.

Red showed up because he lost the peg

PLAUSIBLE

Somehow, Red lost the peg (someone stole it from him?), then, unable to return to his hideout or find the peg, he revealed himself to Ruby. After pulling down the tarp, he discovers the peg in Stitches' hand and (knowing Stitches or whoever placed Stitches there, with the peg) starts laughing madly.

The wall with Stitches was a trap set up for Red, the peg being the bait. But Red can see the trap, so he lets Ruby get the peg and trigger the trap. Because Ruby wasn't the trap's target, she survives, but over the time (3 days?) Red can use the peg to access his hideout. He returns it later, for reasons yet unknown.

Red Quest

PLAUSIBLE

Why did the back room release gas the moment we turned the power back on? There are 3 possibilities:

1) It was a defense system that was already active, and needed power.

2) It was a defense system that needed power, and someone activated it after we turned the power back on.

3) It was a defense system that needed power, and someone activated it before we turned the power back on.

Since 1 and 3 are effectively the same, and the window of opportunity for number 2 is however long it took the analyzer to dispense an antidote for arsenic, it is safe to say the system was active beforehand and the chip was removed to turn it off. Therefore, someone must have had the Rubber Gloves and the Hook, and was in that back room when the poison gas was released the first time. To deactivate it, he pulled out the chip with his gloved hands and the metal hook. Then, to prevent someone (Like Ruby) from doing something stupid and reactivating the gas, he hid the gloves, hook and chip separately - the gloves in his own locker, and the chip and hook inside a box in the Monitor room, then glued the box shut. He kept the hook and the chip together in case he needed to pull the chip out again.

Going by the Red's Mobility theory, he didn't need the door to the monitor room to get in, so he smashed the panel. So, this leads us to assume that if any of this happened at all, it was Red's doing, and he didn't count on Ruby having /tg/, and hence Wikipedia, in her head.

Red Killed Time

VIABLE

When Red used the eye pendant in the vision that the God Zombie sent Ruby into, he not only ended the dream, but affected the physical world possibly even before the story even started. The laser intersected Tom's head, Tom's eye was missing later. The gibberish when the laser was being used was scrambled terms from earlier threads. The HUGE UNEXPLAINED GAP appeared. The broken physics room. The back room was no longer filled with blood and the closet Bear was in now has shelves instead of zombies. The tube is no longer broken, neither is the mirror. The things which could be used to kill the Plant Zombie no longer exist. Tom said that nothing happened when asked about the past, while Bear certainly counts as something, possibly more evidence that Bear didn't even happen in this timeline. Ruby's inventory changed, gaining the key and losing the items that the altered past no longer gave her to opportunity to collect.

gap in the theory: at first, after Ruby exits the room, the changes are only partial. It's after she looks into Tom's eye that the major change occurs. Still, this might be simply because her fractured mind expected to see the room as it had been before.

Murder Theories

Red Killed Himself To Stay In Control

CANON

Red wants to be in control, and even if it is the illusion of control. He tells himself that he is not trapped, yet he appears to be in the same situation as Ruby and Tom. He refuses to answer questions, and even helps Ruby in some instances to either help or to further convince himself he is in control. In order to preserve that desire to be in control, he kills himself, going out on his own terms with a smile on his face. Perhaps Ruby and Tom's presence and desire to find out why they are not in control compounds the fact that he does not have a role in deciding his future, so he kills himself.

The theory is supported by Weaver's description of Red's feelings on the matter:

 <TG_Weaver> You know, from Red's point of view, he won. He never got caught. He never got beaten. 
He never gave up. And he exited on his own terms. And most of all, he died with a smile on his face.

In addition, his death caused Ace to pay him a visit, just as a bomb Red made went off. It is quite clear Red had this all planned out from the get go.

Theories Concerning "Stitches"

Stitches is useless/a Red Herring

VIABLE

When stitches was revealed from behind the Tarp, there was a fish painted in blood next to him. Blood is red, a herring is a fish. "Red herring" is a phrase that means "misleading clue." Google that shit, nigga. This could merely have been a visual pun or it could have been a suggestion to regard Stitches as a distraction. When Weaver was directly questioned about the connection between Stitches and this possibility, he did not deign to answer.

Additionally: The poem "The Metal Glen," part 5 lines 3 and 4:

The bear cried "This is just our lot,"
And surrendered to his pain.

"The Metal Glen" Part 6 line 6:

The bear knotted up himself and died

When Ruby encountered Stitches after Red's bomb exploded, it was apparent that he had Bear ears.

Courses of action suggested by this theory: Do not rely on Stitches for anything. If he turns out to be helpful in some way, fine; but do not bank on it and do not turn Ruby's or Tom's back on him.

Stitches was a Hallucination

VIABLE PLAUSIBLE: Even if he is indeed a hallucination, he's a persistent one.

Several of the events surrounding Stitches don't seem to comport with reality as it's experienced afterward. (the white out, etc.) However, we did receive an item from Stitches - the cross peg - which makes him being completely unreal a bit unlikely.

Stitches is Benevolent

CANON

It seems that Stitches was prevented somehow from communicating with Ruby. He did supply her with an item, or at least show it to her.

When we confronted the half-transformed Stitches, he knew he was losing control, and did what he could to get away from us before he could harm us. He clearly means no ill will towards Ruby, but likely has little control over the matter.

Courses of action suggested by this theory: Do not expect Stitches to be hostile while he's lucid. As long as he is not being manipulated, he can be considered trustworthy to the extent that his condition allows.

We've Seen Stitches Before

VIABLE

Kind Of Canon: We know we have seen Stitches before, that much is Canon. This theory as to where we saw stitches has not been confirmed yet.

Weaver told us we'd seen Stitches before. But, where? After some looking, it was concluded the only possible place was the first time we entered the back room behind the Z Hatch. There was a face peering at us from behind the window, and when we looked, it was gone. This face could not have been the Hound Zombie, because the Hound's ears hung very low, and we saw no such ears on this figure - just like with Stitches.

Moments later, we see a shadow in the back - presumably the Hound Zombie descending upon and eviscerating poor Stitches. Having been sufficiently mutilated, he was left for dead. The next time we see that room, the window is mirrored.

As to how Stitches got on the wall afterwards, there is no evidence, but it is possible Red put him up there later while Ruby was passed out. If he did, he is probably also the one who dragged Ruby on to the Do Not Open box.

Red Attacked Stitches

VIABLE

If we witnessed Stitches through the window from the Back Room, (where the gas and the pneumatic tube were) we also witnessed another figure through the window before the view was blocked by a mirror. It has been hypothesized that this could have been Red, who proceeded to attack stitches and affix him to the wall. This could be a possible explanation for Red's maniacal laughter after Stitches was revealed from behind the tarp. Although it may have taken a lot of work, Red would have had three entire days to torture and/or string up Stitches, and cover him with the tarp while Ruby was out of it.

This theory is made more likely by the fact Red attacked Ruby, showing he clearly does have aggressive tendencies.

Stitches is /tg/

PLAUSIBLE, but UNLIKELY: Stitches seems to be a regularly occurring character, like everyone else in the facility.

Stitches could be an in-game manifestation of /tg/. He seemed to want to communicate with Ruby, he showed her an item, and he was "stitched together" like some kind of Frankenstein's monster. This could be symbolic of the nature of /tg/, which is also a mosaic of personalities and minds. He also seemed to be bound or hindered somehow and was surrounded by what looked like images and text. This could be symbolic of how /tg/ has trouble making decisions and taking action because of its inability to reach consensus.

Weaver said that we'd seen Stitches before <citation here> and may well have been talking about /tg/, but this theory loses water considering that we may have seen him from the gas room while searching for Tom's antidote.

Theories Concerning "Ace"

OFF LIMITS UNTIL MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE

Theories Concerning "F"

OFF LIMITS UNTIL MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE

Debunked theories

Gas is a Mutagen

PLAUSIBLE DEBUNKED

The gas is the reason for the mutations. Ruby, the Hound, and the Bear (and possibly Red) are known to be infected, and all of them were either next to the Back Room (Bear and Hound), were in the back room when we activated the gas (Ruby), or are commonly assumed to have been everywhere (Red). Tom is not infected at the moment because he has never been near the gas. Ruby is growing her eye where it is because the gas entered through the claw wound.

Alternatively, going by the Eye Gouge theory, the gas went through our pneumatic pipe and up to Tom. It likely infected him when he opened it to get the antidote, and got in his eye. This would be why he gouged it out after the antidote was received, instead of earlier.

DEBUNKED: Ruby's condition has apparently been around since birth, and we are in an experimental medical facility. Therefore, its quite likely everyone who is mutated is either like that because of their condition, or because of the experimental cures. The gas is a defense system, so it is very unlikely to be an attempt at treatment or anything like that.

Tom Clones

PLAUSIBLE DEBUNKED

The Tom we see now is not the same Tom we saw back then.

Made after part 3, the theory went that the original Tom died from arsenic poisoning. The Tom we met after our dream was a new Tom. The evidence for this includes: Tom vanishing, Tom appearing somewhere no one had access to, Tom reappearing suddenly right where we left him. I would go into more detail, but Tom's story has mostly checked out. The discrepancies don't lead us to think he is someone else entirely... but there are still problems with his story.

Red didn't kill himself at all

PLAUSIBLE DEBUNKED

The picture with the dead Red doesn't have a blood trail between the wall Red wrote on and the place he is lying dead, while he'd need a lake of blood to write all that he's written. Also, suicide by passing several spikes through your head can be quite difficult to perform.

The theory has been officially proved wrong since Weaver said the trail is absent for simplicity of drawing.

Red was Murdered

PLAUSIBLE DEBUNKED

It must be pretty hard to drive a pair of wooden spikes through your head, draw some words on the wall, then walk back to the middle of the room and pose for us. Something out there could have killed Red.

The only real hole in this theory is WHAT is written on the wall - NEVER CATCH ME NEVERNEVERNEVER fits Red's personality perfectly, so the killer either knew him very well, or it really was a suicide.

DEBUNKED: He definitely committed suicide to lure out Ace. His bomb and letter confirm that he wanted Ace there, and his suicide was the way to lure Ace out of hiding.