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

I've been asked to talk about What Remains of Edith Finch for years... and years... and YEARS. Well, the wait is over. I played the game over on GTLive and knew I needed to talk about the so-called "family curse". Is it real? Is it a lie? Today we are breaking down everything we know to figure out if the Finch family really is cursed... or is it maybe MURDER!

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Credits:
Writers: Matthew Patrick, Zach Stewart and Tom Robinson
Editors: Arthad, Jerika (NekoOnigiri), and Alex "Sedge" Sedgwick
Sound Editor: Yosi Berman

#edithfinch #whatremainsofedithfinch #mystery #curse #familycurse #edithfinchtheory #MatPat #Theory #GameTheory

[unknownvariable]

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

[arhamijaz]

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

[GuitarTory]

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

[richardproper]

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.

[FearlessGamer]

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.

[SteampunkTomato]

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.

[thatfuckinloser]

Something I noticed about Molly’s death was that everytime she changed into a different animal, it's a bigger animal who needs to eat more. Almost like as she's drifting off, she's becoming hungrier and hungrier until death consumes her. Which would only make this much sadder.

[Kelaiah]

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

[ellaepoche]

Here's a theory about Walter: if you notice, every other Finch's room is related either to their interests or how they died. But while Walter's furniture is based around trains, his room is ocean themed. What if, instead of being hit by a train, he fell off the cliff (where the tracks collapsed) and drowned? And Edie crafted the story to focus on his love for trains instead?

[charleshalcomb]

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

[abygalegreen]

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?

[HopeHendershot-Moskal]

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.

[Dj.MODÆO]

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.

[prohunter]

Theory: I think Edie made the stories when molly died because molly's death was because of Edie's irresponsibility. She was so sad and guilty. She made the story of a curse to feel better and stuck with it all her life.

[elijahlaliberte]

“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.

[shelby_lane_]

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.

[rowangothic]

Fun fact about Milton's disappearance: there is another game that the developers made that supposedly explained what happened to him, and the game is in the style of Milton's art. I haven't played it for myself yet, so I don't know if that's true, but it seems interesting.

[TheOwlchemist]

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

[existing]

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.

[dragonxomega]

It sounds like the fog could be alzheimers, or elderly dementia. Like she forgot what she done, but suddenly, she remembered. The other thing I notice as well is that a lot of the deaths could also be trophies, as I've read that serial killers often keep mementos to relive their acts. Maybe, the stories might act as both trophies, and ways Edie feeds her narcissism and justification for her abusive behavior.